The new Z's front end has an aggressive beak reminiscent of the GT-R supercar. It's very cool. I'm not as in love with its butt, with its crescent-like taillights, but they're an improvement over the previous generation's.
The new Z Roadster features an aluminum hood, door panels and trunk for lower weight, and extra structural reinforcement (compared to the coupe), including in the A-pillars and side sills. This is so the car doesn't twist itself apart the first time you hit a tight corner, since hard top cars tend lose some structural integrity when the can opener's taken to the roof. more...
Headphones. You can find them in a variety of types, including noise cancelling, audiophile, ear bud – and I've even found one with its own MP3 player built in. What type's the best? Well, naturally, it depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.
I've been playing with three very different but very representative types of headphone: Bowers and Wilkins' audiophile P5's, AblePlanet's NC300 noise cancelling phones with Linx Audio technology, and Sony's W252 Metal Gear Walkman, a self-contained unit that includes an MP3 player, giving you wireless access to at least some of your tunes. more...
As it turns out, you really can take it with you. On the road, if not to the afterlife.
It, in this case, is called RVing, an activity popular with people who like taking the comforts of home with them when they travel. And thanks to the good folks at GoRVing Canada, who worked overtime to help facilitate this piece, I got to experience the phenomenon on a trip to a family reunion in southern Ontario recently.
I'd never really thought about trying an RV until I took an Alaska cruise last year. I was taken by the way you unpack your bags once and your hotel room travels with you whevever you go. more...
Media servers are becoming popular in this age of wireless home networks, delivering audio and video content from a computer or the Internet to whatever device you may want to use, within reason.
I usually use such devices to stream music, because most of the videos I watch are on Blu-ray and no matter how much hype you hear about downloads taking over, there are still bandwidth and file compatibility issues. I admit reluctantly to accessing YouTube and its ilk for some casual viewing sometimes, but media servers are increasingly playing back music in other rooms of my house.
The downside is that you still need an audio system to play your tunes (well, duh!). more...
Remember the Oldsmobile commercials from years ago that said the models current then were "Not your father's Oldsmobile?" Well I've found a car that is: the Toyota Avalon.
Toyota's flagship sedan is a big, family-friendly sedan that offers lots to like as long as you don't care about the drive itself. It's comfortable, well-appointed, and features stuff like reclining rear seats and most of the technological treats you could want these days. It also rides like a boat, so if you've always wanted to go on a cruise but were afraid of getting wet, this may be your opportunity. more...
Digital cameras continue to make great strides, and the Olympus SP-800UZ is a good example of the species today.
I've been using one for a couple of months and like it a lot. It not only would make a great replacement for my older digital camera, it ups the technology ante substantially, with excellent features such as an 30 times optical zoom and the capability to shoot 720p high definition video. more...
Anyone who remembers the Honda CRX fondly will probably find a soft spot in his or her heart for the new CR-Z sport hybrid.
Honda bills the CR-Z as "the world’s first sport hybrid" but, first or not, what really matters is that this is a nifty little car, cute as a bug's ear, fun and efficient – and priced reasonably to boot.
For what more could anyone ask? more...
Creating a gadget that's easy to use is almost like the search for the Holy Grail, as electronics manufacturers strive continuously to find ways to make sophisticated stuff that makes non-tech folk's lives easier.
I've been messing around with a couple of home theater-related pieces that aspire to just that ease of use, and both of them succeed pretty well. One is Western Digital's Live HD Media Player; while the other is Logitech's Harmony 650 "nearly universal" remote control for your audio and video equipment. more...
If you're looking for a small, economical car that's also a real blast to drive, you can't go far wrong with the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
When the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada named the GTI as its 2010 Canadian Car of the year, I didn't agree. But I can see why the GTI copped the Canuck challenge: it's a delightful car, fast and wonderful to drive and with all the great things – such as a first class interior – that I've come to expect from Volkswagen. more...
Avid bicyclists, environmentalists, or weenies who don't want to work hard may want to check out OHM bicycles, power-assisted units that certainly made the ordeal of bicycling easier for this sedentary writer/weenie.
OHM bills itself as the premium brand of power-assisted bicycles and claims to offer the only power-assisted bikes equipped with the patented "BionX" torque sensor. It's a technology they say responds automatically to the way the rider pedals, providing a smooth, natural sensation – even, supposedly compensating if one of your legs is pedaling more strongly than the other. more...
Acura's new "crossover utility vehicle with the design of a personal sports coupe" turns out to be a heckuva vehicle. Once you get used to it, anyway.
Going into my review, I just knew I was going to hate the ZDX. I'd seen it around and thought it was the ugliest thing to come out of the Honda/Acura company yet. But given my overall respect for Honda, I buried my feelings and tried to give the ZDX a fair assessment.
Good thing, too. After my week with this "SUV-compatible", it had not only grown on me, but I came away liking the ZDX – a lot. This is a vehicle I would own, especially if I did a lot of highway driving. more...
Artists, layout people and graphic designers have new power, flexibility and ease of use at their mousetips with CorelDRAW X5.
Corel switched from straight number to the "X" factor with version X3, which followed v. 12, possibly for the same reason there aren't many 13th floors in buildings. Version X5 not only moves the product forward, it also takes an interesting and welcome step backward, because it comes with a hardcover manual the likes of which we're seeing less and less of these days as companies offer either online or PDF manuals. more...
Creating Porsche's first four door sports car was a gutsy move that risked alienating customers, millions of development dollars, and the company's reputation.
It isn't the first time Porsche has done this, of course. The Cayenne SUV may have sparked even more spittle when the company first announced it – and it's now a respected vehicle that sells well – and with good reason.
Trust Porsche, then, to have made the Panamera yet another fabulous vehicle. more...
Keep your "ion" this column if you want to blur the ugly reality of cleaning things with the fantasy of competition driving in which you can zap the competition right off the track.
Huh, you say? Well, this column is about two very different products that are aimed at very different markets: the Ionic Clean system and "Blur" the video game, and I had to tie them together somehow. The connection: the word Blur itself. As defined by Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, blur can mean both "to obscure or sully (something) by smearing or with a smeary substance" and "to become indistinct: Everything blurred as she ran".
The first definition could describe dirt, a problem you undoubtedly want to correct – perhaps with the Ionic Clean system. The second definition could describe the experience of playing the video game of the same name. more...
Maybe you've seen the commercials, an invisible artist painting the lines of an attractive new sedan, the announcer extolling virtues such as "Forest Air" and silver flakes in the wood grain.
If you haven't, or even if you have and don't remember the car, they're talking about the new Infiniti M, the top-of-the-line sedan from Nissan's luxury division. It's a wonderful car, though not without its frustrations. more...
Finding the proper light for a particular task can be tough. If you're working at a desk, doing finely detailed work, for example, you might want something different than if you're trying to read in a darkened home theater. How does the Element LED Task Light stack up? more...
The Motormouse, meanwhile, is a road-going rodent that's clearly inspired by the lovely Porsche 911, looking just different enough, I daresay, to avoid unpleasant lawsuits. It's kind of "911 compatible" the way DOS computers used to be called "IBM compatible", in that the main difference between them was the brand name. more....
Call it an uber-Prius, if you like.
It's the Lexus HS 250h, the luxury car maker's first four cylinder model, and at heart it's a luxury hybrid. It's also a very nice car that would undoubtedly be easy to live with.
And it's so green, regardless of which color you order it in, that it could drive you nuts. Not only is it supposed to sip gas (Lexus claims a mileage rating of 41.3 mpg or 5.7L/100 km, though I never got that), but it's also supposedly equipped with an interior that's nearly one third populated by "sustainable ecological plastics" whatever the heck that's supposed to mean. more...
Apps for the iPhone are exploding exponentially, or so it seems, and run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous.
It isn't often that one of them gets me excited, but I've been using a couple that I've found really handy, including Livio's Internet Radio app, a five dollar download that's billed as the first and only mobile internet radio solution optimized for use in a vehicle. It's a wonderful tool for either the iPhone or iPod Touch and it lets you listen to more than 42,000 AM/FM and Internet-only radio streams from around the world. I've been using it with my iPhone and I really like it. more...
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Home
Nissan Z Roadster an Open-top Blast 
Honda's Hot New Hybrid a Blast from the Past
Golf GTI a little Rocket 
