Bugatti Chiron: The 260mph supercar with a £1.9m (yes, million) asking price

Pity poor Bugatti. Once upon a time, it ruled the world. We’re not talking just about the incredible “Type-” cars of the early 20th Century either. The Veyron, when it landed in the mid-noughties, featured a scarcely credible 1,000bhp produced by its W16 engine.

A pet project of VW group patriarch, Ferdinand Piech, its development broke engineering teams — who had to ensure the car met exacting quality standards. The end result was a car that had a top speed of 250mph — at rate at which it would empty its fuel tank in around 40-minutes.

It was, when launched, also the most expensive car in the world. The Pagani and Koenigsegg cars of the world seemed like bit-part players then, and the McLaren F1 was long a memory of the past.

Fast forward 10 years and Bugatti has been struggling to sell its last few remaining Veyrons — in part due to the arrival of the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918. All of which were nearly as fast (in some cases faster), far more dramatic to look at, cost less, and probably are a little more exclusive too.

Bugatti Chiron preview: Only 500 being made

This is Bugatti’s answer: the 1,479bhp Chiron. A car capable of over 260mph top speed, and 0-60mph in less than 2.5 seconds. It ought to have the firepower to out-Top Trump the cars from Woking, Stuttgart and Modena.

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It’ll cost £1.9m — yes, nearly two million pounds — when it goes on sale in the autumn, and if you’ve got some cash sloshing around from that lottery win, you’ll be pleased to know they’re not all yet sold out in the way most Ferraris are as soon as they’re announced. Yes, there are still 300-odd slots out of the 500 Bugatti plan to build in total (at the time of writing).

Despite extensive use of carbon fibre, the Chiron is rumoured to weigh 200kg more than the already heavy Veyron, but that carbon bodywork makes it look far more dramatic, less dumpy and heavy in its form than the car it replaces.

READ: Geneva Motor Show in pictures: The 24 best cars from the auto show

The most dramatic element of the design for our money is either the four recessed individual lamps sat within a deeply cowled opening at the front, or the giant C-shape that defines the side profile, and demarcates the point of colour split.

Bugatti Chiron preview: Slim on the tech

When we finally badgered our way inside the car at the Geneva Motor Show, we were surprised and intrigued to see this form in the cabin too, forming a divide between passenger and driver in a most interesting and novel way that we’ve not seen before — but which will make 260mph chitter chatter a tricky thing, we suspect.

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There’s lashings of leather, carbon fibre and chrome inside, obviously, but it might surprise you that the Chiron isn’t more overtly tech. The concept “vision GT”, which we reported on from Frankfurt, featured a curved OLED display and race-car like steering controls — but the Chiron sticks with a Veyron-like centre stack without a screen.

Instead, you make do with beautifully knurled aluminium buttons, and a sparely detailed speedo in the cluster (which reads to 500kmph!) and is flanked by two digital screens, which weren’t in an active state on the Geneva show floor.

First Impressions

The Chiron doesn’t quite possess the road racer qualities of the McLaren P1 or the LaFerrari, but nonetheless it looks set to help Bugatti firmly reclaim its “king of the supercar hill” title.

It takes a different route — stupendously fast, yet also setup to be the kind of vehicle to help you cross Europe in a day. Its exclusivity and sheer cost will make sure it retains its appeal with the super-rich. While for the rest of us, the Chiron’s character and design makes it just a little easier to love than the car which it is replacing.

So if you’ve £1.9M going spare, get your order in. One in dual-tone blue should do just nicely — plus you’ll have £100,000 spare from that two mil that you’ve got knocking about.

Aston Martin DB11: Shaken and stirred

This is Aston Martin’s all new DB11 — the car designed to replace the beautiful, if now venerable DB9. If you’ve spent any time looking at a DB9, you’ll know what big shoes the DB11 has to fill in terms of looks.

More of that in a minute, because first it’s worth taking in a few specs. While Aston’s Italian opposition (namely Ferrari) has experienced a spiralling of prices recently, it’s worth noting that the new DB11 kicks off at just £154K. Bit of a bargain, considering it’s packing a 600bhp V12.

The hawk-eyed however, will note that in the world of hypercars, 600bhp isn’t actually that huge an amount of power these days, which is perhaps why the 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds sounds ever so slightly disappointing. We’re talking about contextual shades of grey here however – the DB11 is, in every normal sense, stupidly fast enough to leave you both shaken and stirred.

We think it’ll be more than fast enough for most. It’s just that a Porsche 911 Carrera S will do the run in the same time. Nonetheless, Aston’s V12 is all-new and features twin-turbo chargers.

Aston Martin DB11 preview: Bond appeal

Plus, just look at it. The design of the car was previewed by the DB10 that starred in James Bond’s Spectre movie last year. We think it’s an interesting looking thing: you’d not call it ugly, but it lacks the jaw-dropping qualities that the DB9 has when it first appeared, and compared to the DB10 the rigours or production reality for a road car has adorned it with a few too many fussy bits.

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Aston has stuck with its known technology of aluminium for the structure though, so this isn’t a carbon-heavy car until you get to the trimmings. The DB11 is longer, wider and lower than the DB9 it replaces, the key news being this design means the new car is also lighter, and stiffer (just how we like our Martinis) — which should make it both more agile and responsive to drive, but also lower emissions too.

The core form and proportions are there, but we’re not 100 per cent sold on the aero-blade / roof strake in the contrast colour that creates a break in the C-pillar, or the grille that runs off the front wheel arch into the door.

READ: Geneva Motor Show in pictures: The 24 best cars from the auto show

Looking at the cars on the Geneva Motor Show floor, and on the configurator online, we think the DB11 could be a bit colour-sensitive, particularly depending on how you specify that roof strake. And there are a lot of colour options; Aston will even do you bespoke ones if you’re prepared to pay enough.

The aero details are interesting too (note: the little pop-out lip on the boot spoiler and the protrusions in the bonnet vent), while the doors still swing open in a graceful, upward arc.

Aston Martin DB11 preview: Mercedes tech inside

Inside, the DB11 features four seats, although adults won’t want to travel in the back. Well, you might, just to say you’ve been in a DB11. There’s some unusual, stunningly finished leather too, and some — very Lamborghini-like — chopped-forged carbon finishes for the door and instrument panel.

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In tech terms, this is the first Aston to benefit from the firm’s tie-up with Mercedes-Benz, so the DB11 gets the Merc COMAND user interface with touch-pad over a click wheel, and what we presume to be Merc’s Nav and UI (we couldn’t tell because the screens weren’t active).

The instrument cluster is more digital than before, but our biggest disappointment inside is that Aston’s beautiful individual buttons and knobs — which were made of bits of glass and aluminium — all seem to have made way for some quite generic and cheap-looking plastic controls. Console yourself with the smell and feel of the leather and the rather nice looking digital driver display instead. Then don a suit and pretend to be Mr Bond. There we go, all’s well.

The chassis development has been overseen by an ex-Lotus guru, which bodes well for when you’re channelling your inner Bond too, trying to outrun some baddie in your DB11. Or perhaps just commuting to work down a nice winding rode. The DB11 goes on sale later in 2016.

Audi Q2: The youthful small-scale SUV

A small Audi SUV has been a long-time coming, but did anyone really expect it to look like this? Audi’s design is characterised as “same design different length” — to the point where even trained car designers struggle to tell apart an A4, A6 and A8 unless they’re up close and looking at the badge on the back.

But there’ll be no mistaking a Q2 for anything but, as Audi has played the fashion card here. The German maker’s first small crossover — which will compete with the likes of Mini’s Countryman and high-spec version of cars like the Mazda CX-3 — is a small car; not as big as a BMW X1 or Mercedes GLA, so potentially less useful if you’re in the family way (go see Q3, Q5 or Q7 in that case).

Audi Q2 preview: Youthful design

The front of the Q2 is flat and upright. And the signature 6-point full depth grille has morphed in shape. It’s still drops the full depth of the fascia, and the four rings mean it could be nothing but an Audi, yet the overall grille form is now more reminiscent of a Hyundai or Ford.

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Checking out the side, and there’s a great big shoulder chamfer, as if someone chiselled away a great big chunk of the car just below the window line — but this only runs across the door area — creating some interesting surface intersections as it joins the wings above front and rear wheels.

On the C-Pillar, Audi has chosen to offer a series of variable colour panels it terms the “floating blade”, which blank-out the space between rear door window and windscreen. It reminds us a bit of the Citroen Cactus here, although depending on the colour you pick, it stands out a lot more.

From the rear, someone has clearly been picking around the VW parts bin and stolen the lamps from a Polo. Meanwhile the whole thing rides a good deal higher than a regular car. Just look at the space between the wheels themselves and the wheel-arches, implying there’s space for real suspension travel. And many Q2s will have Quattro (Audi’s four-wheel drive system), so there’s every chance it might actually work off-road. Not that anyone will dare drive it there.

All told, the Q2’s design is a shock to the senses, because we’ve become so used to Audi same again. While we were genuinely disappointed with some of the detail resolution, which we find messy and most un-Audi like, overall the Q2 is a refreshing, characterful change.

Audi Q2 preview: Not messing up the formula

The company knows its customers well, though, so inside it hasn’t messed with a winning formula. That means you get a dashboard that looks like the A3’s — well, the air-vents don’t work the same way, the screen doesn’t retract, and the door furniture is a bit cheap — with the high quality screen and plastics present and correct, the buttons that click and clack just so, MMI and Virtual Cockpit show up once again to make for a tech-suite that’s vying for the crown of best in the business.

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Just a shame that the satnav and Virtual Cockpit cluster display are likely to be optional on most models. A 5.8-inch display is standard, 8.4-inch optional. In fact, the Audi models on the Geneva Motor Show floor had so many options on them that Audi struggled to list them all on the boards next to the cars.

The tech story doesn’t stop there. Besides launching the Q2 to a backdrop of cringy hashtags (we’re looking at you #untaggable) and describing the Q2 as the “ultimate digital device” Audi did launch some genuinely useful tech that will come to Q2. Principal is the myAudi destination function, where you can send the car info from within any app, an integrated mobile SIM with a flat-rate charge structure. Perhaps even more importantly that comes with twice-yearly OTA updates, meaning your 5-year-old Q2 might be able to get refreshed screen graphics and some of the things Audi is yet to dream up, come 2021.

The engine range is familiar too: 1.6 and 2.0 TDi diesel, and 1.4 and 2.0 TSi petrol. Expect a hybrid and an S (if not RS) to make it along to the range in time — meaning you can have your Q2 served in eco to rip-snorting flavours).

First Impressions

Starting at 22k when it goes on sale this summer (first deliveries in November), if you want the full Audi experience you’ll probably struggle to get out of the showroom for less than 28k. Good news is that if you’re happy to spend big to get a premium item but want it in a small package, the Q2 offers more big-car features than any other small crossover — offering lots of semi-autonomous driving technologies, head-up displays and the aforementioned Virtual Cockpit.

Colours and trim play a big part in the “yoof” vibe – so reds, oranges, yellows sit alongside silver, white and grey floating blades and lower body clads. And however you choose to dress it, at least no one’s going to mistake it for another type of Audi. 

Amazon Echo vs Amazon Tap vs Echo Dot: What’s the difference?

Amazon has a new Echo lineup with tiered-speaker heights that remind us of Starbucks coffee sizes (grande, venti, and trenta).

Amazon makes a cylindrical, internet-connected Bluetooth speaker called Echo, which doubles as your personal, cloud-based assistant, addressed as Alexa. Now, one year after launching Echo, it is debuting two sibling speakers.

The new ones are called Amazon Tap and Echo Dot. If you were to sit all three speakers next to each other, starting with the Echo and ending with the Dot, one would be tall, one would be medium, and one would be short. However, the differences between Amazon’s speakers aren’t limited to height; each one is best suited to a specific environment – whether that be at home, on the go, or as an enhancement to your current audio setup.

Confused about what we mean? No worries. We’ve dissected how each Amazon speaker is unique and laid out all the details below.

Amazon Echo

Release date: 2015Availability: Now available in the US (Amazon order page)Price: $179Dimensions: 235 mm x 83.5 mm x 83.5 mm Weight: 1045 gramsConnectivity: Bluetooth and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO)Power: Plugs into a wall outletAudio: 360-degree sound (2.5 inch woofer and 2.0 inch tweeter)Alexa: Yes (Always-on/always-listening/voice-activated)

Amazon Echo is a 9.25-inch-tall cylinder speaker with a 7-piece microphone array. It responds to the wake word “Alexa” and is capable of voice interaction, controlling compatible smarthome devices, music playback from smart devices over Bluetooth, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, reading PDFs, providing weather forecasts, warning you of traffic conditions, answering trivia, and supplying other types of information in real-time. Echo requires a Wi-Fi connection in order to respond to voice commands and fetch content for you, and it must remain plugged in for power.

Amazon Tap

Release date: 31 March 2016Availability: Will launch in the US (Amazon pre-order page)Price: $129.99Dimensions: 59 mm x 66 mm x 66 mmWeight: 470 gramsConnectivity: Bluetooth and supports 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n Wi-FiPower: Relies on a charging cradle (9 hours of playback)Audio: 360-degree sound (dual 1.5-inch drivers and dual passive radiators)Alexa: Yes (Not voice-activated; Must touch mic button to access Alexa)

Amazon Tap is a 6.2-inch-tall cylinder speaker with a 7-piece microphone array. So it’s a smaller, more portable, more affordable version of Echo, and it comes with full access to Alexa. Unlike the Echo, the Amazon Tap is wireless and must be set into the included cradle in order to charge. Amazon said it’ll stream up to 9 hours of audio on a full charge, or last up to three weeks in standby mode. The Tap isn’t an always-on, so you can’t say “Alexa” to wake it and instead need to press the microphone button on the front. Other than that, it can do all the same tricks as Echo (so long as you’re connected to Wi-Fi).

Echo Dot

Release date: 3 March 2016Availability: Now available in the US (Amazon page)Price: $89.99Dimensions: 38 mm x 84 mm x 84 mmWeight: 250 gramsConnectivity: Bluetooth and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO)Power: Plugs into a wall outletAudio: Voice-feedback only (Must be connected to external speakers)Alexa: Yes (Not voice-activated; Must touch mic button to access Alexa)

Echo Dot is 1.6-inch-tall cylinder with one tiny speaker. It’s basically just the top section of Amazon Echo – and half the price, but equally as smart. It supports always-on Alexa, connects to the cloud to stream music, controls your smarthome devices, and does all the same stuff as Echo. The main difference between Dot and Echo is that the full-size speaker is gone. The idea is you’ll hook Dot up to your own audio setup (via out jack or Bluetooth), so you can use Alexa with your existing speakers. That tiny speaker won’t output much audio; it’s only for Alexa voice feedback (which, again, requires Wi-Fi).

Conclusion

Amazon Echo is ideal if you just want to have a stationary Bluetooth speaker that doubles as an always-on, Siri-like personal assistant. It’ll provide you with room-filling audio that’s sufficient for casual listening but it gets sort of tinny when turned up too much. And if you’re connected to Wi-Fi, you can ask it all sorts of questions and get it to control your stuff.

Amazon Tap is supposed to do all of that, including provide a similar sound experience, but it’s ditched the cord and uses a charging cradle in order to be portable. But because it’s not always plugged into power, always-on Alexa isn’t available. You must push a mic button to access the service. Tap is therefore useful if you’re going to the beach or are always on the go.

As for Dot, just think of it as a little, always-on Alexa hub. It’s not a speaker but works with your speakers. Oddly, at launch, Amazon is only selling Dot through its voice assistant. So, you need a device with Alexa – such as Echo or the Fire TV – to buy one. You also need to be a Prime member. If that’s you, just say “Alexa, order Echo Dot”, and you’re good.

Facebook Messenger simplifies tune sharing with Spotify

Facebook’s Messenger already lets you hail Uber rides and talk to businesses, and now they’ve just added a new feature: Spotify integration. Instead of copying and pasting a Spotify link to your mates the old-fashioned way, you can now share your tunes right within Messenger itself. Hit the More tab, then Spotify and then select the songs you want to share. On the receiving end, if you get a Spotify link, you’ll see an “Open” link that’ll launch the app and the song straightaway. The feature should roll out to both iOS and Android apps starting today so get ready to bug your friends with your party mix.

Source: Messenger (Google Play Store), Messenger (App Store)

Watch an autonomous drone deftly avoid obstacles

Skydio, an aerial drone startup, recently released an impressive highlight reel of its first UAV nimbly avoiding obstacles as it followed a group of cyclists during their ride through Menlo Park, California. Unlike the new DJI Phantom 4, which will simply halt its forward progress and try to fly over an obstruction, Skydio’s unnamed prototype barrels right through them.

That’s easier said than done, however. “There’s essentially no margin for error,” Skydio CEO Adam Bry told MIT Tech Review. “You can’t stop and turn everything off, because if you do that, you crash. In fact, if anything goes wrong on any part of the system, the most likely outcome is that you crash.”

Skydio’s UAV pairs a forward facing camera with in-house developed vision-tracking software to prevent that from happening. This allows the drone to see, recognize and avoid obstacles in real time. These capabilities will be crucial as drones gain more autonomy and move into wider inspection and surveillance roles. While there’s no word on when Skydio’s prototype will actually make it to market, the year-old company has already raised $25 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Accel Partners.

Source: MIT Tech Review

On the Brink of Greatness: Senior Startup Challenge

Silicon Valley is a young, vibrant place that values youth as a commodity above all else, so what can it do for older people? Can technology offer something for the folks that aren’t scooting around on self-balancing skateboards? That’s the question Steve Goldbloom and his crew want to ask with this week’s episode of mockumentary On the Brink of Greatness. He’s taken representatives from five local startups to the Piedmont Gardens retirement community to face the wrath of a (toothless) shark tank.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ arrives on Blu-ray and DVD April 5th

After raking in over $2 billion in box offices around the world, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to take over your living room. The J.J. Abrams-directed film will be available as a digital HD purchase from the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and more on April 1st. If you’d rather secure a physical copy the movie will be available via a Blu-ray combo pack and DVD April 5th. As you might expect, there’s a load of behind-the-scenes content (sadly, digital extras “may vary by retailer”), including the making of the film, building BB-8, creating creatures and the music of John Williams. In fact, there’s a full-length documentary with footage and interviews on how The Force Awakens was made.

• Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey – For the first time, discover the complete story behind the making of The Force Awakens, revealed through in-depth footage and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers in this feature documentary.
• The Story Awakens: The Table Read – Cast members familiar and new reflect on the memorable day they all first came together to read the movie’s script.
• Building BB-8 – See how the filmmakers brought the newest droid to the screen, creating an instant fan favorite in the Star Wars universe.
• Crafting Creatures – Watch movie magic as the filmmakers bring a cast of new creatures to life.
• Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight – Go deeper into the epic, climactic lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren.
• John Williams: The Seventh Symphony – The legendary composer shares personal insights of his work on Star Wars and The Force Awakens.
• ILM: The Visual Magic of The Force – An insider’s look into the remarkable digital artistry of the movie’s visual effects.
• Force For Change – Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. See how the Star Wars: Force for Change initiative has united Star Wars fans all over the globe to help others.
• Plus Deleted Scenes

Amazon removes encryption support in latest Fire OS update

As Apple continues to battle the FBI in favor of device encryption, it appears that Amazon has quietly gone the other way. According to several owners of Amazon’s tablets, the latest Fire OS 5 update actually removes encryption support from its devices. That means that if you previously had your Fire device encrypted, the latest OS update will essentially break that encryption. So you can either stick with the current OS to remain encrypted but miss out on Android security updates, or you can update to OS 5 and risk your personal data being stolen. Neither of which are great options, and you can see a slew of customers complaining about it in Amazon’s support forums.

While Apple fights the good fight, @Amazon removes encryption as option from FireOS 5 | @csoghoian @normative @eff pic.twitter.com/nggBdtFG7j

— David Scovetta (@davidscovetta) March 3, 2016

It’s worth noting here that Amazon did actually file an amicus brief supporting Apple in its fight against the FBI. The company has also been very bullish in saying that its Amazon Echo products — which are always listening for certain keywords — have strong encryption. So it’s unusual to see the company essentially backtrack on its encryption efforts with the latest Fire OS update, especially as the rest of the tech industry rallies around Apple. We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this post if we hear more.

Update: Amazon has responded with the following statement:

In the fall when we released Fire OS 5, we removed some enterprise features that we found customers weren’t using. All Fire tablets’ communication with Amazon’s cloud meet our high standards for privacy and security including appropriate use of encryption.

Source: Motherboard

Researchers train monkeys to mind-control a wheelchair

A team of scientists at Duke University have developed a wheelchair that is controlled exclusively by the thoughts of its user — in this case, one of two lab monkeys — and have published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. The prototype system relies on an implanted Brain-Machine Interface (BMI), rather than the scalp-mounted EEG that similar devices use. The BMI, though more invasive, does allow for a higher degree of command with less lag. “We wanted to have something that is closer to the way we move for a human who is completely paralyzed,” study leader Dr. Miguel Nicolelis told Business Insider, “because you can control each movement continuously.”

Once the Duke team implanted the wireless control devices in their simian test subjects, they first passively recorded the monkeys’ brains waves while driving them around on the wheelchair. They used this data to create an algorithm that translates the monkeys’ intentions into electrical signals that drive the machine. From there, it was simply a matter of giving the monkeys control over the chair and letting them loose.

It took them less than a day to get the hang of driving and they quickly became proficient. When placed in a random location within the test room, the monkeys consistently managed to direct the wheelchair towards their reward: a bowl of fruit. The researchers hope that this technology can eventually be adapted for human use. First, however, the team must overcome their BMI’s 2-hour battery life.

Via: Business Insider

Source: Nature