cars
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By 2015, you could own an electric Batmobile
Rigid fuel efficiency standards and a willing auto industry offer promise that the electric Model T -- a car that will change the way the world drives -- is coming. But it'll probably look like the superhero car of the future.
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These trees on wheels double as wifi hotspots
It doesn’t seem fair that car-owning people can use parking spots (or rent them at extremely low rates) to store their cars, but the car-free don’t get to use them to store our stuff. We have 50 cents, and we live here too! Fortunately, Milanese designer Matteo Cibic has found an easy way for the […]
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Sidecar lets drivers rent out their empty backseat
In theory, Sidecar is about sharing. Here’s how it’s supposed to work: You’re headed downtown in your car, but before you leave you check your Sidecar app. A user a few blocks down is looking for a ride in the same direction. You swing by, pick her up, and drop her off. Everyone wins by […]
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Mayor Bloomberg uses a full-sized room A/C unit to cool his SUV
It really would be interesting to find out what moral calculus goes into Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s environmental decisions. It must go something like “I’m a big city mayor, working hard to draw down emissions on a municipal scale. Therefore, it is 100 percent justifiable that in my personal life, I fly regularly to the Bahamas […]
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Flock of 5,000 ducks stops traffic in city of 6 million people
Taizhou lies 190 miles south of Shanghai and has 6 million people, putting its size at “somewhere in between Los Angeles and New York City” on a U.S. scale and “just some town” on a Chinese one. One day recently, though, the streets were filled not with cars, scooters, or pedestrians, but with ducks. Thousands […]
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Smarter than a Smart car: A Smart e-bike
Quick, what’s smarter and cuter and more awesome than a Smart car? We’re going to go with a Smart bike, the tiny car’s even-tinier electric bike sibling. The bike’s won all kinds of design awards, and it’s no surprise. It actually still resembles a bike, instead of a cyborg bike with a tumor-looking motor attached, […]
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Bereaved husband sues NYPD for failing to investigate pedestrian death
Last summer, 28-year-old Clara Heyworth died while crossing the street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn — she was hit by a car piloted by an intoxicated driver who only had a learner’s permit. The NYPD never conducted an investigation, and the driver received only a violation for driving without a license. Today, Heyworth’s husband, Jacob Stevens, […]
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Honda Fit, most efficient car EVER, gets 118 MPG equivalent
In England, when you want to say that a guy or a gal is h-o-t-t HOT, you say “He/she is FIT!” And that is what we want to say about the 2013 Honda Fit EV. The Fit is FIT. F-i-t-t FIT! This car — this car! — according to the EPA, gets the fuel efficiency […]
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Read a prophetic Ray Bradbury story about car culture
Indelibly important science fiction author and giant of my childhood Ray Bradbury, who died last night, would probably never have described himself as writing about environmentalism — “A lot of lousy novels come from people who want to do good,” he said in an interview. But he did write about the relationship between humans and […]
