It’s here finally, just before Tom Cruise’s next ‘Mission Impossible’ movie goes up later this year. BMW has unveiled their electrifying new cars at Frankfurt.

The BMW i family consists of only two cars at the moment – the i3 and the i8. The i3 is immediately recognisable as one of those city cars that seem to be such a popular idea these days – light, compact, fuel efficient, easy to park, seats four and has some kind of luggage area – 250 litres in this case. The i3 promises to travel up to 250 km on a single charge.

At the top of the range is the BMW i8 Concept, a 2+2 sports car that has evolved through the times since it was first unveiled in 2009 as the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept. Like the 2009 concept, the car continues to be powered by an electric motor and a combustion engine, now a 220hp, 300Nm 3-cylinder petrol instead of a turbodiesel.

BMW refers to these cars as part of the BMW i family, which is quite small at the moment – just two members. But like BMW’s regular series production cars which range from a 1 all the way up to a 7, not to mention all the X models, the company says there’s definitely room for new members to be introduced in the future. Read more…

If we consider the recent budget and bankruptcy debates of the U.S. government, this piece of news may not be that surprising, but it is a testament to the enormous stockpile of monetary resources Apple has at its disposal. According to Business Insider, the U.S. had an operating cash balance of $73.8 billion as of yesterday, while Apple’s war chest including cash and marketable securities is at $76.2 billion.

“In other words, the world’s largest tech company has more cash than the world’s largest sovereign government,” Business Insider wrote. Of course, there will be a question what Apple will do with its wealth – whether it will return some of the money to investors (unlikely), whether it will buy Barnes & Noble as pointed out by BGR (even less likely), whether it will invest it in its own resources to expand its business range to include more products such as TVs (likely) or simply let the money sit and use it when it needs to (also likely.)

In comparison, Microsoft currently has $58.8 billion in cash available, Google has about $39.1 billion in the bank, IBM $11.7 billion, HP $12.7 billion and AT&T $3.8 billion.

SOURCE via Business Insider

Captain America, the summer blockbuster movie based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, has officially had the largest opening weekend of any comic-based flick in 2011. Incidentally, it also knocked the latest Harry Potter flick, which opened one week before, out of first place.

Of course, like all superheroes nowadays, they’ll need some very cool rides. Batman has the Bat Mobile and also his Lamborghini Aventador. Spidey, well he rides in the air so that’s another story altogether. Befitting a man who is apparently the Captain of America, the film’s superhero finds himself atop the most quintessential of American motorcycles: Harley-Davidson.

Meant to be a modern interpretation of H-D’s classic WLA military motorcycles, Captain America’s custom machine started life as a stock Harley-Davidson Cross Bones model. Fitting, as the Cross Bones, with its spring-mounted solo saddle and springer fork, is arguably the most period-correct platform in H-D’s current line from which to begin.

Want to know more? Check out the video after the break, where Harley-Davidson breaks down the thought process that went into creating Captain America’s motorcycle. You’ll also see a few brief snippets with riding footage from the film.

One more thing: Click here for details on how to win your own customized Harley as part of a Captain America-themed promotional giveaway. Enjoy!

The wonders of iPlayer on the iPad are no longer Brits-only. As of today, iPad users in 11 other countries across Europe can subscribe to the service for €7 per month or €50 per year. That equates to $10 — just about living up to BBC’s promised maximum price. The subscription grants access to a wealth of TV classics, like Fawlty Towers and Only Fools & Horses, as well as unwitting comedies like EastEnders. Of course, the highly acclaim Top Gear is also available, for those who like cars and middle-aged men in pointy shoes with lame jokes. The app will allow for downloading as well as streaming, and marks a “pilot phase” for the service, which should hopefully reach the former colonial outpost of America before too long.

Skype 5.5 beta has been available for over a month, but those that prefer to play things safe can now download the final version of Skype 5.5 for Windows (and Windows only, at the moment). According to Skype, that version includes a number of additional updates based on user feedback, but the standout feature remains the deep Facebook integration, which will let you call and IM your friends, update your status, and engage in other Facebook-related activities. Skype is also promising “enhanced video call reliability,” and it’s made yet more design changes that promise to “improve your overall Skype experience.” You can judge that yourself by downloading the application at the link below.

SOURCE via Skype

Is this the next Motorola Atrix? Sporting a coincidentally similar design to its supposed predecessor, there’s only a few things we know about its specs so far: the mystery device offers an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video capture, HDMI connectivity, Moto’s new Blur UI replacement and a curved display similar to the Nexus S — though this time there’s no fingerprint scanner onboard. It looks and sounds great, but let’s just hope that this one really is the “world’s most powerful” smartphone.

Read more…

Nielsen’s just released a study confirming what some other studies have already concluded — that Android devices account for the single largest swath of smartphone users in the US, with 39 percent OS share as of the second quarter.

That compares with 28 percent for iOS, although Apple still reigns as the country’s top-selling device maker. Simply put, that’s a reflection of the fact that Apple is the only outfit churning out iOS devices, whereas a bevy of companies led by HTC, Motorola, and Samsung have helped make Android the dominant OS in the states. And let’s not forget about RIM, another hardware / software shop, which still commands a 20 percent chunk of the market. Rounding out the list, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile account for nine percent, largely thanks to sales of HTC handsets, while webOS and Symbian each eked out two percent.

Then again it’s worth noting that Nielsen based its results on a sample of roughly 20,000 people — all of whom are postpaid subscribers.

SOURCE via Nielsen