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Park it somewhere picturesque, unbolt the wheels, dispense with the dash and Kia's KV7 Concept Van would become a comfy little lounge-room retreat ... throw in a decent coffee machine and I'd move in. Unveiled at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show today, the KV7 was developed by Kia’s Southern California design team as a re-think of the segment that attempts to go beyond the notion of a van as simply an A-to-B family troop carrier. The design influences of Kia's recent offering like the Soul is clear, but what really grabs you about the KV7 is the interior – floating tabletop touch-screen computer display, four swiveling single-seats plus a three-seater corner mini-lounge, clever storage compartments, Wi-Fi connectivity and ... what every lounge-room needs ... a grand entrance courtesy of a long gullwing door and pillarless front door on the passenger side.  Read More

First achieving widespread use with the release of the Apple Macintosh in 1984, the humble computer mouse has reigned supreme as the digital pointing device of choice for more than 20 years. During this time it has seen off countless pretenders to the throne, as well as undergoing some useful (and otherwise) redesigns such as Apple's Magic Mouse, Microsoft's Arc, the 3D-Spheric-Mouse, the AirMouse and the Orbita. The latest product to take a shot at the title is the ErgoSlider Plus+, a device that looks like a padded wrist rest, but with a cylinder at the front that rolls and slides in a special groove to move the onscreen cursor.  Read More

The Automotive X PRIZE’s aim of inspiring a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles may be realized this year with one of the winning vehicles set to go into production. At the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, North Carolina’s Li-ion Motors, which took out the prize in the Alternative Side-by-Side sub-class of the competition with the Wave II, announced its intention to bring that electric car to the public this year alongside the Inizio, the world’s first all-American all-electric supercar.  Read More

Our publisher Mike ran into this device at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. It took him a good five minutes to work out what it was for. "This is fascinating," he thought to himself, "and it really needs to be written up for Gizmag. But certainly not by me." So I'm not sure whether to take it as a compliment or a measure of my character that he immediately sent the story my way ... anyway, in the interests of transparency, I wish to point out before we get started that the only chastity devices I have ever used have been my looks and my personality – and even those powerful tools haven't been very effective.  Read More

With a speed of 88.738 km/h (55.077 mph), the University of New South Wales’ Sunswift IVy has claimed the Guinness World Record for the fastest solar-powered vehicle. The record-beating run took place on January 7 at HMAS Albatross navy base airstrip in Nowra, Australia, and outdid the previous record-holder by more than 10 km/h (6.2 mph).  Read More

When Porsche promises a world premiere you expect something very special and as the curtain went up on the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) this morning, it delivered. The company has taken the drivetrain of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid and spliced it together with the silky lines of the 918 Spyder Concept to create the Porsche 918 RSR – a mid-engine coupé that puts out a remarkable 767 hp at peak using the combined forces of its direct injection V8 engine and electric motors on each of the front wheels.  Read More

I'm not a jewelery guy. Bling is not my thing, as evidenced by the fact that for the last two weeks my wedding band has been sitting behind the counter of a Nando's restaurant where I lost it, waiting to be picked up. But I'll admit this ring speaks to the spanner-wielding grease monkey within. It might just be the manliest piece of jewelery I've ever come across. Check out the video after the jump.  Read More

Put simply, the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic is a thing you can make to make your own things – automatically. It is a desktop 3D printer that comes in kit form and, once assembled, can then be plugged into a PC via USB to print 3D objects from your own 3D digital designs. While you won’t be able to print your own car or your own replacement organs, you will be able to churn out everything from a customized plastic chess set to an action figure of yourself.  Read More

As powerful and multi-functional as smartphones have become, Motorola is looking to go one step further with its ATRIX 4G. Powered by a Tegra dual-core processor with each core running at 1 GHz to deliver up to 2 GHz of processing power and 1 GB of RAM, the device is designed to act as the brains of a computer that can be taken with you. In addition to being what Motorola calls the “world’s most powerful smartphone,” the ATRIX 4G is also designed to slot into external docks that turn the device into the engine for a desktop or laptop PC.  Read More