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| Shades of danger |
Women drivers are being warned not to wear fashionably over-sized sunglasses when driving because they can increase the risk of having an accident.
A study carried out in the UK found that big shades with wide arms and dark tints as favoured by celebrities including Nicole Richie, Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton can limit visibility when driving.
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| W@'s in a name? |
A Chinese couple have caused outrage among traditionalists of their national language by naming their son @. Although Chinese has no alphabet and uses instead tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words, the @ symbol is now just as familiar to email users in China as it is in the English-speaking world, much to the irritation of the traditionalists.
In Chinese, @ is sounded phonetically as the English word, which to Mandarin speakers sounds similar to the phrase 'ai tai', meaning 'love him'. |
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| Don't drive legless |
A Japanese motorcyclist hit the central barrier while negotiating a bend in a Tokyo street, but recovered and drove on for 2km before realising that his right leg had been severed in the accident and had been left behind at the scene.
The 54-year-old office worker was riding with a group of friends, one of whom stopped when he saw the crash and retrieved the missing limb. The man and his leg were taken to hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision and could not be reattached. |
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| Wwwacky website |
If you dream of driving through Springfield with Homer or hanging out with Bart, but know you can't because you're just not yellow enough, go to www.simpsonsmovie.com .
There you can create a version of yourself as a yellow-skinned, blue-haired Simpson-alike and then go on a tour of Springfield and see yourself in all the familiar haunts - ordering a Duff beer at Moe's tavern, shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart or cooking with Marge in the kitchen. But there's no need to restrict yourself to Springfield - email your Simpsons self to a friend, or copy and paste the code and you can even put your avatar onto your MySpace page or blog, unless you don't have one of course.
Doh! |
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Volume 12.09
September 2007 |
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Hello Welcome to the September issue of Fleettorque, brought to you by Fleetcare!
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Mini Clubman |
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 The new Mini Clubman wagon - a modern-day interpretation of the original classic from the 1960s and '70s - has finally been unveiled.
Although it has more space for the driver, passengers and luggage than the regular Mini hatchback, the Clubman is aimed at style-conscious young drivers rather than families. Apart from its distinctive blocky styling and authentic trim, the Clubman's most notable feature is its single 'Clubdoor' - or 'suicide door' - to the back, which is rear-hinged on the passenger side for left-hand-drive models, to help passengers to climb in and out. Oddly though, the door isn't switching sides for right-hand-drive models, which means that using it would potentially cause passengers to step out into the road rather than onto the pavement. Twin doors to the Clubman's elongated boot though mean that a mountain bike can be stowed in comfort in the back.
The Clubman will arrive here next year with a choice of Cooper and Cooper S models, and either six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Prices will be higher than the equivalent two-door Minis, with the Cooper set at around $35,000 and the Cooper S about the $45,000 mark. |
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Dummy feels the heat |
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 If you can't stand the heat... but unfortunately, these drivers have to stay put whatever the temperature. They're the new high-tech, heat-sensitive crash test dummies being used at Mercedes' climate tunnel in Germany.
The tunnel is cleverly devised to recreate all types of weather, from an arctic winter to the heat of the tropics. The dummies sit inside the vehicles and send back information on temperature recorded by more than 100 sensors fitted to their bodies. The data is then used to refine vehicle heating and air-con systems to make sure that human drivers keep their cool at the wheel when the vehicles finally hit the road. |
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Paper power |
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 Cars could soon be running on reams of paper batteries. Yes, even this tiny scrap of a brand new paper battery material generates 2.3 volts - enough energy to illuminate a small light.
The paper battery contains carbon nanotubes, each about one millionth of a centimetre thick, which act as an electrode. The nanotubes are embedded in a sheet of paper soaked in ionic liquid electrolytes, which conduct the electricity and is so flexible that it works even if it is rolled up, folded or cut. Stacking sheets together increases the voltage, while tearing sheets in half, cuts the power by 50%.
The new material could have endless uses - because it consists mainly of paper and carbon it could even power heart pacemakers. However, the new battery is still some way from the commercial market, mainly due to the cost of production, although the idea certainly looks good on paper. |
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Watchful eye |
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 Worried parents of teenage drivers can now keep an eye on where, when and how fast their child has been driving.
SpeedAlert is an innovative GPS-based software package that stores data picked up by a mobile phone or PDA installed in the car when a young driver is at the wheel, which can later be read by the parent. SpeedAlert also acts as a handy reminder for kids to behave themselves - it can be set to chime in the car when a speed limit is about to be broken, or when the car is being driven out of a pre-set area.
Currently, the SpeedAlert system only recognisees speed limits for the Sydney metropolitan area, but the Melbourne and Brisbane are to be added by October. SpeedAlert is priced at $120 - for more information, go to www.speedalert.com.au . |
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P... artist |
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 UK art and design student Jack Kirby put his hobby and his artistic talents together to enter a competition run by Budweiser and this is the result - a Ford Mustang made from 5,000 beer cans. It won the top prize - of course, a real 1965 Mustang.
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