Aston Martin’s Rapide sedan gets an electric version

If you could afford the US$200,000 Aston Martin Rapide sedan, you might want to consider investing in the electric version of said vehicle. Aston Martin just unveiled the RapidE concept (capital “E” for emphasis on the electric part). It looks similar to the petrol-powered Rapide but it is purely electric. A big chunk of the engineering work done to this car was facilitated by Williams (you know, of F1 fame). It’s expected to be ready for production in two years. Thanks in part to investment by Chinese VC firm ChinaEquity, the production of this car is possible. If plans push through, this concept will be built at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire in the United Kingdom.

Source: Aston Martin | Via: The Verge

Dyson buys battery firm Sakti3

With the latest acquisition by tech company Dyson, we can expect a boost in the battery life of its vacuum cleaners. Dyson just bought battery technology firm Sakti3 for US$90 million dollars. The manufacturing and technology firm previously invested $15 million into Sakti3. According to the company’s founder James Dyson, they plan to deliver new products using Sakti3 technology and build a battery production plant. The advanced solid-state battery technology is expected to be integrated within Dyson’s systems in a year or two.

Dyson and Sakti3 founder Ann Marie Sastry won’t say though if they plan to bring Sakti3’s technology into electric cars. Sakti3 previously claimed their batteries were twice as efficient as Tesla’s car batteries. Dyson isn’t ruling out licensing the technology to other companies. He said the batteries by Sakti3 don’t overheat like other liquid batteries and can charge “in a matter of minutes as opposed to a few hours.”

Source: USA Today

Facebook rolls out Instant Articles to all iOS users

We all know that Facebook as a social network and tech platform is one of the biggest in the world. They have been trying to host content directly on their app to keep users on their platform. One of their initiatives is the Instant Articles feature. It lets its users read full news articles right on the app. Facebook promises this loads articles faster than if you open the full story in a browser. The company has now officially rolled it out to all iOS users. There will be a lightning bolt located at the top right of the image to indicate it’s an Instant Article.

Facebook is also offering publishers the ability to add interactive features (like video, slideshows, geotagged images linked to a map) into these Instant Articles. With this wide rollout, Facebook added more partners to this project. You can read Instant Articles from the likes of The New York Times, National Geographic, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, MTV, Time, Rolling Stone, and many more.

Source: MacWorld

HERE gets share your routes feature

The HERE for Android app gets an update to help you let others know where you are and what routes you’ll be taking. Perhaps to ease the mind of people you’re meeting up with, for safety reasons to let them know where you are, or even to have them suggest alternate routes to take. With the Share button on the app, it shows everything from your destination ETA, the route you’re taking, and whether you’re travelling by car, or commute, or foot.

And for those who want something amusing to accompany them on a drive, Surfer Dude makes a comeback on Android (he’s already back on the HERE app for iOS). Now, you can have a chill and relaxing guide with you.

Source: HERE | Via: Android Community | Download: Google Play Store (Free)