Light Start – BMW’s Spyder and HUD, Chev’s Bolt, and Apple’s app holiday
Brett Venter
BMW’s CES 2016 i8 Spyder concept is what daydreams are made of
If you’re any kind of BMW fan, and we know that the company has their fans in South Africa, then you’re going to want to check out the BMW i8 Spyder concept that BMW have cooked up for CES 2016. It’s not so much a car as it is a showcase of upcoming vehicle technology, though it’s been packaged in a doorless car that looks like it would be a dream to drive. Until you took a corner too sharply. But on the inside… oh, there’s a revised instrument cluster, a 21-inch display which is used to control… everything and then gesture control that will allow you to control features by waving a hand is just the start. Odds are good that we’re going to see this implemented sooner rather than later. BMW’s tech looks… just about ready.
Beemer also have some new concept motorcycle helmets coming to make your wallet cry
From one concept to another. In addition to that Spyder that we’ll never drive, BMW’s Motorrad division also have a K 1600 HTL concept bike on show. But we’re less excited by the too-expensive-for-implementation laser-light than we are by their heads-up-display helmet, which will be able to show riders GPS, traffic or vehicle info in a little eyepiece that looks like a scouter from Dragon Ball Z. Someone better do a green mod of the clear overlay – just Saiyan. Users will be able to control the helmet with the handbars of a BMW bike and the display will be battery-powered. Five hours is the limit for now. Sadly, we don’t have a launch date as a consumer version of this tech from BMW is still a few years away. One day we’ll know the power-level of that bastard on the Ducati on the Harties run.
Chevy have taken the wraps off the production 2017 Bolt EV
If you’re working on a slightly smaller budget than that afforded by German engineering, then Chevy’s upcoming Bolt might be more your speed. The vehicle, which was unveiled at CES yesterday, will set prospective drivers back less than $40,000 (R640,000 – stupid exchange rate) but that’s still not bad for an electric vehicle with a 320km range. It represents one of the first EVs to hit the market priced in a way that will allow widespread adoption by people without a massive trust-fund. There’s a more final price coming but we’re likely still waiting on this one. We don’t have that pesky charging infrastructure just yet. Pity.
For most people the holiday season represents losing some things and finding others. You’ll lose a lot of money, on presents and so on, and you’ll locate a few kilograms that you thought you’d lost. Just us? Damn. But Apple… they’ve mostly found things. In the two weeks over the festive season ending on 3 January the company’s App Store found some money. To the tune of about $1.1 billion, which is a lot of vouchers bought from the till at Pick N Pay. That’s also a new record for Apple for app sales. On 1 January 2016 alone they sold apps worth $144 million. The Apple App Store, in the year of 2015, brought in $20 billion on its own – something that is only possible thanks to the widespread iPhone and iPad. We’d quite cheerfully take a single day’s takings from the App Store and then retire for life. How about it, Apple? Can we borrow the App Store for a day?
