Light Start – Toyota Setsuna, Game Boy Pi, iPhone SE sales, and Volvo drives to China

Got wood? Toyota’s Setsuna concept will be demoed at Milan Design Week

We’re all for unusual vehicles but Toyota’s Setsuna concept, which will be getting an official reveal at the Milan Design Week next week, is something else. Something… wooden. There’s an antique feel about the constructed-from-dead-trees two-seater that makes us think of the advent of motor vehicles. A good thing too, as Toyota have built Setsuna with longevity in mind. Of a sort. In order for the Setsuna to really last (and yes, it runs on the road) it would require proper care, of the sort that really old-school car owners lavish on their vehicles, every weekend. It’s a concept car, though, and Toyota have pointed out that the Japanese cedar, birch, zelkova, and castor aralia car isn’t actually road legal. Still, we can clearly picture piloting it through a forest while laughing maniacally at all the panicking trees – we might need psychological help.

Creating a custom Game Boy using a Raspberry Pi

The original Nintendo Game Boy was once the stuff of dreams. The domain of those who could afford its mono-screen (and there weren’t many, in our experience), now it’s within reach of anyone with a PC, through emulators. But it can also be made at home, and even improved. Like this custom Game Boy, which was made with the assistance of a Raspberry Pi Zero, with oversized buttons, a new rechargeable battery and a microSD reader being thrown into the device’s lap. As well as an extra emulator, meaning that this Game Boy Zero can also play SNES and SEGA Genesis titles as well as the original Game Boy games. We wonder if wermy is taking build orders…

Source: wermy (YouTube)

Apple’s iPhone SE is getting very hard to find in the States

Uh-oh, we’ve seen this before. Except it’s not really a reason to worry, unless you’re the kind of customer who has to have their stuff right-FREAKING-NOW, DAMMIT! Even then, it’s a good problem for Apple to have. The fruit company is reportedly having trouble keeping their cut-down iPhone 6S in the iPhone 5S frame in stock. Reports are claiming that the iPhone SE is getting difficult to locate in stores around the US, while shipping dates for the phones are extended to about two weeks – that’s a long time for Apple. The iPhone SE isn’t impossible to find, of course, but this does point towards the company having another big year. And they’re doing it by, almost, taking a couple of steps backwards. We can’t wait for September, at this point, just to see what happens then.

Source: via The Next Web

Volvo is road-testing 100 self-driving vehicles in China

In the future, nobody will drive cars. Even the race-track will feature self-driving vehicles. We’ll just be passengers. Don’t believe us? Fine, but then Volvo are probably wasting their time by sending 100 self-driving vehicles to get some actual road time in China. The company made the announcement this week in Beijing, but they’re clearing a few other hurdles first. Their initial road-tests will be taking place next year, on public roads in Sweden, before the cars take to the road in China. Volvo are going all-in on self-driving cars, a move that is part of their goal to severely limit accidents caused by or involving Volvo vehicles by 2020. Ambitious, to be sure, but their heart’s in the right place. And the company might just pull it off.

Source: via The Verge