LUSARAP

Certain requests for description simply cannot be fulfilled, like if someone asked you to describe Picassos Guernica or Gilliams Brazil. There is only one appropriate answer to such entreaties, and that is: "You just gotta see it." Thats where we are with the latest episode of Roadkill, wherein Messrs Freiburger and Finnegan dig out a 1968 Dodge Charger that Freiburger acquired in exchange for a set of cylinder heads, and intend to stuff it with the big-block motor from a long-bed, three-quarter ton Dodge pickup.

Only the pickup is too nice to tear apart, and the Charger needs a whole lot more lovin â€" and parts â€" than initially expected. Enter, stage right, the Class A Dodge Pace Arrow motorhome with a 440 big-block purchased for $1,000, and a retired Plymouth Fury from a previous episode.

What ensues over the course of the 40-minute installment is more cuttin, yankin, leakin, stallin, hammerin and smokin action than youve seen in a long time, and some techniques that would have made even Cooter wonder, "Im not sure if we should do that." By the end, though, the payoff is good enough to make you think about perusing AutoTrader for a 68 Charger just to see if maybe...

And still, we havent properly described it, so have a watch of the video below.

Sundays incident between a black Land Rover Range Rover Sport and a fleet of motorcycles in New York City has been a topic of conversation across the internet, particularly here at Autoblog, where you, our readers, have racked up over 175,000 views and over 600 comments - some of which were quite cross - as of this writing. When the story first surfaced, conflicting reports from outlets as varied as the Daily Mail and Fox News made it difficult to determine what was what. Now, though, theres becoming a common consensus of information, and we wanted to update you with what is known. Bear with us, theres a lot of info here.

33-year-old Alexian Lien was driving with his wife and two-year-old daughter in the familys Range Rover Sport when they encountered a group of motorcyclists on a loosely organized ride known as "Hollywood Stuntz." No one, police included, seem to be sure what happened before video started rolling, but when it did, we saw 28-year-old Christopher Cruz appear to brake-check the SUV, with Lien tapping the motorcycles rear wheel. This is where things begin to get murky.

Lien reportedly stopped after bumping Cruzs motorcycle, and according to New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, "They [the bikers] take their helmets and they start to dent his car, and apparently his tires are slashed with a knife." Fearing for his familys safety, Lien punched the gas, hitting three bikers â€" one of whom, contrary to yesterdays reports, was so seriously injured that if he survives, he may never walk again â€" and roaring off into the distance.

According to The New York Times, one of the bikers contradicted Commissioner Kellys report, saying, "No biker became aggressive with the driver after the incident." Allegedly, it wasnt until Lien took off that things turned violent.

Read the rest of the story and see the video below.

Instagram has added a new share option to its desktop website, allowing users to embed photos and videos around the web for the first time.


The company announced the update on Wednesday afternoon, and in doing so hopes to make content more visible beyond the standalone mobile app, Instagram.com website and Facebook and Tumblr where photos can already be shared easily.

The new Share button, which appears to the right of single photo pages (not within the timeline), beneath the like and comment buttons. Clicking it serves up an embed code which can be posted to blogs like Tumblr (beyond direct uploads) and on websites with content publishing software that allow media embedding.

Users arent limited to sharing their own photos, they can also publish those belonging to other users of the service.

In a blog post, Instagram says privacy settings still apply so if your photos are private then no-one will be able to post them around the web. However, if youre happy for your photos to be viewed within the app and not happy for them to potentially be plastered all over the web, you may want to think about setting that profile to private.

Unfortunately theres no middle ground. Your posts are either completely private and viewable onto to those you wish to see them, or theyre totally open to all and sundry.

The company wrote: "As always, you own your photos and videos, and we want to make sure that’s understood no matter where your content appears. Whether you want to embed your video on your blog or a friend wants to feature your photo on a website, everyone will clearly see that your content belongs to you. Your embedded photo or video appears with your Instagram username, and clicking on the Instagram logo will take people to your page on Instagram.com where they can discover more of your photos and videos."

The embed option has been present within Twitter and the newer Vine video app for some time, allowing content curators to showcase interesting items to their audience in a native form.

It seems the Facebook-owned Instagram is determined that there are no features offered by Vine that it cannot.

Update: After the Moto X was spotted in a video earlier today, the upcoming Motorola smartphone has also been papped being used by Eric Schmidt.
The Google chief executive was snapped using the unknown Motorola smartphone that looks exceedingly similar to the leaked rear shot of the Moto X that emerged earlier and can be seen below.



Whats new in the shot of Schmidt with the Moto X is the checkerboard effect on the rear of the smartphone.

It looks like the smartphones rear panel will be made from a solid, matte plastic rather than the shiny version adopted by smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 that cheapens the feel of the handset. 

Original Story:

The Moto X has been caught on video in the hands of a top Motorola executive showcasing the smartphone in the flesh for the first time.

The video was posted on Robert Scoble’s Google Plus account and was taken at an exclusive gathering organised by new Motorola employee Guy Kawasaki, previously thought to be the official launch of the Moto X before that rumour was debunked by Motorola.

In his video of the party he filmed using Google Glass, Scoble managed to catch the Moto X in the hands of the Senior Vice President for Product Management at Motorola, Rick Osterloh.

Now, while we only get a brief glimpse of the Moto X the smartphone seen does tally with the Moto X phone images leaked earlier this month that also showed the rear of the device.

It also looks to have the same curved rear back that is showcased in the latest leaked picture of a fully assembled Moto X that emerged today and is included below.

It has quite a large camera sensor, a flash and below that an embossed Motorola M logo. It also seems to have a rubberised matte finish on the rear, complementing the gloss plastic front panel of the device spotted in the Moto X Clear Pixel camera spec leak.

The Moto X is tipped to have a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768p resolution display, powered by a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU.

Potentially running a very close to stock version of Android 4.3, the Moto X is said to focus on innovative software features to separate it from competitors.

Motorola has already confirmed the existence of the Moto X, the company’s upcoming flagship, and has said it will be the “first smartphone that you can design yourself.”

As of yet we’re not quite sure what that means, but could provide users with a basis body smartphone akin to the Google Nexus 4 that they can then customise the case of.

An official video from Canadian network provider Rogers has prematurely revealed the Moto X release date and some of its major new features.


The Moto X release date has been set for next month, with the Motorola flagship touching down in August playing host to a whole range of voice command features.
The leaked video appears to show a number of unique Moto X features, including the ability to speak to the phone without touching it.

It looks to be an expansion of the existing Google Now function, but without the need to physically interact with your phone. It reveals that the Moto X will always be listening out for vocal prompts within its hands-free mode.

In the demonstration, a Rogers representative simply says "OK Google Now" before asking for todays weather forecast, and the Moto X at her side responds.

Apparently the Moto X is "ready to listen and respond," and it also "learns your voice" - a feature that Engadget has learned, through another leaked video, is set to be called Open Mic.

Another useful Moto X feature that this leaked video reveals is its ability to provide "active updates." Meant as an intelligent alternative to those dumb blinking notification lights, which dont tell you anything, the Moto X will subtly flash up the nature of the incoming notification without fully waking from sleep.

Finally, the video showcases the Moto Xs advanced sensor usage. Here, we see that you can activate the camera by holding the phone and twisting your wrist twice.

Its still no replacement for proper physical shutter button activation (as seen on Windows Phone devices), but it could prove easier to activate in a hurry than the current touch-driven solution favoured by Android manufacturers.

A new 12-minute Sony Xperia Z2 video has leaked online, revealing some of the new software and design tweaks.


The Xperia Z2 flagship is strongly expected to launch at MWC 2014 next week with some software improvements and slight design modifications.

The leaked video comes from YouTube user Rimas Flyil and is a lengthy 12-minutes long, but shows off the Z2’s Android 4.4 KitKat based UI and some of the hardware improvements.

Although the full video is embedded below, the first thing you’ll notice is the Z2’s design is very similar to that of the Sony Xperia Z1, but with a few cosmetic changes.

The left hand side ports have been covered by a single plastic door with a security latch at the bottom left hand corner rather than bottom right.

Sony has also equipped the Z2 with the same magnetic charging port as the Z1 and Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.

In terms of software, the video also reveals a PS4 inspired start up animation, live wallpaper and screen unlock.

The KitKat style notification bar icons have been introduced, as have new transparent UI gradients at the top and bottom of the home screen.

Similar to the iOS settings, the Z2 has a notifications manager in the Settings app allowing you to toggle notifications for individual apps.

Sony’s Lifeblog application is also present, but can’t be accessed with the prototype software.

The Japanese electronics giant has also taken some hints from rival companies LG and Samsung, with new features like a double-tap screen wake function and a smart backlight control to keep the screen glowing while you’re looking at it.

The Z2 features a Timeshift Video app that lets you “record high frame-rate video and apply slow motion effect”. 4K video recording is also supported and there’s a CamScanner mode for turning photographed documents into PDFs.

As previously rumoured, there’s a new 15.5-megapixel still capture mode, complementing the existing 20.7-megapixel and 8-megapixel modes.