Honda has begun taking orders for its new jet aircraft that they claim will revolutionize the private jet industry. Production is slated for a 2010 start with an expected output of 70 jets per year. However, Honda will be evaluating the popularity of its new jet, and will adjust volume levels as needed.

At a starting price of $3.65 million, we’re sure they will prove a hot-seller. It also helps that the HondaJet is the fastest and most fuel efficient aircraft in its class, capable of cruising at 420knots (483mph) with a range of 1180 nautical miles (1358 miles). Part of its performance is due to its unique over-the-wing engine mount configuration, which reduces aerodynamic drag at high speeds.

Power comes from two GE-Honda HF120 turbofan engines, with each delivering 1880 pounds of thrust during takeoff. We just hope this doesn’t make Honda change its tagline to “Born from jets,” though they do have more of a right to the phrase than Saab vehicles, which seem to be mostly born from Chevrolets.

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from motorauthority
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If you haven’t heard of a Triple Play yet — you know, where some service provider tries to shove TV, internet and phone service onto one pretty little contract for supposed cost savings and convenience to you — then we applaud you for your apparent skill at avoiding the incessant advertising of such services from the major media companies. Unfortunately, it seems the US Patent Office possesses just such a skill, since they’ve granted a patent to Cisco Technology for the concept of “providing integrated voice, video, and data content in an integrated service.” Now, Cisco did apply for this patent way back in 2000, before the idea had quite gotten so pervasive, but we’re still a bit miffed that something this common-sensical can be patented at all. No word yet on what Cisco plans to do with the patent, but there are a whole lot of “infringing” services out there that they could potentially go after if the mood strikes. Luckily, Cisco has some pretty neat ideas of their own for a Triple Play network offering listed in the patent, so we’ll remain cautiously optimistic — safe underground, of course, in our tin-foil shielded bunker.

[Via Slashdot]
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from engadget

Amuse friends and confuse toddlers with this bizarre Lamp/Lamp design. Cool if you plug it in “correctly”, potentially dangerous if you plug it in “incorrectly”.

On a similar note, we’d like to see someone mod a Toyota Camry and flip everything around, putting the steering column in the back right seat so it looks like you’re driving in reverse. – Jason Chen

Design Site [via Seihin World]
from gizmodo

No model number here or anything, that would be way to convenient, and we’re pretty sure we’ve seen this OEM look before, but Korea’s Wolf-N-Fox is busting out a new Core 2 Duo lapster, and we though we’d let you know all the same. The 15.4-inch laptop sports a WSXGA+ resolution (1,680 x 1,050), and runs a 1.66Ghz C2D T5500 processor, with 1GB of RAM, an 80GB HDD, CD-R/DVD combo drive and Intel 945GM graphics to round out the specs. It’s a reasonably sized unit, at 1.3 inches thick and 5.7 pounds, especially considering the disc drive is swappable for an extra HDD if it strikes your fancy. Price isn’t too bad either, at around $1150 US.

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from engadget

In addition to that 4GB SDHC card announced earlier, Transcend is also slipping us a big ol’ USB flash drive today. Their 16GB JetFlash drive shares the stylings of their 8-gigger but doubles the capacity and increases read/write times to an impressive 25/20MB/s. Yeah, as usual, Transcend is not the first to reach 16GB, but at least they’ve arrived. Well almost anyway, ’cause without a ship date or knowing if this drive will sneak in for under a grand we just don’t know how to feel right about now. Why you gotta treat us that way Transcend, why?

[Via Impress]
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from engadget

If we recall correctly, the last time we attempted a romantic romp with our laptop in a picturesque field of flowers and greenery, we got some killer allergies and ended up tripping over some hidden crap in the grass and busting up our computer — but we’re willing to give it all another go for a chance to hang out with these sexy new A1 and C1 XNote ultraportables from LG. We’re unfortunately short on details, but both laptops sport 1.2GHz Core Duo processors, 64MB GeForce 7300 Go graphics, 10.6-inch 1,366 x 768 displays (with some swivel action on the C1), along with WiBro, HSDPA and DMB. The C1 version on the left weighs a mere 2.8 pounds, and does the Tablet PC, swivel screen thing, while the A1 goes for uber-svelte at 2.2 pounds. There’s no info on anything crazy like price or availability, but now that these are out in the open, LG better not be keeping their ultralight goodness — with a yummy, WWAN/DTV center — away from us for long.

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from engadget

If you’ve got a svelte new in-dash LCD with reverse assist, or even the VideoMirror aiding your less-than-admirable backing skills, neither of those will do you much good if your precious bumper gets marred by someone else. Assisting lawyers and victims alike in making accident cases an exercise in simplicity, Fujitsu Ten (more commonly referred to as Eclipse) is unveiling the DREC1000 Consumer Drive Recorder. Similar in function to TruScene’s TS-1L, this in-car sentry keeps a keen eye on your vehicle’s surroundings, and if sudden braking / acceleration is detected, a 20 second video clip (complete with the bevy of expletives you’re likely to spew) is recorded onto a 128MB CF card for YouTube insurance purposes. The sensor box also reacts to jolts and sudden changes in driving patterns, activating the wide-angle CCD camera to capture the moments before and after a presumed incident; clips can be manually captured as well, and the device can hold up to 15 segments before the CF card reaches capacity or your vehicle is completely demolished. While Â¥59,850 ($501) may seem a tad steep for continuous monitoring of your Volkswagen minivan, the gifted few sporting a Rolls Royce or Tesla Roadster may see things a bit differently.

[Via Far East Gizmos]
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from engadget