If the Tesla Roadster has proven anything other than the disruptive effects of a hyper-inflated ego, it's that well designed eco-vehicles will sell... at any price. Yet the general design theme amongst hybrid builders appears to be your grandfather's loafer. Honda too, just look at the FCX Clarity. So we're pretty stoked to see Honda roll out its FC Sport concept three-seater (driver front-and-center) at the LA Auto Show using the same V-Flow fuel cell stack and electric drivetrain found in the FCX Clarity. Only thing is, it's a non-functional concept with little hope of hitting the market anytime soon if history serves. Good news for GM but bad news for consumers. As a wise man of consumer electronics once said:

"You know how you see a show car, and it's really cool, and then four years later you see the production car, and it sucks? And you go, What happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory! What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, 'Nah, we can't do that. That's impossible.' And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, 'We can't build that!' And it gets a lot worse."

Or to paraphrase: It's like asking for a Big Mac and getting a fish sandwich.

Read -- Parable of the Concept Car
Read -- FC Sport

We can think of exactly one reason Samsung still won't dish out a price on its completely mind-melting 256GB FlashSSD: because those that have to know, can't afford. The drive, which was announced way back in May of the year two-thousand and eight, doubles the performance rates of the firm's 64GB and 128GB SSDs. More specifically, we're looking at sequential read rates of 220MB/sec and sequential write rates of 200MB/sec, and in layman's terms, it's quick enough to store 25 HD movies in 21 minutes and open basic applications 10 times faster than the quickest 7,200RPM notebook drive. In other words, you want.

We heard yesterday that Telia customers might be getting an MMS app for their iPhones, and that it was being developed by the carrier themselves, with plans to launch in the next two months. Well, today we've gotten word that Mobispine is likely the developer of said application, and that they have plans to offer it to carriers all over planet Earth. Mobispine says that the app will be branded to each particular operator, and distributed via Apple's App Store, but we don't know when all of this is going to go down. Now we'd just like to meet the caveman owner of the iPhone pictured above who needed to be told (on November 15th!) that "Obama will be our next president."

[Thanks, Mike]

By now most of us have heard this story in one fashion or another: when Steve Jobs and Apple were in the planning stages of the iPhone, the first carrier they brought the device to America's largest network, Verizon. Even if you haven't heard how the tale ends -- Verizon refused and Jobs took his multi-billion dollar ball to AT&T -- you surely know the outcome. The iPhone has soared to become the ultimate smartphone, the must-have accessory that everyone from celebrities to your mom wants -- nay, needs -- to have in their pocket. It's changed the landscape of modern cellphones, put a serious dent in the sales of competing devices (just recently overtaking the venerable RAZR as the best-selling domestic handset), and unquestionably raised the bar when it comes to expectations for features in new handsets.

It may seem unfair to open up the review of RIM's latest BlackBerry -- the Storm -- with a history lesson on the iPhone, but if you understand the market which Verizon and RIM hope to capture, then you understand the Storm, and it helps put this critique in perspective. The Storm, a widescreen, touchscreen, device boasts many of the same features as the iPhone, but adds innovations like a clickable display, and comes packed with RIM's legendary email and messaging services. Mainlined into the biggest (and some say best) network in the States, the Storm is an almost deafening blast to the competition at first glance, but does it hold up on closer inspection? Read on to find out.

There's just nothing like the holiday season, folks. That warm, fuzzy feeling you get when spending your last dollar on a gift for someone you aren't even that fond of -- really, what else can compare? On second thought, maybe this can. Microsoft has just announced that, beginning today, Zune Pass users will be able to select ten tracks per month to keep forever (and ever, and ever), and the $14.99 monthly subscription rate isn't headed up. Agreements have been miraculously nailed down between Microsoft and EMI Music, Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, not to mention a number of independent distributors. We must say, we certainly appreciate the gesture here, but is it enough to make fencesitters buy in? What say you?

For home theater junkies who've been having a difficult time taking the Apple TV seriously, you should definitely have a look at what the latest software update brings to the dinner table. First off, we should warn you that any non-Apple TV software (like, you know, Boxee) will be banished should you choose to update, but if you're kosher on that front, we'll continue on. Apple's changelog notes that AirTunes streaming is now enabled, meaning that tunes can be streamed from the STB to AirPort Express speakers or other ATV units nearby. Additionally, the box can now learn other remotes, meaning that you can probably get your universal remote to handle this bugger, too. The last big addition is that Playlists in iTunes can now be seen on Apple TV, and there's also support for volume control in Music. Grab the download from within your box now if you dare, and feel free to chime in with any other noteworthy changes you happen upon.

[Via TUAW]

Jealous your almost instantly-obsolete Eee PC doesn't have that speedy new SSD with integrated controller ASUS is using in newer models? Well, Runcore's got you covered -- it's just launched a line of MLC SSDs with similar integrated controllers that offer 70Mbps read and 50Mbps write speeds. Even better, they're pretty damn cheap: just $70 for 16GB, $199 for 64GB, and a slightly less cheap $389 for 128GB. Sadly, they're mini-PCIe, so you probably can't go sticking them in your daily driver machine for a little speed boost, but you can't have it all, Chico.

Creative's Vado pocket cam hasn't been nearly as popular as the various Flips or the Kodak Zi6, but it looks like the company is taking another shot at it -- hot on the heels of the Flip Mino HD's introduction, we're seeing hints that a Vado HD is on the way as well. All we know so far is the S$299 (US$195) pricetag printed in Creative's Singapore holiday catalog, but the short HD videos posted by a user named "Vado" on Vimeo look nice enough. Check 'em after the break -- hopefully we'll find out more soon.

Oh sure, you could select Dell's multitouch-enabled Latitude XT over HP's latest, but given the $1,829 starting price of the former, we'd say the TouchSmart tx2z is looking a lot more delectable these days. Hailed as the first multitouch "consumer" convertible tablet (a claim that's certainly open for debate), the 12.1-inch tx2 gets going at just $1,149.99, though HP's "recommended" configuration starts at $1,223.99. The baseline setup includes Vista Home Premium, a 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics set, 250GB of HDD space and a built-in webcam. As of now, the estimated build date shows December 8th, so we'd get that order in five minutes ago if you're looking to ensure a holiday delivery.

You've been adequately teased with what all USB 3.0 (or SuperSpeed USB, as we tend to refer to it) can do, but a gaggle of companies took the chance in San Jose, California to really demonstrate just how quick the protocol is. Most notable was the demo by Synopsys, which prototyped an HDTV video transmission system based on USB 3.0 and showed to wide-mouthed onlookers that an uncompressed 1080p feed at 30 frames-per-second could be whisked along at around 450Mbps. Sure, USB 3.0 has wireless HD to watch out for, but given that said technology is currently on track for an August 2298 release, it could really do some tethered damage in the meanwhile.