You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
His car was sent spinning skyward. Two tires, an engine and a cloud of other components found their way through the safety fence, injuring 28 spectators who were sitting trackside. When all was still, Kyle Larson's blue and white #32 Chevrolet Camaro was nearly ripped in half. This incident, which took place in the Nationwide race the day before the Daytona 500, plus NASCAR's seemingly knee-jerk actions to try and remove user-submitted footage of the crash from YouTube, painted for many the picture of a sport woefully ignorant of the times.
The truth, however, is rather different. The V8-powered machines that circle endlessly, fruitlessly on-track are built with a flagrant disregard for, and indeed a stubborn reluctance toward, modern technology. However, the organizing body that governs those cars and will host nearly 40 events spread over 10 months this year is anything but oblivious. In many ways NASCAR is the most technologically progressive motorsport body on the planet.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Despite adopting new hardware like the Gen-6 car, NASCAR has been reluctant to embrace the high tech when it comes to other facets of the sport. In the latest issue of our tablet mag, we visit Daytona to take a look at the split between history and progress that dominates the sport spawned by bootleggers. Before the checkered flag waves, Eyes-On has a glance at the Wacom Intuos5 touch, Brad Molen wraps up a month with the BlackBerry Z10 and IRL returns with a look at our personal wares. Buckle those seat belts, and head to the repository of your choosing to snag a copy for your slate.
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Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile
Source: iTunes, Google Play, Windows Store
If you've ever been in the cockpit of a race car you know that there's not a lot of room to maneuver in there -- even if you're hustling around one of the oversized sedans colloquially referred to as "stock cars." So, when Toyota Racing Development engineers developed a Windows 7 application called TRD Race Strategy for use among their NASCAR-affiliated teams, they had a bit of a problem. Even when it was installed on a slinky Ultrabook, drivers had to climb out of the car if they wanted to use the app to look at timing data and punch in handling issues. When you're wearing a six-point harness plus various connections for cooling, drinks and communications, getting in and out can be a bit of a hassle.
Enter Windows 8 and a new generation of tablet PCs that, conveniently, drivers can hand in and out of the cockpit without even taking off the window nets. With some help from Microsoft, TRD has ported the app to Win 8 and RT and have begun using the Surface with Windows RT, allowing drivers to tap away at problem corners and analyze their lap times without unbuckling. Sadly, though, they're not allowed to see much else, as NASCAR bans nearly all forms of telemetry -- and, just about anything else resembling modern technology. RAB Racing, a Nationwide Series entrant, is the first team to deploy this system in the pits, but we'd expect to see this app making a trip to the Sprint Cup big leagues next year. First fuel injection, now tablets in NASCAR. What's next, independent rear suspension?
Source: Microsoft
Given #thescope with which Twitter has #invadedpopularculture, it may come as a shock to realize that the company hasn't really ventured too far into the world of television advertising -- but then, it seems that it's been doing a pretty good job getting enough #freeadvertising as is. Clearly the folks at Twitter saw an untapped resource in the form of the #NASCAR audience, using the weekend's race to launch its first TV #adcampaign, revolving around fittingly pithy spots capped off with the TWITTER.COM/#NASCAR URL, which redirects to a landing page for the weekend's festivities. Relive the #thrilloftherace with a slew of Twitter ads #afterthebreak.
Twitter airs first TV spot during NASCAR, implores racing fans to discover the magic of hashtags originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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