When you enter the dreamlike realm of the supercar, you’re not only paying for rubbernecking good looks and unrivalled exclusivity and status: you’re also paying for performance. British carmaker Ultima may just have put the world’s fastest accelerating car on the road with the Evolution. This thing is stupid fast. Just as a reference, know that the world’s current champion, the Ferrari LaFerrari does the 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds, and completes the 1/4 mile race in 9.7 seconds at 149.1mph. Most supercars hover around the 2.7s-2.9s range in their 0-60 times. But the Evolution? It gets to 60 mph (97 km/h) [in] 2.3 seconds, [and does] 0-100 mph (161 km/h) in 4.9 seconds, and 0-150 mph (241 km/h) in 8.9 seconds. The standing quarter mile (0.4 km) is reportedly achievable in 9.2 seconds, with the car hitting 156 mph (251 km/h)! That’s 0.5 seconds faster than the LaFerrari, which is huge!
Think about it: the Ultima Evolution reaches 150mph faster than some cars take to get to 60mph! It does this through a combination of a fuel-injected LS Chevrolet V8 engine, and a ridiculously low weight of just 950 kg (2,094 lb). Power options range from 350bph, to a blistering 1,020bph, which although lower than some competitors, is clearly more than enough given the car’s overall low weight.
There are lots of other things to say about this car, but you can read more on Gizmag’s article, linked below. And if you were hoping to get your hands on one, you’ll obviously have to pay, although not as much as you might imagine. Options start at £65,995 (about US$100,000), and we imagine go much, much higher than that for the top of the line models.
[ Manufacturer Website ] VIA [ Gizmag ]
Gamers familiar with the Ultima video game series have likely heard of its award-winning designer and creator, Richard “Lord British” Garriott. Garriott has launched his latest project, a new fantasy role-playing game called Shroud of the Avatar, and is seeking to fund development via Kickstarter. The game designer and his team want to reinvent the classic role-playing fantasy experience using state-of-the-art tools and technology.
Garriott promises that the game will focus on what made the Ultima series so popular by creating a world which allows the adventurer to explore and discover new places, and focusing on role-playing elements. Players will be able to choose the life of a homesteader within the safety of established villages and cities or on the wild frontier. Interestingly, the developers promise that players won’t be limited to the class of player they selected the beginning of the game.
Players will venture into a persistent shared world where real estate has real value. You’ll even have to pay taxes regularly on the homes you purchase. While you can get in on the digital download of the game for $30(USD), fans that spend enough money will be able to go tax-free, assuming they pledge enough money. The minimum cost for tax-free housing in the game is $500. Insanely, nine people have pledged $10,000 or more to the game already landing themselves Lord of the Manor status.
There's only so much kit you can cram into a sub-$200 tablet without pushing past the price ceiling. And for Google's Jelly Bean-blessed Nexus 7, corners were definitely cut, leaving users without a handy microSD slot for expansion and rear-facing camera. But where there's a will, there's the XDA and its community of developers to remedy the situation. As you can glimpse from the photo above, an enterprising forum member by the handle of c0m47053 devised an interesting workaround for the slate's lack of expandable storage and then some. Using the StickMount app available on the Play store, which allows users to mount/dismount mass storage devices, he was able to connect the ASUS-made tab to a USB hub and hook it up to a keyboard, mouse and, most amusingly of all, a floppy drive -- to play Ultima on DOSbox, of course. It goes without saying that a feat of this kind requires root access, but thankfully that's what Mountain View made the Nexuses for.
Filed under: Peripherals, Tablet PCs, Software
ULTIMAte hack: Nexus 7 hooks up with external USB storage, floppy drive for retro-gaming originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 22:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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