Auctions could fetch big bucks for cloned dogs

When Lou Hawthorne met Mira, the clone of his dog Missy, he couldn't have been happier. The puppy was just like Missy--and in some ways better because she mirrored Missy in her younger, more playful days.

So BioArts International, Hawthorne's biotech startup that focuses on animal and human genomics, decided to spread the love.

Starting July 5, the highest bidders in five separate online auctions will win the opportunity to clone their own dogs.

Hawthorne, the company's CEO, said the event is the first step in making his Mill Valley, Calif.-based company's technology available to consumers.

That is, if buyers can afford the hefty price.

Each auction will run for 12 hours a day, starting at 11am PDT. The auctions will last through July 9 on live bidding Web site ProxiBid.com. The first auction has a starting bid of US$100,000, and that bid will increase by US$20,000 each day. Although the prices are high, Hawthorne said they would have to be considerably higher for the company to break even. Despite that fact, the company will also offer one lucky pet owner a free dog cloning.

The winners will submit DNA samples, and the company says it can guarantee a healthy cloned puppy within three to 12 months.
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Stickkey: Stick, pay and access

It's an egrips, cash card and RFID tag all rolled into a 51 x 27mm sticky patch. The stickkey from Fast Innovation Asia sticks on any smooth surfaces and doubles as an electronic wallet and card key. Imagine slapping the S$8.90 (US$6.38) stickkey on your mobile and a convenient "tap and go" affair of buying sodas and unlocking doors without fiddling with cumbersome coins and heavy keys.

The Singapore company is also offering a custom door-locking mechanism bundled with five free stickkey for S$400 (US$286.84). Programming is a simple two-step procedure, too, performed by first tapping a master key followed by another round of stickkey pairing. According to its spokesperson, talks are already underway with retailers and service providers such as SMRT in the e-commerce area.

On a separate note, there's the ewypes--a non-adhesive sticker with a microfiber surface designed for cleaning your gadget's screens. There're more to it than meets the eye, too. For example, it could be further deployed as a discreet adverting platform or protective layer for inbuilt camera lenses, too. Well, just think of it as a perfect complement for the stickkey to go with your mobile phone. Click for larger images:



More CommunicAsia 2008 coverage here.

Mazda shows off a concept SUV in Moscow

Over the last auto show season, Mazda demonstrated its new Nagare design direction with a whole series of concept cars, named Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze, Taiki, and Furai. Now the company is seeing how one of these low-slung cars would look at SUV height. The new concept SUV will be shown off at the Moscow Auto Salon from August 29 to September 7. Mazda chose a compact SUV concept for this show because SUVs are popular in Russia's growing car market. Mazda only released sketches of its concept. These sketches indicate a design close to the original Nagare concept, with a similarly low cabin and pointed hood. The flowing lines on the sketches body are in keeping with the previous concepts.

Via CNET Crave

Toyota to make plug-in hybrid by 2010

Toyota Motor plans to produce Lithium-ion batteries next year for a plug-in hybrid vehicle available in 2010.

The company last week said the plug-in hybrid will be "geared toward fleet customers in Japan, (the) United States, and Europe".

A joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic EV Energy plans to begin production of Lithium-ion batteries next year and move to full-scale production in 2010. Using the battery, Toyota plans to introduce a small electric vehicle for mass production.

Toyota's Prius, numbering a million sold, uses a nickel metal-hydride battery. Lithium-ion batteries, which are heavily used in consumer electronics, are being built into an upcoming generation of hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

Later in the month, Toyota plans to establish a research-and-development center for next-generation batteries that outperform Lithium-ion batteries.

The company, which also continues to invest in fuel cell vehicles, recently began a lease program in Japan.

Toyota also disclosed last week its plug-in hybrid production plans at a company-sponsored environmental forum in Tokyo, where it outlined its greenhouse gas reduction and clean-technology plans.

Via CNET Crave

BMW's shape-shifting car

If you've caught the latest Knight Rider series recently, you'd have noticed that K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Three Thousand) embraces nano technology which lets its outer shell change colors and morph into similar car forms temporarily. How cool is that? Now it seems the reel world has been made real. BMW's GINA Light Visionary Model, a two-seater concept car, wears a flexible, virtually seamless skin made of a textile fabric and stretched over a metal wire structure enforced with carbon fiber. What this does is to give the owner flexibility to change the shape of the car as he fancies, from within and without. All at the touch of a button. Just too bad this will sit in the research labs for another decade before BMW design chief Chris Bangle reckons such cool tech will hit the roads. By then, we may well have taken to the skies for our daily commute. Meanwhile, check Gina out in the YouTube video below.




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