The Blue Oval chose to debut the 2007 Expedition at this year's Houston Auto Show. While there's nothing timid about Ford's biggest bruiser, Ford's quiet unveiling will likely be seen by some as a reaction to the increasing scorn (and decreasing sales) beleaguering the full-size SUV market.
Now available in two lengths, Gigantic (standard) and Leviathan (EL--stretched a further 14.8"), the Expedition effectively replaces the big-daddy Excursion.
CHASSIS Wheelbase: 119.0 in. (EL 131.0 in.) Height: 77.2 in. (EL 77.7 in.) Length: 206.5 in. (EL 221.3 in.) Max width: 78.8 in. Brakes: Four-wheel power disc brakes with (ABS) and AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll Stability Control)
SUSPENSION Front: Double wishbone short- and long-arms (SLA) architecture with coil-over, gas filled shocks Rear: Multi-link independent
WHEELS AND TIRES XLT: P265/70R17 A/S BSW tires/17 in. painted aluminum wheels P265/70R17 A/T OWL tires/17 in. machined aluminum wheels Eddie Bauer: P265/70R17 A/S OWL tires/17 in. aluminum wheels P255/70R18 A/S OWL tires/18 in. machined aluminum wheels Limited: P255/70R18 A/S OWL tires/18 in. machined aluminum wheels Optional 20 in. chrome clad aluminum wheels
CAPACITIES Seating Capacity: 5-9 Curb weight (2WD): 5,578 lbs. (EL 5,928 lbs.) Cargo volume behind front row: 108.2 cu. ft. (EL 130.8 cu. ft.) Cargo volume behind second row: 54.9 cu. ft. (EL 85.5 cu. ft.) Maximum payload: 1,800 lbs. (EL 1,700 lbs.) Maximum towing capacity: 9,100 lbs.
What's coming up this year? Over at bit-tech they take a look at the 10 most anticipated games on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS2. It's a controversial, yet drool-worthy list. Other noticeable absentees were games S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Final Fantasy XII, Okami, The Legend of Zelda and Elder Scrolls IV (nevermind Alan Wake -Ed). And that's before we even considering the new stuff being developed for PSP and Nintendo DS.
Game developer Midway revealed in a job posting that they were looking for a designer for a next-gen first person shooter using the ultra powerful Unreal Engine 3. The game is being developed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo's Revolution! Claims of the Revolution being 2-3 times as powerful as the Gamecube still means it'll be one powerful little box.
Middleware packages, especially ones like Unreal Engine 3 that have a large PC client base, are designed to be scalable. So sure it will run on the Revolution, but don't expect it to have the eye candy turned up to 11.
The guys at Corsair have put together a pretty good guide to building your own high performance system.
Here's a quick quote: "Keep in mind, when you’re doing this yourself, you’re going to want to take baby steps to find your maximum overclock. I jumped 19 Mhz in one go, but a lot of people go 5 Mhz at a time and test, then another 5 Mhz and test. When I overclock my home system, that’s what I do. For this example, for the case of brevity, I jumped right to 219 Mhz."
Research firm iSuppli has determined that each Intel-based iMac costs Apple $873 to build (excluding keyboard and mouse):
iSuppli's teardown of the new iMac revealed that Apple also is using Intel's mobile 945 core-logic chipset to support the Core Duo microprocessor, said iSuppli, which estimated the cost of the microprocessor at US$265 and the two-device chipset at US$45. Together, the Intel microprocessor and Mobile 945 chipset account for 35 percent of the new iMac's total BOM, according to Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and senior analyst for iSuppli.
The Intel chips in the iMac are designed for use in notebook PCs, rather than desktops, noted iSuppli, adding that it believes Apple's decision to use Intel's notebook-oriented solution in its desktop iMac was a logical move.
Currently iMacs, starting at $1,299 for a 17-inch version with a 1.83 GHz processor, 160GB hard drive and 512MB RAM. A 20-inch version with 2.0 GHz processor and a 250GB drive is $1,699.
AVWeb reports that two flying trikes from Air Creation are now certified as Special Light Sport Aircraft. The Air Creation Tanarg and GTE 912 can be flown with any one of four wings. The two-seat Tanarg, shown here, is the latest version. The Air Trike website has pictures of the unique craft in action.
At the beginning of 2005, AMD was shipping just 16.9% of all processors, so this increase is fairly marked. In the fourth quarter of last year, AMD shipped 21.4% of all the processors going into the market, marking only the second time it's ever taken more than a 20% share. AMD has suggested that large gains for the Opteron line of chips has really helped the cause. After struggling with thermals in Intel chips, system admins have been flocking to dual-core, 64-bit Opterons to give them high performance and manageable power requirements.
Ars Technica says: "AMD is reporting that some governmental agencies are now buying the company's chips, after dropping Intel-only purchasing deals in the wake of the anti-trust lawsuit AMD has filed against Intel. However, gains as a direct result of the lawsuit have not yet spread to the broader market."
The soaps are all 100% vegetable-based and triple-milled. The soaps are available in a wide variety of shapes including pug dogs, lemons and limes and sea shells. The white flower soaps shown here are pressed from a vintage die, and infused with light floral notes. Three soaps in a gift box sell for $24.50.
Dinner is (finally) served: TMIO's Connect Io Intelligent Oven is shipping
Along with making changes from your PC, the TMIO oven can be controlled from any Internet-enabled device or touch-tone phone, which makes it super-handy for last-minute schedule-shuffling. And sports a 6.8-inch touchscreen LCD, cost $8700.
Stainless steel, automotive paint and concrete don't necessarily sound like fine jewelry but the Konzuk collection of jewelry uses these and other non-traditional materials to make unique jewelry. The necklaces shown here cost $265 and $265.
The Chip Foose-designed and built '36 Ford Roadster "Impression" received the "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" award Friday at the 57th annual Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. This is the second major award within a year for the Ken Reister-owned roadster, which captured the 2005 Don Ridler Memorial Award at the Detroit AutoRama in March.
Foose and his staff put more than 12,000 hours into designing and building the roadster, which features sweeping steel bodywork inspired by a vintage Jaguar. The Foose Design chassis carries a Corvette C4-based suspension and custom 18- and 20-inch wheels with hand-cut tires.
The Greek relief shown here is actually a radiant heat radiator. The low temperature radiators are available as electric or hydraulic models and are made of Olycale stone. There are also African and Egyptian reliefs or more contemporary designs available.
-Lytir1
