NEW FAMILY HYBRID CONCEPT FROM HONDA

The production model is slated to go on sale from spring 2009. Honda is aiming to price the Insight much lower than any other hybrid car currently on the market. Honda intends to sell 2,00,000 units of the Insight a year, a big jump over the 17,000 units of the first Insight it sold worldwide since its 1999 launch. The five-door hatchback capable of seating five will be built on a completely new platform and will be slightly smaller than the civic hybrid Honda is also to launch a hybrid version of the Jazz and a new civic hybrid over the next few years as well as hybrid based on the CR-Z.

Honda intends to achieve sales of 5, 00,000 units of all the four hybrids put together and by 2010, ten percent of its global sales will be comprised of hybrid vehicles. Honda has been able to achieve a significant cost reduction on production of the Insight in order to set such high sales targets. The car will be produced at Honda’s expanded hybrid vehicle production line in Suzuka along with the Civic Hybrid.

HOT HYUNDAI i 20 REVEALED

Hyundai’s Getz-replacement for European markets, the i20, is all set to roll out. The car will be launched at the Paris Motor Show at the end of September. The company has released the first official pictures of the car before the launch. As you can see, the car’s face bears a resemblance to the smaller i10. It gets the same tear drop-shaped headlamps and the horizontal slat in the grille is also similar. However, the air intake below the front bumper is not as large as the i10’s.

This is Hyundai’s new look, bits and pieces of which you will see in its future cars. The stylish i20 has a longer wheelbase than the existing Getz, and the company claims that it is bigger than the Getz on the inside.

The hatchback will be manufactured in India and exported to European markets. It is slated for an Indian launch around October. You can expect the base i20 to come with the 1.2-litre Kappa engine that currently powers the i10. There could also be a new range of 1.4 and 1.6-litre Sigma family of engines on offer. The i20 will also get the Verna’s potent 110bhp common-rail diesel engine.

PROJECT INGENIO TO BE CALLED XYLO

Project Ingenio to be called XYLO

Mahindra & Mahindra’s soon-to-be-launched multi-utility vehicle(MUV) will be called the Xylo(pronounced Zy-Lo). The MUV will be launched with a downsized ‘2.5-litre’ common-rail engine from the Scorpio CRDe and will have 110bhp on tap. Clearly, M&M will be focusing on driveability and economy rather than all-out performance. More engine options will be available at a later stage as will a 4x4 option. The Xylo is expected to be more spacious than current class leader Toyota Innova, especially in the third row. Prices are expected to start at around Rs 7.5-8 lakh for the base variant.

BMW 's NEW 7 SERIES IN NOVEMBER

BMW is set to launch its new 7 Series by the end of this year in India. And it promises to be quicker, cleaner and better in every aspect. Move over Q, for this time BMW has developed a host of gadgets in-house. These include lane change and lane departure warnings, infra-red night-vision camera, park assist cameras on the side, radar, and a head-up display, which tells the driver everything he needs to know.

The boys from Bavaria have spared no imagination in loading the latest 7 with everything your heart desires, and creature comforts abound inside. The rear seats are ventilated and have 12 massaging bubbles, there’s an in-built 8 GB hard drive for your music, four-zone climate control, concierge service, and an automatic emergency dialing system in case of an accident.

While all of the above might make this big bee-em seem like a bit of a namby-pamby, the company is clear it does not want to lose the essence of the ultimate driving machine. Variable damping and modes for the engine and suspension, which include comfort, normal, sport and sport+, ensure this car is no slouch. Three engine options – a 3-litre straight-six diesel, a 3-litre straight-six petrol, and a 4.3-litre V8 petrol – power this car. While the big petrol gets the 7 to 100kph in 5.2 seconds, the diesel is pretty quick too, managing the 100kph sprint in just 7.2 seconds. And it’s environmentally friendly too; the diesel engine is claimed to produce just 192 grammes of CO2 per kilometre. BMW has pioneered what it likes to call Efficient Dynamics; the battery is charged under braking, and the alternator disconnects during acceleration, thus providing better performance, fuel economy
and lower emissions.

Prices will start north of Rs 60 lakhs, and the car will be in showrooms before the year is out.

BIOMETRICS

The word "Biometrics" means a measurable biological characteristic that can be used for automated recognition.Early non-automated forerunners of biometrics have been used in travel control documents for a long time.Biometric processing includes the electronic capture of an applicant’s photograph, signature, index fingerprint and ten-print fingerprints. The photograph, signature and index fingerprint are used to generate the lawful entry documents.

Biometrics are automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification solutions. Biometrics is expected to be incorporated in solutions to provide for Homeland Security including applications for improving airport security, strengthening our national borders, in travel documents, visas and in preventing ID theft. Now, more than ever, there is a wide range of interest in biometrics across federal, state, and local governments. Congressional offices and a large number of organizations involved in many markets are addressing the important role that biometrics will play in identifying and verifying the identity of individuals and protecting national assets.

There are many needs for biometrics beyond Homeland Security. Enterprise-wide network security infrastructures, secure electronic banking, investing and other financial transactions, retail sales, law enforcement, and health and social services are already benefiting from these technologies. A range of new applications can been found in such diverse environments as amusement parks, banks, credit unions, and other financial organizations, Enterprise and Government networks, passport programs and driver licenses, colleges, physical access to multiple facilities (e.g., nightclubs) and school lunch programs.

Biometric-based authentication applications include workstation, network, and domain access, single sign-on, application logon, data protection, remote access to resources, transaction security and Web security. Trust in these electronic transactions is essential to the healthy growth of the global economy. Utilized alone or integrated with other technologies such as smart cards, encryption keys and digital signatures, biometrics are set to pervade nearly all aspects of the economy and our daily lives. Utilizing biometrics for personal authentication is becoming convenient and considerably more accurate than current methods (such as the utilization of passwords or PINs). This is because biometrics links the event to a particular individual (a password or token may be used by someone other than the authorized user), is convenient (nothing to carry or remember), accurate (it provides for positive authentication), can provide an audit trail and is becoming socially acceptable and inexpensive.