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The 600 Horsepower BMW Vision M NEXT is BMW's Idea of a Hybrid Driver's Car of the Future - Jalopnik

Illustration for article titled The 600 Horsepower BMW Vision M NEXT is BMW's Idea of a Hybrid Driver's Car of the Future

BMW is having its own pseudo car-show this week in Munich called “NEXTGen,”and the first of the new vehicles to come out of it is a 600 horsepower hybrid sports car concept called the BMW Vision M NEXT. Here’s a look at every angle of this peculiar sports car, which the company’s chief technology officer seems pretty keen to put into production.

(Full Disclosure: BMW flew me to Munich, and put me up in a fine hotel just to show me some cool car things.)

Earlier this month, BMW showed off some abstract pictures taken by photographer Thomas Demand, who got a sneak preview of the BMW Vision M NEXT and used cardboard and paper models as a basis for his photos. Those teaser images were colorful and pretty, but didn’t reveal a whole lot about the car. But that’s okay, because the wait is now over. Here’s BMW’s newest concept car in its entirety:

In some ways, the Vision M NEXT gives off i8 vibes from the side, particularly when you look at that horizontal line stemming from the rear of each side window, and also when you look at the slope of the hood.

At least on the top half, the rear is a quite smooth and simple, painted in a ridiculously bright color that BMW says is a matt-neon shade called “Thrilling Orange.” The company says this “color blocking” we see here is meant to give a modern look to the car that “emphasises its inherent dynamism.” (Yes, the classic buzzword, dynamism. We’re still trying to figure out what it means. One of these centuries, we’ll get there).

The taillights look great. They’re thin light strips (technically, wafer thin glass fibers, BMW says) that run horizontally outboard until they reach a trapezoidal shape that contains an illuminated BMW emblem. They then run around the perimeter of that trapezoid before dropping down and continuing on to the lower fascia, at which point they make a right angle towards the inside of the vehicle.

Things look pretty damn aggressive up front, with two hood vents, enormous 8 Series-ish grille openings, and a strong “backbone” running through the center of the hood that reminds me a tiny bit of a Mercedes SLR McLaren, though BMW wants it to remind you of the BMW E25 Turbo, from which this car apparently received design inspiration.

In case you don’t remember the BMW Turbo, that was the car BMW designed to celebrate the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, and then later used as a development car to test new technologies (particular safety technologies).

But unlike the BMW Turbo, the Vision M NEXT’s “backbone” (which is really more of a nose bone) doesn’t stand proud, it’s actually recessed, as shown in this picture, which also displays just how wide the ducts (or at least they look like ducts) are in the hood. It also shows louvers on the rear glass, which BMW says were inspired by the M1:

Here’s an in-person shot I took of those hood vents:

Now that I look more at the BMW Turbo, I do see a bit of a similarity between the general shape of its tail and that of BMW’s new concept.

Both rear ends are a bit taller on the outside, and, on the top, dip down towards the center. Plus, the same thing appears to be going on underneath—the colorful fascias are low on the outside of the car, but they rise up to create an “arch” over a black component. In the case of the Vision M Next, that component is also a large diffuser (and a license plate mount) made of recycled carbon fiber, the same material used for the car’s side-skirts that you may have noticed duct air into an opening just in front of the rear wheels.

Here’s a close-up shot of that recycled carbon fiber air channel, which apparently improves aerodynamic performance:

Looking closer at the front end, we find a grille that frankly looks like a computer graphic. BMW says its designers created a transparent grille and put some laser-etched illumination on it, as well as some color behind it to give it depth. Per BMW:

The soft outer curves of the kidney grille openings are reminiscent of a turbine’s air intake and give the front end added dynamic impact, while the colour gradient used for the inside of the two kidney elements creates a sense of depth. The grille openings are each blanked off by a transparent layer with a laser-etched, illuminated pattern that seems to be floating inside – a highly sophisticated touch that gives added emphasis to this section of the car.

It looks pretty freaking cool in these images, and it looks equally good in person:

Also impressive to see in person are the car’s Laser Wire front headlights, which sit above a giant orange “triangular element” that feeds an air intake. Those lights apparently include glass fibers coated with phosphorous, as BMW describes below:

Arranged one above the other rather than side by side, their constituent elements represent a highly distinctive interpretation of BMW’s classic four-eyed front end. The headlights hand a debut to Laser Wire lighting technology, whereby glass fibres coated with phosphorous are used to produce headlight elements with a new, super-slim and extremely precise form. All of which further underscores the Vision Vehicle’s future-focused character.

Speaking of nice design elements like those lights and that grille, let’s look at the most obvious sexy feature, the gullwing doors:

BMW says the Vision M NEXT “draws its inspiration from the iconic BMW Turbo and groundbreaking BMW i8,” and between the doors, the general shape of the tail end, the character lines running down the center of the hood, and the way the side glass tapers off into a nice horizontal line, I can see where BMW is coming from.

The brand says the car is a plug-in hybrid that has an electric motor at each axle to allow for pure-electric driving in rear or all-wheel drive modes, though on top of that, a “powerful” four-cylinder engine can spin up the rear wheels. BMW says maximum power output is 600 ponies, top speed is 186 mph, and 62 mph comes in only three seconds. Once at 62 mph, you’ll run out juice in roughly a single hour (in other words, the range is 62 miles).

BMW has been saying the words “BOOST” and “EASE” quite a lot when discussing future vehicle plans, with the latter buzzword meant to describe certain comfort-related attributes of a self-driving vehicle like the BMW Vision iNEXT, and the former representing the “ultimate active driving experience.” In the press release for the new Vision M NEXT, BMW emphasizes the BOOST term. In other words, BMW sees this car as a representation of a truly fun to drive electrified car, with the company’s Senior Vice President of design Adrian van Hooydonk, saying:

The BMW Vision M NEXT provides a glimpse into the future of sporty driving...Where the BMW Vision iNEXT illustrated how autonomous driving is set to transform life on board our vehicles, the BMW Vision M NEXT demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can also make the experience of driving yourself purer and more emotionally engaging.

Key to that apparent driver-oriented nature of this concept is the interior. Getting into the car involves a facial recognition sensor to unlock and a touch sensor to open the gullwings. Inside, things are fairly basic, with BMW calling it “deliberately restrained” so that the driver can focus on carving corners.

One of the main elements to the interior is called the “Boost Pod,” which includes two displays in the steering wheel, a curved glass display in front of that, and a head-up display even farther forward. You can see the setup above (the front of the vehicle is oriented to the right), and here’s how it would theoretically looking if you were driving it for some reason wearing black leather gloves:

It’s not even close to being BMW’s wackiest concept car, but it’s definitely a bit “out there” with the ridiculously bright orange color adorning the front and rear, the illuminated grille, and the downright odd interior. Still, I can see how, with some teaks, it could eventually enter production.

Some sites have been speculating that this car provides a first look at a BMW i8 successor, but a company rep told me that the name “Vision M” implies that this could be a first look at a future M-car, not i-car. For now, BMW says the vehicle is just an exercise, though it’s worth remembering that the BMW i8 started out as an exercise called the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics back in 2009, and the production car ended up looking pretty darned similar.

Plus, at a round-table today, BMW CTO Klaus Froehlich responded to a journalist when asked whether the company will build the Vision M Next: “We deliver what we promise.” He then continued by saying it all depends on what the journalists write about the car, and whether the public gets excited. “This time I rely on you,” he said.

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https://jalopnik.com/the-600-horsepower-bmw-vision-m-next-is-bmws-idea-of-a-1835822564

2019-06-25 13:03:00Z
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The Morning After: iPadOS is the upgrade Apple's tablet needs - Engadget

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Hey, there! Bill Gates regrets that he didn't beat Android in mobile, we give our mixed verdict on the new Harry Potter mobile game and review Apple's new iPad OS.

Microsoft's attempts to win at mobile were unremarkable.Bill Gates says his 'greatest mistake' was not beating Android

The founder of Microsoft recently admitted in an interview at venture-capital firm Village Global that his biggest mistake was not making what Android came to be. Gates admitted that the company struggled to adjust to mobile, as both the iPhone and Google's Android swept up customers in the smartphone revolution. If you don't remember Windows Mobile, well, let's just say you're not missing out on much.

Experiments launched included LightSail 2 and the Deep Space Atomic Clock.SpaceX's 'challenging' Falcon Heavy mission launch goes 2/3 on booster landings

The company described last night's STP-2 mission as one of the "most challenging" launches in its history. It's also the first Falcon Heavy launch to reuse side boosters, which previously took flight just 74 days ago on the Arabsat-6A mission.In order to deploy two dozen satellites, it had to execute "four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, a final propulsive passivation maneuver and a total mission duration of over six hours."

Most of that went according to plan, but an attempt to land the center core on a drone ship didn't quite make the target. Better luck next time?

How does that work?BMW Vision M Next: An autonomous car for people who love driving

At its NextGen event in Munich, Germany, BMW took the wraps off the Vision M Next concept. This i8 inspired plug-in hybrid promises the best of both worlds. An autonomous car that'll get you to your destination while you relax or catch up on work; and a sports car with enough power to quicken the pulse while under a driver's control.

No specs included.BMW hints at the future of electric motorcycles with the Vision DC Roadster

Also unveiled at BMW's NextGen event, the Vision DC Roadster concept takes the iconic design of the company's two-cylinder boxer engine and puts a battery inside. The result is a naked bike that, while very much a concept design, still looks the part of a BMW bike.

Hands-on with iOS 13's tablet-focused version.iPadOS makes Apple's tablets feel like a priority again

After using the tablet edition of iOS 13 for a few days, Chris Velazco says he's "already impressed with the changes Apple has made... Apple addressed many of the criticisms that prevented the iPad Pro from being the do-it-all computer it aspires to be. As for everyone else, they'll benefit from subtle performance improvements and some extra polish."

You're going to love the new Apple Maps.iOS 13 preview: Shaping up to be a huge update

Yes, there are more new features than just Dark Mode.

Often Riddikulus.A weekend with 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'

Mat Smith and Dan Cooper grew up in the UK at the right age to witness the birth of Pottermania. The Harry Potter novels are firmly encoded in their very British psyches, and both are fans of augmented reality, GPS-connected mobile games. So it made plenty of sense that they spend a weekend playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

For when you're looking to cut costs without really cutting costs.Leica's new 'entry' M rangefinder camera costs $3,995

Gorgeous, pricey camera company Leica has announced an M-E (Typ 240) model that keeps the petite rangefinder design, paired with a 24-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor. It'll land on July 25th for $3,995, which makes it a keenly priced camera... for a Leica. (Recall that other M-Series cameras hover around eight thousand dollars. I spelled that out for emphasis.)

But wait, there's more...

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/25/the-morning-after/

2019-06-25 10:30:31Z
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Here’s how mouse support could change the way you use your iPad - The Verge

When Apple announced iPadOS earlier this month, no-one from the company made mention of a major new feature: mouse support. Apple no doubt has good reasons for wanting to keep people focused on the touch interface, but the ability to use a mouse has the potential to completely change how people get things done on the iPad Pro. Here’s how it works, and here’s how to get started.

First of all, you’ll need to be running the iPadOS 13 public beta, which is now available for anyone to install. (This also technically works on iOS 13, in case you really want to use a mouse on your iPhone.) The usual caveats about beta software apply: it’s super buggy right now, so don’t try this out on a primary machine unless you have a good reason to, and make sure to back everything up first.

Next, you’ll have to actually enable the mouse support, because it’s turned off by default and buried in the Accessibility menu. The feature is an extension of AssistiveTouch, which has been around in iOS for many years and is most commonly used as an on-screen floating home button. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

Open the Settings app
Go to Accessibility
Go to Touch, under the Physical and Motor section
Turn on the AssistiveTouch toggle
Go to Pointing Devices

At this point you’ll need to have your pointing device ready to go. You can use a mouse over Bluetooth or USB; if you’re using the former, you’ll have to make sure it’s paired. I had no problem getting up and running with my Logitech MX Master. Or, assuming you don’t have a USB-C mouse kicking around, you’ll need a USB-A to C adapter to plug a regular wired mouse directly into the iPad Pro’s USB-C port. I tried this with a Mad Catz RAT and the tracking actually felt smoother than the Logitech. It’s possible that wired mice work better with the faster refresh rates of Apple’s ProMotion displays, but I can’t be certain there.

I also tested Apple’s Magic Trackpad and it worked fine over a USB-C to Lightning cable, but I couldn’t find a way to pair it wirelessly. I will also say that the cognitive dissonance of using a touch surface as a mouse for a touch OS felt like a lot to get over, particularly as Mac gestures like two-finger scrolling don’t work.

You’ll probably want to turn off the regular AssistiveTouch floating button — you can do that by tapping the Always Show Menu toggle, though you’ll still see the button whenever a pointing device isn’t connected. You’ll find various other options that you can tweak to your liking, such as tracking speed (complete with cute tortoise and hare icons) and the appearance of the cursor.

If you’re thinking “that sure sounds like a lot of steps just to enable something as potentially fundamental to the user experience as mouse support,” well, you wouldn’t be wrong. Apple clearly doesn’t see this as a mainstream feature just yet, though, and isn’t going to be pushing it on people.

Does that mean it isn’t for you? Not necessarily. There have been tons of times when I’ve wanted a mouse or trackpad for my iPad. Apple’s historical argument for not selling touchscreen laptops has been that it sucks to constantly have to reach up from the keyboard to touch the screen. This is true, but given the lack of a trackpad it’s even more true of the iPad Pro than touchscreen Windows laptops.

For tasks like text editing that require constant precise adjustments while typing, it feels far more natural to have a pointing device on the same plane as your keyboard. Mouse support in iPadOS is pretty rudimentary right now, but it’s already solid enough to make a difference in my workflow. I’ve been using my iPad Pro today with three separate tracking devices, and I think it’s a pretty good start, even if it doesn’t always work the way I’d want it to.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the cursor is huge — it’s a big semi-opaque circle with a dot in the middle. This is probably because as a touch-first operating system, iOS is designed for fingerprint-sized input, but I’d appreciate the option just to have the small dot anyway. The upside of the large cursor is that it helps you conceptualize how iPadOS’s mouse support works at the most basic level: it’s really just giving you a virtual finger.

Clicking the mouse does the same thing as tapping the screen, in other words, which means you’ll have to get used to some different gestures. There’s also no concept of right-clicking in iPadOS, of course, but by default the right mouse button is set to bring up a customizable menu of shortcuts. It’s a lot more convenient to right-click and click the Control Center icon than it is to move the cursor to the top-right corner of the screen and drag downward, for instance. Other mouse buttons are also reassignable; by default clicking in the scroll wheel will take you back to the home screen.

This is useful, because dealing with iPadOS gestures can be tricky with a mouse. I’ve only had a day’s practice, granted, but it doesn’t feel super natural to drag the dock up from the bottom of the screen or swipe between apps. On the other hand, things like text selection feel far better with a mouse than they ever have with a finger. Apple has made improvements in this area for iPadOS, but those improvements make even more sense with a separate pointing device.

And if, like me, you’re one of the probably 37 people in the world who ever uses their iPad Pro with an external USB-C monitor, the mouse feature is a total game changer. iPad monitor support doesn’t do much more than mirror the display, which meant that previously there was no way to interact with anything while you were actually looking at the monitor — you’d have to look down to the iPad itself to use touch. Now, though, I can use my iPad Pro at a comfortable eye level on my desk. It’s what I’m doing now. It’s great!

It’s also something I won’t do very often, because I have a MacBook Pro next to me and it makes a lot more sense to use that at my desk most of the time. But it’s cool that it’s even possible. If you use your iPad Pro as your primary computer, particularly if you do a lot of writing or text editing, the new iPadOS mouse support is definitely worth looking into.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/25/18743993/ipad-mouse-ipad-os-how-to

2019-06-25 11:45:15Z
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Here is BMW’s new electric motorcycle concept - TechCrunch

BMW has a long history of building motorcycles, but it hasn’t done all that well in the electric motorcycle department. Clearly, though, this is something the company is thinking hard about and today, at its inaugural NextGen event, the company showed its newest electric concept bike, the BMW Motorrad Vision DC Roadster.

As usual, there’s no guarantee that this concept will ever come to market. Indeed, it’s likely that it won’t, but it will provide the inspiration for what will eventually go into production.

Going electric is a hard move to make for a company and that has been associated with its 2-cylinder boxer engine for ages. If it wants to produce a successful electric motorcycle, then it needs to be able to offer buyers not just performance (something they get by default with an electric engine and the torque it produces), but also something that retains the brand image buyers associate with BMW motorcycles.

Edgar Heinrich, the Head of Design for BMW Motorrad, argues that the Vision DC Roadster does just that. “The boxer engine is the heart of BMW Motorrad – an absolute stalwart of its character,” he said. “But BMW Motorrad stands for visionary zero-emissions vehicle concepts, too. In view of this, one question that arises is: what would happen if we were to replace the boxer engine with an electric motor and the required battery? The Vision Bike shows how we’re able to retain the identity and iconic appearance of BMW Motorrad in distinctive form while at the same time presenting an exciting new type of riding pleasure.”

Where a typical BMW motorbike would usually have its engine, the Vision roadster has a battery pack with coolers. Throughout the concept, the company’s designers used familiar design elements fro previous generations of the brand’s motorcycles.

In addition to the motorcycle, BMW also today showed off a new concept vehicle, the BMW Vision M Next, a new electrified sports car. The idea here is to provide a counterpart to the existing iNEXT concept that focuses more on performance than ease of use.

“Where the BMW Vision iNEXT illustrated how autonomous driving is set to transform life on board our vehicles, the BMW Vision M NEXT demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can also make the experience of driving yourself purer and more emotionally engaging,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “In both models, the focus is firmly on the people inside. Design and technology make the ‘EASE’ and ‘BOOST’ experiences more natural and more intense.”

In line with this idea, the new concept vehicle promises to be able to go from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in three seconds and offer a range of about 62 miles (which isn’t all that much). To get access to more power, drivers can also hit a BOOST+ button.

With the M Next, BMW is also showing off some new user interface designs. The interface now adapts to the speed you are driving at, for example, and will automatically give you less information as you drive faster, in order to let you focus as you head down the autobahn at 120 mph.

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https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/25/here-is-bmws-new-electric-motorcycle-concept/

2019-06-25 08:30:34Z
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BMW hints at the future of electric motorcycles with the Vision DC Roadster - Engadget

BMW Motorrad has an electric scooter. The capable and fun C Evolution. An outstanding vehicle I had the pleasure of riding around on in LA. But as far as full-sized bikes go, Zero Motorcycles still rules that market while we wait for Harley-Davidson to start selling its own EV. But the German motorcycle maker has been taking its time going full size. Hopefully, the Vision DC Roadster concept is a sign of things to come.

Gallery: BMW Motorrad Vision DC Roadster concept | 6 Photos

Unveiled at BMW's NextGen event in Munich, Germany the Vision DC Roadster concept takes the iconic design of the company's two-cylinder boxer engine and puts a battery inside. The result is a naked bike that while very much a concept design, still looks the part of a BMW bike.

BMW has taken the protruding elements of its engine and used that design as a cooling feature on the Vision DC Roadster concept. The elements actually flare in and out if the bike is moving or stationary to cool the batteries. The bike itself is built using aluminum and carbon fiber to reduce weight while the LED lighting system echoes the light design on current BMW motorcycles.

BMW Motorrad Vision DC Roadster battery cooling

In addition to the bike, BMW also unveiled protective companion riding gear with integrated lighting and connectivity aspects. Hopefully, this bike (or one based on this design) makes its way into showrooms in the near future. A BMW motorcycle with electric torque is an intriguing proposition that we've far too long for.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/25/bmw-motorrad-vision-dc-roadster-concept-unveil/

2019-06-25 08:30:26Z
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