Trends with Benefits: VR’s going mainstream, VW’s in deep diesel, and more

By DT Staff Published September 25, 2015

One of the biggest social-media trends right now is apps that allow you to live stream whatever you want, whenever you want, right from your smartphone. Today we gave Nomadcast a try, after using Periscope the last several weeks, and of course, we had to stop and debate the merits.

The Oculus Connect 2 event included a number of announcements intended to take VR into the mainstream. The Gear VR 2 will be coming out for $99, and Hulu and Netflix have also announced their plans to jump into VR content production as well. But do filmmakers actually know what to do with 360-degree video and VR yet?

Volkswagen is in a world of trouble in the U.S., after news broke it had intentionally installed software to fool EPA emissions tests. Almost 500,000 cars will need to be recalled. How did this all happen, and who knew about it?

Please subscribe and share Trends with Benefits. Today’s episode features Caleb Denison, Nick Mokey, Rick Stella and host Greg Nibler. We also broadcast the show on Nomadcast this week. Follow @DigitalTrends to be alerted when we go live or send in questions ahead of time to podcast@digitaltrends.com.

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Cars

A new sodium battery posts wild four-minute charging numbers, but don’t expect it in an EV yet

The breakthrough could improve fast charging and battery life, but the study hasn’t demonstrated those results in a production-sized pack

EV Charger

A new sodium-metal battery has posted a charging number that makes today’s EVs look painfully slow. In laboratory testing, the cell operated at a 15C rate, equivalent to completing a charge or discharge in roughly four minutes.

That doesn’t mean researchers plugged in an electric car and watched it fill up before the driver finished buying coffee. The result came from a small experimental cell using a new quasi-solid electrolyte, while the larger pouch-cell prototype delivered far less dramatic performance.

Cars

The Apple Car may be dead, but it became the foundation of Apple Intelligence

A decade of work on a canceled car project reportedly laid the groundwork for Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence in Apple Car

The Apple Car may have never left the garage, but it apparently gave birth to Apple's AI ambitions. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's canceled autonomous vehicle project, one that consumed more than a decade of work and over $10 billion before being scrapped in 2024, ended up laying the technological foundation for Apple Intelligence. In a rather ironic twist, one of Apple's most expensive failures may also become one of its most important long-term investments.

The Apple Car forced Apple to think like an AI company

Cars

Volkswagen’s ID. Unyx 09 just leaked, and it’s the kind of EV I want to see in the US

VW's partnership with Xpeng is producing exactly what we hoped.

Bumper, Transportation, Vehicle

I've been watching Volkswagen's China lineup quietly get cooler for the past two years, but the ID. Unyx 09 might be the moment it finally gets exciting, not just for Chinese buyers, but for the rest of the world as well.

Regulatory filings from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Batch 409, have exposed the full specs of the upcoming sedan ahead of its official launch later this year, and it looks nothing like any VW car I've seen before (via CarNewsChina).