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

By Digital Trends Staff 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

BMW’s EVs trace their roots to this innovative 1972 prototype

BMW 1602 Electric.

In the 1960s, when the electric car looked more like a far-fetched science fair experiment than a relatively convenient way of moving people and goods, investing in electrification made little sense. And yet, it's the early, rudimentary prototypes that paved the road for the current crop of EVs. For example, BMW displayed a stunning amount of foresight when it built a pair of electric 1602s and tested them during a major sporting event.

BMW launched this ambitious project in 1969 and planned to have a running prototype ready in time for the 1972 Olympic Games, which were set to take place in its hometown of Munich, Germany. Developing an electric car from scratch was ruled out for cost reasons.

Cars

Best dash cam deals: Protect your ride from just $39

Rexing V1 dash cam

Dash cams are great to give you that little extra peace of mind if you're ever in an accident, that you have some video evidence of what happened, even if it's an accident that happened to somebody else. That's especially important with insurance claims where it might be your word against somebody else's, so having a dash cam can be pretty important. Of course, really good dash cams are very expensive, although you don't really need to have the best dash cams on the market to get something that's relatively good quality. Either way, we've gone out and collected some of our favorite deals across the board to help save you a little bit extra.

Also, if you're worried about things like theft when you're at home, you may want to consider grabbing one of these security camera deals to get a little bit more overview of your driveway and car.
70mai Smart Dash Cam 1S -- $32, was $60

Cars

Best electric car charger deals: $100 off home charging stations

The handle of the Grizzl-E EV charger plugged into a vehicle.

The market for electric vehicles has really taken off in the past few years, and with some rumors of government bans on traditional internal combustion engines in a decade or so, we're likely to see EVs take off even more. Of course, if you already have one, then you'll likely need to car charger it, and there are a lot of great car charger options out there. Some of them can be pricey, especially if you want to get a level 2 charger for faster charging, but we've done our best to find a collection of good deals across several budgets.
Seguma 16Amp Level 1/2 EV Charger -- $115, was $150

If you need a more basic charger, this Level one and two charger from Seguma is a solid option and can deliver 16 amps and 3.84kW, which is pretty substantial. It also comes with a NEMA 6-20 plug and a standardized J1772 connector, which should work on most EV vehicles out there except for Tesla, which has its own connector. There are also some intelligent charging features, which include things such as protection against things like under and over voltage, leakage, and lighting, and it has an automatic cut-off when your EV is fully charged.