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Nike's 'Making' app: helping designers choose most sustainable materials

As we're told more and more frequently about the impact of our environmental footprint on the world, it's no surprise that companies of all disciplines are examining their processes to cut emissions and waste. Now Nike has entered the fray by developing a free app giving designers a deeper insight of how green their material choices are. The sportswear giant's new free ‘Making' app allows designers to examine the sustainability of 22 different product materials such as cotton, silk and grass-fed leather.

'American Nitro' is back!

"Seventies drag-race mayhem is back!" bills "American Nitro," a schlocky drive-in exploitation film whose only quote of praise, from a dog-eared period issue of "Car Craft," reads, simply, "SPECTACULAR CRASHES!" Director Bill Kimberlin says that he made "American Nitro" in 1979 as a response to Tom Wolfe's influential 1965 essay, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." "I was just getting out of high school in a small town in Northern California when Wolfe's book came out," he said. "Nitro came about as my response to the car culture I was exposed to in the small valley town of Boonville, Calif. Instead of 'American Graffiti,' I made 'American Nitro.'" A fitting comparison, in fact, considering Kimberlin later worked for George Lucas at ILM, starting with" Return of the Jedi." Now the movie is being released on DVD for the first time -- beware of bootlegs, warns the website -- and digitally remastered, while retaining the explosive charm and goofy narration of the 1979 original.

Restyled 2014 Mazda 3 preens in Frankfurt

The new Mazda 3 made its first auto show appearance on Tuesday in Frankfurt. It's the first time we've seen the hot hatch since its five-city launch in June that coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the first 3. It's the third member of the family to use the Kodo design style, which means “soul of motion.” Here in the States, the 3 will offer two gasoline engines, both with direct injection.