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Mini Vision concept previews future cars

Mini has just given fans of the British marque a glimpse at the future design elements that we're going to get with upcoming cars -- and those design elements and ideas can be seen in the Mini Vision concept. Perhaps the first thing that jumps out visually about this concept car is the fact that the bumper and the auxiliary lights have been integrated into the grille, giving the car's nose a slimmer appearance. All the classic Mini design cues are still there, though the car seems to have gotten a bit taller.

Autostyle Design Competition 2013: The Results

The results of the tenth annual Autostyle 2013 design competition are in, with three Italian and two French design students earning this year's top plaudits. The contest challenged students from eight schools from around the world to create a custom vehicle from a Citroën Revolte concept, Suzuki SX4, Audi Crosslane, Land Rover Defender DC100 concept or Maserati Ghibli. The schools involved were: Creapole; Istituto Europeo di Design (IED); Institut Supérieur du Design (ISD); Istituto Superiore Scienza dell'Automobile di Modena (ISSAM); Politecnico di Milano; Royal College of Art; Strate College; and Umeå University of Design.

T-Mobile offers service to block cell calls, text messages while driving

The next step in the effort to keep people from using cell phones for calls and text messages while driving has arrived--a service that senses when the phone is moving at carlike speeds and automatically handles calls and messages. T-Mobile is providing the service, called DriveSmart, for its customers who use the LG Optimus T, a mobile phone that runs the Android operating system. T-Mobile says it will make the service available on other handsets soon.