Essay: Variable Degrees of Translucency

Car door panels and fenders are generally made of steel, sometimes of aluminum or plastic composites, and you can't see through them. Car windows, on the other hand, are made of a transparent sandwich of glass and plastic - and you can see through them. But in the future there will be variable degrees of transparency: translucent elements where once there were none, traditional window areas that will have opaque elements and graduated progressions from opaque to see-through.

General Motors combines smartphone functions with the Chevrolet Volt

General Motors is bringing together two of the hottest areas of technology--smartphones and plug-in electric cars. GM's OnStar telematics unit has developed a downloadable application that will let Chevrolet Volt drivers use a Blackberry Storm, Apple iPhone or Motorola Droid to remotely control and monitor some vehicle functions, such as charging. The Volt is slated to go into production late this year and arrive in California utility company fleets by early 2011.

Drink-drive Idowu 'fled home row'

FORMER OLYMPIC triple jumper Phillips Idowu, from Essex, was caught drink driving after police were called to a domestic incident at his home. The 34-year-old, from Epping, pleaded guilty to driving his white Land Rover in the town's Bridge Hill after a night out while two and a half times the legal alcohol limit. Speaking after the case at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court, Essex Police confirmed that they had stopped Idowu as he fled a disturbance at his house.