Apple has launched iTunes 11.1 this morning, bringing with it support for the new iRadio service and more.
As iOS 7 is due any time today, Apple has gone ahead and rolled out a new version of its iTunes app that brings with it a couple of new features. Apple details the changes as follows:
This version of iTunes comes with several major new features, including:
iTunes Radio. iTunes Radio is a great new way to discover music. Choose from over 250 stations or start a new one from your favorite artist or song. Enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free once you subscribe to iTunes Match.
Genius Shuffle. Introducing a magical new way to experience your music library. Choose Genius Shuffle and iTunes instantly plays songs that go great together. Click it again to hear something new—enjoying your music has never been this easy.
Podcast Stations. You can now create custom stations of your favorite podcasts that update automatically with new episodes. Your stations, subscriptions, and current play position sync over iCloud to the Podcasts app.
Sync with iOS 7. You can now use iTunes to sync your favorite music, movies, and more to devices with iOS 7. In addition, iTunes now makes it even easier to quickly organize and sync apps to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Note: If you are using OS X Mavericks, your book library can now be found in iBooks for Mac.
A white variant of Nokia’s Lumia 1520 has popped up online sporting Verizon branding. And now begins the inevitable speculation. Having heard reports about a possible announcement later this month, it’s been mostly unclear on which carriers we’ll see the device end up. AT&T seems like a logical home. But now Verizon? With Nokia’s Lumia brand set to pass on, perhaps Nokia’s 1520 will be its last hurrah before spectacularly burning out. Better that then to fade away, or so the saying goes.
Found deep within the confines of China’s Weibo, the picture reinforces some elements of the device’s rumored design, and also some differences: 20-megapixel camera, dual-LED flash, and a potentially large display; we’ve been hearing it’ll be 6-inch full HD, which will be made possible by Microsoft’s upcoming GDR3 update for Windows Phone set to hit in (we think) October. Seeing as this device is headed to Verizon, it could be a model exclusive. Whereas AT&T got the 920, Verizon got the 928. This situation might play out in a similar fashion
WPCentral isn’t too convinced by the photo’s authenticity, so let’s take this with the usual grain of salt. With so many Android and iOS flagships flooding the market this holiday season, a Windows Phone phablet might not be the most enticing proposition out there. But, given that Microsoft will be in control of Nokia’s handset business, this will likely be one of the last Lumias we’ll see.
The next iPhone possibly called as 5S, is set to come in golden attire, reports MG Siegler at TechCrunch.
The latest report comes on heels of another report from KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that said the next version of iPhone would come in gold. Prior to Kuo's report, iPhone parts leak suggested Apple might do a gold iPhone.
On Friday, Rene Ritchie of iMore (site that covers Apple products and reviews), said that, “gold would be one of the easiest colors to anodize onto an iPhone, much easier than say, black.”
The gold iPhone will make the third color option for iPhone 5S, the other two will likely be the slate aluminum (black), white with silver aluminum, and white with a gold aluminum.
If you are imagining the gold version to be glittery like real yellow metal, Siegler says "it will not be totally shiny gold, Think: less 'gold' and more 'champagne'."
iMore has come up with a mock-up of the next iPhone 5S; which points the “champagne” and not “deep gold” to be more accurate a color.
Google Adsense is a program that helps website owners earn decent amount of money by placing ads in their websites. If you are familiar with some secrets to monetize Google Adsense program, then it can help you to make a high amount of online income. If we place the ads in proper and attractive places in your blog or website, it will attract more and more users. As a result of which, you will be able to get more clicks on the ads and by getting clicks we will earn more & more money. There are many ways to increase Adsense earnings which I am going to focus in this article.
We can increase Adsense income by several methods which include:
Use of proper keywords
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Posting interesting contents
The content posted in the site must be written in proper English. The articles should be interesting that will attract more and more users towards it.
Web page CTR
You need to choose the web page which has maximum web exposure and maximum CTR on it because if you know this data then you can place your ads on those web pages that will get you 20-50% more clicks on your ads and thus, it will increase your earning.
Proper placing of advertisements
You will have to go through the process of framing the content, designing your ads, colors, text framing and aliments of your ads on your web page which means in this you have to look after the methods of placing the ads on the webpages that should be bright and sparkling.
Web page content
You must also take care about your web page content and CTR of your web page. If your ads are not getting good CTR on a web page, then you must use SEO tactics for that website to get maximum clicks so that your ads can get good CTR.
Originality of the contents
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Records
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There are many more to cover in this and you should do modification of your website or your web page regularly. By doing this, your site will get good PageRank as a result of which your ads will get good CTR and by getting high CTR, you will be able to generate good income.
Welcome to the wacky world of tech patents—a place where you’ll find not just the crazy-sounding ideas that inhabit any category of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but some ideas that seem so minute or so obvious that you wonder how they ever qualified as patentworthy.
Once issued, however, a patent isn’t just a shield. It’s a weapon that companies and individuals can use against their competitors. “Patent trolls” are infamous for acquiring patents and then making the business of filing lawsuits against alleged infringers their core competency.
The technology sector is hardly alone in taking patent-holding to extreme levels of judicial enforcement. But some of the most bizarre tech patents we found suggest that we may need a new idea for protecting ideas—one that can more easily weed out the lawyers and the loonies.
The 'Interactive Web' patent
1998
WIRED.COMA diagram explaining the technology patented by Eolas. (Click to enlarge.)
In 1993, Michael Doyle, a researcher at the University of California, purportedly coinvented a technology that eventually became an integral part of the Internet experience: Webpage interactivity. Several years later, such interactivity was the norm. Was UC hijacked, or did others also figure out the obvious? It didn’t matter—armed with a key patent, Doyle and his one-man company Eolas quickly resorted to the courtroom.
Eolas initiated a lawsuit rampage that continued for a decade and included numerous victories, including a whopping $521 million judgment against Microsoft and various lucrative licensing deals. Finally, in a potentially landmark suit in early 2012, a jury derailed the Eolas locomotive by reaching a verdict that no one owned the “Interactive Web.”
Even so, Doyle & Co. persist. Watch your back.
1-Click shopping: The Secret to Amazon's success?
1999
Give ’em credit. The brain trust at Amazon knew early in the game that a dead-easy checkout experience—one without forms and ID checks and indecipherable CAPTCHAs—was mandatory to retail success online. So, two years after it sold its first hardcover, and four years before it turned a profit, Amazon filed to patent “1-Click” shopping. The USPTO granted that patent two years later, in 1999.
In the years since, the incredible reach of said patent, especially in the face of cookie ubiquity, has grown increasingly obvious. Amazon rivals have challenged it from every angle, and it has lost some of its power along the way. But here in North America, Amazon continues to enjoy the many advantages of what may rank as one of the most ridiculous patents ever awarded.
Contemplation confusion
2004
Sometimes, commentary is unnecessary. Here then is the patent abstract for Think Tanks Co. Ltd’s inexplicably baffling “Instrument for Contemplation,” somehow approved in 2004:
“The tool for contemplation comprises a paper on which a main unit and a sub unit that surrounds the main unit are printed. The main unit includes a subject display cell that displays a subject and a plurality of thought results display cells that display a plurality of thought results found from the subject. Each sub unit includes a new subject display cell that displays each thought result as a new subject, and a plurality of new thought results display cells that surrounds the new subject display cell and that display a plurality of thought results found from the new subject.”
Confused? Do what the United States Patent and Trademark Office must have done. Check the illustration for clarity.
Wait, what? Now I’m even more confused.
Intelligent Smart Phone vs. Apple
2008
As cool as that whole David versus Goliath deal might be, and as righteous as it feels to fight the power, sometimes you just have to side with The Man.
Case in point: Intelligent Smart Phone Concepts versus Apple. In one corner, the patent-hoarding, closed-architecture iGiant of the computer world. Across the ring, a nothing. A business that exists for the sole purpose of suing the aforementioned iGiant—an entity that at least makes stuff—over a single patent infringement.
Not obscene enough for you? Then consider this: ISPC’s $3-million lawsuit hinges on its 2008 patent describing how to plug a headset into a mobile phone. How to plug aheadset into a mobilephone. You want broad? You want obvious? Look no further.
Microsoft patents your keyboard keys—or did they?
2008
PATENTBUDDY.COM(Click to enlarge.)
It’s hard to remember a time when physical keyboards didn’t have Page Up and Page Down keys. Just about every keyboard since the IBM Selectric disappeared has had ’em. And that’s why a lot of people flipped their wigs in 2008 in response to initial (and histrionic) reports that Microsoft had patented Page Up/Down functionality.
The initial reports were wrong. Microsoft hadn’t patented those Page Up/Down keys. Instead, it had patented a process allowing users to zip ahead a full pagerather than a full screen—a crucial difference.
Granted, over time Microsoft has been every bit as annoying with its innovation-stifling patent frivolousness as its more maligned counterpart, Apple. And sure, Microsoft’s implementation probably still falls into the “obvious” category if we’re being fair. But this is one of several instances where react-first, investigate-later media gratuitously stirred the patent pot.
The Smartphone Technologies debacle
circa 2010–2013
Though this article deals with frivolous patents, it wouldn’t be complete without a quick look at the other side of the coin: the frivolous patent infringement suit. And to that end, we present Smartphone Technologies, LLC.
Smartphone Technologies doesn’t have a website. It doesn’t have a storefront, office, staff, or telephone number. And it certainly doesn’t seem to develop and/or sell products. What it does have is a propensity for filing complaints—patent infringement complaints, to be exact.
In its time, Smartphone Technologies—a subsidiary of patent-purchasing megatroll Acacia Research Corporation—has sued a who’s who of the tech world, including Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Dell, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, and Sony, among others. Congrats, ST dudes, for an exemplary business model.
The everything patent
2012
(Click to enlarge.)
Parody site The Onion suckered more than a few nimrods consumers with its 2009 “MacBook Wheel” spoof, chronicling a purportedly new Apple laptop that sported a single click wheel instead of a keyboard. Memorable moments include “Everything is only a few hundred clicks away.”
Yet we all know Apple loathes traditional control methods. Witness the company’s 2012 patent, “Method for providing human input to a computer,” a meandering, 26,000-word behemoth that touches on…virtually everything, including robots, force feedback, multitouch controls, virtual controllers, visual cues, and a potential fifth dimension. All this in a single patent? Thatrestores our faith in the patent office.
Scottevest swims with the sharks
2012
Festooned with hidden compartments and wiring conduits, the apparel from Ketchum, Idaho’s Scottevest targets folks who would rather have their electronic gadgets strapped to their bodies than dangling from their hands. Scottevest is doing okay, due in no small part to the publicity machine that is Scottevest boss (and namesake) Scott Jordan.
Jordan’s biggest claim to fame is a 2012 appearance on TV’s Shark Tank, where he seemed more interested in pitching Technology Enabled Clothing (TEC), a company that licenses patented Scottevest technology—and profits when those patents are “violated”—than Scottevest itself. The Sharks didn’t cotton to the patent trolling idea.
“Running a wire through a piece of clothing?” panel member Mark Cuban sputtered during the show. “That’s a patent? Are you kidding me?”
(Click to enlarge.)
Cuban and Jordan continued their verbal slapfight on Twitter, resulting in 140-character gems like the one you see to the right. Shortly thereafter, Cuban put his money where his mouth is. Last December, he donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to create “The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.”
“The current state of patents and patent litigation in this country is shameful,” he said in the press release announcing the donation. Need more proof? Read on.
Apple invents the rectangle
2012
You needn’t be a tech freak to be aware of the ongoing hostilities between Apple and Samsung. Indeed, plug “Apple vs. Samsung” into any old search engine and you’ll encounter gazillions of hits. This ain’t no hillbilly moonshinin’ feud.
It all started—publicly anyway—in 2011, when Apple filed patent infringement suits against its South Korean rival. Samsung responded with countersuits, Apple fired back, and soon there were more suits than you’d find at a Men in Black convention.
Yep, that's a rectangle all right. Innovation at its finest.
But the peak of frivolousness undoubtedly arrived in late 2012, when the USPTO granted Apple one of the broadest “design patents” ever, for what amounts to a round-cornered rectangle—the shape that has graced virtually every mobile device…ever. “New and useful?” Er…
A blow for normalcy: The slide-to-unlock denial
2012
We end our look at the patently loony with a potential beacon of simple rationality shining in the seemingly eternal darkness of rights bickering and protectionism. For this, we go to the land of fish ’n’ chips and really good soccer leagues, where a July 2012 judgment by the High Court of London could—repeat, could—have far-reaching impact.
When it ruled that HTC had not infringed on Apple’s “slide to unlock” patent, concluding that slide to unlock is an “obvious” evolution in mobile devices, it may have set the stage for future common-sense judicial findings. Another such ruling was the April 2013 decision by Bundespatentgericht, Germany’s Federal Patent Court, to invalidate all prior Apple slide-to-unlock patents in that country. The Bundespatentgericht concluded that Apple’s patents lacked “technical innovation.”
Hey, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office! Are you paying attention?
Slot-loading Blu-ray drive? Check. HDMI in and out? Absolutely, considering theXbox One is meant to play a central role in the living room. There's an octa-core processor based on AMD's Jaguar design and 8GB of RAM to go up against the Sony PlayStation 4, plus USB 3.0 ports, 500GB of hard drive storage, WiFi Direct for communicating with the new controller and other devices, and a humungous amount of silicon to drive it all: no fewer than five billion transistors, which compares to 1.4 billion in your average Intel or AMD chip (although Microsoft may be included other processors and DSPs in that count). And just in case you're wondering, the switch to an x86 PC-style architecture will indeed preclude backwards compatibility with 360 games.
As for the box itself, well, it looks rather a like a little HTPC with black and silver case and a big Xbox logo -- a visage with actually tallies with the fact that's running a PC-like x86 architecture inside. There's a full list of specs after the break, which we're continuing to build out as more details pour out of Microsoft's Xbox One ongoing launch event.
Processor and graphics: as rumored, a heavily customized AMD chip that combines an eight-core CPU, a GPU tailored for DirectX 11.1 graphics and 32MB of high bandwidth embedded ESRAM memory. The 28nm chip will consume around 100 watts, which is slightly higher than current Xbox Slim and PS3, but Microsoft promises noise from the cooling fans will be "four times quieter."
System memory: a Sony-rivaling 8GB of RAM, although it'll be DDR3 instead of the PlayStation 4's GDDR5.
Audio and video: 1080p and 4K both supported; 7.1 surround sound.
Kinect: This will be bundled with the console and contain 250,000-pixel infrared depth sensor as well as a regular 720p web cam.
Storage and media: a 500GB hard drive of unknown speed plus a Blu-ray / DVD combo drive that will be used as little as possible. We're told disc-based games will be ripped to the HDD automatically.
Connectivity: HDMI 1.4 output and passthrough; a "few" USB 3.0 ports; gigabit Ethernet; plus, three separate 802.11n radios to allow the console to communicate with its controller (over a form of WiFi Direct) as well as other devices (such as perhaps other Windows-based phones and tablets) without losing its connection to the internet. At other times, two radios could be used to maintain a stronger WiFi signal.
Land Rover’s exciting new Defender replacement were all the buzz at the India Auto Expo, but it looks like the company may not after all launch the upgrade. Land Rover had earlier announced that it will replace the ancient Defender series, with brand new super rugged Off-Roader. This unit was expected to be built along Tata’s new upcoming SUV at a new plant in India.
A Jaguar Land Rover Engine manufacturing unit which was also planned in India, has been put on hold due to the lack of manufacturing requirements. John Edwards, Land Rover’s global brand director said that the company will make the new Defender, but plans for it to go into production in 2015 have been delayed. The current Defender will still be retired in 2015, because of the impossibility of meeting future legislation and environment norms.
This major change in plans is due to Tata’s Automobiles’ present financial position, with humiliation in the sales of their recent launches, including Nano, Aria and the new Safari. Tata has suffered huge losses in the automotive sector and continues to undershoot sales throughout the catalogue. The Indian car market has also seen a big depression in the past year, and with this trend, without Tata Motors making significant sales progress, any planned co-operation with Jaguar Land Rover on a back-to-basics Defender is ?not financially viable.
According to sources, the product design head for the new Defender has also argued against the use of a new chassis to compete with global cars from the likes of Toyota and Ford on an more lower end platform.
Samsung showed off its Wallet app to developers earlier this year, and now Korean customers can download it onto compatible Android devices from the company's own app market. Currently it only appears to collect credit card info, which customers can then use to pay for goods and services at online merchants, verified by a one-time password or PIN. Clearly aimed at both Google Wallet and Apple's Passbook, Samsung plans to add a few features we've seen in Passbook that will make tickets, membership cards and coupons accessible all in one place. According to the translated press release it's out for the Galaxy S 4, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 10.1, Galaxy S II HD LTE, although whether it will be featured in a Gangnam Style 2 video remains unknown.
Update: Commenter Chris posted a pic showing that the app is also live in the US Samsung Apps market, although it looks a bit different and lists more of the Passbook features we were expecting. This may be explained by a post on the Samsung Wallet Partners site, indicating it launched in open beta on the 18th, with support for transportation tickets, membership cards, coupons and event tickets. We checked and it's not showing up on our Note IIs or GS4s yet, but if you have one it may be worth taking a peek at Samsung's app store to see what's waiting inside.
Press Release:
Samsung Electronics releases Samsung Wallet, payment settlement application optimized for mobile environment, on the 22nd that users can safely and conveniently pay money online once their credit card is registered. Smart phone users can simplify the safe settlement process with OTP (One Time Password) certification after the credit card number and PIN number are registered.
High-end smartphones sure are fun. But the smartphone market is inching closer to saturation in the countries that care the most about the high-end. That will leave much of the market’s future growth coming from emerging countries where the focus isn't necessarily on the latest announcement from Apple, Samsung, or HTC. Nokia is already a big player in these markets, but it’s hoping to take the next step with its new Asha 501 smartphone.
The Asha 501 is ridiculously cheap, with a US$99 suggested retail price. That's off-contract, of course. So naturally, we aren’t looking at headline-grabbing specs or features. But that doesn’t make it any less important.
The Asha 501 could be an important entry point for people who otherwise wouldn’t own a smartphone. And it’s also important to Nokia, which wants to build on its presence in emerging countries – while still playing the long game in wealthier areas with its Lumia line.
Asha
The handset runs Nokia’s Asha platform, which was designed for phones just like the 501. We’re talking basic smartphone functionality, without the higher-end bells and whistles that you get with iOS or Android.
Asha’s most distinctive feature is probably its Fastlane launcher, which shuns the traditional homescreen for a recently-used (and predictive) list of apps and services. If you aren't into that sort of thing, the OS also lets you use a more traditional homescreen.
Being a relatively new platform, Asha is skimpy in the apps department. But the Finnish company has already lined up a few heavy hitters, like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. We'll likely see more developers added to the list as Nokia throws more of its weight behind the platform.
Not about the specs
There are already countless other low-end smartphones floating around. But the Asha 501 brings a hint of Lumia phones' design language to that end of the spectrum. Nokia describes the phone's look and construction:
The device is available in a choice of six striking colours that complement the elegant design. It comes in just two parts: a durable, removable casing and the scratch-resistant glass display, which features a three-inch, capacitive touchscreen and a single 'back' button. The compact new Asha weighs only 98 grams, for the ultimate portability.
The Asha 501’s specs are – to the surprise of exactly nobody – a ways off from the high-end. We’re looking at a 3-inch display with 160 x 120 resolution (just 67 pixels per inch). It also totes 128 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage, and a 3.2 MP camera. This is as budget as it gets.
But this $99 phone obviously isn’t about specs. It’s more about delivering the most fundamental things that a smartphone provides to places that may have never enjoyed them before. Things that we “first-worlders” often take for granted – like working mobile email, web, messaging, and social media services. It's a phone with somewhat different priorities, for cultures that often have very different priorities.
The Asha 501 starts shipping in June – to more than 90 countries. You can get the full scoop from Nokia at the source links below.
LG has been in the buzz for working on flexible OLED displays to match steps with its arch rival Samsung, and today the company has announced to unveil an unbreakable and flexible 5- inch plastic OLED panel for mobile devices at the Society for Information Display’s (SID) Display Week 2013 in Vancouver, Canada from May 19 to 24. Along with these, the Korean display giant will also introduce 5-inch and 7-inch HD LCD panels with a new TFT screen featuring just 1mm thin bezel.
The company will be using plastic as the base for these panels, which will make them almost unbreakable and rather flexible, a feature that most smartphone makers are aiming to achieve.
Along with these LG has also revealed plans on displaying 5-inch and 7-inch HD LCD panels based on Oxide TFT which will be relatively thin, feature high transparency, and will consume low power. The 5-inch HD panel is claimed to carry merely a 1mm bezel and will be lighter and release less heat, and the 7-inch HD LCD panel will enable lighter tablets with narrower bezels.
Additionally, there will also be a 13.3-inch Full HD LCD Neo Edge panel for laptops with a 1.5mm bezel, a 23.8-inch Full HD LCD Neo Blade panel for monitors with a 3.5mm bezel, and a 55-inch LCD panel for video walls with a 5.3mm bezel.
Apart from these the company will also demonstrate a new curved 55-inch OLED TV, a 14-inch quadruple HD (2560×1440 pixels resolution) panel for laptops, and the a 7-inch Full HD panel manufactured tablets with over 300 pixels per inch (PPI).
If you’re a CEO or a high-ranking government official, your new ride is here. The 2014 Mercedes Benz S-Class has finally been unveiled, with Merc boss Dr Dieter Zetsche, describing it as “the best automobile in the world”. Packed with stunning technology and a completely revamped design, the best of the Benz sedans has managed to improve upon its predecessor massively, and that’s much easier said than done.
The new S-Class reinforces Benz’s new direction in design, taking cues from the new E-Class and CLA-Class. The front has a new, larger radiator grille, flanked by well-shaped feline-like LED headlights. Reception to the new front-end and the LED headlights has been mixed, but we’re leaning towards the positive side with this one. The front fender reminds us of the A-Class with an aggressive bottom end. Distinct character lines run down the sides and the sloping roofline makes another appearance here, along with sharp taillights. All in all, Mercedes Benz has maintained the elegance of the S-Class with wholesale changes resulting in a pleasing, simplistic design.
As always the new S-Class features the best and newest technology Merc’s engineers have developed over the last few years. With luxury nearing that found in a private jet, and technology like that of a fighter jet, the new S-Class comes with a very fair share of goodies, not limited to the following:
The cabin gets two 12.3-inch TFT screens for the instrument cluster and the navitainment, a touch-sensitive telephone keypad, rear climate control with two more zones, access to infotainment media from any seat in the car – rear seat passengers can even see the Google Maps display to make sure the driver is going the right way
Roughly 300 LEDs in the cabin offer seven hues, five dimming levels and four dimming zones will be standard and the LED brake lights dim at night or while waiting at lights so as to be kinder on the eyes of drivers behind
Five different options in rear seating, the uppermost of which offers a backrest that reclines nearly 45 degrees, does so independently of the bolster, and has calf support and a heel rest. Get the First Class Rear package and avail yourself of a console that allows control of the center console from the rear, and thermally-controlled cupholders
Magic Body Control that uses stereo cameras to scan the road surface and adjust the suspension in advance of road imperfections
Massaging seats based on the “hot stone principle” for front and rear using 14 cushions in the backrest and six massage programs
An Air Balance Package that ionizes and filters the air and emits five choices in fragrance
Grouped under “Intelligent Drive,” the next generation of features like Active Parking Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Night View Assist Plus, Distronic Plus with Steering Assist, Brake Assist Plus with Cross-Traffic Assist, Pre-Safe Brake with pedestrian recognition
A Warmth and Comfort package with heated steering wheel and armrests, seats with active ventilation, and power heated rear seats with memory
The 2014 S-Class will be offered with a choice of four engines, including two hybrids – the S 400 petrol and S 300 BlueTEC diesel. The conventional petrol and diesel models badged S 500 and S350 BlueTEC respectively complete the lineup. Powered by a 449bhp 4.7-litre twin-turbo V8, the S 500 is by far the fastest, covering 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds, while the S 300 BlueTEC Hybrid combines a 201bhp 2.1-litre diesel engine with a 27bhp electric motor for a combined fuel economy of 64mpg and CO2 emissions of 115g/km. AMG models are expected to be announced in the coming year as well.
Ever since Daimler-Chrysler announced the discontinuation of the Maybach brand, the S-Class has assumed the mantle of being its most luxurious offering. The 2014 S-Class is really tough to fault, with a majestic presence, efficient German engineering under the hood and the interior worthy of a Rolls-Royce. Everyone may not love the look of the new S-Class, but there’s no doubting that it still is one of the best cars available in the market today.