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The Nissan GT-R has always been one of the most capable cars in the world, but in the past it was also one of the most unlivable. Nissan seems to have heard those complaints, while also bumping up the horsepower dramatically and adding some bling. Does the formula still stun? Brian Cooley takes you for a drive to check the tech.

You can also read CNET's full review of the 2012 Nissan GT-R here.

A Toyota Rav 4 with the heart of a Tesla; AAA can now bring you a gallon of watts; Toyota turns car windows into the Romper Room mirror; and we drive the, well, yeah, Nissan GT-R. No big deal.

• CNET drives the revised 2012 Nissan GT-R Premium

• Electric RAV 4 finally on the way

• 2012 Nissan Leaf gets a price bump, sold in more states

• CNET ordains the best overall economical green car...

• Toyota's Window to the World is ideal for weird voyeurism… Read more

A few years ago, the Acer TimelineX was one of the first of what we then called "thin and light" laptops, 13-inchers with sleeker, lighter frames, long battery life, and a more easily portable design than a standard notebook.

The TimelineX series still exists, and Acer's latest version features newer Intel second-gen Core i-series processors and impressive Nvidia graphics. Still, the landscape has expanded to include many thin laptops: the Sony Vaio S and Toshiba Portege R835, and the extremely thin Apple MacBook Air and Samsung Series 9. The $779 TimelineX 3830TG-6431 is thin, but not as … Read more

Today Nvidia unveiled its latest high-end laptop GPUs, the GTX 570M and 580M. That's not a huge surprise: the new GTX cards round out the "500 series" of GT and GTX graphics that have been available throughout the year. One feature Nvidia's particularly touting is the GTX 580's Optimus automatic switching, which should offer up "5 hours of battery life in Facebook," in case you measure your juice through social networking.

Nvidia promises that the GTX 580M is the fastest laptop graphics card anywhere, ever--the benchmark comparisons were leveled against the AMD Radeon … Read more

Gone are the days when "getting coffee" was the main responsibility of the corporate intern. Porsche recently let one intern design the race insignia emblazoned on a 911 GT3 race car.

Anna Frey, a recent industrial design graduate from Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, was responsible for designing the paint job for Porsche Cars North America's (PCNA) entry in the 2011 Porsche Carrera World Cup. The 70.2-mile race was held over the weekend on the Nurburgring-Nordschleife, and PCNA's 911 GT3 was piloted by American Le Mans Series GTC Champion Melanie Snow.

PCNA also let a team … Read more

A Mustang fastback with a 5.0 liter has long been the formula for classic American fun. But Ford has outdone itself with the latest reinvention of the 5.0 motor that brings aspirational performance to an affordable modern classic. Brian Cooley takes you for a drive to check the tech.

You can also read CNET's full review of the 2011 Mustang GT Premium here.

The GT30 sits in the upper-middle end, a notch below the company's 2011 flagship in panel technology and, we assume, picture quality. It's not without its flaws, but it's still a superb TV overall that sets the bar high once again--although it's not a significantly better performer than its less-expensive (albeit plainer-styled) line-mate, the TC-PST30 series. The Panasonic TC-PGT30 series belongs on the short list for buyers who want the advantages of plasma in a thin form factor but don't want to pay the premium for a flagship TV.

Update May 5, 2011: The introduction … Read more

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 not only showed up at the Amelia Island Concours D'Elegance in Jacksonville, Fla., but Mercedes-Benz Assistant Product Manager William Vetter took a few minutes to host a video walk-around of the race car.

The video shows the race car's features, from the lowered, lightweight carbon fiber body to the features on the steering wheel, from the gear-shift paddles to the button you can push to take a sip of whatever beverage you've got squirreled away.

There are other cool features such as a center console button that literally blows the doors off … Read more

The only thing not to love about the 2012 Audi R8 GT would be its price tag. Audi announced that the fastest and lightest production car in its lineup will start at $196,800, $4K more than a starter Ferrari California. Factor in the $1,250 destination charge, and you're pretty close to $200,000 before you factor in taxes, licensing, registration, and options. But it's about what you'd expect for a 560-horsepower supercar made of this much carbon fiber.

Generous use of the lightweight material is how the Audi R8 GT keeps the weight down. To … Read more