German car manufacturer Mercedes is buying the iPhone-is-God credo, and has come up with a designated piece of gear to allow Benz drivers to integrate their iPhones into the car system. The US$249 gadget works with the C-, E-, CLK-,
CLS-, S-, CL-, SL-, M- and R-Class cars, as well as the forthcoming GLK-Class. It connects your phone to the car's audio system via either the optionally available Media Interface or the retrofittable iPod® Interface Kit. Full press release below.

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We've already seen a version of this: Autoliv's hood airbag system, but Toyota Gosei (an offshoot of, no prizes for etc etc, Toyota) has gone one better. As well as protecting the pedestrian from being squished like a bug on a windscreen, it has airbags down the side of the car, both front and back, protecting passengers from injury in the event of a nasty shunt from every which way in the car.

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A handy little gadget for those of you who prefer to buy second-hand cars rather than brand spanking new models that smell of plastic, Westfalia's paint-thickness tester will let you know if the vehicle has had a paint job—which can often mean it's been involved in a crash somewhere down the line. Here's how it works:

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I'm confused, but happy to see this Civic's Corolla's engine block get a cover that looks like a NES controller. When this baby redlines, it sounds like me mashing buttons in bionic commando. Hello! Just build the turbo function INTO THE GAME. Prediction: The urge to punch down on running temperature A,B, and cross pad buttons during an oil change could lead to some pretty bad blistering. Recommendation: Sawzall the hood and give NESTER some breathing room! [Kotaku]

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Tesla Motors, maker of the much hyped (and well reviewed) electric Roadster is suing Fisker Automotive, the outfit behind fake vroom-y Karma, for stealing Tesla's design and trade secrets. Supposedly, this pushed the sale date for Tesla's four-door sedan, White Star, back six months, to 2010. Henrik Fisker (the eponymous founder) was hired by Tesla to design White Star. Tesla alleges he took the US$875,000 contract, sabotaged Tesla's project with sub-par work, and then made off with their secrets and designs, using the money to launch his rival electric car effort.

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Traditional motorcycles are OK, but this is the future. We need future things. And the US$82,350 glass/kevlar/carbon/steel MonoTracer bike certainly feels like it's from the Utopian, roundmobile world to come. Featuring a fully enclosed cabin for less drag and less pebbles in the face, the MonoTracer's 130hp BMW engine goes 0-100 in 5.6 seconds and hits speeds up to 250kph. We're not exactly sure what you'll do at stoplights, but apparently there are little training wheels that pop out for parking...a solution that's admittedly not much more suave than toppling over at every stop.

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If Coda's claims are true, their Self Inflating Tires in development now seem like an inevitable future for car owners. The simple mechanism works with classic principles of a peristaltic pump: a tube is placed in each tire's sidewall. As it's run over, the tube's compression forces air in (filling the tire). A cut-off makes sure the tire doesn't explode. That's it. Sound too good to be true? Maybe. But having all tires on the road at optimal inflation could lead to a huge gas/energy savings every year (and as our friends at Jalopnik point out, it's pretty good for safety as well). So our ears are perked waiting for more information. (Note: the choice for no hyphen was that of the manufacturer, not our editors.)

AU: And the choice to spell them "tires" was also the manufacturers choice, not your local editor's.

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Italian supercar manufacturer Pagani has gone into the luxury audio market and produced a carbon fiber-and-brushed aluminum stereo system whose bass speakers looks are reminiscent of the fat exhausts found on its Zonda supercar—at least, that's what the 350-watt speakers look like. Find out what else the Pagani sound system has got under the bonnet after the jump.

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