infiniti

As 2011 rolls to a close, we look back at the cars we've reviewed over the last year to see which one should earn our Tech Car of the Year Award.

This year's nominees come largely from the luxury market, where automakers are pushing their best cabin tech and most-advanced driver assistance features. Connected features are also starting to appear, with online search available in navigation systems. All of these vehicles use advanced engines, but the Volt pushes the boundaries the furthest.

Please vote for the car you think should be the 2011 Tech Car of the Year, and discuss it in the comments. The Car Tech staff jury will place its own votes, voting closes on December 19, and we will announce the winner on December 21. … Read more

If you made a snap judgment on the potential of tablet gaming based on apps released a year or more ago, you're doing yourself a disservice. Tablet games have matured significantly in the last year, and some of my favorite, most addictive games are now only available on tablets.

They're definitely different than hard-core console games, and developers are still struggling with the whole virtual joystick functionality, but judging by what I've seen in the last few months, gaming on tablets is coming very much into its own.

The following are the best tablets for gaming. The tablets here were chosen for both their graphical capabilities and for the gaming apps each has available. … Read more

Does adding a "2" to one of the most popular titles in the App Store make it better? Much like the iPad 2 itself, Infinity Blade II is a refinement and an improvement on its predecessor. As a result, it's better. Does that make Infinity Blade II a must-have game? Most definitely, especially for its $6.99 price. Is it revolutionary? Well, not exactly.

Epic and Chair Entertainment's follow-up to last year's Infinity Blade has garnered as much front-row attention as the original, largely due to its prominent mention during Apple's recent keynotes. Those hoping for a true console-style RPG were let down by the simple, linear-path-based story and Punch-Out-esque gameplay, but most people quickly got over that when they found out how addictive the hack-and-slash/leveling experience was. A sword-and-sorcery version of Fruit Ninja, in a way, but that's hardly a bad thing.… Read more

LOS ANGELES--The JX crossover that took a bow here at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show is a platform for a few firsts for the Infiniti brand.

It's the first model with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), the first implementation of the automaker's Backup Collision Intervention system, and the first model to incorporate the styling cues that debuted on the Infiniti Essence concept.

The JX35 will be the first model in the JX series and will be powered by a 265-horsepower version of Infiniti 3.5-liter workhorse V-6. That engine will send 248 pound-feet of torque through a … Read more

Two of the year's biggest games are going head to head this holiday season, both seeking the crown as best military first-person shooter. Unless you've cut yourself off from all forms of media consumption, I'm of course talking about Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.… Read more

With the iPhone picking up steam as a gaming platform, one of the biggest announcements for gamers was that the iPhone 4S' graphics would be seven times faster than its predecessor's. Even though no developers have released a game optimized for the device so far (Infinity Blade II is set to launch December 1), I decided to put some of the more high-quality current games side by side on the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S to see if we could spot any difference.

The reason for all the extra speed is the iPhone 4S' dual-core A5 processor, which supposedly has enough horsepower to render complex 3D graphics with significantly high frame rates. This bump in processor power should become particularly apparent once we see some of the new games being developed for the device, but I simply didn't want to wait that long.… Read more

At today's Apple event, a new iPhone was announced. Surprise, surprise: the iPhone 4S is a modest upgrade, at least in terms of design. However, it shares a benefit with its larger iPad 2 cousin: significantly improved graphics.

It's no longer a secret or even an aspiration: the iPhone and iPod Touch are now the most popular gaming handhelds on the planet. The Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita are, at best, hopefuls trying to steal away Apple's newfound crown. So, how does Apple's latest iPhone hold up the mantle as the reigning gaming handheld du jour?

In short: by continuing to do what it does best.… Read more

Infiniti's M35h (which we tested earlier this year) has broken into the Guinness record books as the fastest accelerating full hybrid on the road today.

The 360-horsepower M Hybrid made full use of its gasoline engine's maximum 258 pound-feet of torque and the instant-on 199 pound-feet of torque supplied by its electric engine to stop the clock at an average quarter-mile time of 13.9031 seconds. (Times for Guinness speed records are the average of two runs in opposite directions to negate the influence of head or tailwinds.)

The "full hybrid" designation applies to vehicles that … Read more

Infiniti released no details about a new concept car it would unveil at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show, beyond the fact that F1 champ Sebastian Vettel would be on hand to introduce it.

Infiniti says that Vettel helped design this concept, which looks nothing like the open-wheel F1 cars Vettel drives as part of the Red Bull racing team.

From the photo released by Infiniti, the new concept is clearly based on the FX crossover. The major body styling seems to be a more raked profile in back. With its hatchback body and fender vents, it also looks like a … Read more