Roundup: Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid, Nintendo 3DS XL and the importance of backing up your data offsite
On this morning’s roundup, you’ll want to first check out Ars Technica for Kyle Orland’s excellent review of the Nintendo 3DS XL. Writes Orland:
[It’s] been only 511 days since Nintendo released its portable 3DS in North America. That might seem like a relatively short time to roll out a major redesign like the 3DS XL, which expands both the screen size and the external dimensions of Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D handheld. But after spending a few weeks with the XL, we wish Nintendo hadn’t waited so long to release the expanded system. It feels like the way 3DS games were meant to be played.
Then, for you auto enthusiasts out there, Motor Trend tested the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid (pictured) on the Bonneville Salt Flats and hit 185MPH, breaking a record for hybrids.
Gunning for top speed on the Bonneville Salt Flats should be on the car enthusiast’s bucket list. Luckily for our own associate road test editor Carlos Lago, he can check that task off after taking a modified 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid to 185.394 mph at Speed Week. In the process, Lago also set a new record for hybrid land speed record attempts.
The record-setting machinery in question is a Jetta Hybrid meticulously prepared to the H/PS standards of the Southern California Timing Association sanctioning body. The “H†designates a 1.016- to 1.523-liter engine displacement restriction, while “PS†means the Production Supercharged (forced induction) class. Set to go on sale later this year, the production version of the hybrid sedan will have a 150-horsepower 1.4-liter turbo-four affixed to a 7-speed twin-clutch DSG transmission with a 27-hp electric motor.
Because the SCTA has no definitive hybrid category yet, the 185-mph marker won’t appear in any record books but is nonetheless more than 50 mph faster than an earlier land speed record hybrid assault undertaken by a prepped Toyota Prius. To compare, a factory-fresh Porsche Panamera S Hybrid’s top speed is a claimed 167 mph.
Finally, Forbes reminds us that a small investment in a reliable, offsite data backup plan is always wise.
Data loss prevention is better — and cheaper — than the cure.
If you have precious data on your computer that’s not backed up to at least one separate place — another PC, an external hard drive, a cloud backup service — then you are playing Russian roulette with your data and you will eventually lose. Ideally an off-site backup is preferable because it protects your data from loss in the event of fire or theft, but a quick backup of your important stuff to an external hard drive — which you can buy starting at about $70 — is far, far, better than nothing.
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