BMW gets Nokia C7 car remote control

Imagine driving your BMW using an App on your Nokia phone! Life doesn't get any better than that does it? At CES and the NAIAS in Detroit this year we saw ever more powerful smartphone integration, but nothing like this. Nokia Asia teamed up with two Chinese coders, An Jiaxuan and an unnamed friend, to whip up a C7 app that controls a BMW 1 Series. They said it took them only 20 days to get things ready but we're thinking adding the remote controls to the car itself must have added some further time to that. The result is in the video below, a short test drive that Nokia promises "isn't special effects." See for yourself and let us know if you spot a meatbag driver hiding in there somewhere. Hit read more for the video.

NVIDIA shows us Tegra 2 gameplay on Atrix 4G and Optimus 2X (video)

We can't imagine how this might have slipped your attention, but LG and Motorola used this year's CES to roll out the smartphone world's first dual-core devices in the shape of the Atrix 4G and Optimus 2X. Both are built around NVIDIA's 1GHz Tegra 2 chip, which has been the most popular thing out here in Vegas after the free food and shuttle rides (Moto even has the Droid Bionic, a 4.3-incher bound for Verizon, using it). But what does that extra core matter to you? Hit read more to find out!

LG 3D smartphone display

You can't have all this 3D stuff happening on the home entertainment front without it trickling down to smartphones, right? Sharp's already planning to bring its autostereoscopic wares to US shores at some point during 2011 and today LG's busy showing off a prototype of its own, right here at CES. It's a 4.3-inch panel, pumping out glasses-free 3D (using the parallax barrier method) and is presently embedded in an enormous demo box, but the ultimate goal is to have it in media-centric handsets. To be honest, yes, there's some glasses-free 3D effect going on, but for the most part we just noticed the two frames splitting and didn't find the video before us enhanced in any major way. The best parts might even have been the ones that didn't have any 3D-ification applied to them -- the display on show is certainly a lucid and bright one. Skip past the break to see what we're talking about in a video.

FORD’S VERTREK CONCEPT PREVIEWS NEXT ESCAPE

Dubbed Vertrek, the small crossover utility vehicle is based on Ford’s European kinetic design language, although the automaker says it offers the off road capability, cargo space and trailer towing features necessary for buyers in the United States. Hit read more for details and videos!

Misa Digital Kitara - Digital Guitar? (Video)

Ambidextrous, capacitive, programmable, open source, five simultaneous touch inputs. The Misa Digital Kitara has quite the laundry list of goodies to boast about. The first thing that strikes you about this guitar-shaped synthesizer is its weight distribution -- it's no heavier than a good electric guitar, but a lot more of that weight is contained within its neck -- and the second will inevitably be its lightning-quick response to touch. Misa tells us latency is less than 5 milliseconds and it felt like it. Hit read more for details.

LG LSM-100 Scanner Mouse

We found this multifaceted gizmo at CES that LG is dubbing the Scanner Mouse. It does exactly what you think -- works as a mouse and scanner. You might recall something similar from back in the day, but LG is looking to commercialize the idea. The bottom of the rodent has a clear (glass or plastic sheet, we're not sure) packed with five LEDs for the camera to see the image being reflected off of the mirror inside. To kickstart the scanning process on a Widows or Mac machine, you simply press the scan button and huzzah -- the software will activate and display the area the scanner is hovering over. Hit read more for details and a video.

Nokia X7 press shot emerges with AT&T branding

According toPocketnow's sources, the first press images of the Nokia X7 are legitimate, and the AT&T branding isn't by accident. Purportedly, the Symbian^3-based phone will be hitting shops as early as this month, bringing along an eight megapixel camera (with dual-flash), four speaker grilles (two of which have drivers underneath) and a ClearBlack display.

Update: Our dreams have been dashed by Pocketnow, who says its original source was out of date -- AT&T had apparently planned to stock the X7 under the name "Nokia Journey" in time for a Mobile World Congress launch, but those plans have reportedly been canceled by AT&T itself.

BlackBerry Storm 3 shows up again, tracking for September launch?

RIM's mythical BlackBerry Storm 3 is one of those products that shows up every few months with just enough new information to have you believing that it's real and it's eventually coming before slithering back into the night, going totally radio-silent for another month or two. We've no doubt that the phone is real at this point, but considering the lukewarm reception the Storm 2 got, we're surprised RIM hasn't pushed harder to get the updated device to market -- only thing we can figure is that the carrier partners keep sending it back for tweaks. Speaking of tweaks, BGR says that we can expect a phone with a 1.2GHz processor (same as the alleged Torch 2) along with a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, dual-band WiFi with UMA support, mobile hotspot capability, and BlackBerry OS 6.1. Word has it there will be at least two versions released around the globe -- codenamed Monaca and Monza -- and it's on track for a September release. That's all well and good, though these specs aren't going to blow anyone away as we approach Q4 '11.

2012 CHEVROLET SONIC HATCHBACK MAKES WORLD DEBUT

The Sonic hatchback is aimed primarily at European and Asian markets, although it will go on sale in North America with a Sonic badge. A United States and Canada-oriented Sonic sedan will debut at a North American auto show later this season. Hit read more for details.

Motorola Atrix hitting March 1st, according to AT&T document leak?

Motorola said its fantastical modular dual-core smartphone the Atrix 4G would appear in the first quarter of the year -- and it's looking like the device will be as late in that first quarter as can be managed without completely bumming us out. Alleged AT&T internal documents found their way into the hands of Android Central, which specify a March 1st launch date for the handset, as well as pointing out pentaband radio frequencies which might help it roam globally but probably won't play nice with T-Mobile data. And what, pray tell, is the Atrix 4G?