Symmetry factor

No (fundamental) physics in this post. But since I went to see new cars at the 2008 Detroit International Autoshow a couple of weeks ago, I figured some report is in order. Here are some pictures that I took during that show (this is a tiny portion of them).
There were many Chinese companies - last year I only saw one, while this year featured at least five! They make cars that look ok and would probably cost less than US-made vehicles. Some of them also look goofy (this is an electric vehicle):

The prize for the weirdest concept car goes to Mazda this year. It is a winner hands down. Do you see Xylon theme (I bet the designer likes the show “Battlestar Galactica”):

Here is another view:

The prize for the coolest new concept goes to  Saturn for their Flextreme plug-in - they even thought of a place for a Segway! I like Saturn vehicles more and more with each coming year.

Some companies are quite close to having “the real thing” — here is a “personal” hydrogen station for a Honda’s fuel cell car. If you have about $500K  you can buy it now…

But the prize for the coolest thing I saw at the show doesn’t go to a car. It goes to a TV.  Look at the picture below - some flat screen TV’s. So what? Well, the deal is that those flat screen TVs show their programs in 3D, without any glasses or anything — that’s why the lady below is holding up a hand - the image of that yellow thing sits in her palm!

I was told that there are only 11 of those TVs in existence worldwide — and onStar has 7 of them…

I’m already looking forward to the next year’s show!