Hey, true believers! With Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters this Friday, it means it’s product placement time. The Audi R8 has been Iron Man’s ride of choice on several occasions, but this time, a different Audi is the personal shuttle of a different sort of hero: Captain Cameo, better known as his not-so-secret identity of Stan Lee.
The legendary comic book writer and publisher has played a large part in the creation of many of our favorite superheroes, so it’s only fitting that when Marvel began bringing those characters to life on the big screen, he’d get a small background blink-and-you’ll-miss role. This cheeky nod to fans expanded into a Marvel movie mainstay, and this latest commercial has Lee teaching a workshop on how to “cameo act,” which is drastically different from real acting.
Lee arrives at the workshop in the Audi S8, a car we find to be exceptional and appropriate for any occasion. In fact, it was very close to becoming our 2015 luxury car of the year. Its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 doesn’t get lots of action in this spot, but it does subsequently manage to upstage Mr. Lee as master of Cameos.
Directed by Kevin Smith, the commercial stars actors like Michael Rooker of The Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy setting aside years of proper acting training to learn from Stan Lee on how to be … just some dude. TV’s original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, makes few cameos himself, bursting through the doors looking for anger management classes.
We’ll see what roll Audi has cast its vehicles in the upcoming action blockbuster, and we’ll certainly keep an eye for an appearance by our favorite energetic 90-year-old. ‘Nuff Said!
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.