If you're like us, you'd probably do all manner of unspeakable acts to be able to call the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor your very own. Unfortunately, FoMoCo isn't in the business of accepting black market kidneys as payment, which has left us without a desert stomping pickup in the driveway. Fortunately, Toyota has come out of left field with a stopgap savior in the form of its new 2011 Tacoma T|X and T|X Pro models. The packages are built around the T|X concept from the 2009 SEMA show, and pack much of the hardware we saw on that particular show truck.

Up until now, anyone with an iPhone or Blackberry and a vehicle with a Viper alarm system could control a range of features from their SmartStart-equipped smartphone. Now Viper is extending that functionality to Google-powered devices through its free app in the Android Marketplace.

Cars and trucks here in the U.S. are being invaded by more efficient four-cylinder engines. Both the 2011 Buick Regal and Hyundai Sonata, for example, feature four-pot-only lineups. Even the 4,800-pound Toyota 4Runner has an entry-level 2.7-liter four. Well, at least the off-road-ready Toyota did offer a four-banger for one model year.

While we’d gladly spend the day drinking beer outside a rented RV to watch a solar car covered in ads for Home Depot and Coors Light taking turns at a buck fifty, diehards need not worry: it’s only the track that’s gone solar.

Less than a year after the groundbreaking ceremony for a 25-acre solar array, the 3 megawatt ground-mount photovoltaic solar energy system at Pocono Raceway is online and tied into the grid, giving up enough juice for the whole racetrack and 1,000 nearby homes. In true NASCAR fashion, they went big with a solar installation the folks at Pocono say you can see from space.

If it weren't for the somewhat obsessive and frankly narrow-minded love by taxi drivers and police officers for the body-on-frame Ford Crown Victoria, we'd imagine the old Panther platform would have been put out to pasture a very long time ago. As it stands, though, New York cabbies especially seem hell-bent on keeping it around on life support as long as possible.

Interestingly, though, a report from USA Today suggests that cab drivers make more money when operating a Crown Vic than any other automobile, and that supposedly includes hybrids. According to John Shaban, a 27-year-old cab driver, "I don't like the hybrids... Mechanics charge an arm and a leg for them."

OSHKOSH, Wisconsin – Apple’s iPad continues to find a very receptive audience in the aviation community. This week at Airventure a number of companies are offering applications for the device ranging from simple study guides to weather and navigation tools aimed at pilots.

The most interesting use of an iPad is in the iCub. When we wrote about the interesting cockpit use of device last month, the idea was still just a concept. But Sportair USA flew its iPad equipped light sport aircraft to Airventure and its been drawing a steady audience all week.

OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — Pilot and NASCAR team owner Jack Roush made headlines here for all the wrong reasons earlier this week when he crashed his private jet on the runway. He remains hospitalized, and the mishap overshadowed the unveiling of Roush’s latest hot-rod, a 510-horsepower Mustang.

Roush is a fixture here at the AirVenture air show, and he’s known for flying one of his P-51 Mustangs and showing off his modified Ford Mustangs. His latest model drawing plenty of interest.

If you reside or frequent a large metropolitan area, you're probably all too aware of the cost to park your vehicle. In cities like New York or Chicago, you can pay upwards of $30 or more for a full day of parking. To make matters worse, even with astronomical costs many drivers can't even find an open spot.

San Francisco is looking for a permanent solution to its parking problems by going high tech and paying big bucks to do it. Frisco is investing $25 million on a new electronic parking system that will constantly gauge demand for spots and raise or lower pricing accordingly. So why go to all this expense and trouble to set parking prices?

OSHKOSH, Wisconsin – More than 80 years after first transporting passengers in its uniquely designed seaplanes, the Dornier name is back and redefining the flying boat marketplace. Dornier Seaplanes is here at Airventure with its new airplane, the all composite Seastar CD2.

Priced at $6 million, the Seastar CD2 isn’t aimed at the casual pilot looking for an amphibious airplane (if that’s you, check back tomorrow for an update on the Icon A5). Instead Dornier Seaplanes customers range from island nations that will use the airplane as a search and rescue aircraft, to airlines that operate in places where the airport is still a sandy beach or dock. The company says the Seastar is ideal for humanitarian work and could also be used for maritime surveillance.

Racing improves the breed, they say, and the guys at Brammo are taking that to heart with the Empulse RR, a one-off racer built with an eye toward developing the company’s next electric street bike.

The RR was designed strictly for competing in the budding electric motorcycle racing scene, so you’ll never see it on the street. But the Ashland, Oregon company is far too small to spend time developing anything it can’t make money on. So just as last season’s Enertia TTR race bike influenced the new Empulse street bike, the Empulse RR is a blueprint for future models.