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Look through the 2009 Carrera S's familiar skin, and you'll find the biggest redesign in years. The change starts with a dual-clutch transmission, taken straight from Porsche's racecars, that shifts gears in milliseconds. It's bolted to a redesigned six-cylinder engine that uses direct fuel injection (a first for Porsche) to churn out higher horsepower while actually getting more miles per gallon.

Although they are starting to outsell plasma panels, LCD TVs have failed to impress true videophiles, who prefer plasma’s richer colors and deeper contrast. But Sony’s new XBR8 LCDs may have finally closed the quality gap.

Instead of using fluorescent tubes, Sony illuminates the screen with LEDs tuned to produce deeper shades of the red, green and blue that TVs mix to form colors. This allows it to match and possibly exceed plasma in the range of hues it can reproduce, going beyond even the current color palette in high-def TV broadcasts and Blu-ray movies.