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The Mercedes GP team has confirmed that it has released Nick Heidfeld from his contract in order for the German to become Pirelli's official test driver. Heidfeld was the team's reserve driver for this season, but will start driving for Pirelli at the start of today's test at the Mugello circuit, where the German will be at the wheel of a 2009 Toyota F1 car. "We can confirm that the team is pleased to allow Nick Heidfeld the opportunity to join Pirelli and contribute to their development work for the company's imminent return to Formula 1," said Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn. "Nick is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove extremely useful to Pirelli and therefore of benefit to the sport as a whole. "Nick has been a real asset to Mercedes GP Petronas since joining our team this year and we are pleased to see his career progressing." Heidfeld was left without a racing seat fo

Harry Redknapp has tried to take the pressure off his Tottenham side ahead of their Champions League debut. Spurs take on Swiss side Young Boys in Berne in Tuesday's play-off first leg. And asked what failure to reach the group stage would mean, the Spurs boss said: "What can it mean? What are we going to do - commit suicide? "Listening to everybody, we'll end up hanging ourselves. All you can ever do is your best. If we play at our best, we've got a great chance." Tottenham made it into the Champions League play-offs for the first time in their history after finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, and they will be guaranteed at least £10m if they progress to the group stage. "Nobody expected us to get here in the first place last year," said Redknapp. "We suddenly went from where we were to finishing fourth in the Premier League. "People's expectations get very high but I don't think about not qualifying. "It'

2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid — First Drive Review Although BMW initially shunned hybrids in favor of clean diesels and other alternative powertrains, the German automaker is joining the electrically assisted fray next year with not one but two gasoline-electric vehicles: the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 — our first drive of which you can read here — and the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. Both models share ActiveHybrid badging and fall in the contradictory performance-hybrid segment, but their similarities end there. The 7 is a mild hybrid that uses an electric motor in its eight-speed automatic gearbox and a compact lithium-ion battery mounted in the trunk to assist acceleration and run the accessories; the X6 is a far more complex full hybrid. The latter's pair of motors and advanced electronic continuously variable transmission allow it to waft up to 1.6 miles and at speeds of up to 37 mph on electric current alone. Forget about Prius-like fuel economy, though, because the ActiveHybrid X6 is t

Gizmodo got their hands on one of the first BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphones from RIM. Their verdict? The screen has such a low-res, it’s like going back to SD after watching HD for a year. It’s a 480×360 display and a “grisly sight,” the text is jaggy and ugly when compared to an Android or iPhone display. Why RIM did not advance their display technology, especially after seeing the fantastic response Apple received from their fancy Retina Display is beyond me. Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 6 software we were hoping would make a big difference – has not really changed much. Giz explains “The software is a mess and fixes none of the major problems with BlackBerry.” RIM put 512MB of ram inside, which matches the iPhone 4. But with a 624MHz processor, it’s still crippled. “It often hangs and stutters moving from app to app.” Universal search is perfect, it finds exactly what you need, whether it may be an mp3, contact, or file. Just start to type it out, and it’s there. Some good points