News

This Porsche-Designed TV Is Less Screen, More Statement

Ever looked at your impeccably thin Samsung or Sony and thought, Sure, it’s nice—but why doesn’t it dramatically rise from the floor like a sci-fi obelisk and unfold itself with cinematic flair? No? Well, someone at C-Seed clearly did. And then they called Porsche Design to make it look properly expensive.

The result is the C-Seed folding TV, a piece of home entertainment hardware that behaves less like a television and more like a concept car that somehow escaped an auto show turntable. It’s excessive, theatrical, and unapologetically overengineered—and in a way that would feel right at home in the pages of a Car and Driver road test.

There’s just one small issue. Actually, three. The price. This thing costs more than three brand-new Porsche 911 Carreras combined. For reference, a base 911 Carrera starts at $135,500. Do the math, take a breath, and then read on.

The C-Seed lineup consists of two main models, the N1 and M1, available for indoor and outdoor use. When powered down, the display lies horizontally, disguised as a sleek, minimalist cabinet. It looks less like consumer electronics and more like a high-end architectural feature—something you’d assume is hiding climate controls for a Bond villain’s lair.

Press a button, however, and the show begins. The screen rotates upright, pauses for dramatic effect, and then unfolds panel by panel. Five microLED panels for the indoor version, seven for the outdoor setup. It’s part Transformer, part Broadway curtain call. If you’re going to watch the Super Bowl, it might as well feel like an event.

Once fully deployed, the display promises eye-watering color saturation and up to 1,000 nits of brightness. That’s enough punch to make HDR content pop whether you’re inside a penthouse or lounging poolside in Monaco. And unlike most luxury TVs that assume you’ll immediately bolt on a sound system the size of a refrigerator, C-Seed actually thought about audio.

Each screen comes with a built-in, full-range sound system designed to fill the space without requiring an aftermarket soundbar or a spiderweb of speakers. It’s clean, integrated, and refreshingly free of plastic boxes pretending to be “cinematic.”

The outdoor version turns the absurdity up another notch. It can be optioned with a taller column, a six-speaker audio setup, and—because why not?—the ability to fold completely underground when not in use. Yes, underground. As in, your TV disappears into the earth like a missile silo closing up after launch.

Size options are equally unhinged. Indoor models are offered in 103-inch, 137-inch, and 165-inch configurations. And if those sound reasonable to you, congratulations—you’re not the target audience. For those who truly want to flex, there’s a 221-inch version that borders on IMAX territory. Outdoor displays come in 144-inch and 201-inch sizes, plus a special variant designed specifically for superyachts, because apparently even the open ocean isn’t immersive enough anymore.

All of this theatrical engineering and design purity comes with a price tag hovering around $400,000. That’s a lifetime of paychecks for most people, but for the billionaire set, it’s just another indulgence—like a third hypercar or a watch that requires its own insurance policy.

The C-Seed folding TV isn’t about practicality, value, or restraint. It’s about spectacle. It’s the automotive equivalent of a concept car that actually makes production—completely unnecessary, wildly impressive, and guaranteed to turn heads. You don’t buy it because you need a TV. You buy it because you want your living room to feel like the opening scene of a sci-fi epic.

And honestly? If you’re already spending Porsche money on your television, subtlety was never part of the plan.

Source: C SEED

News

Missouri Might Kill the Safety Inspection—But Not Yet

Missouri drivers are being told they can skip the safety inspection and roll straight to the license office. That advice is wrong—at least for now. Despite viral posts insisting inspections are already dead, the Show Me State’s vehicle rules haven’t changed. Not even close.

What has changed is the conversation. A newly introduced bill in the Missouri House would eliminate most vehicle safety inspections statewide, a move supporters say modernizes an outdated system that’s more hassle than help. The problem? The internet appears to have jumped ahead to the victory lap.

On January 6, the Missouri Department of Revenue issued a rare and pointed correction, warning drivers that claims about inspections being scrapped are false. According to the DOR, the misinformation spreading online was “most likely generated from artificial intelligence (AI) sources.” Translation: your Facebook feed is not the law.

The bill in question—House Bill 1695—was introduced by State Rep. Mazzie Christensen (R–Bethany). If it passes, Missouri would stop requiring safety inspections for nearly all passenger vehicles. Commercial vehicles and salvage-titled cars would still need to comply, but the average daily driver would be off the hook. For now, the bill has been read twice and hasn’t even landed in committee.

Today’s rules remain firmly in place. Missouri requires a safety inspection every two years for vehicles more than 10 years old with over 150,000 miles, as well as during a change of ownership and for certain specialty vehicles. The inspection costs $12, with $1.50 going straight to the state for the windshield sticker.

That sticker—and the economics behind it—are a major target of the bill. Inspection stations say the math simply doesn’t work. Christensen told local station FirstAlert4 that shops might pocket about $10 per inspection while eating $60 to $75 in labor costs. The result? Some rural counties don’t have inspection stations at all, turning a routine requirement into a logistical nightmare.

Supporters also argue the change could help address Missouri’s very visible problem with expired tags and plateless cars, particularly in St. Louis. The logic is simple: remove the inspection requirement, lower the barrier to registration, and maybe more cars end up legally tagged.

Not everyone’s buying it. Critics point to safety data, including a 2022 Carnegie Mellon study that found states with safety inspections see about 5.5 percent fewer roadway deaths than states without them. Whether that reduction justifies the cost and inconvenience is the debate now unfolding in Jefferson City.

Even if HB 1695 sails through the legislature, nothing changes overnight. The bill wouldn’t take effect until January 1, 2027. Until then, Missouri drivers still need to book that inspection appointment—no matter what the algorithm says.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Thursday. Until lawmakers decide otherwise, the rule stands: inspect the car, pay the fee, and ignore the viral shortcuts.

Source: Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR); Photo: iStock

NEW CARS

Refreshed VW ID.4 Aims to Become the Electric Tiguan

Volkswagen’s electric strategy in the U.S. hasn’t exactly been lighting up the sales charts lately, but the brand isn’t retreating. Instead, it’s doubling down on its most successful EV. The ID.4—one of just two VW models to post a sales increase in America in 2025—is getting a substantial mid-cycle refresh that goes well beyond a new bumper or fresh wheel designs. Internally, it’s already being framed as something more ambitious: an electric Tiguan for the EV age.

Spy shots of the updated ID.4 reveal a crossover that’s familiar at a glance but noticeably more assertive in the details. The front end adopts a squarer, more upright look that mirrors Volkswagen’s next-generation design language, closely aligning the ID.4 with the upcoming ID.Cross. It’s a subtle but deliberate shift away from the softer, almost egg-shaped aesthetic of the current model, and one that gives the electric VW more road presence.

The changes continue along the sides, where the doors are new and finally feature proper pull-style handles instead of the current flush units. Around back, the revisions are quieter but still meaningful. The tailgate panel now curves inward rather than outward, the D-pillar has been re-profiled, and the overall effect is cleaner and more conventional—again, very Tiguan-like in execution.

This isn’t a clean-sheet redesign, and it doesn’t pretend to be. The basic structure appears unchanged, which is exactly what you’d expect from a mid-cycle update. But Volkswagen’s designers have clearly spent their time massaging the surfacing and proportions, tightening up the ID.4’s stance so it feels more in step with VW’s latest combustion and electric crossovers alike. Think of it less as a reinvention and more as a maturity phase.

If the exterior tweaks are evolutionary, the interior overhaul sounds downright apologetic—and that’s good news. Volkswagen is bringing back physical buttons and switches in a big way, including a real, honest-to-goodness volume knob. A redesigned dashboard, upgraded materials, and a revised user interface promise to address some of the loudest criticisms of the current ID.4. We’ve already seen hints of this new interior philosophy in the recently revealed ID. Polo, and if that preview is accurate, the ID.4’s cabin should feel more intuitive and less like a software beta test.

The tech upgrades don’t stop there. The digital gauge cluster, long criticized for being undersized, is expected to grow, and the infotainment system will benefit from updated software and a more capable AI-powered voice assistant. Volkswagen seems to have finally accepted that touch sliders and buried menus aren’t a substitute for usability—especially in a family crossover.

Underneath, the refreshed ID.4 will ride on a revised MEB Plus platform. The headline change is the likely adoption of LFP battery chemistry, which should improve efficiency and potentially extend range, while also offering better long-term durability. Don’t expect lightning-fast charging, though: the architecture remains 400-volt, not the 800-volt setup that’s becoming the gold standard for next-generation EVs.

Powertrain updates are expected to be incremental, and that’s probably fine. Volkswagen already gave the base single-motor ID.4 a significant boost in 2024, raising output to 282 horsepower—an 80-hp jump over earlier versions. With that improvement still fresh, the facelifted model is more about refinement than raw performance.

Timing-wise, this updated ID.4 should arrive toward the end of 2026, carrying the model through to about 2028. At that point, Volkswagen plans to launch a fully new successor on a true 800-volt platform. Whether this refreshed model officially becomes the ID.Tiguan remains an open question. VW could decide the changes are extensive enough to justify the name for the 2027 model year—or save it for the all-new version later on.

Either way, the message is clear. Volkswagen isn’t giving up on the ID.4 or the U.S. EV market. Instead, it’s reshaping its electric crossover into something more familiar, more usable, and more Tiguan-like—qualities that may matter more than ever as the EV market grows up.

Photos: SH Proshots

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