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CES: It's a digital experience

The night before the Consumer Electronics Show opens its portals to the world’s technogeeks, there is a sort of preshow called the Digital Experience! (They added that exclamation mark to the name, not us.) Still, the relatively small, ancillary consumer-technology show does set the stage for the massive CES juggernaut the next day. This year, as always, we wandered the aisles of Digital Experience looking for car-related tech.

Mercedes-Benz reveals first C-class details

Mercedes-Benz has revealed limited details about its new fourth-generation C-class sedan, more than two months before it is due to make its world debut at the Detroit auto show. Although the new BMW 3-series and Audi A4 rival is yet to official unveiled -- in fact, all we have so far are interior renderings -- Mercedes-Benz says the new C-class will be a significantly more advanced car than its predecessor in terms of construction, with a “best in class” weight figure and a level of structural integrity that it describes as being “unparalleled” in its class. Among its features is a new lightweight body structure that uses a newly developed aluminum hybrid construction process that Mercedes-Benz claims will shave as much as 220 pounds over the current model depending on the engine it uses.

One Lap of the Web: The Stig's riding mower, Satan's rat rod and Cuban cars

It's One Lap of the Web: Our daily digest of car news, features, videos and photos you may not otherwise have heard about. -- The video demons at Drive take a look at a nasty 1931 Ford colloquially named Satan's Rat Rod. You be the judge, and note that this clip isn't recommended for the thin-skinned environmentalists among us.