Mereja

Author: Serkadis

  • Spy Shots: Audi A7 caught testing in the cold

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    Audi A7 spy shots – Click above for high-res image gallery

    It’s been over a year since the Audi Sportback concept debuted at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, and based on these spy shots, it won’t be much longer until the production version debuts – we’re guessing that it could show up as early as next month’s Geneva Motor Show. Dubbed A7, this four-door sedan sports a coupe-like profile and will slot between the A6 and A8 in Audi’s lineup. Think of it as a more stylish alternative to the A8 like the Volkswagen CC is to the Passat. Whether or not the market can bear the weight of yet another schizophrenic sedan remains to be seen, as they can already choose between the segment’s creator, the Mercedes-Benz CLS, and cars like the Jaguar XF and aforementioned Volkswagen CC.

    Engine options should run the typical Audi gamut, at least in Europe. They’ll likely start with V6 and V8 offerings like the A8 above it, and there will surely be a TDI application or two, if not some manner of hybrid eventually. For the States, however, we can probably expect an eight-cylinder only approach. Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system will of course be included, and we can only surmise it will look stunning when finally takes to the stage.

    As to pricing, Audi USA head Johan de Nysschen has already told us that the A7 will slot in “a little bit below” the A8 in terms of pricing, so we’re ballparking an average price of around $80k.

    [Images: CarPix]

    Spy Shots: Audi A7 caught testing in the cold originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Alienware to probe shoppers on QVC

    Get ready home shoppers, Alienware is going to be paying you a visit at 1am Eastern time on the 6th. Apparently, showing up on geeky TV shows and at Blizzcon isn’t enough, so Alienware is going to be selling it old school: on QVC late nights.

    Of course, you can still buy them online, they are still going to be expensive, but this might expand the brand awareness for them. If nothing else, a whole bunch of rednecks will end up with some serious computing power.


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  • Aliens Vs. Predator on Eyefinity – sweet lord YES


    Oh my gaaaaaawwwwd. Why would you play it in any other way? Are you kidding me?

    One screen per claw. Take me now.


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  • Robonauts are go!


    So NASA has developed these robots to basically do the work of humans. There was a previous version, which the R2 you see above (yes, “R2″) is a refinement of, and now as you can see he’s quite a performer. Is he doing a tango move there?

    Check out this video. The money shot is at 3:30, where you can really see how gentle and precise the movements are.

    How cool is this? It’s a joint operation with GM, since when you think about it, certain stages of car building and certain parts of space exploration are similar. Actually, I guess it’s kind of a stretch to put it like that. Really, it’s just nice for any hazardous operation in any industry to be handled by a robot with the same agility as a person.

    Too bad it doesn’t have any legs, though — but at that point you’re pretty much just asking to be robo-strangled in your bed. Excellent, another addition to the Robocalypse tag. It’s been a while.

    [via CNET]


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  • Zardari directs government for legal support for Dr. Aafia

    AReview: ISLAMABAD: Voicing concerns over the verdict of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui case, the President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the federal government for extension of legal support to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, charged with attempt to murder of US troops in Afghanistan, Areview news reported. In a statement issued from presidency, President Zardari has issued directives to concerned institutions of federal government to make contacts with the family of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and provide them with every possible legal and judicial cooperation. These directives surfaced shortly after the verdict declared by US court jury, which heard proceedings of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui trial, statement said. He hoped for justice to be extended to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui with the progress of her trial in US court of law, it further said.

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  • Does ZuneHD price drop presage the Zune Phone?

    Several blogs have noticed ZuneHD pricing at Amazon and New Egg had dropped by $30 to $40, while the official Microsoft Store is now offering a $20 price cut for the $32GB Zune HD, with the once-$229 16GB Zune HD now listed for $199.

    Of course there are all kinds of theories to explain the drop, but my preferred on is the imminent announcement of a Zune Phone at Mobile World Congress.

    If this is the case it also implied the device will not only be announced, but may be delivered to the market very soon after.

    What do our readers think?  Is this likely? Let us know below.

    Via tech.yahoo.com

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  • Buy Office 2007, get 2010 free? Microsoft posts, pulls deal




    Microsoft has accidentally posted details about a promotion it will be running for those who buy Office 2007 a few months before and after the release of Office 2010 in June 2010. It is called the “Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program,” though Redmond is not yet ready to announce it. “Microsoft has not disclosed an Office 2010 Technology Guarantee,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. “We have no further comment at this time.”

    According to a cached copy of a post on ”In The Know – Charles Van Heusen’s Weblog,” which is part of the Microsoft US Partner Community website, Customers who purchase a copy of Office 2007, with or without a new PC, from an authorized reseller between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010 qualify for the promotion. They must install and activate Office 2007 by September 30, 2010 and request their free Office 2010 product by October 31, 2010 using an activated Office 2007 Product Key and a dated sales receipt. Office 2010 will be available for a free download for those that qualify, though discs will be orderable for a fee (Microsoft usually charges for shipping and handling when sending out copies of discs for software it is giving away via download). One Office 2010 product is allowed per qualifying Office 2007 purchase, though there is a limit of 25 per person.

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  • NBC’s Jeff Zucker talks about Boxee with congress, Boxee talks about The Facts with Jeff Zucker

    So, Jeff Zucker of NBC was hanging out his new best friend Brian Roberts from Comcast today, talking up the proposed acquisition in front of Congress. A certain Rep. Rick Boucher asked “what about Boxee?” and things got a little interesting. Jeff says that Boxee was “illegally taking the content that was on Hulu,” as opposed to the “many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with.” We’re not exactly sure which deals Zucker is referring to, but Boxee’s Avner Ronen takes issue with the first point:

    I’d like to set the record straight regarding Boxee’s access to Hulu. Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so.

    He also takes issue with some of Zucker’s other points, pointing out that Hulu dropped Boxee based on a request from NBC, while Zucker calls it a decision by “Hulu management,” and he also points out that Boxee hasn’t found NBC as open to negotiations as Zucker claims to be, but will be giving it another shot — perhaps with some of that subscription fee cash mixed in somewhere to sweeten the deal? It’s worth watching the short clip on C-Span and reading the entire Boxee rebuttal, even if it won’t make you any less angry.

    NBC’s Jeff Zucker talks about Boxee with congress, Boxee talks about The Facts with Jeff Zucker originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Jaguar returns to Le Mans with GT2 XKR

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    JaguarRSR XKR GT2 and its predecessors – Click above for high-res image gallery

    Jaguar’s motorsports involvement dates back to its earliest days some 75 years ago. The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been part of that story since 1951 when a C-Type won the big enduro its very first time out. Jaguar is returning to the French classic this year with a factory entry for the first time since the Tom Walkinshaw built XJR-14 prototypes of the early 1990s.

    This year, instead of seeking overall victory with a prototype, Jaguar is aiming for top honors in GT2 with a production-derived XKR built by Lansing, MI based Rocketsports Racing. The JaguarRSR XKR GT2 ran some practice laps at the Petit Le Mans last fall before its competition debut in the ALMS finale at Laguna Seca. RSR owner Paul Gentilozzi will share seat time with Scott Pruett and Marc Goossens in the 24 hour race. The XKR will also be running the full American Le Mans Series season this year starting at the 12 hours of Sebring next month.

    Gallery: Jaguar XKR GT2 at Laguna Seca

    [Source: Jaguar]
    Photos copyright Jaguar / (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

    Continue reading Jaguar returns to Le Mans with GT2 XKR

    Jaguar returns to Le Mans with GT2 XKR originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Crazy Horse Memorial

    Crazy Horse Canyon, South Dakota | Unusual Monuments

    When the carving of Mount Rushmore began in 1927, the local Lakota Indians objected loudly. The Black Hills of South Dakota, by treaty, belonged to them. But rather than simply protest, Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to Korczak Ziółkowski, who had assisted in the carving of Mount Rushmore, and asked him to help the local Native American tribes etch their own heroes into rock.

    In 1948, Ziółkowski began work on a carved memorial to Crazy Horse, a Lakota war hero who fought and died battling the United States government at the turn of the 19th century. The mountain Ziółkowski was given to carve was located a scant eight miles from Mount Rushmore.

    Though Ziółkowski passed away in 1982, work continues on the Crazy Horse memorial. The face of the sculpture, a towering 87 feet, was dedicated in 1998. When completed, the sculpture will stand 641 feet long and 563 feet tall making it the world;’s largest sculpture by far. For a size comparison, the head of Crazy Horse alone is 27 feet taller then the six story heads of Mount Rushmore. In fact, if you were to stack all the heads of Mount Rushmore on top of one another they tower of presidential noggins still wouldn’t reach half the height of Crazy Horse. The horse head alone could easily fit two of Lincoln’s inside of it.

    Work continues sixty years after Ziółkowski begun and is currently progressing on the horse’s head. In June, the Memorial hosts an open house where people are allowed on the mountain with as many as 15,000 people showing up.

    Ironically today almost all the local Native American tribes do not support the monument. In the words of Lakota medicine man Lame Deer “The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse.”

    The Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Cultural Center are located nearby, with a large collection of objects that tell the story of the culture, tradition, and heritage of Native Americans. The museum display the flags of all the Native American tribes, as well as a collection of paintings by Andrew Standing Soldier and Hobart Keith, and photographs from the 19th century. The museum also hosts many cultural activities and offers hands-on experiences to its visitors in the Education and Cultural Center.

  • What Do Behavioral Targeters Know About You?

    While relevant advertising is the only kind that’s useful, it’s creepy to see behavioral ads following you around the web, advertising that trip to Hawaii you’d researched last week when you’re just trying to read the news. But perhaps it would be a lot less creepy if you knew when and where you were sharing your data, and when and why you’re being targeted by ads.

    To that end, you can find out exactly what cookies BlueKai — which says it’s the largest U.S. behavioral data provider, and just raised a third round of $21 million while kicking off its third year of existence — has on you. Head over to BlueKai’s registry and you can see, item by item, recent categories you’ve been slotted into based on your browsing history.

    Here’s what Bluekai says it knows about me:

    • A bunch about my travel preferences from recent trips I’ve researched (including the proverbial one to Hawaii), including what day I wanted to depart on, how far in advance of the trip it was, and my departure and arrival points. Also something more vague — that I’m “looking for sunshine.” (It’s like they’re peering into my soul!)

    • Some information about my job that’s not terrifically accurate — I’m in information technology (true) and hospitality (false), I’m at a company with 100+ employees (false).

    • My gender, age range and geographic area.

    Though the categorical information is perhaps a bit jargony — aka “In-market > Travel > Air travel > By destination > Domestic destinations” — I can go through and remove any one aspect that I think is incorrect or invasive.

    The idea here, said BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol in a telephone interview, is to show consumers what’s known about them so they don’t get freaked out and opt out of behavioral ads entirely. It’s also meant to fend off the threat of consumer privacy legislation that could potentially cut off the whole industry. A pure opt-out system, along the lines of the Do Not Call Registry, could be a huge blow to the emerging behavioral marketing industry, which was worth $1 billion last year.

    “The ultimate solution is to raise the bar high enough that we do it for ourselves instead of waiting for legislation,” Tawakol said. “The industry deserves what it gets if the bar’s too low.”

    BlueKai’s is just one early attempt to get on consumer’s good sides — though I can’t imagine that many people will actually go in and adjust their data for just a single cookie-tracking company. The IAB and a group called the Network Advertising Initiative are trying to create broader industry standards.

    Because BlueKai doesn’t actually target ads itself, just buy and sell data about users, it depends on its customers doing a better job of exposing what they’re doing. Here’s Tawakol’s proposal:

    “In my mind morality always preceeds legality. Here’s where I will be happy. If every page that collects data has a simple link in English that tells you what data it has and what it knows about you. And if every ad says this ad was targeted anonymously, click here and we’ll show you what we used.”
    Image via Flickr user Editor B.


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  • Obama’s Latest Nominee on Medical Marijuana: WTF?

    Dear Obama,

    WTF, dude? I thought we had an understanding. I’ve been defending you to all my lefty friends; every time they start in with “He’s not doing enough on Burma” or “He’s weak on gay rights,” I say, “Look, he has a master plan. Be patient.” Then you go and nominate Michele Leonhart to be head of the DEA? What gives? How am I supposed to defend that??

    Leonhart is a Bush appointee who opposes the decriminalization of medical marijuana. In 1989, being against medical marijuana would have been an unfortunate but understandable position. In 2010, it is no longer acceptable. We know pot is safe and has medical benefits. We’ve been over all this a million times. The list of people who support medical marijuana decriminalization includes 80% of Americans (aka your constituents), a vast majority of Democrats (aka the people who voted you into office), and a presidential candidate named Barack Obama. I can only think of two explanations for this. One: you might be trying to pick someone Republicans will like, in order to have an easy confirmation hearing. I know you just went through a nail-biter with Bernanke and it would be nice to cruise through a confirmation hearing for a change. But guess what? THE REPUBLICANS DON’T LIKE ANYTHING. Correction: they like the opposite of what you do. So stop pandering to them, OK? Pander to us for a change.

    The second explanation is that maybe you just aren’t as liberal as we hoped you were. In fact, I know you’re not. In fairness to you, you never really claimed to be. You warned in your book that you serve as “a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.” And as I wrote in my last post, I know you want to play to the center and be a New Democrat, and I do think that’s admirable. But dude, holding back medical marijuana? That’s not being a New Democrat; that’s being an old Republican.

    Yours Sincerely,

    Andrew Marantz

  • Adobe Fires Back at Apple’s Snub of Flash on the iPad

    What’s Apple’s problem with Flash? Three years after the introduction of the iPhone, Apple’s refusal to include Flash on its soon-to-be-released iPad has sparked another kerfuffle between Apple and Flash maker Adobe Systems.

    In a lengthy blog post, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch railed against Apple’s Flash avoidance and detailed why Flash has become successful on the non-iPhone part of the web. From its humble start allowing low-bandwidth vector animations on the web, Flash now includes animation, streaming audio, rich interactivity, arbitrary fonts, two-way audio/video communication, local storage, and “enabling the video revolution on the web,” Lynch wrote.

    The explosion of smartphones and the imminent wave of tablet devices — including the iPad — means an “important crux for the future of Flash,” Lynch wrote. In the mobile near future, a plethora of devices with different web-browsing capabilities threatens to break up what Flash largely built — “seamless, consistent and rich experiences,” he added.

    Flash for Smartphones

    Adobe is attempting to manage the transition to the mobile web with a version of the Flash player for smartphones — which will be deployed by “all but one of the top manufacturers,” Lynch wrote.

    Guess who that is.

    Flash works just fine on Apple’s devices, Lynch wrote. Adobe is developing stand-alone apps built on Flash that are currently available on the App Store. “This same solution will work on the iPad as well. We are ready to enable Flash in the browser on these devices if and when Apple chooses to allow that for its users, but to date we have not had the required cooperation from Apple to make this happen,” Lynch charged.

    HTML5 Won’t Replace Flash

    Apple is a supporter of the open-standard HTML5, which it says will eventually replace Flash. Lynch doesn’t think so. “I don’t see this as one replacing the other, certainly not today nor…

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  • Apple paying back bonuses on cost of defective 27-inch iMacs

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    Gizmodo is reporting that Apple has begun refunding up to an extra 15% of the purchase price of the 27-inch iMac to those customers who bought defective units.

    The news broke yesterday with a UK-based Apple Authorized Service Provider/Reseller claiming that Apple is out of 27″ screens in Europe, and they’re dealing with a waiting list of customers already. So they’re now offering up (to only certain customers so far, not an official policy) not only a full refund, but an extra 15% on top of the price, roughly $300 on the cost of a $2000 iMac.

    Gizmodo also points out that the refund doesn’t include sales tax or shipping costs, so some of the 15% covers that as well. You won’t be able to make money on this, but Apple is apparently offering up a small bonus to customers inconvenienced by the issues.

    Earlier this week Apple released another firmware update to address the flickering screen issues with the 27-inch iMacs but it seems that has not alleviated all the issues.

    TUAWApple paying back bonuses on cost of defective 27-inch iMacs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Is the Comcast NBC Merger the End for Web TV Startups?

    boxee_logo_jan10.jpgCapitol Hill is abuzz as Comcast and NBC Universal defend their merger in an antitrust investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While a number of interest groups are commenting on the potential acquisition, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen’s blog post offers some hints at how the merger could affect the environment for web TV startups.

    Sponsor

    In March 2009, NBC’s Hulu requested that Boxee remove all embedded video content. While fans were certainly disappointed, Boxee found a simple workaround in the form of a Hulu plug-in. In today’s hearing with the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, NBC President Jeff Zucker justifies that initial removal of Hulu from Boxee by calling the web tv startup’s practices “illegal”.

    In response, Boxee CEO Ronen writes, “Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video… There are now close to a million people using Boxee. When they watch shows from Hulu they are watching the ads and generate real revenues to NBC.”

    Avner then points to his plans for a payment program suggesting that Boxee users might be willing to pay Hulu for subscription content. While this sort of deal might prove lucrative for Boxee, the merger itself may create an extremely restrictive environment for those startups looking to break into the web tv and social tv space. If Boxee is considered “illegal” then what other access will be denied?

    With NBC Universal representing a large portion of entertainment content and Comcast controlling the flow of that content to tv and the Web, what innovations might be pummeled in the wake of a merger?

    Discuss


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  • A T-Mobile IPO? [Digital Daily]

    If there is indeed a fledgling IPO recovery this year, T-Mobile USA may end up being part of it. “Unidentified sources close to the matter” tell The Wall Street Journal that Deutsche Telekom is considering taking its U.S. wireless unit public. Evidently, the German telecommunications outfit is looking to placate shareholders dismayed by the unit’s performance as of late. Not only is T-Mobile trailing far behind rivals like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint, it’s losing subscribers. In the third quarter of 2009, for example, T-Mobile lost a net 77,000 customers. Were Deutsche Telekom to move ahead with a T-Mobile IPO it might be able to raise enough capital to build out its network, improve reception in major markets and start winning back some of the subscribers it’s been losing.

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  • Russia: Blogger Addresses Russian President With Environmental Claim

    Blogger tebedam from Norilsk, one of the most polluted cities in the world, wrote a post [RUS] addressing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and demanding the introduction of innovative environmental technologies.

  • JetBlue To Most Loyal Customers: We’re Too Busy To Help You, Sorry

    Nearly six years ago, there was a fantastic article in Inc. Magazine about how JetBlue’s CEO and founder, David Neeleman, regularly worked on flights as a flight attendant to better connect with JetBlue customers and understand what they needed. It’s really a tremendous article — and it wasn’t initiated by a PR push, but by a reporter who just happened to be on one of those flights and experienced the whole thing first hand. It’s really an amazing story of customer service, something that JetBlue had a strong reputation for in the early days. I experienced a lot of that first hand as I flew JetBlue pretty often. However, a few years ago, things changed, culminating in the infamous JetBlue “Valentine’s Day Massacre” of ridiculously bad customer service on a busy day, which is now a Harvard Business School case study. While I wasn’t there, a separate incident around that time (involving getting stuck at the landing gate and unable to get out of the gate area for 45 minutes — yes on landing, not departure — due to overcrowding) had me switch to other airlines.

    Neeleman insisted that he would fix the problems, but he didn’t get the chance. Just a few months later he was pushed out, and many people warned that this was a massive mistake, because he was being replaced by operational people who didn’t have the passion to fix JetBlue like Neeleman did. It seems like this has happened.

    The company recently switched to a new reservation system, and it’s been a huge mess according to a bunch of folks who regularly fly JetBlue. Worst of all, the switchover basically screwed over JetBlue’s most loyal customers, changing the terms of their rewards offerings (expiring their points in one year, rather than letting them last forever if you had a JetBlue AmEx) and also telling those TrueBlue members they could no longer redeem frequent flyer passes using the website. Instead, they had to call. Yes, the airline that pioneered pushing flyers to use the website rather than call has gone the other direction.

    And guess what a mess that caused? A good friend of mine who regularly flies JetBlue (at least once a month) wanted to redeem a “TruePass” for an upcoming trip, and after discovering that the website could no longer do it, she called and was told that hold times were 60 minutes or more. So she waited. And was then was disconnected by JetBlue customer service twice — once on purpose after she asked for the customer service representative’s name, and that representative apparently didn’t want to give it out. So, in response, my friend emailed in a complaint to JetBlue, and JetBlue’s response was: we’re too busy to look at your email or help you. Seriously:


    Dear A,

    Thank you for contacting JetBlue Airways regarding your TrueBlue account. JetBlue has just completed
    transitioning to a new reservation system and as a result, the TrueBlue help desk is currently
    receiving a high volume of email and can no longer accept them at this time. We apologize for the
    inconvenience.

    The email then pointed her to the JetBlue website, though it again noted that “Old TrueBlue points that appear in your online account summary can not be booked
    through jetblue.com. To book Award travel using these old points, please call us at 1-800-JETBLUE.” Of course, that was exactly what she was complaining about.

    Apparently JetBlue has decided that helping its most loyal customers is too much trouble. Sorry. Too busy. From the airline that pioneered friendly airline customer service to this… in just a few years time is really quite a travesty.

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  • Russia: Forbes Magazine Publishes List Of Top Government Bloggers

    Forbes magazine published the list of the top-20 official bloggers [RUS]. President Medvedev [RUS] tops the list, followed by an ex-oppositionary Maria Gaidar [RUS] and Perm Governor Oleg Chirkunov [RUS].

  • Report: Obama Administration looking to augment NHTSA investigative team

    Filed under: , ,

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration appears to be busier than ever. Beyond the federal agency’s upcoming visit to Congress to explain its actions leading up to the Toyota recalls, it also needs to prepare for 2011 changes to its New Car Assessment Program Five-Star Safety Rating System.

    The Detroit News is reporting that a spot of help may be on the way, as President Obama’s 2011 budget includes a $4 million budget increase earmarked for 66 new NHTSA employees. Of the proposed 66 new employees, eight would reportedly work on auto recall and safety investigations. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says another $12 million of the $800 million NHTSA budget would go towards beefing up the department’s Five Star Rating program, which, oddly enough, goes into the effect for the 2011 model year.

    In other, somewhat auto-related 2011 budget news, the proposed Energy Department budget jumps to $325 million, up from $312 million in 2010. The recommended hydrogen fuel cell budget will reportedly drop from $183 million to $137 million, and more of that money will be focused on plug-in electric and battery tech.

    [Source: The Detroit News]

    Report: Obama Administration looking to augment NHTSA investigative team originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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