Author: Serkadis

2009 was a grim year for the auto industry, as the world got deeper into the economic crisis woods. The Japanese automakers have not escaped this situation, as Japan’s 2009 domestic automotive production only managed to record a figure bellow 8 million units, as Breitbart reports.

The Japanese car, trucks and buses production saw a 31.5 percent decrease from 2008’s figure, only reaching 7,934,516 units. This is the highest year-to-year decrease since 1996, when the industry introduced the cur… (read more)

Personally, I’ve had pretty good experiences in dealing with the UK press, who have interviewed me on a few different occasions. I haven’t found the experience to be particularly different than talking with the American press (or, frankly, the press from a number of other countries). I was aware that the UK press has, in general, more of a reputation for sensationalism, but in general I hadn’t seen a huge problem. However, Jake points us to a couple of blog posts from a psychology professor discussing how one of the more respected UK publications apparently made up a story, claiming an American professor’s research said something that it didn’t come close to saying, and then didn’t seem particularly interested in correcting it:

The article reported that “Researchers claim that blondes are more likely to display a “warlike” streak because they attract more attention than other women and are used to getting their own way — the so-called “princess effect.”” The Times article quotes the evolutionary psychologist at the University of California — Santa Barbara, Aaron Sell, and his findings are purportedly published in his article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, written with the two Deans of Modern Evolutionary Psychology, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby.

As it turns out, however, none of this is true, as Sell explains in his angry letter to the Times. He and his coauthors do not mention blondes at all in their paper and they don’t even have hair color in their data. The supplementary analyses that Sell performed after the publication of the paper, as a personal favor to the Times reporter, show the exact opposite of what the Times article claims. After he presumably listened to Sell explain all of this on the phone, the Times reporter nonetheless made up the whole thing, and attributed it to Sell.

Reading through the actual letter from Sell is really quite damning as he details one by one all of the false statements in the Times’ article. Here’s just a snippet (it goes on and on):

Mr. Harlow called to ask me about blonde women in particular. He said he was writing an article about blondes, and that he knew of other research showing that blondes feel more entitled. _I told him that my research did not look at blondes at all._ At his request, and as a courtesy to him, I reanalyzed our unpublished data to see if there was any relationship between being blonde and any variable I measured. There was not, and I told him so. (Although we had not taken hair color in the studies, being uninterested in it, I was able to recode the data retroactively based on photographs.)

Specifically, I told him, based on our data:

Blonde women do _not_ feel more entitled.
Blonde women are _not_ more prone to anger
Blonde women do _not_ feel more attractive than other women.
Blonde women are _not_ more militaristic.
(This last analysis about militarism controls for ethnicity, a necessary control because political attitudes are correlated with ethnicity and social class. Moreover, women of European ancestry constitute essentially the only ethnic group in the sample whose members could be blonde or not, and there is _no_ relationship among them between blondeness and attitudes toward use of the military. Any analysis of “blondeness” that does not control for ethnicity on questions about political attitudes creates the possibility that one could find a spurious correlation, because women of Asian and African-American ancestry (e.g.) are never blonde. I explained this to Mr. Harlow, and explained that this means _there is no evidence in my data that blondeness causes militaristic attitudes._)

The data aside, Mr. Harlow attributes statements to me, in quotation marks, that I have never said:

I have never published, researched, thought about, or used the phrase, “Princess Effect.”
I did not refer to Southern California as the “homeland of the privileged blonde.”
I never speculated on why blondes would be less likely to be in fights (which is not true anyway).
I have no evidence whatsoever on the effects of dying one’s hair blonde.

Of course, it’s also noted that Reporters Without Borders ranks the UK higher than the US when it comes to freedom of the press, leading the professor to claim that perhaps the UK press is a little too free when it feels comfortable making such totally unsubstantiated claims.

I’d be curious if some of our UK readers could weigh in on all of this, as it does sound a bit extreme. We’re all familiar with newspapers twisting stories or getting facts wrong, but the description here seems a bit ridiculous. Also, as we well know, the UK has very strict libel laws, and it seems like outright lying could get a reporter in trouble pretty quickly, so it sounds odd and surprising that it would be done often, if at all. In the meantime, if all of this is true, it again makes me wonder about those who seem to think that a strong press is important. What they really mean is that good reporting is important, and that does not appear to be the same thing.

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There are few things greater in this world than Miranda Kerr nude. The folks at GQ have captured the Victoria’s Secret supermodel in various states of nakedness in one of the most sexy photo shoots the magazine has done in quite awhile. If you thought she looked great in lingerie, just wait till you get an eyeful of Miranda Kerr nude

Miranda Kerr has been appearing in Victoria’s Secret ads for some time now, but she’s starting to break out and this photo shoot will certainly help raise her profile, and much deservedly so. Enjoy.

So see more of the Miranda Kerr naked shots check out GQ.

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Anti-choice activists tried mightily to put a
happy face on their annual March for Life rally but the news was grim for its
priority project — placing another "personhood" constitutional
amendment on the Colorado ballot.

Personhood USA co-founder Keith Mason told the January 2010 rally
participants that the proposed measure to give civil rights to fertilized eggs
is short the required 50,000 petition signatures needed to place it on the 2010
ballot. Audible gasps rippled through the rally crowd estimated at under 300 by
a Colorado state trooper.

In yet another setback, the group was also
informed by the Colorado Secretary of State that a clerical error miscalculated
the date by which petitions must be submitted for verification. Now, Personhood
Colorado must return its petitions by February 12 — four days earlier than expected
following a six-month certification drive to collect 76,047 voter signatures.

Even so, Mason was defiant as he tried to whip up
the crowd by refusing to declare defeat.

"I want to tell you that the Colorado
personhood effort didn’t get enough votes if you didn’t already know
that," said Mason. "It was the first one in the country. But we
didn’t get enough votes. But it wasn’t a failure. It was a start."

In fact, the group, then known as Colorado for
Equal Rights, was defeated in a landslide 73-27 vote in 2008 when other
religious conservative-backed ballot measures in recent years have passed
handily.

The latest Personhood Colorado campaign has been
marred by poor fundraising and divided attentions as its national organizers
attempt to place constitutional amendments in all 50 states.

Woes from the Centennial State Friday continues a
streak of bad luck for the paleo-conservative anti-choice movement.

Nevada District Court Judge James Russell ruled
January 8 that a like-worded personhood amendment declaring fertilized eggs as
people imbued with civil rights protections was unduly vague and threw it off
the ballot. Supporters have vowed to appeal the decision to the Nevada Supreme
Court.

The Personhood Mississippi push has been rocked by
on-going confusion over ballot deadlines and a well-under-the-radar campaign,
as RH Reality Check reported earlier this month. Nsombi Lambright, executive
director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the group appears to be working on a
parallel legislative effort with a constitutional amendment that will require a
two-thirds vote of the general assembly to place the initiative on the ballot
should the petition effort fail.

Lambright said she isn’t detecting any enthusiasm
among state lawmakers to wade into a protracted and highly contentious process
to approve a personhood amendment. She doesn’t expect it to get far.

Despite the on-going bad news for personhood
proponents, the show must go on. A frigid mid-morning press conference was
attended by less than a dozen personhood campaign supporters – about half of
whom were staff members and rally organizers from Colorado Right to Life.

Even the noon pre-march festivities themselves was
decidedly more subdued than last year’s spectacle that featured gory images on homemade posters and fiery anti-abortion
speeches.

The 2010 Denver March for Life kick-off rally in
sights and sounds:

Maternity care is big business in the United States. We’re
talking $86 billion big.  With that kind of investment, you’d think women and their newborn babes in this
country would be entering the postpartum recovery period universally healthy
and happy after being well cared for throughout pregnancy and birth. Unfortunately, the return on investment for maternity care
is poor. The U.S. spends more on health care than most – a staggering
amount per person in fact – yet lags far behind when it comes to maternal
and newborn health and mortality indicators. The United States ranks 41st
out of 171 countries when it comes to our maternal mortality rates.  So it makes sense that stakeholders
from health care advocates and providers to hospital and insurance company
executives, but most importantly women themselves, would want to ensure a much
better return-on-investment for maternity care in this country, right?

 

Unfortunately, what has constituted success in terms of a
greater ROI among these various stakeholders has not always been
uniform.  Where women are growing
weary of the increase in unnecessary medical interventions during childbirth
that only increase costs and the chance of poorer health outcomes, doctors have
taken to routinely encouraging and performing unnecessary c-sections at an
exponential rate to keep malpractice claims lower but also because our health
care system’s “global
fee” method of payment for in-hospital birth promotes a one-size-fits-all
type of care which does not lend itself well to vaginal birth but does increase
a hospital’s profit; where insurance companies and Medicaid do not provide
homebirth coverage across the country, which would bring overall maternity care
costs down (for insurance companies, states, those insured and tax-payers
across the board), Medicaid funds almost half of all hospital births.

It is precisely because of these issues and more that a team of over 100 national leaders in maternity care, led by maternity care advocacy
organization Childbirth Connection, convened two and a half years ago to come
up with a shared vision and an action plan for change.

“It was time to act and we called upon key leaders across
the health care system to develop a long-term vision for the future of
maternity care in the United States,” said Maureen Corry, Childbirth
Connection’s Executive Director. The results of this multi-year
meeting-of-the-minds, the Transforming
Maternity Care Project, are two key reports released today, “2020 Vision For A
High-Quality High-Value Maternity Care System” and “Blueprint For Action.”

As we move forward, towards reform of our overall health
care system, the problems and solutions identified in these two reports are key
to fixing our broken maternity care system and may help birth an entirely new
system.

The “2020 Vision” report underscores 11 key focus areas or
problems that include: payment reform, disparities in access and outcomes of
maternity care, coordination of maternity care, clinical controversies (such as
home birth, VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and elective induction), and
decision-making and consumer choice. The “Blueprint for Action” report
identifies concrete actions to address all of these problems in order to move
closer to this shared vision of a high-quality, high-value system.  How do we get the most value – in every
possible way that word can be defined – for our money?

Rima Jolivet, Transforming Maternity Care Project Director
with Childbirth Connection is optimistic: “The good news is that every
challenge is an opportunity for improvement that can benefit millions of
mothers and babies annually.” In other words, maternity care is a problem with
a solution. And the solution lies in the answers to the questions posed to the
work groups involved with these reports:

“Who needs to do what, to, with, and for whom over the next
five years to improve the quality care?”

In truth, the answers to these questions are not earth
shattering. They seem to echo what women’s health advocate have said for years.
We need a system that is woman-centered, evidence-based, safe, timely,
efficient and equitable. But how exactly do these concepts translate into in practical approaches to care?

Woman-centered care, according to the “2020 Vision” report
is care that “that respects the values, culture, choices and preferences of the
woman, and her family, as relevant, within the context of promoting optimal
health outcomes. It means that all childbearing women are treated with…respect,
dignity and cultural sensitivity throughout their maternity care experiences.”

In effect, we’re talking about personalized care and the understanding that
each woman brings a unique vision, perspective, belief system, and cultural
identity to their pregnancy and birth experience. Let’s not only respect that but
also work with these ideals to promote positive experiences.

The idea that maternity care should be evidence-based,
safe, and efficient seems like a no-brainer but one key goal to note is how
these imperatives lay the groundwork to minimize “overuse, underuse, and misuse
of care practices and services.” We need to make sure we’re providing optimal
care to all women by guaranteeing
women are able to access the services they need if they need them. However
(this is a big one), let’s also start from a place of understanding that
pregnancy is a healthy state of being
– not an inherently sick state – and so let’s also minimize the amount of
unnecessary interventions that now drive up costs and place women and newborns
at risk for poorer health outcomes.

As the “2020 Vision” puts it:

“The majority of childbearing women are healthy and have
good reason to expect an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth and a healthy
newborn. Thus, practice variation for low-risk women is minimized under the
principle that any intervention in the physiologic processes of pregnancy and
childbirth must be shown to do more good than harm…”

The goal of ensuring greater equitability in
access to care is critical in this report. Racial and ethnic disparities run
rampant in maternity care. Shockingly, African-American women in the U.S. are
four times as likely to die during childbirth as white women. We know, too,
that the idea that women can “choose” where to birth and with whom is
non-existent for low-income women who cannot afford to pay out of pocket for a
homebirth or midwife at a birthing center. The “Blueprint for Action” notes
that:

“Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and American Indian-Alaskan Natives were
more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic white women to receive late or no
prenatal care in 2006; as of 2008, nearly 40 percent of low-income women ages 18-44
were uninsured.”

The solutions lie in a host of actions including (what else?)
national health care reform legislation, encouraging states to exercise
Medicaid’s eligibility option for pregnant women under CHIP and other programs,
and expanding public support for maternity care programs, providers and
institutions as well.

Another key problem notes the “2020” report is improving the
functionality of payment systems. It sounds dry but the truth is that payment
reform is key to aligning financial goals with optimal health outcomes. As the
“Blueprint for Action” report puts it:

“Volume-driven reimbursement increases
cost without improving health outcomes. Providing more services than are needed
does not improve health and increases the risk of harm, while driving up
spending.”

Not the best use of anyone’s time or money, really.

Of special interest, also, is the section in the “Blueprint
for Action” on what are termed “clinical controversies” such as Home birth and
VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section). The Blueprint acknowledges and
reinforces key solutions that grassroots advocates have been working towards
for years:

“…developing national clinical guidelines for VBAC, labor induction,
vaginal breech and out-of-hospital birth using transparent processes; improving
the capacity of hospitals and health systems to meet the needs of women who
face these controversial scenarios; improving the capacity of community health
systems to meet the needs of women who make an informed choice of planned home
birth and, finally, improving cooperation between hospital systems and home
birth providers.”

If these reports can be used as actual blue prints for
action within health care reform, I can see our maternity care system getting
healthier already.

For more on these reports, please check out Amy Romano’s post at Lamaze, International’s blog Science & Sensibility and Melissa Garvey’s post at Midwife Connection, ACNM’s blog!

In September 2008, then-Candidate Obama, in his first
Presidential debate with Senator John McCain, pounced on his rival when McCain raised the hard-hearted suggestion of freezing all government spending with the
exception of defense, entitlement programs, and veteran’s affairs, to reduce the deficit.

Obama countered with a now-famous and punchy one liner:  “The problem is you’re using a hatchet
when you need a scalpel.”

This week, the President seems to have taken up the hatchet
and embraced the McCain approach. It’s not quite his “read my lips” moment, but it has – at best – the
potential for the most fundamental of disappointments.

The issue is that the President’s retort was not just a
really well constructed and pithy punch to McCain’s cold-as-steel demeanor – an
appeal from the compassionate candidate who knew and understood the challenges
of the everyday American. No, it
was, first and foremost, a profoundly moral statement. It was meant to underscore that the
President viewed domestic needs as not just important, but a fulfillment of the
social contract we have with one another as Americans and he saw a federal
government shirking its responsibilities at home.

It was the modern equivalent of President Lincoln’s line
that the role of government is “to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by
individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves."

Obama’s quip underscored that
the government was not performing its primary function in the way Lincoln
described. In fact, Obama went on
to say that "There
are some programs that are very important that are currently underfunded,"
Obama said.

The real truth is that the President has not really,
fully taken up the McCain proposition. Not fully. The President
will not propose that everything – every line in the federal budget – get
frozen in time for his proposed three-year timeframe.  Instead, there will be a mixture of things that are cut,
flat funded, or even given increases. And while such outcomes are always the product of the budget process,
the 2011 federal budget he will propose next week is unique in that wherever
programs fall along the fault lines of the top line spending freeze, it will
say volumes about the moral vision of the President and his Administration.

For those of us who work on behalf of sexual and
reproductive health who have one hand in public health and the other in social
justice, we’re nervous.  We’re
nervous because the issues we care about most have languished for the better
part of a decade as the federal government failed to meet the unmet need to
secure sexual health in our country. 
Instead, STD prevention and services funding has stalled, causing clinic
closures and impacting the ability of people to access prevention and treatment.  HIV funding has fared a bit better, yet
people with HIV or AIDS are once again on lists across the country waiting for
government support to access live-saving medications.  Family planning funding has limped along but its increases –
when they came – paled in comparison to the billion dollars spent on wasteful
programs like abstinence-only-until-marriage during the same time period. This has created the most striking lack
of adequate services from coast to coast. So no one should wonder why we have 19 million new cases of STDs every
year, or an HIV epidemic worse than we ever thought possible, or rising rates of teen and
unintended pregnancies.

This week, the President also made one of the most remarkable
statements of any President in recent memory when he said, “I’d rather be a
really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.” I don’t think it was the insincere
gesture of a politician struggling for purpose or seeking consolation. This is the real thing.  It is character in the truest sense of
the word and the same type of self-sacrifice that forces this good man to make
the tough decisions for a nation that, in the end, may ultimately cost him
another term – including his decision to fix the fiscally bankrupt house of
government he inherited from a previous Administration.

But that tough decision needs to recognize that our public health system in
states across the country, as well as our sense of social justice, demands that
the budget the President proposes not shirk from the moral obligation to do the
right thing on sexual health. Sure, discretionary spending is rather small in the overall picture, but
it is the critical source of funding
for sexual health programs.  We
simply cannot afford a cut from the budget scalpel anywhere on sexual and
reproductive health programs.

Anywhere.

One of the big surprises to come out of Wednesday’s iPad unveiling was news that the 3G version of the device will, at least initially, only be available with AT&T (T) in the US.

That was an announcement few were expecting. In the weeks leading up to the event, it was widely believed that Apple’s (AAPL) tablet device, if it was going to support mobile broadband, would support it on Verizon’s network and that the announcement of that carrier deal would herald the arrival of the oft-pined for Verizon (VZ) iPhone.

Didn’t happen. And now folks are pondering just what this might mean for Apple’s carrier relationships in the states. As I’ve noted here before, it’s an inevitability that the iPhone will eventually cease to be an AT&T exclusive and that will certainly be true of the tablet as well.

But perhaps not quite as soon as expected. AT&T’s iPad exclusive suggests that Apple’s relationship with the carrier is still quite strong. You’ll recall that when Apple reported earnings earlier this week, COO Tim Cook leapt to AT&T’s defense when asked about the carrier’s network issues. AT&T’s iPad exclusive would seem to lend further credence to Cook’s remarks that Apple has been happy with the company as a carrier partner and is confident of its plans to vastly improve its network.

As Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi observed in a note to clients Thursday, “We note that Apple’s tone towards AT&T has shifted since last June when Apple took some verbal swipes at Apple during its WWDC presentation; COO Tim Cook was complimentary of AT&T on Apple’s recent earnings call, and appeared less committed about having multiple carriers in every country. We worry that this more amicable stance towards AT&T and the lack of a CDMA iPad could suggest that a deal with Verizon on the iPhone is still be negotiated and potentially is further away than some investors might hope.”

Perhaps. Though it may only be as far away as the completion of Verizon’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G network. Why bother building a CDMA iPad and iPhone for Verizon now? Wouldn’t it be easier to wait for the roll-out of the far superior LTE network, which reportedly isn’t all that far off?

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Google is known for taking a hard stance against censorship, at least when it’s opposing China and not Australia, for example, yet a curious ‘bug’ which affected its suggestion box got some people questioning just how far Google would go to stay out of sensitive issues and well within the comfort of political correctness. A while ago, people found that if ty… (read more)

It seems that The Elders Of The Internet have decided to mass-produce the Intartubez. Hurrah! [instructables via BoingBoing]

The Chinese government responded to recent recall and production stop announcement by Japanese Toyota and American Ford manufacturers, saying it welcomes the measures.

"It is a good thing. The moves are responsible," Chang Xiaocun, head of the commerce ministry’s market network development department was quoted as saying by AFP. "I hope every automaker would recall when problems occur. It is part of after-sales service."

Toyota announced it will recall 75,000 cars due … (read more)

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation received the prestigious Paul Pietsch Award for the development of the new-generation electric vehicle i-MiEV. The distinction for automotive technology and design was handed to Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s Member of the Board in Charge of Product Strategy & Development Group Headquarters Gayu Uesugi by Auto Motor und Sport editor-in-chief Bernd Ostmann.

Mitsubishi’s little electric vehicle has been on sale in Japan since July 2009 and was very well received b… (read more)

	IBM gets 24M hours of supercomputing time to work on lithium air batteries Yikes.		DC 2010: Would a federal diesel tax rebate be in order? Diesel coalition thinks so Says it’d be a level playing field this way.
	California Scooter Company puts classic Mustang back on two wheels, reports 60 mpg Also available in pink.	Other news: DC 2010: NAS’ li-ion battery cost predictions are too high, battery makers say DC 2010: EVA/DC displays tasty home-brewed electric car collection Geneva Preview: Ferrari to show off 599 Hybrid, production model planned

AutoblogGreen for 01.29.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wow! McLaren Mercedes has finally unveiled their entire package for the 2010 season of Formula One, showing the MP4-25 in all of its glory during a media event earlier today. Following Ferrari’s launch yesterday, the Woking-based team gave the media and fans the chance to admire their 2010 challenger, with which the Brits hope to achieve another world title in the series.

As expected, the car’s livery did not suffer a dramatic change in terms of livery, as it features the same silver-like pai… (read more)

Here’s an article from our friends over at The Toilet Paper. To subscribe to their free ball busting daily newsletter, click here.

The old joke, “Why don’t women wear watches? Because there’s a clock on the stove,” used to get hearty laughs. Today, is about as relevant as the VCR.

According to a Pew Research Center survey released yesterday, 22% of men made less money in 2007 than their wives. The report cites education patterns and a drop in marriage rates as two of the factors affecting the data. As more women are becoming the major breadwinners, some husbands are staying at home to cook and raise the kids. Which, other than watching the Wiggles and monitoring the occasional play date, ain’t a bad gig.

Number

82% – Percentage of the 3.6 million jobs lost since the recession started in December 2007 that were held by men, leaving many women to step in to financially support their families.

“Have a great day sweetheart! Say, you haven’t seen that second Wii controller, have you?”

Quote

Marriage is like a bank account. You put it in, you take it out, you lose interest.

Irwin Corey, American comedian, actor

Word

joint account

noun. 1. Account owned jointly by two or more persons at a bank or brokerage firm. 2. Totally awesome concept if you were Tom Arnold in the early 90s. 3. What happened from the joint’s perspective during the incident.

Fact

One in every 11 adult women in the United States owns a business. Female entrepreneurship has been growing at twice the national average since 1997.

Wow, that is a lot of beauty parlors and nail salons. Kidding ladies, we love you!

The List

Movin’ On Up

Kevin Federline – Britney Spears’s ex-husband gets $20G a month until he dies or remarries.
Jay-Z – Made only $35M in 2009, according to Forbes. His girl Beyoncé made $87M. What a bum!
Christian Meyer – Stay at home dad. His wife Stephanie Meyer wrote the Twilight series. She’s worth $50M.
Danny Moder – Cameraman husband of Julia Roberts. Her net worth is estimated at $140M.
Tito Ortiz – MMA fighter who earns $200G a fight. He’s married to Jenna Jameson whose net worth is approximately $70M.

For more in-your-face news blasts, click here to subscribe to The Toilet Paper now.

Related posts:

1. The Toilet Paper Article of the Week: Been Caught Stealin’
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The American division of German manufacturer BMW announced today pricing for the new generation 3 Series Coupe and Convertible, with tags ranging in between $37,075 and $50,525. Model by model, BMW will charge $37,075 and $43,525 for the 328i Coupe and 335i Coupe, respectively.

The all-wheel drive 328i xDrive Coupe and 335i xDrive Coupe will retail starting t $38,975 and $45,425 respectively, while the top of the range 335is will start at $50,525.

The facelifted versions of the two models… (read more)

You’ve waited long enough, now today’s the day that HTC releases ROM Version:3.05.401.3 that brings the Sense user interface to Magic owners. Just be sure and heed HTC’s warning to backup your data since this update will overwrite whatever it is you’ve been doing. Now hit that source link and get to updating, heroes.

HTC Magic’s Sense update ready for download originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you know that some pseudo-scientists pinpointed January 18 as this year’s most depressing day? As we gaze out from the Engadget mansions at the leafless trees and listless mood outside, we can’t help but agree that January’s a bit of a downer. So to pep yourself up geeky style, why not grab an all-new Tengu Black? It seems a faithful reproduction (i.e. identical but for the color) of the white Tengu, a USB plug-in device that listens to your music and tries to lip sync to it with its LED array contorting into “over 14 different facial expressions.” Let’s face it, with the Robot Apocalypse all but assured, we should be practicing our love of inanimate objects as much as possible. A video reminder of how the older Tengu does its thing awaits after the break.

Continue reading Tengu Black ready to rock your world

Tengu Black ready to rock your world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After being unable to complete the test session on Wednesday due to the bad weather conditions, yesterday Althea Ducati riders Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne were finally able to show their skills at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain.

Checa was able to finish 53 laps while Byrne completed a total of 55 laps. Carlos’s best lap time was 1’33.8 (this is unofficial the best lap time of these two days of test) while teammate Byrne scored an excellent 1’34.1.

"I’m happy with my t… (read more)

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a sucker for Battlestar Galactica (while these days I merely mix my sci-fi metaphors. Boldly.) Anyway, Earth’s twin is due to be discovered this year – says Michael Mayor.

The exciting deed will not be done by a behemoth of a spaceship, helmed by a man with bad skin, bad glasses but still unutterably sexy, but by the Kepler spacecraft. Professor Mayor, an astronomer at Geneva University, was speaking at the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence anniversary, at London’s Royal Society. Whether there’ll be a spin-off miniseries after the planet is discovered, however, remains to be seen. [Newser]

Fausto Gresini has been quite active in recent days, as the Italian team boss started looking for new sponsors for his upcoming campaign in the MotoGP Series. Being that he now has to sustain a team in the Moto2 championship also, Gresini managed to secure his second sponsor for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini.

According to the official press release from the Italian outfit, San Carlo Honda Gresini inked a one-year deal with Prink, a European market leader in the distribution of printing supplie… (read more)