Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Car Buying, Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Ford

We love enthusiast forums, in part because they’re loaded with dealer employees who always manage to get their hands on fun stuff like vehicle ordering guides before the automakers are ready to spill the beans on upcoming changes themselves. The latest? It’s the guide for the 2011 Shelby GT500, posted by one of the members at ModularFords.com. The document (presuming the info is 100-percent accurate) confirms that the new GT500 trades in its iron block for an aluminum one. We don’t yet know how much weight the move will shave yet, but the change should only help make what’s pretty much a great car even better.

Other stuff of interest? HID lamps will be standard, the glass roof option will become available on coupes, the convertible gets equipped with the same 19-inch wheels as the hardtop (the 2010 ‘vert rolled on 18-inchers), and there’s an optional goody-laden SVT Performance Package. It adds a 3:73 rear axle ratio (3:55 is standard), package-specific shocks and springs, what sounds like a different stripe package, upgraded wheels and tires (19-inchers in front and 20-inchers in back), and a rear spoiler with Gurney flap. (If you want the SVT Performance pack, you need to skip the Shaker 1000 stereo).

Ford doesn’t appear to be making a big to-do about the revisions. A spokesperson tells us we won’t see the 2011 GT500 at either the Chicago or New York auto shows. Ourselves, we’re content to wait patiently for the car’s arrival so we can jump behind the wheel for a few days of fun and fact-finding. We’ve gallerized the Order Guide PDF below, and you can see the original over at ModularFords.com.

[Source: ModularFords.com]

2011 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 order guide revealed? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long, rumor-filled road, but today Apple has finally revealed a tablet, called the iPad. Steve Jobs seemed genuinely thrilled to demo the iPad, which weighs just 1.5 pounds, is a half-inch thin, and has a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS display. More interesting, Apple has built their own custom 1GHz processor, called the Apple A4 chip, to power the iPad. According to Jobs, the A4 chip “just screams,” and as a result, the iPad boasts a 10-hour battery life, with a full one month of standby time. You’ll be able to get one in 16, 32, or 64GB sizes, and we’ll have the prices as soon as they’re announced prices listed below. Bluetoth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, speaker, microphone, and dock connector round out the offerings.

One of the big draws of the iPad is that all current iPhone apps will run just fine on it, and you can choose to run them at the original resolution, or in a pixel-doubled mode for fullscreen on the iPad. Apps can also be optimized for iPad to take advantage of the full screen resolution, as well as enhanced gestures. A new iPhone SDK, which includes iPad support, will be released later today.

The goal with the iPad is to do the tasks like web browsing, email, photo viewing, video watching, and e-book reading (Apple is including a new ereader app called iBooks) better than a netbook ever could, but also better than a smartphone ever could. The iPad has a “gorgeous” keyboard that actually looks very easy to use, and the actual built-in applications look more like the full version of OS X than what you’d find on the iPhone or iPod touch. In fact, you even get full-featured applications like iPhoto, iTunes, iBooks, and even Pages, Keynote, and Numbers in iWork for the iPad.

As far as 3G data plans, the iPad has two plans available from AT&T in the US. $14.99 per month for up to 250MB of data, or $29.99 per month for unlimited data. The best part? There are no contracts. You pay on a pre-paid month-to-month basis, so there are no cancellation fees. You activate your plan directly from the iPad, with no reason to hit an AT&T Store. All iPad 3G models are unlocked and use GSM micro SIMs, so in theory, you could get a better plan of your own elsewhere and just use that.

Let’s talk pricing – each model of the iPad is available as a Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi + 3G configuration. 16GB is $499 / $629, 32GB costs $499 / $729, and the 64GB model will be $699 / $829. As far as availability, iPad without 3G will start shipping at the end of March, while the 3G models will start shipping at the end of April. Choose wisely!

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Tensions are growing in Korea, as Kim Jong-il’s rogue state resumed military exercises in the DMZ.

CS Monitor:

In a risky game of punch and counterpunch, North Korean gunners opened the episode in the morning by firing off 30 rounds into the Yellow Sea off the Korean west coast, judging from the number of geysers of water reportedly kicked up in the sea where they landed. South Korea responded with as many as 100 warning shots, according to South Korean defense officials, while the South’s Defense Ministry protested in a faxed message to the North.

The artillery crossfire has special resonance following recent militaristic gestures from both sides — and despite a general pattern of civil detente.

Last week, South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Tae-young promised to launch a preemptive strike “if we detected that it has a clear intention to attack with nuclear weapons.”

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See Also:

• China Stunned As Japan Makes Shock Island Announcement In Key Economic Zone
• Haiti Has Become Ground Zero For Brazil To Flex Its Muscle Against The US
• Battling Forces Dig In, As Iraq-Iran Oil Well Standoff Continues

Beyonce is on the cover of the February 2010 edition of FHM magazine in Russia. We’ve added the cover to our gallery. If anyone from Russia has the magazine and would like to donate the scans, then please email us.

FHM Russia (February)

Looking for the ultimate gift this Valentine’s Day? Why not give your sweetie the gift of The Jersey Shore? It’s the next best thing to a bottle of hair gel, you know. The good folks at SomeEcards.com have enlisted the help of America’s favorite obnoxious barflies for a new series of electronic greetings that you can send your friends and family right now

(…..Although we wouldn’t recommend sending them to anyone you hope to look in the eye again….)

As fans of MTV’s beach-themed reality smash may know, Pauly D has a very specific part of his anatomy pierced….A fact the Rhode Island native very eloquently highlights in his video Valentine’s Day message. And they say chivalry is dead!

U.S. Steel (X) is having the worst week ever.

One of the oldest (and largest) public companies in America is in deep trouble. China is helping drive the price of metals down considerably and the U.S. can’t act fast enough to stop the price war, despite new duties on Chinese steel.

Taking a look at the past five days of U.S. Steel (see chart), its value has dropped considerably; from $65 a share to $45 a share and it’s still dropping.

Furthermore, U.S. Steel’s rating was just cut by Fitch to BB+. Its outlook is stable.

Well for today and quite possibly tomorrow, the Bears will no doubt be shorting X to their heart’s content.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Chinese Lending Curbs CRUSH US Steel Firms
• Another Big Disappointment For The Bulls, As Markets End Lower
• Jim Rogers: Stocks To Be Crushed Any Day Now

Looks like we’re all going to have to study up on our tablet sutra—Apple’s iPad won’t have a built-in kickstand to hold it up. UPDATE: Well, this accessory case/stand is probably close enough.

All the naysayers can feel free to eat their hats. Today Apple finally revealed the device we’ve all been whispering about for a good year or more. The Sasquatch of gadgets is real. We’ll update this with all the details as they happen; in the meantime, follow our live coverage.

Looks like a big iPhone to us.

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Filed under: Hardware, Internet, Apple

It’s finally here. At their event in San Francisco, Apple has officially announced their tablet computer, which they’re calling the iPad. Fully customizable, and better than a smartphone or a laptop at browsing, reading e-books, and a “great maps application with support from Google[…].” We’re watching for more specs and software information right now, but the general idea is that the device is better than a netbook at just about everything!

Yet another Apple-driven revolution: go!

TUAWApple announces the iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google said Tuesday that it’s harnessing HTML5 to deliver Google Voice to Palm webOS and iPhone OS 3.0 and higher smartphones. As the next major revision to the web’s core hypertext markup language, HTML5 introduces a number of new elements and attributes that let developers construct powerful new services with the look and feel of stand-alone mobile apps.

Google, which released an HTML5-based version of its Chrome browser Monday, noted that handset load times and network requests are significantly reduced for web services based on the new hypertext language. “Overall, this results in a much faster and smoother user experience,” a spokesperson said.

A Standardized Interface

Among other things, the latest HTML5 tags deliver new functionality through a standardized interface that can enable voice mail, for example, to be played directly from the Google Voice web page. What’s more, the AppCache stores the HTML, CSS and JavaScript capabilities needed to run the application right in the browser, which means that even when a network connection isn’t present, users will still be able to interact with the app, Google said.

With HTML5, moreover, local databases securely store Google Contacts locally. “So even if you close the browser, Contacts load more quickly after your first use of the web app,” Google’s spokesperson noted.

Even better for Google, Tuesday’s launch of an HTML5-based version of Google Voice means that the search giant need not rely on Apple’s App Store for approval or distribution. It also renders moot the concerns that Apple raised last summer as the reasons why it did not approve the stand-alone version of Google Voice for the iPhone.

“As submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging,…

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Filed under: Other Events

10:18: Engadget: Wow, nice email display — message list in a column on the left, full message on the right.

10:17: Steve is showing off the improved e-mail browser. Can look at the metro in paris…As an example of PDF display. All the attachment support now being demo’ed Sounds like the E-mail support is going to be absolutely rocking.

10:16 Grab the tablet in the kitchen… A whole website in the palm of your hands. Read national geographic, for example. Very, very simple. Time magazine being demos, sports, right in the palm of your hands. So that is browsing the web. Now E-Mail.

10:12 Great slide show stuff built in. Built in a calendar, see a months’ activities, a days’, built in, a great address book, contacts, GOOGLE MAPS, satellite view, etc. iPad is an aweesome way to enjoy your music colleciton, and of course, …iTunes, purchase movies, apps, music, etc. HIGH DEF YOUTUBE

10:12 Whole web page. It’s phenomenal. It’s incredible. Focus inon a message, see your inbox, turn it sideways (landscape and portrait support), keyboard pops up. It’s almost lifesize, it’s a dream. Your photos, your albums, your events, etc.

10:10 Very, very thin. Can change the background, Winterboard it out the wazoo (Winterboard is the jailbreak theming app) “Best browsing experience you’ll ever have with a whole web page right in front of you. Way better than a laptop, way better than an iPhone”

10:10 It’s the iPad. Mike R: “My iPad, let me show it to you. PREEECCCIIOOUS.” Let me show it to you. Wild wild applause.

10:10: Some people have thought about netbooks: sThe problem is netbooks aren’t better at ANYTHING.” Applause. “They’re just cheap laptops.” We think we got something better. AND WE’D LIKE TO SHOW IT TO YOU TODAY.

10:09: Something better for browsing the web than a laptop? Watching videos? Something better? Media collection, playing games? If there’s going to be a 3rd category of device, has to be better at these tasks.

10:08 Is there room for a third category of device? It’s the tablet, of course… Steve is making a case for the mobile niche of Apple. gdgt: “In order to create a new category of devices, those devices will have to be far better at doing some key tasks – important things – better than the laptop and smartphone. What kind of tasks? Things like browsing the web…”

10:06 In 1991,In Apple shipped first modern laptop computer. Apple invented it. With an LCD screen. In 2007, Apple reinvented the phone. 2 years later, the iPhone 3GS. Apple is laptops, Apple is smart phones.

10:05 Steve: “Apple is a mobile devices company” How does Apple stack up against other companies that sell mobile devices. By revenue, is largest Mobile Device company in the world. More than Sony, etc. 15.6B in revenue. Bigger than Nokia. “apple is larger than sony mobile products division” — via twit

gdgt: “Lastly, we started apple in 1976 – 34 years later, we just ended our holiday quarter with 15.6 billion in revenue.” Big applause. “That means Apple is over a 50 billion dollar company – I like to forget that, because that’s not how we think of Apple, but it’s pretty amazing.”

10:05: GIZ Jason Chen:
Next update: App Store. There are over 140,000 applications in the App Store. “A few weeks ago we announced a user downloaded the 3 billionth app from the App Store.”

10:04 gdgt: “Last holiday quarter we had over 250 million visitors to our stores.” Talking about the new New York stores. “It’s so wonderful to be putting these stores right in the neighborhoods of our customers. It feels good. Next update: app store.”

WE ARE SWITCHING TO TRADITIONAL LIVE BLOG. Cover It Live is not responding.

Happy Tablet Day! Here at TUAW, we are so excited to be able to share the moment with all of you stopping by. Today, we’ll be metaliveblogging all the major outlets including Engagdet, Ars, and so forth. And adding to the metaliveblogging goodness, we’ll be layering TUAW’s own special touch of analysis and opinion on top of the summaries we’ll be scraping from other sites. So thank you for joining us. <br /> <br /> Today we’ll be covering feeds from:

Today we’ll be covering feeds from:

• Engadget
• Macworld
• Ars Technica
• MacNN
• Gizmodo

and more…&lt;a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;altcast_code=d96248e934″ &gt;”Our Latest Creation” The Apple Media Event TUAW Metaliveblog&lt;/a&gt;

TUAWApple Event Metaliveblog: Celebrate the tablet with TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s January 2010 event is upon us and we will be live on the scene, blogging from the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco. Apple’s theme for this event is “come see our newest creation,” which is widely expected to refer to the mythical iTablet. Watch as the event unfolds live. Apple’s event is set to start at 10am PST (see it in your local timezone) sharp and we’ll be keeping you informed up to the second with a live transcription and live photos from the event.

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A week ago now, the cat was let out of the bag – Apple and Microsoft were in talks over replacing Google with Bing, and have been for weeks, as the default search engine on the iPhone. Immediately, there were questions over the implications of this move, both for the companies involved and the users.

Today, online advertising network Chitika has released some numbers that show just how big of a move this could be for all parties involved.

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As things stand right now, Google accounts for just over 50% of iPhone traffic and it would like to keep it that way. As the Chitika’s blog points out, this is likely a direct result of Google being the default search engine when text is entered in the the iPhone browser’s address bar.

Bing barely registers on the search engine map, as do most others.

Is this a case of the chicken or the egg? Do people use Google because that’s become the standard? Or is it because they’ve become used to it, as it automatically pops up from the address bar? Another graph shows that, while less dominant, Google still remains the leader, when we move away from iPhones to all traffic. Here, users have not only a choice of platform, but of browser and default search engine as well.

We think that Apple could have a potential problem on their hands with some angry users if they go through with this switch. According to the data, out of nearly three million impressions, just 2,387 were directed at Bing. That’s compared to 1,464,173 for Google. Either that, or the move will force a whole lot of people to suddenly become Bing converts.

Discuss

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It’s minutes before Apple is expected to announce the release of its new Tablet product and the press is in a frenzy to cover it. It’s been the most-talked about thing in tech for weeks.

What are people saying about it, in aggregate? We ran 50 news stories appearing on Techmeme this morning through the word analysis tool Wordle.net and unearthed the 100 most-used words across all the recent coverage in anticipation of the announcement.

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Here’s what people are saying, with the words Apple and Tablet removed so we can see the other words used. We’ll do an analysis of coverage of the actual announcement shortly after word is official.

Hot topics? People are expecting the tablet to run on the iPhone OS, they are talking a lot about Engadget’s allegedly leaked photos of the tablet, people are talking a lot about a patent that was just issued last night related to the tablet. And people talked about Jason Calacanis a lot.

Discuss

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Amy’s ’06 VW Passat has been in the shop 106 of the past 141 days. After the engine broke down on a road trip and needed replacing, VW replaced it, but broke the transmission. When they replaced the transmission, they broke an axle. When they fixed the axle, the car started leaking oil worse than the Valdez. All Amy and her family want to be able to do is drive their car around like normal. So far, that’s not happening, and VW’s only offer of contrition has been to waive one car payment and $250 in services. So Amy launched her EECB, complete with a graph of how long VW has held her car hostage:

Amy writes:

“On September 3, 2009 my family and I left our home in Acworth, GA in our 2006 Volkswagen Passat and set off on the 500 mile journey to a family reunion in St. Louis, Missouri. About halfway through our trip the engine in our Passat failed. It was towed to the Hallmark Volkswagen dealership in Murfreesboro, TN. They determined that my engine needed to be replaced and that repairs would be covered under my VW Manufacturers Powertrain Warranty.

This began a series of most unfortunate events….when VW installed my new engine they broke my transmission…when they installed the new transmission they broke my axle. After fixing my engine, transmission and axle they returned my car to me, but it began leaking massive amounts of oil a month later. It is now at the Jim Ellis Volkswagen dealership in Marietta, GA. Repair attempts on the new engine were unsuccessful so ANOTHER new engine is currently being installed.

To summarize my VW experience:
September 3, 2009 – Engine failed, car taken to VW

September 25, 2009 – Husband drives 3.5 hrs to pick up “fixed” car, drives two blocks and the car breaks down. Car goes back to VW.
** VW tells me that when they fixed my engine they broke my transmission. So they ordered a new transmission.
** VW then tells me when they fixed my transmission they broke my axle. So they ordered a new axle.

October 22, 2009 – The engine, transmission and axle were fixed and VW returns my car to me.
November 27, 2009 – After having my car for about a month it begins leaking massive amounts of oil. Car returned to VW for repair. Over the next eight weeks attempts are made to repair the engine but those attempts are unsuccessful. VW tells me they’re in the process of installing another new engine.
January 22, 2010 – still no car….

As of today my car has been in a VW dealership shop for 106 of the past 141 days. That’s almost a third of a year! Two engines, a transmission, an axle and 106 days later my perception of the safety of this vehicle has been compromised. Additionally, the value I ascribe to it has been greatly diminished. I am seeking your assistance in finding a mutually agreeable solution to this problem. The waiver of one car payment and $250 in services I was offered by my Regional Case Manager (case #redacted) is unacceptable.

Thank you in advance for the effort you will invest into restoring my loyalty to the Volkswagen brand.

– Amy M.”

Can VW just fix her car right for once? I like Amy’s EECB because it is clear and focuses in on the key details. The one thing I would say though is that you need to make clear what deal you do think is acceptable. They made an offer, now you counteroffer. Otherwise you’re making them negotiate against themselves and no one likes to that, and it makes for wrangling when you can put something concrete out on the table.

Hopefully Amy won’t have to make a series of hilarious complaint videos like Freya Svensson, the singing Swedish mother and Volvo owner, just to get the attention she deserves.

Perhaps a small claims suit under Georgia lemon law is in order.

If you’re reading this story shortly before the launch of Apple’s (AAPL) tablet, there’s a very good chance you’re on Twitter as well. Can the service, which continues to be balky under normal conditions, hold up under a deluge of chatter?

I’ll be surprised if it does. My Twitter stream has already gotten suspiciously slow in the last few minutes, though I am still getting new updates (via both the Twitter page and my TweetDeck client) every few minutes from the 470 people I follow. So we’ll see.

Twitter’s status page, meanwhile, gives us no indication that anything’s amiss.

UPDATE: Twitter now acknowledges that it had some “Tweet delivery delays” this morning.

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AN OLD JOKE FOR MODERN TIMES:

A grandmother gives her grandson a red sweater and a blue sweater for his birthday. Next time she sees him, he’s wearing the red sweater.

“What’s the matter?” grandma asks. “You don’t like the blue sweater?”

In summary:

Red sweater/blue sweater people can drain you of your energy – and energy is your fuel for happiness and success. So beware of red sweater/blue sweater people!

For more happiness tips, check out my best selling book, HOW TO BE HAPPY DAMMIT, by clicking this line right here!

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One of the biggest lingering uncertainties about the iPad has been how exactly one uses it. Well, now we know, and it’s surprisingly familiar.

As anticipated, the operating system is best thought of as an evolution of iPhone 3.0. That means that apps are running the show, with the same tray at the bottom and the same accelerometer capabilities.

To access the screen, you slide to unlock, just like on your phone. The display is practically identical (though biggie-sized, obviously), with a Home button situated at the bottom. You call up apps the same way you do on your phone, and they automatically go to full screen. You can also swipe through pictures and pages, again just like on the iPhone.

But how does it feel in the hand? Well, it’s an inch thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds, so it’s definitely easily portable. And since it’s intended to be a portable device, it’s got a pretty crazy proposed battery life: ten hours of video playback, and one month of standby charge.

A primary concern has been how the keyboard will work. Our money was a split-screen keyboard, but it turns out they’ve opted instead for to copy the iPhone again here, with a keyboard taking up the bottom half of the display when called up. It’s not meant for your thumbs, apparently—you’re expected to type on it as you would a physical keyboard.

There is an optional keyboard dock, that allows you to type on a standard-sized keyboard, but it doesn’t look like it lends itself to easy packing. If you’re taking the iPad on a roadtrip where you need to type easily, you lose a lot of the portability advantage. Seems like a halfway solution to a legitimate concern.

For web surfing, the page renders just like a browser, with navigation buttons on top. For email, you can bring a pull-down menu of the inbox.

One major disappointment—in addition to not having all that fancy face recognition I was personally pretty excited about—is that the iPad doesn’t appear to support third-party app multitasking, meaning you can still only run one app at a time. Then again, maybe he’s saving that for a big reveal at the end? Update: Nope. No multitasking.

So basically, it looks like the user experience is going to be just like a big ol’ iPhone, for better or for worse. I’m especially curious to see how intuitive the keyboard is. But otherwise, all the multitouch features and app arrangements should feel like old hat. Guess it’s time to start brushing up on our tablet sutra, everybody.

For a full rundown, be sure to check out our iPad hands-on.

At this morning’s Apple tablet event, Steve Jobs revealed the latest creation from the company, the Apple iPad. More details as we get them!

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