Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM

General Motors and Magna may weren’t exactly seeing eye to eye when the Canadian supplier failed in its efforts to purchase Opel from The General, but the two companies are obviously still on speaking terms. Automotive News reports that Magna’s Car Top Systems group has won the convertible contract for the Chevrolet Camaro. The General is reportedly expecting the droptop Camaro to account for 20,000 sales annually, matching the Ford Mustang as the top convertible sold in the States.

While Magna is the latest supplier to win the Camaro convertible bid it, isn’t the first. Edscha AG originally won the contract, but the abysmal state of the convertible car market in the U.S. contributed to the German supplier filing for insolvency. And when we say the market for convertibles was bad in 2009, we’re talking flat-line, bag it and tag it bad. Fewer than 50,000 convertibles were sold during the year, compared with over 200,000 sales only four years ago. GM switched the contract to the far healthier Magna to ensure that production of the upcoming Camaro variant isn’t delayed. Magna will reportedly build the Camaro tops at GM’s Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky with materials from Mexico.

It’s hard to say if the Camaro will keep enough momentum in the next year to make 20,000 convertibles possible, but we’re guessing a droptop version of the Bowtie pony car may well be the right recipe for keeping the Camaro lineup fresh. Now, about that Z28…

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

Report: Chevy Camaro convertible contract goes to Magna, 20,000 units per year expected originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Penny Worley Auctioneers (worleyauctioneers.com) announces the online auction of furniture, fixtures and equipment from a failed bank in Chicago, Ill., according to Jerry Jenkins.

“All items will sell to the highest bidders,” Jenkins said.

“We have computers, executive office furniture, office equipment, storage and shelving, and much more.”

Items in this online bank auction include:

• computers
• executive office furniture
• leather chairs
• IT equipment
• copier/printers
• office equipment
• framed art
• storage and shelving
• workstations
• flat-panel televisions
• phone systems
• kitchen appliances
• as well as bank equipment like check scanners
• coin counters
• currency counters
• fireproof file cabinets
• encoders
• validators,
• safes
• a De La Rue coin counter with receipt printer and
• a Diebold automatic teller machine.

The online auction is open to the public. Bidding closes Feb. 10. Bidders must register prior to bidding.

For more information, visit WorleyAuctioneers.com, or call Jerry Jenkins at (513) 313-9178.

Penny Worley Auctioneers conducts auctions throughout the United States.

The company is a member of the National Auctioneers Association, the Ohio Auctioneers Association and the Certified Appraisers Guild of America, National Association of Realtors & Ohio Association of Realtors and Members of the Cincinnati and Dayton Home Builders Association.

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• Archos A5 Walkthrough [VIDEO]
  Nicolas Charbonnier (Charbax) passed along his video walkthrough of the new Archos A5 MID where he shows off of a handful of the device’s features.  While he’s generally a fan of all things Archos, he…

Tila Tequila has released an ultrasound — of what she claims is her unborn baby — to end widespread speculation about whether or not she is pregnant.

RadarOnline.com has published the image — along with an interview with the potty-mouth minx.

“She and I were both ready to get married and start a family together,” the former reality star told Radar of her late fiancee Casey Johnson. “That is why she was fighting so hard to get her daughter Ava back and wanted me to adopt Ava so that I would officially be Ava’s mother too. Aside from that we talked about one of us getting pregnant so we can have another baby of our own. We talked about this for a very long time, and we both agreed that I would be the one carrying the baby.”

As for the burning question of who fathered the child, Tila will only say that the baby’s father is a well-known member of the entertainment industry.

I received an e-mail from a branch manager of a mid-sized brokerage. She said, “A few years ago, during our branch meetings, agents would try to one-up each other with news from investors, who had the best rates, the fastest underwriting turn times. Now, our branch meetings are like a wake. The only news is which investor tightened their guidelines, shortened their time for a valid appraisal, the latest RESPA or NMLS nightmare, and then my agents start in with the ‘remember when’s’. Are we having fun yet?” It’s easier to say “keep your chin up” than to actually do it.

Still, mortgage-related jobs? You bet there are. The FDIC is hiring, as is HUD. HUD-FHA is trying to fill positions all over the nation including in Southern California (Single Family Housing Specialist & Management Analyst), Denver (Management Analyst), and Atlanta (someone to run their Processing and Underwriting Division). Check it out at www.usajobs.gov. And for you pure loan officers/agents out there, check out Milestone Mortgage at www.milestonemtg.com/billrvp.

Here’s an interesting announcement from Flagstar: “Flagstar will not fund or purchase any loan that closes with a notary who is associated with the broker/correspondent.  A list of associations that Flagstar deems inappropriate for a notary to have with the broker/correspondent at the time of closing may include, but is not limited to: any employee of the broker/correspondent (e.g. processors, loan officers), any family member of one of the principal owners, anyone who is to receive funds other than a notary fee, based on the closing of the loan. Any closing that occurs using a notary associated to the broker/correspondent will be required to reclose with a non-associated notary before funding or purchase can occur.”

Flagstar goes on to tell clients that after February 15, “Flagstar Bank will not approve or close more than 5 loans to any one borrower, or an aggregate loan amount total of $1,000,000, and they also followed Fannie & Freddie’s refusal to accept HUD approval for condominium projects.

NAMB members received a letter regarding NMLS, stating that “NMLS is proud to announce that we have been approved a ‘channeller’ of federal background checks with FBI and have introduced criminal background check processing functionality in NMLS. This functionality is an important fulfillment of one of the mandates of the SAFE Act.” All new mortgage loan originator applications submitted through NMLS require the individual to request a federal criminal background check and provide fingerprints to NMLS to process this background check. And existing mortgage loan originators are able to request and pay for a federal criminal background check and provide fingerprints to NMLS to process this background check.

more news on FHA and DE, Reunion Mortgage, Chase, Freddie and HAMP, CMBA and S.A.F.E., applications, economy, rates, and joke of the day … <<< CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

Exiled is a blogger who recently left Gaza – and he is in no hurry to return. In this translation of a recent post of his, we hear his opinions about political propaganda and self-interest, the tunnels to Egypt and the planned steel fence, and the nature of the outside world's concern for the Gaza Strip.

Exiled writes at his blog Nostalgia:

The new generation of the Volkswagen Touareg, expected to be launched this spring, is a anticipated vehicle, as the SUV offers a good overall balance.

Now, we could be able to get a pretty good idea of how the car will look, thanks to a leaked photo showing a scale model of the car, posted by autoweek.nl. As you can see, the German SUV adopts the new VW family identity introduced by the Golf VI.

The front grille and the headlights look very similar to those on the Golf or the Polo, while … (read more)

Tesla won’t kick off production of its Model S sedan until 2012 and even then, the electric-car manufacturer plans on building only 20,000 units annually by 2013. In efforts to boost annual output, Tesla is planning a volume-selling BMW 3-Series sized electric sedan by 2015 that will lift total annual production to around 200,000 units a year.

Tesla’s 3-Series sized sedan will be the model that will optimize the automotive technology his engineers have been developing for all future Teslas and will lower the cost of owning a Tesla to around $30,000.

Tesla also has plans for a crossover and a coupe based on the Model S sedan. Those two models are expected to lift its total annual production output to between 30,000 and 40,000 units a year.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

Yesterday we heard that Colorware was doing up the Nook with its custom paint jobs. Now, it’s the Nexus One. You can either buy an unlocked one directly from the company for a cool $800, or send in your own for $175. Either way, it will take about three weeks. But just think, when you get it back, oh how your friends will be jelous of your CrunchGear-themed Nexus One.

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This is where all of our live content for today’s Apple event will live. To make things perfectly clear, Apple won’t let us film inside the event. However, CrunchGear and a special surprise guest will offer a full play by play. Feel free to turn on your headphones at work and listen to the news as it happens or watch us live complete with coverage from San Francisco before and after the event.

We will start streaming live at 12:30pm EST/9:30am PST and the event begins at 1pm EST/10am PST.

Tweet us live at @crunchgear with the hashtag “#applelive.” You can read our previous tablet coverage right here.

Want the traditional live blog? Rock out below at about 12:30pm EST. There is no need to refresh your screen as this system will update automatically.

Let the games begin.

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Archos has tablets too, you guys. Let’s not forget about Archos. Whether or not the company purposely let details of the 7-inch “ARCHOS 7 Android” tablet slip out on a product page of an online retailer in the UK (that page has now been removed), you’ve got to admit that the timing is interesting.

Whatever the case, the Archos 7 Android tablet looks similar to the already-available Archos 5. You’ll get a bigger touchscreen, of course, but the 800×480 resolution has remained the same.

According to ArchosFans.com:

“Differences form the current A5 IT include a user-facing webcam, a DC charger, a sliding and locking on-off switch, either dual speakers or a microphone that is no longer situated right next to the speaker as on the A5 IT and of course the 7″ screen.

Software changes also appear to be in store for the Archos Media Center app. Song lyrics support is new and the addition of the high-quality APE codec will please audiophiles.

Still no hardware buttons, so this does not look like it will meet the current guidelines for Google Experience apps (Market, Maps, Gmail, etc.). Does Archos know something we don’t about Google changing it’s mind? It seems they’re still betting on Google changing their minds and relaxing hardware standards to let the A7 (and the A5) Android models get in on the Google App goodness.”

An 8GB model was apparently up for pre-order on the UK site but, again, it’s since been taken down. Pricing was reported as £149.99 ($242) with an availability date of March. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is currently available in the 8GB capacity for $250 here in the US, so it’d stand to reason that the 7-inch version would be at least that much when it comes out.

Archos 7 Android: First Pics, Specs, Release Date and Pricing [ArchosFans.com via SlashGear]

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In the waning moments before Apple’s highly anticipated tablet event, a few last minute leaks are stirring up the excitement. First, we have some blurry pictures of a tablet device of approximately 9-10 inches in size running a version of the iPhone OS. The device is encased in a plastic housing, bolted down to a table and covered with a black drape. This cloak and dagger treatment is reportedly standard practice for any super secret Apple device so these images may indeed be the Apple tablet. Apple is also reportedly in last minute negotiations with book publishers and television studios to finalize pricing for its rumored tablet device. Apple is rumored to be pushing Hollywood to offer $1 per episode pricing on television shows in iTunes and is offering book publishers a pricing scheme that would set book prices at $12.99 to $14.99 for best sellers with a basement price of $9.99 for less popular books. Apple would reportedly take a 30% cut of all sales, leaving book publishers with a take home price of $10.49 or less. This could place them between a rock and a hard place with Apple offering a potentially larger audience with less revenue per book, or going with Amazon which offers greater revenue per book with its Kindle but may not have the reach and allure of this rumored tablet.

Read [Apple Tablet Images] Read [Book publishers] Read [Television studios]

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Filed under: Other Events

Are you as excited as we are about the upcoming Apple announcement? Join us in this open chat prior to today’s liveblog. All we ask is that you keep things civil and suitable for all ages. C’mon and join in the excitement as we monitor Twitter and analyze the latest rumors, leaks and stories.

Tablet Antici…sayitsayit…pation Livechat

TUAWWaitchat: Anticipating the Apple Tablet Keynote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you like it if your phone started charging whenever you dropped it into your pocket? That may eventually be possible, thanks to a carbon nanotube-based ink that can turn many common fabrics into conductors, or even components of a charge-storing supercapacitor. These won’t be showing up in a clothing store near you anytime soon, however, as ensuring that the fabrics only direct the charge to appropriate devices—and not, say, to a sensitive body part—will be a separate engineering challenge.

Textile fibers are actually uniquely suited to transforming into electronics when combined with the seemingly ubiquitous carbon nanotube. Fibers made of cellulose, like cotton or polyester, are highly porous and can absorb large amounts of water and other polar solvents. When flexible single-walled carbon nanotubes are placed near polymers like these fibers, they have large van der Waals interactions with them, and can be treated with acid that helps them form hydrogen bonds with the fabric. This allows the flexible carbon nanotubes to wrap around the fibers in very high volumes, as the porous fabric gives the nanotubes a large surface area to work with.

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Filed under: iPhone, App Store

As the attention of the Apple-loving world turns to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts later today, there are plenty of expectations that print publishers — newspapers, magazines and textbooks — will play a huge role in the new world order, providing paid content for users of the hypothetical-but-c’mon-now tablet device.

While publishers have delivered lots of custom single-title apps so far, not many of those apps provide the full printed content of the magazine in the original visual context, ads and all. If you want to see an interesting take on the possibilities for high-fidelity magazines on the iPhone today, you can check out any of the 33 currently shipping titles [iTunes link] currently shipping via the Pixel Mags platform.

The result of the partnership between publishers and Pixel Mags is a very ‘print-like’ experience, with zoomable pages and easy navigation/pageturns. Pixel Mags is working with lots of publishers (they report 300 titles under contract) to manage the PDF-to-app workflow for new and archival issues of their magazines; the apps are branded with the magazine’s look and cost either $0.99 or $1.99, with sample content or a free issue included. Once you have the app, additional issues or subscriptions are available through in-app purchase. You can bookmark your magazines and share your reading choices via social networking hooks.

The Pixel Mags team comes from the print world, so they are focused on delivering fidelity to the original magazine look; this comes at the cost of snappy performance, at least on my iPhone 3G (the 2nd-gen iPod touch & iPhone 3GS are noticeably faster). Loading the full page images is slower than I’d like, but I can see the value of having my entire magazine library in one place, available offline and without download waits.

It’s likely that the publishing workflow for the tablet environment will scale up considerably from straight PDF conversion and include multimedia/dynamic controls for publishers, potentially in a similar fashion to how iTunes LP works for album packaging. What we can see in Pixel Mags now is one of the flavors that could go into this delicious parfait of content.

TUAWOne path to magazines on the iPhone: Pixel Mags originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here comes another Twitter usage study painting a grim picture for the microblogging service. While all indirect measurements have a certain degree of uncertainty, in lieu of actual data coming from Twitter, which is not likely to happen any time soon by the looks of things, these will have to do. The research, from online metrics company RJMetrics, has found… (read more)

Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iPhone

Well, thanks AT&T. In the past I’ve vented my frustration that the much awaited SlingPlayer Mobile app for the iPhone was crippled by a new AT&T rule that didn’t allow place shifting of TV signals on their network. The rule appeared to be specifically written to ban the SlingPlayer.

As a result, the best Sling could offer to iPhone users was a version that only worked on Wi-Fi so the fragile AT&T network didn’t get dinged.

Now, Sling has announced a new version of the SlingPlayer Mobile version 2 for Windows phones that supports both Wi-Fi and the AT&T 3G network, and runs on the HTC Pure, Tilt II, as well as on some HTC phones on T-Mobile and Sprint.

Now this is not something the folks at Sling did, but AT&T is mighty selective about which phones can stream over its 3G network. Mind you, AT&T has no problem allowing multi-hour baseball games to be streamed using the MLB app, and Orb also allows streaming on the iPhone, even from a remote TV Tuner. Even Ustream and Qik got into the streaming video act.

If Apple ever dumps AT&T (and rumors say that at least AT&T will have competition soon) it won’t be soon enough for me. For many customers, they’ve made a mess of the iPhone experience. I talked to a representative from Sling and he expressed frustration at the situation and added “we’re working on it.”

TUAWSling offers app update for Windows phones that includes 3G streaming on AT&T originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While there are a million rumors over what Apple’s new tablet will do, from having a built-in web cam to doing your laundry (not really), we can be sure that it will at least have a color display and show pictures, right? These simple features would put it well ahead of the Kindle in the newspaper industry’s hopes of finding a savior in new technology.

A study out of the University of Georgia took a look at whether or not the Kindle would be a viable substitute for the traditional newspaper and it found the device lacking in a few key areas.

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The results were pretty much as expected: devices like the Kindle need some basic functionality, like color, photographs and touch screens, in order to bring readers back. According to the study, many of the respondents agreed that the Kindle was easy to read, but for many of the younger participants, the Kindle felt “old” and lacked many of the basic features, such as music and Internet access, they had become used to with smartphones.

Smartphones, on the other hand, while containing all of these features, are not designed for reading as a primary activity. They are made for portability and interactivity. So the size and continued portability of a tablet would allow for increased readability, while retaining the functionality of a smartphone. With the Kindle, users lamented the loss of the crossword and the comics, features we certainly could not do without, either.

We do wonder, however, if the issue of screen glare when being used outside will be addressed with this new tablet. Sunny or cloudy, we can see a newspaper just the same, but seeing an LCD display can very much depend on the lighting. At least we know a breezy day won’t be an issue, like with a newspaper, and reading on the subway should be, well, a breeze.

Just on these simple facts alone, Apple’s yet-to-be-announced tablet stands out as a much more viable option as a news reader, but even then, we wonder if it can make a difference.

Discuss

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