Author: Serkadis

Help in the cards

The “Biggest Loser” couples participated in a pop challenge that was all about choosing the right cards. Teams ran the presidential mile to a board where they chose a card out of several, and then they returned to what looked like an ATM.

When they inserted their cards into the machine, it showed them a green check or a red X. Teams hoped for the check, because it was a point for their team, and the first team to gain three points won immunity as well as three mystery envelopes.

It seemed like it took forever for the teams to gain their first point, and no matter how hard Stephanie tried — bless her heart — she just wasn’t picking the right cards. The pink team quickly earned two points, but finding a card with another green check wasn’t as easy as the first two.

After several laps, it came down to the orange, black, red and pink teams searching for that final check mark. Ultimately, the red won the pop challenge. After a short celebration, Alison revealed the cards inside the mystery envelopes, and the red team had 15 minutes to decide which teams would get a card, or they could give all three cards to the same team.

After careful consideration, and not wanting a target on their backs, Melissa and Lance gave John the “no access to the gym” card. They told their fellow competitors they felt this was the best choice since John’s knee injury already prevented him from working out in the gym. Melissa and Lance then told Mike they thought everyone was hard on him last week, so to prevent him from voting out of anger, they thought it best he get the “no elimination vote,” and finally, the “2 pound disadvantage” went to the green team.

Melissa and Lance tried to explain that because Miggy and Migdalia had low numbers on the scale last week, they believed their numbers would be higher this week. Based on that assumption, they didn’t think the 2 pound disadvantage would hurt them at the weigh-in, but Miggy wasn’t buying it.

Game play and distrust

The “Biggest Loser” couples met Bob and Jillian in the gym. Bob wondered where Mike was, so they explained the mystery envelopes and the choices that Melissa and Lance made. Although Miggy and Migdalia had the 2 pound disadvantage, Bob thought it was more important to talk to Melissa and Lance about what he believed was game play by Melissa when she lost a pound last week and gained a pound the week prior.

Everyone worked out while Bob spoke to Lance outside. Lance assured Bob that Melissa didn’t purposely gain or lose those pounds, but Bob refused to believe him, and this upset Lance. Next, Lance told Jillian his wife was not a liar, but Jillian wasn’t convinced, so Lance told her he lost all respect for her.

Jillian was so fed up with Lance and Melissa that she approached Bob and told him the red team was his now. When Melissa confronted Jillian, she swore on the Bible, Buddha and her kids that she wasn’t lying. Jillian still wasn’t convinced, which brought Melissa to tears.

Climbing for calls

The “Biggest Loser” couples joined Alison on a construction site, where they learned they had to stand on a platform with a bar across it. The couples wrapped their hands around the bar and used their arm muscles to pull themselves up 120 feet. The team that reached the top first won a phone call home and the chance to give three other teams the same reward.

The red and gray teams worked the quickest and were neck-and-neck. In the end, though, the gray team reached the top first and won the challenge, but the red team was only seconds behind. Because Koli and Sam felt Melissa and Lance put up a good fight, they gave them a phone call home, and the other two phone calls home went to the green and brown teams.

Hard workouts and a tough weigh-in

After the physical challenge, Bob treated The “Biggest Loser” couples to Subway. He said they needed the “fuel” for their last chance workout, which involved a hike to the top of a mountain then back down. As if their trek up and down a huge mountain wasn’t enough, Jillian waited for them at the bottom and wasted no time in putting them through her last chance workout.

The teams headed to the scales for another weigh-in. Once again, Melissa and Lance had immunity, and through no fault of their own, Miggy and Migdalia held the 2 pound disadvantage.

• Lance lost 6 pounds, and Melissa lost 11 pounds, which didn’t surprise Jillian in the least. The red team’s total percentage of weight loss was 3.16.
• Koli lost 12 pounds, and Sam lost 14 pounds. The gray team’s total percentage of weight loss was 3.78.
• Both Cheryl and Daris lost 6 pounds, which gave the orange team a total percentage of 2.38.
• Andrea lost 5 pounds, and Darrell lost 10 pounds. The black team’s total percentage of weight loss was 2.37.
• Ashley lost 7 pounds, and Sherri lost 4 pounds. The pink team’s total percentage of weight loss was 2.10.
• John lost 10 pounds (2.29 percent).
• Stephanie lost 6 pounds (2.54 percent).
• Mike lost 15 pounds (3.18 percent).

Migdalia lost 4 pounds, and Miggy lost 1 pound. The green team’s total percentage of weight loss was 0.67 percent. Determined to take the heat of herself, Melissa pointed out that the 2 pound disadvantage wouldn’t have mattered, and when she started to ask Alison to confirm this, Miggy interrupted and spoke her peace to Melissa.

After Miggy went off on Melissa, Ali did confirm that Miggy and Migdalia would still have fallen below the yellow line without the 2 pound disadvantage.

During elimination, the “Biggest Loser” couples said goodbye to Migdalia. Since returning home from her journey on the “Biggest Loser” ranch, Migdalia said she’s lost a total of 60 pounds.

(By Misti Sandefur for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

The Biggest Loser Couples, season 9, episode 4: Seeking the truth

What do you do when you begin to suck at what you were doing great for decades? Give it up, of course! And start working on something far, far more dangerous (if you fail at this too, that is).

Amidst a storm of recalls due to braking systems failure on its US-built vehicles, Japanese carmaker Toyota announced today it is working on a "partner robot" to be used as a personal assistant for humans. And not one, but four different types of robots…

For one, we have the walking rob… (read more)

Grants support community efforts to boost individual emergency preparedness, encourage volunteerism

Citizen Corps Councils in more than 80 communities throughout Illinois were recently awarded grants totaling $440,835 to support programs that help communities prepare for and respond to emergencies.

The grants are awarded annually by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF).

“The Citizen Corps in Illinois are an important part of our state’s overall preparedness effort,” said Andrew Velasquez III, the state’s Homeland Security Adviser and director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA).

“Their focus on personal preparedness, training and volunteer service ensure their communities are better able to deal with any disaster, large or small.”

The Citizen Corps program began in 2002 as a way to bring volunteers and first responder organizations together to help communities better prepare for, and respond to, all types of emergencies. Today there are more than 2,400 local Citizen Corps councils throughout the U.S., with 95 active councils in Illinois.

In addition to the grants, the Illinois Citizen Corps Council, an ITTF committee, supports the efforts of local councils through training, workshops and conferences.

The grants will be used by Citizen Corps to further their citizen preparedness activities, such as equipment, training and instructors for Community Emergency Response Teams (Cert), personal preparedness brochures and local emergency response exercises.

Citizen Corp volunteers are trained to assist during emergencies in their communities, but can be called on for assistance during disasters at the state or national level.

The 82 Illinois Citizen Corps receiving grants include:

Jurisdiction	Amount
Adams County	$5,500.00
Addison	$5,500.00
Arlington Heights	$5,460.00
Aurora	$5,500.00
Barrington	$4,500.00
Belvidere	$5,500.00
Boone County	$4,500.00
Buffalo Grove	$5,500.00
Carol Stream	$7,500.00
Champaign	$5,500.00
Chicago	$4,500.00
Clay County	$5,500.00
Coles County	$5,500.00
Collinsville	$5,500.00
Des Plaines	$5,500.00
Dowell	$4,500.00
DuPage County	$5,500.00
Effingham County	$5,500.00
Elburn	$5,500.00
Elk Grove Village	$7,500.00
Evanston	$4,500.00
Fremont Township (Lake)	$5,500.00
Galesburg	$5,500.00
Gilberts	$7,500.00
Glen Ellyn	$5,500.00
Glendale Heights	$5,500.00
Hanover Park	$4,500.00
Hawthorn Woods	$4,500.00
Highland Park	$5,500.00
Hoffman Estates	$5,500.00
Huntley	$7,500.00
Inverness	$5,500.00
Itasca	$4,500.00
Jefferson County	$5,500.00
Judson University	$5,500.00
Kane County	$2,500.00
Kankakee County	$5,500.00
Kildeer	$5,500.00
Lake County	$3,500.00
Lake in the Hills	$4,392.00
Lake Zurich	$5,500.00
LaSalle County	$5,493.00
Lawrence County	$5,500.00
Libertyville	$4,500.00
Long Grove	$5,500.00
Macon County	$5,500.00
Macoupin County	$5,500.00
Maine Township (Cook)	$5,500.00
Milan	$7,500.00
Milton Township (DuPage)

The authors evaluate promising process flowsheets for bioethanol production from different feedstocks along with current and promising technologies for bioethanol production. Case studies illustrate how process synthesis allows for the …

Google has been making some strong moves in the enterprise sector and its Google Apps offering is picking steam and market share in most places. The service is available either directly from Google or through its resellers program. Atlas Networking has announced it is now an authorized Google Apps reseller in Romania and of… (read more)

Open source content management system Drupal is increasingly being used by organizations, corporations and governments to power their websites and communities.

To name but a few entities who rely on Drupal for their websites: The White House, AT&T, Intel, BBC, Forbes, Stanford University, Reuters and Procter & Gamble (and plenty more where that came from).

But up until now, there was no other way to set up a website or blog with Drupal than having to download and run code from a server. Acquia, a commercial company that provides Drupal-based products, services and technical support, is today bringing change to that situation with the private beta launch of Drupal Gardens.

You need a beta invite code to get in for now, but the first 100 TechCrunch readers to sign up here will get access today (others will be granted access in the next few weeks).

Drupal creator Dries Buytaert – also co-founder and CTO of venture-backed Acquia – in a blog post announcing the private beta launch refers to Drupal Gardens as the WordPress.com or Ning for Drupal. Which was also the first thing I thought when I tried it out for the first time (see screenshots below).

Built on the Drupal 7 core, currently still in alpha, Acquia powers the entire back-end for Drupal hosted websites and communities so users don’t need to worry about server management and can focus on the personalization and content part of the equation instead.

Unlike WordPress.com, Buytaert tells me, Drupal Gardens isn’t really meant for individuals looking to set up their own blog as much as it is aimed to help organizations and small businesses set up a Drupal environment with multi-user blogging features, social integration, forums, custom content types, and so on.

The way I see it, Drupal Gardens is thus more of a competitor to the likes of Ning and Six Apart. Both companies, as well as Automattic, have of course a considerable head start when it comes to hosted micro-site content management services, so time will tell if Drupal Gardens can break the mold.

As powerful as the Drupal CMS and its small army of code contributors may be, how much demand can there really be for another browser-based site builder?

Drupal Gardens will be available for free until the end of this year. By the end of 2010, Acquia hopes to have finished incorporating all of the important features that will enable organizations to create feature-rich, social microsites. Although this is still undecided, Acquia thinks it will be able to continue offering a free tier for smaller sites alongside paid tiers for larger websites or those who want access to premium features.

Preliminary pricing can be consulted on this page, but to be clear: all of these packages will remain free of charge until the end of this year.

You can sign up for the beta here; Acquia will open up the beta to thousands of users in the next couple of weeks. General availability is expected in the second quarter of 2010.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Negative thoughts are just as bad for your emotional system, as dairy is for the lactose-intolerant! They only lead to all kinds of upset. Today decide to cut out negative thougths from your thinking diet.

KNOW THIS NOW:

In the same way that a “lactose intolerant person” knows that if they drink dairy they will feel bad – you should view yourself as “negative thought intolerant person” and know that if you think negatively you will feel bad.

QUESTION:

Why put negative thoughts into your system if they only upset your system?

ANSWER:

Feed yourself a daily positive thought diet, and you’ll feel more energetic, happy, thriving!

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

del.icio.us · Slashdot · Digg · Facebook · Technorati · Google · StumbleUpon · Yahoo

Some good thoughts from Miller Tabak’s Peter Boockvar on the significance of today:

If there ever was a day that encapsulates the new economic world we live in, it is today. The President in his State of the Union address will tell us how he plans to create jobs and the FOMC will tell us how they will craft the right policy to grow the economy.

Also, Geithner testifies about the AIG bailout. Remember the days of focusing on P/E ratios, returns on equity and other fundamental research.

We all have become political science majors, not because
we want to but because we have to in order to better waddle thru the markets
that have been driven more by DC policy than the industriousness of America’s
private sector.

Actually, he’s missing one thing in his encapsulation of the new American economy: The Apple Tablet, which will confirm that despite all the nonsense in Washington, American tech and innovation remains second to none

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• 10 Ways The Apple Tablet Will Change Your Life Forever
• New Poll Shows Widespread Disappointment With Obama On Eve Of First State Of The Union
• Geithner and Paulson Will Both Deny Playing Major Role In AIG Decision

Honda introduced today a new generation of solar hydrogen station prototype at the Los Angeles Center of Honda R&D America, destined to become a home refueling appliance which would offer an overnight refill for fuel cell electric vehicles.

The unit uses a one-piece design and is meant to fit in the users’ garage. It has a relatively compact size and it produces enough hydrogen (0.5 kg) during an 8-hour overnight fill for the average daily drive of a fuel cell vehicle (10,000 miles per year)…. (read more)

As noted earlier, I’m at the Midem music industry conference this week in Cannes, in the south of France. France, of course, has been at the forefront of many of the debates over copyright issues, with its Sarkozy-backed push to be one of the first countries to implement a “three accusations and you’re off the internet” policy (despite Sarkozy’s political party’s own long history of infringing). There really hasn’t been that much discussion this year about the whole three strikes thing (last year, it was one of the main topics), which seems a bit odd. However, I did randomly see a twitter message from the guy who runs a travel rental business here in Cannes, Lao Watson-Smith, pointing out that all these music industry execs are complaining about all their accommodations having locked down WiFi (even when it’s offered free), and noting that the only reason why these connections need to all be locked down is because of the three strikes laws that they pushed through. And, indeed, it is rather annoying. My hotel has “free wifi” (which seems to go down regularly) but you still need a user name and password, and once you log in with one device it will not let you log in with any other device. You must use that one device exclusively. When the official WiFi went dead, I went in search of other networks, including one called “Free WiFi,” but when I accessed that, it still asked me for my username and password (which I obviously don’t have). It certainly is somewhat amusing to find out that the music industry execs are annoyed by the consequences of the law they so desperately claim they need.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Forks, Washington is a sleepy town in the Northwest that shot to fame when Stephenie Meyer used it as a backdrop for her wildly-popular book and film franchise, The Twilight Saga. Twilight in Forks: The Saga of the Real Town — an 84-minute documentary about the fictional hometown of beloved Twilight notables, like Bella, Edward, and Jacob — hits stores Saturday, March 20 — the same day New Moon will be released nationwide on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Here’s a synopsis of what TwiHards can expect when they pick up their Forks DVD:

The definitive DVD documenting the town of Forks made famous by the Twilight books and movies. This is your opportunity to see the town that Stephenie Meyer based her epic teen romance books on. Hear from the real people living their lives in the town fans know and love, including the Chief of Police, the Forks Outfitters’ employee who gets mistaken for Bella, and the vampire transplant who plays the real-life role of Alice. Visit Forks High School, hear self-described Jacob’s grandfather tell the legend of how the Quileutes descended from wolves, and see many more of the people and places that make Forks and La Push the perfect setting for The Twilight Saga….

To place your $19.99 pre-order for Twilight in Forks, visit Amazon.com…

Bronx, NY – Bronx Community College (BCC) President Carolyn G. Williams celebrated with elected officials and The City University of New York staff Thursday, January 21, 2010, with a “topping off” ceremony at the construction site of the College’s new North Instructional Building and Library.  The building is the first new construction  since BCC moved to the campus more than 40 years ago.

“All of you have known of or seen the overcrowded, compromised facilities that our students, faculty and staff learn and work in,” said Williams. “Over the past 12 years, BCC has seen unprecedented growth in enrollment.  Today, we have 11,000 students. A new building is a necessity.  We need classroom space and we need a library – we need facilities which enable our faculty to teach and our students to learn.” From Fall, 2001 to Fall, 2009 there has been a 46% increase in fulltime student enrollment.

Guests who attended the midday event included Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson and Assemblymen Nelson Castro and Michael Benjamin; Jay Hershenson, CUNY senior vice chancellor and secretary of the Board of Trustees; Iris Weinshall, CUNY vice chancellor for facilities, planning, construction and management; Philip A. Berry, vice chairperson, CUNY Board of Trustees and acting chairperson of the CUNY Construction Fund; Paul T. Williams, Jr., executive director of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

Bronx Community College  Foundation Board  members who attended  the “topping off” ceremony included  Howard Stein, Tom Lubas, Michael Williams and  Walter Marin, BCC Foundation Chair.

President Williams thanked elected officials from the State Assembly and Senate to the Bronx Borough President’s Office to the New York City Council members and CUNY staff for bringing the North Instructional Building and Library closer to reality. She then joined Allan Dobrin, CUNY executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer, in the ceremonial signing of a beam to symbolize the vision and the struggle to reach the “topping off” stage of construction, which occurs when the last beam is hoisted into place at the top of the building. Dignitaries and many guests also signed their names on the beams which were painted white for the special occasion. Ribbon cutting for the opening of the building is planned for 2011.

Rising on the north side of the College’s main quadrangle, the new $102 million, 98,000-square-foot North Instructional Building and Library will house 15 large classrooms and a small café on the first floor; a vast, two-story information commons, along with group-study rooms and lounge seating on the second floor; and on the third level, book stacks surrounding a balcony will overlook the reading room below.

Clerestory windows, which surround the room will flood the space below with light. Throughout the building, windows will be placed to assure a flow of natural light and to provide views not only of Architect Stanford White’s 1892 classic campus master plan, but also of the Cloisters and the Henry Hudson Bridge.

BCC’s North Instructional Building and Library was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, with Ismael Leyva Architects, PC. Construction management is by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The Construction Manager is TDX Construction Corporation.

Press, Radio, TV
Please call: Bryant Mason
Media Relations Specialist
(718) 289-5208
[email protected]

Founded in 1957, Bronx Community College (BCC), the oldest of City University of New York’s six community colleges, serves as the engine for academic and economic mobility for motivated students from diverse backgrounds and preparations. More than 10,500 students from over 109 nations are enrolled in 30 associate degree and certificate programs including Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Computer Graphics, Nuclear Medicine, and Business Administration, Digital Arts, Computer Information Systems, Education Associate, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology, Electronic Engineering Technology, Liberal Arts, Marketing, Accounting, Human Services, Media Technology and Paralegal Studies. BCC’s 43-acre campus, high above the Harlem River, features architectural masterpieces of Stanford White and Marcel Breuer, as well as the Hall of Fame of Great Americans, the nation’s first hall of fame. BCC President Carolyn G. Williams is in her 13th year of leadership service to the College, which is located on a 43-acre campus at 2155 University Avenue at West 181st Street , formerly New York University’s uptown campus until 1973.

The College is home to initiatives not commonly associated with two-year institutions, such as the Center for Sustainable Energy, which promotes the use of renewable and efficient energy technologies in urban communities. The National Center for Educational Alliances (NCEA) is currently collaborating with South African Further Education and Training Colleges and universities to create linkages between these institutions. NCEA also coordinates the College’s international initiatives and the annual International Education Week.

Klaus Dieter Frers will resign his position as CEO of his brand Artega, which has now been completely sold to Mexican private investor Tresalia Capital, who has held a minority stake in Artega since October 2008. Tresalia Capital, which now owns 100 percent of Artega, is also one of the major shareholders in the Mexican Modelo brewery – brand name “Corona.”

Tresalia Capital has asked former BMW engineer Wolfgang Ziebartto to take up the day-to-day responsibilities in running Artega.

“A remarkable entrepreneurial achievement has led to an exciting vehicle, up to date in its concept, and timeless in design”, Wolfgang Ziebart said. “After a first drive in the Artega GT I have spontaneously agreed to further accompany this car and I will do everything to make it a success.”

Production of the Artega GT coupe will continue as planned at a new plant in Germany later this year.

Ford those of you that forgot, the Artega GT is a coupe designed by Henrik Fisker, the man responsible for the BMW Z28, Aston Martin Vantage and most recently, the Fisker Karma. It will powered by a 300-hp 3.6L FSI V6 from Volkswagen allowing it to go from 0-62 mph in less than 5 seconds with a top speed of 167 mph.

Artega GT:

– By: Kap Shah

Steadily increasing Web traffic offers unprecedented opportunity for Illinois primary candidates

eVoter, the first online destination where candidates, voters and endorsing organizations connect, expects to reach 100,000 Illinois primary voters by Election Day on Feb. 2.

According to Adam Kravitz, CEO of Political Technologies, owners and operators of eVoter, traffic to the website is spiking in the last week before the Illinois primary election.

eVoter is a non-partisan website that allows voters to locate their polling place, generate and print a customized ballot, and donate to campaigns.

In addition to the voter tools, candidates can purchase and customize an online profile, and endorsing organizations can widely publicize their candidate endorsements for a low cost.

“We are capturing a lion’s share of the search traffic, and expect this increase to continue through the election,” said Kravitz.

“In January, we’ve seen close to a 700 percent increase from the previous month, which means voters are coming to the site in great numbers to find their polling places, print their ballots and learn about the candidates.

For candidates looking to make a connection with real voters in the last days before the election, we’re offering an unprecedented opportunity.”

Since its launch in November, eVoter has had more than 56,000 Illinois voters visit the site due to a highly targeted marketing campaign, noted Kravitz.

Visits to eVoter.com are numbering approximately 4,000 per day and growing with over 280,000 page views and more than 32,000 ballots rendered. Statewide candidates have already had views from approximately 28,000 voters per party on eVoter.

“eVoter is where voters are going to research their election information,” said Philip Muller, president of Political Technologies.

“As the primary campaigns come down to the wire, a candidate profile is a great way to get their message to motivated voters, thousands of which are visiting the site every day.”

Illinois, which has the nation’s first primary election in 2010, is the first state where eVoter is available. Political Technologies plans to roll out the service to more than a half-dozen states by the 2010 general election and all 50 states by 2012.

To purchase an eVoter profile, candidates and organizations can visit evoter.com, or call (866) 976-0555.

ABOUT EVOTER

eVoter (evoter.com) is an unbiased, non-partisan website where voters can instantly generate a personalized sample ballot, view candidate profiles, make contributions, view organizational endorsements, find polling places, request absentee ballot applications, and more.

Owned and operated by Florida-based Political Technologies LLC (politicaltechnologies.com), eVoter is designed with the goal of providing voters with concise, unbiased information on every candidate and measure on their ballot.

With 8000+ Illinois primary election candidates listed and 11,000+ polling places, eVoter is the destination for 2010 Illinois primary election information.

• For election information, visit evoter.com
• For press information, visit evoter.com/Press
• For more about eVoter: evoter.com/About
• Search Illinois Primary Candidates: evoter.com/Search
• Get Illinois Early Voting Information: evoter.com/Early-Voting
  

Turns out, Apple’s veil of secrecy applies internally, as well. Former engineer Edward Eigerman spoke with Bloomberg News this morning about the atmosphere at the company before a major product launch—turns out, it’s not all wine and roses.

Eigerman has a unique perspective on the extreme lengths Apple goes through to prevent leaks, having been fired for accidentally slipping software to a client a week early.

The upside is that only a very few people in Cupertino know what’s actually going to be announced today, so they’re as excited as the rest of us! The downside is that they’re also likely in a debilitating paranoiac state. But, hey, you take the good with the bad, right? [Bloomberg via Cult of Mac via 9to5 Mac]

Scomi Group, one of the most important providers of urban transit systems in the world, ran a successful test of a monorail car in India, as part of the Mumbai Monorail project. The test was attended by the Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra State, Mr. Ashok Chavan.

"Scomi is privileged to present the country’s first monorail car for its test run on the auspicious occasion of India’s Republic Day. It is a proud moment for all of us at Scomi as the successful trial reflects the consi… (read more)

Another big screen follow-up to HBO’s groundbreaking television comedy Sex and the City is set for release in May — and Hollywood tattles tell The Sun that Carrie & Co (best known as Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, and Kim Cattrall) are already busy filming the third and last movie in the SATC series.

“There is also a third movie on the go. It’s under wraps for publicity reasons,” the source said. “It makes sense to film the second and third movies back to back. The characters will look a lot younger on screen when the third movie is out in a couple of years. They’re keen to look as young as possible because that movie will be their last. They want to go out on a high.”

Instapaper se ha convertido en uno de mis servicios online preferidos. El motivo es que por fin he conseguido disciplinarme en el uso de un bookmarklet para “leer más tarde”, algo que existe desde hace mucho para todos los navegadores, pero que en mi caso acababa siendo un repositorio donde van los artículos que jamás leía (algo así como del.icio.us). La ventaja de Instapaper es que al final dejo esos artículos para otro contexto, exporto a ePub o los mando al Kindle vía Calibre y el momento de lectura ya no es frente a la pantalla del ordenador.

Por la cantidad de horas que me paso navegando esto se estaba convirtiendo en fundamental: salvarme del ritmo vertiginoso de la web, de las notificaciones constantes, de los avisos, del tiempo real, de los constantes cambios de contexto en los que sólo acaba uno admitiendo contenidos en píldoras. Tratamos el tema en “Contenidos en la web y formas de conocimiento”: me he habituado a las fórmulas web de consumo de contenidos, quiero inmediatez, poder leer “en diagonal” un texto en busca de que hayan resaltado el dato que busco y que se vaya al grano en lugar de articular un discurso que profundice. Un sistema tipo Instapaper me está permitiendo no evitar los artículos más pesados que encuentro en la navegación o que me recomiendan y poder disfrutarlos en viajes, por la noche o como el amigo de la captura que encabeza este artículo.

Por cierto, gracias a su API cada vez aparecen integrados en más servicios (clientes de Twitter, agregadores) y los artículos recomendados por sus editores suelen estar muy bien. Lo que no he conseguido salvar es el problema de las publicaciones que dividen un artículo en varias páginas.

We’ve been hearing a lot about an M version of the 1-Series as of recently, but according to sources, the model has yet to be given the green light for production. While M division boss Kay Segler is all game for the compact pocket rocket, BMW has yet to make a business case for it.

“The thing you have to remember about BMW is that every model must make money, so the question is: could we make this happen with a 1-series M? Besides, what would you call it? You couldn’t call it an M1,” said an executive at the launch of the new 2011 BMW 5-Series.

As for Dr. Norbert Reithofer – when asked by PistonHeads whether or not we’ll see an M version of the 1-Series he replied: “A 1-series M? That might be a good idea…”

Word on the street is that if the M 1-Series happens, it will be powered by a 3.0L turbocharged straight 6-cylinder unit, modified to produce around 350-hp.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: PistonHeads