Google is known for its openness but not when it comes to how the search engine works. Once in a while though, it likes to show off the more advanced methods it uses to improve the search experience. In a post on the Google blog, Steve Baker, an engineer in the search quality group at Google, details how the search engine handles synonyms, … (read more)

Europe’s greatest carmaker, Volkswagen and its Chinese partner FAW Group are planning to develop their business in the Chinese market by building a new facility in the country.

According to the 21th Century Business Herand newspaper via Reuters, the plant, Volkswagen’s fifth in China, will manufacture cars for the Seat brand. It will be located in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The automaker’s other 4 plants are located in Shanghai, Nanjing, Changchun and Chengdu, producing the Je… (read more)

Campos Grand Prix might not have secured their Formula One future in 2010 – at least from a financial standpoint – but the team recently confirmed that their challenger for the upcoming season has passed the final FIA crash test.

The news was revealed by Autosport, for whom team boss Adrian Campos revealed that his Dallara-built car for the 2010 season of Formula One has received the final homologation from the ruling body.

The car is now homologated and we are still working very, very har… (read more)

The Stanford women’s tennis team has made winning seem easy in the beginning of the spring season. The Cardinal returned with the singles and doubles crown at both the NCTC Classic and the Freeman Memorial Championships and kick-started a spring season that looks to be filled with promise.

“It was a huge win for the team,” said head coach LeLe Forood. “It brings up the level of expectation on this team, how everyone feels about each other and the confidence level as a result.”

The team split up this past weekend, sending half the team to compete at the NCTC Classic while the other half played at the Freeman Memorial Championships. Junior Hilary Barte defeated USC’s Maria Sanchez 7-5, 6-2 to claim the singles championship of the NCTC Classic in a match between two highly ranked individuals. She then paired up with senior Lindsay Burdette to defeat UCLA’s Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack 8-6 for the doubles championship, both teams placing in the top 10 nationally. Junior Jennifer Yen and sophomore Logan Hansen also participated, both losing in the round of 16.

The freshmen led the way at the Freeman Memorial Championships, with Stacey Tan and Natalie Dillon winning their respective divisions. Tan also teamed up with fellow freshman Mallory Burdette to win the doubles crown over North Carolina’s Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand 8-6 and improving their record to 8-2 overall. This was an exciting doubles win, as the two were unranked as a team and overcame the No. 6-ranked UNC duo. In singles, Tan won five matches before coming away with the trophy, the last three of those coming against UNC players. In the final, she beat Katrina Tsang of UNC 7-6, 6-2.

“It was a good experience,” Tan said. “It was different being in Vegas, playing a tournament there. There were a lot of good players there.”

Tan’s transition to team tennis has been smooth, especially considering that her doubles experience has been limited. She played singles in high school and attempted a few WTA tour matches, but doubles was largely left out of the picture. She attributes her recent success at doubles to her partner, Mallory Burdette.

“We fit really well together,” said Tan. “I didn’t usually play doubles that much before I came here, so when I started, it was really different. I didn’t know what to do, where to move. [Mallory] had more experience at it, so she could help me out a lot. It’s so much more fun than I thought it would be.”

Dillon, who previously hadn’t gotten to the final of a tournament during her time at Stanford, managed to string together a series of very impressive and hard fought wins to win the flight two championship at the Freeman Memorial Championship. Fighting her way through two three-setters in the semifinals and the final, she came away with a final victory over UNLV’s Rumyana Terzieva 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 and her first tournament win at Stanford.

“Winning her draw was huge,” Forood said. “It’s huge for her to know that she can compete at the Division-I level and be successful because she comes in with less experience. It’s all about exposure and becoming comfortable with the level and I think that win went a long way toward getting her there.”

Looking forward, team play begins next. Stanford’s first opponent is Hawai’i, followed by UC-Davis at home. Unfortunately, most of the team’s Pac-10 matches will take place away from the Farm this year. USC, UCLA and Cal will be the only teams hosted at home, but those come toward the end of the season in April.

“This is going to be our road year,” said Forood. “We’ve got big home matches in April, largely. When you look at our home schedule winter quarter, it is essentially nonconference. I see our big matches being on the road this quarter. Texas, the LAs, at Cal, so we’re gearing up for some big road games.”

The players are excited for team play to begin as well. When asked about the upcoming Pac-10 matches, Tan expressed her excitement by saying, “you’re not just playing for yourself. You’re playing for the entire team and for the school, for Stanford.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International recently released a list which include three officers and five directors who will be serving in the SAE Board of Directors, starting from this month. As we said in a previous report, Mircea Gradu, Head of Virtual Tools Analysis and Transmission/Driveline Engineering at Chrysler Group is included on the list.

The Romanian will succeed Jacqui A. Dedo, Automotive Vice President at Dana Holding Corporation, and will "take responsibility… (read more)

Speculations concerning the Saab selling saga continue with a new story regarding Genii Capital’s offer for the Swedish unit. It appears that Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wants to purchase Saab for as much as $1!

The explanation is quite simple: winding down Saab could cost General Motors between $72.5 million and $145 million, according to foxnews, which, in the context of the economic recession, is pretty unacceptable. However, Bernie Ecclestone wants to pay GM 1 dollar (one hundred pen… (read more)

The word drama itself is Greek, based on the word for “to do,” and the earliest known performances were in ancient Greece, going back to at least the 5th century BC. Most peoples have some tradition of public performance, but the theatre is a Greek invention. Some historians think it developed as a way of dramatising ancient religious rituals.

If you click here you can find a brief overview of the early history of drama and the way it developed.

Kids, start your…boats! If you are some 9 to 13 years old and you think Carmageddon is too graphically violent, then the future THQ/Nickelodeon release may be just what you were waiting for.

In preparation for the Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSI, SpongeBob’s Boating Bash demolition derby style party game promises about the same level of fun as Carmageddon, but without the flames, flying car parts and demolished surroundings. That is exactly what a 9-year old Dennis the Menace wannabe nee… (read more)

We saw the Alfa Romeo MiTo “Nine” video over on Blogdolcevita.com and here is some more information on the MiTo Nine package courtesy of our colleagues at Autoblog.it. The package is named after the upcoming movie musical from Rob Marshall, based on the Federico Fellini film, 8 1/2.

The “Nine” package is available for all versions of the MiTo, except the Quadrifoglio Verde equipped with the 1.4-litre TB MultiAir engine with 170 hp. The Nine kit on the “Progression” range offers “Elegante” 16-inch alloy wheels, black tint roof and brushed finish for door handles, mirrors, and headlight frames – at a cost of about 1,400 euros.

For the “Distinctive” range of the MiTo, the special kit includes 17-inch wheels, leather seats, lumbar back adjustment in the rear passenger seats, and the same black roof and brushed satin finish. The cost on this range is 1,700 euros. Check out the MiTo product placement if you’re going to see the film, and see the “Nine” with the Alfa MiTo preview video on Blogdolcevita.

After securing a new speed record for fullsize-SUVs at the High Speed Event in Nardo/Italy at the beginning of December 2009, the tuners at Techart Automobildesign broke the former lap record at the Sachsenring race track. The performance was achieved with their GT Street RS vehicle, based on the Porsche 911 GT2.

Before the record drive on the 3,671-meter circuit in the comparison carried out by AutoBild SPORTSCARS, the GT Street RS have already demonstrated its sprinter qualities by getting … (read more)

McLaren Mercedes’ team principal and CEO Martin Whitmarsh was finally confirmed by the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) as their new chairman for a full mandate. Following Ferrari’s CEO Luca di Montezemolo stepping down from that position at the end of last season, it was only a question of time for the teams’ alliance to name a new head.

Although rumored by the media for a while now, Whitmarsh was now officially confirmed as new CEO of the FOTA, this being only one of the new appointment… (read more)

Firebug, the popular web development and debugging add-on for Firefox, has gotten a major update reaching version number 1.5.0. It’s probably the biggest update since 1.0 and after six months of work and 36 alpha and beta releases, users should definitely be looking forward to the new release.

The dev team is especially proud of the new Inspec… (read more)

It’s January and we’re already comfortably installed in our office chairs. Planning fever doesn’t leave us alone, but I’m convinced that each and every one of you has enough time to think about the holiday that has passed for some time now.

I was chatting with a friend of mine and nostalgia suddenly took over. Every January, I’m sick with memories. I miss the blue water, I miss the fluffy clouds in the sky, I miss the warm, inviting, Asian rain…

Before the vacation I was asking Santa f… (read more)

Tony George decided that he had enough with the Indy Racing League – a business that he actually founded and led for the past two decades – and yesterday confirmed that he has given up all official positions within the board of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Following the IMS’ hosting Formula One races in the early 2000s, his decisions at the helm of North America’s leading open-wheel racing series have been contested by the members of the IRL and IMS board continuously. All dissatisfaction… (read more)

Zynga’s gamers have donated more than $1.5 million in the past five days for Haitian earthquake relief. They did so by making donations directly from within Zynga’s top four games on Facebook.

Zynga, the biggest maker of social games on Facebook, said that some 300,000 Zynga game players from 47 countries have purchased virtual goods inside the games, with all of the proceeds for the specific game item sales going to the U.N.’s World Food Programme. FarmVille users, including me, donated a total of $1 million. Users in FishVille, Mafia Wars, and Zynga Poker were also able to donate money. Donations were also promoted via all of Zynga’s games, which reach 227 million monthly active users.

The donations reinforce the notion that social networks such as Facebook are extremely well tuned for rallying people around causes. And Zynga’s integration of the donation into the actual game play makes it easy for players to do good while they’re having fun. In FarmVille, for instance, i bought some white corn seeds with real money for the benefit of Haitian relief. Meanwhile, I can now plant those sees in the game to grow crops and make virtual money faster than I could before. For more information, check out Zynga.org.

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This is possibly the best possible use that Michelle Obama can make of the bully pulpit afforded her.  Everyone acknowledges the issue itself and yet it is difficult to divert political attention directly to it.

The press of course jumps on the story line that food woes are the direct result of ‘industrial agriculture”.  This is complete hooey.  To the extent that a problem exists it is because of choices.  If you are stupid enough to supply children with food that lacks nutrition and promotes obesity, then who is at fault.

Why does it take a national regulation to avoid loading up kids with sugar and starch?  Would you allow your own diet to be so dominated?

It does take a national initiative to support parents in determining what is appropriate.

In my own experience we rarely brought classic junk food into the home for our children.  In fact, I never understood why parents ever stocked most of this stuff in their homes.  Our children then at least had to walk (or run) many blocks to make such a purchase.  I also quickly got the children to man paper routes to produce the coin needed to actually buy the stuff.

It is not difficult to provide inexpensive and nutritious school lunches if you use some imagination.  Legumes are invaluable to support a properly balanced diet and allow expensive meat products to be eased out of the budget.  Much of the problem in the present day regime is adherence to far too many theoretical goals when what is normally called for is a filling comfort food able to carry the child to suppertime when the parents take over.

Recall how the simple expedient of enriching corn meal for tortillas in Mexico largely eliminates a major source of malnutrition.

It is not a case of money but of making sure good sense rules.  This is something Michelle is in position to possibly deliver with a first lady’s children’s initiative or foundation if necessary.  Go for it!

Michelle Obama vows to “move the ball” on kids’ diets

19 JAN 2010 9:00 AM

BY TOM PHILPOTT

American manufacturer Chrysler, together with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), announced the recall of no less than 24,177 of the carmaker’s Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles.

The recall, as posted on the NHTSA website, states "Chrysler is recalling model year 2010 Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Nitro, Jeep Liberty, Commander and Grand Cherokee and model year 2009-2010 Dodge Ram truck. These vehicles may have been built with an improperly formed or missin… (read more)