Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Budget, Truck, Scion

We know that Scion will launch a new tC coupe and a tiny little iQ minicar before the end of the year, but what comes after that? Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America, admits that the Japanese automaker hasn’t yet decided what future products make the most sense for the youth-oriented Scion brand, but Scion General Manager Jack Hollis tells Wards Auto that a truck is a possibility.

Take a look at the current pickup truck market and you’ll see that the only currently available machine that even remotely fits into the compact role is the Ford Ranger, which hasn’t been updated in eons and sees its sales dwindle every single year (55,600 in 2009). This being the case, there may be room for a small urban pickup from Scion, though the automaker indicates it would need to be careful not to infringe on the class-leading Toyota Tacoma.

If Scion did indeed build a true compact pickup with an eye toward reasonable fuel efficiency, what would it look like? Perhaps an xB with a small bed? Or might it look something like the Hako concept from the 2008 New York Auto Show (perhaps in modified form)? Refresh your memory of that odd-looking show car by perusing our high-res image gallery below.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Will Scion inject freshness into America’s stale compact pickup scene? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LONDON — Forward Clint Dempsey faces a lengthy layoff after injuring his knee during Fulham’s 2-0 loss at Blackburn on Sunday in a possible blow to American preparations for the World Cup.

Dempsey limped off after falling in the 62nd minute of the Premier League game.

“Clint will be scanned tomorrow but we feel it might be a posterior cruciate knee ligament which would be very bad for us and he would be out for a while,” Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said.

“It’s a concern up front because Clint Dempsey is very useful for us.”

It will also be a concern for the United States, which begins its World Cup campaign in South Africa against England on June 12, before meeting Slovenia six days later and finishing the group stage against Algeria on June 23.

The injury is a more immediate blow for Fulham as Dempsey’s fellow striker Bobby Zamora is not set to return until March as he recovers from a shoulder injury.

Dempsey had produced Fulham’s best effort in the first half at Blackburn when his overhead kick hit the crossbar.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone

The battle of snarkiness between AT&T and Verizon is resulting in benefits for subscribers.

Yesterday, AT&T announced a new unlimited voice and data plan for smartphone owners, including those who use the iPhone, that offers unlimited voice and data service for $99.99 per month. The change was the result of Verizon lowering the cost of its unlimited plans earlier in the day, and consumers are the beneficiaries of the battle of the cell phone titans.

Prior to the announcement, iPhone users paid $100 monthly for unlimited voice, then tacked on another $30 a month for unlimited data. Starting on Monday, January 18th, 2010, a combined unlimited voice and data plan is available for $99.99. That’s a savings of $30 per month. For a Family Talk plan with two iPhones, the deal is even better — $179.99 per month.

Unfortunately, AT&T still charges for text messaging separately, so if you want to add on an unlimited texting plan it’ll be another $20 per month. Beginning on Monday, existing AT&T customers can change to the new plans without penalty or a contract extension by using the online account tools at www.att.com/wireless.

TUAWAT&T lowering cost of unlimited voice and data for iPhone users originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guitar Hero: Metallica already gave the iconic metal band its own music game, so what of long-time rivals Megadeth? Well according to front man Dave Mustaine, they’ve had “high-level meetings” with Activision, but they’re looking to do more than just their own version of Guitar Hero: Megadeth.

“I have recently had two very important high-level meetings with the people from Activision and Neversoft, and we are talking about a lot of things,” Mustaine said, in response to a fan’s letter asking about potential Guitar Hero tie-ins (via Kotaku). “But a Guitar Hero box set is not as attractive to me and the people from Guitar Hero as the new idea that they offered me, as the creative stuff that we are talking about is over-the-moon!”

Just what kind of ideas? Mustaine was predictably cryptic, only saying his fingers are crossed that they can actually go through with it. “I just hope that someone doesn’t stand in the way of this happening. I know that there are a lot of really damaging results from our mothership (Warner) having some legal disputes with YouTube and Guitar Hero to name just a few.”

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In August 2008, Apple approved an application in the App Store called I Am Rich. The app did nothing beyond show a picture of a red gem. So why was it notable? Because it cost $999.99. Though Apple pulled it relatively quickly, there was some concern that we’d start to see a rush of bogus applications and/or huge prices in the App Store. Luckily, that didn’t happen and app prices have remained low (some would say too low). But now we have the return of a $999.99 app.

But there’s a big difference with this app; BarMax CA actually does something. And to the people it’s aimed towards, it’s likely to be very useful. And quite possibly worth the $1,000 price tag.

BarMax CA is an application to help law students preparing for the bar exam. The reason the price is justified is because the company that is synonymous with this type of test prep, BarBri, typically offers it for $3,000 to $4,000. BarMax CA believes it can get away with the lower price because it’s just an app, there is no in-class elements. Also, there has been some questions about BarBri’s pricing structure and anti-competitive behavior, which has been the subject of multiple class action lawsuits (hardly surprising when you’re selling these packages to future lawyers).

BarBri also offers an iPhone application, and it’s free, but you need to enroll in their program to access it otherwise it’s useless.

So what do you get for your $1,000 BarMax CA app? A lot, actually. The app is over 1 gigabyte in size, which is the largest application I’ve ever seen. It includes thousands of pages of materials as well as hundreds of hours of audio lectures. It’s all the information you could ever want for the two-month course. And again, it can be done all on your iPhone. That said, if you do want some more tangible paperwork for certain sections, BarMax will send you that electronically as well.

The bar exam consists of three main parts: Multiple choice, essays, and a performance test. There is also an ethics exam you have to take. As you can probably tell by the name, BarMax CA is meant for the California bar exam. But by the end of 2010, the company expects to have apps available for New York, and the five other most popular states for the exam as well. There will also be a multi-state version since much of the test (the multiple choice part, for example) doesn’t vary state to state. Each of these apps would cost the same $999.99 but there is also a plan to make an app with just the multiple choice part for $500.

Mike Ghaffary came up with the idea when he himself was preparing for the bar exam. He could not believe BarBri charged the $4,000 to send him an iPod with audio notes on it, and that there was no real competition in the space. So he got in touch with some successful iPhone app developers in Los Angeles, as well as some fellow Harvard Law graduates to create the app. Ghaffary, who is the director of business development at TrialPay by day, is serving as an advisor now to the team.

How this app sells will be interesting to say the least. Ghaffary confirmed that it is the most expensive app in the App Store, surpassing a home security app that sells for $899. Many iPhone developers have complained about a race to the bottom for app prices, but a few have tried to sell more expensive applications, such as Wolfram Alpha. But that $50 app doesn’t really give you anything you can’t get on its website, it just dresses the data up to look nicer on the iPhone. BarMax CA, again, is attempting to save law students thousands of dollars. It’s a good experiment, if nothing else.

Ghaffary notes that while Apple was extra careful in checking BarExam CA out due to the high price, they had no problems getting it approved, and Apple generally seemed pleased with the idea.

Still, the thought of being able to spend $1,000 with one click on your iPhone remains a little terrifying. Find the app here.

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While Twitter is an incredible platform for tapping into the conversations that are taking place on the web, the real-time stream can be crowded. It’s hard to keep track of back-and-forth communication between users or to keep track of subject-related Tweets based on hashtags. Recently launched Tweeter Clubs aims to create a real-time conversation around the Tweets that are broadcast to the web.

Once you log into the site with your Twitter account, you can enter the tweet on the TweetUp tab. Your tweet will appear in both the club and on Twitter automatically. TweeterClubs will only show the tweets that come from the club members and when you log in, you are automatically a member. At the moment, the site only shows one club, the “Tweetheart Club,” which includes the Tweets of the six women profiled in the controversial Vanity Fair article. But Tweeter Club’s founder Jeff Whitehead says the site is planning to open up so allow anyone to create their own clubs.

Those who are participating in clubs who Tweet with a club-specific hashtag can Tweet from any third party Twitter client, and their Tweets will be aggregated into their Tweeter Club. Users will be able to manage specific clubs by banning members, deleting messages and also seeing statistics on clubs, including the number of members and number tweets per day. Whitehead says that Tweeter Club will also offer an Android app and will open up its API for Twitter clients to incorporate its functionality into their own platforms.

Of course, users can also participate in conversations on Twitter by just adding a specific hashtag to Tweets and then searching for that hashtag. Other startups that help make sense of specific conversations on the web are TweetGrid, and TweetConvo and Bettween.

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Long time Burning Man artist, Dan Das Mann is featured in the East Bay Express, check it out, Das Mann of Steel recently.

In addition to being Burning Man artists, Dan and Karen Cusolito’s Passage was part of Black Rock Arts Foundation’s Civic Art Program, which was installed at  Pier 14 as the first piece of temporary art in that space.

Congratulations Dan, it is always great to see art featured in the news!

Be sure and read Dan’s response to the article in the comments section, in which he credits his co-sculptor Karen Cusolito.

photo: Scott Beale\Laughing Squid Laughing Squid

UPDATED: Chicago police say a 15-year-old West Side girl whose family had not seen her since she left for school Friday is reunited with her family.

Family friends said Marshiana Brown had last been seen Friday at a bus stop near Jackson Boulevard and Brown’s mother spoke to her Friday and said she was coming home, but she did not, a family friend said.

Harrison Area Special Victims Unit detectives were investigating.

ORIGINAL STORY: Chicago police are asking for help finding a 15-year-old West Side girl whose family has not seen her since she left for school Friday.

Family friends said Marshiana Brown was last seen Friday at a bus stop near Jackson Boulevard and Springfield Avenue about 8:30 a.m.

Brown skipped school on Friday and it is believed that she left with two friends and may be in the area of 113th Street and Peoria Avenue, according to police.

Brown may have been seen near the Pulaski Road Congress/Blue Line “L” stop on the West Side after she was seen at the bus stop, according to a family friend.

Brown’s mother spoke to her Friday and said she was coming home, but she did not, the family friend said.

Brown is 4 feet, 10 inches tall, black with a dark complexion, with brown eyes and black hair with micro braids. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, green shirt, and khaki pants, police said.

Harrison Area Special Victims Unit detectives were investigating.

Anyone with information should call detectives at 312-746-9259.

– Staff report

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Bears defensive end Gaines Adams died Sunday morning of cardiac arrest resulting from an enlarged heart, according to Greenwood County, S.C., chief deputy coroner Marcia Kelley-Clark.

The 26-year-old Adams was taken to the emergency room at at Self Regional Healthcare at 7:14 a.m. Eastern time and pronounced dead at 8:21 a.m., Kelley-Clark said. Adams, who is from Greenwood, was visiting his girlfriend.

A Greenwood County Sheriff’s investigator said the house was owned by Adams and the player and his girlfriend were at the residence at the time, and she reportedly made the call to 911 at around 7 a.m.

Toxicology tests are being run by the State Law Enforcement Division, though drug use was not suspected as a factor in Adams’ death. However, those results probably will not be available for at least two months, Kelley-Clark said.

The Bears issued a statement Sunday afternoon, saying, “We are stunned and saddened by the news of Gaines’ passing. Our prayers are with his family during this difficult time.”

Adams’ unexpected death shocked teammates. He was traded to Chicago from Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2010 second-round draft pick.

“It’s crazy,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “I didn’t know him that well because he came in during the middle of the season. But I did know him. I still saw him every day when I went into work. It’s just weird.

“I had a teammate die when I was in college. You just don’t know how to handle it. It’s just sad, man. It’s a bad deal.”

Adams, a star at Clemson, was the fourth pick in the 2007 draft by the Buccaneers. The Bears traded for him in October, intent on rebuilding their pass rush around him.

Adams did not have any reported prior medical issues that would have revealed heart issues.

“I remember him at the 2007 Draft as a fine young man,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Our condolences to Gaines’ family, his teammates on the Bears and Buccaneers, and their organizations on their loss.”

Photo: Gaines Adams in 2009. (Photo by NFL Photos)

By Vaughn McClure and Brad Biggs

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Filed under: Car Buying, Classics, Coupe, Performance, Ferrari

For many, it’s a dream to own a Ferrari. For some, that alone is not enough. They need to own a specific Ferrari. We understand. We all have our favorites. Our man Jonny, for example, would probably agree to several waterboarding sessions and a you-can-only-listen-to-boy-bands-forever music restriction in exchange for a 288 GTO. (Jonny would agree to the latter because the GTO’s engine noise would obviate the need for music ever again.)

Others among us (cough) would likely dip a toe into the kidney black market for one of the Berlinetta Boxers, whether it be a 365 or a 512. From a practical perspective, choosing between the two varieties is somewhat akin to waking up in 1986 and being asked who you’d rather date: Kathy Ireland or Paulina Porizkova. It’s pretty much a no-lose situation. As such, we enjoy perusing the classifieds, anticipating a mythical future in which we have bottomless pockets and are on a first-name, Christmas-card-list basis with every Ferrari mechanic on the eastern seaboard. Yeah, yeah – we know. Don’t blow the fantasy, okay?

Anyhow, we think we may have found a winner this week after scanning the “for sale” listings at Octane magazine’s website. Offered through Tillack & Co., the ‘84 BB 512i you see above shows 27,000 miles on the clock, and at $135,000, it’s cheaper than your garden-variety F430 (and everyone has those, right?). Plus, it has that classic Pininfarina wedge shape, big NACA ducts, those eternally-cool knock-off hubs, is sufficiently rare (just 1,007 BBi’s produced in total), and lets everyone know you laugh at their child-friendly paddles as you work the old-school gated shifter. But these are aspects you’ll get with any old BB. What puts this one over the top is its provenance: it was once owned by the legendary A.J. Foyt (with a signed dash and owner’s manual to prove it).

Not only does this critical element let you say stuff like, “I have A.J. Foyt’s Ferrari” in conversations, breaking any and all ties regarding whose machine at the valet station reigns supreme, it also elevates your Man Status to a point where you can (possibly) impregnate women simply by making eye contact. So if you decide to visit the folks at Tillack and spring for this particular ride, drive it well. And be careful where you look…

[Source: Tillack & Co. via Octane]

Classified Ad Find of the Day: Former A.J. Foyt ‘84 Ferrari BB 512i originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Novatel’s MiFi Mobile Hotspot, sold by both Verizon Wireless and Sprint as the MiFi 2200, may have multiple security vulnerabilities which would allow a remote user to access the GPS location of your device and change the wireless settings of your MiFi, effectively terminating your internet connection and forcing you to reset your device back to factory settings. Adam Baldwin of nGenuity supposedly discovered some gaping holes in the web interface for this mobile hotspot that can be exploited for the above nefarious purposes. Purported security holes available for exploit include:

• MiFi does not require a valid session to commit changes to its configuration settings
• GPS can be enabled without the users knowledge by visiting a malicious website. The user may be presented with a “login required” request but most users won’t bat an eye and will just click on through
• The web interface does not protect against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) so a malicious website could “do evil things like change the wireless settings of the MiFi”
• Certain portions of the web interface improperly encode data back to the data, an example is the key field for the Wi-Fi settings which exposes the clear text of the field

Baldwin posted a proof of concept video on his website and has reportedly contacted Novatel about the vulnerabilities. We have no way to confirm his findings but supposing they’re true, any MiFi users out there feel a little less safe today?

[Via Phone Arena]

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When Swedish developer GRIN (makers of Capcom’s Bionic Commando) closed its doors last year, some former employees revealed their last project had them partnered with — of all companies — Square Enix for a new Final Fantasy game. While we’ve seen leaked concept art of this game (codenamed Fortress) before, now a mysterious YouTube poster has leaked what he purports is tech demo footage of the game in action.

In the info panel of the YouTube video, the poster claims this is “an action game set some time after the events of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, and is intended for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows platforms.” The poster also claims that although GRIN closed down, the project is still alive, possibly at now-Square Enix-owned Eidos Montreal (and note that GamesIndustry.biz reported last September that an anonymous source said the project was still alive at another developer, too).

Of course, this is all completely unsupported with a lack of any cited sources, and impossible to verify at this time. So in other words, consider this a pretty big rumor for now. But if the game really is still in development, when will Square Enix make it official and show it to the world?

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While Twitter is an incredible platform for tapping into the conversations that are taking place on the web, the real-time stream can be crowded. It’s hard to keep track of back-and-forth communication between users or to keep track of subject-related Tweets based on hashtags. Recently launched Tweeter Clubs aims to create a real-time conversation around the Tweets that are broadcast to the web.

Once you log into the site with your Twitter account, you can enter the tweet on the TweetUp tab. Your tweet will appear in both the club and on Twitter automatically. TweeterClubs will only show the tweets that come from the club members and when you log in, you are automatically a member. At the moment, the site only shows one club, the “Tweetheart Club,” which includes the Tweets of the six women profiled in the controversial Vanity Fair article. But Tweeter Club’s founder Jeff Whitehead says the site is planning to open up so allow anyone to create their own clubs.

Those who are participating in clubs who Tweet with a club-specific hashtag can Tweet from any third party Twitter client, and their Tweets will be aggregated into their Tweeter Club. Users will be able to manage specific clubs by banning members, deleting messages and also seeing statistics on clubs, including the number of members and number tweets per day. Whitehead says that Tweeter Club will also offer an Android app and will open up its API for Twitter clients to incorporate its functionality into their own platforms.

Of course, users can also participate in conversations on Twitter by just adding a specific hashtag to Tweets and then searching for that hashtag. Other startups that help make sense of specific conversations on the web are TweetGrid, and TweetConvo and Bettween.

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I’ve done a few “Beers With Brad” in other cities such as Seattle and Vancouver.  On February 18th from 6 to 8pm, I’m going to be doing Beers with Brad in Boulder at The Twisted Pine Brewery.  It’s a fundraiser for KGNU (88.5 FM and 1390 AM in Denver) – tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.  There will be free munchies, music, and plenty of beer.  Come join us for a fun evening where I’ll talk about whatever comes to my mind about entrepreneurship and innovation – especially ideas fueled by a few beers.

There’s a bunch of other great entrepreneurial stuff going on in Boulder in February.  Don’t miss the Winter in the Bunker series – new things are being added regularly. 

And – if you are a startup that wants to work with some CU students as interns (or recruit them for full time work), don’t miss University of Colorado Startup2Students 2010 on March 11th from 6:30 – 8:00pm.

I love this town.

Still going strong in its 61th week!

Sir Paul McCartney’s friends warned him not to appear on Simon Cowell’s The X Factor – but he decided to go ahead after superstar Beyonce performed on the U.K. talent show. The Beatles legend played two tracks on the live reality competition last month  but admits he had to carefully consider Cowell’s offer after his pals urged him to turn it down.

MCCartney insists it was the Crazy In Love singer, as well as former X Factor winner Leona Lewis, who inspired him to perform on the show. He explains, ‘Actually, when the offer came through it polarised a lot of people. Lots of my friends told me not to do it. It’s a pop show. But what turned me around – apart from the huge audience – was the fact that it’s a family show, and so many kids are obsessed by it. Also, Beyonce was on it, and if it’s good enough for her then it should be good enough for me. Plus, it threw up Leona Lewis, and she’s no slouch. Know what I mean?’

Filed under: Car Buying, Classics, Coupe, Performance, Ferrari

For many, it’s a dream to own a Ferrari. For some, that alone is not enough. They need to own a specific Ferrari. We understand. We all have our favorites. Our man Jonny, for example, would probably agree to several waterboarding sessions and a you-can-only-listen-to-boy-bands-forever music restriction in exchange for a 288 GTO. (Jonny would agree to the latter because the GTO’s engine noise would obviate the need for music ever again.)

Others among us (cough) would likely dip a toe into the kidney black market for one of the Berlinetta Boxers, whether it be a 365 or a 512. From a practical perspective, choosing between the two varieties is somewhat akin to waking up in 1986 and being asked who you’d rather date: Kathy Ireland or Paulina Porizkova. It’s pretty much a no-lose situation. As such, we enjoy perusing the classifieds, anticipating a mythical future in which we have bottomless pockets and are on a first-name, Christmas-card-list basis with every Ferrari mechanic on the eastern seaboard. Yeah, yeah – we know. Don’t blow the fantasy, okay?

Anyhow, we think we may have found a winner this week after scanning the “for sale” listings at Octane magazine’s website. Offered through Tillack & Co., the ‘84 512 BBi you see above shows 27,000 miles on the clock, and at $135,000, it’s cheaper than your garden-variety F430 (and everyone has those, right?). Plus, it has that classic Pininfarina wedge shape, big NACA ducts, those eternally-cool knock-off hubs, is sufficiently rare (just 1,007 BBi’s produced in total), and lets everyone know you laugh at their child-friendly paddles as you work the old-school gated shifter. But these are aspects you’ll get with any old BB. What puts this one over the top is its provenance: it was once owned by the legendary A.J. Foyt (with a signed dash and owner’s manual to prove it).

Not only does this critical element let you say stuff like, “I have A.J. Foyt’s Ferrari” in conversations, breaking any and all ties regarding whose machine at the valet station reigns supreme, it also elevates your Man Status to a point where you can (possibly) impregnate women simply by making eye contact. So if you decide to visit the folks at Tillack and spring for this particular ride, drive it well. And be careful where you look…

[Source: Tillack & Co. via Octane]

Classified Ad Find of the Day: Former A.J. Foyt ‘84 Ferrari 512 BBi originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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