Author: Serkadis

A date has been set for the arrival of DSi XL in the UK. Not only is the date set, the accompanying titles have bee identified as well. Details after the jump.
 
 
 

Here we go again! Following the second day of testing a GP2 development car at Jerez, 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher revealed to the media that he feels a bit of pain in his neck. Sounds familiar? Well, according to the man himself, the neck pain after this kind of testing is quite normal and doesn’t resemble the pain he had when testing for Ferrari midway through last season.

There is some minor muscular strain, but it’s completely normal, Schumacher was quoted as saying by Germany… (read more)

The Combi version of Nissan’s popular NV200 van will be available in February in the UK, the carmaker recently announced. Priced from £15,685, the NV200 Combi has a seating for up to seven passengers and is equipped with a 1.5-litre turbodiesel engine. The power unit returns 53.3 mpg in the combined cycle , while emitting just 139 g/km of CO2.

There was only one way we could make the NV200 any better and that was to expand the range. The Combi version widens the appeal of the van outside of t… (read more)

What does the Chinese tech community think of Google’s controversial plan to uncensor search and possibly leave the country?

I talked to several Chinese entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who were part of a delegation that coincidentally visited the Googleplex this morning. (Awkward!)

Most thought that the Chinese government wouldn’t budge on censorship and that Google’s threat wouldn’t have much of an impact on the local startup scene. But a few Chinese developers who have immigrated to the U.S. applauded Google’s ethical stance.

Also, the Chinese government itself responded earlier today. Bloomberg reported that officials brushed off Google’s threat, saying that “effective guidance of public opinion on the Internet is an important way of protecting the security of online information” in a question-and-answer session with the press.

And here’s what investors and entrepreneurs in China had to say:

Jess Wu, Venture Partner at The Chinese Founders Fund:

“Google is trying to escalate a business problem into a political issue. They want an angle so the U.S. government can get involved. They want nation-to-nation talks. Since no dot-coms have really succeeded in China, I actually think they’ve done a good job reaching at least 20 percent market share.

I’ve been talking about this to many friends. It’s OK. It’s no big deal. They all say, ‘Just quit. We don’t care.’ The Chinese government will never back down on the censorship issue. If they do, their power will weaken and they will fall.”

Qiangyu Wang, the CEO of Danqoo, a Beijing-based mobile media sharing startup with 150 employees:

“It’s a very complicated question. In China, there is a different culture.

In China, many people use Google. Many people love Google. It’s a very open and admirable company. It’s a good company with correct values. This is sad. Many people will pity Google if it has to leave.

I think the Chinese government will talk with Google and help it understand. They will give Google advice. Maybe they can find a way to deal with search. For example, maybe there can be keywords that cannot be searched.”

Zhang Ming, technology director of Downjoy, a Beijing-based mobile gaming platform with 100 employees:

“They want to put some pressure on the Chinese government, but they cannot actually leave. Google is not successful in China, so they need a way of relieving that pressure. But the government has its own way of doing things.

I don’t think it affects startups in China. It’s just a business problem. We don’t actually use Google that frequently.”

Victor Huang, vice president of China Renaissance, an investment bank that counts Kaixin001, the country’s answer to Facebook, and Dangdang, its version of Amazon.com, among its clients:

“Why give up so easily? Google is still small here, but China is a very large market.

It’s very unusual for a company to stand against the government. It’s really weird. The U.S. government could support them, but there must be a middle way. China is always about the middle way. I don’t think they will quit. Chinese Internet users will stand up for them. That’s why Baidu got hacked.

Google is not the only company who faces these issues. One of our clients, 51.com, had to stop their services for a week and a half because of content policies. They only came back up yesterday.”

Some declined to publish their name in a Western media outlet. One source, a partner at a Hangzhou-based  venture firm focused on health care said:

“China doesn’t care. The government is too powerful. Google has made all kinds of sacrifices in the short-term. They’ll back off for awhile, and then they’ll come back again. China is not a free country, but it still has a lot of venture opportunities. Kai-Fu Lee may have left Google, but he’s still in China with his new incubator. There’s too much opportunity.”

I also talked to a few Chinese expatriates who had left the country for the U.S. and met with the delegation. They only wanted to publish their first names because they were worried about making critical comments of the government publicly.

Dongjin, a developer who immigrated to the U.S. 10 years ago and is now working at a stealth startup:

“To be honest, I support Google. As a big business you can’t just think of making money, without thinking about ethics. We need an external force to make the government more open. There will be repercussions for other tech companies. I hope Microsoft and Yahoo will stand up and do what’s right.

Google can still have Google.com. It’s not filtered and you can access it without the proxy. It’s just that the Chinese government sometimes blocks the address and so users will be inconvenienced and may leave for Baidu.”

Kai, a vice president at a web development startup who moved here 15 years ago:

“In China business is always done under the table. Google hasn’t followed this trend. They’ve chosen to be open.

But I don’t understand why Google haven’t given more control of its China operations to locals. Any multi-national company needs locals who know the culture and have personal relationships to succeed.”

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AMD and ATI have got yet another GPU contender under their sleeve, and this one’s got quite a one-two punch. The Radeon HD 5670 can boast DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support are for a suggested price less than one Benjamin Franklin. The usual suspects have weighed in on the card, and while “solid value” that outperforms its analogous NVIDIA GeForce GT 240. That’s not exactly an A+ grade, but we weren’t expecting it to go toe-to-toe to its older brothers costing hundreds of dollars apiece. AnandTech also points out that some DX11-compliant games (e.g. Battleforge, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) couldn’t pull off manageable framerates. Hit up the source links for more thorough analysis, and after the break for the official presser. One last word of advice, as noted by TweakTown: make sure the model you pick up uses GDDR5 (instead of GDDR3), as it could make a world of difference.

Continue reading ATI Radeon HD 5670 brings DirectX 11 and Eyefinity to the budget-minded market

ATI Radeon HD 5670 brings DirectX 11 and Eyefinity to the budget-minded market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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American manufacturer GM will reportedly close the line in its Shreveport, Louisiana plant, on which the Hummer is produced, on Monday, January 18, as it awaits the conclusion of the deal with the Chinese from Tengzhong. It is the first news from Hummer since the deal between GM and Tengzhong was signed in October.

According to DetNews, Shreveport has manufactured enough Hummers to last until a final deal between the parties is reached. Nick Richards, Hummer spokesman, says there were 2,100 … (read more)

The three musketeers are Athos, Porthos and Aramis also known as ‘the inseparables’. The fourth wanting to be a musketeer and achieving his desire by the end of Alexander Dumas’ ‘The Three Musketeers’ is D’Artagnan.

The plot of ‘The Three Musketeers’ is set in 17th century France and depicts all of the machinations and corruption in the constant tugging for power between the Cardinal Richelieu and King Louis XIII. The Cardinal has his guards to do his bidding and the King is served by his loyal musketeers.

Alexander Dumas wrote sequels to the book as well called “The Four Musketeers” and “The Man in the Iron Mask”. All three books have been made into films as well, with several versions of “The Three Musketeers” having been produced.

You won’t find your average consumer wearing Ultimate Ears as there are more notably known for being essential to live stage performance but the latest Ultimate Ears 18 Pro Custom Monitors may change that. It features the company’s first six-speaker design, that offers one-of-a-kind sound definition and clarity. There are six individually tuned drivers in each each ear, ambient noise reduction of 26 dBs, and vocal clarity in the mid range as well as a powerful low end. The Ultimate Ear 18 Pro Custom Monitors are perfect for performing artists or the hardcore audiophile and will retail for $1350 however the price doesn’t include the cost of a audiologist to create your ear impressions – I mean that would be just crazy for that price to include anything extra…

Kimi Raikkonen finally proceeded to his very first test of a world rally car with Citroen, jumping at the wheel of a Citroen C4 WRC on a gravel test track near the team’s base at Satory, France. The Finn did an overall 50 kilometers with the C4 and admitted he enjoyed it very much.

I very much enjoyed meeting the team properly for the first time. It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I’m reall… (read more)

Sergio Marchionne is probably the most optimistic person within Chrysler’s new board as the Italian sees the US-based manufacturer profitable in 2010, despite the difficult times the company encountered in 2009. Speaking at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Marchionne said that Chrysler has a chance to reach this goal if it reaches global sales of 1.65 million vehicles, just-auto.com informs.

"If you can say 2010 is going to be better than 2009 you can breathe a… (read more)

Extensions support in Google Chrome may finally be enabled by default, on all platforms, but the dev team isn’t slowing down and has now introduced internationalization features enabling developers to offer localized versions of their extensions. What it means is that you’re going to start seeing versions of your favorite Chrome extension in your own… (read more)

The latest film in Honda’s Dream the Impossible Documentary Series, ‘Living with Robots’, will be premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the Japanese carmaker announced yesterday. The festival, due to kick-off on January 22, will also witness a live 10-minute demonstration of the ASIMO humanoid robot from Honda, which is designed to someday assist people in their homes.

The "Living With Robots" film was directed by Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Crude, Paradise Lost,… (read more)

Last summer, Toshiba decided to abandon their self-developed HD-DVD format and to go Blu-ray instead. Soon after, the company started rolling out a few Blu-ray devices here and there, but today Toshiba Japan announced [JP] a flood of new Blu-ray-powered devices. The company is ready to roll out a total of three Blu-ray recorders and one Blu-ray player in the next few weeks.

The three new Blu-ray recorders are branded VARDIA. The basic model (D-B305K/pictured above) features a 320GB HDD (price: $1,100), while the D-B1005K ($1,400) comes with a 1TB hard disc. VHS fans can pay $1,500 to get the D-BW1005K, which is a VHS/Blu-ray recorder combo that helps you to backup your cassettes on Blu-ray discs (pictured below).

The recorders allow you to copy material from DVD to Blu-ray and vice versa. All models come with an HDMI interface, a USB port, LAN connectivity and an SD memory card slot (the player lacks the USB port).

The SD-BD1K is Toshiba’s new Blu-ray player and will cost $300 (pictured above).

Toshiba says they want to tap the growing demand for Blu-ray recorders in Japan with their new line-up. In the US, Toshiba is selling only one Blu-ray player so far, but this might change very soon. The new VARDIA recorders and the player will hit Japanese stores in about four weeks.

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The end of the world looms large, but Katrina Cook has a more pressing concern. It’s her first day on the job canvassing for Greenpeace and if she can’t enlist three supporters in three days she’ll be fired. She stands between the Claw fountain and the bookstore, clutching a thick binder filled with donation forms to her stomach, maintaining a steady stream of greetings and invitations as traffic flows past her.

“Got a minute for the environment?”

“Hey wanna talk about the environment?”

“Hi, how are you?”

If Katrina gets someone to stop, she explains that she works for Greenpeace, though this will be obvious from the logo on her shirt. If the person stays long enough, she’ll ask for his money, specifically in the form of a monthly contribution (minimum $15). It’s her first day on the job, but Katrina has learned one thing well already: bicyclists never stop. Pedestrians are slower and therefore more susceptible, but they have excuses too.

“I’m broke!”

“I’ll come back later!”

“Sorry!”

Others simply ignore her.

Greenpeace was founded in 1971 and gained notoriety for its anti-whaling and anti-nuclear campaigns. Those issues still matter to the organization, whose cohort of non-Stanford affiliated canvassers stake out spots in White Plaza, but Greenpeace’s mission has since broadened into what their Web site calls “a fight to save the world.” They now mainly lobby and raise awareness about climate change and environmental degradation.

It’s an expensive and hard fight — last year Greenpeace spent more than $26 million, four million of that in fundraising — but Katrina and Greenpeace’s other 300 canvassers nationwide think it’s a cause worth fighting for.

“Got a minute for the environment?” she asks an older man in a leather jacket. He goes over to her and listens with a polite expression as she talks about the clearing of Indonesian rainforests to make room for palm oil plantations. After about a minute he says he has to go and leaves before Katrina can open her pledge binder.

Another woman passes, dragging a rolling suitcase noisily across the pavement.

“Hey, wanna talk about the environment?” Katrina says to her. The woman says she already donates and continues walking.

“Don’t you love the environment?” Katrina asks a group of three boys walking past.

“I love the environment,” says one, sarcastically, to his companions. Laughter.

More people pass. Bicyclists speed by. Pedestrians give Katrina a wide berth. Those who come near try to avoid eye contact, but Katrina is insistent.

“Got a minute for the environment?” she says to a girl in a plaid coat.
The girl shakes her head while mouthing “no” and continues walking.

Josh Sigal, the Greenpeace team leader, is at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Stanford bookstore. A girl in heels tries to pass him on her way into the bookstore.

“I need a minute,” he says.

“Sorry,” she says, and keeps moving.

“Why not?” he says, but she doesn’t respond.

Josh is a seven-month veteran of the organization. As team leader he coordinates goals and outreach strategies with the other team leaders from the San Jose office. He also goes out to raise money, supervising and providing tips and encouragement to novices like Katrina, who, at 3 p.m., has yet to receive a single contribution. The ranks of Greenpeace USA fail to swell.

“You’re a superstar,” Josh says, giving her a high five.

Greenpeace claims more than three million members worldwide and their donations provide the bulk of the organization’s income. In 2008, according to their annual report, supporters donated more than $20 million, almost 80 percent of Greenpeace Inc.’s revenue. The report doesn’t say how many of those dollars are monthly contributions pledged to street canvassers like Katrina and how many are one-time donations. But street canvassers must rack up substantial donations because they are a common, if somewhat unpopular staple of many public places.

A girl in a Stanford sweatshirt walks quickly away from Josh toward her friend. The pair deems the canvassers “shady.” A boy sitting atop a concrete bench says he’d never donate because he doesn’t want to encourage a world where canvassers harass you and ask for money.

Over by the fountain, one student remarks to his companion that the canvassers are no better than panhandlers. He feels “a special resentment born of a poorly formed approach to a subject close to [his] heart” toward the canvassers. He understands climate change is dire, but doesn’t like strangers asking him to do something about it.

“It’s impersonal,” he says. “You’ve gotta be learning it from people you know.”

Josh says that on an average day he will try to stop three to four hundred people. Only a tenth of those people will stop at all, and only maybe a tenth of that number will end up donating. On the best day of Josh’s career, he received nine donations. It is no exaggeration to say that the predominant experience of canvassing is flat-out rejection.

Josh tries to get the attention of a boy, but the boy passes without responding or changing his expression. Josh looks a little stunned.

“I see you,” says Carissa, the third teammate, slapping Josh a high-five.

Carissa is having a good day. She’s gotten four donations.

“It’s the sweet spot,” she says, describing her location.

Carissa is about the same age as Katrina, but she has four weeks of canvassing under her belt. Sometimes, she says, she can see someone and just know that they’re going to give money. She likes Greenpeace better than the last non-profit she worked for, Environment California.

“It feels like family here,” she says. “I went to Josh’s house for Chanukah.”

Later, the team is on break and Josh is explaining the 20-foot rule. He stands and points at a girl about 20 feet away.

“See her?” he asks. “I’m going to make eye contact now so that when she passes she’s already looking at me.” The girl passes, looking at him.

Break ends. Carissa, Josh and Katrina return to their spots. Katrina takes a sip of her coffee and eyes the surroundings. A late-afternoon sun warms the plaza. Traffic has diminished notably, but a small stream of students flows past.

A girl carrying a Naked Juice with iPod earbuds spilling out of her sweatshirt pocket beelines toward Katrina.

“Got a minute?” Katrina says.

“Actually, I do,” says the girl.

“Check it out, we’ve got 3 million members around the world, but we don’t have enough supporters in the U.S.” says Katrina. “That’s why we need you.”

The girl listens intently. Soon Katrina is opening the thick, blue book, and making small talk as the girl jots down her information and her debit card number.

“Thanks for getting involved,” Katrina says, grabbing a sip of coffee.

Josh comes over to supervise. He presides over the crayoning of the girl’s debit card through the carbon paper. He gives her a sticker and a welcome packet.

“I’m so stoked I got one!” says Katrina, as the girl walks away.

“First of many,” says Josh.

“I feel rejuvenated,” says Katrina.

“Just remember that feeling,” says Josh. “That feeling never gets old.”

Swedish truck manufacturer Scania announced this week the start of a year long search across 28 countries to find the best truck driver in the world. According to initial estimates, some 45,000 truckers and not only will enter the competition, now in its seventh year.

"The driver is the single most important factor for economy, environment and safety. Skilled and committed drivers will deliver energy efficient transport, reduce emissions and contribute towards safer roads, Leif Ostling,… (read more)

The Porsche Panamera is better than a Mercedes S-Class and Bentley Continental, and is just like driving the sedan version of the Porsche 911 Turbo, according to Fifth Gear. I must say, this Panamera Turbo is very sexy in white and being a girl myself, I’m quite jealous that Vicky gets to take a spin. The handling is lovely, the speed and power impressive for a car of this size and weight, and overall, it’s far more exciting than you’d expect from any other luxury sedan. “Sexy”, “super-racy” and “super-quick” and at 500 hp, you’d believe all of that, too. If I was very very rich, with a couple of kids, I think I would just about purchase this…

Genii Capital, one of the bidders involved in the Saab case, confirmed on Wednesday that it has submitted an improved bid for GM’s Swedish unit Saab, emphasizing that it has what it needs – financially speaking – to take control of the company.

Although General Motors has already started closing Saab – and even hired a firm to handle the process – Lars Carlstrom, the one who represents Genii Capital and Bernie Ecclestone during the talks, said he’s very optimistic that GM could give a respon… (read more)

The two Dakar Rally contenders will have to work hard until the very last stage of this year’s event if they want to clinch the overall win in the South American race. Following the results in yesterday’s stage from Santiago to San Juan – won by X-Raid BMW driver Guerlain Chicherit – Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah closed in on overall leader and VW teammate Carlos Sainz by more than 5 and a half minutes.

Chicherit recorded his very first stage win of the rally in 2009, crossing the finish line ahea… (read more)

By Andrew Jacobs, Reporter, New York Times

Google’s (GOOG) declaration that it would stop cooperating with Chinese Internet censorship and consider shutting down its operations in China ricocheted around the world on Wednesday. But in China itself, the news was heavily censored.

Some big Chinese news portals initially carried a short dispatch on Google’s announcement, but that account soon tumbled from the headlines, and later reports omitted Google’s references to “free speech” and “surveillance.”

The only government response came later in the day from Xinhua, the official news agency, which ran a brief item quoting an anonymous official who was “seeking more information on Google’s statement that it could quit China.”

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