Author: Serkadis

For its presence at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Tesla showed off a red Tesla Model S Sedan and announced that it has produced the 1,000th Tesla Roadster.

“A year ago right here in Detroit we had delivered about 150 Roadsters, so VIN 1,000 is a humble but important milestone for us,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “It’s fitting to do something special with this unique car.”

As for the Model S Sedan, Tesla was keen on letting us know that the sedan is a 7-passenger vehicle with a third rear-facing row for children only. The Model S is expected to begin production in 2012 with prices to start at $49,900 after U.S. federal tax credit.

Click through for the high-res image gallery and the press release.

2010 Detroit: Tesla Model S Sedan:

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

Press Release:

Tesla Celebrates 1,000th Roadster

Electric automaker displays VIN 1,000 at North American International Auto Show, will donate full value to charities

DETROIT — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Tesla Motors has built its 1,000th production vehicle — a significant milestone for the only automaker worldwide producing and selling highway-capable electric cars.

The car, which bears the unique Vehicle Identification No. 1,000, is a special-edition Roadster Sport in “Millennial White,” with a unique interior and carbon fiber accents. VIN 1,000 will be on display at the North American International Auto Show through Jan. 24.

The world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer will donate the $175,000 Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of this collector’s car to several charities in metro Detroit.

Tesla will donate the full value of the car to organizations including:

* Forgotten Harvest: Oak Park, Mich.-based charity focused on alleviating hunger and waste by rescuing food from more than 450 food industry donors.
* The Children’s Center: Detroit-based coalition of civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders dedicated to helping disadvantaged children and families.
* FOCUS: Hope: Detroit-based community organization focused on food and health programs to single low-income mothers and children, civic revitalization, and back-to-work education projects such as a “green jobs” training program.
* Sierra Club: The nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental group with over 1.3 million members and supporters, winning big victories to stop global warming and move America into a clean energy future.
* National Wildlife Federation: America’s largest conservation organization with more than 4 million members, partners and supporters working to protect and restore wildlife habitat, confront global warming and connect with nature.

Tesla, a Silicon Valley-based automaker that began vehicle development in 2004, has delivered Roadsters to customers in 43 states and 19 countries. The company operates 10 retail outlets in the United States and Europe.

Roadster Road Trip Car and Model S on Display

The Tesla booth at the Detroit auto show also features “VIN 750,” an Arctic White Roadster Sport that recently completed a 2,700-mile cross-country road trip to Detroit from Los Angeles. Tesla employees drove 750 through nine states, three time zones, and two snowstorms – without a drop of gasoline.

The acclaimed Roadster accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 and is twice as energy efficient as leading hybrids. It is the only highway-capable electric vehicle for sale in North America or Europe.

The 2010 North American International Auto Show also marks the Detroit debut of the Model S. The Model S is an electric, seven-passenger sedan that Tesla plans to begin producing in early 2012 with an anticipated base price of $49,900 after a US federal tax credit.

– By: Omar Rana

David Gregory, Moderator of “Meet the Press,” NBC News, will address the members and guests of The Executives’ Club of Chicago at its Communications Committee Breakfast on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

Mr. Gregory will speak on “The President and the Press Corps: A Look at the Obama Administration, the 2010 Midterm Elections and Politics in America.”

Mr. Gregory was named Moderator of “Meet the Press” on Dec. 7, 2008.

Since then he has covered the Obama administration from all angles, reporting extensively on the economy, health care reform and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition to “Meet the Press,” he regularly substitute anchors for “Today” and “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” and is a regular contributor and analyst for those programs, as well as MSNBC.

The breakfast program will be held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive, in the Crystal Ballroom, Lobby Level, West Tower.

There will be a networking reception for attendees prior to the program at 7:30 a.m., with the breakfast starting at 8 a.m. The cost to attend is $36.50 for Executives’ Club members; $57.50 for non-members.

For more information about the program, including registration information, please visit the Club’s Web site at executivesclub.org.

About The Executives’ Club of Chicago

The Executives’ Club of Chicago is a business forum for thought leadership, education and best business practices.  Founded in 1911, the ECC is one of the oldest and most prestigious business organizations in the Midwest.

The Club serves the community by providing information and resources needed to establish effective global partnerships, enhance intellectual exchange, develop diverse civic-minded global business leaders and promote Chicago as a world class business center.

During the CES 2010 opening keynote, Microsoft announced that Project Natal would be launching in Holiday 2010. We take that to mean that we will be able to pick one up at a retail store sometime before Thanksgiving, giving us a good 11 month wait before we can get our hands on it, unless they have something good set up for E3 this year. During the event, Microsoft also showed off a demo video explaining the concept behind Natal and what it will be able to do for you. We captured it, and have it available for you here. Check it out, and color us excited.

A big thank you to Bing for sponsoring Gear Live’s CES 2010 coverage.

Here’s how to get the show:
Subscribe: iTunes iPod / H.264 | iTunes MPEG-4 | RSS H.264 Feed | RSS MPEG-4 Feed

|Download| – iPod-formatted H.264
|Download| – Apple TV High Resolution

Tags:
holiday 2010,
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video games,
videogames,

Filed under: Truck, Plants/Manufacturing, Work, Nissan, Earnings/Financials, Off-Road

Originally launched in late 2003 as a 2004 model, the Nissan Titan light-duty pickup may not see its replacement until 2014 – a painfully long time in the full-size pickup market, and the Titan is already the oldest half-ton pickup in the segment. Titan sales in 2009 fell 44.1 percent from 2008. However, according to Larry Dominique, Nissan’s Vice President of Product Planning, things may be turning around.

Improved traffic in Nissan showrooms, new “value packaging” that bundle popular options together, and an effort by dealers to target existing owners to replace or upgrade their Titans seems to be working. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the Titan sold 5,337 units compared to 4,153 during the same period in 2008. However, Dominique appears to understand that even the most loyal customers eventually lose interest in an outdated vehicles.

“My team is working on the best overall scenario for doing the next Titan internally,” Dominique said. “Given the environment, given the economy and that Nissan’s global resources are constrained, we can’t do everything we want as fast as we want. We had a plan that was humming along with Chrysler to deliver the truck by 2011 but that deal went away. It’s a few years away. We’re looking at short term enhancements we can make until 2014.”

In the meantime, Nissan’s pickup team will ask headquarters to approve building a heavy-duty Titan. Pushing for development of a light commercial truck (2500- or 3500-series) to increase sales volume will help spread engineering costs across more models. However, it’s clear that this process isn’t a short road. Once Japanese executives approve the development of a new Titan, the Nissan light-truck still figures to be another two years from production.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Report: New Nissan Titan coming in 2014 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All candidates for Illinois judicial offices in the Feb. 2 primary election have been rated by Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) evaluation committees, or in a poll conducted by ISBA.

Results are available on-line at isba.org/YouBeTheJudge.

In Cook County, an ISBA Judicial Evaluations committee used the results of a questionnaire and interviews to rate candidates for all judicial offices.

Candidates for the Appellate Court outside Cook County were also evaluated.

In counties outside Cook, an advisory poll is conducted by mail and sent to all ISBA members in the circuit or district from which a candidate seeks election.

Licensed attorneys who are not members of ISBA may request a ballot.

“Through these polls and evaluations, voters are provided the opportunity and responsibility of selecting qualified individuals to serve as judges to assure effective administration of our system of justice,” said John O’Brien, of Arlington Heights, president of the Illinois State Bar Association.

“I encourage voters to consider these poll results when deciding how to vote on February 2.”

The 35,000-member ISBA, with offices in Springfield and Chicago, provides professional services to Illinois lawyers, and education and services to the public.

As we know, XDA-Developers will be adding new non-HTC devices to their line-up.  The question is of course which device to add first.

Hey Everyone,
As mentioned in my earlier post (please read if you have not yet already), we are considering adding non-HTC forums to the site, and are curious to hear which ones should be first. We’re considering devices such as the Motorola Droid/CLIQ, plus the Samsung Omnia II and/or Acer neoTouch. What are your thoughts? We’re listening!

Now I understand the Acer Liquid Android guys are making a strong push to get their phone at XDA-Dev by rousing supporters from Android forums, but I think great devices like the Samsung Omnia 2 deserve it much more, and XDA-Dev is at its heart a Windows Mobile forum after all.

So if you want to see a Windows Mobile device rather than Android added to XDA-Dev, let your voice known in this thread here.

Way back when Friendster was the super hot social networking startup with an unworkable business model, there was suddenly a rush of rumors that the company was going to start charging for use. Even though the company never suggested plans to charge, there was an outcry among users — and I remember getting messages from people threatening to boycott Friendster if it ever did charge. In fact, many people started suggesting alternatives… with MySpace being a key one. It wasn’t long after this episode that many people really did start migrating over to MySpace. Later on there were reports that the “rumors” about Friendster charging were actually started (and then spread) by MySpace employees. And it worked.

It looks like someone may be trying to pull the same trick with Facebook. Apparently a bunch of rumors have been spreading about Facebook planning to charge, resulting in huge protest groups in Facebook, and the company needing to make a public denial of any plans to charge. In Facebook’s case, this is even more believable because the company claims that it’s already profitable from existing ad sales. And, knowing how Facebook operates, I can’t see anyone there seriously considering charging for use. They know the idea is preposterous and would destroy the site.

So the only thing I’m wondering is who kicked off these rumors? Is it another social network? Is it MySpace again trying to regain relevance? Or was it really just another malware scam to get people to click on unsafe links, that then resulted in a misguided panic?

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It’s the dawn of a new year. From our perch on the frontier of electronic civil liberties, EFF has collected a list of a dozen important trends in law, technology and business that we think will play a significant role in shaping online rights in 2010.

In December, we’ll revisit this post and see how it all worked out.

1. Attacks on Cryptography: New Avenues for Intercepting Communications

In 2010, several problems with cryptography implementations should come to the fore, showing that even encrypted communications aren’t as safe as users expect. Two of the most significant problems we expect concern cellphone security and web browser security.

GSM, the technology that underpins most cellphone communications around the world, uses a deeply flawed security technology. In 2010, devices which intercept phone calls will get cheaper and cheaper. Expect to see public demonstrations of the ability to break GSM’s encryption and intercept mobile phone calls. We hope that this will prompt the mobile phone industry to replace its obsolete systems with modern and easy-to-use cryptography.

SSL (in its newer versions known as TLS), the basic security technology of the world wide web, is exhibiting similarly severe flaws. Several powerful practical attacks against real-world SSL implementations were published in 2009; more problems and concerns will emerge throughout 2010. SSL security must be improved.

Despite flaws in how SSL is used, it’s still the best system for web security around, and so it also needs to become more widely deployed. Google set a fantastic example this week when it set GMail to use SSL by default — in 2010 we hope to see other online service providers follow its example.

2. Books and Newspapers: .TXT is the new .MP3

Since 2000, the music industry has most spectacularly flailed (and failed) to combat the Net’s effect on its business model. Their plans to sue, lock-up and lobby their way out of their problem did nothing to turn the clock back, but did cause serious damage to free speech, innovation and fair use.

These days, the book and newspaper industries are similarly mourning the Internet’s effect on their bottom line. In 2009, Rupert Murdoch changed the tone of the debate when he called those who made fair use of his papers’ content “thieves”. We think 2010 and beyond will see others in the print world attempt to force that view, and break the fair use doctrine by lobbying to change accepted copyright law, challenging it in the courts, or by placing other pressures on intermediaries.

A cluster of similar battles around user control are also gathering around e-reader products like Kindle and Google Book Search, many of which rewrite the rules for book ownership and privacy wholesale.

So, in 2010, will the printed word step smartly into the digital future, or will it continue to stay stuck in the denial and bargaining phase that dominated digital music’s lost decade?

3. Global Internet Censorship: The Battle for Legitimacy

For years, the obvious benefits of an uncensored Internet have kept advocates of Net blocking on the defensive. But new filtering initiatives in Australia and Europe combined with growing rhetoric around child protection, cybersecurity and IP enforcement means that blocking websites isn’t just for authoritarian regimes any more.

That’s not to say tyrants aren’t paying close attention to the West’s new censors. When democratic governments complain about Iran and China’s net policing in 2010, expect defenses of “we’re only doing what everyone else does”.

2010 will see the publication of Access Controlled, a new book from the OpenNet Initiative chronicling the globalization of Internet censorship; we’re excited to see it but concerned about the ways restrictions in different countries reinforce each other.

4. Hardware Hacking: Opening Closed Platforms and Devices

An increasingly active hobbyist community is figuring out how to make a range of devices more useful and open. They are learning how to install new software or make third-party parts, devices, and services work with proprietary high-tech products like video game consoles, printers, portable audio players, home entertainment devices, e-book readers, mobile phones, digital cameras, and even programmable calculators. And, oh yes, contending with restrictions on both cars and garage doors.

Frequently, indignant manufacturers are threatening these tinkerers with legal troubles. Often, these threats are legally baseless — but this hasn’t stopped manufacturers from bullying hobbyists into keeping quiet about their innovations.

It confirms the prediction that EFF board member Ed Felten made in 2006: that the rationale offered for “Digital Rights Management” was shifting away from hard-to-defend claims that DRM could stop copyright infringement, and toward uses of DRM to control the functionality of objects in general (often in ways only tenuously connected to copying anything).

In 2009, EFF asked the Copyright Office to protect hobbyists who unlock and jailbreak their smartphones, and we stood up for developers who figured out how to load new operating systems onto TI programmable calculators. EFF’s panel of judges also chose to honor Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries with a Pioneer Award in part to encourage the hardware hacking community to continue their good work.

In 2010, phone jailbreaking will become even more mainstream, and the concept will be routinely applied to other sorts of devices. EFF’s Coders Rights Project will have no shortage of work to do defending users and developers who want to make their hardware do more than it was designed for.

5. Location Privacy: Tracking Beacons in Your Pocket

It’s easier and cheaper than ever for computers to keep track of where you are: there are so many more potential sources of information about your whereabouts, and so many reasons it might be useful or interesting to you, your friends, your boss, or the government.

EFF has fought for location privacy rights, including checks on the government’s ability to use your cell phone to find you and to access the information that social networks, mobile operators, and transportation systems collect about where you are and where you travel.

In 2010, awareness of location privacy as an issue will enter the mainstream in the U.S. as a critical mass of end users voluntarily adopt technologies that use or share their physical location — and start to wonder who has access to this information. Many more courts will grapple with these questions this year, building upon the important 2009 decisions in the Connolly case in Massachusetts and the Weaver case in New York. EFF is awaiting the decision in U.S. v. Jones in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, where we asked a court to limit law enforcement use of these devices.

6. Net Neutrality: The Rubber Hits The Road

Anyone who watched John Hodgman’s famous Daily Show rant knows what Net Neutrality means as an abstract idea. But what will it mean when it makes the transformation from idealistic principle into real-world regulations? 2010 will be the year we start to find out, as the FCC attempts to implement the plan it adopts after its 107-page request for input about how to ensure a neutral Net.

But how far can the FCC be trusted? Historically, the FCC has sometimes shown more concern for the demands of corporate lobbyists and “public decency” advocates than it has for individual civil liberties. Consider the FCC’s efforts to protect Americans from “dirty words” in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, or its much-criticized deregulation of the media industry, or its narrowly-thwarted attempt to cripple video innovation with the Broadcast Flag.

With the FCC already promising exceptions from net neutrality for copyright-enforcement, we fear that 2010 could be the year when the FCC’s idea of an “Open Internet” proves quite different from what many have been hoping for.

7. Online Video: Who Controls Your TV?

Like the print business, the television business is being radically disrupted by the Internet. The disparate and powerful industries affected — telco, cable, satellite, ISP, software, and production — are engaged in a battle for dominance. But as big business dukes it out, consumer rights risk being left behind.

Two especially bad initiatives to keep an eye on this year: TV Everywhere is a new DRM-laden attempt by the mainstream television industry to trip up innovative upstarts like Boxee. Another scheme, Selectable Output Control, is Hollywood’s latest effort to start driving analog interfaces into extinction in favor of DRM-restricted digital interfaces — meaning that Hollywood would decide what you can record on your DVR, rather than you.

In 2010, expect industry to advance those initiatives, as well as to introduce new and similarly problematic schemes along the same lines. EFF, as usual, will be there to try to stop them.

8. Congress: Postponed Bad Legislation Returns

In retrospect, 2009 wasn’t disastrous for online civil liberties in federal technology law. With Washington entirely distracted by health care reform, a lot of the most problematic proposed federal technology legislation was delayed, postponed or temporarily forgotten.

In 2010, we may not be so lucky. Key provisions of the Patriot Act, having recently been granted a three-month extension, are up for re-authorization before April 1. The Snowe-Rockefeller Cybersecurity Act, which would grant the President the power to disconnect the Internet, is likely to return sometime in 2010. And, with immigration reform considered a top priority for Congress this year, we can expect to see the national identification card scheme REAL ID (or its twin, PASS ID) again soon.

9. Social Networking Privacy: Something’s Got To Give

For some, social networking sites are the Internet. Facebook now has over 350 million accounts — roughly the same as the total number of Internet users worldwide a decade ago. That means that the bad guys who were exploiting security weaknesses in the wider Net in the last decade will now turn in force on the bigger networking sites. And by bad guys, we mean everyone from criminals, to unethical data-mining companies, to ISPs who can’t resist snooping on that remunerative personal data passing down their pipes, to governments seeking new ways to track their citizens.

Will a major privacy scandal or two fix the social networking sites’ casual attitude to their customers’ personal data? Will new laws? Or will technologists and increasingly sensitive Net users find a their own way to protect their privacy?

10. Three Strikes: Truth and Consequences

In countries across the globe, the entertainment industry has been pushing for laws requiring ISPs to terminate their users’ connection at the whim of the entertainment industry. In 2009, they got their wish — in France and South Korea, at least. This year will see the spin battle over what is actually happening in those countries.

Expect media industry reports describing amazing local declines in filesharing, aimed at policymakers in other nations considering the same. And look out for local press reports from these three strikes ground zeroes, documenting the calamitous consequences of disconnections, the lack of financial return to working artists, and the political blowback for the politicians who championed these unjust laws.

11. Fair Use of Trademarks: Mockery At Risk

Parody and mockery have long been favorite tools for online political expression and activism. But the powerful entities being mocked sometimes lack a sense of humor about the situation. Increasingly, they’re turning to trademark law to badger would-be jokers into silence.

Of course, abuse of copyright law, which governs ownership of content, is nothing new. But until recently, we haven’t seen as much abuse of trademark law, which governs ownership of names and logos. Fair Use principles, which allow creative re-use of intellectual property, apply to trademarks just as they apply to copyrights. In either case, IP bullies are just as happy to ignore those principles and make bogus legal threats.

Recently, trademark threats have been levied against activists like The Yes Men, who mocked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They’ve targeted NYTimes.se, which mocked The New York Times and corporations like DeBeers. They’ve targeted The South Butt, a clothing line which mocks The North Face. And, only a few days ago, they targeted environmental activist Brian DeSmet for mocking Peabody Energy.

In 2010, expect to see plenty of similar bogus threats. Some of them will lead to litigation, and those battles could in turn lead to important new legal precedents with serious implications for free expression online.

12. Web Browser Privacy: It’s Not Just About Cookies Anymore

In the late 1990s, when the conventions for the modern web browser were being determined, certain expectations were established for web browser privacy. Users who wished to take extra measures to protect their privacy could simply choose to de-activate or limit their browser’s use of cookies. This would protect them from most of the worst online tracking practices.

And that’s how it remained for some time. Or so most web users thought.

As it turns out, corporations seeking to track individuals’ use of the web were hard at work developing new and unexpected methods of profiling. For a long time, many of these methods either remained unexamined or were simply performed covertly and hidden from the public. But as we enter 2010, awareness and scrutiny of them is on the rise.

Try browsing the web while using a tool like the Firefox add-on RequestPolicy, and you’ll see that many major sites share your web activity with dozens of advertisers and advertising networks. With few technical or legal restrictions on the ability to track you around the web, companies you may never have heard of may have profiles of you which include things about your web use that you don’t even remember.

This year the Federal Trade Commission is taking a fresh look at privacy and the use of profiles to target ads based on individuals’ behavior on the web. We’ll be participating in the process by providing testimony to the FTC, as well as launching our own study of just how easy individual browsers are to track, and how they can be made more privacy-protective.

1. Be passionate about your topic

I said it before in “Real Successful Blogging”, and I am saying it again. Passion is not a bonus, it is a must.
If you are passionate about your topic, you will be knowledgeable, you will know your market (the other people who are into that specific topic), and you will be able to follow up on the developments in that area. Something that would bore you to death if you are blogging about a subject just for the money instead of the passion.

2. Reach out

Blogging is not about you, it’s about others (ok, and you too). Reach out to others, write about whose blogs or articles you liked. This works twofold: first, people are always looking for reviews and views on things. Do other bloggers like this blog or website or tool? Do other photographers like that camera? Second: the people you are blogging about will appreciate the mentioning and the link (that is, if it is positive ) and will return the favor.

3. Be heard, be social

Get your word out, and people will link to you.
This can be done by speaking at a conference, setting up a large project or contest, participate very actively on forums, perhaps even as a moderator.
Try to stay on top of things, so that you can not only participate in conversations, but you can start them. If you can then also blog about these topics, it will definately get you authority and links.

4. Look real

If you want people to remember you, to want to link to you, to believe you, you need to look real to them. The first way to do this, is by the way your website or blog looks and feels. For instance:
* What’s your domainname, is it something that looks real, not scammy? Can people easily remember it?
* Does the layout and the design of your site add to the content and the message you want to bring? For instance, a yellowish, bright playful webdesign doesn’t add to your message if you’re an undertaker.
* How’s your content? Interesting and unique? Or boring or copied from somewhere else?
* How is your about page? Does it say something about you? Will people remember you by it?
* How is the useability of your site? Is it easy to understand? Or does it look good, but is hell to use?
There’s no need to answer positive on all these questions right away. But they are a good strategy to follow to increase your credibility on the internet.

5. Conversation

Markets are conversations, your readers are your audience, and your market. Have conversations with them. You do this through your blogposts. They can do that through the comments. Invite them to comment on your posts. Make it a two-way conversation, make it a community. After a while, a part of your audience will start communicating with you through their blog, and this is where the links start coming in.

6. Keep building

Rome wasn’t built overnight. Nor was Microsoft, Apple, or any other great success story. You need to keep working on it, keep building on your website, on your credibility, on your market position. This can take years, but you will get there eventually. Just keep building on it. Day by day.

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Conan O’Brien fans showed their support for the fiery comedian on Tuesday night by tuning in to his Tonight Show in large numbers. According to The Los Angeles Times, last night’s Tonight scored a 1.7 rating / 7 share among adults 18-49, up 40 percent from Monday airing.

Early Tuesday, Conan released a statement saying he would not accept NBC’s request to move the show to 12:05 AM to accommodate Jay’s move back to 11:35 PM from primetime.

“I sincerely believe that delaying ‘The Tonight Show’ into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting,” he wrote in a humorous letter addressed to “People of Earth.”

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Lotus, Racing

Now that Lotus is turning out production examples of the Evora on a steady basis, the crew on the motorsports side has turned its attention to creating a new competition car. Built to FIA GT4 specs and eligible to run in several different GT series, the Evora Cup car debuts this weekend at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham, England.

To get the car ready for the track, the Toyota V6 has been punched out to a full 4.0 liters and fitted with a dry sump oiling system. In race trim the engine is rated at 395 horsepower, with power is routed through a six-speed Cima sequential race gearbox. Upgraded six-pot calipers help the binders hold up to track use and adjustable dampers allow the handling to be adapted to the prevailing conditions and the driver’s style. At about 2,600 pounds, Lotus has shaved 440 pounds off the road car.

In addition to competing against other makes, Lotus is also launching a single make Evora Cup series with events around Europe. A €100,000 prize fund will be offered for the series this year. The Evora Cup car will run £120,000 plus taxes. Make the jump for all the details.

[Source: Lotus]

Continue reading Lotus announces Evora race car, one-make series

Lotus announces Evora race car, one-make series originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chicago White Castle Restaurants cook up romance with candlelight, tableside service and themed decorations

Craving a little romance this Valentine’s Day? Then reserve a steamy date at your local White Castle Restaurant. Between 5 and 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14, you and your valentine can enjoy a romantic candlelit dinner complete with special menus, tableside service and flowers.

Reservations are filling up quickly and can be made by 708-458-4450 ext. 0 Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

“Since we first offered reserved Valentine’s Day seating in 1991, this has become an annual tradition for many couples,” said Jamie Richardson, vice president of corporate relations.

“It’s been a huge hit because a lot of our loyal customers – fondly known as ‘Cravers’ – either met in a White Castle Restaurant or have other enjoyable memories they like to celebrate here.”

This year, White Castle will make Valentine’s Day truly unforgettable by snapping a complimentary digital photo of each couple that can be viewed later from the White Castle Web site.

White Castle expects demand for reservations to be even greater this year as Americans continue to seek ways to get more romance for less cash.

“At White Castle, you can indulge your special someone’s craving for a romantic dinner without breaking your budget,” Richardson said.

He noted that Sack Meal #3 provides a dinner for two – complete with 10 of the distinctive Slyder® hamburgers, two 21-oz. soft drinks and two regular French fries – for as little as $11.55. “It’s just one example of the value we’ve offered customers since we began selling our famous steam-grilled hamburgers for a nickel in 1921.”

Valentine’s Day is just one of many special programs through which White Castle engages and rewards its Craver customers and family of team members. Each May, the company is the official sponsor of National Hamburger month.

By submitting a recipe in the Crave Time Cook Off competition, customers have a chance to win a Crave Case every week for a year.

And customers can submit their ultimate Crave story in the 10th annual Craver’s Hall of fame competition for the chance to join such fellow Cravers as Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle stars John Cho and Kal Penn and members of the rock group The Smithereens in the hallowed Hall.

Visit whitecastle.com for details on these and other events.

About White Castle

White Castle is a family-owned business based in Columbus, Ohio that owns and operates 419 White Castle Restaurants in 11 states.

The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1921 and was the first fast-food hamburger chain.

For more information on White Castle, please visit whitecastle.com.