Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety

Speed cameras are at best a dubious safety enhancement sold on the premise of slowing traffic, while the more important proposition is often the promise of the revenue they can generate. Arizona residents have mostly cut through the bovine feculence around the state’s big camera deployment program, one that’s been described as groundbreaking. The state installed 76 one-eyed bandits, but profits are lower than projected, and some citizens want the cameras gone.

Further sabotaging the camera initiative are citizens who have taken to ignoring the automated citations in large numbers. A loophole surrounding mailed tickets is allowing many drivers to motor on with impunity, while an anti-camera group is trying to get a ballot measure to ban the cameras underway. The 700,000 tickets that have been issued since September 2008 should have meant $127 million into the coffers, but only $36 million has been collected. At that level, it’s not even clear if Redflex, the public scourge firm that runs the cameras, is able to break even.

[Source: New York Times | Photo: Redflex]

Arizona to abandon ‘groundbreaking’ speed camera program? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interesante y curiosa noticia nos llega desde Suiza, en este país se acaba de superar el record del importe a pagar en las multas de tráfico.  Un millonario de dicho país fué sorprendido por la policía con un Ferrari Testarossa circulando por carreteras secundarias a unos 140 km/h.

A la hora de dictar el importe de la multa, el juez tuvo más en cuenta la fortuna del conductor (16 millones de Euros) que la velocidad a la que conducía.

En definitiva, el valor de la multa que tendrá que pagar, 202.000€, sobrepasa incluso al valor que tiene el propio coche que conducía, parte de su colección personal de cinco Ferrari. El valor monetario de la infracción se establece así como récord para Suiza.

Related posts:

1. BP, Repsol y Cepsa son multados por la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia
2. Nuevo vídeo espía del Ferrari F450
3. Nuevo intento de batir el record mundial de velocidad

Tokyo-based USB accessory specialist Thanko has a thing for spy gadgets. Just look at their spy button camera, the USB necktie with a built-in camera and the camera watch they developed in the last few months. Last July, Thanko started offering a a pen with an integrated micro camera. And today the company announced [JP] the so-called Super Slim Video Pen 2, which is a spy pen that shoots video in HD (1,280×960 at 30fps, to be more exact).

The pen lets you shoot JPEGs with the same resolution. It’s 14cm long and weighs 30g. It can store 1.5 hours of video with its internal memory but also supports microSD cards (up to 16GB). Thanko says an 8GB card is enough to record around six hours of HD video. Users just need to press a button on top of the pen to start the recording. The micro camera is right under it (see picture above).

Video files can later be transferred to your PC (as long as it runs under Windows XP, Vista or 7) via USB 2.0 (the pen has a miniUSB slot).

Thanko is selling the spy pen for $65. Ask Geek Stuff 4U if you live outside Japan and are interested in getting one (they’re just offering the older model at the moment).

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Revitalizing the Bugatti brand surely was no easy task for the people involved and unfortunately, to this day we don’t know the whole story. But it seems that new bits and pieces of this saga are coming to light.

These are pictures of a car resembling the Veyron that have been supposedly drawn by Walter de’Silva back in 1999. At that time, the concept car was meant to give some inspiration to VW chairman Ferdinand Piech, who had the mission of reviving the Bugatti brand. These ima… (read more)

It’s an understatement to say Infinity Ward scored big with Modern Warfare 2, so it’s only natural that they follow up that succes with another Modern Warfare game, right? Not so, according to “insiders.”

Clue: It’s not the world champion Conker player’s special box. There’s a clue in those last two words, though.

It is, my friends, a big bunch of Woodvibes – sex toys made of wood. Which is what I thought they provoked. Jonas Lonborg‘s creation (ingredients: aluminum, electronic gizzards, er, wood, special box which charges them up through induction) is so full of double entendres, I think I’m going to pass out from the pleasure. [Yanko]

Article Tags: Front Page News, Met Office, UK Winter Forecast 2009/10, World Temperatures

Deep freeze Britain was as cold as the South Pole as temperatures plummeted to a staggering minus 21c.

Amid increasing fears of an energy crisis, the country is locked in the biggest chill for nearly 30 years.

The mercury sank to minus 21.2C (minus 6.2F) in parts of the Scottish Highlands – considerably colder than some home freezers – with bitterly cold temperatures everywhere else on another day of widespread weather disruption.

Icy conditions have again left roads in a treacherous state and caused delays and cancellations for rail and air passengers. Hundreds of schools have also shut again today, resulting in a full week of closure for some children.

Last night forecasters gave a grim warning of worse to come, with strong winds blowing in to add wind chill to already below-zero temperatures which could continue for at least ten more days.

The prediction came as the worst cold spell since the winter of 1981-82 continued to cause chaos.

Source: dailymail.co.uk (Click to read FULL report)

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El que fué campeón del mundo de la Fórmula 1, Kimi Raikkonen, ha realizado unas declaraciones que seguro no dejarán a nadie indiferente. Tras marcharse al mundo del rally, el piloto finlandés, ha declarado que la Fórmula 1 le parece muy monótona.

Por otra parte, Raikkonen ha dicho que de todos los Gran Premios el que más divertido le resulta es el GP de Mónaco. “En la F1 hay demasiada política detrás; nadie dice lo que piensa porque tiene miedo de que sea sacado de contexto. El ambiente en los rallies es mucho mejor. Todo tiene más que ver con la actuación de los pilotos”, citó el piloto.

“En la Fórmula 1, cada vuelta es prácticamente igual a la anterior. Cuando llueve, la situación se complica, pero, por lo demás, es muy monótona. En el rally, cada curva, cada colina puede ser diferente. Eso lo hace interesante”, concluyó.

Related posts:

1. Kimi Raikkonen habla sobre su futuro en la Fórmula 1
2. Kimi Raikkonen podría estar negociando su fichaje con Red Bull
3. Kimi Raikkonen podría haber firmado un pre-contrato con Red Bull

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Rumors, Other Events, Apple

Here’s an interesting story that popped up this week, made even more relevant by all of the tablet rumors flying around lately. John Martellaro at the Mac Observer has called out the Wall Street Journal piece earlier this week as a controlled leak from Apple. What he says makes sense: the news came from an unnamed source and was published by two different authors, the WSJ’s Apple beat writers, to keep the responsibility divided (and keep Walt Mossberg above the fray, perhaps). If Apple does want to leak information, it seems easy enough — as Martellaro says, an executive phones a friend, asks to keep their name out of the story, and then a rumor is out there. Of course, there’s the question of how often (if ever) this actually happens; most Mac media folk have never been on the receiving end of such a leak.

The other real question is: why? Apple could merely be sending ideas out there to see how they’ll play — the WSJ post specifically mentioned a 10 or 11″ display, so it’s possible they wanted to pre-test that idea. Martellaro also reckons that Apple’s message could have been directed at another company, either a competitor or a partner who needed to be reminded that the tablet release was approaching quickly. And finally, it could have been directed at us press — rumors build more rumors, which build hype, which, as Martellaro says, put butts in seats at the event later this month.

Of course, there’s always the question of stock manipulation, and it could be argued that leaks like this might cause problems there. But otherwise, leaks by Apple are more or less harmless to everyone besides the company itself. If Apple did leak something it doesn’t end up delivering on (i.e. promises of one product and another one ends up getting released), it’s the companys own reputation that will be on the line. Apple can say that it doesn’t respond to or support rumors, but when the company’s own executives are allegedly telling the WSJ what the tablet is like, the onus falls on the company’s reputation as a whole.

[via Apple Insider]

TUAWApple’s “controlled leaks” and how they spin them originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has a long and storied history of insisting it has no plans whatsoever to do something which it ultimately ends up doing. So the company’s claims this week that it doesn’t plan to enter the speculative energy trading business, even though it has established a new Google Energy LLC subsidiary that would allow it to do just that, is certainly an eyebrow raiser.

You see, Google (GOOG), through Google Energy LLC, applied last month to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to buy and sell power much like utilities do. “In addition to engaging in sales of electricity that are unregulated by the commission, applicant proposes to act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers,” Google’s Google Energy LLC subsidiary said in its application.

But according to Google spokesperson Niki Fenwick, that’s not the company’s real intent. What Google hopes to do through Google Energy is to gain greater access to renewable energy sources which it can use power its increasingly vast operations.

“Google is interested in procuring more renewable energy as part of our carbon neutrality commitment, and the ability to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market could give us more flexibility in doing so,” Fenwick told me. “We made this filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google’s own operations, including our data centers. The FERC authority would improve our ability to hedge our purchases of energy and incorporate renewables into our energy portfolio.”

Really? Even though FERC approval would essentially allow it to become a wholesaler of electricity to other big buyers?

Really.

And this initiative is not in any way related to Google PowerMeter, a Web-based service the company rolled out last year that provides consumers with a way to track their energy usage?

“This is not connected with the Google PowerMeter project,” Fenwick insisted. “And it does not signal our intent to operate as a retail provider of electricity.”

So we’ll have to take the company at its word then, and assume, for the moment anyway, that “this does not signal our intent to operate as a retail provider of electricity” is not simply another variation on “we’re not doing a mobile phone”; “We don’t think it’s a competitor to Microsoft Office”; “We do not intend to offer a person-to-person, stored-value payments system“; and, of course, “We have no plans for an IPO.”

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English niche car company Morgan has set a production record in 2009, defying the international financial crisis. The carmaker’s plant in Malvern was expected to have an annual output of 690 units, far greater than its average 400/year value, as reported by Autocar UK.

This growth has been mainly sustained by the increasing demand in Continental Europe, with particularly increases in France and Germany. The UK market on the other hand has maintained its average annual sales figur… (read more)

Renewable energy has got buzz, growth and growing government support. But it’s no secret that it still makes up a small portion of the overall energy mix. As interest in renewables increases, the question has begun coming up more and more often: When …

Nissan acaba de publicar el primer teaser del futuro Nissan Juke, antes conocido como Nissan Qazama, un prototipo que ya fué mostrado hace un tiempo en unas imágenes espía.  Sin duda, el cambio de nombre nos da a entender que estará más enfocado al mercado europeo.

También debemos destacar algunos elementos de este teaser como son las manillas de las puertas traseras. Poco más podemos decir ya que la foto no nos ofrece más elementos característicos. Será presentado de forma oficial el próximo 10 de Febrero.

Su comercialización dará comienzo este mismo otoño a un precio base de 12.000€ apróximadamente.

Related posts:

1. Infiniti M, primer teaser
2. Nissan Qazama, fotos espía
3. Nissan presenta el Leaf, su primer vehículo eléctrico

The Reva NXG concept car looks aggressive, like it wants to hunt down anyone who says that all electric cars needs to look silly. The Chevrolet Spark concept, too, looks pretty darn good for a little car. The two companies are working together on an all-electric car for the Indian market and it was revealed at the New Delhi Auto Show this week. Sadly, the look of the car is a big bag of yawn.

The car in question is the Chevrolet e-Spark, and it would be India’s first four-door electric vehicle. The outside is simply the standard Indian-spec Spark, but Reva’s EV powertrain sits underhood. Detailed information on this car is scarce, but we hear it will have both regular drive and boost modes as well as regenerative brakes. There might also be an option to get the car with either lead acid or lithium-ion batteries. Production should start sometime this year.

[Source: Bikencar | Live Images: Indianautosblog]

Auto Expo 2010: Chevrolet e-Spark, an electric car for the average Indian car buyer originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Chicago Transit Authority will provide post-game service only on the #19 United Center Express route for the Bulls and Blackhawks games this weekend.

Service to the United Center prior to the start of the games will not be provided along the #19 route.  To get to the games, customers are encouraged to take the #20 Madison route, which provides direct service to the United Center from downtown.

At the end of each game, #19 buses will depart the United Center approximately every 15 minutes for one hour.

Following the games, customers can board #19 buses from the north side of the United Center eastbound on Madison near Gate 3.

From the United Center #19 buses will operate east on Washington to Wacker, then head south to Monroe and east to Michigan, making all stops from Jefferson to Michigan before turning north on Michigan and making the final stop at Randolph.

Tip-off for the Minnesota Timberwolves versus Bulls game is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 9. The Anaheim Ducks and Blackhawks face-off on Sunday, Jan. 10 at  6 p.m.

Bus customers who use CTA fare media pay $2.00 to ride. For customers who pay cash on the bus, the fare is $2.25.

For details about all CTA service, call 836-7000 (all local area codes) or visit the CTA Web site at transitchicago.com.

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It’s advertised as a cubby for your wrist, but it doubles as an opposite-sex repellent.

Crapgadget CES, round 2: The Phubby (wrist-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading NeoVue HD video streaming platform announced at CES

NeoVue HD video streaming platform announced at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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