Author: Serkadis

Mere days after launching its own phone, the Nexus One, Google has come out with another big announcement: the creation of Google Energy, a subsidiary that it will use to buy and sell electricity on federally-regulated wholesale energy markets. Could it have plans to launch its own utility? Could you one day be buying your electricity from American’s favorite search engine instead of PG&E?

So far that seems unlikely. Yes, Google is applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the ability to buy and sell electricity, but it doesn’t plan to market it to the general public. Rather, the company seems to want to lower its own energy costs by buying it on the wholesale market; and it has been very vocal about greening its power mix by buying electricity generated by renewable sources (it already derives a lot of power from its rooftop solar panels at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, but this is only a small sliver of what it uses every day).

Considering the volume of greenhouse gas emissions produced by Google and its many energy-intensive data centers, the company is going to have a hard time achieving its goal of carbon neutrality. But buying more affordable, cleaner energy could give it the leg up it needs to actually become the first IT company to pull it off.

As for the entity that is now Google Energy, the company is playing it pretty coy. Spokeswoman Niki Fenwick says the search engine doesn’t have any specific plans for it. But it seems like Google has been quietly creeping into the green energy business for a while now. First, it was proactive about installing solar panels and taking company-wide measures to be more energy and resource efficient. Then its philanthropic arm, Google.org, started supporting several alternative energy initiatives. Google Ventures has even invested in some related startups, including Smart Grid network provider Silver Spring Networks, solar enterprise Brightsource Energy, eSolar and geothermal developer AltaRock Energy. Then early last year, it launched Google PowerMeter, a browser-based tool for consumers to see how much energy they are using at home and how much it is costing them.

Google Energy may be the culmination of all of these smaller efforts — a venture that could finally make the company a major player in the energy industry. It’s not that far-fetched. If FERC grants it permission to buy and sell energy, it could very well launch its own utility. Of course it would have to hack through some more red tape, and ramp up a major marketing campaign, but it’s done it before.

So far, Google has denied that this is its end-game. But it wasn’t so long ago that the company said it would never launch a phone of its own, and now the Nexus One has landed. In November, Ed Lu, one of the leaders on the Google PowerMeter team, said at GreenBeat 2009 that the company has no big ambitions for the tool and that it’s really just a “gift to humanity.” Not two months later, Google has taken another big stride into the energy world. It’s about time we learned that Google’s “never” never means never.

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Avatar has become the second-highest-grossing film ever, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The 3D epic has reportedly earned $1.14 billion at the international box office, topping previous No. 2 record-holder The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Avatar is Cameron’s first movie since 1997’s $1.8 billion-grossing Titanic. The lensman has now directed two of the only five films to join the Billion Dollar Club.

Taco Bell is encouraging people to choose items from their Drive-Thru Diet menu, consisting of Fresco-style choices with 9 grams or less of fat.

I should have seen this one coming, but I didn’t. I’m an advocate of taking your own lunch, but I suppose if you’re eating out anyway, it does make sense to choose items lower in fat. However, go to Taco Bell daily as a means to lose weight?

According to Taco Bell, Christine Dougherty did just that. The 27-year-old woman picked items from the restaurant’s Fresco menu up to eight times each week, and she lost 54 pounds over the course of two years. In the Taco Bell commercials, Dougherty says she lost about 2 pounds a month.

What’s the Fresco stuff? Instead of cheese and fatty sauces, you get items like onions, salsa, lettuce or tomatoes. There are seven choices, including a grilled steak soft taco with lettuce, tomatoes and salsa. The website for the diet even invites you to make a Frescolution pledge and send motivational e-cards.

I’m not at all convinced a fast-food restaurant should be in the business of promoting a diet, particularly one that encourages taking a shortcut with the drive-through. Every footstep counts, and fast-food restaurants often have shorter lines inside than for the drive-through.

Overall, the Taco Bell diet seems a bit gimmicky to me. Though I applaud Taco Bell’s efforts in offering lower-fat menu options, I don’t think we should be looking to the fast-food industry for diet help. Plus, does anyone really eat Taco Bell five to eight times a week like Dougherty? Some people may now choose Taco Bell thinking they’ll drop a bunch of weight just like Dougherty, without exercise. It’s possible to eat healthy without resorting to a fast-food menu, and exercise is important. Don’t let the marketing fool you.

If you’re dieting by Taco Bell alone, please comment to tell us how it’s going. Or, if you think I’m being too critical of the Drive-Thru Diet, I’d love to hear from you as well!

(Image via flickr.compujeramey)

Post from: Blisstree

Drive-Thru Diet from Taco Bell

A couple years back, we condemned digital photo frames as the spam of CES—this year, in the wake of the Christmas of Kindle, every company has its own ebook reader. And that’s a bad thing.

There will soon be two kinds of happy ebook-reader owners. The people who paid a fair amount for a reputable ebook reader from one of the companies they already buy books from, and the people who spend like $50 on a no-name ebook reader that supports a lot of formats, who gets every book they can think of as a pirated copy over BitTorrent. Everyone else—both the buyers of tier-two ebook readers and the makers of them—are going to be screwed.

You know we have an ambivalent attitude about the big-name ebook readers. The Kindle is the best ebook reader you can buy right now, if you’re in the market, but it’s still hampered by a slow e-ink black-and-white display—not to mention a heavy reliance on Amazon’s own book sales operation, which bothers some people. We respect what Jeff Bezos and Amazon have done to teach the world about digital book reading, and we understand why Barnes & Noble has to get in this game in order to plan for the future—or simply survive.

But the introduction of e-ink-based readers by many big tech companies and a handful of feisty little ones threatens to sow confusion in the market place, encourage piracy, and screw over any company who gets in and then can’t really hack it against Kindle and Nook. And all of it will be a pointless exercise when long-lasting slates are a reality.

E-ink is an interim technology, a stopgap measure to keep our attention till we have full-color video tablets (slates?) whose batteries last for “days.” A flood in the market might ensure that everyone buys one by this coming Christmas, but it’ll become increasingly hard to distinguish the good from the bad, will emphasize cheap devices over quality of interface and service, and will render most people completely confused and off-put.

They will buy some $100 reader, then wonder why they can’t borrow books from their friend who has a Nook, or can’t get the same stuff that’s sold on the Kindle. While I assume most of these new ebook readers support the ePub standard, buyers will easily run into dead ends in the labyrinth of DRM (understandably) required by the publishing business.

Some of these people will give up on buying books altogether, even if they don’t stop reading. Yes, a flood of cheap e-ink readers will grow ebook piracy more than ebook sales.

In fact, cheap e-ink readers will essentially be targeted at people with libraries of pirated books, for people who read the fine print of file compatibility, and ignore all the wireless connectivity and insta-bookstore stuff that consumers are currently excited about. Many of you would say that’s not a bad thing, and I think piracy is as inevitable as publishers going digital—whether they like it or not.

The worst thing of all is that these ebooks will all struggle to get out the door (like so many ebook players “introduced” last fall), or will die on storeshelves, the stuff nobody wants. Price will move some units, for sure, but most of them will be also-rans, like so many MP3 players released this past decade that weren’t iPods.

Maybe this glut of ebook readers isn’t offensive to you—most of you don’t have to step over them on your way to cover 3D TVs that are also everywhere at this show—but there’s no reason for them, and the more we try to keep track of, the more annoyed we get. Your choices: Go Kindle, wait for a cheap-as-hell reader, pray for a slate, or buy a book. A real paper-and-ink book.

The Queen spoofs Twilight!

Bridgestone announced today that it will supply its new Potenza S001 ultra high-performance sport tires to Ferrari for its new 458 Italia supercar.

“Bridgestone is privileged to have been selected by Ferrari as an official tyre supplier partner for the exciting new 458 Italia” said Mr Didier Schneider, Vice President Original Equipment, Bridgestone Europe. “Both Ferrari and Bridgestone compete to the highest of standards in Formula One, the pinnacle of single-seater racing where performance and safety are the ultimate goals. We are proud of this relationship, working both on the race track and on road car projects together.”

Bridgestone has developed ires for Ferrari since the 348 back in 1990. Many of Ferrari’s flagship models have been fitted with Bridgestone tires, including the 612 Scaglietti, the Enzo Ferrari and the Superamerica.

Refresher: Power comes from a mid-rear mounted 4.5L V8 producing 570-hp at 9,000 rpm with a maximum torque of 398 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm. Mated to a dual-clutch 7-speed F1 gearbox, 0 to 62 mph comes in just 3.4 seconds with a top speed of over 202 mph.

Ferrari 458 Italia:

– By: Kap Shah

Apart from the LG eXpo, a few other devices have been showcased at CES.

The GW550 has VPN support, a 2.4” QVGA (landscape) display, full QWERTY keyboard, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and a 3.2MP camera, running WM6.5 Standard.

The LG GM750 is similar to the original Samsung Omnia in design, and features a similar WQVGA touch screen, along with  A-GPS, Wi-Fi and a 5MP camera. This is backed up by WM6.5 Professional and LGs S-Class UI.

Along with those WM devices, there are a few “dumb” phones and the LG GW990, on which there are very few details. It features a 4.8” screen and an Atom processor. Not much else is known, though LG says there’ll be more information later.

Apart from the device with no information, LGs WM6.5 devices seem fairly standard, and slightly low on the spec front.

Via BGR.

The Skylight is part netbook, part smartphone, and I’m pretty sure I could throw it 50 yards. The real question is if that makes it a game-changer or a novelty act.

The look and feel are certainly novel, if not novelty. The Skylight has an ultrathin clamshell design and weighs less than two pounds—it feels like a frisbee in your hand. It’s a sturdy build, though, and seems like it could handle being jostled around in your bag.

When you open the Skylight, you’re greeted by a screen of six “web gadgets” (apps, basically), that give you immediate access to services like photos, Firefox, YouTube, Gmail, etc. You can scroll through these, but there’s also a row of minimized web gadget icons at the bottom of the screen for easy, instant navigation.

Once you select the app you want to work in, it maximizes to two-thirds of the screen, keeping two other gadgets open to its right. The 10.1-inch hi-def display is more crisp and clear than most netbooks, and 720p video looks great. Unfortunately, the model we saw was running off of 3G, which made the playback hiccupy and the file slow to load.

The Skylight also comes equipped with a full island-style keyboard, which is a relief. Typing was smooth, and the trackpad was plenty big. Although it’s not multitouch, it does support two-finger scrolling.

The Skylight has its own 8GB memory kernel to keep things running, and a 4GB USB stick (upgradeable up to 16GB) on which you can store your content. The way they’ve integrated the stick is clever and unassuming; it sits flat above the keyboad, and can be easily lifted up and removed from the rest of the unit.

There’s not much in the way of ports, but the Skylight does have HDMI-out, which is great if you plan on storing movies on it. The Snapdragon processor is said to get 8 hours of battery life, but even if it’s half of that with HD playback (which is often the differential between listed battery life and actual), that’s more than enough to watch a movie or two on a long flight.

So what’s the hitch? Well, at the moment there are only a limited number of Skylight apps available to you, and most of those don’t gain anything by being on your smartbook instead of a smartphone or netbook. Lenovo’s going to open up the SDK soon, but until developers get a crack at maximizing the Skylight’s functionality, it won’t have much. It’ll have built-in Wi-Fi, but it also will rely on AT&T’s 3G network, which even in our demonstration wasn’t up to the challenge of streaming the type of hi-def video you’re going to want to.

There’s potential here, but it might be some time before the Skylight is ready to shine.

At the 2010 Detroit Auto Show next week, General Motors will reveal a new Cadillac concept known as the XTS. The concept apparently hints at a new Cadillac sedan that will be produced at the company’s Oshawa facility, according to an industry memo obtained by CTV News.

The Cadillac XTS sedan will go into production in January 2012 and will be built alongside the new Chevrolet Impala. The XTS is expected to replace the Cadillac DTS and STS sedan.

According to the report, the move could create up to 1,000 jobs in Ontario.

We’ll find out more details in Detroit on Monday. Stay tuned.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: CTV (via AutoBlog)

Earlier this morning (and by early we mean 12 a.m.) we brought you news on Ford’s new MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch, a new safer and simpler way for drivers to connect with in-car technologies with an upgraded SYNC system.

The images issued with the press release about the new technology gave us our first look at the interiors of the 2011 Ford Edge and the 2011 Lincoln MKX (which will debut next week at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show).

You can check out our high-res gallery after the jump. To learn more about the MyFord Touch technology, refer back to our post here.

MyFord Touch / MyLincoln Touch:

– By: Omar Rana

This  thing is tiny. At 5 ounces and 1.06 inches thick it can capture full HD videos with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels in MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 format, which is great for PC’s. Currently they are trying to make it compatible with iFrame and Mac. The quality isnt bad either at 8 megapixels. Plus, ain’t it cute? It is a must have for any future spy missions you may accept because it has “Sound Zoom.” This has 3 different modes: Wide Mode: Stereo recording with high channel separation, Gun Microphone Mode: Recording that focuses on sound emanating from the direction that the camera is pointing, while reducing sounds from other directions, and Zoom Combination Mode: Automatically changes the directivity and sound gathering format according to the zoom positions. Available in February for $300. For more information click here.

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Porsche, Celebrities, Luxury

There are now so many Car of the Year awards given out that the whole idea of one vehicle being honored above all others has lost its impact. But when the giver of said award is Playboy Magazine, well, the honor means a little more. Why? Because Playboy doesn’t pick a winner based on such tangible criteria as horsepower, miles per gallon or MSRP. They don’t care so much about the fastest, greenest or most significant car in its segment. They care about cool. Which car is going to get you to that VIP event and make all eyes turn towards you on arrival? For 2010, Playboy says that car is the Porsche Panamera.

We can absolutely understand where Playboy is coming from here. You just have to imagine yourself as Hugh Hefner: Porsches are both cool and fast, but a Porsche that can accommodate me, my smoking jacket and three bunnies is worthy of a place in the Playboy Mansion garage and perhaps an X-rated car wash in the driveway.

Playboy gave out eight other awards in such categories as Best Horsepower Value (Nissan 370Z), Best Mean and Green (Ford Fusion Hybrid) and Best Reborn Beauty (Ford Taurus SHO) among others. You can check them all out in the press release after the jump, and while we’re not sure how many automakers will place their new Playboy awards front and center in the corporate trophy case, we’re sure behind close doors they’re… well, let’s not talk about what they’re doing behind closed doors.

[Source: Playboy | Image Source: Jim Ross/Getty]

Continue reading Porsche Panamera named 2010 Car of the Year by Playboy

Porsche Panamera named 2010 Car of the Year by Playboy originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get connected to the Electrification in action Videos on all aspects of GM Volt Technology and Lithium battery:
VoltAge Get Plugged In

Very good overview of GM Volt Lithium technology, safety, cost and market here from GM developers:

More Video on GM Volt from Autoline LIVE from GM’s Battery Announcement

Autoblog:

“General Motors builds first Volt battery pack on production line [w/video]

Just in time for Alabama possibly winning it’s eighth legitimate national championship, we have this article from The Birmingham News that finally answers the age old question of how Alabama came to claim 12 MNCs. It is a subject that many have speculated on for quite some time. Meet Wayne Atcheson, former Alabama sports information director and the man that ‘won’ more national titles for the Crimson Tide than anyone except the Bear. In 1983 (he claims) as the first year director, he added five back-dated and minor-selector titles to the Tide media guide. Taylor Watson, current director of the Bryant museum in Tuscaloosa, says that it was in 1986. A look back at the 1982 media guide lists only those six titles won under Bryant (other than a footnote denoting 1934 as one).

Said Atcheson: “I’ve talked to university officials about it. You’re about the first reporter to ever ask me about it. I want to say the right thing here. I made the change because Coach Bryant had these 25 years and six national championships and they were emphasized so much. It was on all the stationery. And when I got there, it was a matter of seeing there were five others and we should put them all together. It was as simple as that.”

According to the NCAA, only ‘consensus’ national titles go into the ‘record books’, a term used selectively as we all know that the NCAA does not sanction a title in FBS football. A consensus national title is considered to be any title bestowed after 1950 by any (but not necessarily all) of the following NC selectors: AP, UPI, Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, USA Today/CNN or USA Today/ESPN. Hmmm. So what made Atcheson do it?

“I tried to make Alabama football look the best it could look and just make it as great as it could possibly be,” Atcheson said. “I was a competitor myself with the other schools, and what they bragged about and boasted about, I wanted people to know the best about my school.”

In other words, he embellished it. And so many Tide faithful take that as the gospel for Alabama football tradition–and it happened from the mere stroke of a pen. And so as Paul Harvey used to say, now you know the rest of the story.

h/t: DC Hammer

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Reality-starring socialiate Kim and Khloe Kardashian joined The Insider on Thursday to dish on everything from Tiger Woods to cheating to their fantasy crushes.

Khloe tells The Insider: “I just gained some love weight and it gives [my husband] Lamar [Odom] something to hold on to. He is really eager to have a baby and I wanna have babies. I just got married four months ago, I’m not doing anything to prevent having a baby right now so… if one gets in there.”

So what would Khloe do if she ever caught another woman getting too close to her NBA giant? “If I even imagined someone talking to my husband too close, I would beat the crap out of them….”

She’s such effin’ lady!

2010Jan7: The Middle East has not had annual rains the last three summers. 800,000 Syrians have lost their livelihood and more than 160 Syrian villages have been abandoned because of severe drought conditions. Thousands of “water refugees” have migrated to urban areas. “The water refugees are a product of climate change, mismanaged water resources. It’s a product of population explosion; it’s a lot of things. It’s a perfect storm that is wreaking havoc in the rural farming sector of Syria and Iraq,” says Hussein Amery, an expert on Middle East water management and a professor at the Colorado School of Mines (NPR).

Reference: NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122294630

Image Description: Large dust storm was blowing over and obscuring the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Image acquired February 9, 2006. Image Location: NASA http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=8369 Image Permission: This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from NASA, taken or made during the course of an employee’s official duties.