Author: Serkadis

Unless you were living under a rock most of 2009, you already know that last year was a very tough one for the automotive industry. While sales of many models dropped to record lows, sales of the Chevrolet Corvette hit a historic low of just 13,934 units, the lowest since 1961 – unofficially.

Officially (according to data from Edmunds.com), 2009 was the worst year for the model in 19 years when sales hit 17,472 in 1991. In 2008, Corvette sales came in at 26,971, down 6,714 units from 2007.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Straightline

Dental Coverage for Up to 50 Million Children Could Be Disrupted

Congress is very close to improving oral health for those children without dental coverage today, but without a few small, significant changes, final health care reform legislation could actually disrupt dental coverage for millions of children who already have it now.

That’s the assessment of Delta Dental Plans Association President Kim Volk, who is urging members of Congress to consider key oral health provisions as the House and Senate reconcile their differing health care reform bills.

“Delta Dental is pleased that both the House and Senate health care reform bills seek to expand access to oral health care,” said Volk.

“However, without changes, both of these bills will seriously, and inadvertently, disrupt the primary dental coverage enjoyed by millions of Americans today and undo decades of progress in improving the nation’s oral health.”

Volk urged Congress to address key dental-related issues as it irons out the differences between House and Senate bills.

“First, we ask Congress to allow for vigorous competition among different types of insurance companies, including stand-alone dental carriers and the dental-focused carriers,” Volk said.

“Unfortunately, the House bill would force families to buy children’s dental insurance from medical insurers – without the option to purchase from more experienced and specialized dental plans. It would also force parents with family dental coverage today to purchase two dental plans – one for their children and another for themselves.

Ultimately, the House bill would disrupt coverage for an estimated 40 to 50 million children across the country.”

Volk noted that the Senate bill allows for competition inside the new health insurance Exchange but fails to assure it for those who currently have dental coverage.

In addition, Delta Dental is urging Congress to include language in the final legislation that improves transparency and preserves consumer options by requiring separate pricing of pediatric dental plans.

“Separate pricing will give consumers the opportunity to compare costs and determine which dental plan best meets their needs and those of their families,” Volk said.

Volk also expressed concern with the Senate’s proposal to impose an excise tax on employer-provided health benefits that exceed a maximum threshold.

“Dental insurance is not getting the same attention in the health care reform debate, in part because dental benefits – and their prevention-based model – are examples of what works in health care.

“Any cap on employer-paid dental premiums would erect new barriers to access and seriously erode decades of progress in oral health,” Volk said.

“Both chambers of Congress have sought to make prevention a focus in health care reform. That’s exactly what 170 million Americans enjoy with their current dental plans.”

“Congress is close to making great strides in children’s oral health,” Volk said.

“With a few straightforward changes in the current bills, the House and Senate can avoid disruptive, if unintentional, consequences – and build on this nation’s hard-won gains in oral health.”

About Delta Dental

DDPA represents the nation’s largest and most experienced dental benefit plans consisting of 39 independent dental service corporations that operate in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Most of our plans are offered separately from medical coverage as stand-alone coverage from group health plans. We provide coverage to over 54 million people, enrolled in 89,000 dental plan groups that are administered locally or nationally for employers.

Samsung says its latest connected Blu-ray player’s design was inspired by nature. While I haven’t seen that glossy finish on any fauna or flora lately, we can agree that it’s a beautiful bit of hardware.

The BD-7500 is just 1.1-inches thick and sports a wood design. It can be wall-mounted, placed on a stand, or left flat, but in any configuration it’d be a welcome addition to my living room. It’s also seems to be more than just a looker, with 1080p playback at 24 fps, without the need for upconversion. It’s also got built-in Ethernet and Wi-Fi for access to Internet TV and Samsung apps. There’s no price point yet, but it should be available in the first half of 2010.

The BD-C6900, also announced today, includes 3D playback and multichannel HD surround, along with the BD-7500’s connectivity features.

The BD-C6500 offers the same 1080p/24fps resolution as the BD-7500, and also supports DTS-HD MA and other premium video and audio codecs.

The line-up is rounded out by the BD-C5500, a power-sipping model that will also be available in the first half of 2010, along with the BD-C6500.

Blu-ray Players Set New Standards for 3D Playback, Category-defining Design and Energy Efficiency

SAMSUNG Sets New Standards, Breaks Boundaries with Latest Lineup of Blu-ray Players
January 6, 2010
LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today unveiled its 2010 lineup of Blu-ray players, reaching new frontiers in delivering quality HD home entertainment.. Standing out among the f our-player lineup is the winner of the 2010 CES Best of Innovations Award, the BD-C6900, featuring built-in 3D playback and supporting the new 3D Blu-ray standard. For those looking for the best in design and performance, the BD-C7500 offers the slimmest Blu-ray player to date, with a nature-inspired, contemporary form factor. The BD-C6500 combines performance and speed, and the entry-level BD-C5500 delivers an eco design. All players in the 2010 lineup support Internet@TV for the first time, providing access to a wide range of online content. Samsung’s latest Blu-ray players will be on display at Booth #11026 during the International Consumer Electronics Show, which will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 7 -10, 2010.

“Our new Blu-ray players really represent the spirit of Samsung – innovation that brings together the best entertainment experience and the most elegant and eco-friendly design, providing our widest range of options ever,” said Sung-Ho Jun, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics. “We are excited to show the world another premium Blu-ray player lineup that can be described with adjectives like fast, slimmest, and energy-efficient – we’re offering something for everyone – especially those that want a player to compliment our new HDTVs.”

With a focus on connected entertainment, all models from the step-up BD-C6500 and above include built-in Wi-Fi support, and for the first time ever, consumers will be able to access Samsung’s upgraded Internet@TV feature through their Samsung Blu-ray players via their wireless/broadband connection, even if they do not have a Samsung HDTV. New for Internet@TV this year is Samsung Apps, providing consumers with an expanded, easy to navigate selection of content and applications from leading services Accedo Broadband, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Blockbuster, Fashion TV, Netflix, Picasa, Pandora, Rovi, Travel Channel, Twitter, USA TODAY, and Vudu.

Premium HD Experience Packed into the Slimmest Form Factor: BD-C7500

The Samsung BD-C7500 is a beautiful, nature-inspired player, offering a multimedia experience that goes well beyond traditional Blu-ray players. A CES 2010 Innovations Honoree in the Video Components product category, the BD-C7500 is the world’s slimmest Blu-ray player at 1.1 inches. The ultra-slim device features an elegant nature-inspired wood design coated with jewel-like gloss. Designed to be wall-mounted, placed on a 25-degree angle stand or placed flat, it can be configured to match almost any home entertainment set-up.

The BD-C7500 features improved disc load and boot up times, while the 1080p playback reproduces movie images at 24 fps without need for up-conversion, resulting in a natural on-screen motion.

Getting into the Action with Immersive 3D Playback: BD-C6900

Entertainment enthusiasts can enjoy for the first time 3D content on their Blu-ray player, enhanced with multi-channel HD surround sound with the BD-C6900. As demand for 3D content increases, Samsung provides consumers with a way to immerse themselves into the entertainment experience and watch their favorite 3D titles from the comfort of their homes. The player is compatible with Samsung’s new 3D HDTVs and recently ratified 3D Blu-ray standard, for the ultimate in immersive, life-like experience.

True to its commitment to elegant design, Samsung delivers the BD-C6900 in a slim design and a transparent cover that allows the consumer to see the disk spin as it plays.

Fast Performance, Quality Entertainment: BD-C6500

With a lightning fast 15-second disc load and 15-second boot-up time, the BD-C6500 is one of the quickest Blu-ray players in the market giving consumers more time to relax and enjoy their favorite movies in high-definition. Another CES 2010 Innovations Honoree, the player features enhanced Blu-ray disc playback using Samsung’s Adaptive Servo Technology (AST). All of this is packaged in a slim and sleek design.

Eco-Friendly Home Theater Experience: BD-C5500

Consistent across all of the 2010 Blu-ray player models is a commitment to green attributes, starting with the BD-C5500 Blu-ray player. Each player has improved energy efficiency by using new technologies such as loader duty control, low voltage spindle motor, and analog video detect, which contribute to a reduced power consumption of 13W during disc playback, and just 0.1W in stand-by mode. The players are all compliant to the more stringent EnergyStar® 4.0 guidelines.

The BD-C5500 is designed for the consumer who wants a high-performing Blu-ray player with advanced multimedia features at an affordable value. The player is Wi-Fi ready (separate purchase of Wi-Fi USB dongle required) allowing consumers to surf the content of their DLNA devices or the diverse entertainment options via Internet@TV.

Samsung’s new C7000 series plants a flag for plasma-ites. There aren’t a lot of details available yet, but we do know that it’s coming this year.

The C7000 is a 1080p plasma that promises both native 3D support and the ability to convert your 2D content to 3D as you watch. The sets will have built-in Ethernet and wireless, which gives you access to Internet TV and Samsung Apps and various content partners.

So far it’s just been vaguely announced for 2010, but hopefully it’ll be available sooner than later. In time for a 3D World Cup, say?

SAMSUNG Unveils Slim 2010 Plasma Series HDTVs
January 6, 2010

New TVs Offer Enhanced Picture Quality and Advanced Connectivity in New Slim Designs. .

Select Plasma HDTVs to Have 3D Support.

LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today unveiled its new portfolio of ultra-slim Plasma HDTVs with the 8000, 7000 and 6500 Series. Each provides technologies that deliver exceptional picture quality, advanced connectivity with the updated Internet@TV feature and compliance to revised EnergyStar 4.0 standards – all in a slim form factor. Additionally, the premium plasma TV line (8000 and 7000 Series) includes Samsung’s proprietary built-in 3D processor that adds a new dimension to TV viewing at home. The TVs will be on display at Booth #11026 during the International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 7 – 10, 2010.

“Samsung has raised the bar for the plasma TV marketplace by providing exceptional picture quality in a slim and energy efficient package,” said Sung-ho Jun, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Division at Samsung Electronics. “With select models also including 3D capabilities and Web-enabled multimedia access, Samsung’s promise to create products that evolve with the needs and desires of our customers is reflected in our new 2010 plasma TV lines.”

Samsung Plasma HDTV 8000 Series

Featuring a slim brushed titanium bezel with hints of the Touch of Color™ (ToC™) design, the Samsung Plasma HDTV 8000 Series provides consumers with the perfect combination of design and performance. Samsung’s built-in 3D technology makes images leap off the screen while innovations like Real Black Filter and Motion Judder Canceller (MJC) deliver unprecedented picture quality. The Real Black Filter reduces the onscreen glare caused by ambient light, so blacks and shadow details are as crisp and defined as possible, while MJC reduces motion judder inherently found in fast-paced action scenes in film-based movies.

In order to ensure that consumers get the entertainment experience that best fits their tastes, the Samsung Plasma 8000 Series comes with a calibration mode that allows them to adjust key picture quality aspects for optimized viewing. The TVs are also equipped with Samsung’s CinemaSmooth™ technology for playback of 24fps Blu-ray content mirroring the quality of the latest movie theaters.

The upgraded Internet@TV feature now includes Samsung Apps, providing consumers with an expanded, easy to navigate selection of content and applications from leading services like Accedo Broadband, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Blockbuster, Fashion TV , Netflix, Picasa, Pandora, Rovi, Travel Channel, Twitter, USA TODAY, and Vudu. Applications can be downloaded and viewed all while watching TV. The first batch of TV apps will launch in the spring free of charge, while premium apps will be available for purchase via the engine’s monetary transaction solution in the summer of 2010.

Samsung Plasma HDTV 7000 Series

The Samsung Plasma HDTV 7000 Series brings the high-quality of plasma displays and the immersive experience of 3D entertainment in a slim, brushed black bezel designed to delight entertainment enthusiasts. This ultra-slim TV comes equipped with a wealth of immersive viewing technologies and picture enhancing technologies, including Samsung’s Clear Image Panel technology which delivers clear images from every angle without the dual images and blurring typically found with conventional panels. It also features High-Definition 3D Processing and Internet@TV connectivity.

In particular, Samsung’s built-in 3D processor was developed to comply with major 3D formats including the recently ratified “Blu-ray 3D” standard. In addition, Samsung’s 3D system delivers a picture using a full color spectrum for an unbelievable, immersive viewing experience. Along with the company’s 3D Blu-ray player (BD-C6900) and active shutter glasses, Samsung offers a complete solution allowing consumers to bring the 3D theater experience home. The processing can even be applied to broadcast TV, gaming content and legacy DVDs to automatically convert 2D viewing into 3D in real time. If you’re not in the 3D mood, you’re back to watching one of the best quality HDTVs on the market with the push of a button.

The 58-inch class model received a 2010 CES “Innovations Honoree” Award.

Samsung Plasma HDTV 6500 Series

The Plasma HDTV 6500 Series is Samsung’s entry-level ultra-slim TV. While the TV’s exterior features the company’s signature ToC design, the TV comes with Samsung’s Wide Color Enhancer and Clear Image Panel to achieve the highest picture quality available on a plasma TV. The 6500 Series also provides expansive access to entertainment options with the updated Internet@TV feature.

Ever More Efficient

Samsung’s 8000, 7000 and 6500 Series Plasma HDTVs feature a high-efficiency panel that lowers the TVs power consumption to meet the more stringent Energy Star® 4.0 guidelines.

AT&T has finally added their name to the list of carriers officially on board with Android.  Coming not a moment too soon, the nation’s 4th largest carrier announced today that five Android-based handsets are coming in the first half of 2010.  Speaking at the 4th annual AT&T Developer Summit in Las Vegas, executives promised phones from HTC, Motorola, and Dell.

The Motorola phone pictured below is all but confirmed as the Backflip, which has been tossed through the rumor mill of late.  The Dell handset will be a variation of the Mini 3 that’s been released in other countries.  And as for the HTC device… the only thing we know at this point is that it will be an “AT&T exclusive”.

If you are interested in keeping up to date, head to AT&T’s dedicated Android page and add your email address.

Any AT&T subscribers out there getting excited over the news?  Anyone gonna hold off for a few more months to switch to “the nation’s fastest 3G network“?

The world is going crazy. Last year, we wrote about the bizarre job of some movie industry lawyers who have to go through films to make sure no brands appear in the film that haven’t given express approval. It’s an example of the ridiculousness of the “permission” society we now live in, where everything is covered by copyright and even having something appear in the background of a film can count as a copyright or trademark infringement in the minds of many.

Michael Scott points us to the news that a model named Angelyne, who appears in some billboard advertisements, is suing the makers of the film Notorious, because one of her billboards appears in the film for approximately 12-seconds “without prior consent.” I can’t see how this wouldn’t be fair use, but with the US courts, you never know. Still, in the lawsuit, she claims that because of the billboard being in the film, she suffered “loss of reputation and standing in the community.” You know what else might create loss of reputation or standing in the community? Filing ridiculous copyright lawsuits against moviemakers who happened to catch your billboard which was on display out in public.

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Sony announced at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show that Gran Turismo 5 would be released in Japan in March 2010, while North American and European release dates would be announced in the near future. While we eagerly await the arrival for our gaming pleasures, Gran Turismo 5 has revealed the official cover for the game with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG gracing the front.

Check out a video of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in Gran Turismo 5 after the jump.

Click here for more Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG news.

Refresher: Power comes from a 6.2L V8 making 563-hp with a maximum torque of 479 lb-ft. Mated to an E-SELECT system that controls the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed sports transmission, the SLS AMG can go from 0 to 62 mph in just 3.7 seconds (with the Race Start launch control system) with a top speed of 196 mph.

2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG:

2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

– By: Kap Shah

letsrecycle.comOttawa orders study into environmental, health effects of making renewable fuelsThe Canadian PressEnvironment Canada is now looking for a firm to come up with environmental benchmarks for biofuel production. A report is due by the end of…

The Volatility Index (VIX) is a tricky beast, but here’s at least one indicator that pre-Lehman levels of market complacency are back.

The VIX just hit a 16-month low today, basically wiping away the entire panic-driven run-up since Lehman went boom. If you’re getting bearish, the good news is that buying puts as protection for your current stocks could be getting cheaper due to less future potential volatility priced-in. It might be worth a look.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Risk Is Dead — The VIX Is About To Hit A New Low
• The VIX Goes Schizophrenic
• The VIX ETF "VXX" Is Another Classic ETF Disaster

Clearly, if you are an Apple customer that has been wronged, emailing [email protected] is the way to go. Alisa did this after Apple refused to return her stolen iPhone, and things are starting to look up.

It turned out to be a happy story, e-mailing Steve Jobs actually helped. I e-mailed him the same day I emailed consumerist, which was the 30th of December, on the 2nd of January I got a phone call from the executive office of Apple. I was then told that they do have a procedure for these types of situations, and that I need to provide them with a police report number. Once they have a police report number there is someone at Apple that deals only with law enforcement and will be in touch with them. At this point all this has happened and there is an investigation under way.

I’m glad that I was wrong, Apple does have a policy regarding these types of situations and they do care. It’s just frustrating that I have to reach out the the CEO of this huge multi-billion dollar company to fix what seemed like a no-brainer to me (even though its not a huge deal to email him). It would have definitely reduced a lot of stress if the apple rep I spoke to would have told either me or the NYPD that she needed a police report number and it wasn’t enough to just hear from the police. I still think that it wouldn’t be too difficult for Apple to flag serial numbers that have been reported stolen or lost (via whatever means they designate at legitimate proof) and then proceed to investigate if the serial number crosses their path at some point.

It seems to me that if Apple had such an iron-clad policy on this, it wouldn’t have been necessary to email the high level support team in the first place. My guess is that filing a police report, emailing Jobs and, most importantly, generating a firestorm of negative press is the real winning combination for customer satisfaction. [Thanks Alisa!]

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Panic has released a major update to its Mac Usenet client Unison. Usenet is one of those historical districts of the Internet that’s a bit off the beaten track these days, but still has its uses. It began as a global message board system and still has lots of folks doing that, but it has also become a huge repository of binaries and a good alternative to bittorrent and other peer to peer systems.

Back in the day I was a Usenet fiend, but I’d fallen away until very recently; I returned courtesy of NewsgroupDirect, a good, Mac-friendly third-party Usenet provider that provided a review account for TUAW use (you generally have to subscribe these days for Usenet access). What I was surprised to discover on my return was the advent of NZB files and search engines which make it extremely easy to find binaries (unlike the old days when you had to look for everything manually). The new version of Unison offers native support for NZB searching within the application (via binsearch.info and others). It also automatically takes care of finding missing parts, PAR recovery, and RAR unpacking. In short, Unison is now clearly your best bet on the Mac for Usenet binaries.

Of course Unison also retains its older message reading features and adds handy new ones like threading. There’s an updated interface and the general level of Mac goodness one associates with Panic. Unison 2.0 is $29 ($18 upgrade from version 1) and a 7-day demo is available. If you need a Usenet subscription, Panic is offering the companion service Unison Access for $9 a month; NewsgroupDirect offers a range of plans from $8 to $20 per month.

TUAWPanic releases Unison 2, improves binaries support originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Mods, Found Footage

Our buddies over at Engadget turned us on to this short video, in which modder Freddy Deeble created a sonic hybrid — a pair of Bose headphones using an Apple inline remote.

If you’re handy with a pair of wire cutters, a small screwdriver, and a soldering iron, then you can mimic how Mr. Deeble achieved the best of both worlds with his little mod. Not only does he get better audio quality from the over-the-ear Bose ‘phones than he would from a standard pair of Apple earbuds or in-ear headphones, but he also gets to keep that sweet little inline “squeezably soft” remote.

TUAW, of course, takes no responsibility for any damage you may cause to your Bose headphones, your Apple earbuds with remote, or yourself if you do this. And your warranties? Consider ‘em gone… Enjoy the video, and stay safe, kids.

TUAWFound Footage: Bose headphones grafted onto Apple inline remote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Gaming, Hardware, Peripherals, Other Events, iPhone, App Store

Probably the coolest iPhone-related product to come out of the festivities at CES so far this week is the AR.Drone, created by a company called Parrot. It’s a little working microcopter that’s remote-controlled by an iPhone app, and it’s decked out with all sorts of interesting gadgetry, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, and two cameras. A key feature is Wi-Fi integration, so the AR.Drone can actually be controlled by any Wi-Fi device, not just an iPhone.

Release is rumored to happen as early as March of this year, although the product itself is still somewhat surrounded in mystery — we don’t know a price, and even some of the features sound a little fantastical. Apparently the drone has an “autofly” setting, in which it’ll follow certain visual stimuli in the environment, and it apparently also watches the floor for flight stabilization. The features go even further than that, with the cameras on the real-life drone providing an augmented reality game feed (like shooting robots around your house as you explore with the drone) back to the iPhone.

Like I said, the features are fantastical. Parrot hasn’t actually been able to show off controlling the copter with the iPhone in anything but the video above — apparently there’s too much Wi-Fi permeating the air around CES. But this is the most-hyped item coming out of the first few days of CES for sure. It’ll be interesting to see how the actual product looks and works as we get closer to the expected release. Boy, a price would be nice to hear, though it’ll probably be high!

TUAWParrot unveils the AR.Drone, an iPhone-controlled microcopter, at CES originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For AT&T, 2010 will be all about Android and Palm’s WebOS– at least that’s the impression one’s left with after the company’s CES event this morning which featured a lot of talk about devices based on those operating systems and little mention of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, which has overstuffed the company’s wallet almost as obscenely as it has its network. Evidently AT&T (T) thought it best not to mention the iconic super-smartphone too much, lest its executives be driven offstage by a mob of iPhone users complaining of dropped calls, lousy service, delayed text and voice messages and testudine download speeds.

Anyway, as I was saying … AT&T said it would be adding two as of yet undisclosed Palm (PALM) WebOS phones to its line-up this year, as well as five Android devices. Among the latter, a mysterious new HTC phone (hmm … wonder what that could be …) and Dell’s Mini 3 — a device that shares the same basic design as the smarphones Dell (DELL) already sells in China. Oh, and the company has adopted an “Apps for All” strategy that will see it supporting not just the iPhone App Store, but Palm’s App Catalog, the Android, Windows Marketplace and Nokia’s (NOK) Ovi Store

So, AT&T is adding five new data-guzzling “Superphones” to its 2010 line-up, along with 4 new app storefronts. How does it propose to handle the resulting data demands considering the difficulties it’s had supporting the iPhone? Said AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, “How is our network going to support this growth? We’re continuing to add thousands of new cell sites and backhaul connections and preparing for the move to LTE. We’re confident that our industry leading investments and upgrades will help us maintain our position as the nation’s fastest 3G network.”

Whatever you say Ralph.

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By Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Coming soon: flash drives even smaller than the ones you already have.

Lexar Media, a memory-products unit of Micron Technology, is launching a line of what it calls “ultra-portable” USB flash drives at CES. Chief among them is the Lexar Echo ZE, a mere 20.1 by 15.1 millimeters (roughly 0.8″ by 0.6″) in size.

Lexar is calling it “one of the smallest USB flash drives in the world” and marketing it to netbook and laptop users.

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Best Buy said this morning that it is “streamlining Napster’s executive structure” — corporate parlance for sacking the faltering music service’s leadership which has had a tough time finding a winning business model in a digital music world dominated by Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes store. CEO Chris Gorog and president Brad Duea are both leaving Napster which was acquired by the big box retailer a little over a year ago.

Gorog announced his departure in a farewell post to the Napster blog.

“We began with a simple idea – “legalizing Napster” – and spent almost a decade trying to perfect that dream,” Gorog wrote in a farewell post ot the Napster blog. “It wasn’t always easy. We were criticized at times for “renting” music. But we thought then – and still believe quite strongly – that we had a better approach to digital music. Why buy downloads – when for a small monthly fee you can have access to – everything? Well after a lot of years of chasing this dream of – unlimited access, anytime, anywhere – it seems to be catching on.”

Erm, not really. Napster had 760,000 in 2008. Today it has about 700,000. That’s not catching on, it’s holding on — for dear life … And, to be fair, the dream to which Gorog refers is a tough one to chase when your service doesn’t work on the dominant media hardware of the day — even after Best Buy acquires you for $121 million. At this point, it’s been eclipsed by a nightmare reallity in which Napster’s legal subscription service stagnates as rivals like Apple’s iTunes and Amazon continue to push it to the periphery of the digital music market.

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eVoter (evoter.com) and Sun-Times Media, LLC, today announced a partnership that will link Illinois voters to election information, candidate profiles and organization endorsements in preparation for the Feb. 2, 2010, primary election.

eVoter is the first online destination where voters, candidates and endorsing organizations make direct connections.

The non-partisan website provides voters with the accurate, up-to-date information they need to make informed decisions on Election Day, from statewide races for Governor and U.S. Senator all the way down to candidates for County Board and Precinct Committeeman in every district in Illinois.

Through the partnership, Sun-Times Media will provide direct links from each of its newspaper Web sites to co-branded voter information services powered by eVoter.

In the months leading up to the primary and 2010 general election, eVoter will power a search field on each of Sun-Times Media’s Web sites that allows voters to search for more information quickly on a specific candidate or race.

“eVoter is pleased to announce its partnership with a respected, well-known news organization like the Chicago Sun-Times,” said Adam Kravitz, CEO of Political Technologies LLC, owners and operators of eVoter.

“Now, when voters turn to any of Sun-Times Media’s websites to catch up on the latest local election news, they’ll also have easy access to the powerful election resources provided by eVoter. This is an exciting new service that is unique to voters in Illinois.”

“Sun-Times Media is excited to work with eVoter and bring eVoter’s valuable voter tools to our marketplace, which will link Illinois voters with accurate and important election information,” said Hunt Kingsbury, Vice President and General Manager of Interactive Media for Sun-Times Media.

eVoter allows voters to locate their polling place, generate and print a customized ballot, access an absentee ballot, look up endorsements from registered organizations, and donate to campaigns.

In addition to the voter tools, candidates can purchase and customize an online profile, and endorsing organizations can publicize their candidate endorsements for a low cost.

Searches on the co-branded sites will highlight candidates endorsed by the editorial staffs of the Sun-Times Media’s newspapers.

Illinois, which has the nation’s first primary election in 2010, is the first state where eVoter is available.

Political Technologies plans to provide the service in more than a half-dozen states by the 2010 general election and all 50 states by 2012.

For more information, visit eVoter.com or suntimes.com. Candidates or endorsing organizations that are interested in creating a profile should visit eVoter.com or call (866) 976-0555.

ABOUT EVOTER

eVoter is the unbiased, non-partisan election information site where voters can generate a personalized sample ballot instantly, view candidate profiles, make contributions, view organizational endorsements, find polling places, request absentee ballot applications, and more.

Owned and operated by Florida-based Political Technologies LLC (politicaltechnologies.com), eVoter is designed with the goal of providing voters with concise unbiased information on every candidate and measure on their ballot.

With 7000+ Illinois Primary Election Candidates listed and 11,000+ polling places, eVoter is the destination for 2010 Illinois Primary Election information.

ABOUT SUN-TIMES MEDIA

Sun-Times Media is dedicated to being the premier source of local news and information for the greater Chicago area.

Its media properties serve more than 300 communities across the region and include the Chicago Sun-Times and Suntimes.com; seven suburban daily newspapers, including the Beacon-News (Aurora), Courier-News (Elgin), Herald-News (Joliet), Lake County News-Sun, Naperville Sun, Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.) and the SouthtownStar; 39 weekly newspapers published by the Pioneer Press and 12 weekly Sun newspapers, as well as Web sites for those newspapers, centerstagechicago.com, RogerEbert.com and YourSeason.com.

Want to see something old? Something really old? Take a gander at this shot, which shows galaxies between 12.9 and 13.1 billion years old. For reference, the universe is estimated to be about 13.5 to 14 billion years old.

The images here were taken during August 2009 over the course of 4 days and 173,000 total seconds of exposure times. Hubble used the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3, which allows it to see near-infrared wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. This allowed the telescope to observe light from the very beginnings of the universe.This is because the expansion of the universe distorts the ultraviolet and visible light from these galaxies over the course of their unimaginably long journey, pushing them into near-infrared wavelengths.

These are some of the final images the Hubble will send back, as it’s being replaced by the James Webb Telescope in 2014. Which is both sad an exciting, as the Hubble has shown us so much of the universe but the Webb will show us even more. [HubbleSite via io9]