Author: Serkadis

Amidst a major re-imaging, GM is pushing dealers to remodel their showrooms, and they are even offering to foot part of the bill. In order to be reimbursed for the work however, dealers must follow guidelines set forth by GM which includes brand-isolation. That is, GM brands must be sold separate from non-GM brands, an point sure to cause a hurdle for many auto malls. Dealers have three-years to complete the remodeling, and can expect to be paid back in five to 10 years. Also, repayment will be based on sales figures and not the cost of renovation.

Dubbed the Essential Brand Elements program by GM, the plan also requires that dealers accepting assistance follow a common web site design, and submit their staff’s to GM training and hand over their sales and service customer lists so that the company may coordinate marketing mailings.

The amount of assistance received by each dealer will be based on a seasonally adjusted formula that take snit account the prices of vehicles sold.

The new design campaign is targeted specifically towards younger buyers, as the company wants the in-person experiences of these individuals to match the media market image being built by GM.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director David Kolata on the appointment of Ald. Flores to chair ICC:

Gov. Pat Quinn’s appointment of Chicago Ald. Manuel Flores to chair the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) is good news for Land of Lincoln consumers.

Ald. Flores has proven to be a strong, independent, and fair voice for consumers during a career of public service.

He has made consumer issues a top priority, and has been a strong supporter of renewable energy and energy-efficiency initiatives that are key to controlling turbulent energy prices.

CUB looks forward to working with Ald. Flores to promote consumer-friendly telecommunications and energy policy in Illinois.

CUB is Illinois’ leading nonprofit utility watchdog organization. Created by the Illinois Legislature, CUB opened its doors in 1984 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers.

CUB has saved consumers more than $10 billion by helping to block rate hikes and secure refunds over the years. For more information, call CUB’s Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556 or visit CUB’s award-winning website, CitizensUtilityBoard.org.

His shoots are: danger+sex+fun=art.

(via @Allanhyde on Twitter)

For those of you who love CDMA and fear contracts, we have some good news for you. A new connect has come through with some details on three new handsets to be offered by U.S. prepaid provider Boost Mobile. Our source indicates that starting January 13, Boost will be offering the BlackBerry 8330 for $249 and will pair it with an unlimited talk, text and web plan for $70/month. The Sanyo Incognito will be offered for $149 and the Sanyo Mirro for $99, both with unlimited talk, text and web for $50/month. We’ve got the additional screen captures queued up for you after the break. So the only question left is, any Boost Mobile fans out there and anyone itching to grab a BlackBerry 8330?

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A young American lady, Katie Spotz, has just started to row across the Atlantic Ocean on her own. Why? Katie, 22 years old, hopes to raise $30,000 for Blue Planet Run and give clean water to 1,000 people by doing this!

Katie just pushed off from Senegal yesterday and is on her way. She hopes to make the 2,500-mile journey in just over 100 days. The map above shows her progress up until now (updated every 20 minutes on her twitter page by Google Earth).

Apparently, she really will not see another human being for the entire trip (although she is sure to have bird visitors — her first one photographed in the picture below). She has not been rowing for long, but apparently she is not new to such adventures.

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Datacolor has been in the HDTV and computer monitor calibrating scene for some time now. Its latest model, the Spyder3HDMI, is just the latest calibration tool in a long line. This model, however, has a clever new trick: it doesn’t need a computer or DVD player. Nope, the Spyder3HDMI feeds all the necessary color targets and dialogs directly into the HDTV. Hopefully it works as well as it sounds.

The older models required you to hook a sensor to the front of the HDTV or project screen and then connect it to a computer. A DVD player then provides the HDTV a series of color patterns and while the user adjusts the TV’s display settings step-by-step. I have one. It works well, but it’s definitely not a system that an above-average Luddite could handle. The whole process takes about 25 minutes, but the results are worth it.

The new system at least sounds like it takes a lot of the guess work out. The process probably isn’t automatic and users will likely still need to adjust the TV’s settings manually, but at least a computer isn’t involved anymore. Stay tuned for more details. (bad pun courtesy of Datacolor’s PR flack)

Datacolor® and Portrait Displays Demonstrate New Generation TV Calibration System – Spyder3HDMI®

New System Automatically Calibrates TVs Using Integrated Software

2010 International CES
January 04, 2010 08:00 AM Eastern Time
LAS VEGAS–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Datacolor®, a global leader in digital color management technology, along with its product development partner, Portrait Displays, Inc., announced they will demonstrate an incredible breakthrough in TV calibration with their new Spyder3HDMI® calibration system. The companies will display the new TV color calibration technology at their booth located inside the HDMI TechZone in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the Consumer Electronics Show (South Hall, Booth #20309)

“Consumers are making significant investments in their home theater systems but often lack the knowledge or proper tools to get their big screen TVs to perform at optimum levels”

Spyder3HDMI automatically calibrates any digital TV using an HDMI connection, eliminating the need for a computer or cumbersome third party solution that requires OSD adjustments. The software, including all dialogs and color targets, is embedded directly into the TV for easy calibration. With Spyder3HDMI, professional color adjustments are no longer proprietary to only sophisticated users or installation technicians but available to everyone. Anyone can now benefit from properly calibrated color to maximize their viewing experience. The built-in, step-by-step process calibrates the color of each TV to its specific environment.

“Consumers are making significant investments in their home theater systems but often lack the knowledge or proper tools to get their big screen TVs to perform at optimum levels,” says Christoph Gamper, Vice President, Consumer Business Unit, Datacolor. “Spyder3HDMI takes the frustration and guesswork out of calibrating your TV and simplifies the process by embedding the software and step-by-step instructions directly into the TVs operating environment. Once calibrated, consumers will see an amazing difference in the viewing experience, as well as a reduction in their energy consumption because a calibrated TV is more energy efficient,” Mr. Gamper added.

TV manufacturers, Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are invited to visit Datacolor and Portrait Displays at the HDMI TechZone to learn how easy it is incorporate the color calibration software into their TV product line. Calibration set-up instructions can be designed to match each manufacturer’s On-Screen Display (OSD) for a seamless, customized look.

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This is an interesting development. The latest Vaios leaked out a little while ago, and for the most part they were what one would expect: improved performance, better battery life, that sort of thing. But there’s an interesting feature that wasn’t on the leaked spec list (and isn’t confirmed to be, either): a “quad” SSD composed of four SSD drives working together in RAID 0. If the chipset and other hardware are designed with something like this in mind, it really could be extremely fast.

Of course it’d be fast whether they designed for it or not, but if they made sure to have the right motherboard, fast RAM, special storage controllers and so on, it could blow away the competition. Laptop had drives are traditionally low-power 5400RPM HDDs, though SSDs are becoming more common, and this multiple SSD setup could be the next step in luxury mobile computing.

It’s unclear whether the “64GB/128GB x 4″ quoted is, for instance, four 32GB drives making up 128GB or four 128GB drives making up 512GB. I’d lean towards the former, since the latter would be incredibly expensive. Sure, SSDs are already expensive, but four high-capacity drives would put the raw storage cost at over $1500.

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I’m sure this is a very grand advance in miniaturization, but I’m afraid the results may be questionable. Omnivision has announced a new sensor for mobile phone cameras that will take 14MP photos and do 1080p video at 60FPS. As far as I’m concerned, this is bad news. Cameraphone lenses are slow and of very low quality, and the tiny sensor size means both bad low light performance and bad clarity due to insanely small pixel pitch.

And the video will have to be low bitrate to accommodate the lack of storage on most phones. 1080p video at 1Mbps? It’ll be like watching an HDTV smeared with vaseline.

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Filed under: iTS, How-tos, iTunes, Mac 101

The iTunes Store and App Store have mastered the art of the impulse purchase. “Only two bucks? Sure, why not?” The good news is that you can send a song, album, movie or TV show to a friend just as easily.

Let’s start with music. First, find the album or song you’d like to send. If you’re sending a song, you’ll see a drop-down arrow next to the track’s “Buy” button. Click it to reveal the menu at right, then select “Gift this song.”

You’re brought to a new screen (in the gallery below). From there you only need to enter some information, click continue and you’re done! Your recipient will receive a nice email message with a download link. The process is the same for albums, individual TV shows, audiobooks (though the “Gift this audiobook” looks different) and movies.

Note that you can’t gift entire TV seasons (bummer) or iPhone/iPod touch apps. However, you can opt to share a link to an interesting app. With the app selected, click the same drop-down button to reveal the “Tell a Friend” option. The same is true of Podcasts – hit that “Tell a Friend” button to let everyone know what you’re listening to. With just a few clicks, you can share your favorite content with anyone you want!

TUAWMac 101: Purchase a file in iTunes for someone else originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Other Events, Apple

Things are beginning to firm up on the specs of the rumored tablet device. According to the Wall Street Journal, who interviewed people who were apparently briefed today on the subject by Apple, “Apple plans to unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but doesn’t plan on shipping the product until March. While the shipping time hasn’t been finalized and could change, people briefed on the matter said the new tablet device will come with a 10- to 11-inch touch screen.” Apple is apparently also working on two different material finishes for the device. Unknown is whether or not there will be two versions or if Apple is selecting one finish over another for the final device.

This overlaps with a few predictions on the topic naming 10″ as the proposed size of the device, and adds yet another example where rumor has risen above the tech/Apple blogosphere to more general news sources.

All eyes on the January 27th event.

(Thanks to John H. for the tip.)

TUAWWSJ: Apple tablet device to be 10 inches, “shipping in March.” originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New devices allowing local broadcasters to deliver TV on the go will be on display at CES this year, but the availability of such a service to the average consumer seems to still be encountering interference.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) will be hosting an event on Wednesday in Las Vegas to show off a pretty impressive display of devices, including a prototype phone, a portable Mobile DTV receiver with DVD playback, netbook computers, a mobile Wi-Fi access point, which allows existing devices to watch TV when equipped with Wi‐Fi, and USB receivers for laptops. But it’s unclear when networks will be ready on a large scale. Previously, the OMVC has said that 70 stations were committed to launching mobile DTV services, but so far only about 30 are live.

A slower network roll-out will likely work out well since many of the consumer devices won’t be ready until later this year. But delays will give Qualcomm’s FLO TV service a chance get ahead. Today, Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) resells its broadcast TV services through Verizon Wireless and AT&T (NYSE: T). It also just started selling its first direct to consumer product this holiday. The major differences between the two will be cost and content. Qualcomm charges a monthly fee and has major national feeds, like ESPN (NYSE: DIS) and others. Mobile DTV will likely be free, and the content will include local feeds that vary from market-by-market. The broadcasters will also have to contend with federal regulators who have started to consider repositioning some spectrum used today for TV for wireless services as the demand for additional bandwidth continues to soar.

Brandon Burgess, chairman of the broadcasters’ coalition, told the WSJ that FLO TV is too expensive, and “Having premium content like ESPN available on a mobile device is great, but it’s not our starting point. We’ll start with local broadcasts to try to educate consumers.”

One device on display is the Tivit, an accessory made by Valups Corp. that receives Mobile DTV signals and transfers them to devices that have Wi-Fi connections, like mobile phones. The device is expected to cost from $90 to $120. Contrast that to Qualcomm’s FLO TV Personal Television, which has a 3.5 inch, and costs $250, including six months of free service. After that, you will be charged $14.99 a month. LG (SEO: 066570) also is working on a DVD player that has a Mobile DTV receiver. That will cost about $249, and will be available later this year. At least one cellphone that can receive Mobile DTV will be at the show, although it is being called a prototype.

The coalition says to date, 30 U.S. stations have started offering Mobile DTV, including a station in Raleigh, which has partnered with the city to broadcast channels in 18 city buses. There’s also test markets in Seattle and Atlanta with one coming to the D.C. area soon.

Related

• @ CES: Mobile TV Will Likely Be Free, But No Retail Or Carrier Partnerships Announced
• @ CES: Mobile DTV Gets Commitments From 63 Stations For 2009 Rollout

Ralink has been hot on the high-definition streaming content front since this past summer and is now introducing networking hardware that’ll make it easier to get all those lovely pixels from disk to display wirelessly — plus a bevy of other high-speed networking goodies to boot. The RT3572 is a 300 Mbps 802.11n-enabling chip designed for inclusion in high-end displays and media players, including wireless streaming of Blu-ray playback, DLNA content, and IPTV. For general networking the company is introducing the RT3883 and RT3593 chips, which enable 450Mbps 802.11n connectivity and feature beam forming, meaning the transmitter can locate receivers and modify “various transmission parameters” to optimize connectivity. Finally, there’s the RT3090BC4 combination 802.11n and Bluetooth Half MiniCard adapter, and a “world’s smallest” USB 802.11n adapter, little larger than the USB port you’ll plug it into. You know what that means: no unsightly protrusions.

Ralink debuts suite of networking hardware to form your beams and transmit your HD originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Mobile DTV standard is official, sure, but the device selection at this point isn’t what we’d call plentiful or even appealing — so leave it to CES to attract a virtually unknown company with an attractive alternative. Dubbed Tivit, the pocketable box is a said to be a bit smaller and lighter than a deck of cards and claims to stream television to a number of WiFi-enabled devices, including Windows laptops, Motorola Android phones (no clue why other Android devices wouldn’t be in the running here), WiFi-equipped BlackBerrys, and even iPhone 3G / third-gen iPod touch (software via related App Store download). One charge gets you three hours of reception, and while that $120 price tag isn’t too terrible a fee for keeping the phone you like, when the dongle launches in Spring, it better hope the channel selection is more interesting. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Tivit promises to bring Mobile DTV to the iPhone and other WiFi-equipped mobile devices

Tivit promises to bring Mobile DTV to the iPhone and other WiFi-equipped mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t like cashing out for iPhone apps? Well, if you’re a car enthusiast, BMW is offering a new iPhone app called “BMW M Power Meter.”

Using integrated movement sensors on the iPhone, the app records the following performance data of your journeys in real time and for free:

• Speed (mph / km/h)
• Forward acceleration (Forward g)
• Lateral acceleration (Lateral g)
• Travel time for a specified distance (e.g. 100 m)
• Acceleration to a specific speed (e.g. 0–100 km/h)

You can download the BMW M Power Meter iPhone App here.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: BMW

Munich, Germany | Astounding Timepieces

The wedding of the 16th century duke most famous for building the first brewery in Munich is celebrated every day in the huge mechanical clock on Marienplatz. 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures come to life daily in the 260 foot tower, reenacting two scenes from Munich’s history.

The top part of the clock recounts the story of the fantastically expensive and sumptuous marriage of Bavarian Duke Wilhelm V in 1568, with mechanical jousters representing Bavaria in blue triumph over knights of Lothingren in red. The original party lasted two weeks, and was attended by thousands of revelers, the highlight being the royal joust, which took place in the Marienplatz where the clock is now located.

A couple of blocks away is the Hofbraeuhaus founded by Wilhelm V to meet his needs for brown ale, the first brewery in the city. Lavish wedding as beer aside, Duke Wilhelm V was also known as a militant Catholic leader who took increasingly drastic measures both of personal piety and of public anti-Protestant policy. Under his leadership Bavaria became known as the center of early counter-reformation actions, including the final expulsion of Catholics from Bavaria and numerous witch hunts – a legacy which continued after his death by his son Maximillian I.

On the lower portion of the glockenspiel, coopers (barrel makers) twirl through their famous Schäfflerstanz. According to tradition, the Schäfflerstanz, or Cooper’s Dance is tied to the end of a 1517 plague when the local coopers lured the frightened residents back out into the streets with some foot slapping dancing. The details may be apocryphal, but Munich did indeed suffer a terrible plague in 1635 which wiped out about a third of the population. Considered one of the last original guild dances in Germany, the Schäfflerstanz is traditionally reenacted by live dancers every seven years during the festival of Fasching, coming up next in 2012.

At the end of the show, a small golden bird chirps from the top of the glockenspiel. The whole show lasts about 15 minutes.

A relatively recent addition to the ancient town square, the glockenspiel was built in 1908 as part of the second half of building on the gingerbread Gothic-revival New Town Hall. Amazingly, the building escaped major damage during the heavy bombardment during WWII which left other buildings nearby roofless. A 2007 renovation apparently left the carillon out of tune, but it has since been remedied.

The show starts daily at 11am, with additional shows at noon and 5pm in the summertime, lasting 12-15 minutes long. For a higher vantage point, head to the Hugendubel bookshop across the street and climb to the third floor.

Making a smaller nighttime appearance, at 9pm two figures – an angel on one side, and a night watchman on the other – emerge below the clock face.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—New Mexico regulators have given the state’s largest utility another three weeks to turn in a filing that spells out how it will incorporate renewable energy into its portfolio. Public Service Company of New Mexico was supposed to …

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz only recently launched its first production hybrid in the form of the S400 BlueHybrid, and it’s already working on the next generation of its flagship S-class. When that model debuts in a few years time, it is expected to be the first model from Stuttgart to offer a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain. At this point, it’s unknown which of Mercedes’ two hybrid systems it will use. The S400 uses a new mild hybrid system that doesn’t support electric-only driving, but Mercedes-Benz also has the two-mode system from the ML450 hybrid. The automaker showed off the potential for this car with the Vision 500 Plug-in HYBRID concept (above) at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

With the disbanding of the two-mode hybrid joint development with BMW and General Motors, it has been thought that the two-mode system would not be used by Mercedes-Benz in any new applications. This system can support a plug-in variant with electric-only drive. It’s also possible that Daimler will create a brand-new system, perhaps derived from the mild system but with a more powerful motor to support electric drive. The PHEV system that will be used in the next-gen S-Class is also expected to be applied across the Mercedes range, so we’re thinking a new system is more likely.

[Source: AutoCar]

Report: Next-gen Mercedes-Benz S-class to launch with plug-in hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators have given the state’s largest utility another three weeks to turn in a filing that spells out how it will incorporate renewable energy into its portfolio. Public Service Co. of New Mexico, a …