Author: Serkadis

FoMoCo announced today that the city of Boston became the first municipality in the United States to approve its new 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi for the city streets.

“The size, shape and configuration of the Transit Connect make it comfortable for both driver and passengers,” said Mark Cohen, director, Licensing Division, Boston Police Department. “When the Ford Crown Victoria goes out of production next year the taxi industry here in Boston and throughout the country is going to be looking for alternatives. I think the Transit Connect Taxi fits the bill.”

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Ford Transit Connect.

The 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi is powered by a 2.0L 4-cylinder engine mated to an automatic transmission. Ford points out that in that form, Transit Connect is expected to deliver an estimated 30 percent improvement in fuel economy versus many of today’s traditional taxis. Ford is also offering a new engine prep packages that allow conversions to both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied propane gas (LPG).

Pending approval, the Transit Connect Taxi will start popping up in a city near you by the end of this year.

Make the jump for the press release for more details.

2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi:

Press Release:

BOSTON: FORD TRANSIT CONNECT TAXI ‘FITS THE BILL’; BECOMES FIRST CITY TO APPROVE VERSATILE NEW CAB

* The city of Boston says Ford Transit Connect Taxi “fits the bill” as a taxicab, becoming the nation’s first municipality to green-light the new taxis
* Boston paves the way for its taxi owners and operators to put the purpose-built Transit Connect Taxi on its streets later this year
* Transit Connect Taxi was designed for passenger comfort, driver convenience and efficiency; the gas-powered version is expected to deliver an estimated 30 percent improvement in fuel economy over many traditional taxis

BOSTON, April 30, 2010 – Saying the 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi “fits the bill,” the city of Boston this week became the first municipality in America to approve the versatile cab for taxi use, paving the way for taxi owners to purchase the new vehicle for their fleets.

“We’re very impressed with the Transit Connect,” said Mark Cohen, director, Licensing Division, Boston Police Department. “It’s the closest thing to a purpose-built vehicle for taxi use that I’ve seen in 25 years.”

Boston, the 10th largest metropolitan area in the United States, regulates which types of vehicles can be used as taxicabs in its city streets. To be approved for taxi use, a vehicle must meet basic size requirements for headroom, legroom and cargo space.

The roomy, flexible interior of the Transit Connect – 2010 North American Truck of the Year – is perfectly suited for taxi service. Its open architecture provides excellent interior headroom and passenger visibility and, with 6.5 inches of ground clearance, passengers step easily through the sliding doors.

With its standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder gas engine and automatic transmission, the conventionally powered Transit Connect is expected to deliver an estimated 30 percent improvement in fuel economy versus many of today’s traditional taxis.

Because taxi operators also asked for a version that runs on alternative fuels, Ford is offering new engine prep packages that allow conversions to both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied propane gas (LPG).

“The vehicle’s cargo area easily accommodates CNG tanks directly behind the second-row seat, still allowing ample luggage storage,” said Gerald Koss, Ford fleet marketing manager.

Both CNG and LPG lower taxi fleets’ operating costs and are better for the environment. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CNG is less expensive and burns cleaner than gasoline, resulting in 30 to 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions. Propane also burns cleaner than gasoline.

Built on a dedicated commercial vehicle platform tested to meet Ford’s light commercial vehicle durability standards, Ford’s new Transit Connect Taxi also features a wiring upfit package, vinyl flooring and standard third-row windows – all of which are factory-installed.

“We really tailored the vehicle to provide comfort and convenience for both driver and passengers,” said Chief Engineer Rob Stevens.

He and Koss spent a good part of 2009 taking the Transit Connect Taxi concept to taxi owners and operators in major markets across the United States, gaining valuable feedback that helped Ford further refine the taxi.

“We moved the rear seat back three inches, added a grab handle for passengers to get in and out of the vehicle, and we installed a ventilation unit to heat and cool the second row,” said Stevens. “We also added vinyl seats, which taxi operators said they wanted because of their durability.”

Technology on the go
Ford – the industry leader in the taxi business for decades with the Crown Victoria and Escape Hybrid – also is collaborating with Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT) to integrate premier payment processing and passenger information technologies in the taxi, including an 8.4-inch electronic infotainment and navigation screen that shows cab fares, news, weather, sports scores and stock ticker. The passenger can select programming, following the taxi’s route on a map and scroll through a list of points of interest.

Ford and CMT also are developing strategies for potential integration of Ford Work Solutions™, a suite of productivity technologies for business owners providing a wireless in-dash computer with full high-speed Internet access and navigation.

“Ford continues to invest in fuel-efficient new engines, deliver more technologies and product features in our vehicles, and listen to what people – including taxi fleet operators – really want,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “Ford is committed to offering new solutions and maintaining our leadership as America’s No. 1 taxi company.”

– By: Omar Rana

The prospect replacing your perfectly fine HDTV with a 3D one just for gaming doesn’t sound like a very practical thing to do. But according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, gaming will be a

IPS Asia-Pacific is looking for a regional editor to oversee editorial production in the region. IPS Asia-Pacific headquarters is in Bangkok, Thailand but flexibility on location within the region can be considered. The successful candidate will oversee planning and coordination of the Asia-Pacific diary, including budgeting, overseeing project editors as well as maintaining a network of correspondents and stringers in the coverage area.

The regional editor is involved in the assignment of stories to correspondents and stringers, editing of such work consistent with IPS style rules and the transmission of edited stories to the IPS World Service. The editor also liaises with project officers when necessary to ensure IPS Asia-Pacificp’s projects are completed at the standards required.

Applicants are required to have at least five years’ experience editing Asia-Pacific stories, experience in managing/training teams of journalists and have a capacity to manage people and editing processes. Knowledge of other Asian languages is an advantage. The full terms of reference are available from IPS Asia-Pacific administration, to be given to shortlisted candidates.

The closing date for applications is 26 May, 2010. Applicants are requested to submit a CV and samples of three published clippings to asiadesk(at)ips.org.

Applicants not contacted by 15 June, 2010 should consider themselves unsuccessful.

Filed under: Spy Photos, Budget, Sedan, Volkswagen

If a report from Autocar India is to be believed, the upcoming four-door version of the Volkswagen Polo may be badged as the Vento in India. Vento is not a new name for VW – the Mk III Jetta sedan used that badge in the European market throughout the mid-90s.

Volkswagen has reportedly increased the wheelbase of the three-box Polo by two inches to provide rear seat passengers a bit more space. The lengthened roof should also aid head room out back, although eliminating the hatch will surely cut down on cargo volume and accessibility.

The Indian Vento is powered by either a 1.6-liter inline-four or a 1.6-liter common rail turbodiesel. If and when this car makes it to America it will probably use the 105 horsepower turbocharged and direct injected 1.2 TSI four-pot available in Europe.

Although Volkswagen still hasn’t officially committed to selling the Polo in the U.S., VW of America officials have said that they would probably wait until a four door sedan is available with a probable launch in 2011. The Vento is expected to launch in India this summer.

[Source: Autocar India]

Report: Volkswagen Polo sedan to be dubbed Vento in India, coming in July originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford has announced a series of changes to key personnel for its Asia Pacific and Africa (APA) region. The changes pertain to senior management positions and are intended to strengthen regional operations in what Ford has targeted as key markets.

Ford’s group vice president and president, Asia Pacific and Africa, has announced a series of senior executive appointments across the APA region involving members of the leadership teams in China, India, Japan and the Philippines.

Among the many moves come appointments of new country presidents in the Philippines and Japan, a newly promoted sales head in the emerging market of India, a new leadership post within Ford’s joint venture in China, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA) and a key international development assignment.

List of changes to executive personnel

*Randy Krieger is appointed president of Ford Group Philippines, replacing Rick Baker. Krieger previously served as president of Ford Japan.

*Tim Tucker is appointed president of Ford Japan, replacing Krieger. Tucker previously served as vice president of Sales, Ford India.

*Richard Baker, appointed deputy general manager of CFMA, replacing Wesley Liu. Baker previously served as president of Ford Group Philippines.

*Wesley Liu is assigned to a new post at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. He was formerly deputy general manager of CFMA.

*N. Raja is named vice president of Sales, Ford India, replacing Tucker. Raja was previously general manager of Sales, Ford India.

Ford says that it has started a renewed focus on the APA regions now that they have begun to earn a profit in the U.S. market, allowing more resources and time to be allocated to other key global markets.

   

Source: Leftlane

Foi revelado pela Hyundai durante o Salão do Automóvel de Busan, na Coréia do Sul o novo Elantra versão 2011 (vendido na Asia como Avante). O novo modelo terá um motor 1.6 de quatro cilindros a gasolina e 138 cv, e transmissão automática de seis marchas.

O novo sedan chegará no mercado norte-americano no final desse ano e no mercado coreano no início do segundo semestre. Entre as mudanças do carro estão os assentos traseiros com sistema de aquecimento, faróis de neblina e uma tela de LCD com várias informações.

Vejam o vídeo da apresentação do novo Elantra logo abaixo, mostrando alguns detalhes da sua aerodinâmica. Fica a dica para um carro moderno e estiloso para o futuro.

Imagens do novo sedan

Via | Inside Line

Filed under: Motorsports

Here’s a story you might expect more from Formula 1 than NASCAR: team owners say that you simply can’t be competitive in the sport if you don’t have a plane to shuttle your crew around. Rick Hendrick, for instance, has three 50-seat regional jets, Joe Gibbs has another three, and Jack Roush has two Boeing 727s. Meanwhile, Formula 1’s Jensen Button and Ross Brawn left the Malaysia after the grand prix on commercial flights.

The key is the schedule: NASCAR has races just about every weekend, making every available moment to work on the car an awfully precious one. Having a transportation fleet that can fly crews out the morning of the race, land and get them straight to the garage a few hours before the race, doing so without all those commercial glitches, can make the difference between podium and also-ran. Team owners say they actually save money using the planes, not having to book hotel rooms and pay for food. That means NASCAR has opened the door for us to use “it’s thrifty” and “we’ll need a private jet” in requests to our bosses from now on…

[Source: Jacksonville.com]

The key to NASCAR competitiveness is… an airplane? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The video game tie-in for the first Iron Man movie didn’t exactly light up the sales charts, so Sega promised to do better (qjnet/news/this-is-how-iron-man-2-will-be-better-than-the-first.html) for the second. Unfortunately, the prologue trailer (qjnet/news/iron-man-2-game-trailer-is-kinda-lame.html) for the Iron

Adobe has announced that the latest version of its flagship product, the Creative Suite 5, is now shipping after having been launched earlier this month. The product should be hitting stores and online outlets, so you can finally get your hands on the anticipated release. Adobe CS5 is available in several flavors, depending on the bundled product. The Master… (read more)

The wait is over Dante’s Inferno fans will be enjoying another bloody dive into the depths of hell. Are you ready to face the Trials of St. Lucia? Today would be a good day to find

You may recall that, at the end of March, the White House’s “IP Czar” (technical “Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator”), Victoria Espinel, had asked for public comments on how best to enforce intellectual property issues. While we were quite concerned that the tone of the request for comments presupposed a lot of questionable things (i.e., more enforcement is automatically “better”), we encouraged people to send in their thoughts. I shared my letter and also pointed people to the fantastic letter sent by the NetCoalition and CCIA — as well as the ridiculous letter sent by the RIAA, MPAA and the Screen Actors guild.

JJ sends over the news that the White House has now made all of the public comments available. There are a lot. I went through the list and opened a bunch at random (as well as picking out some names of people or companies I recognized to see what they had to say). It seems like plenty of people on both sides of the equation weighed in — often in response to calls from organizations. On the “enforce copyright more!” side, there were a bunch of photographers and independent musicians, who showed up via the Copyright Alliance or the Association of Independent Musicians. On the “be careful” side, there were a bunch of people who clearly used Public Knowledge’s example letter (though, many added to it, or explained why they wanted to reinforce what PK said).

I’m not really sure how helpful those letters really were on either side, as they didn’t add too much to the conversation. The folks responding to the call from the Copyright Alliance didn’t really answer any of the questions from Espinel. They often just said “my business is in trouble, you must help me!” which isn’t very convincing. At times, they went to extreme lengths, like this guy, who tried to convince Espinel that having his photographs copied was the same thing as if he had stolen her car. Very convincing. On the flip side, while I like the folks at Public Knowledge, and perhaps there’s value in numbers of people saying the same thing, I think it would have been nicer if more people wrote their own thoughts out.

Anyway, here were a few that caught my eye, good or bad (all links to filings are pdf files):

• The filing from the Center for Democracy and Technology was really fantastic. Almost on the level of the NetCoalition filing. I like how it goes through the long list of technologies that were targeted by the entertainment industry as being potential destroyers of their industry which had to be stopped — including the VCR, the mp3 player, the DVR, search engines and more.
• The filing from the American Library Association is also quite good. It points out that there’s a big difference between “costs to private companies” and “costs to the public good.” And, as for the entertainment industry’s studies on “losses”:
  

  
  The fundamental flaw of these studies is that they beg the question of whether a particular private business interest is entitled to government protection for perpetual, stable profits regardless of changing business conditions. The mere fact of declining profits in one business model does not constitute a cognizable harm that government must step in to remedy. Government intervention in any area has costs for taxpayers, and in this area there are added costs to the public when IP policy becomes further slanted in favor of rightsholders and against public access and use.
  

• I was really disappointed in the filing from Beggars Group, the UK-based record label. While I fully expected most record labels who filed to support stronger enforcement, Beggars has actually shown itself to be more reasonable than others in embracing modern technology — and it’s filing is strange in that it totally attacks the DMCA’s safe harbors as being totally unfair even as it admits that those safe harbors have created huge new businesses that have created massive consumer value. So, I’m at a loss. Is Beggars really suggesting that because others figured out smart businesses, the government should now punish them in favor of Beggars?
• eBay’s filing is basically a big ad for eBay.
• The Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood’s filing is so filled with fear mongering as to be laughable. It’s opening sentence — and I am not kidding — compares copyright infringement to the death of a child. It goes on to cite the widely debunked studies that claim copyright infringement supports terrorists and organized crime. This isn’t so much a response to Espinel’s questions as it is a (fictional) horror story to scare little children.
• There’s an awful lot in Intel’s filing — some good and some bad — but I was pretty shocked to see the statement that Intel believes “another threat to the appropriate protection of famous marks in the U.S. is the expansion of parody as a defense….” Really? I recognize that Intel is a pretty big trademark bully, but it’s really claiming that parody as a defense is going too far?
• Google’s filing is pretty good, though I felt it could have been stronger on a few points. Still, it reinforces the point that business models are adapting to the changing technology marketplace, and that we should be quite careful that any enforcement program does not harm freedom of speech or expression.
• Perhaps the input from Ray Charles’ estate isn’t too surprising — in that it talks up the importance of all the royalties they keep collecting for Charles’ music — but given the fact that Charles himself clearly infringed widely on others copyrights to create the very origins of soul music, and talked up the value of “copying” other musicians, it’s pretty disappointing and seems to go against his legacy.
• I have to admit, I was a bit confused as to why the Military Order of Foreign Wars is such a big supporter of stronger IP enforcement.
• Of course, not everyone in the military thinks that way. I thought Steve Cupp’s filing (from a Navy email address) showed that there is quite a lot of concern that copyright law has gone way too far, and is now solely being pushed by lobbyists designed to prop up certain businesses.
• There were some odd ones, like the filing from Om Records that basically says “we don’t know how to compete, please make ISPs pay us.”
• It was nice to see Oxfam America’s filing focus on why the US should stop trying to force every other country to copy US intellectual property laws, noting that (contrary to what you’ll hear some lobbyists say) the TRIPs agreement says that members should be “free to determine the appropriate method” of implementing the agreement.
• I thought Bill Waggoner’s filing was nice in that he called out that not all infringement is equal, and lumping safety issues of counterfeit medicines in with people file sharing video games is pretty ridiculous and unhelpful in crafting reasonable policy.

Anyway, there were a lot more obviously, and beyond some of the organization names, I was basically picking at random. But it might be fun to “crowdsource” reviewing some of the filings. If you have a chance take a look at the list and see if you find any interesting filings, and let us know about them in the comments.

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It’s that time of the season again when companies start revealing their quarterly financials on today’s spotlight is Gameloft, publisher and developer for games usually found on mobile platforms. They put up quite a solid output

Article Tags: Comment, UK Election 2010

We have had a great deal of interest on our “Twitter – Greneral Election Trend” site www.Elect10n.com and now the BBC have come up with another indulgence, The Election seat calculator. Our forecast for the election is that there will be a “Hung Parliament”, and when you use this calculator it is easy to see why. If the public polls are accurate, the Labour party are on there way out and the Liberal Democrats are on the way up but NOT “in”, this could mean that the Conservative party will be part of a coalition Government with the Liberal’s.

For the UK , it is anyone’s guess if this would mean a better or worse chance of sorting out the nonsense of “Man Made Climate Change”. However, we have been informed by several political sources that the “vote winner” of using “Green issues” has run it’s course, and in another election this my not be used in the same way.

Therefore if in the event of a “hung parliament” being recorded next week, there is a strong possibility a prominent party may come forward to win votes in one or two years time on the basis MMCC was just political spin for votes! An interesting point.

Read in full with comments »   

This new model OCF 4.0 Open Channel Flow Monitor uses a non-contacting ultrasonic sensor to measure wastewater flow through flumes or weirs. It features a powerful, built-in data logger with on-screen flow reports plus Windows software to retrieve, display and graph flow reports in fully customizable formats.

Other OCF 4.0 features include isolated 4-20mA, 0-5V, USB and RS232 outputs, 3 control relays, a large flow rate display plus a 10-digit totalizer. Calibration and selection of flume or weir are made through the built-in 3-button keypad and user-friendly menu system. Your calibration set-up is password protected and flow data and totals are safely stored through power interruptions. Temperature compensation is automatic and accuracy is ±0.25%.

Options include intrinsically safe sensors, an enclosure heater, and 9-36VDC power input.

WRD 130 and 150 plate horizontal boring machines represent a twin-type of machines of the same concept and frame, but different main motor outputs, different headstocks and spindle revolutions. The machines are intended for precision and high-efficient coordinate boring, drilling, milling and thread-cutting particularly in the case of large-scale, heavy and structurally difficult work-pieces made of cast iron, cast steel and steel.

WRD 130 / 150 (Q) are plate horizontal boring machines of a left-had design with a tail-stock barrel (sliding block) and telescopic working spindle. The machines are continuously controlled in four axes (X – base cross travelling, Y – headstock vertical adjustment, Z – sliding block longitudinal travel and W – working spindle longitudinal travel). Either Heidenhain iTNC 530, Sinumerik 840 or Fanuc control system can be selected for controlling the machine.

The main drive as well as all others drives for the machine axes are digital AC types of Siemens.

The modular conception of the machine allows the user to choose the optimum design meeting the user’s technological requirements from many variants of the machine. Depending on the travel of the X and Y coordinates, the user selects the operating area arrangement consisting of UD 4 clamping plates and the configuration of one or more rotary tables. The technological performance of the machine may be considerably expanded by the use of special technological accessories.

New Hydrostatic Pump Series Offers Better Efficiency for Sewer Cleaning Machines.

“The hydrostatic drive delivers smooth, infinitely variable power,” said Tom. “The
pumps and motors are connected in a closed loop, and we inject cooling oil with an auxiliary charge pump on the low-pressure side to control system temperature.

The Series 760 features a new design concept for Eaton hydrostatic pumps called the integrated valve system (IVS) that combines a high-pressure relief valve, a pressure override control, system check valves, and a bypass valve in one cartridge. By combining these functions in a single cartridge, the IVS reduces pump size and weight while simplifying diagnostics, troubleshooting, and service for the customer.

The direct-acting, high-pressure relief valve actuates whenever system pressure
equals the relief valve setting to protect system components from
pressure spikes. The pressure override control (POR) works in combination
with the high-pressure relief valve to protect the transmission when it is operated for extended periods at overload pressures. If the system pressure reaches a preset limit, the pump destrokes and adjusts its displacement to the load.

The axial piston fixed pump AHP PF – 20 is designed for various applications in open hydraulic circuits. At the figure No. 2 is drawn cross sectional view of the piston pump.

The shaft is supported by two tapered roller bearing. Design of the end of input shaft you can find on the page 16 of this catalogue. Hydraulic pump is closed by the front and rear cover. The rear cover also serves for connection of the high-pressure and suction ports. The angle of the swash plate is fixed on 18°.

Friendcom has launched a new low-cost (only about 3USD/pcs for bulk) and small size(18mm*16mm) radio module named RF-102. It can work in ISM band including 433MHz, 470MHz, 868MHz and 915Mhz. It adopts specialized IC integrated with RF and data modem on-chip. Its RF data rate as high as 150kbps and optional FEC and CRC make data transmission more stable and reliable. The module offers three-wire SPI interface for easy connection with MCU. It has 64 byte FIFO buffer which can reduce the burden of the MCU. So user can choose a low-cost MCU to work with the RF module to finish a high speed data communication task.
RF-102 can be widely used wireless data communication , remote control, Keyless entry, home automation, wireless toy. Etc.
For more details, Please to contact email [email protected]

INTEGRA has announced the availability of an informative guide that discusses ergonomic pipette design and provides useful tips regarding proper use and handling of these popular laboratory tools.

Working with pipettes in laboratories demands a lot of concentration and precision. Pipettes are often used to carry out reactions involving valuable reagents. Further, health risks are often present if working with chemicals – thus information relating to the proper use of pipettes is critical for professional and safe working. Using pipettes for extended periods of time has been associated with an increased risk of hand and shoulder ailments. There are a number of ergonomic factors that should be considered while working with pipettes, such as the weight and length of the pipette, the force required to operate the pipette and how the pipette fits into the hand. Today pipettes are available in a large range of makes and models from a growing number of suppliers. Each of these pipettes has varying features in terms of ease of use, technical specification and price. The various features of your chosen pipette will influence comfort, ease of use and productivity.

Available on request from INTEGRA this new guide provides an informed and unbiased introduction to the ergonomic aspects of pipette design, handling and use.

INTEGRA, comprising INTEGRA Biosciences AG and the Viaflo Corporation, maintains a worldwide network of over 90 independent highly trained distribution partners. INTEGRA is a leading provider of high-quality handheld pipetting systems offering accurate liquid handling from 0.5ìl to 100ml. To learn more about liquid handling products from INTEGRA please visit www.integra-biosciences.com/liquid_handling_e.html

INTEGRA Biosciences AG is headquartered in Zizers, Switzerland and may be contacted on telephone +41-81-286-9530 or email [email protected]. Viaflo Corporation is located in Hudson, NH, USA and may be contacted on telephone +1-603-578-5800 or by email [email protected].