Author: Serkadis

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The SEC just charged Goldman Sachs (GS) with fraud related to mortgage-backed CDOs. The result? The stock just puked and is down 7% right now.

Follow Our Full Goldman Sachs SEC Charges Coverage Here >

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Filed under: Motorsports

With a $175,000 check going to the Peak Performance Pole winner and new rewards for the other front-row starters – plus extra IZOD IndyCar Series championship bonus points – “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is looking to make Pole Day the Greatest Spectacle in Qualifying. In a new two-session qualifying format just announced for the 2010 Indianapolis 500, the top nine cars after the initial four-lap runs are completed will have their times erased and will go into a second 90-minute round where they need to make at least one additional pass. They will be gunnin’ for not just the pole, but a cash payout more than twice what it was last year.

Besides the $175,000 check going to the pole winner, second place gets $75,000 and the final front row starter will get $50,000. In addition to the money, there are more championship points being doled out at Indy this year. Typically, the IndyCar Series rewards the Peak Performance Pole Award winner one point, but for this year’s 500, the series will award points to every qualifier. Pole gets 15 points, second receives 13, third 12, and so on for spots 4-9. Positions 10-24 get four points each and everyone else gets three.

The top 24 spots in the 33-car field will be claimed during the traditional four-lap runs, with each car getting up to three attempts during that time. The top nine follow that session up with the new pole shootout session, while the final nine spots will be filled on Bump Day (May 23), with four-lap qualifying attempts that could start bumping low qualifiers once 33 cars have already qualified. All of which should add just a little extra excitement to this year’s Indy 500.

[Source: IndyCar Series | Image: Chris Graythen/Getty]

IndyCar switches up qualifying payouts for more exciting 500 pole shootout originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The recent week has seen some movements in the website templates marketplace after ThemeForest premiered a Magento templates category on their website, while FlashMint and FlashMoto announced a collaboration which will allow customers to purchase Flash web themes for the FlashMoto CMS from the FlashMint template shop.

The Envato-owned ThemeF… (read more)

Big businesses using every means they can to ensure their revenue and profitability haven’t been news for at least several decades and probably a lot more. There’s always been a group, or more, trying to bend the laws, or make new ones, to get what they want. The most recent example is the big media companies that have been c… (read more)

Not exactly a stellar week for the Video Store, but one interesting highlight on this week’s update is UFC 112, making its way to the selection this Saturday. For the rest, there’s Mortal Kombat, Curious George, Wild

Como o mercado automotivo nunca para, e novas parcerias e fusões sempre acontecem entre as companhias, dessa vez quem está se preparando para tentar liderar o mercado mundial é a Volkswagen, que confirmou a venda de 3,2% de suas ações, que totalizam € 4,1 bilhões, para o processo final de absorção da Porsche AG.

Essa oferta de ações marca recorde na Alemanha e vai favorecer o grupo VW, na garantia de aquisição de novas empresas, mantendo um capital em caixa alto para algum prossível problema nas negociações com outras companhias menores.

A intenção da companhia alemã é chegar à liderança do mercado mundial até o final desta década, superanto até mesmo a Toyota e a General Motors, que são os atuais primeiro e segundo colocados no ranking. A Volks e seu grupo (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, Scania, Bugatti e Volkswagen) estão na terceira posição. Quem vai vencer essa briga de gigantes?

Via | Carro Online

You expect to see professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, inside classrooms sharing their knowledge with students. But away from the public eye, hundreds of faculty members are conducting research, growing the knowledge in their field and penning books about their findings to share with the world.

“They are creative, tenacious, diligent,” said Molly Royse, head of Research Collections at UT Libraries, of the faculty book authors. “They are often thinking outside of the box, trying to come up with new approaches to things.”

One of these professors is Devon Burr in the earth and planetary sciences department. Her book “Megaflooding on Earth and Mars,” published by Cambridge University Press, shares her findings about flooding on Earth and on Mars.

“This book is a synthesis of flood science from a variety of perspectives. It was exciting to have them approach me,” Burr said.

Burr’s research shows that Mars, now a cold, dry desert, wasn’t always that way. Burr points to evidence that Mars once had rivers and large bodies of water and, consequently, possibly even life.

“The thought is that Mars was warm and wet early on, around the time that earth was seeing the rise of life, and that maybe life was emerging on Mars,” Burr explained.

At UT Knoxville, Burr does not have to choose between teaching and conducting research. The university allows her to do both.

“I really love both of those aspects of being a professor at UT. I love the teaching and I love the research,” Burr said. “It is what I love to do, to find out new things in science, and UT supports me and my research in a number of ways, one of which is allowing me to go back every summer to use planetary wind tunnels at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California where I go to do wind tunnel experiments.”

Burr’s research allows her to expand her knowledge. And the more she knows, the more she can teach to her students.

“If we help them with the research, we know that will translate down to the classroom and they will have a good educational experience,” Royse said.

Burr is one of about 90 faculty members who have published books in the just the past year. These books span all disciplines from veterinarian practices to advanced physics.

The authors and their hard work were celebrated at a reception inside John C. Hodges Library on April 8.

“The publishing of a book can represent months, if not years, of dedication and hard work, and it is important they be recognized for that,” Royse said.

As the university continues on its path to being a top 25 institution, it is UT Knoxville’s goal to have more faculty like these, doing research and sharing their findings with their students and the world.

“We are better professionals because of the research we are engaged in,” Royse said. “And the publishing ventures we are engaged in make us better professionals. So our students and our public benefit from that.”

Filed under: Etc., Videos, UK, Humor

The caravan you see above is stuck betwixt the two walls. We don’t know how they got it in there, if they couldn’t get it out – nevertheless, the reality on the ground is that it wouldn’t come up. One would think there had been enough of these videos from all corners of the world to prove that sledgehammering the throttle doesn’t solve problems. Unless you’re in Iceland. Yet this gent, who isn’t in Iceland, is the next to learn that lesson the hard, and expensive, way. Follow the jump for the turmoil. Hat tip to Duy!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: How to turn a caravan into a fixed abode

Video: How to turn a caravan into a fixed abode originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazing. As Ashraf Laidi points out, the euro has now given up the entire spike it saw last weekend after the “bailout.”

Note the huge gap up on April 12. That’s when he Euro/IMF details were announces, but as the week went on, Greek spreads blew out again, and investors began to fret that the mechanism for backing up Greece wasn’t so hard and clear.

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O que antes era um conceito no Salão de Detroit de 2007, agora está se tornando uma versão de produção. Estamos falando do Camaro Conversível, que foi divulgado essa semana através do Facebook. A versão covnersível tem previsão de lançamento para este ano nos EUA.

Por enquanto apenas existem imagens da frente e da traseira do carro, mas acredita-se que o Camaro conversível vai ser vendido nas mesmas opções de motorização que o Camaro cupê, que são 3.2 V6 de 308cv e 6.2 V8 de 406cv e 432cv.

Detalhes da capota do conversível também não foram reveladas, mas já houveram flagras do carro passeando nos EUA em fase de testes com uma capota de tecido, que poderá ter cores diferentes de acordo com a cor da carroceria. Não se sabe se o conversível estará no mercado brasileiro, mas a versão cupê foi confirmada pela GM para estrear no Salão do Automóvel de São Paulo, em outubro.

Imagens da versão conversível do Camaro

Via | Carro Online

Filed under: Technology

Here we have an in-car accessory that won’t ask you to take more of your attention from the road. The Toshiba MK2060GSC hard-disk-drive will be available later this year in 100GB and 200GB flavors for OEM entertainment systems. About the only spec that could be considered so-so is the 4,200-rpm rotational speed, but otherwise it will perform beyond your car’s limits: it can be used in temperatures from -22 Fahrenheit to 185, from 999 feet below sea level to 18,645 (but you can take it up to 39,600 feet when not in operation) and it’s able to survive a 300-g shock.

Right now, for example, hard-disk-drive systems with 50 total gigabytes of storage only have around 20 gigabytes left over for your own digital goodies once the navigation system and peripherals have been taken care of. With at least 100GB on tap from the Toshiba, that opens up your library possibilities enormously. We don’t know why you’d need more music and movies stored in your car unless you have a Peterbilt in your garage, but we don’t get paid to ask those kinds of questions, so we won’t… There’s a press release after the jump if you’re really into hard disks.

Just one more thing: how much longer until solid-state drives completely take over such purposes?

[Source: Engadget]

Continue reading Toshiba unveils automotive-grade 200GB hard drive

Toshiba unveils automotive-grade 200GB hard drive originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, sure we’re in the red, but everybody knows we’re going to end up.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Renault

It’s been a long, drawn-out affair extending back two years since the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. That’s when then-Renault F1 chiefs Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds allegedly instructed their rookie driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash on purpose and give the advantage to his world-champion wingman Fernando Alonso. The scandal erupted the following/last season when Piquet blew the whistle. Briatore and Symonds were summarily excommunicated from Formula One and any FIA-regulated racing series (which is pretty much all of them).

Briatore fought back and had the ruling overturned in court on procedural grounds. The FIA said it would appeal Flavio’s appeal (and we’re not talking about his famous supermodel-luring swagger here), but now the two parties have apparently reached an out-of-court settlement.

Both Briatore and Symonds will soon be cleared to return to F1 or other FIA-sanctioned series, beginning at the start of 2013 F1 season and the end of 2011 for other racing disciplines. In the meantime, the FIA is abandoning further legal recourse, citing the best interest of the organization and of motorsport as its motivation.

[Source: Autosport | Image: Paul Gilham/Getty]

FIA, Briatore put an end to legal saga originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This slide from GE’s (GE) earnings presentation is telling because it shows just how little its consumer loan portfolio is improving (in terms of delinquencies). As the company puts it, there are signs of stabilization.

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Filed under: Etc., Safety, Videos

Don’t want to dirty your hands again on traditional flares? Looking for the Rolls-Royce of roadside safety lighting? Duroflares could be it. The unit is roughly four-inch-square of aluminum with an LED tinted red or blue, are waterproof and can support up to 20,000 pounds. In other words, it would take a loaded semi to crush them.

Powered by a rechargeable lithium ion cell, the Duroflares come in a box that acts as both a charger and the on/off switch: take them out, they come on, plug them back in, they turn off. They’re a little on the pricey side at $180, but if you spend a lot of time on the side of the road these might be for you. Follow the jump to see them in action.

[Source: Roadside Safety]

Continue reading Video: Duroflash LED road flares look spiffy but spendy

Video: Duroflash LED road flares look spiffy but spendy originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Article Tags: ClimateGate, Peter Foster

CRU scientists who removed caveats from IPCC reports are praised for warning of uncertainties in their published work

Climategate scientists cleared of wrongdoing” read the headline in yesterday’s Post. Who expected anything else? The two self-inquiries launched by the University of East Anglia into its Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were always destined to produce whitewashes, as did a recent UK parliamentary inquiry, and as will an “independent” review by the UN.

The first of the UEA reports, from a committee headed by ardent warmist and anti-carbon profiteer Lord Oxburgh, appeared this week. As Lawrence Solomon points out elsewhere on this page, the choice of Lord Oxburgh indicated that the fix was always in for an inquiry which fails to address, let alone probe, most of the major issues. And yet there is a mountain of condemnation-by-faint-exoneration between the lines of the report’s ridiculously slim five pages.

Its attempt to present CRU head Phil Jones, and his beleaguered band, as unworldly boffins who were blindsided by all this attention is ridiculous. The report claims that it found a “small group of dedicated if slightly disorganised researchers.” The key question is: dedicated to what? Certainly, they weren’t expecting to be outed quite so spectacularly, but to paint them as innocents in the big bad world of climate realpolitik is nonsense.

Source: network.nationalpost.com

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Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

Brake pads utilize copper because it helps dissipate heat, and keeping brakes cool is a very good thing. But every time a driver hits the brakes, tiny fragments of copper and other metals settle on the roads and surrounding areas. When it rains, that copper could end up in our waterways, polluting our water and potentially killing off wildlife.

Fox News reports that the state of Washington is looking to put an end to its copper pollution problem by cutting down the acceptable amount of the metallic element in brakes sold in the state to just five percent by 2021. Currently, copper levels can be 25 percent or more. Copper will be eliminated altogether by 2023 if OEMs and brake suppliers can figure out a way to make that happen. Automakers and suppliers have used copper in brakes since asbestos was smartly banned from our stoppers back in the early 1990s.

So why concentrate on automakers to cut down on copper pollution? Non-profit Sustainable Conservation claims 530,000 pounds of copper pollution enters San Francisco Bay per year, and one third of that number could come from brake pads. Washington ecologists reportedly agree with the one-third figure as well, stating that 70,000 to 318,000 pounds of copper enter Puget Sound each year. The remaining sources of copper pollution include copper pipes, building materials and paint.

While adding a couple dozen tons of copper to our waterways sounds anything but good, researchers reportedly haven’t come up with any widespread issues caused by man-made copper runoff. But government scientists claim that even low levels of copper can, for example, throw off the sense of smell of salmon, inhibiting the large fish’s ability to escape predators. Copper is also toxic to plankton, an essential food source for many fish.

[Source: FOX News]

Drop the Anchors: Washington State reportedly bans copper in brake pads to… save the fish? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s something weird going on in politics right now.

The stock market is surging, and the economy appears to be turning around, and yet Obama’s poll numbers are in the dumps.

And we mean really in the dumps. A recent poll had him barely beating Ron Paul in a fantasy head-to-head matchup!

What’s going on? The President’s fortune is usually tied to the economy. When it’s on the mend, poll numbers usually follow.

But what if we inverted things, and asked: Why is the stock market surging when Obama’s poll numbers are so bad?

As the New York Times noted in its widely-read piece on the Tea Party movement, the frustration against Obama is in large part rooted in class. There’s an anger towards elites (in Washington and Wall Street) benefitting from the rebound, presumably at the expense of others.

In other words, the stock market is not the best barometer of the economy. The polls are. And the polls say the economy still sucks. Not only that, things are compounded by class resentment, and anger at an elite class (Wall Street, Washington, readers of Newsweek, etc.) that seem to be enjoying the rebound, while others are not.

If Obama is going to make headway between now and November, we need to see some serious and substantial job creation in the months ahead.

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Filed under: Etc., Aston Martin

Of all the collaborations between watchmakers and automakers, the partnership between Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin yields some of our favorite results. The Swiss timekeepers and the British purveyor and racer of GTs have together given birth to four wristwatches in the AMVOX range, including tourbillons, GMTs, alarms, chronographs and even transponders capable of unlocking an Aston’s doors. Now they’ve released their fifth: the AMVOX5 World Chronograph.

Inspired by Aston’s all-conquering race cars, the AMVOX5 is driven by JLC’s own Calibre 752 movement, with a column wheel, vertical clutch chronograph and lubricant-free ceramic ball-bearing mechanism. The movement is encased in either ceramic and titanium or 18-karat rose gold, and can instantly display the time in any zone around the world. They even replaced London on the bezel with Gaydon, home to Aston’s headquarters. How’s that for attention to detail?

Only 300 and 200 examples will be made in ceramic/titanium and gold, respectively, with an additional two 100-example racing versions to be launched in the near future. If you like what you see, have a closer look in the gallery below and in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Jaeger-LeCoultre]

Continue reading Jaeger-LeCoultre launches new AMVOX5 World Chronograph for Aston Martin

Jaeger-LeCoultre launches new AMVOX5 World Chronograph for Aston Martin originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General Motors has just released a short video of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze undergoing some track testing. The video features Chuck Russell, Vehicle Line Director at GM, talking about the reliability and durability of the Chevy Cruze, along with its European-like ride and handling capabilities.

Watch as the Cruze darts around traffic cones on the test track as part of its extensive testing process.

Make the jump for the video.

Click here for more news on the Chevrolet Cruze.

Refresher: The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze’s base LS model is powered by a 136-hp 1.8L 4-cylinder engine, while the Eco, LT and LTZ model get a 1.4L turbo 4-cylinder Ecotec engine making 138-hp and a maximum torque of 148 lb-ft. The 1.4L turbo modes are expected to have a cruising range of more than 500 miles and the Cruze Eco is estimated to get an EPA fuel-economy rating of 40 mpg on the highway. All 2011 Cruze models will be available with a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission.

2011 Chevrolet Cruze:

2011 Chevrolet Cruze:

– By: Kap Shah