Author: Serkadis

Austin Moonlight Towers

Turning night into day in Victorian-era Austin to thwart a serial killer

“The baying of bloodhounds frantically seeking the killer’s scent broke into the usual chorus of Yuletide merriment, chilling holiday spirits.”
Austin Statesman, Christmas 1885
In the wake of a series of horrific murders, the city of Austin purchased 31 enormous towers to light the city streets from on high. The 165 foot towers cast a glow “bright enough to read a watch by” in a 1,500 feet (460 meter) radius around each tower. Despite early concerns about plants growing out of control – Day of the Triffids style – and animals never sleeping, the towers quickly became beloved symbols of the city and have defied the odds of the years with 17 of them lit nightly still to this day.
In 1884 the population of Austin was just about 23,000 people. Although other cities had begun the process of electrification – usually starting with individual installations in posh houses or government buildings with independent power generators – Austin remained lantern lit after dark. However this would change when over the next year, the city was shaken by a series of late night murders.
After the deaths of two women the killer was named the “Servant Girl Annihilator” by the local press, who covered the crime scenes in grisly detail. By Christmas 1885 there were five women dead, three others injured, and no viable suspects. All of those attacked had been black women, and blame in the press was pointed squarely within the Austin black community. On that night two more women were killed, nearly at the the same time. Both were white women, at home with their husbands.
On Christmas Day a panicked citizen’s meeting was held about the safety of their community. Police patrols were increased, and and the installation of electric “Moonlight Towers,” like some already in use in Detroit, was planned.
The press and eventual trial of the husbands of both women murdered in Christmas were a media sensation in their day. One of the victims, Eula Phillips, was accused of moonlighting as a prostitute, and in the course of the trial the names of prominent Austin citizens were dropped as brothel clients. In the end, both husbands were let free – one by virtue of a hung jury, the other by appeal. As the Dallas Morning News put it, “The trial of Mr. Phillips has demonstrated three things: that Mrs. Phillips was not what she should have been, that several attachés of the government are not what they should be, and that no one can possibly know who committed that murder.”
Curiously, the murders stopped after that Christmas night.
The towers were purchased second-hand from Detroit and were not actually installed until 1894 long after the murders had stopped. They were first lit on May 3, 1895 in a gala celebration.
Originally the 6 lamps were accessed via interior elevators for maintenance of the carbon vapor arc lights, which had to be trimmed daily. The lights were later swapped out to incandescent lights in 1920s, and then to mercury vapor in 1930s. In the 1940s a master switch was installed to allow the city to black out in times of emergency without having to climb each tower. A major restoration of the towers was conducted in 1993 in time for their 100 year anniversary.
The 17 remaining towers are now a Texas state landmark, and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Each year the tower in Zilco park is transformed with lights into the “World’s Largest Christmas Tree”. They are now also the last moonlight towers in the world.

Read more about Austin Moonlight Towers on Atlas Obscura…

Category: Electrical Oddities, Retro-Tech
Location: Austin, Texas, US
Edited by: Annetta, Dylan, Facebook_567422532

Does your technology need a face lift? Well, these cute kitty decals can transform just about any gadget into a fun art piece. Plus, they provide a scratch-resistant protective shield and there’s no permanent adhesive or sticky residue — just pull them off when you want to change the look. Available for all sorts of devices, including:

• Apple iPhone 2G
• iPod Classic 80GB/120GB
• iPod Touch 2G/3G
• Blackberry Curve 8330 Cell Phones
• T-mobile HTC Google G1 Cell Phone
• MacBook 13
• MacBook Air
• Amazon Kindle 2 E-Book Reader

Thanks to the combined power of the Torne DV-R add-on and Yakuza 4, the Sony PS3 shot to the top of the Japanese hardware sales charts ending March 21.

We’ve been hearing about Hyundai’s Tata Nano since last year and today we have more details along with photo renderings of the compact car. According to Hyundai’s Advanced Technology Center head, Cho Won-suk, the car will arrive on the market by next year.

Hyundai’s Indian sources say that the car will be powered by a 800cc engine and will be a direct competitor to the Tata Nano and the Suzuki Alto.

According to the Business Standard, the car is currently under development in Korea and prices are expected to start around 2 lakh ($4,500 USD).

Photo Rendering: Hyundai’s Subcompact Car (Tata Nano Rival):

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Indian Autos Blog

Valve boss Gabe Newell intends to bring back the scares to Half-Life, the latest issue of Edge revealed. The interview also stated that the studio wants to broaden the game’s “emotional palette”.

Many Mercury dealers have been living in fear of the brand being shut down since they haven’t received a new model in five years. It is now reported that Ford will bring back the Tracer name on a new compact that will be added to the Mercury brand at the end of 2011, giving it a shot at the growing small-car segment.

Dealers said that Ford executives told them last month at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention that they are committed to producing a new Mercury by the end of 2011. We’re guessing that model will be based on FoMoCo’s C-segment platform.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Mercury Milan.

While Ford hasn’t confirmed the name for the car, Michael Stanford, owner of Varsity Lincoln Mercury in Novi, said that Ford executives have told dealers that the car will be named Tracer.

Ford sold a total of 576,190 Tracers during the model’s lifetime. It was based off of the popular Ford Escort.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Free Press

Sources familiar with FoMoCo’s plans say that the Dearborn automaker will unveil a hybrid version of the Lincoln MKZ at the 2010 New York Auto Show next week. The Lincoln MKZ Hybrid will be the first luxury hybrid offered by Ford.

The model will be based on the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid and will be built of the same platform.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

“I thought they should have done it before,” said Chris Lemley, who owns several dealerships in the Boston metropolitan area. “I’m glad they’re doing it now.”

Lemley says that Ford may be able to take advantage of Toyota’s recent recalls of products from its luxury Lexus brand.

Click here to read our review on the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid is powered by a 156-hp 2.5L 4-cylinder mated to an electric-motor. It produces a total of 191-hp and 136 lb-ft and averages an EPA rated fuel-economy of 41/26 mpg (city/highway).

Make sure you join us next week as we provide live coverage to the 2010 New York Auto Show.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

The maestro managed to run away from the old folks’ bent on monetary destruction home just long enough to carry this amusing interview with Bloomberg TV’s Al Hunt.

Tomes (will) have been written about Greenspan’s dementia, just as books will be available on the Kindle one day analyzing his successor’s massive mistakes which are slowly but surely leading to an American day of reckoning.  So we won’t comment much, suffice to point out some of the key highlights in Greenspan’s presentation.

Most amusingly, note the escalating battle between Greenie and the Fed’s new vice-chairman Janet Yellen, who blatantly contradicted Greenspan’s that higher interest rates would have prevented a housing bubble.

Continue reading at Zero Hedge »

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Greenspan: I Had Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Financial Crisis
• Greenspan Finally Admits He Blew It
• KABOOM! The Person Economists Blame Most For Blowing Up The Global Economy Is Alan Greenspan

Williamson Tunnels

19th Century tunnels under Liverpool England.

Joseph Williamson made his fortune in the Liverpool trading and tobacco industry in the early 1800s. Around 1817, after the Napoleonic Wars, Liverpool was unexpectedly hit by a recession, fueled by unemployed soldiers returning from war and fading commerce.
Williamson, prosperous and retired, began an extensive construction project on his estate, carving tunnels out of the sandstone. It is unclear, though, what his real motive was in building these extensive tunnels. Speculation had it that he was part of an eschatological — the study and philosophy of the end days — cult and the tunnels were for his friends and family in the end times. But more likely, the tunnels were a charitable endeavor – he had them dug just to keep his workers employed. There are tales of Williamson instructing his workers to move a pile of bricks from one place to another, and back again, just to keep them busy.
However, following his death in 1840, the tunnel project halted, and they fell into disrepair. Water gathered underground, and neighbors dumped their rubbish into the buried caverns. As buildings were demolished, the rubble was stuffed in the tunnels by the city. (This may, actually, have saved some of the tunnels from falling in on themselves. As archeologists have removed the rubble, the tunnels have been found in good condition.)
The tunnels range in size from a huge hall, 70 feet long, 25 feet wide with 20 foot ceilings, to a narrow passage 4 feet wide and 6 feet high. It is still unknown how many tunnels there are and how far they reach, as excavations are still underway.
In 1989, the Joseph Williamson Society was founded. The Society encourages education and research about Joseph Williamson, and, specifically, the tunnels. They began the excavations and continue to fund the work. They are a charitable organization and rely on the funds generated by visitors.

Read more about Williamson Tunnels on Atlas Obscura…

Category: Architectural Oddities, Subterranean Sites
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom
Edited by: Annetta, M Rebekah Otto, re_nakaba, Dylan

Necromanteion of Ephyra

Ancient Greek Oracle of the Dead

Although there were many oracles in ancient Greece, there is only one known oracle of the dead. It was an entryway to the underworld, and a place where the shades of the dead could – under special circumstances – reveal the future to the living. It was the place that Homer sent Odysseus to seek advice from a long-dead oracle, and where he was horrified by visions of Hades, and it appears in a sordid chapter of Herodotus’ Histories.
The site, atop a hill near the confluence of the Acheron (“River of woe” in Greek), Pyriphlegethon (“Flaming with fire”) and Cocytus (“River of wailing”) , three of the five rivers associated with Hades, was identified in 1958 by the Greek archaeologist Sotirios Dakaris. Dating to the 3rd or 4th century BC, the ruins are 72 feet square, with 11 foot thick walls, and subterranean chambers.
The ancient Greeks believed that the souls of the dead entered the underworld though subterranean fissures, and that is special cases like this, arrangements could be made to communicate with the dead. This was both used as opportunities to commune with lost loved ones, but also to seek out the future telling skills of the dead.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus descended into Hades to find the soul of Teiresias who might fortell his future, but once at the oracle, he saw much more than he had bargained for:

Thus solemn rites and holy vows we paid
o all the phantom-nations of the dead;
hen died the sheep: a purple torrent flow’d,
nd all the caverns smoked with streaming blood.
hen lo! appear’d along the dusky coasts,
hin, airy shoals of visionary ghosts:
air, pensive youths, and soft enamour’d maids;
nd wither’d elders, pale and wrinkled shades;
hastly with wounds the forms of warriors slain
talk’d with majestic port, a martial train:
hese and a thousand more swarm’d o’er the ground,
nd all the dire assembly shriek’d around.
stonish’d at the sight, aghast I stood,
nd a cold fear ran shivering through my blood;
traight I command the sacrifice to haste,
traight the flay’d victims to the flames are cast,
nd mutter’d vows, and mystic song applied
o grisly Pluto, and his gloomy bride.”
Odyssey book 11
The oracle is also mentioned in a charming passage from Herodotus wherein a brutal tyrant sends an emissary to the oracle of the dead at Ephyra to ask his dead wife about where she hid some money. The dead wife refuses to answer, on the grounds that she is cold in the underworld, because her husband had not burnt clothes for her at the time of her death. As a guarantee of her identity, she tells the messenger that her husband had sex with her corpse. Apparently this was enough confirmation for the living husband, who promptly set about stripping the clothing off of all of the local women and burning them, so that his dead wife would give up the location of the money.
Visitors wishing to communicate with the dead would have entered the dark chamber and followed specific rituals outlined for the protection from and communication with the dead which would have taken several days. When ready, a priest would usher them deeper inside for a ritual animal sacrifice, and through three gates symbolic of Hades. Pilgrims expected to see the images of the dead as shadows against the flickering lantern light. These visions may have been enhanced by the special diet recommended in the days before entering the sanctuary, which some have described as including hallucinogens. Interestingly, inside the underground chambers, archaeologists have found mechanical contrivances which may have been used to enhance the appearance of animated dead. After a session with the dead, pilgrims were forbidden to talk about what they learned for fear of Hades claiming their own lives in exchange.
Long after the destruction in 167 BC, an 18th century monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist was built at the site.
There has been some skepticism about the identification of these ruins as the Necromanteion. In 1979 German scholar Dietwulf Baatz recognized elements in the structure as mounts for third-century BC catapults implying a fortification of some sort. More recently a Greek-American study of towers in the area suggested that the ruins may have been the base of an agricultural tower, and the underground chambers storage areas for water or grain, rather than mystical communication with fortune-telling dead.
At least for now, the place remains officially identified as the Necromanteion, and has been preserved as such.

Read more about Necromanteion of Ephyra on Atlas Obscura…

Category: Curious Places of Worship, Incredible Ruins, Subterranean Sites
Location: Mesopotamos, Greece
Edited by: Annetta

Filed under: Spy Photos, Budget, Sedan, Hyundai, South Korea

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is more stylish, more spacious, and flat out better than its predecessor. This seems to be the M.O. for Hyundai nowadays, as it rolls out a continual stream of new and/or revised vehicles that leave any old brand preconceptions in the dust. Vehicles like the new Sonata, Tucson, and the Genesis models are casting Hyundai in a totally different, much more positive light than ever before. It won’t end there, either. For instance, the 2011 Hyundai Equus will slot above the Genesis sedan and target bigger, pricier game.

But what about the folks with tighter budgets, shopping at an entry price point well below the Sonata? Well, as you see above, it looks like they won’t need to sacrifice style for value much longer. This photo, posted to a Korean forum, apparently reveals the next-generation Hyundai Accent, caught buck naked in its homeland. (Earlier spy photos call this same car the Accent, and the forum where this shot came from is calling it the Verna – the Accent’s name in Korea.) At the same time, it appears to be nearly identical to this vehicle, caught by spies in January and presumed to be the Elantra.

As you can plainly see, the new car, whether it be the Elantra or the Accent, shares the Sonata’s “fluidic sculpture” design language – no bad thing. In fact, it’s a really good thing, seeing as how the current Accent is about as generic-looking as cars get, and the current Elantra doesn’t exactly set hearts racing either. Hyundai doesn’t do generic anymore, and that now seems to apply to the lower-grade models, too. This looks quite promising, and we’re keen to see more. Thanks to Foo for the tip!

UPDATE: As it happens, there’s evidence to suggest this could instead perhaps be the next Elantra. The original post text has now been modified to reflect this possibility.

[Source: PPOMPPU.co.kr]

Spy Shots: Next-gen Hyundai Accent (or Elantra?) borrows several notes from Sonata originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Article Tags: World Temperatures, You could not make it up

While Much of U.S. Was Colder than Usual, Global Temperatures Crept Upwards

(AP) It will probably come as a surprise to most Americans, but the winter just finished was the fifth warmest on record, worldwide. Oh, sure, nearly two-thirds of the country can dispute that from personal experience of a colder-than-normal season.

But while much of the United States was colder than usual, December-February – climatological winter – continued the long string of unusual warmth on a global basis.

And parts of the United States did join in, with warmer-than-normal readings for the season in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Indeed, Maine had its third warmest winter on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports.

NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reports that worldwide the average temperature for winter was 54.9 degrees Fahrenheit (12.7 Celsius). That’s 1.08 degrees F (0.60 C) above average for the three-month period.

Click source to read this story from cbsnews.com and also take time out to see the video link from Joe Bastardi of Accuweather.com Goddard Data and Global Sea Ice Doesn’t Fit for his opinion as to something going wrong with the world temperature data, and yes “You Could NOT Make It Up”.

Source: cbsnews.com

Read in full with comments »   

Article Tags: Christopher Booker, ClimateGate

Sceptics have not been surprised to find that almost all the members of the ‘Climategate’ inquiry are committed advocates of global warming

There has been a curious by-product of the attempts being made by the University of East Anglia to whitewash last November’s embarrassing leak of documents from its Climatic Research Unit. Since it set up not one but two supposedly “independent” inquiries into the “Climategate” affair, climate sceptics were intrigued but not entirely surprised to find that almost all their members were committed, even fanatical advocates of global warming, and hence unlikely to be over-critical of the CRU’s bizarre record.

Most recently, the sceptics have been particularly intrigued by the background of the man chosen by the university to chair an assessment of the CRU’s scientific record. Lord Oxburgh declared on his appointment that he is linked to major wind-farm and renewable-energy companies. He admitted that he advises Climate Change Capital, which manages funds worth $1.5 billion, hoping to cash in on the “opportunities created by the transition to a low-carbon economy”, in a world market potentially worth – its website boasts – $45 trilllion.

What Lord Oxburgh kept quiet about, however, is that he is also a director and vice-chairman of a strange little private company few of us had heard of known as Globe International. The name stands for “Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment”, and it describes itself as a worldwide network to lobby governments to take more drastic action on climate change. Globe is certainly well-connected, as it showed just before last December’s Copenhagen conference by staging a seminar addressed by, among others, the conference’s chairman Yvo de Boer, as well as Nancy Pelosi and Ed Markey, the leaders of the campaign to push a cap-and trade-scheme – which could make a lot of people fabulously rich – through the US Congress.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Read in full with comments »   

Filed under: Etc., Ford, Lexus, Porsche

Kelley Blue Book has compiled and collated the data from its year-long Brand Watch Study, which, based on “consumer perception data, [shows] which brands best communicated certain features of their vehicles.” Of the nine categories tabbed, Porsche took three: best performance brand, best exterior design in the luxury segment, and coolest brand. Double victories went to Ford for most rugged truck brand and most family-friendly brand, and Lexus for best comfort and best interior design.

This list makes a lot more sense on the face of it than AAA’s commuter picks released a couple of days ago, and Porsche makes excellent cases for winning all three categories – the 918 Spyder concept alone might be good enough to garner two of them. We do get a chuckle, though, from the KBB description of Porsche’s most recent offering: “The new four-door Panamera only adds to the mystique.” Indeed.

Shout-outs to all the winners, including Chevy for best exterior design in the non-luxury segment and Mercedes-Benz for three-peating as best prestige brand. You’ll find KBB’s full presser with methodology and reasoning after the jump.

[Source: KBB]

Continue reading Porsche a big winner in KBB’s Brand Awards

Porsche a big winner in KBB’s Brand Awards originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new Jump scan has confirmed that online play will be one of the features of Namco Bandai’s upcoming Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. Akatsuki members and all-around freaky ninjas Hidan and Kakuzu have also been confirmed

The Spring Break road trip for the Harper softball team ended on a down note as the Lady Hawks fell in a double header with Butler Community College, 11-1 and 14-2.

Harper struglled to hit in the opening game with only a single from Samantha Calandra. Calandra also piched and suffered the loss, falling to 0-3. 

Team	Runs	Hits	Errors
Harper	1	1	2
Butler County	11	7	1

In the second game, Harper scored 2 runs on 5 hits. Pitcher Becky Koeune took the loss, falling to 1-2.

Team	Runs	Hits	Errors
Harper	2	5	0
Butler County	14	10	1

A double header scheduled for Friday against Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa was cancelled due to wet field conditions.

The Lady Hawks (2-6) will resume action Sunday taking on Waubonsee at 10:00 AM and Black Hawk College-Moline at 12:00 Noon.

 

There are six different events on the calendar this week that are offering you, yes you dear ReadWriteWeb reader, a discount. Social media, music, cloud – six different conferences giving you another enticing reason to get up from behind your desk and do some real-world learning and networking.

How do you like your events calendar? As a world map? As an iCal (and Google Calendar-importable) file? You can also import individual events using the link beside each entry. Know of something cool taking place that should appear here? Let us know in the comments below or contact us.

Sponsor

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March 29, 2010: Portland, Oregon

Social Fresh Portland

The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. Over the course of the day, you’ll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Intel, Ford, Comcast, Nike and many more, as well as keynote Peter Shankman. Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.

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April 2010

Positioning Roundtable

During this weekly 60-minute online session, entrepreneurs are invited to pitch Sramana Mitra – entrepreneur, strategy consultant, Forbes columnist and author of Entrepreneur Journeys – their business ideas in a three-minute presentation. She will review the material in real time and provide feedback on each pitch, as well as address specific positioning questions from the entrepreneur. Afterwards, she will take questions about positioning from other participants. Sessions is open to 1,000 people to attend, but only the first five who sign up to pitch Sramana will have the opportunity to discuss their businesses. Register for roundtables on April 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29.

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4 April 2010: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

ConnectNow

TEDx CMU is an independently organized TEDx event that will be held on April 4th, 2010 at Carnegie Mellon University and will feature a full day of talks by prominent speakers as well as recorded videos from past TEDTalks. Confirmed speakers include Jonathan Fields (author, blogger and entrepreneur), Stacey Monk (founder of Epic Change, a startup nonprofit), Chase Jarvis (photographer, director and social artist) and Nathan Martin (CEO of Deeplocal, an innovation studio in Pittsburgh).

The theme of the event is “Fearless”, and we are inviting speakers from cross-disciplinary backgrounds to talk about their experiences, and tell us a little about what inspires them to be fearless in the pursuit of goals. We hope to spark discussions and foster connections between participants, encouraging aspiring individuals to follow their dreams and make a difference. The event is free to attend, and the application deadline is March 21, 2010.

For more information about the event, visit tedxcmu.com or email [email protected]. You can also find TEDx CMU on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

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7 – 9 April 2010: Sydney, Australia

ConnectNow

ConnectNow brings together international specialists and thought leaders in social media, emerging technologies and their intersection with business. Learn how the realtime web, location based services, augmented reality, ubiquitous computing and personalised services are changing marketing and communications. Understand the importance of trust in relationship marketing and what is “social currency”. For more info email [email protected].

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13 – 15 April 2010: Dallas, Texas

PubCon South

PubCon, the premier search and social media conference, features the industry’s biggest names and key players shaping the future of the Web. PubCon South will include cutting-edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social media and affiliate marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program, and some of the world’s top keynote speakers. PubCon South at Dallas will also hold a one-day, two-track slate of intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry’s most respected search professionals. The event takes place at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center. Register here.

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16 April 2010: Mountain View, California

Under the Radar: Cloud

Under the Radar: Cloud is must-attend event for dealmakers and heads of IT from large enterprises, SMBs, service providers, carriers and media companies who are responsible for helping their companies leverage new technology and innovation in the fast-evolving IT ecosystem. Join us for the 15th Under the Radar conference, featuring a hand-picked selection of the world’s most innovative cloud startups among 350 top tech, media, telcom and finance executives. For ticket and more information, visit http://undertheradarblog.com.

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16 – 17 April 2010: Royal Oak, Michigan

FutureMidwest

FutureMidwest is the region’s largest technology and knowledge conference. Founded by Adrian Pittman, Jordan Wolfe and Zach Lipson, FutureMidwest is the fusion of two successful conferences held in Michigan in 2009 – the Module Midwest Digital Conference and TechNow.

Both conferences highlighted how technology and digital tools have dramatically changed the way we do business and the effect this transition has had on companies. FutureMidwest kicks things up a notch with presentations, group breakout sessions, relationship-building opportunities and influencers who are taking action to redefine business in the digital age. Register here.

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17 April 2010: New York City

Seven on Seven

Seven on Seven will pair seven leading artists with seven game-changing technologists in teams of two, and challenge them to develop something new – be it an application, social media, artwork, product, or whatever they imagine – over the course of a single day. The seven teams will unveil their ideas at a one-day event at the New Museum on April 17.

Seven on Seven Participants include, on the technology side, Ayah Bdeir (artist and programmer), Jeff Hammerbacher (Accel Ventures/ Facebook), David Karp (founder of Tumblr), Andrew Kortina (of Bitly/
Venmo), Hilary Mason (of betaworks), Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress), and Joshua Schachter (currently at Google, formerly at Yahoo, and founder of delicious), and on the art side, Tauba Auerbach,
Cao Fei, Aaron Koblin, Monica Narula, Marc Andre Robinson, Evan Roth and Ryan Trecartin.

Conference attendance includes a half-day session where the seven teams will unveil their ideas, followed by a cocktail reception in the New Museum Skyroom. Find registration information here.

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April 19, 2010: St. Louis Missouri

Social Fresh St. Louis

The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. Over the course of the day you’ll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Ford, Best Buy, Scottrade, Hardees, CMT and many more. Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.

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19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California

DrupalCon

DrupalCon is the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management framework that is galvanizing social publishing and web development today. For a registration fee of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal experts.

Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and management.

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26 April 2010: San Francisco, California

Future of Money and Technology Summit

The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors, solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O’Dell, formerly of ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and many more.

Use discount code “rww” to get 10% off registration.

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7 May 2010: Mountain View, California

ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010: Early bird pricing ends March 31!

Hurry, register now and save $100. Early bird pricing ends March 31! The ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 will be an exploration of the latest Mobile development trends – both the technology and the emerging business applications. Get ready to explore, think and create the future of Mobile with the brightest in the industry, your peers! As in our last Summit, The Real-Time Web, the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit is an unconference.

An unconference is a participant driven conference where the agenda is created on the day, in real-time and discussions are lead by conference participants. Read about the history of unconferences.

We will have two main tracks at this Summit – Development and Business – so the Summit will be of interest to managers, marketers, developers, innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders alike. Here’s a sample of some of the topics we’ll explore in both of these tracks.

• Geo-location services – what can you do using location as a platform?
• Commerce & Marketing – as more and more consumers use smartphones, how can businesses utilize this channel?
• Content, Publishing & Recommendations – the technologies and best practices.
• Mobile Social Networking – how to tap into communities on mobile devices.
• Internet of Things – the emerging opportunities from sensor and RFID data.
• Augmented Reality – the technology and business applications of AR.
• Native App vs. Browser Based – Including iPhone, Android, RIM, Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Click here to register now, or to become a sponsor, or to help shape the conference.

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11 May 2010: San Francisco, California

FinovateSpring

FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world. With Finovate’s signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of unique value into a single day.

Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the leading financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech entrepreneurs. Early bird registration rates are available.

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May 17 2010: San Francisco, California

SF MusicTech Summit

The SF MusicTech Summit will bring together 700-plus visionaries in the music/technology space – the best and brightest entrepreneurs, developers, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving music, business and technology ecosystem in a proactive, conducive-to-dealmaking environment. Enter the discount code “rww” to get 10% off.

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25 – 27 May 2010: Denver, Colorado

Glue

Glue is the only conference devoted solely to exploring the problem-sets facing architects, developers and IT professionals in a “post-cloud” world. Glue focuses on the APIs and protocols (Twitter, Facebook, Websockets, PubSubHubBub, XMPP), formats and standards (RDF/Linked Data, JSON, Microformats, HTML5), platforms and providers (Amazon, Rackspace, Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, Eucalyptus), Identity Protocols (OAuth/WRAP, SAML, OpenID, SPML) emerging NoSQL data models (Cassandra, CouchDB, MongoDB, Riak, HBase), and other mechanisms that are building the post-cloud world.

ReadWriteCloud will be blogging live from Gluecon and CloudCamp, and ReadWriteWeb’s Alex Williams will be moderating the “Managing Complexity in the Cloud” session. Please join us May 25-27 in Denver, Colorado. ReadWriteWeb readers can receive 10% off of registration by using the code “RWW12”.

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27 – 28 May 2010: Beijing, China

Global Mobile Internet Conference

The Global Mobile Internet Conference is designed specifically for entrepreneurs, executives and influencers to understand and capitalize on the growing opportunities in mobile internet. Though focused on opportunities in Asia, much of the conference dialogue is intended to compare and trade best practices across borders, especially between the East and West. Around 1000 industry leaders from Asia, Europe and North America are expected to attend. The conference will be in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

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28 May 2010: Beijing, China

Global Mobile Internet Conference – Innovation Show & Startup Competition

The Global Mobile Internet Conference Innovation Show intends to be a launch pad for innovative mobile internet startups from around the world. Innovation Show finalists will have the opportunity to present their company to an expected 1,000 investors, industry leaders, and press. Finalists will be judged by and receive feedback from a team of respected venture capitalists and angel investors. The judges will choose one company as the GMIC Innovation Show Winner. Startups must apply by April 4.

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15 – 16 June 2010: New York City

Corporate Social Media Summit

The Corporate Social Media Summit is a two day conference focused exclusively on how big businesses can take advantage of social media to enhance their marketing/comms strategy. Featuring:

• Practical and relevant insights from peers who have already used social media successfully
• 20-plus corporate speakers (including PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Dell, McDonald’s, General Motors, Citi, Johnson & Johnson),
• Best practice, benchmarks and practical next steps you can use to take advantage of social media in your business
• A tightly-focused agenda with 14 in-depth, practical workshops giving you knowledge on only the most critical business issues surrounding corporate use of social media

Save $400 if you quote RWW400 when booking. Book here.

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29 – 30 June 2010: London

Cloud Computing World Forum

The 2nd annual Cloud Computing World Forum is the perfect event to learn and discuss the development, integration, adoption and future of cloud computing and SaaS. Building on the success of the 2009 show, this two day conference and free-to-attend exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global cloud and SaaS industry. Show highlights include:

• Co-located with CloudCamp London
• Co-located with Green IT conference
• Free-to-attend exhibition with seminar and scenario theatre
• Free-to-attend evening awards presentation
• Hear from leading case studies on how they have integrated cloud computing and SaaS into their working practices
• Learn from the key players offering cloud and SaaS services
• Evening networking party for all attendees

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5 October 2010: New York City

FinovateFall

FinovateFall will return to Manhattan on Tuesday, October 5 to showcase dozens of the biggest and most innovative new ideas in financial and banking technology from established leaders and hot young companies. The Fall event is the original and largest Finovate and features a single day packed with our special blend of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) and intimate networking time with top executives from the innovative demoing companies.

FinovateFall is a unique chance to see the future of finance and banking before your competition and find the edge you need in today’s market. Early bird registration rates are available.

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Download this entire events calendar in iCal format.

Discuss

There’s a PlayStation Move game that involves riding around on an office chair and trying to escape from the Yakuza. It’s called Slider, and it’s going to be one of the Move’s launch titles in North America.

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Chevrolet

We’ve seen patent drawings of the Chevrolet Malibu, and now spy shooters have captured the real thing cruising the hinterlands like a Yeti. Additional styling elements will be added to the bodywork, giving the current car’s graceful bulk a few more angles and a bit more finesse.

The prototype’s better-looking than the patent sketches indicate, which is no surprise, but we’re still looking forward to how those front and rear lights will evolve. At least in back, it looks like they won’t be true dual units, as envisioned on a couple of sketch-based renderings, but will have single lenses outboard and another set on the trunk.

Inside, which is where we think the Malibu can really step up its game, “vastly improved” materials are said to be on the way. A significantly better ride will come courtesy of the HiPer strut system on the car’s new Epsilon II platform.

[Source: Car & Driver]

Spy Shots: 2012 Chevrolet Malibu prepares to shake up mid-size segment originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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