Author: Serkadis

This year will mark Microsoft and Sony’s full-fledged entry into the motion controlled gaming space. Both Natal and “Arc” already have their own stable of developers ready to churn out games, but according to SCEA’s Rob Dyer,

Filed under: Recalls, Toyota

While all Toyota and Lexus models are expected to be sold with brake override systems by the end of 2010, there are still plenty in customers’ hands that don’t have the feature. A brake override system will effectively cut engine power if it senses the brake and gas pedals are being pressed at the same time, a handy feature if you find your car suddenly accelerating.

Until now, Toyota has been retroactively adding the brake override feature only to certain models affected by its recent recalls, specifically the Toyota Camry and Avalon and Lexus ES and IS models. Yesterday the Japanese automaker announced that this list is being expanded to also include the Toyota Tacoma, Venza and Sequoia. This means that anyone who brings one of these seven models to a Toyota dealer for a recall fix, whether it be for the floormat or sticking pedal recall, will also have the brake override feature added to his or her vehicle (except Sequoia owners, who Toyota says will get a letter about adding the brake override feature separate from the recall campaign).

In its announcement after the jump, Toyota claims the brake override feature is not an “integral part of the recall remedy,” but rather an extra measure of confidence for its customers. The announcement itself came the day before Congressional hearings on Toyota’s pedal problems take place in Washington D.C.

Tired of Toyota recall news? Try out the recall-free version of Autoblog.

[Source: Toyota | Image: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty]

Continue reading Toyota adds more models to list getting brake override systems

Toyota adds more models to list getting brake override systems originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

A more than 30 percent increase above 2006 levels on spending predicted; Supreme Court’s recent decision could mean even more money

Contact: Dave Levinthal, 202-354-0111

WASHINGTON — With Democrats battling to keep control of both chambers of Congress and Republicans eager to make gains, the money race is fast underway for 2010’s federal midterm elections.

By the time that every dollar is spent and every check is cashed, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics estimates the cost of the Nov. 2 contests will be more than $3.7 billion.

“With so much on the line, the outpouring of big money into federal campaigns looks likely to continue at a brisk pace,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. “Additionally, the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission could precipitate millions more in spending by special interest groups looking to advance their own agendas.”

This prediction is a conservative estimate that includes spending by U.S. Senate and U.S. House candidates and political parties. It also estimates spending by so-called 527 committees and independent expenditures on advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts by outside political action committees to support and oppose candidates.

It does not include a projection for how much money could come directly from corporations, unions, trade associations or other special interest groups in advertisements stemming from the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that reversed the ban on independent expenditures by corporations. These groups are now free to spend unlimited sums on such advertisements — and there is no precedent on which to base an estimate of how much money corporations and organizations will spend through this new political money mechanism.

The Center reached this conclusion based on its analysis of the last four transitions, the data for which is displayed on our website here. Spending on federal elections, CRP found, has typically increased by 31 percent to 35 percent between comparative cycles — that is, comparing midterm to midterm and presidential cycle to presidential cycle. (Read the complete methodology here.)

Assuming this pattern holds for this cycle, even a 30 percent increase would suggest that more than $3.7 billion would be spent in the 2010 midterm elections.

“This is the earliest that the Center has ever offered an estimate,” Krumholz said. “As election observers across the political spectrum work to assess the impact of Citizens United, this prediction offers a solid baseline to compare new spending levels against.”

A Center for Responsive Politics review of records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that during 2009, federal candidates spent about $305.5 million and political parties spent about $493 million.

As expected for this point in the 2010 election cycle, independent expenditures by outside groups have been fairly limited so far, the Center has found. The top independent spenders last year included the Service Employees International Union, with $4.6 million in such spending, the National Rifle Association, at about $486,000, and the Club for Growth, at about $478,000.

The Center for Responsive Politics is also offering a new way to track midterm election spending. Web users can add the following OpenSecrets.org widget to monitor the flow of money in real time.

You can add the widget (below) to your website by copying and pasting the code available on our website here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

#  #  #

 

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS
The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Founded in 1983, the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. CRP’s award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, is the most comprehensive resource for campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. For other organizations and news media, CRP’s exclusive data powers their online features tracking money in politics. CRP relies on support from a combination of foundation grants and individual contributions. The Center accepts no contributions from businesses, labor unions or trade associations.

If you’re planning on snagging that million-dollar prize (qjnet/news/you-can-win-a-million-bucks-playing-mlb-2k10-seriously.html) for MLB 2K10, you’re gonna need all the practice you can get. The contest is open only for the game’s Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, but those who

Felix Salmon wrote up a blog post recently that details just how amazingly confused the NY Times appears to be about its new plan for a paywall. Apparently, the paywall will even include the NYTimes’ blog sites — which even the WSJ tends to keep outside of its paywall. As Salmon notes, this could drive some of the NYT’s more popular bloggers to go elsewhere. But where it gets really confusing is that the NYT’s execs seem to go back and forth over whether or not links into NYT articles from other sites (such as blogs) will count against the “quota” that leads to the paywall. Sometimes they say it won’t count, except when they say it will count. Basically, it sounds like they don’t know, but they’re so afraid of people sneaking in that there will be at least some limit.

But this leads to a rather fascinating question that one of Salmon’s readers asks in the comments (unfortunately, it looks like Reuters doesn’t let you link directly to comments): if a blog post drives traffic to the NY Times, and that counts against the quota of “free” articles, leading users to eventually sign up for the paywall, will the blogger get a cut of the paywall fee? After all, isn’t part of the argument from newspapers upset with aggregators that they’re getting some sort of “free ride”? Wouldn’t the same apply in reverse? If newspapers, such as the NY Times, are getting direct revenue from an action initiated by a blogger, then by the newspapers’ own convoluted logic, don’t those newspapers owe money to the bloggers?

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Since I haven’t heard much about the Ford H2ICE (hydrogen internal combustion engine) shuttle buses that were rolled out between 2006 and 2008, I thought it was time for an update on this program. So, I contacted a spokesperson for Ford Motor Company Communications and a Ford H2ICE Service Engineer for an update.

Here is the scoop from the Ford Motor Company Communications spokesperson, “The 10 buses that were deployed in Canada are still running. In Ottawa, 3 buses are at the Canadian senate operated by the Senate. In Vancouver British Columbia, 2 buses, one with Land Sea Tours doing public city tours, the other with West Vancouver Parks operating as an air- hotel shuttle. In Charlottetown, PE there are 2 city buses running. And in Toronto 3 buses are operated by the city.

“In the United States, 2 buses are running in Allentown, PA. One is operated by Air Products and Chemicals, the other by Lehigh Valley Hospital. Buses deployed for other programs are currently not running. Many of the customers ran out of budget or may have had issues with their fueling stations. We are continuing to work with the Department of Energy to re-deploy the buses if possible to new locations, providing funding can be found. Over the years of operation the buses accumulated a total of 332,500 miles.”

So what have been the goals and accomplishments of the Ford H2ICE shuttle bus program so far? Here are a few answers from the Ford H2ICE Service Engineer:

Goals

• Demonstrate product feasibility
• Educate customer & promote acceptance of H2 as an alternative fuel
• Support the development of the hydrogen economy
• Demonstrate capability of meeting future emission levels
• Provide technological development opportunities
• Promote Ford leadership in H2ICE technology
• Stimulate development of H2 infrastructure, codes & standards

Accomplishments

• Vehicles have accumulated over 300,000 to date
• 11 locations trained with positive feed back
• 6 of 11 locations had to erected a fuel station (infrastructure growth)
• Meets 2010 phase 2 heavy duty emissions standards w/o after treatment

Sometimes what is new and newsworthy makes all the headlines so I thought I would give a little time talking about what the mainstream media is neglecting. Even though some of the Ford H2ICE shuttle buses aren’t running due to economic or fueling station issues, the rest continue to run, wrack up miles, demonstrate the feasibility of internal combustion engines running on hydrogen and push for more H2 infrastructure to be built.

CHAMPAIGN – As a closer to its second annual Radio Food Drive with the Eastern Illinois Food Bank, WEFT 90.1 FM will air the 13th annual Homelessness Marathon, which will be broadcast live from the streets of Detroit starting at 6 p.m. today.

The 14-hour nationwide broadcast, through 8 a.m. Wednesday, will carry the voices of the homeless, advocates for housing and shelter, and other guests. The broadcast will be heard on more than 150 stations nationwide, and at WEFT’s Web cast at http://www.weft.org.

There will be a live remote from Bloomington, Ind., on homeless families, a discussion with homeless people in Los Angeles, and homeless people in America and Canada comparing notes on how they get help with medical issues, co-hosted by a station in Windsor, Ontario.

Other topics will include the story of Safe Haven, the tent community in Champaign-Urbana; updates on the Katrina relief effort in Mississippi; and near the end of the broadcast, homeless people talking to representatives of the mayor’s office in Detroit.

WEFT will host a final Radio Food Drive benefit at 8 p.m. Thursday live at 88 Broadway, Lincoln Square Mall, Urbana with WEFT’s Monday morning Jazz Host, Mr. Sensation and his group, The Sensations, performing covers and originals. All proceeds will benefit the station and the Eastern Illinois Food Bank.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

URBANA – A Champaign man was being held at the Champaign County Jail on Monday on $5,000 bond following his arrest Sunday for residential burglary and attempted residential burglary.

Assistant Champaign County State’s Attorney Lindsey Clark said that Antonio Brown, 17, who listed two different addresses in Champaign, kicked open the door of a home in the 300 block of East Michigan Avenue, Urbana, at 5:14 a.m. Sunday. Clark said people inside the home saw a man dressed in black in the doorway. Police arrested Brown a short time later, as he drove from the area, according to an Urbana police report.

On Monday, Judge John Kennedy ordered Brown to have no contact with the people who live at the East Michigan Avenue home and set a preliminary hearing for Brown for March 9.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

It seems like you can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting a tech pundit eager to tell you that RSS is dead. Personally, I’m not buying it. RSS feeds and readers are the No. 1 way I stay up to date with online content, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Over the years I’ve tried out a number of different feed readers including NetNewsWire, Google Reader, Fever, and on and on. Each time I switch though, I always find my way back to NewsFire. For me it’s just the perfect balance of form and function. Well, it’s almost perfect. To paraphrase Churchill I’d say that NewsFire is actually the worst RSS reader, except for all the other RSS readers. The major gaps in my mind are its inability to sync across multiple machines and the lack of an app for the iPhone. As with all things in technology though, there are a lot of ways to skin that cat.

As someone who splits his time among multiple Macs, having the ability to sync my news reader across those machines is a must. If I’m on my work machine paging through new items, when I get home I obviously want those items to show up as having been read. Out of the box NewsFire has no option for syncing but a workable solution turns out to be shockingly simple: Download the free version of Dropbox, create some symbolic links to a few key points on each computer and it’s done. Changes made on one computer are synced through Dropbox and show up on the other.

Setting up the Sync

First, move the follow folder and files into your Dropbox:

~/library/Application Support/NewsFire
~/Library/Caches/org.xlife.NewsFire
~/Library/preferences/org.xlife.NewsFire.plist

You’ll then need to replace them with symbolic links. To create a symbolic link just fire up the Terminal and use the ln command. The format will be (ln -s) (filepath to target) (filepath to link), for example:

ln -s /Users/yournamehere/Dropbox/newsfiresymlinks/org.xlife.NewsFire.plist /Users/yournamehere/Library/Preferences

When you finish making the symlink for the preference file you’ll need to lock it to prevent the application from overwriting it when you quit. To lock it, just right click the file to “Get Info” and select the Locked option.

Now just use the same Dropbox account to link up NewsFire installs on your other machines and you’ll be able to stay in sync. There is one caveat: In order to add new feeds you’ll have to first unlock the .plist file on one end, make the change and then re-link it. For the most part, however, my feeds are already set and I’m really just interested in making sure that the status of an item can be passed back and forth between machines.

Obviously, this approach is not as good as baked-in support would be. But I’m hopeful that we’ll soon see an updated version of NewsFire that will not only support syncing but also close that other major gap, iPhone support. It’s been a long while since NewsFire’s developer David Watanabe dropped this tease about a possible iPhone app. I just hope he can tear himself away from Xtorrent updates long enough to show NewsFire some love.

When Apple updated the new iMacs with the Core i5 and i7 processors, it also quietly introduced a change to the built-in iSight camera with a new lens and a different focal length. An improvement to the barcode scanning algorithm for Delicious Library is coming soon that will provide a fix for the new iMacs and promises better accuracy for all other cameras as well. In addition, Delicious Library is coming to retail stores later this year.

I had a quick chat with Wil Shipley, the founder of Delicious Monster, and he shed some light on all of the above.

Barcode Scanning Now 7x Better

Unlike the original external iSight that featured an auto-focus system, the built-in iSight has a fixed focus. The new iMacs have a lens that shifts the fixed focus from 1′ to 2′. While this change is probably better for focusing on your face when videoconferencing, it didn’t work very well for trying to scan a barcode that is a bit small when held 2 feet away or too blurry when held close enough to fill the camera frame.

Wil has spent the last few months working on improvements to the barcode scanning algorithm that improve accuracy up to 7x. The best part is that these improvements are coming in a free update to all Delicious Library 2 customers that will improve barcode recognition on all computers, not just the new iMacs.

The new scanning is up to 700% more sensitive than it was before. It almost beeps before you’re ready. It’s kinda like that old knock, knock joke about the interrupting cow…

Knock Knock
Who’s There?
Interrupting Cow
Interrupting Cow wh… Moo!!!!

I actually have a test harness set up to test so I can measure the exact difference in recognition and it’s working great. I rewrote the DL algorithm from scratch to unblur the image as you move the book around. It just works great.

A beta release for DL2 is coming soon.

Delicious Library Coming to Retail Stores

Wil also shared that Delicious Monster has reached an agreement with Dr. Bott to distribute Delicious Library to retail outlets.

We are finally going to retail boxes and are going to be in stores. I’ve been putting it off for a long time because, you know, I was really firm against it because the retail chain takes so much money out of the product. So it took a while to get here. But now we have an agreement with Dr. Bott and a really beautiful box. We’ve heard stories of people using Delicious Library to sell Macs – come see this, this is cool – and now we can be in the stores.

I’m really proud of the box design itself. I think it’s some of the best work we’ve done yet as far as graphic feel.

Will We See Delicious Library on the iPad?

Delicious Library on the go would be great, but Shipley has run afoul of Amazon’s limitations on using data from the Amazon product info API on a mobile device in the past. The software runs fine in the iPad simulator, but the real question is if Amazon will consider the iPad to be a mobile device in the same class as a smartphone. Wil also has some frustrations about the lack of a MobileMe syncing framework for the iPhone when it exists on the Mac desktop and the lack of a public USB syncing framework for hybrid desktop/iPhone apps.

While we might not see Delicious Library for iPad, Wil did let out that he is excited about the possibilities of the new device and has a project in mind.

I’m still in the planning stages for our next program, well this idea has been gestating for five years now. I don’t have code yet so any release is 1 or 2 years out, but I think this idea could be even bigger than Delicious Library.

Personally, I can’t wait to see it.

Consumer Reports has released its annual list of Top Picks for the year 2010. Honda and Subaru have earned class leader status for building the best all-around vehicles for American drivers, according to the Automaker Report Cards published in Consumer Reports’ 2010 Annual Auto Issue.

Tied with an overall score of 77 out of 100 points, Honda and Subaru were followed by Toyota (74), Hyundai (73) and Nissan and Volkswagen tied at (72) in overall score. Consumer Reports pointed out that recommendations for eight recalled Toyota models were temporarily suspended.

Click here to price the Chevrolet Traverse.

Despite going through a braking recall, the Toyota Prius retained its title as Consumer Reports Top Pick for the Green Car category. Lexus also made the list with the LS 460L taking the Top Pick for the Best Overall Car category.

Any shining moments for American automakers? Well, while Chrysler’s fared even worse than last year, GM was a bright spot taking the Top Pick for the Family SUV category with the Chevrolet Traverse, and the Top Pick for the Pickup Truck category with the Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

Click through to see the list of Top 10 Picks.

Family Sedan: Nissan Altima
Small Sedan: Hyundai Elantra SE
Sporty Car: Volkswagen GTI
Small SUV: Subaru Forester
Best Overall Car: Lexus LS 460L
Family SUV: Chevrolet Traverse
Sports Sedan: Infiniti G37
Family Hauler: Mazda5
Green Car: Toyota Prius
Pickup Truck: Chevrolet Silverado 1500

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Consumer Reports

Considerably lagging behind in broadband adoption, the US fails to provide cheap and freely accessible broadband connections to the majority of its citizens. Trying to fix this issue, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) announced that its National Broadband Plan would be submitted to the US Congress on March 17.

US pr… (read more)

Aside from denying cancellation rumors, Sony has pretty much kept quiet about The Agency. A trademark registered with the USPTO recently suggests that the game is still alive, but might get a name change before it

The light snow that moved into the Chicago area early Tuesday could stay until Thursday, but no significant accumulation is expected.

Snow flurries are expected to continue through Tuesday as a cold front passes through the Chicago area, but accumulation is expected to be less than an inch, according to the National Weather Service’s Web site.

Temperatures are expected to reach 33 degrees Tuesday afternoon and fall near 18 degrees Tuesday night, the weather service said. Snow is possible Wednesday and Thursday, when temperatures will only climb into the mid-20s.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

A Palos Hills motorist was charged with drunken driving after the car he was driving crashed into a cement flowerpot barrier, critically injuring a passenger, in Chicago’s Garfield Ridge community, police said.

Felony charges are still possible, according to police.

David Czaja, 23, was driving north on Cicero Avenue when he lost control and the vehicle struck a cement flowerpot barrier near 56th Street about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Czaja, of the 10400 block of South Aspen Drive, was ticketed for DUI and failure to reduce speed, police said.

Czaja was initially taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. A passenger in the vehicle, a man in his 20s, was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center with head injuries, police said.

The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Steve Miller reporting
(WBBM) – Today marks three years since John Spira disappeared from his West Chicago office, and DuPage County authorities say they are investigating it as a missing persons case.

A former federal prosecutor thinks it should be treated as a murder case.

John Spira was a musician, a pilot and co-owner of a business in West Chicago.  Three years ago today, he vanished.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tad DiBiase says he’s convinced Spira is dead – and was murdered.

Spira did not, DiBiase says he believes, not kill himself.

“Oh I’m very strongly convinced.  People like that don’t just disappear.”

“You can’t bury yourself.  You can’t burn yourself up.  Generally you jump into a body of water and maybe disappear that way.  But most bodies, as gross as it is, rise to the surface of the water.”

DiBiase was contacted by John Spira’s sister Stephanie McNeil, who has led the search for Spira.

DiBiase says he’s tracking this as a “no body” murder case.

“It’s an interesting case because typically the victim in the ‘no body’ case is a female.”

Think, as some would allege, Stacy Peterson.

DiBiase has taken the case pro-bono–at no charge. He says his job is to work with Spira’s family and police – to maybe nudge police into pursuing some new leads.

“Generally most people don’t want to kill random people.  They want to kill people who piss them off of jilted them.”

The DuPage County sheriff’s office says it is still investigating, calling it a “missing persons” case.

More information at:www.nobodymurdercases.comwww.johnspira.com

Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Republican Kirk Dillard says he will wait for results from the state before deciding what to do after the GOP primary for Illinois governor ended in a virtual tie.

Tuesday is the deadline for the state’s 110 local election authorities to declare their results and then report them to the state.

State Board of Elections executive director Dan White says results from 32 election agencies were still outstanding Monday.

The state board won’t certify final election results until March 5.

The Feb. 2 GOP primary ended with Dillard trailing state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington by only a few hundred votes.

The Brady camp says their tally shows Brady maintains a lead of nearly 250 votes.

The GOP winner will take on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in the November election.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Arthur’s Pet Business, written and illustrated by Marc Brown, is an interesting and fun book that teaches about responsibility and about earning money.  Arthur needs to show his parents that he is responsible enough to own a puppy.  He decides to start a pet sitting business.  When people start calling his number off the fliers he posted around town, Arthur gets very busy taking care of several different animals.  He has no time to play.  Arthur’s biggest responsibility is Perky, a moody dog, that stays with Arthur for a week while the owner is out of town.  In the end, Arthur earns $10 and a new puppy.

Children will see the value of working hard for what they want.  They will also see that taking care of pets requires hard work.  After reading this book, children should be encouraged to think of jobs they can do to earn money.  This book can also lead into discussions about spending and saving.  Young entrepreneurs everywhere will want to start a profitable business just like Arthur.

Curriculum Connections
This book can easily be used to begin economics discussions in grades K-5th.  The students will see people work to earn money (K.7b), the difference between goods and services (1.7), and making choices (1.8).  Using Arthur as an example, students can be encouraged to make their own business plans with consideration of resources available (2.9) and the use of barter versus money (2.8).  The students can make a plan for how they will save up for something they want (1.9).

Additional Resources

• Click on this website for handouts to reinforce economic terms such as goods, services, needs, and wants.
• For a great economics field trip, go to the Children’s Museum of Richmond.  Economics activities include the grocery store center, the bank, and participation in a mock market activity if arranged ahead of time for your group.  The website is nicely arranged to show which VA SOLs can be covered during your trip.
• Consider this lesson plan on profit using Arthur’s Pet Business or use these catchy economics songs for vocabulary reinforcement.

Book:  Arthur’s Pet Business
Author:  Marc Brown
Illustrator:  Marc Brown
Publisher:  Little, Brown, and Company
Publication Date:  1990
Pages:  30
Grade Range:  K-5th
ISBN:  0-316-11316-6

Ron Paul said on Fox & Friends this morning that he has no plans to run for President in 2012. Help us change Ron Paul’s mind! Post a comment and then vote in this poll.

Show: Fox and Friends
Channel: Fox News
Date: 02/23/2010

Transcript coming soon

Related posts:

1. Ron Paul: Suspend The Income Tax For 3-4 Years! In his appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, Ron…
2. How Ron Paul Crushed Romney & Palin At CPAC – And What’s Next Ron Paul appeared on Fox News today to talk about…
3. Ron Paul 2012: When should Ron Paul announce his decision? Click here to participate in our latest Ron Paul 2012…

Ron Paul and James Carville appeared on Larry King Live last night to discuss the CPAC Presidential Straw Poll, the US government’s financial problems and Sarah Palin.

Show: Larry King Live
Channel: CNN
Date: 02/22/2010

Transcript coming soon

Related posts:

1. Ron Paul Returns to Larry King Live – 9:45 pm ET Congressman Ron Paul is scheduled to appear on CNN’s Larry…
2. How Ron Paul Crushed Romney & Palin At CPAC – And What’s Next Ron Paul appeared on Fox News today to talk about…
3. Ron Paul and Barney Frank on Larry King Live Show: Larry King Live Channel: CNN Date: 12/16/2009 Transcript…