Sony is pretty famous for creating closed platform after closed platform locked down with incredibly damaging DRM. Back in 2005, there was a surprise statement from Sony’s Ken Kutaragi, where he admitted that the company made a mistake in focusing on proprietary consumer electronics… but it seemed like no one was listening. The company kept on coming out with locked down, proprietary offerings. So, we were a bit skeptical a year ago when Sony CEO Howard Stringer once again claimed that Sony should have been more open. You can say it all you want, but if your solutions are still proprietary, it’s pretty meaningless.
Could Sony finally be realizing that there really is a benefit to openness? Perhaps only after getting crushed in the market. But, people are noting that Sony’s agreement to use Google’s open GoogleTV platform is extremely un-Sony-like. Of course, it might just be a desperation ploy — and too little, too late — for a company that hasn’t been considered a real leader in the space in many years.
Chrysler Group LLC’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit today celebrated the production launch of the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
“The production launch of the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee signals the rebirth of the Chrysler Group,” said Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group LLC CEO. “The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a signature vehicle for Chrysler. It represents the best of this Company, the direction we’re moving toward producing high quality, technologically advanced vehicles. We are confident the Grand Cherokee will receive the proper recognition for what it stands for when it hits the road in June.”
Marchionne also said that a total of 1,080 employees will staff the second shift with nearly all new hires.
“We are anticipating that there will be strong customer demand for the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, so we decided it was prudent to add a second shift of production,” said Marchionne.
Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm also participated in the launch of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee production.
“Chrysler’s launch of its 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee demonstrates our determination that the vehicles of the future will be built right here in Michigan,” said Gov. Granholm. “I want to thank Chrysler for making a strong commitment to our state and creating jobs in Michigan.”
Refresher: The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee will go on sale next month and will be available 3 models: Laredo, Limited and Overland. The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4×2 model starts at $30,995, while the 4×4 Grand Cherokee Laredo model starts at $32,995. Prices for the 2011 Grand Cherokee Limited 4×4 start at $39,995, while the Overland 4×4 model start at $42,995. All models will be powered by a 3.6L Pentastar V6 unit making 290-hp delivering up to 23 mpg and over 500 miles on one tank of gas. Optional features include a 360-hp 5.7L V8 and a Trailer Tow Group.
Silhouettes of the shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station pass over the sun’s disk in a May 16 picture captured by astrophotographer Thierry Legault. Click on the image to see a larger view from Legault’s website, Astrophoto.fr.
The space shuttle Atlantis’ final mission is hitting new heights for fantastic pictures – in part because every flight brings improvements in NASA’s capability to capture imagery, and in part because photographers are taking extra care to document the end of the shuttle era. For us earthbound spectators, it’s the next best thing to being there.
What’s Bad: Keyboard is oddly domed; besides the positive improvements listed in “What’s Good,” it’s virtually identical to the Tour 9630. Expensive.
Verdict: If you’re looking for something to replace your Curve 8330 or 8830 World Edition, the Bold 9650 is worth a look. But for someone using a Tour 9630 or Curve 8530, I don’t think there’s enough to justify the upgrade. I also think the device is a bit pricey, given that the EVO 4G and iPhone 3GS are also $199.99.
Announced at WES 2010 last month, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 has made its way to Sprint (with no Verizon launch in sight as of yet). Featuring Wi-Fi, a trackpad, additional system memory, and a few cosmetic changes, the device is more of a revision of the Tour 9630 than it is an entirely new model.
The Bold 9650 ships in a box that’s identical in size to the Tour 9630 (though the Sprint design has changed a bit). The unit ships with a battery, SIM card for international travel, USB cable, charger, swivel holster, AC adapter, 2 GB microSD card, and instruction manuals. From a design perspective, the device closely resembles its older brother, the Tour 9630. Buttons are in the same place, the chrome looks exactly the same, and the keyboard is the same. Overall functionality appears to be faster (thanks to the increased system memory), but I’m still running tests to determine if it’s true or if it’s just me.
I haven’t had the device long enough to do any accurate battery tests, but I will say that call quality and signal strength seem to be good. I briefly took the unit to a Sprint dead spot, and was able to make a call, despite having no bars of service. The people I’ve called can all hear me well, and it’s clear and loud on my end also. My Bluetooth headset connects perfectly as well.
Other things that I’ve found:
Call me crazy, but I noticed this on the demos at WES 2010, and my unit has the same “issue.” If you place your finger on the trackpad and move from right to left, it’s as if the keyboard piece is domed. It’s a strange feeling – it’s as if they packed a bunch of stuff under the keyboard, and tried to cram the keyboard over it. Think of it like overpacking a suitcase; sure, it zips, but you have that telltale bulge in the center of it. It’s just like that. When I use the keyboard, I feel like it’s going to pop off and motherboard components are going to go everywhere. Maybe I’ll get used to it.
Due to the size increase of the trackpad, the bottom row of the keyboard (space bar row) is a bit smaller versus the Tour. Overall, the rest is nearly identical.
The trackpad is a nice addition. Much better – and more reliable – than the trackball.
Sprint decided to go with the rubberized back this time around versus the glossy back they used on the Tour 9630. A welcome improvement, as it doesn’t pick up every fingerprint in the world, and it gives the back more consistency.
The chrome around the edges looks identical to the chrome around the BlackBerry Tour 9630. It’ll be interesting to see if Verizon goes with the darker chrome from the Tour 9630, or if they stick with the lighter chrome.
After the negative comments RIM received about putting the microUSB charging port on the lower right hand side of the device (versus the top left as seen on the Bold 9000, 9700, Curve 83XX series, and others), I was surprised to see that they left it in the same place. I’m guessing it was for design purposes (easier to modify an existing design and get the Bold 9650 to market versus going back to the drawing board).
“Bold” is written in large letters just above the camera (which is still 3.2-megapixels).
The battery door is slightly different on the Bold 9650 versus the Tour 9630; the design is comprised of lines versus the carbon fiber look on the Tour 9630.
Now it’s time to jump off for the weekend and play with…er, “test” it. Stay tuned for my full review!
Linda McMahon’s husband just arrived at the GOP convention, along with other members of the McMahon family, including daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Triple H.
Google’s front page today pays tribute to the iconic video game, Pacman. It’s just 30 years ago today since Pacman was first released in Japan, indicating the warp speed at which gaming has become part of the global social fabric. Fittingly for such a landmark date for a landmark game, Google’s front page is more than just an idle tribute – it is actually a fully playable game of Pacman and will be seen around 3 billion times during this 24 hour period. ..
Continue Reading Google’s front page Pacman tribute – a fully playable game
I will say that we have always maintained that we need increased prison facility, and I think the law prevents the Department of Defense from — but not the Department of Justice — from purchasing such a facility.
Gibbs also said that the administration will send a report to Congress explaining why the Thomson-based Guantanamo closure makes sense. But it’s not clear from the summary language of the markup of the defense authorization bill that receipt of such a report will unlock the Thomson money. Either way, the administration needs to get on that: A full House vote on the bill is expected next week.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has now distanced himself even further from state Republicans, this time by wading into a contentious battle over dueling redistricting amendments.
During a meeting with the Miami Herald’s editorial board this week, Crist endorsed a pair of ballot initiatives sponsored by the citizens group Fair District Florida — Amendments 5 and 6 — that seek to reform how lawmakers redraw legislative and congressional districts. At the same time, he trashed the majority-Republican legislature’s decision to put forward a third redistricting measure — Amendment 7 — that critics charge will effectively neuter Amendments 5 and 6. (See here for an explanation of what these amendments would do.)
Crist claimed the lawmakers’ amendment was effectively a way for state Republicans to preserve their numbers in the legislature and the state’s congressional delegation. He referred to the bill as a “silver bullet” that he would have vetoed if the state constitution gave him that power.
“Some people have gotten so rigid about their adherence to the party before doing what’s right for the people, it’s hurting our country,” he told the Herald.
Crist had previously reserved judgment on the Fair Districts amendments back in February 2009, claiming he needed to learn more about what they would do. But he also said he felt redistricting reform pushes always came from the minority party.
“It always seems like the party that’s not in power doesn’t like the way the districts are drawn,” he told the St. Petersburg Times.
His position is not a total reversal, however, as he had supported a constitutional amendment in 1993 that would have created an independent commission that would follow guidelines similar to what is included in the Fair Districts amendments. That amendment passed in the state Senate but then died in the then-majority-Democratic House.
This is just the latest in a series of dramas between Crist and the GOP since his April 29 announcement that he would forgo his run for the party’s Senate nomination in favor of an independent run for the seat. His battles with the state party leadership have been particularly nasty and public, culminating in the Republican Party of Florida’s widely reported eBay auction of its portrait of Crist for $7,700.
Crist’s comments on the redistricting amendments went public the same day the state chapters of the NAACP and League of Women Voters, as well as the Hispanic advocacy group Democracia Ahora, filed a lawsuit in Tallahassee to get Amendment 7 removed from the ballot. The plaintiffs claimed the amendment was “flying under false colors” by claiming to clarify Amendments 5 and 6 while allegedly being an attempt to do just what Crist claimed: preserve Republican majorities.
The state party’s press office had not returned requests for comment at the time of this article’s posting.
On this evening’s broadcast of ABC’s World News, and in an accompanying story on ABC News’ website, reporter Brian Ross questions whether the Joint Strike Fighter program needs the competitive engine being made by GE-Rolls Royce – calling it a “pork barrel project” and asking whether it’s a “government boondoggle.” While ABC presented the broad arguments in favor of funding the GE/RR F136 engine, the network left out key facts. We’d like to set the record straight.
Although the televised report noted that spending on the JSF engine program will ultimately reach $100 billion (the online version did not), the stories omitted the fact that a decades-long engine competition needs only to generate a 1 percent to 2 percent cost benefit to recoup the remaining dollars needed to complete the GE/RR F136 program. Without the competing GE/RR F136 engine, a sole-source monopoly will be handed to a single contractor, Pratt & Whitney, which already has $2.6 billion in cost overruns on its JSF engine.
The report incorrectly claimed that the GE-Rolls Royce engine “lost out in the initial Pentagon competition” to be the engine supplier. That is completely untrue. As recently as May 19, during a House Subcommittee hearing, John Roth, comptroller for the Department of Defense Program/Budget, agreed that there was never an engine competition for JSF. Rather, JSF aircraft designs were competed (between McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed Martin), but the engines were not. Citing commonality with Pratt & Whitney’s F119 engine for the F-22, the U.S. Air Force directed the competing aircraft manufacturers to both use the P&W engine in their concept demonstrator aircraft. Subsequently, Congress recognized in 1996 that an engine competition for the JSF was never held, and it authorized development funds to GE/Rolls-Royce with the intention of introducing a competing engine four years into the aircraft program.
The report also left out the independent Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) conclusion that the 21 percent cost benefit from a JSF engine competition will translate into $20 billion in savings — the equivalent of nearly 200 JSF aircraft.
The report also implied that that the government will need to spend $3 billion more on the project. However, GE/Rolls-Royce only needs another $1B to complete F136 engine development. Between now and 2017, we estimate additional costs associated with tooling and support infrastructure will bring the total to $1.8B.
While the ABC News story noted that Congress has been in favor of the GE/RR engine – and has funded it since the mid-1990s — the report left out the fact that the F136 development program is more than 70 percent complete. In fact, the engine will fly on the JSF aircraft next year and will be poised to compete head-to-head with Pratt & Whitney’s engine.
The report also quotes a U.S. Navy Admiral who says having two different engines and their spare parts on aircraft carriers will cause a problem with space onboard. In fact, the Navy today operates four different fixed-wing aircraft engines on the carrier with little or no commonality in terms of machinery, tools or support equipment. The interchangeable P&W F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engines reduce parts, manpower, and cost. Compared to engines for the F-14 B&D, the F136 will require 48 percent less manpower and 66 percent less support equipment.
The reports also implied that members of Congress who support the competing engine are doing so because of jobs located in their states – with Michigan being one of the states singled out. GE’s decision to increase the number of aviation jobs in Michigan is part of our broader commitment to draw on the high-tech talent pool available in the economically hard-hit state. GE’s job creation efforts include non-aviation related R&D, manufacturing, and information technology efforts.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today said it would be “irresponsible” for lawmakers to defer until next year a required $3.8 billion payment to Illinois’ public pension systems when they return to Springfield next week to put together a budget.
But Quinn declined to say what he’d do if legislators decide to put off the pension payment. The state $is 13 billion in debt and lawmakers — particularly Republicans — are reluctant to borrow money to make the pension payment for a second consecutive year.
“This is a moment of truth for the next week for the members of the Illinois General Assembly,” Quinn said during an appearance on “The Steve Cochran Show” on WGN-AM (720).
“I would say that we need some fortitude here and some common sense,” the governor said. “If legislators just want to kick and the can down the road and not deal with fundamental problems that affect the people of Illinois, they’re not living up to their responsibility.”
Without naming names but clearly pointing at his Republican governor foe, Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, Quinn said it wouldn’t be fiscally prudent to force the pension systems to divest long-term assets to cover costs instead of borrowing money to make the payment.
“There’s some legislators out there running around saying don’t do this (borrowing),” Quinn said. “Well, they’re fiscally irresponsible and the bottom line is that’s going to end up costing millions and millions of more dollars than we should have to pay.”
When lawmakers left the Capitol on May 7 without a final budget plan, some of them contended the proposed spending outline too heavily favored education at the expense of human service programs. Since that time, Quinn has been regularly meeting with legislators.
“I think basically legislators felt they wanted to make sure these fundamental programs were protected and I think I’ve made it pretty clear that’s where I’m coming from as well,” he said. “I hope we can pass a budget that probably will not be perfect but it has to be good enough to move our state forward.”
McLaren Automotive today announced its global retail network that it will feature 35 retailers in 19 countries in 2011. The 35 retailers will start selling the new 2011 McLaren MP4-12C. McLaren says that it has plans to grow the network starting 2012.
North America (including U.S. and Canada will initially get 8 retailers. U.S. dealers will be located in the following cities: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa.
In Europe, McLaren will have 12 dealers spread out through UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland). The Middle East will get two while South Africa will get one.
Later in 2010, McLaren will announce an additional two retailers in the U.S., five in the Middle East and a network of four retailers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Refresher: Power for the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C comes from a 3.8L V8 twin-turbo engine producing around 600-hp mated to a 7-speed Seamless Shift dual-clutch gearbox (SSG). 0 to 60 mph is expected to come in the low 3 second range with a top speed of more than 200 mph. Sales begin in early 2011.
2011 McLaren MP4-12C:
Press Release:
McLAREN AUTOMOTIVE CONFIRMS CITY LOCATIONS FOR ITS FIRST GLOBAL RETAILERS
Media Information
MTC, Woking, England
* McLaren Automotive global retail network to feature 35 of the world’s best car retailers in 19 countries in 2011; further growth planned from 2012
* McLaren Automotive’s first 23 retailers due to be confirmed ahead of MP4-12C’s global debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed
* Demand for McLaren brand underlined by over 2,500 prospects on www.mclaren.com, and over 500 retailers requesting the opportunity to represent McLaren Automotive
* Mario Micheli, McLaren Automotive’s new Commercial and Marketing Director, driving programme to present 12C at over 100 events in 2010
WOKING, UK (May 21, 2010) – McLaren Automotive today announces the city locations for its global retail network. Operating independently, but located at the heart of the McLaren Group, the company expects to confirm the names of the majority of its partners in these cities within weeks, with the remainder making up the launch network of 35 retailers confirmed through the autumn.
An initial eight retailers in North America (USA, Canada), 12 in Europe (UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland), two in the Middle-East, and McLaren’s South African representative are expected to be the first confirmed retailers in the company’s network, which begins selling the McLaren MP4-12C from spring 2011. A further 12 retailers will be announced through 2010, completing the initial line-up, including McLaren’s Spanish retailer, two further retailers in the USA, five more in the Middle East, and the company’s network of four retailers in its Asia-Pacific region.
McLaren Automotive can confirm that it will be represented by many of the world’s best automotive retailers in the following cities and markets:
* Europe: Birmingham, London, Manchester; Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich; Brussels; Monaco, Paris; Milan; Barcelona/Madrid; Zurich
* North America: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa; Toronto
* Middle-East / South Africa: Manama; Doha; Jeddah, Riyadh; Dubai, Abu Dhabi; Kuwait; Johannesburg
* Asia-Pacific: Hong Kong; Singapore; Sydney; Tokyo
Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive’s Managing Director, said: “This is a landmark day for McLaren Automotive as we confirm the locations of the first of our partners that will represent us around the world. It has been incredibly encouraging to experience the demand to sell McLarens from the world’s best car retailers – in every country in which we planned to launch and at the heart of all performance car markets.
“We have proposed sensible, but high quality, expectations from our preferred retail partners and have been amazed at some of the proposals presented by potential retailers: nearly half are building brand new flagship showrooms.
“There is clearly an appreciation of McLaren all around the world. Aside from the obvious Formula 1 links, we believe this is down to our strong business plan, our exciting and innovative product line-up, and a focus on what is best for the retailer – sensible investment, and attention to customer service and aftersales, both in how we treat the customer and how we design the car. We will offer the retailers a unique focus on the customer, supporting them far more than is typical after a sale has been completed. We have a phrase at McLaren that sums up our attitude and appeals to the retail business: sanity, not vanity.
“We will also develop a global network that has fewer retailers than our competitors, selling a smaller volume of higher quality cars with more useable technology and performance; almost the perfect scenario for experienced retailers of premium high-performance sports car,” Sheriff concluded.
High demand to represent McLaren; high demand to buy a McLaren
A unique combination of a premium sports car ‘designed around the driver’, focus on the customer, and McLaren’s unrivalled motor racing heritage in Formula 1, Le Mans, Can-Am, and Indy Cars, has attracted many of the world’s best car retailers to take up the opportunity of representing McLaren at the birth of its global car company.
Over 600 automotive businesses have been considered to be McLaren Automotive retailers; McLaren pre-selected 100 preferred partners to review, with a further 500 making direct approaches to McLaren following the announcement of the company’s business plans in September 2009.
The 12C, the first in the company’s new range of ‘pure’ McLaren high-performance sports cars, goes on sale from spring 2011. Up to 1,000 12Cs will be manufactured and delivered in 2011. Of the 19 countries launching the 12C in 2011, the USA, UK, and Germany will be the company’s biggest markets. Between 300 and 400 cars are planned for North America, 400 to 500 for Europe, and 100 to 200 each for the Middle-East/South Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
Initial demand for the 12C appears to validate McLaren’s strategy for a high-quality, performance-oriented and highly efficient sports car featuring Formula 1-inspired technology. Over 2,500 ‘prospects’ have registered ‘expressions of interest to purchase’ on www.mclarenautomotive.com .
Once the first retailers are contracted, McLaren will begin to deliver those prospects’ details to the retailers to take orders. With retailers adding their own contacts, demand for the McLaren’s first ‘pure’ high performance sports car is due to be high.
The first 12Cs will be delivered to customers in Europe, followed by a phased distribution to retailers in the Middle-East/South Africa, North America and Asia-Pacific. McLaren Automotive’s long-term strategy is to sell a range of around 4,000 high-performance sports cars per year that will account for between three and four percent of the annual global market for premium sports cars: a conservative target based on the 2003 market for luxury and performance cars.
Further retailers will be added in select mature and emerging markets from 2012 as McLaren moves to full production of its model line-up by the middle of the decade. McLaren Automotive’s aim is for its global network to remain smaller, more flexible, and more profitable than competitors’ networks. McLaren does not anticipate a global network of more than around 70 retailers, ensuring effective communication and logistics, and strong business relationships between McLaren and its retailers that will be of direct benefit to customers.
Formula 1 at heart: in design, build and show
The 12C will make its global public debut, alongside the company’s Formula 1 team, at the world-famous Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England in July. McLaren Automotive will then present the 12C, and other core assets such as the car’s motor racing-inspired one-piece MonoCell carbon chassis, at a number of public, high-profile events through 2010. All McLaren retailers will also host 12C launch events for VIPs and prospects as part of the car’s 2010 world tour. Aimed at car enthusiasts and potential customers alike, McLaren Automotive anticipates presenting its first McLaren at over 100 events in the second half of 2010.
Mario Micheli, McLaren Automotive’s recently-appointed Commercial and Marketing Director, said: “McLaren is a name that resonates with motorsport fans around the globe: no other racing team can match our achievements and this means for many prospective retailers and customers, it is easy to understand our aspirations for the new sports car range. If you know McLaren, you will know we bring passion, commitment and an absolute ambition to succeed.
“However, launching a global car company will require engaging with more than just motorsport fans. That is why we are pushing ourselves and the new network to make a huge impact through global events. Whether you know McLaren or not, we believe it is vital that our prospective customers see the 12C, feel its quality, and meet our team behind its development in order to really understand the culture that drives everything at McLaren – to be the best,” Micheli concluded.
Uniquely, the full range of cars will be designed, engineered, developed and built within and alongside the home of the company’s Formula 1 cars at the award-winning McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) global headquarters in Woking, England. A brand-new manufacturing facility, the McLaren Production Centre, began construction adjacent to the MTC on March 1 2010. Within two months, its construction was already two weeks ahead of schedule.
Commitment to customer satisfaction
McLaren Automotive plans to repay the successful retailers’ commitment to bespoke McLaren dealerships with innovative technologies and processes aimed at delivering new levels of customer satisfaction in the sports car market:
* Intense focus on aftersales: McLaren Automotive and its retail partners will invest in the aftersales process, where it adds true value to the ownership experience. The ’sanity not vanity’ principle will deliver a focus on the customer by favouring heavy investments in training and diagnostic equipment over showroom ‘palaces’.
* Innovative construction: The 12C is constructed from a unique one-piece carbon fibre chassis, with bolt-on aluminium secondary structures that makes it stronger, lighter, more rigid and much easier to repair and maintain than other cars in the segment.
* A commitment to more effective repair processes: McLaren Automotive will be supporting retailers in stocking at least one spare part of almost every component. This will ensure immediate parts availability to speed up repair and minimize the time cars are off the road.
* Bespoke diagnostics: New desktop, remote, and dynamic diagnostic processes and equipment developed for McLaren Automotive will ensure more accurate and quicker diagnosis and resolution of issues.
Antony Sheriff said: “Our business will succeed or fail on our ability to exceed our customers’ expectations – for technologically advanced cars, great quality and reliability, and excellent relations with their retailers. Our aims are simple: to offer the best cars and service ever seen in this demanding market.
“Therefore, our challenge has been to find retail partners with the same attitudes as McLaren – an absolute focus on being the best that is inherent in everything we do and a natural result of our successful motor racing heritage,” Sheriff concluded.
An artificial butterfly takes wing in a video from the Institute of Physics.
Why a robo-butterfly? Some robotics experts build buglike or birdlike machines, also known as entomopters and ornithopters, to serve as tiny airborne spies. Japanese researchers had a different purpose in mind: Harvard’s Hiroto Tanaka and the University of Tokyo’s Isao Shimoyama wanted to figure out how actual swallowtail butterflies navigate through the air.
You see, because the swallowtails’ forewings partly overlap their hind wings, they don’t have as m
Pac-Man turned 30, and internet giant Google decided to celebrate by enabling the Japanese video game on his home page.
Google decided to challenge users to get to level 256 of its Pac-Man. ”Do you feel lucky?Maybe you could get to level 256 in our first playable doodle. Happy Birthday Pac-Man! “Says the firm on its Twitter account.
Web users who joined the Google homepage to find the game on a small scale, could hardly be distinguished form the logo in colorful maze game. Users will be able to recall the items, it was the most popular video game of the 80 put directly on the Google logo, which has been created in compliance with many of the features of the original Pac-Man. For example, engaging in various forms of ghosts: Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.
Pac-Man is an arcade game company created by Namco and published by Midway Games for the U.S. market in early 1980. In Japan, the celebrations of the thirty years of video game will be in style. Since Pac-Man was introduced was a success. It became a worldwide phenomenon in the gaming industry, and ended with the rules imposed by Space Invaders.
The Google version includes music and video game brand, and the popular “Insert Coin” in place of “I’m feeling lucky” finder.
As explained in the official Google blog, the team has been commissioned to design this doodle with outstanding attention to every detail to be completely faithful to the aesthetics of the early 80s the game.
And if you double-click on the “Insert Coin” button you get a two player version, with the ADWS keys controlling MS. Pac-Man.
While Pac-Man grew to become the coin-operated game best selling in history, the design of Google was less popular among some Internet users.
Over the years, the Pac-Man game became the best selling of all time. The version of Pac-Man with Google will be available for 48 hours.
With more than 20 versions made since its creation, available in over 25 different video game platforms, the title celebrates today its 30th anniversary and Google is part of that tribute.
McLaren dealer rendering – Click above for high-res image gallery
McLaren Automotive has announced the 35 cities where the MP4-12C will be available when it goes on sale next year. Dealers in the 19 countries on the list are still being evaluated and at least 23 of them will be named by McLaren prior to the public debut of the new sports car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
There are few surprises on the list of cities, with all of the usual suspects being represented including Paris, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. As you’d expect, the Middle East is over represented with seven locations, including two in Saudi Arabia. The UK isn’t left of the mix with one dealer each in Manchester and Birmingham, while those of us in the States will have to check out McLaren’s newest supercar in Tampa, Florida. Over 500 dealers have applied for the first 35 outlets and McLaren expects some expansion in 2012. Of course, that’s all dependent on demand, but with 2,500 prospects expressing interest in buying an MP4-12C so far, there could be a McLaren boom in the making.
Following the success of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, many luxury automakers are now creating what is known as a four-door-coupe sports sedan. Porsche has its Panamera; Jaguar has its XJ; and Aston Martin has its Rapide. BMW is working on its own four-door-coupe sedan, which will be influenced by the new BMW Concept Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz is working hard to save its dominance over the market with the next Mercedes-Benz CLS in the works, which will be influenced by the F800 Concept.
Audi’s A7 four-door-coupe will be unveiled later this year, but a Spanish designer by the name of Dani Garcia, is wondering what if Audi went another route than building a model based on the Sportback Concept.
Known as the Audi A9 Concept, Dani Garcia’s version of an Ingolstadt-based four-door-coupe is inspired by design cues from the R8.
(Watershed Media)In what is ostensibly a five-book review for the June 10 New
York Review of Books, journalist Michael Pollan has an epic essay charting the
emergence and character of the food movement. Or, as he puts it,
“movements.” They are unified, for now at least, by little more than the
recognition that industrial food production is in need of reform, “because its
social/environmental/public health/animal welfare/gastronomic costs are too
high.” (Pollan, of course, has been indispensable to the rise of this movement, even though he omits his 2006 best-seller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, from his
list of its catalysts—among them Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Marion
Nestle’s Food Politics.)
This collection is a “big, lumpy
tent,” says Pollan:
Where many social movements tend to splinter as time goes
on, breaking into various factions representing divergent concerns or tactics,
the food movement starts out splintered. Among the many threads of advocacy
that can be lumped together under that rubric we can include school lunch
reform; the campaign for animal rights and welfare; the campaign against
genetically modified crops; the rise of organic and locally produced food;
efforts to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes; “food sovereignty” (the
principle that nations should be allowed to decide their agricultural policies
rather than submit to free trade regimes); farm bill reform; food safety
regulation; farmland preservation; student organizing around food issues on
campus; efforts to promote urban agriculture and ensure that communities have
access to healthy food; initiatives to create gardens and cooking classes in
schools; farm worker rights; nutrition labeling; feedlot pollution; and the
various efforts to regulate food ingredients and marketing, especially to kids.
Yep, that about covers it. And those factions don’t always
play nicely together. For example, animal-rights activists can’t abide what I like to call
the “born-again carnivores”—the people (like me) who used to be vegetarians
but resumed eating meat once they could get it in good (or at least
better) conscience from small farms.
Pollan finds one common point on which all the various
movement splinters can agree: that the way our food system is organized and
supported in this country has led to an epidemic of ill health. First Lady
Michelle Obama’s various forays into food politics shows just that there is awareness of that fact occurs in very high places. But the food
movement isn’t just about tearing down the unhealthy, unfair, and unclean
industrial food system, says Pollan. It’s also about celebrating the communal and gustatory
pleasures of its opposite—and that’s what makes the food movement so appealing. Farmers
markets aren’t just outlets for organic kale; they’re the new informal
gathering places to meet and make friends. They make food shopping fun again, no longer a grim sprint behind a cold
metal cart through aisles of corporate logos.
In the final part of the essay, while discussing
political scientist Janet A. Flammang’s new book, The Taste for
Civilization: Food, Politics, and Civil Society, Pollan takes aim at a
favorite target: the corporate message that cooking is a chore and convenience food can rescue us from it. Fast food and convenience food,
writes Flammang, along with other tactics to denigrate “‘foodwork’—everything
involved in putting meals on the family table,” have wrecked the critical social institution of
the family meal, and other important food rituals, such as the
breaking of bipartisan bread that used to occur in the Senate dining room.
Reclaiming
cooking and communal eating as worthy societal activities are just two goals
the various factions of the food movement can agree on. They’ll need to find
more common ground if they hope to persuade politicians—and the rest of the country—that theirs is a cause worth backing.
Newly released data shows 265,000 homeowners are trapped in loan mod limbo, stuck in “3 month” trial loan periods for over 6 months, reports ProPublica.
That’s up from 100,000 in January. The lagging in decision-making by loan servicers damages homeowners credit, increases their mortgage balance, and prevent homeowners from saving up for a potential foreclosure.
I guess the best tactics for people who need to escalate their loan mods are using all the classic ones at Consumerist, maybe several in conjunction at the same time. Whatever it takes to get the attention of a decision-maker, or push the paper to the next level. EECB + fax ’em to death + public shaming, for instance?
Well, here we go again with the difference between real copyright law and “file sharing copyright” law. Just as a court in the southern district of California has suggested that Rapidshare is not liable for infringing activities of its users, a court in the central district of California has come down hard on Isohunt, demanding the site wave a magic wand and delete all infringing links. Of course, since we don’t live in fantasy land where that’s possible, it basically means the site needs to be shut down. As with the original ruling against Isohunt, however, it appears the judge doesn’t quite understand the technology at play, and ascribes to Isohunt functionality that it has nothing to do with. For example:
Second, given the way in which
Defendants’ system works, when Defendants’ end-users download one of
Plaintiffs’ works, the end-users automatically and simultaneously
further distribute the work to innumerable others as a required part of
the download process; additionally, at the conclusion of the download,
Defendants’ end-users obtain an unprotected digital copy of Plaintiffs’
work that those end-users can further distribute indefinitely at will.
But, uh, that’s how BitTorrent works. Not IsoHunt. I don’t quite see how it makes sense to blame IsoHunt — which is basically a search engine — for the activities done by its end users and the technology of BitTorrent. The court also takes it as fact that the availability of unauthorized free copies must harm the market, despite no evidence to back that up. It’s faith-based rulings, based on Hollywood (on the heels of its best box office year ever) making claims with no facts, that the judge just accepted:
It is axiomatic
that the availability of free infringing copies of Plaintiffs’ works
through Defendants’ websites irreparably undermines the growing
legitimate market for consumers to purchase access to the same works.
But that’s wrong. It may cause harm, but it’s hardly irreparable. If the movie studios actually, you know, adapted to the changing market (as some are figuring out), they could actually do much better. Why does the judge suggest otherwise with no proof at all?
Finally, the court continues to live in the same fantasy land as the entertainment industry in thinking this injunction will actually slow down or prevent any file sharing:
Finally, the Court agrees that the public interest will be served
with a permanent injunction, since it will protect Plaintiffs’
copyrights against increased and unrestrained infringement.
Except, of course, it will do no such thing. Instead, those users will disperse to other sites, perhaps the same ones that the entertainment industry just helped advertise.
Finally, the actual injunction is incredibly broad and amounts to — as mentioned — demanding that IsoHunt and Gary Fung develop a magic wand to figure out if a link points to infringing material:
Defendants shall be
permanently enjoined from knowingly engaging in any of the following
activities in connection with the Isohunt System or any Comparable
System:
(a) hosting, indexing, linking to, or otherwise providing access
to any Dot-torrent or similar files that correspond, point or lead
to any of the Copyrighted Works;
(b) assisting with end-user reproductions or transmissions of any
of the Copyrighted Works through a tracker server, or any other
server or software that assists users in locating, identifying or
obtaining files from other users offering any of the Copyrighted
Works for transmission; or
(c) hosting or providing access to any of the Copyrighted Works.
This is not to say that Fung is blameless. Clearly, IsoHunt did some things that looked quite bad under the law. But that doesn’t excuse some of this ruling, which seems to go to ridiculous levels, way beyond what copyright law allows. None of this is a surprise given the earlier ruling or the proposed injunction, which included much of the same troubling language (including the bogus “axiomatic” statement). This isn’t to defend Fung or IsoHunt at all. But I do worry when judges get so hung up on how bad a site like IsoHunt must be that they make rulings that will cause trouble down the road for others. Below is the full ruling if you want to read through it:
Courtesy Billg1 via PicasaHere’s a late Bike to
Work Day post. OK it’s a glorified retweet of Ezra Klein’s three-paragraph story about giving up his car in D.C., which is worth reading. Here’s the last
two-thirds:
The debate over auto ownership is unfortunately moralistic
when, in my experience, the realities of auto ownership are almost entirely
decided by infrastructure. Left for LeDroit, an excellent blog covering my
neighborhood, makes the point well in a recent post: Cities
and neighborhoods built before the advent of car culture tend to be pretty easy
to navigate without a car, and as you can see in the graph above, a lot of the
people who live in them tend to not own cars. Conversely, cities that were
built after cars became the norm essentially require their residents to own
cars and their residents comply.
In practice, this doesn’t feel like a decision imposed by
the cold realities of infrastructure. We get attached to our cars. We get
attached to our bikes. We name our subway systems. We brag about our short
walks to work. People attach stories to their lives. But at the end of the day,
they orient their lives around pretty practical judgments about how best to
live. If you need a car to get where you’re going, you’re likely to own one. If
you rarely use your car, have to move it a couple of times a week to avoid street
cleaning, can barely find parking and have trouble avoiding tickets, you’re
going to think hard about giving it up. It’s not about good or bad or red or
blue. It’s about infrastructure.
The point for sustainable
transportation types is that focusing on infrastructure—safe, pleasant bikeways—matters
more than focusing on individual behavior.
Bike to Work
Day is still helpful, though, for normalizing bike commuting. Bringing riders
together shows them—and others who see them—that it’s a common thing to do in a
lot of places, not a fringe activity.
For the record, I biked
in today, but I was only in it for the SmartWool sock giveaway in my
neighborhood. I’m not as hardcore as my friend Andrew, who was photographed at Seattle’s most dangerous biking intersection for a story on the dangers of biking in Seattle.
