Category: News

Many people who don’t follow these issues closely have long assumed that The Pirate Party and The Pirate Bay were somehow connected. That’s never been true, even if the people involved in each were philosophically aligned on certain issues (but not on all issues…). Either way, it’s a bit of a surprise to find out that, following the injunction against The Pirate Bay’s bandwidth provider, that The Pirate Party has agreed to become the new host for The Pirate Bay. It’s unclear exactly what this means, as The Pirate Party must be getting its bandwidth from another provider, who, one would imagine, is also soon to be a target for an injunction. Still, it seems like the Pirate Party is basically begging for a lawsuit to challenge these types of fourth party injunctions…

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Does Hanley Ramirez(notes) not have an agent? Advisers? Friends? Concerned neighbors? Might he listen to Billy the Marlin’s special brand of folksy wisdom?

It seems like there should be someone in Hanley’s life who can convince him — at least for a few days — to shut up. He’s making this loafing situation much, much worse than it needs to be.

By now you’ve all seen the highlight of Ramirez pursuing a booted ball into left field at a tectonic pace (and if you haven’t seen the clip, here it is). You’ve no doubt also seen manager Fredi Gonzalez’s reaction to the play; he confronted Ramirez in the dugout, then sent him to the clubhouse. Typical manager stuff. It was not an overreaction. As a Ramirez owner, I fully acknowledge the need to remove him from Monday’s game.

But I’d also like to see him back on the field in the not-too-distant future, and Ramirez isn’t making things easy for the man who fills out Florida’s lineup card.

Prior to Tuesday’s game, Ramirez told reporters that he was angry, that he’d lost respect for Gonzalez, and that he ran as hard as he possibly could on Monday — and, OK, even if he didn’t run with max-effort, it was just fine because "We have a lot of people dogging it after ground balls."

Not surprisingly, Gonzalez is now insisting on an apology. This from MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro:

"I think he needs to talk to his teammates a little bit," Gonzalez said. "Whatever feelings he has with me or doesn’t have with me, it’s fine and dandy. We don’t have to get along, but I think he has to get along with the other 24 guys on this team. When that happens, we’ll run him back in there. When he sets his ego aside, this could be good."

[…]

The manager said he didn’t know when Ramirez would return to the lineup.

"I think he needs to take care of the situation," Gonzalez said. "When he handles that, the right way, we’ll be fine."

You know, if anyone could have just handled Hanley the right way on Monday night, this situation would not have escalated. What’s the point in paying people to represent you if they don’t intervene when you’re about to say something insane? 

Honestly, I don’t care about Marlins team chemistry. And at this particular time, I don’t care if Hanley grows as a result of this experience. (He can grow up next season, on someone else’s fantasy roster). And I certainly don’t care what Wes Helms thinks. I just need Ramirez to be a contributing member of my fantasy portfolio. Here’s hoping that Hanley’s people — assuming he has people — will engage in a little belated damage control. 

—

Photo via US Presswire

The Cliff Your Ride contest was designed to keep us top-of-mind and get people talking about autoTRADER. Since the launch at the 2010 Canadian International AutoShow, this promotion delivered: awareness, more visitors and a new audience.

Quick Facts:

• Over 280,000 visits to cliffyourride.ca
• More than 17,000 registered voters
• More than 40,000 votes
• Almost 1000 entries

Felix from Montreal was “the chosen one” and his 1992 Volvo was cliffed in a fiery explosion!

The Grand Finale
Witness the explosive conclusion here.

New seamless integration of Facebook’s LIKE feature on autoTRADER.ca lets our vehicle buyers share their favourite listings with all their Facebook friends with one click!

Facebook’s continuous rise in popularity among online Canadians represents a huge opportunity to expand the audience for your vehicles and dealership. Almost half of Canadians–14 million people–are on Facebook and have an average of 130 friends. (3) That’s a lot of free exposure for you!

This integration is one of many initiatives we’ve committed to in order to keep autoTRADER top of mind and bring your the largest audience of vehicle buyers.

Try it now!
“Like” one of your vehicles to see it pop-up on your Facebook profile page–with a link back to the detail view!

(3) Facebook.com

The rain really was quite heavy, and the sky quite dark. The temperature was still very pleasant though.When the road is wet, the film of the water on the asphalt causes tires to lose traction.

Less obvious is the fact that rain reduces driver perception — it’s harder to see through the rain — and also decreases visibility through its action on headlights, windshields and the road itself. While most people know to slow down in the rain, there are definitely other tips that will help keep you, and those who share the road with you, from becoming a statistic.

* Exercise extreme caution after a long dry spell. During a dry period, engine oil and grease build up on the road over time. When mixed with water from a new rainfall, the road becomes extremely slick. Continued rainfall will eventually wash away the oil, but the first few hours can be the most dangerous.

* Allow for more travel time. You should plan to drive at a slower pace than normal when the roads are wet. Keep in mind that traffic is likely to be moving slower as well. There’s also the possibility that your preplanned route may be flooded or jammed. Whatever the case, rushing equals higher risk.

* Brake earlier and with less force than you would normally. Not only does this increase the stopping distance between you and the car in front of you, it also lets the driver behind you know that you’re slowing down. Also, be more meticulous about using turn signals, so that other drivers know your intentions, and take turns and curves with less speed than you would in dry conditions.

* Most of America’s roads are crowned in the middle, which means that the water will run off to the sides. If possible, stay toward the middle of the road to avoid deep standing puddles.

* Don’t use cruise control. If you hydroplane, there’s the chance your car could actually accelerate. Cruise control also allows drivers to be less vigilant and to take their foot away from the pedals — not a great idea when reaction time is so important.

Please read more

Design house Norman-Copenhagen has been around now for more than a decade giving the world a mix of traditional and non-traditional products for everyday use. Their latest venture leads into the fascinating world of bicycles which is designed by Anne Lehmanne. As mentioned by the company, it is a classic man’s bike with an urbane style. It has a 50’s inspired lightness and comes in two colors: antrhacite grey and green. Limited to 50, each bike has been hand built by professional cycle builders. They will be sold from October 2010 through the Norman Copenhagen Flagship Store, through their online shop, and selected stores worldwide.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: Norman-Copenhagen

Rolls Royce has introduced its Ghost model at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show which made the media wow for the car’s evoking images of adventure and technical innovation. Aside from the impressive exterior and interior parts, the Ghost sports a turbocharged V12 engine which displaces 6.6-liter and cranks out 563 horsepower with a torque of 575 lb-ft.

According to Rolls Royce Motor Cars CEO, the Ghost car “will be the first in a new generation of models to carry this evocative name…”.

There are no surprises in the styling, which is unchanged from the 200EX concept displayed in Geneva last March.

naturally, the Ghost retains the Phantom-style coach doors (don’t call them suicide in the presence of a Rolls rep) with built-in umbrellas.

Inside, the Ghost carries over additional Phantom quirks, such as the “Power Reserve” gauge the driver gets in lieu of a traditional tachometer.

Aside from that, this is clearly more of a driver’s car than the Phantom, whose opulent backseat accommodations show that it’s more about being driven in. The Ghost’s steering wheel is much smaller in diameter and has a thicker rim than its big brother, and the seats appear to have more contouring for lateral support, as well.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Performance, Europe, Porsche, Earnings/Financials, Celebrities, Luxury

Word out of Germany is that things aren’t looking any better for Gemballa. The famed Porsche tuner is well on its way through bankruptcy after founder and CEO Uwe Gemballa suddenly “disappeared” in South Africa back in February. Judging by our less than trusty Google Translator, Auto Bild says that the company had trouble paying its employees and Uwe set up a shadow corporation with his mother as the sole stock holder just before pulling a Houdini. The article says that he was seeking investors in his new venture in Abu Dhabi and South Africa when the tuning legend vanished off of the face of the Earth.

With the founder missing and no leads to his whereabouts, South African police are beginning to suspect the worst. Likewise, the company has gone from being one of the world’s most renowned Porsche tuners to being raided by tax men and other law-enforcement agencies. Either way, we don’t expect to be seeing new Gemballa creations anytime soon, as the shop has apparently been shuttered after nearly 30 years.

[Source: Auto Bild]

Gemballa reportedly closes up shop, Uwe still missing originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 May 2010 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WASHINGTON–Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan paid a courtesy call on Tuesday to Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.), the former comic who joined the Senate just in time for the confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Franken used that to riff with Kagan during a photo op before their meeting on Tuesday.

Sotomayor broke her ankle just after she was nominated, so Franken told Kagan,” So you’re doing much better than her.”

He added, ” Yeah. Yeah. Doing much better than her.

And it was very strange for me, because I had actually watched, I think, every confirmation hearing that had ever been televised, not the whole thing, just a little bit, you know. And so here I was going to be — so to me, it was, like, a really big deal, as I can imagine it’s, like, going to be a big deal for..”

Said Kagan, “But now it’s sort of –“

Franken said, “Now it’s just old hat. …. But also, I’m not a lawyer, as you might know.”

Let’s pick up the transcript from here….

MS. KAGAN: I didn’t know that, actually.

SEN. FRANKEN: You didn’t?

MS. KAGAN: I didn’t. You played one on TV.

SEN. FRANKEN: I played one in a sketch. (Laughs.)

SEN. KAGAN: (Laughs.)

SEN. FRANKEN: But not in a — not even in a recurring series, you know.

Q (Off mike.)

STAFF: Thanks, guys, let’s go.

SEN. FRANKEN: So, you know, my — (inaudible) — to ask questions almost as a proxy for people who aren’t lawyers.

MS. KAGAN: Real people.

SEN. FRANKEN: Huh?

MS. KAGAN: Real people.

SEN. FRANKEN: Real people.

STAFF: Let’s go, guys.

SEN. FRANKEN: And I kind of thought that the —

STAFF: Guys?

Škoda lanza la nueva versión de su compacto más potente: el nuevo Škoda Fabia RS. Aprovechará el Salón de Ginebra para hacer el lanzamiento a nivel mundial de esta edición junto con el Škoda Fabia Combi RS, premiere mundial, con un motor TSI 1.4 de 180 cv con 224 km/h de límite (226 en el caso del Combi) y una aceleración de 0 a 100 km/h en 7,3 segundos, números de bólido.

Por primera vez, Škoda Auto monta un motor gasolina de cuatro cilindros con doble compresor que aparte de arrojar semejantes cifras en velocidad y aceleración ofrece un consumo de 6,4 litros a los 100 en ciclo combinado. A ver qué tal le sienta a la competencia, partiendo por debajo de los 20.000 €.

El Fabia RS tiene obviamente modificaciones estéticas, llantas de aluminio de 17” Gigaro diseñadas especialmente para este modelo, pinzas de freno en color rojo, cristales tintados y parachoques trasero rediseñado con doble salida del tubo de escape y un parachoques delantero específico con los faros antiniebla delanteros integrados que pueden incluir bien la función de giro Cornerlight bien la función de luz diurna con LEDs.

Dependiendo del color escogido para la carrocería podremos cambiar el color del techo, los spoilers y las llantas a rojo, negro o plateado. Mejoras tecnológicas en el chasis como el ESP, ABS y ASR junto con la tecnología exclusiva XDS hacen de este modelo un urbano muy equipado. Lo acompañamos de una galería fotográfica para que le puedas echar una ojeada.

Fuente | Škoda

Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) recent hit the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) to do some track testing on the 2011 Ford Shelby GT500.

Click here to get prices on the 2011 Ford Shelby GT500.

Vehicle Dynamics engineer Gene Martindale piloted the 2011 Shelby GT500 coupe equipped with the new aluminum 550-hp, 5.4L engine and the optional SVT Performance Package. Martindale brought in a lap time of 2:58.48, over eight seconds faster around VIR than the 2010 model. Ford says that the lap time is comparable to six-figure supercars.

Refresher: The 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 Coupe and Convertible are powered by a 5.4L supercharged V8 making 550-hp (an increase of 10-hp) with a peak torque of 510 lb-ft. The new powertrain weighs 102 pounds lighter, resulting in a better power-to-weight ratio, improved fuel-economy, acceleration, handling and steering precision. Buyers can also opt for the SVT Performance Package to further enhance performance. For 2011, the Shelby GT500 gets an EPA-projected fuel-economy of 23/15 mpg (city/highway).

2011 Ford Shelby GT500:

2011 Shelby GT500 at Virginia International Raceway Grand West Course:

2011 Ford Shelby GT500:

– By: Kap Shah

Indrani, also known as Julia I. Pal-Chaudhuri, is  a 36 year old photographer reality star. Indrani is part of the highly regarded lens duo, Markus Klinko and Indrani. Indrani, publicized that she and Lindsay went out on a series of dates in Los Angeles. It has been stated that Indrani and Lindsay Lohan lately spent the night at Lindsay Lohan’s hotel room.

Indrani have commented to New York Post that she and Lindsay Lohan are spending a lot of time together. What adds to the intrigue is that Indrani never had a relation with any women before.

Indrani or Julia I. Pal-Chaudhuri have stated in admiration to Lindsay Lohan: “Lindsay is just somebody whi I find fascinating, gorgeous, and extremely smart, as well as super-hot…”

No related posts.

Back from a week out of country, I confirmed a theory: the iPad makes a fantastic travel computer. So much so that I’m going to be selling my laptop. More »

Yves Guillemot had the floor in an investor briefing earlier, and the Ubisoft CEO put two of their top earners into the spotlight. Different they may be in time and setting, but Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter

The market’s tanking, yet there’s one major stock that just isn’t budging so far. Walmart beat analyst estimates, with 1Q profit rising 10%. Despite the market’s dip, WMT shares have held up extremely well so far today despite other early gainers falling into the red.

WMT holding all day…

Despite the market just dropping.

(Charts via Yahoo and Finviz, if you can’t see them visit here)

Join the conversation about this story »

Softbank, Japan’s fastest-growing wireless carrier, plans to embed a Twitter application on to the welcome screen of 14 upcoming cellphones in the hopes of driving mobile data adoption through the popular micro-blogging service.

Twitter is quickly becoming one of the most popular social-networking sites in Japan, reports The New York Times. The number of unique users surged there from 521,000 in April 2009 to 7.52 million in March, nearly catching up to Japan’s biggest social networking site, Mixi, which had about 10.8 million unique users in March, according to Nielsen Online Japan. Softbank’s founder and CEO Masayoshi Son is a living example of that phenoonon. As one of Twitter’s biggest fans, he urges all of his employees to tweet, and has claimed to have replied from his bathtub, using an iPhone protected by a Ziploc bag.

With prominent placement on the handset, the partnership will likely drive further adoption in the country because it will make discovering the application easy. Kevin Thau, Twitter’s mobile platform director said from a news conference in Japan: “We expect to start growing faster than ever here with increased awareness of Twitter. People tend to explore when they get new phones.”

Twitter’s launch with Softbank may be part of its decision to start making its own clients for phones. It recently launched one for Android and for BlackBerry following the purchase of iPhone client Tweetie in April. While the decision upset third-party developers, Twitter believes it is the best way to serve new users.

A banda de rock americana ZZ Top chega ao Brasil na próxima quarta-feira (19) para dar início à sua primeira turnê no país. O grupo será recepcionado em grande estilo por uma carreata de carros antigos liderada pelo ZZ Cruiser, o Chrysler PT Cruiser tunado (veja galeria de fotos ao final da matéria), em homenagem à visita do ZZ Top.

O veículo, tunado em homenagem à primeira turnê que a banda ZZ Top fará no Brasil, poderá ser visto na entrada do Via Funchal, local onde acontecerão os shows do ZZ Top em São Paulo, nos dias 20 e 21 de maio.

O ZZ Cruiser teve seu projeto de autenticidade assinado pelo ex-piloto Emerson Fittipaldi e foi apresentado ao público pela primeira vez durante a quinta edição do Salão do Carro e Acessórios, realizada em abril.

O veículo seguirá para os Estados Unidos e entrará para a coleção de automóveis customizados e Hot Rods de Billy Gibbons, vocalista e guitarrista do ZZ Top. A banda encerra sua turnê brasileira no dia 23 de maio, na cidade de Porto Alegre.

PT Cruiser mostra seu lado rocker

O projeto ZZ Cruiser foi concebido por Sandro Marcasso, restaurador e customizador, numa parceria entre a Chrysler do Brasil, a Alive Concerts e o escritório Fittipaldi. Uma das principais mudanças ocorridas com a tunagem é a pintura, que valoriza o design retrô do PT Cruiser e também faz referência ao estilo dos Hot Rods das décadas de 30, 40 e 50. Há a presença de dois tons, chamados de saia e blusa, nas cores vermelho e preto.

A faixa divisória do veículo, por sua vez, foi estilizada a partir do logotipo da banda, formado pela junção de duas letras “z”. Foram mantidas as rodas aro 17” e incluídos novos sistemas de som. No interior, as capas dos bancos receberam o emblema da banda e o painel ganhou a inscrição ZZ Cruiser.

A idéia de tunar o PT Cruiser em homenagem ao ZZ Top não surgiu à toa. O guitarrista e vocalista da banda, Billy Gibbons, é considerado um dos maiores entusiastas e colecionadores de automóveis customizados e Hot Rods do mundo. Sua coleção inclui veículos originários de todos os países nos quais o ZZ Top realiza turnês, comumente utilizados para estampar as capas dos discos da banda. Com o ZZ Cruiser, o Brasil também estará representado.

Fonte: Maxpress

The Karate Kid is an upcoming 2010 martial arts film remake of the epic 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, the remake stars Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) and Jackie Chan. Principal photography for the film took place in Beijing, China; filming began around July 2009 and ended on mid October. The Karate Kid will be distributed by Columbia Pictures theatrically in the United States on June 11, 2010. Unlike the 1984 movie, The Karate Kid, the 2010 remake does not feature the modern interpretation of karate, which is from Okinawa. Despite its title, the new film focuses on a boy learning kung fu in China. Chan has told interviewers that film cast members have been referring to the movie as the Kung Fu Kid, and he believes the film will only be called The Karate Kid in America, and The Kung Fu Kid in Asia.

The plot bears many similarities to the original Karate Kid film, with some notable differences. Twelve year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is the most popular kid in Detroit until he and his single mother (Taraji P. Henson) move because of a pivotal career change made by his mother. In their new home of Beijing, Parker falls for a young school student named Mei Ying. Both children find it hard to form a solid friendship with each other because of their cultural differences and because Ying’s father does not approve of their relationship. To make matters worse, this attraction makes him the enemy of the infamous bully leader, Cheng, who gives Parker the nickname of ‘The Karate Kid’ due to his severely limited knowledge of Karate, hence the title of the film.

With the bullies constantly throwing him to the ground, and with no one else to turn to, the outlook for Parker’s new life looks bleak until he meets Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who makes a deal with the bullies’ kung-fu master that if they let Dre train they can fight Dre in the upcoming tournament. A quirky mentor and a kung-fu master in secret, Mr. Han teaches Parker kung-fu through unconventional, yet effective techniques to help make life in his new home an easier affair and hopefully stand up to the bullies. It involves training in places such as the Great Wall of China. The entire plot eventually builds up to a grand finale with Dre Parker battling against Cheng and his allies in a large scale Martial Arts Tournament.

The film will contain homages to the original film, including a variation on the famous fly catching scene in which Chan’s character ends up swatting it instead of using chopsticks; the theatrical trailer shows this scene with the original movie’s theme “You’re the Best” playing.