Category: News

Might We Suggest…

• Vopium Adds Android to its Portfolio of Applications
  Vopium brings cheap, high quality calls to the G1 and HTC MagicTM

  Copenhagen and London, 18 May, 2009 – Vopium, the leading international mobile communications company, has today launched its awar…

The Toyota 4Runner is an SUV manufactured by Toyota and sold throughout the world from 1984 to the present. In Japan it was known as the Toyota Hilux Surf.

The original 4Runner was a compact SUV and little more than a Toyota pickup truck with a fiberglass shell over the bed, but the model has since undergone significant independent development into a cross between a mid-size and a full-size SUV.

All 4Runners have been built at Toyota’s Tahara plant in Tahara, Aichi, Japan or at Hino Motors’ Hamura, Japan plant, and in Brazil. Its mid-size crossover SUV counterpart is the Kluger/Highlander.

The third generation 4Runner did, however, look very similar to the second generation.

This similarity largely ended with its looks. It carried over the basic design and concept, but executed it differently with an all-new body shell on an all-new chassis. This time, it shared virtually nothing with the pickup it had originally evolved from, and had more in common with the Land Cruiser, as it shared its chassis with that of the Land Cruiser Prado.

The third generation 4Runner also featured new engines that are also installed in the first generation Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks. :

– 2.7L 3RZ-FE I4 replacing the previous 2.4L 22R-E I4; 150 hp (110 kW), max horsepower: 4800 rpm, torque: 177 ft·lbf (240 N·m), max torque: 4000 rpm;
– 3.4L 5VZ-FE V6 replacing the previous 3.0L 3VZ-E V6: power: 183 hp (136 kW), max horsepower: 4800 rpm, torque: 217 ft·lbf (294 N·m), max Torque: 3600 rpm.

and now, check the video review with the latest Toyota 4Runner:

As the base model of the lineup, the 2010 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4×2 will come with the 157-horsepower, 2.7-liter inline-4 shared with the Highlander, and it will start at $27,500 – a price drop of $1,140.

According to Toyota’s product information, this engine will be available with either two- or four-wheel drive, but we’d suspect anyone willing to sacrifice ruggedness for $1,140 isn’t really worried about the 4Runner’s off-roading abilities. Stepping up to the 270-horsepower 4.0-liter V-6, the 4Runner SR5 4×2 V6 will start at $29,175, while the volume seller, according to Toyota, is the four-wheel drive version of this configuration, which will get the same $30,915 starting price as the 2009 model. Even though the price is staying the same, Toyota claims that the 4Runner SR5 will benefit from an additional $1,700 worth of equipment when compared alongside the 2009 model.

Replacing the Sport Edition in the lineup, the all-new 4Runner Trail will be the most capable off-road model with a more rugged design and a single drivetrain configuration that offers only the V-6 paired with four-wheel drive.

With its blacked-out plastic trim and safari-style roof rack, the 2010 4Runner Trail will have a starting MSRP of $35,700.

This price represents an increase of about $5,000 compared to a base 2009 4Runner Sport, but unlike this model the 4Runner Trail is not available in a two-wheel drive layout.

The just released Samsung Galaxy A just received an unboxing and video walkthrough, and if you’re into watching a seven minute video about a phone that’ll probably never ship to the US, in a language you don’t understand, well, by all means! All kidding aside though, the Samsung Galaxy A is actually quite impressive–the colors on the screen pop, the build quality looks good, and the transitions are rather snappy. There’s even a full-on antenna for mobile TV. Samsung is certainly upping their Android game with the Galaxy A and we hope the Galaxy S can extend that, while finding a way to the US. [via androidguys] 

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal defended himself Tuesday following a front-page article in The New York Times and a widely circulated video that showed him saying that he served in Vietnam.

With veterans standing behind him at a VFW Hall in West Hartford, Blumenthal said he regrets the times that he has misspoken about his service during the war.

When he misspoke, Blumenthal said it was “absolutely unintentional” and “totally unintentional.”

“On a few occasions, I have misspoken about my service, and I regret that,” Blumenthal said. “But I will not allow anyone to take a few missplaced words and impugn my record of service to my country. I served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, and I am proud of it.”

Regarding a statement from his campaign that The New York Times story was a distortion, he said, “The article denigrates service in the reserves. … It really implies there were some special favors or treatment involved.”

He mentioned several times that, despite his Ivy League background at Harvard College and high-profile positions at a young age, he did not receive any special treatment in the military.

• Susan Campbell: AG Blumenthal Explains

Blumenthal, the front runner for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, declined to comment about the role of Republican Linda McMahon’s campaign in providing information to the New York Times.

“I’m not going to say anything more,” Blumenthal said of the McMahon campaign.

In an uncharacteristic move, Blumenthal eventually cut off questioning from reporters and ended the news conference shortly before 2:40 p.m.

Regarding his military history, Blumenthal spoke in detail about how he came to serve.

“I volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps Reserves 40 years ago,” he said in his opening remarks at the news conference. “I went to boot camp at Parris Island.”

“I looked them up in a phonebook. No special help,” Blumenthal said. “Unlike many of my peers, I chose to join the military and serve my country. … There were no special favors.

• Pictures: Richard Blumenthal Under Fire For Public Statements About Military Service

As he has said many times in the past at veterans’ ceremonies at the state Capitol and around Connecticut, Blumenthal noted Tuesday that he reached the rank of sergeant before receiving an honorable discharge.

“I am proud of my service in the United States Marine Corps,” he said. “I am prouder still that my oldest son, Matthew, is serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.”

• Blumenthal’s Claims About Having Served In Vietnam Being Challenged
• What was the McMahon campaign’s role in the Blumenthal bombshell?
• Rob Simmons: Dick Blumenthal Owes An Apology To Vietnam Veterans; Says Linda McMahon Lied, Too

As one of the best-known politicians in Connecticut and a national figure as an attorney general with 20 years of service, Blumenthal has been the subject of feature articles for years.

“I can’t be responsible for all the mistakes in all the articles – thousands of them,” Blumenthal said of stories that have been written about him through the years.

Blumenthal was introduced by Peter Galgano, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who said that the allegations were “malicious” against Blumenthal. 

“Every Marine Corps ball I’ve attended since 2004,” Blumenthal was there, Galgano said.  “Marine Corps balls, funerals, homecomings, send-offs. … Through the hardest times, Dick Blumenthal has always, always been there for us. … He has always been completely straightforward about his honorable service in the Marine Corps Reserves.”

The incident in Norwalk in 2008 was “one quote where he misspoke,” Galgano said. “I could see where that quote could have been misread.”

During Galgano’s introduction, a veteran shouted, “Semper Fi!”

“He has always stood by us, and we are proud to stand by him,” Galgano said.

Jean Risley, chairperson of the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial who brought the Vietnam Wall to Coventry, said, “I’ve known Dick Blumenthal for many, many years. … We’ve gone to homecomings. We’ve gone to send-offs. … We’ve been at funerals. … In all that time, I never once heard him say that he was in Vietnam. I did hear him say how passionately he felt about our veterans and how we had to honor them.”

“There isn’t a nicer, more honorable, more responsive advocate for our Vietnam veterans, our veterans in general, than Dick Blumenthal,” Risley said. 

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Ford

We know firsthand that both the 2011 Ford Mustang V6 and GT aren’t just plenty quick – they’re downright scary fast compared to their predecessors. It should follow, that the king of the heap 2011 GT500 should be similarly faster than the 2010 model. Let’s just go ahead and call that one an understatement. Ford just dropped a tasty video on the interwebs showing the car lapping one of our favorite tracks – Virginia International Speedway.

Ford’s engineers had it in their minds that the new aluminum block with its 120-pound weight savings should help the car click off the 4.1-mile Grand West portion of the track about three seconds quicker than the outgoing car. Thing is, the 2011 GT500 managed to lap the track in 2:58.5 – a full nine seconds faster than last year’s version.

Progress is most definitely a good thing. Hit the jump to see the car do the dance.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Video: 2011 Ford GT500 spanks last year’s model by nine seconds at VIR

Video: 2011 Ford GT500 spanks last year’s model by nine seconds at VIR originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 May 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Even without a deficit crisis, France is running out of money to pay for its generous social programs.

95% of French anesthestists are striking today to demand a raise. Several thousands held a particularly annoying protest on the tracks of a major Parisian train station, which blocked trains for hours, according to Le Monde.

As the austerity bug hits France, paying for the world’s best health care system will be a major challenge. The country has tried for decades to reduce health care pay and benefits, and only succeeded in stirring up public outrage.

See Also: Guess Who’s Going To Get Pounded In A Greek Collapse

Join the conversation about this story »

Yep. If you’re an American Express cardholder, and you’ve had your sights on brand spanking new Ford Fusion Hybrid (and who wouldn’t?), this Thursday, May 20, 2010, could be your day to shine.

American Express’ “Daily Wish” website will be offering the car for half price at an as yet unannounced time on a first-come, first-serve basis.

(more…)

What if Charles Barkley had been cast in the upcoming remake of The A-Team instead of UFC champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson? The former basketball great cuts a fine Mr. T figure, but as many of us know, he’s not big in the acting department. You can see that for yourselves in a cross-promotion airing on TNT during the NBA’s Western Conference Finals. In a deal between the network and Twentieth Century Fox, the studio behind the action adventure, vignettes of "lost auditions" featuring Barkley and fellow TNT commentators Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith are part of the telecasts. Turns out each of those guys had their heart set on that campy, iconic role in the film, opening June 11, and was willing to don the mohawk and bling to nail it. Actually, it’s another in a long line of Hollywood/pro-sports commercial pacts that weave together on-air personalities, game play and upcoming movies in a way that rarely seems to bother fans. As long as viewers get a laugh out of it (Johnson in a leather vest? Hilarious!), they don’t protest the ever-blurring line between content and ads. Whether they show up on opening weekend for the flick remains to be seen.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Last year, we wrote about an effort by the Australian performance collection society, the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) to massively boost royalty rates played by gyms, who often use music in exercise classes. This followed a similar effort with massively boosting rates at clubs and bars, which led those clubs and bars to stop playing covered music. It looks like the same thing is happening in gyms as well. Reader Shadzzy sends over news that the Australian Copyright Tribunal (who knows what they were thinking) has approved the massive boost in royalty rates. Where gyms used to have to pay $0.968 per class, they now have to pay $1 per participant per class. That’s a massive increase, and makes it impossible for many gyms to pay those royalty rates.

What it means, of course, is that the music is being played less. The gyms are looking for alternatives, because it simply doesn’t make sense to pay tens of thousands of dollars to promote music to its members. PPCA is, of course, in denial. It’s claiming that people are complaining about gyms not playing popular music, and that fitness centers who won’t play popular music at such extortionate rates are treating its members “with utter contempt.”

“We’ve seen a groundswell of discontent from gym members and fitness instructors who’ve been ordered to use cover music.”

I would imagine that those members would find having to get a massive increase in their membership bill creates a much bigger “groundswell of discontent,” and would find that it’s actually PPCA that’s treating everyone with “utter contempt,” by making the situation worse for everyone. The musicians PPCA “represents,” now get their music played significantly less. Gyms have to offer a “worse” overall service, and members get a somewhat worse experience. The problem is that PPCA (and the Copyright Tribunal’s) view of what is a reasonable royalty rate is simply out of line with reality. But since the entertainment industry has been able to set up this system where the government sets the price, and the industry influences those setting the price, then it gets to set rates that have no connection to reality.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Published May 17, 2010
By the Tri-City Herald staff

Columbia Basin College trustee Wayne Martin has been named Trustee of the Year by the state’s Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges.

Martin has been on the CBC board since 2000. He’s also on the WSU Tri-Cities Advisory Council and is a founding member of the Tri-Cities Reading Foundation.

Martin, an environmental research engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was a driving force in establishing CBC’s Office of Diversity, leading to millions of dollars in federal grants for the college and its students.

Aired May 17, 2010
By Josh Peterson, KVEW TV

Students at Columbia Basin College get some big money to help them graduate.

The college received a $275,000 grant.

The money will go to under-represented students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

60 students will receive the financial support each year for the next five years.

The money is coming from the National Science Foundation.

Educators say it will help students go to conferences, get internships and get them excited about education.

“Having the opportunity to give them, so that they’re able to experience these things much sooner in their career will ensure that they are more successful sooner and that they will continue and persist rather than drop out,” said Gabriela Whitemarsh, Columbia Basin College.

Columbia Basin College is one of four community colleges in the state to receive the grant money.

Yakima Valley Community College also received money.

Aired May 17, 2010 12:47 PM
KNDU TV

Pasco, Wash;–The Office of Diversity and Math and Science at Columbia Basin College announced the launch of a $275,000 grant program.

CBC is one of four community colleges in Washington to receive the MESA Community College Program Grant.

MESA stands for math, engineering, science achievement.

The goal of the grant is to better prepare under-represented students for a bachelor’s degree and career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

And despite recent budget cuts, grants like this keep the college moving forward.

“That’s what grants allow us to do especially in these difficult times,” says Vice President of Diversity and Outreach Martin Valadez. “Grants become much more important because they allow us to continue some of that work that we’ve been wanting to do. So yes it’s really important.”

About 60 students each year will be eligible for the program. That’s nearly 250 students over the duration of the grant.

NEWS RELEASE
May 17, 2010                                                              Contact: Frank Murray, 542-4835

Restaurant gift baskets, $500 in tuition credit for a current and returning student, a $250 voucher to the CBC Bookstore for textbooks, coffee baskets, and more; all paid for with LINKS Bucks. Toss in a live D-J and free lunch, and you’ve got the first annual LINKS Day this Thursday, May 20, in the Gjerde Center on the CBC Pasco campus. The event runs from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Registration for new LINKS members will be available at the registration table.

LINKS is often referred to as the “Un-alumni association”. LINKS is everyone who has a connection to CBC as a student, former student, graduate, employee, contractor, or relative of someone who attended CBC.

LINKS members earn LINKS Bucks by signing up for LINKS and wearing their LINKS buttons. The LINKS Bucks are then used to bid on the donated items.

Clevelanders have come together to pay musical tribute to Ohio native son LeBron James in the “We Are The World-” inspired viral vid, “We Are LeBron.” The Cavaliers star is expected to depart the team in the coming weeks — becoming the NBA’s biggest free agent — after losing the final three games of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Boston Celtics last week.

We don’t mean for it to be doom and gloom day, but Richard Russell isn’t the only big name pundit to be calling for a fall.

Raoul Pal, who writes Global Macro Investor newsletter, and whose bio cites stints at GLD and Goldman Sachs, is out with a very specific crash call. In his latest note he calls for a big move down in just two days to two weeks.

That’s refreshingly specific!

So what’s the reason?

It’s all about what he sees as an archetypal crash pattern — a sharp decline followed by a failed rally followed by a collapse.

It looks like this:

That’s an unspecific chart, but here’s a more specific one, based on the current post-flash crash market.

And now, here’s the kicker. It’s the current market vs. 1929, which is what prompts him to see a crash as imminent.

And finally, here’s the flash crash vs. 1987

Get the picture?

Now don’t miss: The 25 financial companies most likely to default >

Join the conversation about this story »

Popular online fashion shop Oki-Ni just stocked some new Nonnative accessories in their inventory. New items include Dweller Sunglasses, the Voyager Wristband, Worker Belt in white, the Courier 2-Way Backpack, and an Orange Trooper Stole. The new accessories also arrive in time just after Oki-Ni just stocked some of Nonnative’s newest Spring offerings. Check it all out now at Oki-Ni.

YOUNGSTOWN OHIO- President Obama chose this suffering rust belt community as an example for his speech on jobs and the economy, part of his “Main Street” tour of America.

The President wants to show how stimulus money is helping a dying community turn itself around, to “revitalize and redirect” their plans, “We encouraged the private sector…in order to get the economy moving” Obama says.

Youngstown leaders says they’ve been making drastic changes here, trying to pump life back into the economy, as the city grows from the ashes of what was once a thriving, steel manufacturing community. Now, one of every four people reportedly lives in poverty. The unemployment rate is at a staggering 14%, one of the highest in the country. This city that once had 170,000 residents, is now down to less than an estimated 73,000.

The 1930’s era buildings, with their crumbling art deco facades, stand like gravestones memorializing the abrupt departure of the steel manufacturing heyday that built this city, then went away, taking 50,000 jobs with it. Entire neighborhoods are being strategically downsized, as the families that once gave them life, have gone off in search of a better future.

But, there is good news in the Mahoning Valley, something that hasn’t been seen here in decades; jobs and growth.

The reason President Obama used the V& M Star Plant, a French piping manufacturer, as his backdrop for the Youngstown speech, is because its a steel manufacturing company benefitting from the recovery act. V&M is investing $650 million toward its’ expansion, doubling the size of its’ workforce, with most jobs going locally to those displaced when plants closed. The GM Lordstown plant, nearby, is also apparently adding a 3rd shift, which would mean another 1200 new jobs, The Democratic leadership in the Valley say its all the result of $52 million in stimulus money, but Republicans say its a victory for the private sector.

Youngstown’s leaders are now proudly boasting about the Youngstown Business Incubator, which nurtures start ups, particularly in software. The 300 plus employees of the Incubator have already had success with companies like Turning Technologies, which grossed $33 million last year. Two magazines, INC and Entrepreneur, even listed Youngstown Ohio as one of the top places to do business.

“It’s a couple drops in the bucket. We are just getting started at this… I don’t think it is beyond the realm of possibilities that two or 3 years form now you’re going to have 3 or 4 thousand people working in the software industry downtown Youngstown ohio” says Jim Cossler, who runs the Youngstown Business Incubator. Cossler says its all about planting the seeds that will grow into a new industry and improved economy.

An active downtown Youngstown is one proof of success so far. (When I complained about having trouble finding a parking spot, one businessman said to me “That’s a good sign! In the past, nobody came down here, so parking was too easy”).
“People are going to look back one day and say there was a miracle on the Mahoning Valley” says local Congressman Tim Ryan.

(Fox Correspondent Mike Tobin contributed to this report)

When AT&T announced the availability of the Pre Plus last week, something was missing: its little sister, the Pixi Plus. Gasp! Panic tore across the nation (911 calls were made and subsequently ignored.) Had AT&T abandoned the Pixi Plus? Had a grand wizard, pissed off because his iPhone won’t stop dropping calls, warped them into another dimension? What was going on?

Turns out, AT&T just plans on launching it a few weeks later.

According to this updated landing page, the Pixi Plus will be launching on June 6th. There’s no official price announced yet — however, initial rumors (which had also positively pinned the launch on June 6th) indicated it’d go for $49.99 after a mail-in rebate and a 2 year contract.