Category: News

Toyota le cambia la cara al RAV4 en este 2010. Apreciamos considerables cambios en la parrilla, nuevos acabados cromados y sobre todo muchas variaciones en las motorizaciones, que se vuelven más eficientes y ecológicas gracias a la utilización de la tecnología Toyota Optimal Drive.

El cambio en las mecánicas y en el exterior obedece a la intención de Toyota de captar nuevos clientes con este rediseño del RAV4. Los juegos ópticos por ejemplo han sufrido cambios para dar mayor sensación de robustez. En cuanto al interior, a los colores ya disponibles hay que añadirles el Blanco Perlado, el Azul Abisal y el Rojo Oscuro.

En términos de gasolina el nuevo RAV4 solo contempla una motorización: la 2.0 Valvematic de 158 CV, que se puede combinar tanto con transmisión manual de 6 velocidades como con la transmisión automática Multidrive S de 7 relaciones. También se puede optar por una 4×2 o incluso por una tracción total de 4×4.

Los acabados son 5: Active, Advance, Executive y las variantes Cross Sport, que no llevan ni barras en el techo ni ruedas de repuesto, de los acabados Advance y Executive. Los precios oscilan entre los 23.300€ y los 32.600€, por lo que hay que prestar mucha atención a los detalles.

Vía | SuperMotor

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) discuss financial regulations on Monday. (EPA/ZUMApress.com)

Yesterday evening, Senate Democrats began the procedural endgame to their push to reform the regulation of the financial sector. In a 57-41 vote, with Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) joining Republicans in opposition, the Senate failed to agree to start formal debate of the American Financial Stability Act, crafted by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Democrats need party unity and a Republican crossover to move the bill forward, and the G.O.P. has signaled it wants to sign on to the popular legislation — particularly in light of the public outrage at Wall Street giants such as Goldman Sachs. But working long hours over the weekend and on Monday, the Republican and Democratic sides failed to reach a compromise.

Image by: Matt Mahurin

Unusual for legislation under such long consideration, substantive portions of the bill remain the subject of intense debate. Republicans object to central provisions in Dodd’s financial reform bill — and in some cases are advocating for far more stringent measures. Even many Democrats are advocating for adopting stricter rules to prevent banks from becoming too big to fail, too interconnected, or too risky in the future.

When Democrats manage to get a crossover to begin formal debate, a number of central tenets of the bill might change via amendment. In the meantime, significant rewriting might take place before the bill moves forward. Here is a guide to the most important issues at hand, and the key players advocating for changes.

Audit the Fed. Last year, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced a House bill to audit the Federal Reserve. It garnered 313 cosponsors. A similar measure in the Senate, a budget amendment sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), passed 95 to 1. But the provision did not make it into any final legislation, in Dodd’s proposal or elsewhere. And with the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet more than double its size before the financial crisis — swollen with $1.1 trillion in mortgage-backed securities purchased from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plus toxic assets from failed companies like Bear Sterns — a bipartisan group of senators want to force a thorough independent audit of the Fed’s books. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is sponsoring an amendment that would open up the Fed to an Government Accountability Office audit. The amendment has the stated support of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Mich.) and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), among others, and is expected to come up.

End too big to fail by capping bank size. Sanders also wrote a measure to break up the banks that failed to make it out of the Senate Budget Committee last week. But the notion of breaking up big banks is a popular one, and sure to come via amendment. Dodd’s bill as currently written gives the Federal Reserve and other regulators the ability to seize and break up financial firms it deems systemically important and systemically dangerous. But that is meant only as a “last resort,” and members of both parties consider the language too wan. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) last week introduced the Safe Banking Act, which they plan to offer as an amendment to the Dodd bill. It mandates hard leverage and size caps on banks and other financial firms; limits commercial banks’ assets to 2 percent of GDP and non-banks’ assets to 3 percent; and imposes a 16-to-1 leverage cap, among other provisions.

Reinstitute Glass-Steagall provisions. Another popular way to effectively limit bank size is to return to the Depression-era Glass-Steagall rules. The Glass-Steagall Act, mostly repealed in 1999, prevented banks from having both commercial and investment banking arms — as, for instance, J.P. Morgan Chase does today. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plan to introduce an amendment reintroducing the rule and thus requiring big, diversified banks to split themselves up. Shelby, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) also support the measure.

An effectively similar, if functionally different, way of breaking up banks or limiting their size is by instituting the Volcker Rule — which bars banks from speculating with their own money by “prop trading” or investing in hedge funds. The current Dodd bill promises to institute something like the Volcker Rule, creating a commission to look at how to institute it down the road. But Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) have ready a measure introducing a more-stringent version immediately.

Fix the ratings agencies. The Dodd bill does little to fix the credit ratings agencies, whose profligate stamping of AAA ratings on collapsing subprime mortgage-backed securities helped to stoke the crisis. (The companies have a conflict of interest at the core of their business, in that they are paid by the companies whose securities they rate.) The Dodd bill creates a new office at the Securities and Exchange Commission to look closely at credit ratings agencies — but does little more to further reform them. Numerous Democratic senators have cited the issue as a major weakness in the bill, and Senate staffers say it is unlikely to go unchanged. Sanders has said he will introduce new language to strengthen oversight over and regulation of the agencies.

Guarantee no taxpayer money will go to bank bailouts. Republicans have derided the Dodd bill’s resolution authority fund — wherein the government will tax $50 billion from the banks, creating a pool of cash to be used by the Federal Reserve to shut down failing firms — as creating “permanent bailouts.” GOP politicians including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have cited it as a major point of contention. But Senate staffers say that rather than killing the resolution-authority fund, Republicans want language explicitly guaranteeing taxpayers will not be on the hook for future bailouts.

Keep the Fed the regulator of little banks. Under the Dodd bill, the Federal Reserve would have oversight only of banks with more than $50 billion in assets. But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) oppose this measure and want the Fed to have oversight of small banks as well — ensuring that the Fed does not become overly concerned with the business of big banks and ensuring that it keeps an eye on the small financial companies that can be the bellwether of bad economic times. Hutchison has said she plans to “certainly have an amendment that assures that state banks and community banks will be able to have access to be members of the Federal Reserve.”

Make the Consumer Financial Protection Agency truly independent. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has promised to introduce amendment moving the Consumer Financial Protection Agency outside of the Fed.

Improve hedge fund reporting. Reed also plans to introduce an amendment closing a loophole in the Dodd bill that might let some private equity firms, venture capital firms, and hedge funds avoid registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Good news for HTC HD2 owners in UK.  O2 has released a ROM update for the smartphone which brings it up to version 1.72.206.3.

As usual no change log is available, but expect the usual bug fixes and stability improvements.  As with most ROM updates all applications and user data will be deleted.

Download the update at o2 here.

Via Coolsmartphone.com

It was a rough night in Shanghai.

As Calculated Risk points out — and helpfully produces this excellent long-term chart comparing the Shanghai Composite vs. the S&P 500 — stocks were down over 2%, pushing shares well below the 3,000 level. Stocks there are at a new six-month low.

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The E! Network’s First Lady of Late-Night says she hope to eventually “branch out” from the cable hub.

“I’d been approached to go to a network a while ago, and I thought it was a little premature,” says spitfire comedienne Chelsea Handler, host of E!’s Chelsea Lately.

“There’s only so much you can talk about celebrities only. Obviously I’m going to want to branch out at some point,” she laughs.

“I’d like to talk more about politics, books,” she says. “I’d like to have a more well-rounded show at some point. I’ll probably be headed to do something like that, unless they make me some ridiculous offer I can’t turn down which would involve me doing a book club every week,” Handler cracked.

Handler’s contract with E! expires in 2012.

Continuing Legendary Tradition
Brian Armstead, Canadian Auto Press

Cabriolet was originally a term that meant “to cavort” or “cut a caper.” In the 1700s, the term came to be used to describe a two-wheeled horse carriage with a folding leather top. Later, any carriage for hire became known as a “cab,” hence today’s synonym for a taxi.

2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet

In the late 1800s, the first motor vehicles were all open cars, with no tops at all. As automobiles developed in the early 1900s, most were still convertibles.

As the automotive industry evolved through the 1900s, the term “Cabriolet” acquired a specific meaning – a convertible that seats at least four people. While Mercedes-Benz produced some of the world’s most collectible convertibles and Cabriolets across a 120-year history, its modern era began with the launch of the 1993 E-Class Cabriolet, its first four-seat convertible in several decades. A slightly smaller CLK Cabriolet followed in 1999, and a second-generation CLK Cabriolet line was offered through the 2009 model year.

It was Mercedes’ passion for open-air motoring at its best that led me to purchase a mint 1994 E-Class Cabriolet. My car has won awards with my local Mercedes-Benz club, and folks are always offering me wads of money for it. No deal. This one stays with me. Why? Because it was ahead of its time, offering four-seat convertible luxury, with stellar safety features such as automatic roll bars, anti-lock brakes and traction control.

When you get behind the wheel of my ’94 and turn the key, the seatbelts are “presented” to you by motorized arms. Burl walnut adorns the centre console, with premium leather cosseting your body. Under the hood lives a straight six that pumps out 217 horsepower. Plenty of get-up-and-go, but certainly not barn-burning performance. My E320 sold for $85,000 USD new, mostly because the complicated canvas top mechanism was hand assembled. It was and still is an amazing car, though more of a boulevard cruiser than canyon carver. After test-driving the 2011 Mercedes E350 and E550 Cabriolet, many of the attributes of the ‘90s-era E-Class Cabs are present, with serious updates on luxury, performance, handling and safety.

The new Cabriolets are not only stunning in design, and fully complemented with luxury, but they also kick some major tail when you don your leather driving gloves for a serious performance drive.

The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee provided the testing ground for the solidity and rigidity of the new E-Class Cabriolet platform during the press launch for the car. Removing the metal roof from a vehicle presents major challenges for convertible designers, as the roof is a major structural member. Cut the “roof” off of a sturdy eggshell, and the “body” becomes a quivering mess. The same applies to convertible cars. The new E Cabriolets use high strength steel and full chassis bracing in all critical areas and exhibited absolutely no cowl or body shake over varied road surfaces. I expected that, as my ’94 was extremely rigid, with just a hint of cowl shake over the worst of roads. I knew that Mercedes would not launch an all-new E-Class Cabriolet until they had it just right.

What I did not know was that this topless machine would be such a stellar handler. Get a bunch of automotive journalists together and toss them the keys to a V6 or V8 powered automobile, and you are bound to have fun. Toss in heavy spring rains and rough road surfaces on day two of our test drive, and you are bound to have some sad faces. No problem with the new Cabriolets though, as both models feature a unique and innovative “AIRCAP” system, an amazing piece of engineering comprised of over 200 parts. At the push of a button, AIRCAP reduces air turbulence at all four seats, allowing year-round driving with the top down.

AIRCAP consists of two units – a wind deflector with a mesh screen that can extend about 2½ inches above the windshield frame, and a second deflector between the rear seats. In short, the deflector on the windshield frame raises the airflow over the interior while the mesh screen raises the air pressure in the interior slightly. The second deflector between the rear seats reduces backflow into the cabin. AIRCAP literally creates a sea of heated air in the winter and cooled air in the summer. Additionally, AIRCAP quiets the interior, making it easier to communicate among all four occupants. In comparison to many other air management devices, AIRCAP doesn’t require any installation or removal, and doesn’t take up valuable room in the trunk or the rear seats. It looks odd when it is in the open position, as it messes up the smooth lines of the car. It works so well however that you will not mind the temporary disruption of exceptional styling.

AIRCAP works in conjunction with the AIRSCARF head and neck level heating system that debuted on earlier Benz convertible models. Combining the two innovative systems truly means the new E Cabriolet can be used with the top down in all but the coldest weather.

The AIRCAP system also has an ancillary benefit. Of course when testing the new model, we wanted to lower the power canvas top to experience open-air motoring. We did just that and got caught in a heavy downpour midway through our trip. Yes, most convertible cars will keep you fairly dry if you drive fast enough that the wind rushes over the windshield frame and pushes the rain that would normally drench you out of the way. The AIRCAP raises the wind zone so high that you can cruise at lower speeds in pouring rain with just an occasional drop or two of rain to wipe from your brow. Yes, we caused quite a scene with our fellow drivers, who must have thought we were getting wet and just didn’t care. Now, Mercedes does not promote this as a benefit of the AIRCAP system, but I sure think it is.

Under the hood, the E350 comes with a 3.5-litre V6 that produces 268 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. V6 acceleration time is 0-100 km/h in 6.9 seconds. The V6 returns an estimated 13.8 L/100km city and 9.0 highway on the less optimistic US EPA rating system. The 5.5-litre V8 in the E550 is a beast, with 382 horsepower and 391 pound-feet of torque. Zero to 100 km/h comes up in a scant 5.3 seconds, and the V8 returns a surprising 15.7 L/100km city and 10.2 highway. The sound of the V8 under partial or full throttle is worth the additional cost you’ll pay in reduced fuel economy, and initially.

On the road, the E-Cabriolet is so well sorted I thought the driveline was all-wheel drive. Handling in the rain at high speed was just phenomenal, and thoroughly reassuring. Handling in dry weather reminded me of my canyon runs in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG supercar. The E-Class Cabriolet makes use of a strut-type front suspension that combines two lower links with a coil spring strut, along with twin-tube gas shocks and a stabilizer bar. At the rear, Mercedes’ venerable five-link suspension has been refined for use in the new Cabriolet. The links, wheel carriers and struts have all been revised.

Convertibles have and will always be less safe than their hard-topped cousins (for the E-Class Cabriolet that is the E-Class Coupe), but that does not mean they are unsafe. To help prevent rollover accidents, Mercedes employs the latest electronic stability control on the Cabriolet. Should you in fact roll over, automatic rollover bars pop up in milliseconds to protect you. Nine airbags are standard, including a driver’s knee airbag and side head airbags for front seat occupants. Rear side airbags are standard, with two additional rear bags optional, for a total of 11 airbags when fully equipped. The innovative “Attention Assist” system couples a steering sensor with intelligent software that can identify behaviours that drivers make as they begin to get drowsy. The system senses drowsiness and alerts the driver. Optional automatic emergency braking, which is activated if a collision is likely, and adaptive high beams that use a small windshield-mounted camera to control high-low beam operation automatically are additional safety features. PRESAFE collision mitigation is also standard. The E-Class Cabriolet is now the “Gold Standard” for convertible safety, surpassing Volvo’s excellent C70 drop-top in standard or available safety features.

So why did Mercedes-Benz use a traditional canvas top instead of going with a retractable hardtop convertible roof? After all, Mercedes initiated the modern-day retractable hardtop trend with the introduction of its SLK. To me, the styling of the new E-Class really answers that question. The car has powerful, dual character lines that strengthen side panels. Aggressive rear wheel flares tie in to a raised decklid. Dual exhaust tips are oval on V6 models and square on V8s. The canvas top, available in black, blue or beige, just looks right on this powerful cabriolet. Nearly an inch thick, the three-layer insulated soft-top is waterproof and windproof. The top opens or closes in about 20 seconds (we appreciated this closing speed during our rainy drive!). Pushing a short lever between the front seats or pressing a button on the “SmartKey” proximity sensing remote unit operates the top. If the automatic closing system ever fails, for example if the battery goes dead, the hydraulic system can be depressurized quickly, so the top can be closed and locked manually.

You already know that this convertible is a stellar handler, but is it comfortable? Yes it is. Seats are firm but supportive, and ride quality is just superb. It absorbs bumps and other road imperfections with ease. Interior luxury is also first rate, with wood, leather and quality plastic trim all melding without a fuss. Yes, my favourite seatbelt presenters still hand front occupants the belts via power arm extenders. Premium harman-kardon audio cuts through wind noise well with the top down, but lacks low-end bass power. Rearward vision with the top down is good, but shorter drivers complained about the rear mesh screen that works in conjunction with the AIRCAP to reduce interior turbulence. Rear vision with the top up can be a challenge when checking your right blind spot, which is sizeable. I never felt unsafe when changing lanes, you just have to look carefully and be sure your side view mirror is properly aligned.

I did have a surprising vision problem looking out the windshield. At the upper centre of the windshield, the rearview mirror is connected to a plastic housing that contains a camera and sensors for onboard safety systems. Very tall drivers (I am 6’9”) will find this a major blind spot, as you cannot see over the top of the rearview mirror. I found several occasions where I had to dip my head to see under the mirror/housing, particularly on the curvy roads in the Smoky Mountains. If you are tall, take a long test drive to see if this is a problem for you. I checked with other tall drivers on the press launch event and this did not bother them at all.

The 2011 E-Class Cabriolet is a complete, four seasons fun machine. The E350 retails for $56,850 in the US while the E550 sells for $64,800 USD – both prices about the same as the outgoing, smaller, CLK models. Canadian prices have yet to be release, but when the car goes on sale later this spring, expect a price hike of about $7,000-$10,000 CAD.

With several hours to go before the opening bell, the mood is similar to yesterday, which saw selling (a very, very rare occurrence for a Monday).

The euro is getting hammered. According to ForexLive, a major US bank is doing monster selling.

From FinViz.com:

Futures are looking a bit soft as well. Here’s the action following yesterday’s close.

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The SMH reports that electric bikes might get greater encouragement from the local regulators – RTA changes could be boost for electric bikes

ELECTRIC bikes could be the answer to traffic congestion, the obesity crisis and our carbon footprint. But over-regulation and a cycling culture that looks down on battery-assisted bikes as “cheating” have slowed their take-up in Australia, enthusiasts say.

However, changes proposed by the RTA could allow more powerful models on our roads.

The bikes do not need to be registered as long as their maximum power is 200 watts or less. But some models can have throttle control and resemble mopeds, with users being booked for riding them without registration.

”The beauty of this is people who are way past riding a bike can suddenly ride again. It integrates casual exercise into people’s daily lives,” says Mike Rubbo, 71, a filmmaker and e-bike enthusiast who runs the blog situp-cycle.com. ”It’s the ideal urban transport vehicle.”

Overseas, e-bikes with up to 1000-watt motors are permitted in some jurisdictions. European e-bikes are typically 250 watts. In response to a growing push to allow e-bikes without registration to be used in Australia, the RTA has submitted a report to the federal government proposing changes to regulations.

“Times have changed and bikes have changed so they need to bring the law into line with Europe, which is what they’re proposing,” said Paul van Bellen, co-owner of Gazelle Bicycles Australia, a “bikes for transport” shop in Matraville.

The SMH also has a report on haggling over a Sydney light rail plan (probably a fantasy, like most state government transport initiatives) – Bureaucrats want light rail stops every 700m – passengers or not.

The Sydney Metro Authority folded last month after the Premier, Kristina Keneally, abandoned the controversial $5.3 billion, seven-kilometre underground line between Central and Rozelle and announced instead an extension of the light rail to Dulwich Hill and a line between Central and Barangaroo.

Under a proposal the Herald understands the department is considering, there would be no light rail stops at Lewisham train station and New Canterbury Road, which several popular bus services – including 428 between Canterbury and the city and the 444 and 445 between Campsie and Balmain – use.

”This makes no sense,” the deputy mayor of Leichhardt, Michele McKenzie, said. ”The light rail stops should be at the quickest interchange point with other modes of transport. In our case, stops need to be at the main western [train] line and Canterbury Road.”

Cr McKenzie and public transport experts fear the proposal will prevent the light rail reaching capacity.

The minister’s spokesman said work was under way on a pre-construction study for the light rail extension, which would take three months. ”No decision has been made on the exact locations of stops for the light rail,” he said.

Garry Glazebrook, an urban planning expert at the University of Technology, Sydney, who was invited to sit on the government’s transport planning taskforce, said light rail was a flexible form of transport that could fit around existing land use and encourage new, more dense land use and improve street life. ”The stops can be 200 metres apart or a kilometre apart,” he said.

”Your aim, when designing a system, is to pick up the major catchments of people.”

Jillian Michaels is livid that she’s been misquoted as having told the May 2010 issue of Women’s Health that she wants children, but doesn’t plan on getting pregnant because the weight gain will “ruin” her stunning physique.

The tough-as-nails fitness guru created a stir with bloggin’ mamas when she reportedly told the lifestyle mag that she’s planning to adopt kids because she doesn’t want to ruin her super-fit figure by getting pregnant.

There’s only one problem: Jillian claims she never explicitly made such a remark.

“I never ever said that,” she emphatically told NBC’s Access Hollywood on Monday.

The portly-preteen-turned-kick-ass trainer says all she actually told the mag was: “I’m going to adopt,” and, “I can’t handle doing that [pregnancy] to my body.”

“The word ‘won’t’ and the word ‘ruin’ are not even in the article,” Jillian said emphatically. “It’s amazing, everybody’s asking about this and I’m like, ‘Did you read the article?’ ‘No I didn’t read the article.’”

She added: “I can’t understand how people can judge or question something that they haven’t even bothered to find out if it’s real or not.”

Jillian’s Biggest Loser spinoff, Losing It with Jillian Michaels, will premiere on The Peacock this summer.

Technology Review has an article on GE and Siemens adopting direct drive wind turbines – Wind Turbines Shed Their Gears.

Wind turbine manufacturers are turning away from the industry-standard gearboxes and generators in a bid to boost the reliability and reduce the cost of wind power.

Siemens, the world’s largest turbine manufacturer by volume, has begun selling a three-megawatt turbine using a so-called direct-drive system that replaces the conventional high-speed generator with a low-speed generator that eliminates the need for a gearbox. And last month, General Electric announced an investment of 340 million euros in manufacturing facilities to build its own four-megawatt direct-drive turbines for offshore wind farms.

Most observers say the industry’s shift to direct-drive is a response to highly publicized gearbox failures. But Henrik Stiesdal, chief technology officer of Siemens’s wind power unit, says that gearbox problems are overblown. He says Siemens is adopting direct-drive as a means of generating more energy at lower cost. “Turbines can be made more competitive through direct-drive,” says Stiesdal.

Siemens’s plans hinge on a new design that reduces the weight of the system’s generator. In conventional wind turbines, the gearbox increases the speed of the wind-driven rotor several hundred fold, which radically reduces the size of the generator required. Direct-drive generators operate at the same speed as the turbine’s blades and must therefore be much bigger–over four meters in diameter for Siemens’s three-megawatt turbine. Yet Siemens claims that the turbine’s entire nacelle weighs just 73 metric tons–12 tons less than that on its less powerful, gear-driven 2.3-megawatt turbines.

Spotify spent most of its first year saying it would refrain from adding “social” features and concentrate on just serving music. But the ice in Stockholm has thawed lately and today the music service added just that, amongst its first significant product updates since launching in late 2008.

—New profiles: Users can friend each other by Spotify username or via Facebook graph and send tracks to each other with a new Inbox. New activity appears in a “feed”. Users can share a web link to their in-app profile and add profile details to their blogs.

—Library changes: Spotify’s no longer just a cloud player – now users can play local files, like iTunes. Tracks and albums can be “starred”, popping them in a favourites folder. Spotify will also wirelessly sync music files to mobile without USB sideloading.

Spotify SVP Paul Brown tells paidContent:UK:-

“Today’s upgrade is all about driving discovery and enabling users to build their playlist libraries. To then access these libraries across multiple platforms, we feel will be a major attraction for people looking to sign up as a premium customer.

“We have shown, since rolling out premium mobile access to our users, that the ability to access your music in a very simple, exciting and absorbing way, across multiple platforms, is a big reason to subscribe and today’s features only increase the stickiness of Spotify as a music platform. There is a lot more to come but this is a significant step in Spotify’s evolution as music access and management platform.”

The features are available to both free and paying users. Spotify has over seven million users and 320,000 of the latter. Little of this seems to affect that dragging issue of entering the U.S. market. But, assuming Spotify’s economics are scaleable, these additions will likely yield higher dwell time and attract more users, because they’re all about propagating extra engagement.

Twelve months ago, Brown told us about social prospects: “I don’t think that’s the path that a company like Spotify will take. It’s about a core experience – others may do interesting things off the platform, that’s where the social features thing will come, I think.” But Spotify has come a long way since then, and these features had been requested by users.

Spotify has long let users “scrobble” song listens to Last.fm profiles. That feature remains, but now Spotify is taking more ownership of the social music experience at a time when Last.fm is stopping playing full on-demand tracks to concentrate mainly on the social experience.  Likewise, this could be a challenge to Mog.com, the social music site that’s looking to bring its music subscription service to the UK at a price undercutting Spotify.

But Spotify isn’t just flexing social muscles here. The local files feature means users who had been using Spotify for cloud streaming but retaining iTunes or Windows Media Player for their existing library, can finally ween themselves off those clients. The Spotify app is a slicker, slimmer homage to iTunes itself, and the files even sync to Spotify’s smartphone app.

For those of you in countries that can’t yet access the new or old Spotify, here’s a video and our slideshow…

Greece is blaming speculators for the falling confidence in its financial situation, rather than its own financial management over the last decade.

Now U.S. states are doing the same.

Credit default swaps have existed for U.S. municipal bonds for years. Now that the financial health for many states is in question, CDS’s are being used to short states such as California or Ohio.

WSJ:

The proliferation of the derivatives is angering treasurers around the country, who say the derivatives are sending a negative message and possibly driving up their costs of borrowing at a time when they need all the help they can get. California planned to send out letters as soon as this week to big Wall Street firms that sell its bonds, seeking in-depth information about their roles in selling derivatives.

“Firms that are underwriting our bond sales are then telling the purchasers maybe they need to buy a CDS reflecting some risk,” California Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in an interview. “They are speaking with two tongues, and we want to find out whether that impacts us in an adverse way.”

Ha, so now it’s nefarious to offer insurance protection on a bond.

“Like other states, the Ohio Treasury is concerned about the increase in CDS’s and other shorting instruments,” Simone Wilkinson, the state’s press secretary, said in an email. In Connecticut, Treasurer Denise Nappier has been monitoring whether CDS are affecting the price of the state’s bonds.

Some observers say the swaps don’t have an impact. Brian Yelvington, a trader at Knight Securities, is among experts who have offered advice to state officials seeking information about whether the instruments are being used for manipulation, which he says isn’t happening. “It takes a 10-minute tutorial for them to understand,” he says, that the bets aren’t nefarious and that they are traded too thinly to affect the market for bonds or a state’s bond rating.

You know it’s bad news when U.S. states start sounding like Greece, shooting the market ‘messenger’ rather than focusing on why people are shorting state securities. The day that U.S. federal government start attacking federal debt CDS speculators is the day it’s all over for America’s finances.

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Sharp was first out the door with its parallax barrier technology, which is apparently being used in the Nintendo 3DS, to skirt around wearing glasses when viewing 3D. Toshiba’s now got similar a 21-inch display which also doesn’t require glasses. More »

Are drugs behind the early Monday morning arrest of former UFC champion Tito Ortiz, who now faces domestic violence charges for assaulting porn queen Jenna Jameson?

The martial arts star claims his ex-porn star girlfriend of four years is addicted to the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, and he blames Jenna’s continued drug use for his arrest inside the couple’s Huntington Beach, California home on charges of suspicion of domestic violence on Monday.

Ortiz and his lawyer Chris Matthews accuse Jameson of drug addiction and claimed Ortiz never struck her.

“Jenna Jameson has been fighting an ugly battle with an addiction to Oxycontin for well over a year, and this morning, she had a relapse,” lawyer Chip Matthews said. “We’re here because Tito was trying to help her. Tito Ortiz never laid a hand on Jenna.”

Matthews claims Tito, the 35-year-old son of recovering addicts himself, found drugs in their home Monday morning, leading to the confrontation that ended with his arrest. Matthews also claimed the 36-year-old Jameson has made 911 calls threatening suicide over the past year.

Jenna gave birth to the couple’s twin sons, Jesse and Journey, in March 2009.

Honda’s History

All about Honda’s History

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.

Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.

Honda surpassed Nissan in 2001 to become the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer. As of August 2008, Honda surpassed Chrysler as the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States.

Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, amongst others.

Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, scheduled to be released in 2011.

Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into R&D!

From a young age, Honda’s founder, Soichiro Honda had a great interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at a Japanese tuning shop, Art Shokai, where he tuned cars and entered them in races.

A self-taught engineer, he later worked on a piston design which he hoped to sell to Toyota. The first drafts of his design were rejected, and Soichiro worked painstakingly to perfect the design, even going back to school and pawning his wife’s jewelry for collateral.

Eventually, he won a contract with Toyota and built a factory to construct pistons for them, which was destroyed in an earthquake. Due to a gas shortage during World War II, Honda was unable to use his car, and his novel idea of attaching a small engine to his bicycle attracted much curiosity. He then established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines.

Calling upon 18,000 bicycle shop owners across Japan to take part in revitalizing a nation torn apart by war, Soichiro received enough capital to engineer his first motorcycle, the Honda Cub.

This marked the beginning of Honda Motor Company, which would grow a short time later to be the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964.

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Andy Xie unflinchingly describes China’s economy as overheated.

And if the country wants to avoid a banking crisis, he thinks it needs to crank interest rates ASAP.

Recent attempts to cool the economy have meant little since money is still too cheap for banks. The only way to truly cool things down is to make money more expensive, thus removing liquidity from the system.

Caixin:

Further, prolonged negative real interest rates – that is, rates below inflation – are the driving force of the bubble. Unless this is corrected, after a brief pause, the bubble will grow big again. Such a vicious cycle only ends when banks have insufficient liquidity – that is, households don’t increase their deposits but want to borrow as much as possible. Indeed, recent data suggests this scenario is coming.

The most effective actions for containing the bubble are: one, raising interest rates to above the expected inflation rate; and, two, raising capital requirements for banks. China should quickly raise interest rates by 2 percentage points; current rates are ridiculously low. When this is the case for too long, it leads to a property bubble, resource misallocation, and, eventually, a financial crisis.

China’s interest rates are probably five percentage points too low. Yuan appreciation expectations have provided money holders with a substitute for interest rates. Indeed, such expectations have driven up yuan demand so rapidly that the central bank has increased its foreign exchange reserves three times, to US$ 2.4 trillion, in the past five years. China’s asset prices have risen by about the same magnitude. Inflation has followed.

It’ll be painful in the near-term, but has to be done he argues. Read the full piece here >

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