Category: News

[JURIST] Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) on Friday signed into law a controversial bill that would require individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. The bill gives police officers permission to determine the immigration status of any individual who arouses reasonable suspicion, criminalizes the hiring of illegal immigrants for day labor, and allows citizens to sue the local government if they believe the policy is not being used properly. Brewer signed the bill despite criticism from US President Barack Obama earlier in the day that the measure, “threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness.” The bill will take effect in 90 days.
The bill was approved earlier this month by the Arizona Senate and the House of Representatives. Earlier this week, Brewer announced a new Arizona border security plan, and declared her support for a 10-point plan supported by US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In 2008, Arizona voters defeated a ballot measure dealing with illegal immigrants. The initiative would have revoked the business licenses of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Arizona is the most active border crossing point in the US.

In reporting on the two million people who have fled Iraq since 2003, Alisa Roth and I have been struck by the extent to which their experiences have eluded visualization. Unlike during other refugee crises, we have seen no columns of people on foot pushing their belongings in carts and wheelbarrows; no large camps with blue UN tents; no legions of starving, half-naked children gathered in dusty rural terrain. Instead, hundreds of thousands of ordinary, middle-class men and women—educated city-dwellers like ourselves—have fled from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to similarly anonymous urban areas outside the country.

Perhaps because of this disconcerting ordinariness, the plight of Iraqi refugees has been a seemingly intractable subject for photojournalists; and the crisis has been all too easily overlooked by the press—despite the fact that the departure of Iraq’s secular urban elite may be one of the most devastating and lasting consequences of the war. Yet a few, including the Czech-American photographer Gabriela Bulisova and the Swiss-based Afghan photographer Zalmaï, both of whose images appear in our Review article, have been able to overcome this challenge. Some of Bulisova’s imaginative photo documentations of Iraqis who have been resettled in the United States—many of them struggling to get by—are now on view at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.

Zalmaï, whose recent, aptly titled collection, Silent Exodus, depicts Iraqi exiles who are stuck in the Middle East, offers powerful insight into these people’s uprooted lives—and their often remarkable efforts to cope with a situation that has no obvious end. The photographs in Silent Exodus were taken in 2007, during a series of trips Zalmaï made to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, the three leading destinations for fleeing Iraqis. Pairing a series of portraits of families and individuals with brief first-person accounts of the events that caused each to leave, Zalmaï’s book, though slender, gets close to a number of the social and psychological effects of exile and the traumas that lead to it. “The basis of society in Iraq has been destroyed: there are no more teachers and judges,” a former schoolteacher tells Zalmaï. Taking the picture from above, Zalmaï shows the man’s reduced existence: he is sitting in a small, barren room in Damascus, his well-tailored shirt—a habit of an earlier life—clashing with the ratty towel behind him apparently standing in for a curtain and his head-in-hands despair.

Three generations of Iraqi women now living in the United States; photograph by Gabriela Bulisova from the exhibition The Option of Last Resort

In one image, a woman, evidently engrossed in the experiences she is relating, stares large-eyed at the wall—seeming to relive her shock—as she recalls the violence that forced her to abandon her country. Another portrait, among the most horrific in the series, shows a small, unclothed boy lacerated with burns suffered when his house was bombed; his father, who is holding him, has taken him to Amman in hopes of getting him medical treatment. But as with many of the Iraqis we met who survive in Jordan’s underground economy, they are afraid they will be sent back to Iraq. “I don’t dare go outside for fear of deportation,” the father says.

Yet the cumulative tragedy of these portraits is balanced by an equally forceful current of resilience that runs through many of them. An Iraqi woman, hanging laundry in a dingy airshaft in Syria, looks up almost joyfully at the shafts of light that have managed to penetrate this dark corner; a young boy watches with rapt fascination as a man works with a hammer and water sprayer—industriousness somehow persevering despite unemployment and (as we often found among the Iraqis we met in Jordan) lack of access to school; a girl in a dark Damascus apartment leaps into the air with such glowing force that the somber Iraqis watching her and the peeling room they are in seem almost to dissolve around her.

Indeed, we encountered numerous Iraqis in Jordan and elsewhere who had, notwithstanding the squalor of their surroundings, kept their clothes perfectly pressed and retained small things—a bouquet of plastic flowers, a cracked mirror, a framed photograph—as a way of holding on to some semblance of the life they had known. Conveying this with particular poignance, perhaps, is Zalmaï’s arresting portrait of an elegant middle-aged couple, both winsome and finely groomed, sitting together on a small couch: a composition infused with dignity and careful decorum. Yet on closer inspection, the man is missing his right arm, and their anxious faces are filled with resignation to a life of uncertainty, completely cut off from the world they knew.

Zalmaï’s collection of photographs, Silent Exodus: Portraits of Iraqi Refugees in Exile, is published by Aperture, with an introduction by Khaled Hosseini. Gabriela Bulisova’s photographs can be seen in the exhibition The Option of Last Resort: Iraqi Refugees in the United States, at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts through May 30, 2010.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) has announced that he will travel to Phoenix to oppose Arizona Senate bill 1070 at a rally at the State Capitol this Sunday.

From a statement he released today:

I am going there to let the people of Arizona know that they are not alone in fighting against bigotry and hatred and thousands will join me this weekend at the State Capitol. […]

I call on all justice loving Americans to join us in Phoenix. Join us in denouncing this law, join us in calling for its veto, and join us in standing up against hatred when people paint all immigrants and all Latinos as criminals. In so doing, we will be living by a fundamental truth articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We need to take a stand.

While many immigration activists are applauding his stand on Arizona’s bill, critics are saying he should mind his own business. From a Medill Reports article:

Closer to home, Gutierrez’s critics say it’s not his place to intervene in Arizona lawmaking.

“He should mind his own business,” said Rick Biesada, director of the Chicago Minutemen Project. “He should take care of his own constituents in Illinois. Why would he be concerned with Arizona?”

Others have gone further, claiming that the immigration policy Gutierrez advocates undermines U.S. sovereignty and amounts to thinly-veiled amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

“Luis Gutierrez is the poster boy for illegal immigration,” said Dave Gorak, executive director of Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration. “Gutierrez represents the interests of those who stop at nothing to prevent our government from enforcing its own immigration laws.”

Republican Governor Jan Brewer has to decide to sign or veto the bill by tomorrow afternoon — if she does neither, it will become law.

Update: Brewer just signed the bill into law.

Speaking of Trek, this is simply awesome.

And here’s the story behind it. You’re welcome.

A rare but potentially life-threatening tropical fungus is spreading through the Pacific Northwest, researchers have reported.

The culprit is a new strain of the Cryptococcus gatti fungus, and is known to have been lethal in 25 percent of the reported human infections. C. gatti usually only infects transplant and AIDS patients and people with otherwise compromised immune systems, but the new strain is genetically different, the researchers said. “This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise healthy people” [Reuters], says lead researcher Edmond Byrnes.

However, scientists aren’t sounding a public health alert because the death toll is still very small–in the United States, five of the 21 people who contracted the fungus in the have died.

The new strain of the C. gatti fungus has been found in both humans and animals like cats, dogs, and sheep, researchers write in the journal PLoS Pathogens. Because its such a rare infection, researchers warn that physicians could potentially miss diagnosing it.

C. gatti is a tropical fungus, normally found in Southeast Asia, Australia, and South America; it arrived on our continent in 1999 via imported plants or trees. In the past five years it migrated from Canada’s British Columbia province into the United States. The fungus is thought to live on the bark of about 10 species of trees, including Douglas fir and western hemlock. Epidemiologist Julie Harris of the Centers for Disease Control says the primary victims of infection have been people who spend a lot of time outdoors, often in contact with soil, and those who do woodwork and construction [Los Angeles Times].

Infection occurs when someone inhales the floating spores given off by the fungus. The spores are known to lodge in the lungs and cause a persistent cough and breathing difficulties, and have also been linked to meningitis and weight loss. But unlike bacterial or viral infections, this fungal infection isn’t transferable and can’t be passed from person to person.

Treatment for the infection includes a long course of anti-fungal medication. While the new strain is “highly virulent,” lead researcher Byrnes says there’s no cause for panic–just for vigilance. “Overall it’s a pretty low threat, and it’s still uncommon in the area, but as the range of the organism expands and the number of cases increases accordingly, it’s becoming more of a concern,” he says [CNN]. Epidemiologist Philip Alcabes, Ph.D told CNN that the emergence of a new, mutant C. gatti strain is “pretty normal” and that “it is an expectable evolutionary event in nature that has a slight amount of human fallout.” He adds that if this fungus follows previous patterns, its virulence should diminish eventually.

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Image: Duke University

It’s been a bad day for Blippy.com, the site lots of people hadn’t heard of until it managed to leak the whole credit card numbers of four users to the entire internet. Now, one of the four people whose digits are in the public domain has come forward to talk.

The Blippy user, a 38-year old firefighter, found out that his credit card number was public knowledge when people started Tweeting him the bad news.

“Luckily, it was only four people affected, but that doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said. “Just to see my name pop up on all these Web sites and to see all these articles written about it, it’s just a little shocking… It’ll make me think twice before signing up for anything else.”

As for how he ended up on Blippy, where people share info about what they just bought with their friends and the world, he recalled. “It was just one of those things that you sign up for and forget about until something happens like today.”

So far he says he hasn’t seen any fraudulent purchases show up on his account and — at least for now — he has no immediate intention to take legal action against Blippy.

Blippy Overshares, Reveals Credit Card Info [MainStreet.com]

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

What a difference 12 months and an accounting change make. As I briefly noted yesterday, only about $1 billion separated Apple from Microsoft results in the first calendar quarter. With so many blogs obsessed about when Apple’s market capitalization might exceed Microsoft’s, perhaps the focus should be on earnings.

Some people might not understand the significance. The comparisons here are real, because they’re not fudgy market share or market capitalization comparisons. Apple has closed a huge revenue gap on Microsoft and lessened the lead in net income. This year promises the most visceral competition between Apple and Microsoft ever.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced fiscal 2010 third quarter results: $14.5 billion revenue, $5.17 billion operating income and $4.01 billion net income, or 45 cents a share. On Tuesday, Apple announced fiscal 2010 second quarter results: $13.5 billion revenue and net profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 a share. Apple revenue is $1 billion behind Microsoft, while net income trails by a little less — about $940 million.

The year-ago comparisons show just how far Apple has closed the gap. A year ago, Microsoft reported 13.65 billion revenue, $4.4 billion operating income and $2.98 billion net income, or 33 cents a share. Apple: $9.08 billion revenue and $1.62 billion income, or $1.79 earnings per share. Apple revenue trailed Microsoft by $4.57 billion and net income by $1.36 billion. The bigger gap was obviously revenue.

In some ways, it’s an, ah, apples and oranges comparison. In fourth calendar quarter 2009, Apple changed its accounting to accomodate a new rule that lets the company realize most iPhone revenue in the given quarter. Before, Apple had to defer that revenue and recognize it over 24 months. Related, Microsoft still defers revenue from annuity licensing, which accounts for about 40 percent of total revenue. Apple gets a big bang that Microsoft defers. However, Microsoft typically realizes about 30 percent deferred revenue per quarter, making differences smaller.

Still, the $1 billion gap was unthinkable a year ago and unimaginable a half decade ago. In the same calendar quarter of 2005, Microsoft reported revenue of $10.9 billion, operating income of $3.89 billion and net income of $2.98 billion, or 29 cents a share. By comparison, Apple reported $3.24 billion revenue and $290 million net income or 34 cents a share. The difference between the two: $7.01 billion by revenue and $3.6 billion by net income.

Mac shipments are up from about 1 million units to 2.94 million units over five years (Note: Mac shipments were higher in other recent quarters). In first calendar quarter 2005, Apple shipped 5.3 million iPods compared to 10.9 million in calendar Q1 2010 (which was a decline from recent quarters). But the real difference maker isn’t rocket science: iPhone, which generated $5.5 billion during the recent quarter, or about 41 percent of total Apple revenue — and, of course, the accounting change helped.

The question: What will happen in second calendar quarter? Or even the third? Wall Street analyst consensus for Microsoft is revenue of $15.24 billion, with an estimate range between $14.59 billion and $15.91 billion. By comparison, consensus on Apple is $13.7 billion with a much broader range of $11.6 billion to $15.08 billion. However, Apple hugely beat the Street during the last two quarters — by $1.46 billion during fiscal Q2. It’s not a stretch of the imagination or reasonable speculation for Apple to close the distance during second calendar quarter or sometime later in 2010.

Second calendar quarter will be tough competing all the way around. The June quarter is typically Microsoft’s best of the year because of the larger number of annuity license renewals. This year, Microsoft has some spice for the mix: New products launching during second calendar quarter, including Office 2010, and ongoing Windows 7 deployments among businesses. However, much of the annuity licensing revenue will carry forward as deferred revenue.

Second calendar quarter promises to be big for Apple, too. It’s the beginning of back-to-school buying season, and Apple is banking on iPad and Mac — particularly the tablet — despite public budgets being crimped by the recession’s lingering effects on taxes. Apple upgraded MacBook Pros during the quarter, which should boost laptop shipments. If iPad sales are strong, Apple will likely get a revenue turbo charge but see net income fall. On Tuesday, the company warned that margins would fall to 36 percent from 41.7 percent, in part because of iPad.

Some people will point out that it’s just one quarter. What about the year? During calendar 2009, Microsoft generated revenue of $58.69 billion. Apple: $41.36 billion. However, for calendar 2010, based on one quarter’s results and analyst estimates for another, Apple has hugely closed the revenue and earnings gap on Microsoft. Because analyst estimates are for fiscal years and Apple’s and Microsoft’s don’t line up, 2010 forecasts are useless for comparison.

The news media, computer enthusiasts and pundits have railed about Apple-Microsoft competition for years. But for more than two decades Microsoft beat Apple by most every measure. Windows PCs may have the greater market share, but the measure is suddenly outdated. What matters with public companies is revenue and profits. Market capitalization is another measure, but also not a good one because of inflecting differences, like the number of publicly available shares from either company.

Microsoft has been hugely profitable, but now suddenly so is Apple, by comparison. For all the talk of Microsoft-Apple competition, it’s now starting to manifest in the most meaningful way for any public company: Money.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Jennifer Lopez and her famous hips stopped by to serenade TBS’ Guy in Late-Night — George Lopez — with her best Marilyn Monroe impression and a special Happy Birthday song on Lopez Tonight Thursday.

Exposure and Nontarget Effects of Transgenic Bt Corn Debris in Streams
 
Abstract:
Corn (Zea mays L.) transformed with a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) comprises 49% of all corn in the United States. The input of senesced corn tissue expressing the Bt gene may impact stream-inhabiting invertebrates that process plant debris, especially trichopteran species related to the target group of lepidopteran pests. Our goal was to assess risk associated with transgenic corn debris entering streams. First, we show the input of corn tissue after harvest was extended over months in a stream. Second, using laboratory bioassays based on European corn borer [Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner)], we found no bioactivity of Cry1Ab protein in senesced corn tissue after 2 wk of exposure to terrestrial or aquatic environments.

Third, we show that Bt near-isolines modify growth and survivorship of some species of invertebrates. Of the four nontarget invertebrate species fed Bt near-isolines, growth of two closely related trichopterans was not negatively affected, whereas a tipulid crane fly exhibited reduced growth rates, and an isopod exhibited reduced growth and survivorship on the Cry1Ab near-isoline but not on the stacked Cry1Ab + Cry3Bb1 near-isoline. Because of lack of evidence of bioactivity of Bt after 2 wk and because of lack of nontarget effects on the stacked near-isoline, we suggest that tissue-mediated differences, and not the presence of the Cry1Ab protein, caused the different responses among the species. Overall, our results provide evidence that adverse effects to aquatic nontarget shredders involve complex interactions arising from plant genetics and environment that cannot be ascribed to the presence of Cry1Ab proteins.

Pundit’s response:

This report substantially challenges the interpretation of Rosi-Marshall et al 2007

For the overall context and further ecological analysis see Science versus politics in Germany.

The economic crisis and scandals in the corporate sector have prompted the nation’s business schools to take a more serious look at the study of ethics.

“I think some of the recent events — Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Toyota Corporation — have really highlighted the importance of ethics in leadership,” said Maryam Alavi, vice dean and professor of information strategy at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

B-schools around the country are renewing their focus on existing ethics programs as well as adding new ones. The lessons go beyond the obvious warnings against cheating and embrace responsibility to employees, customers, communities and the environment.

“Obviously, we can’t be parents,” said Mark Dillard, director of leadership programs at Goizueta. “Clearly, values are taught in the home. But we can address it from what actions you can take, what options are available to you if you are confronted with an ethical breach.”

“Principled leadership and ethical judgment have to exist at all times — good or bad,” Alavi said. The vice dean added that pushing these qualities aside for even minor decisions can create a slippery slope.

“I don’t believe many people wake up one day and say, ‘You know, today I’m going to do something bad or criminal or unethical.’ It’s poor judgments that add up and box these individual decision makers in a situation that becomes problematic,” Alavi said.

According to Dillard, the Emory program is less about debating broad ethical issues and more about what a manager should do when faced with an ethical breach, or an ethically ambiguous situation.

“If someone doesn’t take action when they see these things, it can snowball and you can end up in a situation like you have with Toyota,” Dillard said. “You’re gonna end up on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.”

Peter Roberts, an associate professor of organization and management at Goizueta, tries to inspire his students with role models — entrepreneurs who make money while benefiting society.

“A real estate developer who wants to make his money in Nicaragua by developing sustainable coffee farms — and not just by buying land, cutting it up and selling it — will do better than his neighbors at the end of the day, and the country is better off for it,” he said.

Roberts also uses the example of GrayGhost Ventures, an Atlanta-based investment firm that finances emerging businesses and private schools in poor regions around the world.

While the current economic climate has pushed ethics to the front of people’s minds, some fear the trend will be temporary — or, at best, cyclical.

“When everything is booming and the economy is doing well, who’s thinking about ethics?” said Max Stetsefko, a first year MBA student at Emory. “It’s hard to really think about these things during those times. But I think in light of the recession and latest scandals, that kind of really brings the point home that this is very important.”

Professor Roberts hopes the continued teaching of ethics will curb, if not prevent, future disasters in the world of business and finance.

“I’m optimistic coming out of this place that what we’re going to see is enough individuals that are doing positive things that are going to end up, sadly not making these big events disappear, but I think put them in their proper context,” he said.

Harvard University recently played host to the 2010 NCAA Fencing Championships, held March 25-28 at the Gordon Indoor Track. Harvard’s Caroline Vloka ‘12 won the national title in women’s sabre, while her teammate Noam Mills ‘12 finished second in women’s épée. Vloka became Harvard’s first female NCAA champion since Emily Cross ‘08-09 won the women’s foil title in 2005. These are some images from that event.

Filed under: China, UK, Geely, Beijing Motor Show

As promised, Geely brought its Englon TXN to this year’s Beijing Motor Show. In the flesh, the intended successor to London’s black cab throne looks more than capable of hauling drunken tourists from place to place. The car appears to have stuck pretty close to the renderings we saw earlier this month, though we have to say the exterior looks quite a bit better under the show lights than it did photoshopped among England’s various landmarks.

The company also displayed its TX4 – a more spacious version also built just for taxi duty. Both cars are motivated by either a 2.4-liter gasoline engine mated to a five-speed automatic gearbox or a 2.5-liter diesel powerplant that can be had with a five-speed manual transmission. So far Geely hasn’t released any power numbers.

We do know that the cars will command a price tag that should fall in the $30,500 range at current exchange rates – not exactly cheap by anyone’s standards. Will British taxi companies will be willing to give up their old rides for these new, Chinese-built examples? Hard telling, but at least they look the part.

Beijing 2010: Geely’s London Taxi-aping Englon TXN originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With all the recent talk about Android growth and trying to sway developers to the platform, we thought we’d stroll by Androlib to get a feel for where the number of apps sits today.  Now, we know that Androlib is in no way the official word on actual figures.  We realize that until Google announces a figure, everything else is suspect.  However, we have always found Androlib helpful in looking at the overall picture and trends.  The charts they put together help us to see the bigger picture.

As of this writing, there are 47,517 total applications in the Android Market.  At the rate things have been going we can likely expect the unofficial number to eclipse 50,000 sometime in the coming week or two.  In terms of paid versus free apps, things haven’t changed much over the last few months.  Roughly 40 percent of the available titles are paid while the rest are offered at no upfront cost.  Surprisingly, the ratings for Android are rather favorable with only one in five apps rated at 1 star.  We’d like to think those are the soundboards and sexy wallpaper apps churned out a dozen at a time.  Be sure to check out Androlib for more information and pretty charts!

Prediction: Google officially announces the Android Market has 50,000 apps at next month’s Google I/O conference.

Might We Suggest…

• Android Market Now 38,000 Apps Deep, Nexus One Profitable
  It seems like we were just talking about hitting 30,000 apps only a few days ago, doesn’t it?  Well, the semi-official word out of Google today is that the Android Market is over 38,000 applications s…

“Symantec Global Internet Security Threat Report” collects cybercrime and vulnerability data from across the globe and analyzes it to produce near-perfect cybercrime reports. The 100 page report generated from 2009 just came in and the most pressing issue according to it is that criminal activities over the Internet, termed as cybercrime has started moving to emerging countries.

Two countries in focus in these reports are Brazil and India. The Internet is a global entity and the lack of awareness has put India into that report. China, which was included in the last report has evolved and is now much more aware regarding the Internet.

Not only this, India is also a soft target in cybercrime. India serves as the best testing bed for hack attacks and more than 4/5th of hacks in India originated in other countries. There is a high broadband penetration but the awareness of safe usage is absolutely zero. People are still happy winning those lotteries and screensaver and are willingly giving away potential personal information.

India ranks #5 in cybercrime and serves 788 bots each day. Out of these, Mumbai, India’s largest city also claimed the largest bot activity of 50% in the country. Also, there are at least 62,623 bot infected computers in India.
(Via: PCMag)

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TechArt Porsche Panamera Entertainment and Comfort

Tuner TechArt has released a bunch of individualization modifications for the new Porsche Panamera sedan. In addition to the options already offered on the interior of the Panamera, TechArt is offering entertainment and comfort enhancements ranging from fold-away tables to a complete DVD entertainment system.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Porsche Panamera.

Known as the TechArt Entertainment Kit W2, the system includes two 7-inch monitors integrated into the design of the front seats. A 6 DVD changer attends to media playback, which is hidden in the trunk of the car. TechArt is also offering a roof mounted Entertainment Kit, available with a pivoting 10.2-inch monitor. The media console with DVD player and integrated USB host is trimmed in the finest leather or Alcantara. It is integrated into the roof liner of the Panamera. The system plays all popular media format and also offers a infrared remote control and stereo sound via wireless headphones.

The TechArt rear fold-away tables retract into the seat upholstery of the front seats. The tables have dual functionality as a mobile work station during travel and a relaxing area for longer trips with your Panamera.

TechArt Porsche Panamera Entertainment and Comfort:

– By: Kap Shah

Whether Fusion Garage is a fraudulent entity or not is something the courts will have to decide. Nevertheless, they have now proved that they are at the very least dumber than dirt.

Apparently, Fusion Garage wanted to gather feedback from their entire customer base. So, they fired off the following mail to their customers:

Dear Sir and Madam,
Thank you for supporting JooJoo.
We hope to get your feedback about the JooJoo Tablet.
Please revert back to us want you think of our product.
Please drop us a line on how your JooJoo is working.

Thank you.

JooJooSupportTeam

The trouble is that not only did their customer relations guy not know how to use a spell checker, but he was also oblivious to the purpose of the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) field. You can very well guess what happened next.

JooJoo Support dispatched the email using the CC field and in the process revealed the e-mail id of its entire user base.

As if this guffaw alone wasn’t embarrassing enough, it also revealed that Fusion Garage has managed to sell a grand total of 64 units. Yes, JooJoo has managed to do the seemingly impossible. It is faring even poorer than the rock bottom market expectations.

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Capcom, through the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 trailer, said that the game was brought on by a decade of demand. But was it? VG247 reports that that’s not entirely true, considering that the game has

The next-generation 3-series sharpens its shape, and will adopt turbo four-cylinder engines.

The BMW 3-series coupe and convertible were just face lifted, but the Bavarians already are busy readying the next-generation 3er sedan; it’s that body style that always leads off a new 3-series generation. And so we expect in late 2011 or early 2012 to get an official glimpse of the four-door, which should arrive at dealerships here in late 2012 as a ‘13 model. Until then, these renderings provide a good idea of what to expect.

We like what’s here: The next 3 keeps the concave body-side surfaces, and the front and rear of the new car will be sharpened. This is very clearly the little brother of the new 5-series, but far more compact and more aggressive in its detailing. The front end is dominated by the four LED rings around the headlights, which will form the basis of the BMW face going forward, and the lower air intakes will become more angular. The rear view will allow you to tell how much power a particular 3-series is packing, even if the owner goes for the badge-delete option, as split exhaust pipes will remain the domain of the most powerful diesel and petrol versions.

Keep Reading: 2013 BMW 3-series Rendered – Car News

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Barnes & Noble released their first major software update (v1.3) for the Nook which added several exciting features for e-reader fans. Read in Store, a feature announced back at launch, is now available when inside a Barnes & Noble store. Users can read any section of any e-book for free (but only 1 hour per day).

The Nook also received its first Android apps. A new games section includes versions of sudoku and chess. Neither game was that impressive to me, but what do you expect on an e-ink display? At least B&N is developing some games and should expand the lineup in the future.

Finally a beta web browser was added which lets users visit their favorite sites and read email. The touch screen at the bottom of the Nook is used for scrolling and zooming, while the e-ink display shows a larger view of the site. Performance was a little sluggish and features were limited, but it’s a nice bonus for existing Nook owners.

Other enhancements included an overall performance boost, faster page turns, touch screen improvements, and easier navigation. The main UI received a refresh and shortcuts were added to the audio player and WiFi settings.

Overall, I was really impressed with the update. It took around five minutes to install and I’ve experienced no problems at all. Several of the new features are clearly marked beta, which is a good sign more updates are coming. I would really love to see B&N release a Nook SDK so the community can begin to build some apps and then think about an app store.

YouTuber weggingt uploaded a video walk-through of the new features.

Highlights of the software upgrade include:

• The breakthrough Read In Store experience, now in beta, which allows you to read complete eBooks in Barnes & Noble stores.
• Sudoku and Chess
• Wi-Fi® connectivity in more hotspots and a beta basic Web browser. Plus, additional reading and performance improvements, such as faster page turns and an enhanced home screen.

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• Hands on the Nook, unboxing and initial thoughts (photos + video)

A empresa de afinamento de carros ou tuning Wheelsandmore, resolveu apimentar ainda mais o Bentley Continental Supersports, a versão mais esportiva do cupê Continental que originalmente vem com um motor mais potente de 630 cavalos e com uma redução de 110 kg em seu peso final, acelerando de 0 a 100 km/h em apenas3,7 segundos.

Mesmo assim a Wheelsandmore não estava satisfeita com sua versão esportiva e apresentou a sua versão do Bentley Continental Supersports. O cupê recebeu um ajuste fino em vários equipamentos garantindo agora uma potencia de 702 cavalos e a possibilidade de atingir a velocidade máxima de 336 km/h contra 329 km/h do modelo original.

Isso foi possível com a reprogramação de sua central de injeção e um novo escapamento confeccionado em aço inoxidável. Pra garantir um melhor ajuste em sua condução, o Bentley Continental Supersports by Wheelsandmore conta com um modulo eletrônico de controle de altura em seu sistema de suspensão, podendo rebaixar ou levantar a altura do veiculo.

Seu visual também foi personalizado e em conjunto com seu novo jogo de rodas aro 21 pintada de preto fosco e com bordas vermelhas e com pneus Dunlop Sport Maxx dianteiro e traseiro impõem respeito, e com toda a razão. Confira abaixo a galeria de fotos do modelo.

Bentley Continental Supersports Wheelsandmore

Fonte: TopSpeed