Calling all developers: The Snaptic Developer Conference is looking for a few good coders for a May 27 event in San Francisco. The agenda includes:
Register now and get more info at Snaptic.com.
The Chinese lust for long-wheelbase, chauffeur-driven chariots points toward the next logical road-clogging step: limousines. Here are several I snapped while wandering the show’s many halls.
German tuner Lorinser has recently set up shop in China—we’re told tuning is on the rise, just like everything else quantifiable in China—and the company celebrated by bringing a super-long S-class as well as this extra-burly G-wagen to the show. They didn’t bother to extend the side exhausts on the G, though. The tips now sit amidships.
Krystal had a whole row of black limos on its stand, from the livery-standard Lincoln Town Car to stretch versions of the Hummer H3 and Ford Expedition. What really caught my attention, however—and that of any non-deaf persons within several hundred yards—was the “entertainment” being supplied by the big screen and even bigger speakers. Yes, that’s John Cusack you see above, wielding a black stretch limo in the movie 2012. One of the more action-y, and loud, scenes was playing on repeat. All day. Did I mention it was loud? It was sooo loud. And no, we haven’t seen the movie either.
Then there was this stretch Lincoln Navigator L (with fender vents, of course).
And this super-duper-mega-stretch Range Rover, which was surprisingly straight.
Say, we could be a limo-only publication. We wouldn’t even have to change the name!
Related posts:
Drew Brees may appear on the cover of Madden NFL 11, but the Saints and their QB aren’t going to be in the game’s demo. Like the boxart, EA left it up for fan voting. Guess who
Filed under: Concept Cars, Crossover, Chevrolet, Beijing Motor Show, Electric
While Chrysler has failed to find a way to update or replace the retro-styled PT Cruiser, we can definitely see this as a forthcoming replacement to the Chevrolet HHR. The Volt MPV5 is slightly larger than HHR, but fills a similar market niche. While Chevrolet hasn’t announced a firm production commitment, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the MPV5 built in both conventional and ER-EV forms to help jack up GM’s light truck CAFE numbers. The roomy interior will likely find a bigger audience than the smaller Volt while still yielding a 32 mile electric range, and if we had to guess, we’d see the Orlando-inspired plug-in EV hit the market by 2013.
Beijing 2010: Chevrolet Volt MPV5 concept, HHR goes future tech originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
below, Durbin release…..
DURBIN OFFICE STATEMENT ON SUBPEONA ISSUED BY FORMER GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH
[CHICAGO] – Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) made the following statement regarding a subpoena issued by Rod Blagojevich’s defense team:
.
“On April 16, 2010 Senator Durbin was served a subpoena by Rod Blagojevich’s defense attorneys.
Given the former Governor’s previous antics regarding this case, it’s no surprise he is casting a wide net – apparently from the President down to dogcatcher.
We have accepted service of the subpoena and will cooperate with the court in any reasonable way. The matter has been referred to counsel, and our office will not be commenting further.”
– 30 –
We just finished writing a story on deadline when in walks the mailman with a giant yellow package. We tore it open, and lo and behold, there was nothing in it but the current edition of The New York Times wrapped inside a black T-shirt. Oh, but wait! We opened it to page A19 (already tabbed) to see a full-page ad. "Today, our struggle begins against—INJUSTICE!" the copy reads. "Yes, we’re that serious!" a separate color ad tucked inside the newspaper says. Whoa! Turns out it was from Cats Against Clay, an organization that protests the use of clay in cat litter. A post on the group’s Web site reads: "We appreciate the support, New York. Many of you human types have shared enlightened messages about our plight—nice to see you ‘get it.’ It seems that newspaper, while not great in the litter box, is a fantastic way for us to make ourselves heard." We have to admit, it got our attention.
—Posted by Elaine Wong
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Thanks to the upcoming April 30 expiration of the government’s new-home-buyer tax credits, in March the U.S. just experienced the sharpest spikes in new home sales back to 1963.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, new homes sales leaped at an annualized 27% rate in March. You’ll see this below, on the right. It’s clearly an abnormally high jump — welcome to the distorting force of government in markets. People were rushing to buy ahead of the April 30th deadline to qualify for the tax incentives.
Thing is, this isn’t healthy buying behavior. Given we just came off a housing mania, creating new mini-buying manias seems a bit dangerous. It’s kind of like taking shots to cure a hangover.
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Some of you may remember a short time prior to the release of the initial T-Mobile Nexus One, Google had briefly listed in the device specifications that it would support 802.11n. HTC, on the other hand, never listed the Nexus as having support for the protocol. Shortly after the slip was discovered, Google’s Nexus One specifications list was edited to solely show support for 802.11b/g. Rumor now has it that Google and Broadcom (the manufacturer of wireless chipset in the Nexus One) are working together and have entered drivers into the Android repository that will enable the support for Wireless N after all. There is no solid evidence other than a blurry-cam video posted on YouTube, but just the thought is enough to entice us all.
I guess this is Google’s way of making amends with Nexus One users having the dreaded 3G issues. If you can’t change your location, just connect to the nearest 802.11n signal. What say you? Check out the video below, and sound off in the comments!
{Widget type=”youtube” id=”reYqOqM_ckM&” }
Via Engadget
To those you who missed it, below is the link to a web panel on the state of climate change policies and developments that I participated in for Brightalk today.
The panelists:
– Emilie Mazzacurati, Manager, Carbon Market Research North America, Point Carbon
– Chris Busch, Policy Director, Center for Resource Solutions
– Nicholas Bianco, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute
– Neal Dikeman, Jane Capital Partners
Enjoy and post any thoughts in the comments section back on this blog for the rest of us to read.
http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/20657
The Grumpy Hacker writes in to let us know of a story about a couple in the midst of a divorce who went to court over who gets to own the family’s photographs (found PopPhoto.com). Over the 21-year marriage, apparently, the family amassed 7,000 photos, and part of the dispute was over who got to keep them. The judge made the following decision:
The husband gets 75% of the photos or three out of every four on each page of 75 photo albums, DeStefano wrote. His wife gets what’s left.“The court finds that the husband was intricately involved with taking, compiling and cataloging the thousands of photos at issue,” DeStefano wrote in a case in which the spouses were identified only by initials.
“He equated his collecting of photographs of family with the hobby of collecting rare books.”
If you’re wondering why not just make copies, apparently the couple had already paid over $2,000 to scan all the images and have them put onto a CD, but both sides were “unhappy with the quality and demanded originals.” It seems like they could have just gone back to whoever scanned the images and demanded higher quality scans, but that’s neither here nor there.
What struck me about this is you sort of wonder why no one brought up copyright. Technically, whoever took the photos most likely owned the copyright on those photos, and could claim that the photos were his or her right to own. This is one of the more annoying parts of copyright law, but whoever takes the photo often has a strong claim on the copyright, even if the camera is someone else’s (remember that the next time you ask your friend — or, I guess, spouse — to take a photo for you). So, I would imagine that if the guy took most of the photos, he could just claim copyright on them and keep them from his ex-wife. In the meantime, though, perhaps we should be thankful that copyright was not used in this particular case — even if the result seems a little silly. There are services that can duplicate photos (not just scan them), and it seems like this whole situation could have been solved without involving a court at all.
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Barnes & Noble has finally releases nook update 1.3, which brings a couple of welcome upgrades and features to the ereader. One notable change is the presence of a web browser, which in turn, makes Wi-Fi a bit more useful. How so? Well, if a Wi-Fi hotspot requires a login, you can now use the browser to do that and hop onto the network, whereas before, you were just out of luck with the nook. Pages will now turn faster, which is always nice, and they’ve also got some apps and games available for your enjoyment as well. If you want to take advantage of the in-store nook perks, you can now read any ebook for free for an hour when connected to a Barnes & Noble hotspot, and later, you’ll be able to read newspapers and magazines for 20 minutes per day. If you wanna get your nook updates immediately, you can download the update and manually install it over USB, or if you’re in no rush, it should auto-update over Wi-Fi sometime over the next few days.
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The school district outside Philly that has come under fire for installing and using remote webcam software to secretly take 56,000 photos and screenshots of students and others is now in trouble with their insurance company, says the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In papers filed in federal court, Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Co. contends that none of the allegations in the suit filed by Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins and his parents fits the definitions in the school district’s $1 million liability policy.
The Robbins suit says the district invaded his privacy, violated his civil rights, and broke wiretapping and other laws when it secretly activated the Web camera on his school-issued laptop in the fall.
“Those allegations do not state any claims for ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ as those terms are defined in the policy,” Graphic Arts Mutual said in its complaint, filed last week.
If the courts agree with the insurer, the impact could be costly for the Lower Merion district, which has hired lawyers from an elite Philadelphia law firm, Ballard Spahr L.L.P., and specialists from L3 Communications Corp., a computer forensics firm, to defend itself in the suit and to investigate the now-disabled laptop-tracking system.
According to the Inquirer the majority of the photos were taken by the district in an effort to recover stolen or lost laptops, but that the cameras may not have been turned off in a timely fashion after the laptops were recovered.
“The taking of these pictures without student consent in their homes was obviously wrong,” a lawyer for the school district said.
The lawyer for the student who is suing the school district told the Inquirer that the “now-disabled system had surreptitiously collected more than 400 photos of his client – including shots of him when he was shirtless and while he slept in his bed last fall – as well as thousands of images from other students’ computers.”
Lower Merion report: Web cams snapped 56,000 images [Philly]
N.Y. insurer balks at coverage for laptop suit [Philly]
In case you hadn’t realize just how disgusting Apple’s Photo Booth filters could be, Mark Pernice and team converted a Photo Booth self-portrait to a real life, 3D mask. Here was the before shot: More »
Japan immediately challenged a compromise on the whaling ban offered today by the International Whaling Commission.
Although the plan would legalize commercial whaling for the first time in 25 years, it would impose a 200 whales-per-year limit on the Land of the Rising Sun.
Japan would rather continue killing 900 yearly, using the scientific research loophole.
Said Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu: “Regarding the total catch allowed, it is different from Japan’s position. We want to continue negotiating with patience.”
Don’t miss: A Short Primer on the Deflationary Crisis In Japan
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Six months ago, everyone said this was a “sucker’s rally”–and cackled at anyone stupid enough to buy into it.
But it’s not a sucker’s rally anymore!
Now, CNBC is calling the current market rally the “Rodney Dangerfield Rally,” because no one is respecting its legitimacy and everyone is looking for a way out.
Like Rodney, this rally ain’t getting “no respect.”
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See Also:
Conservative actor and born-again Christian Stephen Baldwin
In 2009, Baldwin filed for bankruptcy after he racked up more than $2.3 million worth of debt with several mortgages, bills to the IRS, and defaulted credit card accounts. Now a new website, set up Lyn Fletcher — a member of Stephen’s Baldwin Ministries, aims to ease the star’s financial hardships by encouraging public donations which will be deposited directly into his bank account.
Don’t believe us? Just check out RestoreStephenBaldwin.org…..
A statement posted on the site reads: “Stephen Baldwin of the famous Baldwin Brothers Hollywood clan… is no stranger to the Hollywood life of glitz, glamour and the public eye. However, because of (his religious) convictions it has caused him the loss of many jobs and most recently, a highly publicized bankruptcy… A simple search through the Internet will reveal that people not only mock Stephen, but mock God.
“Our vision is to see Stephen Baldwin publicly restored in front of millions. Stephen’s platform will increase allowing him to reach even more people with the Gospel and God will get all of the glory. Publicly.”
“The impact of transgenes is basically limited to their immediate function”
I had a chance at the Beijing auto show today to sit down—or, more accurately, to sit in—and experience Audi’s latest interior enhancement, the optional reclining rear seat in the 2011 A8L.
As seen in this gorgeous mulberry-and-white Audi Individual treatment, the cushy right rear seat slinks down and forward at the touch of a button. Simultaneously, the seat ahead moves up and out of your way, tumbles, and deploys a footrest from its backside, turning the interior of Audi’s biggest sedan into a three-passenger leather-lined cocoon. The footrest can be tilted up and down and the seat it’s mounted to slid fore and aft to accommodate persons of varying heights. Assuming you’re traveling unaccompanied, there’s no way you’d need any more room than this.
The curbside rear chair also includes a massage function. If you manage to stay awake during the ride (unlikely) there’s a pop-out writing desk available for the special business-class passenger. Or you can watch something on the huge, 10.2-inch video screen, the angle of which is remotely adjustable via one of the ten billiondy buttons and switches found on the full-length center console.
A journalist never turns down a seat at the end of a long auto-show day, and I’m glad I parked my rear in the rear of this parked Audi.
Related posts:
Mayor Daley has no problems with Rahm Emanuel’s ambition to one day be Chicago mayor, my Chicago Sun-Times colleague Fran Spielman is reporting after Daley spoke to reporters on Friday.
“No, he’s not stepping on my toes,” Daley says. “He’s a good friend of mine. I think it was something that he should be proud of, that someday he would like to be mayor. I didn’t give him any advice. I don’t give people advice. I don’t advise people. I’m not their advisor. But there’s nothing wrong with people having a commitment to public service.”
Video courtesy NBCChicago’s Ward Room
Measurement
Focus: Time and Nonstandard Measurement.
Sol 1.7 The student will:
a.) Identify the number of pennies equivalent to a nickel, a dime and a quarter ; and
b.) Determine the value of a collection of pennies, nickels, and dimes whose total value is 100 cents or less.
Recommended Books:
Bunny Moneyby Rosemary Wells is a wonderful book that teaches children just how fast money can be spent. It’s grandma’s birthday, and Ruby knows exactly what grandma would love-a beautiful ballerina box. Max also knows what she’d love-a scary pair of ooey-gooey vampire teeth.. Ruby has a saved up a wallet full of bills, but as unexpected mishap after mishap occurs, money starts running through the bunnies’ fingers.. will they have enough left for the perfect present?
One cent, two cents, old cent, new cent By Bonnie Worth, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Marthieu really teaches money from the beginning. This books talks about where money comes from, how you use money, and all of the different forms of money.
The story of Money By Betsy Maestro Illustrated by Giulio Maestro is a cute story about how money came about. How come a tiny sliver of yellow medal is worth more than a big loaf of bread, and a little piece of green paper is worth more than either? Betsy and Giulio Maestro explore the many forms money has taken around the world, from barter doubloons to greenbacks to credit cards.
The Money Tree By Sarah Stewart illustrated by David Small is a cute book. It is about an extraordinary tree is growing in Miss McGillicuddy’s yard! Month after month, its leaves-which come in all denominations – attract people from far and wide. Will this strange harvest ever end?
Can I have some Money?: Max Gets it! by Candi Sparks illustrated by William Graf. This book is about a 10 year old boy names Maximillion. It is all about him wanting money, how he made it and what he did with it. Children in this age group will love it.
Website Recommendations:
United States Mint: Is a wonderful website for teachers and children to learn about money. There are many lesson plans and activities all search-able by grade. If you go to the kids tab, and select games, there are more than enough games for every child in your class. There games are also search-able by grade level. One game I specifically like is DollarDive.
Escape from Knab– This website is a fun game about getting enough money to return to planet Earth. ” you are about to take off on an adventure to the strange and silly planet Knab. Make the right financial choices and find your way back to Earth.
The Piggy Bank Game-Select the coins you need to match the total. For each correct answer, you’ll fill the piggy bank a little bit more. You have to count quickly as the coins build up. If you take too long, the game will end.
Change Maker-The perfect game to practice making change for a customer. You are given the total sale and the amount paid. You must determine the total change to give and which coins to use. This game has several levels of difficulty so you can use this game for those struggling to those more advanced.
Keep the Change– These are word problem games for the more advanced student.The online money word game gives you a story and a total dollar amount. From the clues you need to determine how many of each type of coin are needed
Additional suggested Resources:
The United States Mint- has wonderful lesson plans, children games, printables etc.Coin enthusiasts, school teachers, and parents across the country and around the world are linked to the United States Mint through usmint.gov. Much information about past, present, and future coins is available here with just a few clicks. Parents can be sure that great care has been taken to make usmint.gov a safe place for children. Educators of all kinds can find information and teaching tools in abundance here, including lesson plans and classroom ideas created by teachers. And kids of all ages can enjoy the site’s games, activities, and historic research opportunities.
Home School Math- Homeschool Math has several worksheet generators that can create a variety of worksheets for you. You can customize the worksheets with many varied options, so can make them easy or difficult according to the student’s level, with lots or less problems, with big or small fonts, etc. Each time you get a different worksheet since they are generated randomly. Choose a topic from the menu below.
TLS Books- Welcome to tlsbooks.com, where you’ll find a variety of free first grade worksheets for home and school use. Our first grade worksheets are intended to enhance your child’s skills and introduce new concepts in a fun, stress-free manner. Depending on your child’s abilities, you may wish to refer to our kindergarten and second grade worksheets for further practice.
