Category: News

Ford is getting ready to introduce our favorite three-blink lane change technology in its vehicles. The technology, which is already available on most luxury vehicles, allows drivers to change lanes with a simple half-way flick of either up or done. The move allows the turn indicator to blink three times and automatically shut off.

The technology will debut on the 2011 Ford Fiesta, which goes on sale in the summer of 2010. The 2011 Ford Super Duty is also set to receive the three-blink lane change technology when it goes on sale in 2010.

Make the jump for the press release.

2011 Ford Fiesta

Press Release:

Three Blinks and It’s Off; New Ford Lane Change Technology Helps Ease Driver Pet Peeves

DEARBORN — Does the sight of a blinker flashing on the car in front of you for miles and miles drive you crazy? You’re not the only one.

This annoying habit is so frustrating to drivers that it made the “Top 10 Driving Pet Peeves” list by a leading vehicle insurance company, which surveyed thousands of drivers nationwide. Nicknamed Morse Coders in the survey, these drivers often cruise for miles without realizing their blinker is on. Meanwhile, they are annoying everyone behind them.

With tongue in cheek, Hagerty Insurance Agency, which conducted the survey, suggested that Morse Coders are leaving their blinkers on for a reason: “Now let’s be fair. Perhaps these Morse Coders are part of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project, their turn signals beaming out across the galaxies in search of other life forms – or not.”

On a more serious note, national research by RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., found that consumers are confused by turn signals that are left on.

“Most drivers have found themselves behind cars that have their signals on after changing lanes,” said Jim Thomas, senior vice president of RDA Group. “This can be confusing because there is no way of knowing if the signal is a real indication of an upcoming turn or not. To reduce this confusion, drivers want vehicles to automatically disengage the turn signal after making a lane change.”

New Ford technology, coming this summer on the 2011 Ford Fiesta, does exactly that.

Ford’s three-blink lane change technology is simplifying the way drivers maneuver on the road. With a simple flick of the switch – either up or down, depending on which lane the driver is moving into – the turn indicator will blink three times and automatically shut off. The switch can be held in the lane change position longer for additional blinks beyond the three minimum.

To engage the turn signal, drivers move the switch into the standard position, one more press past the lane change mode.

“This allows the driver to let go of the switch and concentrate on driving,” explains John Murphy, Core Switch Product Engineer. “Instead of holding down the switch, they can give a quick tap, show a three-blink warning that they are about to merge and change lanes. It’s that simple.”

For motorists who drive behind the Morse Coders, this is welcome news: “Driving behind a car that’s blink, blink, blinking is enough of a driver annoyance that we’re putting the technology in our full Ford line going forward,” said Murphy. “Customers say this is confusing – and it bugs them. So we’re doing something about it.”

Going on sale in the summer of 2010, the all-new Ford Fiesta is among the first vehicles in the Ford lineup to receive the new three-blink technology. The “annoyance avoidance” feature is yet another technology going into the expressive, fun-to-drive Fiesta that makes perfect sense.

With a projected best-in-class highway fuel economy of 40 mpg, Fiesta is designed to be versatile, personal and adaptable. In fact, Fiesta is expected to deliver best-in-class safety, convenience and connectivity with segment-exclusive SYNC® voice-activated communications system, an expressive color palette and available graphics.

The 2011 Ford Super Duty is also set to receive the three-blink turn signal technology when it goes on sale in 2010.

– By: Kap Shah

Hair loss is a normal phenomenon. It is scientifically proven that human beings shed on an average 50 to 100 hairs a day. When hair loss becomes excessive it becomes worrisome.

Loss of hair becomes excessive during illness. Significant stresses in life causes hair to fall excessively. Moreover when a person develops fever or undergoes a major surgery hair loss is inevitable. During pregnancy daily hair loss does not occur. Following childbirth hair starts to fall excessively which can be seen while combing the hair. Other conditions associated with hair loss include Thyroid disease, severe infections and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Ringworm infestation also causes patches of baldness with pink scales.

Children who take large quantities of Vitamin A develop baldness and softening of skull bones followed by development of a swelling called pseudotumour cerebri.

Hair is made up of a protein called Keratin which belongs to the class of Scleroproteins. When some people go on a crash diet or adopt abnormal eating habits the body adapts to conserve its protein content by reversing hair growth to a resting phase. A couple of months later this is manifested by shedding large amounts of hair. However this can be reversed by taking a protein-rich diet. Deficiency of Iron also causes hair loss as seen in women who experience heavy menstrual flow. The male hormone testosterone is responsible for the baldness in males. In women increased hair loss is seen after menopause.

Hair dyes, excessive use of hair dryers, curling irons and styling products are also known to cause hair loss.

In cancer patients following chemotherapy excessive hair loss is seen and they may go bald. This is reversed 3 months following completion of treatment. Some medications used for thinning blood, for treatment of gout, arthritis, acne, psoriasis and some heart problems also cause excessive hair loss. Some women with an inherited hair thinning trait lose hair while on oral contraceptive pills.

Baldness or hair loss is termed alopecia. Hair may be lost in patches as well – the size of a coin or larger – balding progressing backwards from the hairline. This is called alopecia areata. It occurs in either sex at any age – even in childhood. Another variety called androgenic alopecia tends to run in families. A well chosen hairstyle can effectively hide patchy baldness.

It is of interest to note that remedy for hair loss was described in ancient Egypt in the Papyrus Embers which consisted of a concoction of dog’s toes, refuse of dates, and ass’s hoof. However modern medicine has developed treatments that are effective. The first and foremost approach to managing hair loss is to clear the offending agent. It is said that early treatment prevents hair loss. Minoxidil,Finasteride and injectable steroids such as Triamcinolone are being used with a variable success rate. These are usually available as over-the-counter medications.

Hair transplantation has also helped quite a few to rid themselves of baldness. Hair is harvested from healthy scalp and transplanted to areas of hair loss. In experienced hands transplanted hair appears as though naturally occurring.

There is a lot to learn from Eskimos. They rarely wash the hair. Their diet is not balanced consisting mainly of protein and fats but lacking vitamins. Moreover they apply whale and fish oils to the hair for sheen. The cold temperature causes poor circulation in the scalp which is augmented by wearing of hats and clogging of sebum in the scalp. Despite all these deficiencies the rate of baldness in Eskimos is extremely low.

Moreover wearing additions on the hair causes physical tension and causes the hair to fall. This is called traction alopecia. In a psychological condition called “Trichotillomania” the patient keeps on plucking hairs.

Hair loss is useful in crime detection. Hair falls during physical contact and this is matched with available hair samples by light microscopy. This determines whether hair transfer has occurred.

It is being postulated that humans lost hair during evolution to ward off fur-loving bugs in order to attract the opposite sex. It is interesting to know that apart from humans, elephants, pigs, whales, walruses and the mole-rat also are naked mammals.

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OpenID, the open standard for federated user identity across multiple websites, is led by the OpenID Foundation. That organization announced the election of its newest Board members today. These are the people who will be moving and shaking OpenID on a policy and standards level.

While systems like Facebook Connect and Twitter Auth are making fast progress in offering website users easy access to their primary identity, social and activity data when visiting sites all around the web – OpenID technology is making progress as well. Here are the three new leaders elected to help advance that agenda.

Sponsor

The OpenID Foundation has both Community and Corporate members. There is always one more community member than there is corporate members. You can see the as yet un-updated list of all the members here. Below are the three newly elected members.

Marc Frons, CTO for New York Times digital operations
At LinkedIn (Past gigs include Dow Jones, AOL and SmartMoney.com)
On Twitter (Joined April, 2009)
On Times People, the NYT link sharing network

Daniel Jacobson, Director of Application Development at NPR
On LinkedIn.
On Twitter.
Joined July, 2008, communicates with @nprtechteam, @magicmerl, @acarvin and @khopper.

John Bradley, engineer
On LiveJournal. Works on OpenID for government.

Discuss

Noah goes in-depth with Nokia’s first Maemo OS smartphone – the N900. Question is, is it a smartphone or a computer that also makes phone calls? Part 2 of 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update 1/16/2010: Imagine my disappointment when I went to Mario’s Twitter page as @MarioSoulTruth and see the following (top) tweet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now how do you call yourself “truth,” do an ad against animal cruelty and then leave a tweet shouting out folks wearing fur? I spent all that time defending artists who I was hoping were true to their words and ads for posing for PETA, but it turns out artists like Mario don’t even care. I actually bought his CD because he did this ad. I sold the CD tonight because I can’t respect an artist who fakes like he stands up for a cause and then his true colors come out. It’s very sad. I started to delete this entry altogether but decided to leave it up to show the hypocrisy of if all, and how one fan’s opinions can change so quickly. It looks like I have to send an apology out to Caveat Emptor because he (or she) was exposing the truth too. My most humble apology. Who was I to think that an artist would have enough integrity to pose for a cause he believed in instead of for the money? 

Original Opening: I am cheering from my house to yours to find out one of my favorite young singers is doing an ad for PETA. Although sometimes PETA may take the ads a little far, I still respect what they’ve done for animals and to point out animal cruelty.

Hardcore vegetarian over here! But I’m elated to see young, African-American, well-known professionals get into the mix of being against animal cruelty because it’s not often that I meet another black vegetarian or black animal activist, outside of visiting SoulVegFolk.com, as I mentioned during an interview with EarthSaveRadio.

 

A former PETA employee was one of my most enthusiastic book supporters and vegetarian mentors. It was also great to meet another African-American female vegetarian in the beginning stages so I could learn about the culture. She was also helpful in promoting “Change for a Twenty” through a hip-hop program PETA once developed. If you’re interested in checking out her work, her name is Ain Drew and she wrote a poetry book called “[If] Life’s Rotten, Write to the Core.”

As for Mario, I don’t know if he’s a vegetarian or just against animal cruelty, but either way works for me. If you underestimate his singing ability, check out the opening to “Right and a Wrong Way” on “Go.” He reached deep down into his soul for that one note. Go Mario! Go PETA!

For those who are interested in the vegetarian lifestyle, feel free to check out my ChicagoNow.com blog “So you think you can be a vegetarian?”

 

Source: Woooha.com

Babies use brown fat to burn calories and keep warm. Now researchers discover that adults have some of the special tissue, as well.

Noah goes in-depth with Nokia’s first Maemo OS smartphone – the N900. Question is, is it a smartphone or a computer that also makes phone calls? Part 1 of 2

Angelina Jolie beat Jennifer Aniston to the top spot of a recent poll to decide the top 20 beauty icons of the decade. According to The Independent and Economic Times, the Tomb Raider star’s famous pout, thick hair and flawless skin have seen women across the world envy her and millions of men want to be with her.

Top 20 beauty icons of the decade
1. Angelina Jolie 2.Jennifer Aniston 3.Kylie Minogue 4.Catherine Zeta Jones 5.Cheryl Cole 6. Scarlett Johansson 7.Keira Knightly 8.Beyonce Knowles 9.Liv Tyler 10.Halle Berry 11. Kate Winslet 12.Myleene Klass 13.Kelly Brook 14.Nigella Lawson 15.Kate Beckinsale 16. Megan Fox 17.Eva Longoria 18.Joanna Lumley 19.Holly Willoughby 20.Charlize Theron

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were voted the decade’s worst celebrity couple in an online dating poll announced Wednesday. Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com polled thousands of male and female online daters and Twitter followers in the United States, asking which celebrity couple they thought represented the best and worst of the decade. Approximately 50.5 percent of voters named Bennifer the worst, followed by Jon Gosselin and Kate Gosselin with 11.5 percent of the votes. Britney Spears and Keven Federline came in third with 10 percent of the votes.

So which couple was the best of the decade? With 42 percent of the votes United States President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama won. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie came in second with 15 percent of votes and Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore received 11.5 percent.
Other stars that made the best list were David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Heidi Klum and Seal, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Howard Stern and Beth Ostrowsky.

For those tired of changing light bulbs, we’ve got some good news. A light-emitting wallpaper may replace light bulbs as soon as 2012, according to The Times:

A chemical coating on the walls will illuminate all parts of the room with an even glow, which mimics sunlight and avoids the shadows and glare of conventional bulbs.

Apply a low voltage current to the wallpaper and bam!—no more light bulbs. The organic LED wallpaper, under development by the Welsh company Lomax, will be at least twice as efficient as current energy saving bulbs. And no, the glowing wallpaper will not create an electric fence in your living room—Lomax says their electric wallpaper will be safe to touch.

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Image: flickr / nodomain1

Kate Winslet’s curves are proving popular – she’s topped a poll of the celebrity bodies women would most love to have. The shapely Titanic star ranked above British actress Kelly Brook and former Bond girl Halle Berry, who were at number two and three respectively in the survey by U.K. diet company Slimming World. Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole polled in fourth place, with Beyonce rounding out the top five. Other celebrities to reach the top ten include Smile hitmaker Lily Allen, actress Sienna Miller and supermodel Kate Moss.

Loved-up couple Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo promoted Nivea’s second annual charity kissing challenge on Good Day New York Wednesday morning.

To help celebrate and “Make 2010 A Year of Love, Hugs and Kisses,” Nick and Vanessa will host the NIVEA Kiss Platform live from Times Square tomorrow night, featuring a series of events to inspire people to LOVE…HUG…KISS in 2010. The skincare brand created an initiative to raise money and awareness for Big Brothers Big Sisters. This program runs through Valentine’s Day.

Click Here To Learn More About The Initiative……

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety, Canada

Ah, Quebec. Beautiful women, beautiful city, fantastic food. But there is a dark side. No, not poutin and steamies. We’re talking about the language police! Answer your phone incorrectly, write something in English more than 50 percent the size of the equivalent French phrase or – worst of all – if you forget to bother with French at all, it’s off with your head an annoying fine. Joining the Québécois language police are a new group of cops – the tire police.

Basically, according to Wired, if you, a Quebec resident, drive between December 15 and March 15 on all-season tires, you get hit with a $300 fine. But what if you have all-wheel drive? Low gears and a transfer case? A Hummer H1? It doesn’t matter. No snow tires = a $300 lighter wallet within the province of Quebec.

There is a bit of rationale behind this law. Fully 90 percent of drivers in Quebec have historically fitted snow tires to their rides anyhow. And it is estimated that the 10 percent that doesn’t bother causes 38 percent of the winter accidents. Quite disproportionate, no? But really, this shouldn’t come as any shock. Snowy conditions require winter tires. If this does come as a shock to you, check our recent feature on winter tires. And… uh, stay out of Quebec if you’re still rollin’ on summer meats.

[Source: Wired | Image: Roland – C.C. License 2.0]

Report: Quebec drivers face hefty fine if they don’t drive on snow tires originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m not too surprised to find out that a rigorous scientific test of ginkgo biloba found that it did not have the effects claimed by alt-med enthusiasts, including helping memory retention. Just speaking statistically, knowing the sheer number of claims made by people using “alternative” medicines, the vast majority of them are bound to actually not be true. Almost without exception, these kinds of claims are anecdotal in nature, which is unreliable. We need properly-handled blinded medical studies to find out the real nature of these claims, and this one, unfortunately, has not panned out.

I don’t expect this to have any impact whatsoever on either the sales of ginkgo biloba or the way it’s advertised, of course. In general, the practice of alt-med as it is presented to the public is not based in scientific analysis of evidence, so it doesn’t matter how much evidence is provided that shows that a particular claim is false.

That doesn’t mean we in the reality-based world want these tests to fail. My favorite part in the article is this:

The study finding is “disappointing news,” says Steven DeKosky, dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the study’s senior author. The only positive thing the researchers found is that ginkgo appears to be safe, he says.

DeKosky is dean of a prestigious medical school, and says he’s disappointed. Of course he is. Despite what a lot of the alt-medders (and antivaxxers) say, doctors really do want what’s best for their patients. If ginkgo had panned out, then that would be another weapon in doctors’ arsenals to make us healthier, and make us healthier for longer in our lives. But it didn’t work, so he was disappointed.

Those of us skeptical of these alternatives to modern medicine don’t want these things to fail. We already know that some mainstream medicines are based on what could once have been called herbal medicines — aspirin is the obvious example, originally made from willow bark — so we know better than to dismiss these potential additions to medicine out of hand.

What we do dismiss are anecdotes provided as evidence, or used to make claims that aren’t warranted from the evidence. All those anecdotes are is a place to start investigating the evidence for a potential medicine, not evidence in and of themselves.

Tip o’ the ginkgo berry to Fark.

Beyonce’s’ mother “gets a kick” out of reading gossip about her daughter. The ‘Sweet Dreams’ singer has revealed her mother Tina is obsessed with racy tabloid magazines, often buying up to 20 at a time while Beyonce stands next to her “praying” no one will see her.

The 28-year-old star said: “You know what? My mother loves to read celeb magazines, especially the racy tabloids! I can’t believe it sometimes. She’ll go to this magazine store in New York and buy 20 magazines while I’m standing next to her. I’m just praying nobody recognises me while my mom is stacking up those magazines! But she loves reading the gossip about celebs and movie stars. I tell her a lot of the stuff isn’t true, but she says she gets a kick out of reading all the nonsense that gets printed, even about me!”

Even though Tina likes to laugh about the false stories written about her daughter, Beyonce couldn’t cope without her, particularly when she is on tour. The star added: “My mom and my cousin are the leaders of my entourage. They’re with me to help me stay grounded and relax and avoid going out on the town, which is something I rarely do anyway.”

A rugged 2010 maybe ahead of you and you’re in search of the perfect bag to go with the new year. Filson Co. is basically one of the names you can trust when it comes to owning a bag that’ll last you beyond 2010. This Sportsman Bag model is no exception. Coming in a custom dyed dark brown color, this bag is also custom finished by the good folks from Jean Shop NYC. A mixture of waxed canvas and oiled leather, the bag also features two way brass zippers, leather pulls, adjustable shoulder straps, and more. Available now at Context.

El sistema multimedia Sync, desarrollado en conjunto entre Ford y Microsoft, tendrá la capacidad de “marcar” canciones, para después descargarlas a través de iTunes. La nueva funcionalidad estará disponible con la tercera generación del Sync que tendrá salida en el 2010.

Entre los controles del Sync se agregará un nuevo botón de tag para que una canción en especial pueda ser “tageada” y se pueda armar así una lista de reproducción personalizada. Una vez que se conecte un cualquier dispositivo móvil compatible de Apple, la lista de tags será subida al móvil, para después conectarse en casa al iTunes y así descargar las canciones.

La única limitación es la memoria del propio sistema de tag del Sync, que almacena unas 100 canciones antes de quedarse sin memoria. Por otro lado, ya hay otros dispositivos móviles que hacían exactamente eso. El sistema estará disponible en Europa muy pronto, de la mano del nuevo Ford Fiesta.

Vía | The Motor Report

Television personalities Tim Gunn and Ellen DeGeneres are being honored this final week of 2009 for their devotion to the world’s furriest faces: the pair have been named Psychos People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals’ 2009 Man and Woman of the Year.

“Tim Gunn and Ellen DeGeneres show us that one person really can make a difference in the world by rejecting cruel deeds in favor of compassionate acts,” PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said in a statement released on Wednesday. “Their message that animals must be treated kindly and respectfully has reached scores of people, and many of them have changed their buying habits, all because Gunn and DeGeneres spoke up for the voiceless.”

PETA praises vegan Ellen and has gone so far as to promote the lifestyle choice by inviting vegan experts like Jonathan Safran Foer and Dr. Neal Barnard on her Emmy-winning daytime talk show.

PETA compliments fashion guru and Project Runway adviser Gunn for being the creative director at fur-free fashion house Liz Claiborne. Tim was also praised for narrating PETA’s “Fashion Victims” video, which looks at the extreme practices of the fur and reptile skin trade.

The fashionisto launched a program at the Big Apple’s Parsons School of Design to allow PETA to come in and give presentations to design students about how animals are abused and killed for their fur.

“I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings,” Ellen noted on her website earlier this year.

Oprah Winfrey was previously honored as PETA’s Woman of the Year in 2008.