Category: News

Filed under: Coupe, Etc., UK, Humor, Electric

Giant fullsize pickup trucks that are practically capable of pulling an entire city block off its foundations are a uniquely American invention. In most other parts of the world, people somehow find a way to move oversize and overweight objects without the use of 500-plus lb-ft of torque and a bowling-pin size trailer hitch.

That said, the sight of an itsy-bitsy G-Wiz electric car towing a double-axle trailer with a 50-foot Christmas tree lashed atop is sure to cause double takes wherever it goes. Such is the case with Greig Howe of Bournemouth, Dorset in the U.K. Howe picked up the massive tree and hauled it 15 miles to his home, making sure that his route took him past his aged grandmother’s home with the tree fully done-up with appropriate decorations.

For his next trick, Howe cut the tree into thirds and placed them in such a way that it appears as if the fir is bursting through the windows and roof of his six-bedroom home. Which, of course, it sort of is. Nicely done! Thanks for the tip, Robin!

[Source: Mail Online]

Electric Holidays: UK man tows 50′ Christmas tree with G-Wiz originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the reasons I love this time of year is that Mrs. BA is a fantastic cook and baker. She was making cutout cookies the the day, and asked if I wanted anything special.

Well, duh.

Who wouldn’t want a cookie that’s bigger on the inside than the outside?

And of course, more apropos of the season:

MMMmmmmmm. Sacrilicious.

While some other countries have caved to pressure from the entertainment industry and US diplomats to implement ridiculously draconian copyright laws, it’s always nice to hear of some pushing back. Nicolas A. Barriga points us to the news that despite several attempts by Chile’s president to pass extremely draconian copyright laws, that would force ISPs to actively police their networks and block access to content that was accused (not proven) of being infringement, the provision was definitively rejected (Google translation of the original). Apparently, it was rejected in such a way that the President can no longer re-introduce it.

What’s interesting here (beyond a victory for user rights) is that a big part of the argument pushed by the entertainment industry representatives, was that this law was necessary to remain in compliance with trade agreements (there they are again) with the US. However, it appears that Chilean politicians recognized this was a load of bunk. Nothing in their trade obligations required such a solution. This sound similar to pressure put on countries like Canada and Israel, where they’re told they need to introduce copyright laws well beyond anything in the US just to live up to their international obligations. So far, both Canada and Israel have pushed back, and it’s good to see Chile doing so as well.

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It’s hard to resist a good shortbread. It shouldn’t be too crumbly or too crisp, and it must have a rich butter flavor. This recipe makes just a small batch of shortbread that is pretty close to that good, middle-of-the-road shortbread that is well balanced, flavorful and should appeal to absolutely everyone.

This shortbread uses melted butter, which I browned on the stovetop to give it a toasty, nutty flavor that adds a lot of richness to the finished cookies. To be honest, skipping the browning step doesn’t hurt the shortbread too much, but it doesn’t take much time and the results are well worth it. The recipe was inspired by  some Dutch shortbread I had, which a Dutch friend made and shared with me. After a little bit of research, I was able to find some recipes similar to the shortbread she made online and used those as a starting point for my version. The browned butter was an element that I couldn’t resist adding to enrich the overall flavor.

This shortbread is baked in a pie or tart pan and is cut into wedges to serve. It is good right away, but will also keep well in an airtight container for a couple of days.

(more…)

Filed under: Coupe, Etc., UK, Humor, Electric

Giant fullsize pickup trucks that are practically capable of pulling an entire city block off its foundations are a uniquely American invention. In most other parts of the world, people somehow find a way to move oversize and overweight objects without the use of 500-plus lb-ft of torque and a bowling-pin size trailer hitch.

That said, the sight of an itsy-bitsy G-Wiz electric car towing a double-axle trailer with a 50-foot Christmas tree lashed atop is sure to cause double takes wherever it goes. Such is the case with Greig Howe of Bournemouth, Dorset in the U.K. Howe picked up the massive tree and hauled it 15 miles to his home, making sure that his route took him past his aged grandmother’s home with the tree fully done-up with appropriate decorations.

For his next trick, Howe cut the tree into thirds and placed them in such a way that it appears as if the fir is bursting through the windows and roof of his six-bedroom home. Which, of course, it sort of is. Nicely done! Thanks for the tip, Robin!

[Source: Mail Online]

Electric Holidays: UK man tows 50′ Christmas tree with G-Wiz originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Introduction:

The EHR series are cantilevered, horizontal, centrifugal slurry pumps. They are designed for the handling of highly abrasive, high-density slurries. The slurry pumps of this series can be installed in multistage series.

Structure:

The impellers of this kind of slurry pump are made of rubber. The frame plates for this kind of slurry pump have replaceable wear-resistant rubber liners. The discharge branch can be oriented to any of the eight different positions. The shaft seals of this kind of slurry pump may adopt shaft gland seal or expeller seal.

Application:

This kind of slurry pump mainly applies in the metallurgical, mining, coal, power, construction material and many other industries.

Model Explanation and Performance Chart:
EHR-1.5B
E: Excellence Brand
H: High Concentration
R: Rubber lined
1.5: Discharge size (inch)
B: Frame type with maximum power

If you want to get more details ,please click Excellecne Website:
http://www.excellencepump.com

Rotor blades, gearboxes, tower and foundations are the most cost-intensive components of a wind turbine. Their life cycle can be increased by the way of the hydraulic actuation of the wind turbine’s azimuth and rotor brakes. The compact KA type pump power pack from the Munich-based HAWE Hydraulik SE is ideally suited for the brake function of the rotor blades. In addition, when combined with the manufacturer’s directional seated valves its function is extremely secure.

The KA type was developed for accumulator charging and intermittent operations. It consists of a tank with integrated immerged oil motor, a radial piston pump that is directly mounted to the motor shaft – without a clutch – and a connection block. The function modules are mounted directly on to the connection block. The modules are separated for each function, as for ex-ample the brake function. This modular design offers the advantage that any potentially faulty module can be easily identified and swiftly exchanged by merely releasing four screws. There is no need to remove any hoses connected to the consumers.

The radial piston pump supplies pressurized oil for operating pressures of up to 700 bar. Depending on the tank extension the deployable volume can be increased from two to ten liters. The KA2 and/or KA4 types can even be upgraded to a maximum of 20 liters. The power pack can be operated with all voltages, including 690V. In case of grid loss the hand pump is used for emergency operation of the brakes. The KA type can be installed either vertical or horizontal and is also available as “Cold Climate Version”.

HAWE Hydraulik’s zero-leakage directional seated valves offer considerably higher switching reliability than the directional spool valves as dirt particles are flushed out again when the valve is opened. By this way the clearance of the valve piston in its guide bushing cannot clog and thus choking of the valve is prevented. As the valves are designed for pressures above 400 bar, while the pressure level of wind turbines is normally below 250 bar, the valves used in these facilities are extremely long-living.

For wind power plants HAWE Hydraulik offers active and passive brake control, with or without a flushing function for the brake lines and brakes. Additional function modules are available for adjusting the pitch, roof openers for the turbine nacelle, rotor locking, and the control of on-board handling cranes. All pressurized components are made from steel.

About 10 days ago, there was a post in this column about interest by News Corp. and its MySpace unit in Flixster, the popular social networking site for movies.

Titled “MySpace and News Corp. Eye Flixster (But for What?), I wrote:

Whether this is an acquisition or more of a larger partnership deal with News Corp. digital entertainment sites is unclear. Several sources said a purchase was a possibility, while others talked about a more complex deal that did not necessarily mean a purchase.

Sources said any such deal is not imminent, but that News Corp. (NWS) itself has been conducting extensive due diligence on the San Francisco-based Flixster, part of a plan to combine it with Rotten Tomatoes, another News Corp.-owned site run by its IGN Entertainment division.

Well, BoomTown did more gumshoeing and it is indeed shaping up to be a very complex deal, acccording to many sources I spoke with, centered on Rotten Tomatoes merging with Flixster, in exchange for a stake in the combined independent company by News Corp.

Flixster has attracted a huge audience–upward of 50 million–who trade all kinds of recommendations, ratings, news and even post user-generated movie reviews on its Web site and via widgets on social networking sites, mostly on Facebook.

Founded in 2006 by CEO Joe Greenstein and CTO Saran Chari, Flixster has raised $7 million in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pinnacle Ventures, as well as garnering an angel investment from Silicon Valley entrepreneur and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

Rotten Tomatoes features mostly premium content, including professional reviews, trailer videos and news. It has community feature that is just in beta, so it would be a nice fit with Flixster.

In addition, in a separate but related deal, the resulting company could then have its social, user-generated and premium content threaded throughout MySpace, which is in the midst of transforming itself from a social networking site and into a social media site for music and other kinds of entertainment.

Several sources noted that this deal being contemplated is typical of the overall strategy at News Corp., which has been targeting digital units, which are not an obvious fit inside the company any longer, for sale or other disposition.

In fact, the deal is not unlike one News Corp. did recently, flipping photo-sharing Photobucket into mobile photo service Ontela, with the media giant holding a large equity position in the the new entity.

The possibility of interlinking of MySpace and the combined social movie site is interesting and also yet another signal of one of the new strategies of MySpace, as one source described it, “playing on other platforms.”

For example, it recently announced it was adding its data stream into real-time search results on Google (GOOG).

And, it seems dead obvious that MySpace is likely to adopt Facebook Connect sooner than later, perhaps beginning with a smaller implementation early next year.

Focusing less on Facebook, which has long surpassed the once high-flying MySpace as the top-of-mind social network, MySpace is likely to value the massive cross-distribution for its much richer media content.

But that’s not all for MySpace, said several sources, all of whom noted it would be rolling out a range of significant design and other feature initiatives over the next 45 to 60 days.

They are all aimed by its news managers at juicing MySpace’s prospects, which have declined over the last several years, as have both revenues and engagement with consumers.

“This is not a rocket-ship ride to the moon,” said one person with knowledge of the situation. “It’s building again step by step.”

A Flixster spokesman declined to comment, as did News Corp. I am awaiting a call back from MySpace’s spokeswoman, but she is stuck in a security line at the airport.

Happy holidays, anyway, Dani!

(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

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Last week I wrote about Grouply’s makeover tools for discussion groups, designed to drag 1990s-era forums into the social media age without forcing veteran members to give up their old interfaces.

Now another startup, Grou.ps, has launched its own customization tools, which the company calls Elastic Modules.

Grou.ps claims Elastic Modules go far beyond traditional skins and themes to give publishers a lot of control over how discussion groups look and work on their sites. They can add wikis, calendars and status updates to the same page that hosts discussion threads, giving participants a way to collectively memorize important information and dates.

Yet the underlying groups technology remains the same. Microsoft-turned-Google developer evangelist Don Dodge has a site that demonstrates how he can present a wiki and calendar automatically in a layout that looks like it was designed this week, not last decade.

The core idea behind Grou.ps and Grouply is that nowadays, a discussion group is just one part of a larger set of communications channels around a specific topic, rather than being the sole forum. Yet discussion groups such as Yahoo’s Coaching Hoops, where basketball coaches around the world trade tales of how to train players, often go much deeper and talk much longer on any one issue than Twitter, Facebook, or comments would ever get.

For people who feel all tweets are starting to seem the same, or who are wondering how to continue the Great Online Class Reunion prompted by Facebook, groups could be just what they don’t yet realize they’re looking for.

Grou.ps is a 10-person San Francisco-based startup founded in mid-2008 with angel money followed by a round of $1.1 million from Golden Horn Ventures, which added another $1 million this year.

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It’s been almost a year since I last worked with DIY repair site FixYa but I still remember the traffic spike we’d see every Christmas. While families would be thrilled to unwrap smart phones, netbooks and flat screen monitors in the early morning, they'd find themselves lost in a sea of instructions by noon. There is nothing worse than having a new shiny toy and not being able to play with it. In addition to FixYa, below are a few resources you can use to help set up your new gadgets.

Sponsor

1. How Stuff Works: If you're looking for a basic understanding of your computer or device, you can always check out this site for some helpful videos. The site offers tips on everything from adding RAM to your laptop to deconstructing your wireless mouse.

2. Videojug: This site offers videos on everything from cooking to cars. The site's technology and cars section offers a variety of how-to information including how to get videos onto your iPod to how to set up your PlayStation.

3. Aardvark: When in doubt, ask the mob. While not specifically a gadget site, Aardvark allows you query your network for answers via email, instant message, iPhone app and web interface. Named ReadWriteWeb's Best Little Co. of 2009, the beauty of this site is that only those with a self-proclaimed expertise will be asked to solve your gadget problems.

4. Gdgt: Gdgt is a social wiki site where users trade tips and tricks on their favorite gadgets. Launched by former Engadget editors Ryan Block and Peter Rojas, the site offers specs and reviews on some of the newest products on the market. If you can't solve your gadget-related issue on one of the video sites, it's probably because the product is too new to have how-to videos. Check Gdgt for the listing and look at the discussion page for details.

5. iFixit Teardowns: And finally, if you're feeling ambitious and you don't want to wait on the phone for a manufacturer's 1-800 number, iFixit offers user-generated teardown guides. The guides give a photo documentation of gadget disassembly as well as commentary on parts and hardware. Check your product documentation before venturing into this territory, you wouldn't want to void your warranty before getting the device working.

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Filed under: Software, Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

App Cubby has been producing three wonderful iPhone apps for a while, two of which are associated with keeping tabs on the costs of operating your car. Both Trip Cubby [US$6.99, iTunes Link] and Gas Cubby [US$6.99, iTunes Link] have been lauded by users and bloggers alike for their functionality and usability.

Now there’s one more reason to use Gas Cubby. App Cubby and Honeywell’s consumer auto brands (FRAM, Prestone, and Autolite) have joined together to release Gas Cubby by FRAM [iTunes link], a free sponsored edition of Gas Cubby. According to developer David Barnard of App Cubby, this could be the “first sponsorship deal of it’s kind where an independent iPhone developer has partnered with a single company to sponsor a free app.”

Gas Cubby by FRAM will include ads for the Honeywell auto products, and Barnard explained to TUAW why Honeywell decided to partner with App Cubby rather than hire another developer to create their own app.

Barnard’s comments:

First, Gas Cubby is the leading fuel economy and/or vehicle maintenance app in the App Store. It’s a proven entity with over a year of solid reviews from users and critics alike. It would have cost Honeywell tens of thousands of dollars to try and replicate the success of Gas Cubby, but with the App Store’s hyper-competitive market, there’s just no telling whether they would have seen anywhere near the same level of success.

Second, Honeywell isn’t just buying ad space in some random app. I’m working very closely with them to hone our strategy. I personally oversaw the creation of the ads and landing pages to make sure they fit in with the app and were appropriate for the iPhone. Many large companies push iPhone related tasks to their web team who may or may not have their finger on the pulse of the iPhone and the App Store marketplace. I’m also working with them on long term plans to bring more value to Gas Cubby users and find more innovative and user friendly ways to market within the app.

Third, iPhone owners are a diverse, but very desirable demographic for advertising and Gas Cubby delivers a captive audience of users who, by taking the time to download Gas Cubby, have demonstrated a concern for fuel economy and vehicle maintenance. It’s the perfect place to advertise consumer auto parts to mobile users.

This deal appears to be a win-win-win situation. iPhone users will be able to download a high-quality iPhone app for free (albeit with advertising inserted), Honeywell gets a new, targeted audience for their car product advertising, and App Cubby gets a new group of enthusiastic customers.

For those who wish to avoid seeing the ads, the non-sponsored version of Gas Cubby will still be available in the App Store. David Barnard posted his feelings about “selling out” in the App Cubby blog, and the post is fascinating reading.

While this may be the first sponsorship deal of its kind, it certainly won’t be the last. What are your thoughts about sponsored iPhone apps? Let us know in the comments section below.

TUAWGas Cubby now available in a free, sponsored version originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Apple tablet rumors mounting and anticipation causing its market share to rise, it looks like there is still more innovation to be uncovered. Apple filed a patent application called “Keystroke Tactility Arrangement on a Smooth Touch Surface” which entails a dynamic surface that changes depending on how a user interacts with it. In order to keep a smooth surface while pointing and swiping, like on the iPhone, and getting some ridges or bumps on the surface for typing, the surface of the screen would have to physically change depending on use. So, when you’re just pointing on the screen, there are no bumps — type on the screen and bumps appear.

Another patent application called “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller” will allow greater flexibility with multi-touch systems. The patent says:

While virtually all commercially available touch screen based systems available today provide single point detection only and have limited resolution and speed, other products available today are able to detect multiple touch points. Unfortunately, these products only work on opaque surfaces because of the circuitry that must be placed behind the electrode structure.

Apparently, removing the limitations of an opaque surface would allow for better speed and accuracy, as well as the ability to detect more contact points on the screen. So, with better multi-touch technology and possibly a surface that reacts to how you use it, future Apple products, like a tablet, could see a huge leap forward with regards to how we interact with touch screen devices today.

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Filed under: Convertible, Sedan, Wagon, China, Plants/Manufacturing, Technology, Hatchback, Saab, Earnings/Financials

So, what’s a 2009 Saab 9-5 worth to you? A more appropriate question may be, What’s the 2009 Saab 9-5 worth to you? What about the previous-generation of the Saab 9-3? Apparently, those two vehicle platforms (plus one more unknown platform) along with “two engine technologies and two transmission systems” were worth about $200 million to Chinese automaker BAIC.

It would seem that BAIC got quite a lot for its relatively small sum of money, as both the older 9-3 and 9-5 are still perfectly serviceable automobiles that should allow the Chinese automaker to vastly increase the quality of its own offerings in short order. BAIC Chairman Xu Heyi reportedly said that “the purchase of Saab’s intellectual property can help cut short the development time for Beijing Auto’s own-brand passenger vehicles by 4 to 5 years.”

Xu went on to describe an ambitious plan to sell 100,000 BAIC-branded cars (no doubt relying heavily on Saab technology) in 2011. To turn that goal into reality, BAIC says it will have a production facility ready by 2011 with enough capacity to build 150,000 vehicles per year.

[Source: Reuters]

REPORT: BAIC paid just $200 million for Saab technology originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Modern whale babies come out tail first to prevent drowning. A new fossil suggests ancestral whales came out the other way.

In the harsh dry air, the hermit crab-like animals needed shields to keep their gills warm.