Category: News

Filed under: Car Buying, Minivan/Van, Toyota, Luxury

Toyota has just released the full spec sheet for their 2011 Sienna minivan. This third-generation people hauler should be in dealerships by February with your choice of five different trim levels, the carryover 266-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 or a newly available 187 horsepower, 2.7-liter four-cylinder, and front- or all-wheel drive. They ride on an updated version of the current platform but feature extensive reinforcements to increase rigidity and drastically revised suspensions. They also use a new hill-logic-equipped six-speed automatic transmission. While the Sienna hasn’t grown externally, there is more space inside and the Sienna has gained about 100 pounds.

The lightest four-cylinder models weigh in at 4,275 lbs., while the V6 adds just 30 pounds to that total. With mileage ratings that are only 1-2 MPG better than the bent six and such a small weight penalty, we question how many people will opt for the four-banger. It will surely come down to pricing (which has not been announced yet). Sienna AWD buyers will pay a 200-pound penalty, but they are the only ones to get third-gen Bridgestone runflats. While no towing figures were released for the 2.7-liter, the 2011 Sienna is rated at 3,500 pounds with the V6.

Toyota has announced that they will be simplifying their vehicle combinations with the Sienna, so there are fewer individual options and more packages. Major options packages include Preferred Packages for LE and SE that add XLE-like features, and Entertainment (16-inch Dual-View rear video screen) and Premium Packages for XLE and Limited that consist of the Entertainment package plus a touch-screen navigation system and a JBL sound system. Navi can be ordered separately on XLE and Limited as well. The slick Lounge Seating equipped Limited can also be ordered with a Convenience Package (HIDs with auto-off and automatic high beams as well as rain sensing wipers) and the Advanced Technology Package, which adds such Lexus-like features as Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), Pre-Collision System (PCS), Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management System (VDIM), and Hill Assist Control (HAC). If you can’t wait, you can read all of the stats and features in the lengthy press release after the jump, or you can just wait until around 12pm Eastern time when we publish our first drive. Stay tuned.

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Toyota releases full product information guide for 2011 Sienna

Toyota releases full product information guide for 2011 Sienna originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While I’m writing and you guys are reading, the Japanese are tucked comfortably in their gaming dens right now, playing Final Fantasy XIII. You’re not gonna see FF fans out in streets in Japan tonight…or this weekend.

Here’s a shock:

Bloomberg:

Iranian forces yesterday entered Iraqi territory at dawn, and occupied well number 4 in the East Maysan field in al-Fakah region, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Baghdad, Border Guard General Zaser Nazmi said. The Iranian forces positioned tanks around the well.

The border guard’s comments couldn’t be immediately verified independently.

“They positioned tanks around it and dug trenches,” Nazmi said by phone from Basra. “They are still there, they raised the flag.”

Other outlets are reporting the story as well.

AFP cites a US military spokesman who says the incident was non-violent and that there was hope for a diplomatic solution.

Update: Oil has spiked to $74.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Iraqi Oil Auction Was Like A High-Stakes American Idol
• Obama Won’t Stop Iran From Getting Nukes, Harvard Simulation Shows
• Iran Seizes British Yacht, Oil Soars

Pistachio brittle, cocktail parties on a budget, and gift guides in this past week’s most popular posts. Read on for the top ten.

15. A Cocktail Party for 20 for Just $140
14. Memories of Christmas Breakfast Strata (and a Recipe)
13. What Do You Only Eat At Restaurants (or Only at Home)?
12. Five Tips for Flawless, Fabulous Cheese Plate Construction
11. Roundup: The Kitchn’s Holiday 2009 Gift Guides

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If you thought secrecy over ACTA was bad enough, apparently Canada and the EU are involved in equally secret negotiations on a separate treaty that has additional copyright implications that are just as bad, if not worse than what ACTA would require. As with ACTA, the details have just leaked, and they’re pretty ridiculous. From Michael Geist’s link above:

• Copyright term extension.  The current term of copyright law in Canada is life of the author plus 50 years.  This is consistent with the term requirements under the Berne Convention.  The EU is demanding that Canada add an additional 20 years by making the term life plus 70 years.
• WIPO ratification. The EU is demanding that Canada respect the rights and obligations under the WIPO Internet treaties.  The EU only formally ratified those treaties this week.
• Anti-circumvention provisions. The EU is demanding that Canada implement anti-circumvention provisions that include a ban on the distribution of circumvention devices.  There is no such requirement in the WIPO Internet treaties.
• ISP Liability provisions.  The EU is demanding statutory provisions on ISP liability where they act as mere conduits, cache content, or host content.  ISPs would qualify for a statutory safe harbour in appropriate circumstances.  There is no three-strikes and you’re out language (which presumably originates with the U.S.).
• Enforcement provisions.  The EU is demanding that Canada establish a host of new enforcement provisions including measures to preserve evidence, ordering alleged infringers to disclose information on a wide range of issue, mandate disclosure of banking information in commercial infringement cases, allow for injunctive relief, and destruction of goods.  There is also a full section on new border measures requirements.
• Resale rights.  The EU is demanding that Canada implement a new resale right that would provide artists with a royalty based on any resales of their works (subsequent to the first sale).
• Making available or distribution rights.  The EU is demanding that Canada implement a distribution or making available right to copyright owners.

Some of these are repeats from ACTA, but the others are pretty bad as well. Copyright term extension is just pointless, and it’s amazing that anyone still thinks it makes sense. The purpose of copyright is to create incentives to create. You can’t retroactively do that. It’s a farce. Copyright term extension is effectively a welfare program for content creators. If that’s what people want, then fine, but it should be discussed in those terms. It has nothing to do with copyright.

Resale rights are another huge problem. We were just discussing how Australia just added these. They’re officially to “help” up-and-coming artists, but they do the opposite. They basically give fewer reasons for buyers to purchase art from up-and-coming artists (knowing that selling them for profit will be that much more difficult) and really only help the well-established artists who can easily make more money by creating new art and selling it at much higher prices. It, again, is a welfare system designed mainly to give more money to successful artists at the expense of up-and-coming artists.

But the bigger issue here, as pointed out by Geist, is that between both of these treaty negotiations, you’re left wondering how come no one will let Canada create their own copyright laws? These treaties aren’t about “harmonization” (the buzz word you hear), but about having global copyright law in a position where a single change in one country forces pretty much every other country to ratchet the levels up (and, yes, they do always go up).

Allowing countries to set their own copyright laws and policies is important. Because we’ve never had an evidence based copyright, and because there’s growing evidence that draconian copyright laws can harm creative output, it would seem like a better solution would be to let different countries experiment with different copyright laws (or none at all…) to see what happens and what works best. Forcing all countries to align under identical copyright laws, entirely at the behest of a single industry, with provisions to regularly ratchet things up with no real review of the evidence seems immensely problematic.

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Gold's sudden drop still hasn't scared off commodity speculators. They remain at record levels and the market is massively net-long, according Citi's Alan Heap in his latest December 18th 'Commodity Heap'.

Citi's Alan Heap: Speculators Stay Long — Despite the recent USD strength, speculators have not liquidated positions in metals. Total LME open interest positions were largely stable since early December (Figures 8-11). COMEX non-commercial positions in gold and copper continue to increase (Figures 6-7).

The yellow line below represents the net long position, which remains at record levels.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• CIBC: There Is No Gold Bubble, Diversification And A Mining Shortage Will Push It To $1400
• Goldman: Oil Going To $90, Gold To $1350
• How To Hate The Dollar And Short The Gold Hype At The Same Time

How do you search the Internet? Most use Google, but there are alternatives, especially now that Microsoft has launched Bing. Both search engines have their ups and downs, but that’s fine. Both exist, so if you don’t like one you can use the other. Unless you’re a Verizon BlackBerry user, though. Or, should I say, a certain Verizon BlackBerry user. It’s come to light that some users no longer see Google search options in their Go To screen. Instead, their searches are limited to Bing. This comes as an odd development, especially because it doesn’t apply to everyone. Both James Kendrick (of jkOnTheRun) and I still have normal search options. It appears that others, though, aren’t as lucky any more.

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Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM, Earnings/Financials

There are roughly 4,000 GM employees working at the company’s Renaissance Center headquarters in Detroit. During the restructuring, GM has been working out how many employees to let go and where to put the remainder, and that, for the state of Michigan, meant another few thousand workers unemployed.

To lessen the damage, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) has been in talks with GM to limit the number of retrenched employees. The General had committed to maintaining a workforce of 2,500 at the RenCen in exchange for a $50 million tax break over twenty years, but the number was recently reduced to 2,000. GM simply needs to do all it can to get itself back in contention.

The company will still receive the tax break and talks are continuing, yet while there aren’t many details it’s an intriguing deal to strike. This could be cynical of us, but GM has white-collar workers in numerous locations in Michigan, and we wonder if the company wouldn’t simply shuffle people around to keep the required number at the RenCen but get rid of all the employees it feels it needs to. And when the company gets its new CEO, well, as we’ve seen before, he or she might plot a very different course than the one being charted now.

[Source: Detroit News | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

REPORT: Michigan gives GM tax break but automaker to still halve staff at RenCen originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The chinese self immolation meme continues as Chinese property continues to rise.

This time a man is even goaded on by authorities to kill himself, after he had been under intense pressure to accept insufficient compensation for his eviction.

This is the second such event in just a month:

Telegraph: In the second incident last weekend, a Beijing man named in local newspapers as Xi Xinzhu set himself on fire after he refused to leave his home in a north-western suburb which had been earmarked for demolition under a village “improvement scheme”.

According to a report in the Beijing Times, Mr Xi had already suffered a fractured leg when he was beaten by “unidentified men” – violent intimidation is commonly reported in such cases – and was lying on a sofa when the officials entered.

After pouring petrol over himself, Mr Xi took out a lighter and threatened to ignite himself. “Neglecting his warning, the relocation people even said ‘go ahead, light up.’,” his wife told the newspaper.

Read more here.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Anti-Goldman Protest Is Kind Of Lame
• Chinese Lady Self-Immolates To Protest Destruction Of Her Home
• Students Seize SF State Business School To Protest Tuition Hike

Bit.ly’s biggest asset at the moment is the amount of data it’s been collecting, especially for the past months since the service took off. It’s been using it to provide publishers with analytics for a while now and has recently introduced a premium service with even more stats Bit.ly Pro. Now, it’s putting all that data to good use again by launching an experimental product, Bitly.tv, which uses it to determine the most popular videos of the moment.

“Bit.ly TV is like the internet itself. There are parts of it that are terribly serious and important — like the footage of students battling the basiji on the streets of Tehran — alongside other bits, like the upside-down French bulldog puppy and the Ukelele kid, meant to surprise and delight,” Bit.ly writes.

Bit.ly has managed to become the biggest URL shortening service out there, in no small part because it was selected as the default service by Twitter. It pretty much dominates the market at this point, a great thing in itself, but there isn’t any money to be made from shortening links for free, at least not directly. So, it has to get creative in order to generate revenue and utilize its biggest asset, the sheer amount of link data that passes through each day.

It’s not going to make any money with the video rankings, but the move hints at the wider possibili… (read more)

Will they or wont they?


With only a few hours left to write and agree on a deal, that question is still largely unanswered. Or is it?


The better question should be, will the deal be substantial, or as it is suggested be a “political deal” promising to meet and to further discuss the issue again in the future.


There are many obstacles to still overcome, one of them being China’s reluctance on third party inspection, and United States position of insisting there has to be third party inspection.


The Danish Presidency has given up on its ambition to create consensus on a text that would form the basis of a global political deal to combat global warming. 119 heads of state and government met on Thursday and Friday to negotiate, the Presidency had hoped to present the world leaders with a text containing as few as possible open questions on issues such as emission cuts, financing of climate aid to developing countries and other issues. However developing countries represented by the Group of 77 blocked the initiative.


The strategy now is to try to make progress in some isolated areas, preparing the ground for the next UN climate negotiations which will take place in Mexico next year.


The Guardian is reporting negotiators are now saying openly that “at best” the conference will write “a weak political agreement that would leave no clear way forward to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions. That would mean the negotiations staying in limbo well into next year, increasing the damage caused by global warming”.


Adding to the overall negative tone in the conference was a confidential UN draft marked “do not distribute” and “initial draft” obtained by The Guardian reveals emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen summit will actually lead to global temperatures rising by an average of three degrees.



The report shows a gap of up to 4.2 gigatonnes of carbon emissions between the present pledges and the required level of 44 gigatonnes required to stay below a two degree temperature increase.


“The UN is admitting in private that the pledges made by world leaders would lead to a three degree rise in temperatures. The science shows it could lead to the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, crippling water shortages across South America and Australia and the near-extinction of tropical coral reefs, and that’ just the start of it” says Greenpeace campaigner Joss Garman.


So, will they or won’t they? With 120 leaders assembled in Copenhagen, there is one thing they all can agree on, none of them like to publically humiliated. That might just be enough motivation to draft something.

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related.posts:

1. We Have A Deal: The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Result
2. Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: Day 8 Recap
3. Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: Day 9 Recap

Enhanced PPC4 pressure controller/calibrator from DHI adds lower pressure control range and new features, now up to 2,000 psi

EVERETT, Wash. – The DH Instruments Division of Fluke Corporation has announced a significant enhancement to its PPC4 precision pressure controller/calibrator product line.

PPC4 is a high performance pressure calibrator for testing pneumatic pressure instruments. It is designed to provide versatility and ease of use in calibration labs and manufacturing environments.

The maximum pressure range of the PPC4 has increased to cover the absolute pressure range of 1 kPa (0.15 psi) to 14 MPa (2,000 psi) and gauge pressure equivalent, including very low differential pressures. The patented dynamic control is further improved, extending the minimum controlled pressure down to 1 kPa. As always, PPC4 offers industry-leading control precision to ensure the lowest total uncertainty on dynamically controlled pressures, and to maximize the range covered by a single controller.

PPC4 enables users to select the user interface that best fits their application and budget. Bench top users can select the advanced graphic color display with point-and-click navigation to streamline pressure calibration and testing tasks. The advanced graphical user interface now supports 11 different languages; Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

If PPC4 spends most of its time interfaced with a computer, choose the basic front panel to minimize cost. Both interfaces include a front panel USB connection and free cockpit software for full PC-based ‘plug and play’ functionality. DHI’s COMPASS for Pressure calibration assistance software provides an advanced off-the-shelf tool to quickly automate your calibration and testing processes and handle a wide array of special requirements.

PPC4 uses DHI’s exclusive, individually characterized, quartz reference pressure transducer (Q-RPT) modules for increased precision and reduced measurement uncertainty. The AutoRange™ feature supports infinite ranging, automatically optimizing all aspects of operation for the exact range of the device being calibrated. It is rugged enough for mobile applications and standard shipment without special packaging.

For more information on the enhanced PPC4 and other pressure and flow calibration products from DHI, visit www.dhinstruments.com. To contact the DH Instruments Division of Fluke Corporation, call (602) 431-9100, or email [email protected].

About Fluke
Fluke Corporation is the leader in precision calibration instrumentation and software for electrical, temperature, pressure, flow, and RF measurements. Calibration products from Fluke and its Hart Scientific and DH Instruments Divisions are found in calibration facilities around the world, including National Metrology Institutes, that demand the highest levels of performance and reliability, backed by state of the art metrology and uncompromising support. They are relied on by quality engineers, calibration technicians, and metrologists to instill confidence in the measurements that are critical to their organizations for quality, safety, reliability, and cost. Fluke and DHI are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Fluke Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The flexibility of the TK 446 model makes it particularly suitable both for small manufacturing enterprises that often need to perform several tooling-ups due to frequent production changes and to larger multinational corporations that have to machine large batches.
Thanks to its excellent price/quality ratio, the TK 446 model represents a good starting point for those who wish to abandon their old machines with manual commands and to approach to industrial automation systems and to numeric-control machining centers.
The TK 446 model stands out for the high useful working lengths (also using aggregate heads) that set the TK 446 apart from other machining centers in the equivalent price range; this machining center is designed for drilling and conventional milling processes and also for copy-milling operations on aluminum extruded profiles and other materials, including steel profiles up to 5 mm thick, steel reinforced PVC, and various other plastics or wood.
Standard versions are available in 2 machining lengths: 3500 and 6500 mm.
Axis X: 3500 – 6500 mm
Axis Y: 370 mm / 250 mm (with aggregate heads)
Axis Z: 250 mm / 250 mm (with aggregate heads)

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Buick, GM, GMC

For the third time in two months, General Motors has a new Buick/GMC general manager, this time hiring longtime employee Brian Sweeney to the high-profile post. Sweeney gets the job one week after Michael RIchards quit after just nine days on the job.

Sweeney gets the general manager post after spending a year and a half as general sales manager of Buick GMC. GM Sales Service and Marketing VP Susan Docherty said in a press release that Sweeney “consolidated 13 different agencies to one dedicated partner to drive a consistent brand message, led the dealer network through a difficult transition and has earned a reputation for tirelessly driving results that benefit consumers.” That sounds like a lot of work to us. Here’s to hoping this Sweeney guy lasts a lot longer than the last guy.

Sweeney’s old job goes to 25 year GM vet Jennifer Costabile. The 25 year GM employee is coming off assignment as regional sales and marketing manager for Cadillac in GM’s Southeast Region. Hit the jump to read the GM press release.

[Source: GM]

Continue reading Sweeney takes over Buick/GMC general manager duties

Sweeney takes over Buick/GMC general manager duties originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s beena a lot of dicussion lately about so-called peak gold.

But as gold’s fans will tell you gold isn’t a commodity, it’s a form of money. Gold isn’t actually intended to be used in anything.

But what about metals that are meant to be used in industrial purposes.

In an excellent presentation, André Diederen presents an argument that all of the world’s important industrial metals are dwindling, and that despite increasing explortation budgets, our sources of them are becoming rare and more concentrated.

We present, via The Oil Drum, Diederen’s presentation Global Resource Depletion: Metal minerals scarcity and the Elements of Hope.

Now, see the charts — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Overwhelming Evidence For Peak Gold
• The Coming Collapse Of The Global Gold Mining Industry

Found under: iPhone, Windows Mobile, Survey,,

For the first time ever the iPhone has surpassed Windows Mobile in the USA according to comScore. The company measures the total number of devices and operating systems currently in use through monthly surveys.Its latest data shows that in the three month period ending in October the iPhone usage has surpassed the Windows Mobile OS for the first time. Microsoft should really consider rolling out Windows Mobile 7 as fast as possible in order to counter the current mobile trends in the U

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“With December here, I thought I’d share with you the advent calendar I fashioned from a ready-made Wilma curtain.

It simply involved cutting the curtain to the required size and then sewing strips of white fabric onto it in order to create pockets into which the little treats could be slipped.”

Click for more detailed instructions on Sonja’s advent treats calendar.