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Peugeot ha decidido el regreso a los GTI y lo ha hecho con una nueva versión del 308, denominada 308 GTI y que se comercializará solamente en su variante de 5 puertas. Como antaño, el 308 GTI cuenta con su propio apartado de detalles exclusivos, además de llevar un motor completamente nuevo del grupo PSA, el mismo que porta el RCZ, pero con algún cambio menor.

A pesar de que este 308 no desentona demasiado de lo que sería un 308 no-GTI, está envuelto de modificaciones estéticas y del novedoso (para el 308) uso del carbono para la parte central del paragolpes delantero, aunque hay que decir también que este detalle solamente vendrá con los modelos que se vendan en Francia. En el interior se han incluido pedales, reposapié y palanca de cambio hechas de aluminio. Y en el exterior se ha colocado un alerón trasero en la parte alta, mientras que lleva los logos de rigor de GTI en el portón trasero y por los lados de la carrocería, rematando con un escape doble, cromado.

Llegamos al motor y nos encontramos con la planta motriz del RCZ, el 1.6, de inyección directa y distribución variable en admisión. Y precisamente ésta es la diferencia principal con el motor del RCZ, ya que en el GTI sólo actúa sobre las válvulas de admisión, pero no sobre las de escape, como ocurre en el RCZ. También compartirá con el RCZ el turbo Twin-Scroll, aunque con una presión diferente.

Las prestaciones y consumos que anuncia Peugeot son las siguientes: acelera de 0 a 100 km/h en 7,7 segundos y tiene un consumo medio homologado de 6,9 l/100 km. Esperamos tener acceso pronto a una unidad del 308 GTI para contarles nuestras impresiones sobre el coche y si es merecedor del título de GTI.

Peugeot 308 GTI

Vía | Motorward

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

Authorities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have finally determined the origin of the four suspicious packages that were mailed to various Toyota facilities last week. Turns out the boxes were filled with wires, relays and film canisters from a Nigerian engineer.

All four of the packages were sent without a return address, and bomb sniffing dogs reacted positively to the boxes when they were discovered. According to investigators, that’s probably due to the fact that film uses some of the same chemicals as common explosives. From what everyone can tell, the sender was simply trying to get his ideas for a new turn signal to Toyota R&D. He certainly got their attention.

According to the Charleston Gazette, the FBI has no intention of tracking the engineer down or charging him with anything. The agency said that the whole thing was a simple misunderstanding.

[Source: The Charleston Gazette | Image: Rusty Jarrett/Getty for NASCAR]

Followup: Toyota bomb scares due to… Nigerian turn signal inventor? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 May 2010 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[JURIST] The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus [official website] on Wednesday released the 2010 International Piracy Watch List [text, PDF] naming China, Russia, Canada, Spain, and Mexico as the worst countries for protecting copyrighted information. The bipartisan caucus also released a list of the top websites hosted overseas [text, PDF] providing unauthorized access to copyrighted material. The report stressed the risk posed to the US economy [press release, PDF] when intellectual property is not protected. Committee co-chair, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) [official website], stated:

International piracy of American intellectual property weakens a segment of our economy that long has supported innovation and great American jobs. Congress must work on a bipartisan basis to protect the creative industries and the jobs they support. The United States has been on the losing end of the largest theft of intellectual property in history. This must be stopped, and soon.

The report also lists specific steps each country needs to take to ensure protection of intellectual property including increasing liability under the laws of the individual countries and implementing effective border measures to protect against illegal international distribution of copyrighted materials.

Earlier this month, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) [official website] placed Russia, China, and Canada [JURIST report] on its Priority Watch List [text, PDF] of 12 countries that are not adequately protecting intellectual property rights [press release]. In March, the Canadian government pledged to strengthen copyright laws [JURIST report]. Last year, the USTR placed Canada on its priority watch list [JURIST report] for the first time. In January 2009, a dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) [official website] found for the US [JURIST report] that large parts of China’s intellectual property scheme are inconsistent with its obligations under several international treaties, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) [text].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ8m0kJJ5DM

At day one of Google I/O 2010 an AR Drone was showcased flying and being controlled by a Nexus One. We got the hint that this type of remote control technology was capable via smartphones even with the recent news of Android controlled OnStar system headed for GM’s new Chevy Volt.

[Via Android Police]

NEXT> If you feel like Christmas keeps creeping earlier every year, consider the companies who are trying to get their products ready for the holiday season. Yesterday, May 19, many companies showed off their wares at the Holiday Gift Guide Show in Times Square. There are plenty of new gizmos to buy when the calendar turn to December, don’t worry. But we wanted to bring you a few of the delightfully odd or unexpected entries now. Why wait? Some are old, some are new, some are resurrected, and one is, well, blue. Thanks to the Forever White headset by Beaming White, my dream has finally come true: I can listen to the White Stripes while I whiten my teeth, all without whitening strips. Just put the hydrogen peroxide gel on your teeth, then strap on the headset and subject the gel to blue LED. All the while you can be pumping music through the headset. NEXT>

Watching the Massachusetts health care reform unfold is like watching a tragic game of whack-a-mole.  As I noted before, the expected cost-savings have largely not materialized, pushing the thing way over budget, and despite the fact that it already had the highest rates in the country, the cost of insurance is rising at a brisk rate of roughly 10% a year.  The best you can say about this cost problem is the wan defense that I’ve now heard several times:  that by provoking a crisis, the system may now finally do real delivery service reform that will control costs.

Maybe.  That’s not actually what they’ve done so far; what they’ve done is appoint a commission, and attempt to control insurance prices.  Now that the providers are, predictably, losing money, the legislators are taking the mallet to the providers.  Hospitals that make too much money are going to have to make a “one time contribution” of $100 million to a fund to help small businesses buy insurance.

Even if you’re in favor of the healthy reform, this is a lousy, desperate way to go about it.  This kinds of mandatory “contributions” are essentially a punishment for past, legal behavior.  Practically, they tend to be vulnerable to regulatory takings challenges.  Economically, they dramatically ratchet up the risks of doing business in Massachusetts, which tends to do less than delightful things to your market as companies scale back their operations, transfer as much business as possible out of state, or decide to focus their efforts on things the government doesn’t care about so much, like plastic surgery.  And financially, the costs almost always come back at your consumers, as companies ratchet up their rates to make up the losses.

The quality of legislation coming out of Massachusetts on this stuff right now is really frighteningly bad.  There’s none of the technocratic fine tuning that we were assured was the greatest reward of this sort of program, just crude, blanket rules that do much reflect the realities of the market.  Rather, they’re a cathartic outlet for legislators frustration that any reality exists outside of the power of their pens.

Maybe the federal program will be different.  But I’m really not seeing how.  Ironically, the cash infusion from the Feds may save the Massachusetts program from bankruptcy.  But I don’t know who’s going to take care of the rest of us.

Massachusetts – Health care – Insurance – Massachusetts health care reform – United States

Witheringly described as a “A family-friendly Android phone with an awesome Sidekick-y keyboard, or, much like its name, a godawful conglomeration of disjointed parts,” the HTC myTouch 3G Slide was pegged early as a midrange, or even budget, phone (“Family friendly” being the official euphemism for such things). Nonetheless, it’ll be priced up with the big boys, at $180 on contract with T-Mobile, starting June 2nd. [AndroidGuys] More »

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar discusses reorganizing government agency:

Plans are underway to replace imported water with recycled wastewater and desalinated water in Singapore.

Singapore is building water supply infrastructure to become self-sufficient and end a water import agreement with Malaysia when it expires in 2011, the country’s water minister said last month according to the Straits Times.

Singapore, a small island off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, currently imports nearly 40 percent of its 300-million-gallon daily demand from its neighbor. In addition to the agreement expiring next year, the two countries have another supply contract that expires in 2061. According these agreements, Singapore pays three Malaysian sen (US$.01) per 1,000 gallons of raw water, as well as rent for the land. Singapore also pays to maintain the waterworks in Johor State, where the water is withdrawn, and provides Johor with subsidized, treated water.

However, with the construction of new domestic supply systems, Singapore–home to nearly five million people–plans to meet its own demands.

In 2003 the country opened its first wastewater recycling plant–a supply source that has been rebranded as NEWater–and now four plants provide 15 percent of the island’s water demand. A fifth plant opening this month will increase NEWater’s supply share to 30 percent, adding a treatment capacity of 50 million gallons per day. The reclaimed water will be blended with water in reservoirs before entering the public system.

The country’s second strategy for weaning off water imports is to invest in desalination plants. The first such plant opened in 2005 and supplies 10 percent of Singapore’s demand. A larger, second plant is under construction and expected to be completed in 20 months.

“With these new sources, we have diversified our water supply and built up a robust system,” said Environment and Water Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said to the Straits Times.

New reservoirs are also being built to collect rainwater. In order to maximize the catchment area of the island, a series of pipes and canals divert precipitation to 17 reservoirs.

Malaysia has long used Singapore’s water dependency as a political tool, and Singapore’s move to self-sufficiency, though potentially more expensive than imports, is an attempt to counterbalance the situation.

Source: Straits Times, Singapore Public Utility Board

Erin Kutz wrote:

Open Angel Forum, a series of events for connecting entrepreneurs with investors, announced it will be hitting Boston for the first time, with an event on June 18. The program started as a way to counter startup pitching events where entrepreneurs are required to pay to get in front of angel investors. Open Angel, which was founded by Jason Calacanis, CEO of California-based search engine site Mahalo, will select five startups and a group of angels for its Boston installment.

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Will NBC’s fall programming lineup really be "more colorful"? Maybe, if the Mr. & Mrs. Smith-inspired Undercovers from J.J. Abrams turns out to be a keeper, or Law & Order: Los Angeles rips some celebrity shenanigans from the headlines. (Hello, LiLo?) Meantime, the network’s marketing sure is Skittles-like. Here’s a shot of taxis in New York plastered with the every-color-in-a-Crayola-box campaign, from Pitch in Culver City, Calif. The cabs got their makeover this week to coincide with NBC’s new-season announcements to advertisers. The Hilton Hotel, where the dog and pony show took place, also got wrapped with the net’s multi-hued peacock mascot. Expect more rainbow ads as the fall season approaches. And even if you don’t care about Love Bites (it has that funny fashionista chick from Ugly Betty!) enjoy the landscape beautification.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Howard Lovy wrote:

Dow Venture Capital, the VC arm of Dow Chemical, headquartered in Midland, MI, has contributed $3 million to a $3.5 million Series B Round for Clean Filtration Technologies, based in Redwood City, CA, Dow announced Wednesday. Dow announced its “first closing” of $1.5 million for the company in February, with another $1.5 million anticipated. Wednesday’s announcement closes the round. Clean Filtration Technologies is developing a device that reduces particulate matter in difficult-to-filter water, such as waste water.

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In Britain its illegal for an English fish and chip shop to sell fish and chips on a Sunday. But the Chinese takeaway next door can sell English fish and chips as part of their European menu on a Sunday. This law was to be changed but i don’t think it has yet, at least not in northern Ireland. 🙂

General Motors’ announcement this week that it plans to link up with Google to provide a set of location-based services to owners of the upcoming electric vehicle the Chevy Volt comes hot on the heels of Ford laying out plans to work with Microsoft to manage electric vehicle charging. Google and Microsoft have been competing on the desktop and web browser for years — is their rivalry spilling over into the new landscape of the connected and electric car?

It remains unclear how battles may unfold and alliances will take shape in the nascent market for electric vehicles, which many automakers are positioning as evidence of their capacity for innovation and technology leadership. GM’s initial move to use Google services like voice search, maps and navigation in an app designed to link the Chevy Volt with Android-based smartphones (check out our hands-on video demo here) marks only a very early step toward the kind of alliance that Ford has built with Microsoft. So don’t consider GM and Google BFFs just yet. Microsoft, on the other hand, was the developer of the Ford Sync system and the Hohm energy management tool that Ford plans to pair with upcoming electric vehicles. So these collaborations exist at very different stages of development, and we’ll have to hang on awhile to see a full-on face-off.

Here’s some key similarities and differences between the deals struck so far among the two Internet giants and two massive automakers as they join up at the intersection of vehicles, communication and the grid.

Images courtesy of General Motors and saebaryo’s photostream.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Why Microsoft’s Electric Vehicle Deal With Ford Matters

Report: IT Opportunities in Electric Vehicle Management

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Russia Today
Thursday, May 20, 2010

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Euro currency is at risk and that Europe faces its greatest challenge since the EU was formed. It comes as stock markets in Europe and Asia tumbled on the surprise news that Berlin was banning types of ’short selling’ where investors profit by betting that shares will drop in value.

Today my kind of phone (www.mykindofphone.com) is launching ‘my kind of competition’ – a 3-part competition with a new element being announced each week starting today. My kind of phone is all about showcasing the ways people are personalizing their phones to make them uniquely theirs, in the areas of photography, music and gaming.

The first part of my kind of competition is called ‘groove’ – a competition to find the ultimate mobile playlist. To enter, readers need to tell us through the my kind of phone site which 7 songs they would put on their ultimate mobile playlist. The winner will get 2 tickets for the Glastonbury 2010 festival with special interstage access, staying in a luxury yurt tent (with its own restaurant and facilities) on the edge of the festival.

The competition begins today (20th May) and runs until midnight on Wednesday 26th May 2010. Ten entries will then be shortlisted and via the ‘my kind of phone’ Facebook page, people can vote for their favourite playlists from Friday 28th May until 9am on Tuesday 1st June 2010. The entry with the most votes will be heading for a once in a lifetime Glasto experience.

For full entry details, go to www.mykindofphone.com or follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/mykindofphone.

This post was submitted by benrmatthews.

Point Man’s got a loaded plate in F.E.A.R. 3. Apart from having to deal with his bloodlusty mom, he’ll also have to work with his brother who might turn on him at any second. Sucks to be

Has comedian George Lopez joined Tiger, Jesse, and David as the newest cad in The Brigade of Hollywood Dirtbags?

When George’s kidneys failed in 2004, his wife Ana Serrano was first in line to offer up one of hers. Ironically, a pair of Tampa Bay Ladies of the Night claim Lopez repaid his wife’s gift of life with wild weekend of tawdry sex in April 2009, The National Enquirer has learned.

Say it ain’t so, G-Lo!

“I had sex with George Lopez for money, and so did a friend of mine,” a professional escort named “Tiffany” blabbed on the pages of The Enquirer’s May 31 issue.

The busty blonde hooker claims that she and another pro named Samantha arranged a $500 date for sex (You’re fucking a millionaire and you asked for $500?!) with the self-professed “Latin King of Comedy” — host of TBS’ Lopez Tonight – during the annual Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Charity Golf Tournament, held April 13-16, 2009.

The trio met up at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tampa after George saw Samantha’s ad on an adult escort website.

“He wanted an outcall. That means the girl comes to him — he doesn’t go to the girl’s place. The fact that he used the term ‘outcall’ tells me he’d done this before,” Tiffany explained.

“Samantha went with George, and I went with his associate. We didn’t have sex, but he paid me anyway. Samantha told me afterward that she had sex with George, and described their sexual encounter in great detail,” she continued. “She told me he was ‘very blessed down there’ and that his taste in sex was pretty basic with nothing kinky….He paid her in cash.”

Tiffany got to see just what the funnyman was working with when she hooked up with George “for about 30 minutes” the following night.

“It was safe sex. Samantha and I insist our clients wear condoms. George did, without complaining….While we were talking, he told me he ’saw other girls in other cities and liked to have regular girls when he travels….After we were finished, he gave me a hug and said he’d be coming back in a year or so and would like to see me again.”

Despite playing the role of a devoted family man and comforting pal Sandra Bullock through the breakup of her marriage –after husband Jesse James cheated on her with a string of women — Tiffany insists George has been texting her on and off all year and even tried to set up a threesome when he hit Tampa for the same golfing tournament last month.

“It’s very strange that George is consoling Sandra Bullock because her husband cheated on her when he’s doing the very same thing,” Tiffany told The Enquirer. “George told me that he was married, but I seriously doubt that his wife has any idea that he hooks up with prostitutes listed on online hooker websites while he’s on the road.”