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Update: the government has confirmed a naked short selling bond in certain securities. The euro has fallen below $1.23.

Original post: There are headlines coming out of Germany that the government may institute a short-selling ban.

Earlier, ZeroHedge cited a Reuters article saying that a short-selling ban would apply to stocks and bonds.

But according to ForexLive, the report indicates that it’s a naked short-selling ban.

There’s also chatter that Merkel may push for a transaction tax at the G20 meeting.

We have no idea what’s actually going to happen, but things have deteriorated in the last several minutes.

The Dow is off 57.

The euro may soon slide below $1.23.

Join the conversation about this story »

The New Jersey Democratic legislator and intelligence oversight maven has finally won on a fight he’s waged to record military interrogations. As The Wall Street Journal reports, a May 10 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn instructs interrogators gathering high-value intelligence off the battlefield — that is, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay in particular — to get their videocameras out when talking with detainees.

That’s been a concern of Holt’s for a while. He’s argued that not only will videotaping interrogations function as a measure to prevent detainee abuse, but it’ll create a useful lessons-learned library for training interrogators or honing their skills. Last October, he got a measure requiring the videotaping into the conference report for the defense appropriations bill.

“The Pentagon’s long awaited regulation of the provision I secured in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act continues the process of putting our detainee policies back on sound legal footing while improving our ability to get actionable intelligence,” Holt said in response to a request for comment from TWI (and subsequently emailed out in a press release). “As President Obama and local law enforcement officials across the country already know, we get better intelligence and protect both the interrogator and the person being interrogated by requiring recordings.”

BMW could launch a hybrid version of the 5-series as early as 2011, CEO Norbert Reithofer told shareholders at the luxury-car maker’s annual meeting in Munich on Tuesday.

A 3-series hybrid employing the same technology could also join at some point, according to the Reuters news agency. The hybrid underpinnings come from the 5-series ActiveHybrid concept shown at the Geneva motor show in March.

These hybrids would join the X6 SUV hybrid, which is considered a full hybrid, in the German luxury maker’s line. The 7-series hybrid, called the ActiveHybrid 7, is due this spring but is a mild hybrid, not capable of being propelled on electric power alone.

BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and nearly every other luxury-car company is racing to introduce hybrids to comply with stricter emissions standards around the world and in response to consumer demand.

The companies also are attempting to launch models that are green but still remain true to the sporting heritage of their brands.

For more

Source: Car news, reviews and auto show stories

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

Jeff Poor
Newsbusters
May 18, 2010

If you asked people what the two key events in the 20th century were, most would likely point to World Wars I and II because they transformed civilization. However, can something like the debate over climate change be as equally transformative? 

James Delingpole, author of “Welcome to Obamaland: I’ve Seen Your Future And It Doesn’t Work,” spoke at the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change on May 17, and insisted he wasn’t being hyperbolic when he likened the climate change debate to the two world wars. Delingpole, who coined the term “ClimateGate,” alleged the debate of the issue and the potential policies it may lead to would in fact shape the world as those two event had. [7:29]

“[I] think that evil people like me, people who are not afraid of taking the argument ad hominem occasionally and being a bit sort of naughty – I think we have a part to play in this war,” Delingpole said. “And I use that word ‘war’ quite deliberately because I think what we are fighting now is a war as important in its way as the wars of violence that our fathers and our grandfather fought in the first World War, the second World War, because ultimately what we’re fighting for is exactly the same thing. What we are fighting for is liberty.”

Delingpole had written for the U.K. Telegraph’s blog on Nov. 20, 2009, this was the final nail in the coffin of the manmade or “anthropogenic global warming” debate. However, he had expressed concern the momentum in the debate had waned and said the battle wasn’t just scientific, but ideological.

“The whole debate about AGW [anthropogenic global warming] is not just about the battle for scientific truth,” he continued. “It is essentially a battle between two diametrically opposed views of the world. If you look at the entire history of the global warming movement from the junk science that was Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ that killed millions of people by banning the drug that dealt with malaria and mosquitoes.”

He said the global warming alarmist crowd was anti-capitalism and generally more anti-humanity, hence the obsession with Malthusian theory and mankind’s role on the planet.

“You look at the entire history of the global warming movement and what you realize time and again – it is the work of not of scientists pursuing truth but of activists who have a very particular view of the world,” Delingpole said. “That view is essentially a view of the world which hates humanity, which sees mankind as a blot on the landscape. They are obsessed with the idea of overpopulation. They are also very much against capitalism in any form. They talk about the limits to growth.”

For evidence of this hypothesis, Delingpole offered the alarmists’ view of what solutions are appropriate, through big government and the doubt in man’s ability to innovate. [9:55]

“So they hate people, they hate the western economy,” Delingpole said. “And that believe resources are scarce. We’re going to run out very soon and we must do something about it and the only way to deal with it is not as we’ve dealt with them in the past by inventing new technologies but by big government stepping in and telling us what to do and controlling our lives.”

No, no…Cisco isn’t buying Motorola. Rather it’s agreed to buy Moto Development Group, a design consultancy based in San Francisco. It’s Cisco’s attempt to give its consumer products division a boost. Moto has developed products for Sirius, Intel, Logitech, LiveScribe and other startups. As a group, Moto has been pushing the envelope on some of the new technologies such as running Android on e-Readers and DIY home energy monitors.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cisco says that the new design team will report to Cisco Consumer Products Chief Jonathan Kaplan. CCP is responsible for Linksys, Valet and Flip Video product lines.

My take on this deal: It’s a small price and one worth paying if Cisco is really serious about consumer products. At least the San Jose, Calif.-based router maker knows that it’s a bit out of its depth in the consumer market and isn’t shy about looking help elsewhere. However, over the long term I have my doubts that Cisco will be a huge player in the consumer markets. But the company gets an “A” for effort from me.

All eyes are on San Francisco’s Moscone Center this week, where 4,000 developers will gather for Google’s I/O conference. The event was used last year to launch Google Wave.

It promises to put a lot of emphasis on the future of TV and online video this time around, as Google is expected to introduce its Google TV platform in cooperation with Intel and Sony as well as to open-source its VP8 codec.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has been quoted as saying that Google TV promises to be the “biggest single change in television since it went (color),” and the Free Software Foundation predicted earlier this year that open-sourcing VP8 could kill Adobe’s Flash. In other words: It’s history in the making — at least for Google fans.

Unfortunately, Google I/O has been sold out since early March. However, you’ll be able to follow the fun through the keynote live stream available at YouTube.com/GoogleDevelopers.

Here’s the exact schedule of the keynotes:

• Day 1 Keynote: Wednesday, May 19, 9:00-10:30 a.m. PT
• Day 2 Keynote: Thursday, May 20, 8:30-10:00 a.m. PT

Don’t want to miss out on the feeling of sitting in an overcrowded room while watching these? Then you might want to check with your local Google Technology Users Group, many of which are organizing screenings of the live stream at Google offices and other appropriate places around the world.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Ryan Holst.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: TV Apps: Evolution from Novelty to Mainstream (subscription required)

It seems that the romance between Lindsay Lohan and DJ Samantha Ronson was not only a pilot phase of the actress, but actually she is a lesbian.

According to perezhilton.com, Lohan, 23, is related to Indrani Pal Chaudhuri, a 36 years old photographer and reality TV star, who worked for a session last fall.

“We’ve been together for awhile. I never had a relationship with a woman, but Lindsay is fascinating, fabulous and extremely intelligent, sexy plus super,” said Indrani.

The photographer explained that Lindsay is very strong, creative and trying to lead their lives on the right track, although it has had a lot of pressure.

“Indrani is a good influence on Lindsay, is opposed to the girls party … when they talk about art together,” said a fellow photographer of Indrani.

No related posts.

Last month, Twitter bought Tweetie—our most favorite of all iPhone Twitter apps—with the intention of rebranding it as the free, official Twitter for iPhone app. It looks like that change is imminent—Tweetie 2 disappeared from the App Store this morning without a trace, and presumably Twitter for iPhone will show up sometime soon—possibly even today or tomorrow—to take its place. We’ll have a hand-on when it does. More »

Tangled up in extramarital affairs, politicians tend to be contrite, remorseful, apologetic — any number of things designed to make them appear humble in the face of the intense public scrutiny they inevitably face. (“If there was ever anything I could take back in my life, this would be it,” Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said last year after finding himself in a similar pickle.)

So it was odd to see the statement this morning from Rep. Mark Souder, the “family-values” Republican from Indiana found today to be not as committed to his family as he’d have us believe.

It’s not that he doesn’t start well:

It has been a privilege to be a part of the battle for freedom and the values we share.

But then he immediately moves on to imply that the strains of the job — and the sacrifices he’s made for his constituents — led him astray.

It has been all consuming for me to do this job well, especially in a district with costly, competitive elections every two years.

I do not have any sort of “normal” life — for family, for friends, for church, for community.

That’s followed by a brief shift back to humble-servant mode:

To serve has been a blessing and a responsibility given from God.

I wish I could have been a better example.

I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.

But then he’s back to blaming external factors for the position he’s put himself in:

In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain.

I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process.

Diane and my family were more than willing to stand here with me.

Finally, he accepts responsibility:

But the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility …

I am so ashamed to have hurt those I love.

But that’s followed by the claim that his resignation is a heroic gesture designed to salvage the policies he advocated in Congress.

By stepping aside, my mistake cannot be used as a political football in a partisan attempt to undermine the cause for which I have labored all my adult life.

If there’s a message in all of this contradiction, he doesn’t make it easy to glean.

With Hollywood getting the right to break your TV and DVR thanks to the FCC’s granting of a waiver to let them use selectable output control to stop DVRs from recording certain movies, the MPAA insisted that this was a huge win for consumers. Why? Because it meant that the Hollywood studios would rush to put movies on TV earlier than ever before. Except… apparently, that’s not actually the case. Despite the victory, no studios have stepped up to make use of the new ability to stop your DVR from recording, because they’re scared about how the movie theaters will react to greater competition. Of course, the theaters are notoriously unwilling to allow any threat of actual competition from home viewership to encroach on their turf, even if it could actually help theaters.

But, uh, the whole argument that supposedly convinced the FCC to give the Hollywood studios this waiver was that they would make use of it to give consumers more access. Quoting from the FCC’s decision:

This offering will allow the homebound, parents with young children, and others who simply want to stay in for the night to choose a
new entertainment option that they may value highly….

[On] balance, grant of MPAA’s waiver request will provide a benefit to those who have the appropriate
equipment and would like to view movies in their homes in an early release window that outweighs the
limited impact on consumers with legacy devices….

So, a large part of the basis of the FCC approval was that it would increase content availability to homes. But that’s not happening. Does that mean the FCC will admit that the entire basis for the approval was wrong?

Oh, and my favorite part is how the MPAA is playing this. Acting MPAA boss Bob Pisano put out the following statement when the FCC’s announcement was made on May 17th:

“This action is an important victory for consumers who will now have far greater access to see recent high definition movies in their homes. And it is a major step forward in the development of new business models by the motion picture industry to respond to growing consumer demand…” (emphasis added)

So, gee, what does Pisano have to say, just a few days later when it turns out that none of that is true?

When asked about the studios’ plans late last week, Bob Pisano, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said, “I can’t tell you that, because I don’t know.” To comply with antitrust law, he added, “we stay out of business-model decisions.”

Uh huh. So, let me get this straight. He argued — successfully — to the FCC, that granting this waiver to break people’s TVs and DVRs would certainly create new business models and allow much more content to be available earlier. But, when it comes to actually supporting that, he claims that the MPAA “stays out” of business model decisions? So, how could he possibly have promised such “new business models” to the FCC in the first place?

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Lin Yu Chun (Chinese: 林育羣; pinyin: Lín Yǜ Qǘn; born March 9, 1986 in Taipei) is a singer, who gained fame by appearing on a Taiwanese talent show, Super Star Avenue (超級星光大道), singing “I Will Always Love You” (originally by Dolly Parton) in the style of Whitney Houston’s cover version. He is well-known for his mezzo-soprano-like countertenor singing voice, although he has a grown-up young man’s voice. Sony Music Entertainment announced they had signed Lin Yu Chun to a record deal. Lin Yu-chun officially joined Sony Music signing at a press conference on the last week, which was held in Shanghai San Want Hotel. SME said in a statement Thursday that Lin Yu-chun’s debut, featuring Chinese and English songs, will be released in July. It quoted 24-year-old Lin as saying, “I still can’t believe this is real.” Sony didn’t say if the album would have his rendition of the Dolly Parton ballad later covered by Houston.

Lin gained notice just a month ago on Taiwan’s “Avenue to Stardom,” which I was going to show you, but I found a more cohesive clip of him from his appearance last month on the Ellen show. His performances are becoming an Internet sensation and have drawn comparisons to Susan Boyle, who of course is the 48-year-old Briton famed for performing “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britain’s Got Talent.” And don’t forget that Boyle also has something in common with Lin: she’s signed with Sony.

Hugh Hefner’s barely-legal, identical playmates Karissa and Kristina Shannon — AKA The Shannon Twins — have been tossed out of the Playboy Mansion, according to PopEater.com.

The men’s mag mogul initially asked Karissa and Kristina, 20, to move from the Playboy Mansion to the adjoining Playmate House after his relationship with Crystal Harris grew more serious, but they have now moved out of the estate completely due to the 84-year-old magazine founder’s unhappiness at them having boyfriends.

“After a couple of weeks, Hef was getting a little bit upset about the boyfriends, so he wanted us to move out. We need to update people about what’s going on. We were not allowed to have boys in the house. That was the absolute number one rule – no boys allowed. That was one of the main reasons we moved out,” Karissa tells PopEater.com. “Living there and being seen out with other guys, (Hugh) was tripping.”

She has since moved in with actor beau Sam Jones III.

Kristina, on the other hand, recently split from her Somewhere co-star Stephen Dorff after the challenges of a long-distance love affair became too great.

“There was serious attraction. We really seriously dated for a month. He said he was going to be gone for six months and I’m here in Los Angeles. We’re still friends. It wasn’t a serious hardcore thing. We weren’t fighting or anything.”

With the recent confirmation of the AT&T version of the Pixi Plus release date, fixed keyboard webOS fans now have something else to anticipate. An anonymous tipster sent word to PreCentral that the forthcoming WebOS 1.4.5 update will indeed support PDK apps and 3D-accelerated games on the entry-level Pixi.

No word on a release date but it is expected in the “several weeks”. Of course, the usual display resolution and performance differences may hinder Pixi gaming in comparison to the Pre, but it’s still good to see Palm bringing as many titles to both devices as possible.

Here is the information of how to start a car, tips to start a car properly, and how to jump start a car that has been sitting for months. Everyone will have to learn how to start the car before learning to drive a car. There are many different types of cars available in the market and some really makes you lost your way on how to start it. Take the immobilizer as example, many people overlook this thing. A car engine won’t start no matter how may times you turn the ignition when the immobilizer is activated.

How to start a car

Here are the simplest 3 steps on how to start a car in a proper way.

Step 1 Bring the right key to start the car

Get in the car, sit on the right position, fasten your seat belt, and then only insert they key into the ignition. The ignition is a usually a small key hole which will fit the right key exactly into it. It is often near to the steering wheel for most of the cars except some antique cars or classic cars that may place in some different way.

Step 2 Before starting the car

Before you can start the car, you must use your foot to press the brake, make sure the car is in neutral (for manual transmission car), and make sure the shift selector is in “P” (if you drive automatic car). Some cars have security lock which the car is not able to start if it is not secure to start.

Step 3 Twist the key to right direction

Now use the same hand and your thumb to twist the key according to the right way to start the car. Some cars like Honda Civic FD Type R come with push start button, you do not have to twist the key and just press on the start button to start the car.

Tips on how to start a car

Here are some tips that you may overlook in your daily life when you try to start your car and go to work every morning. If your car engine is flat or you left your headlights over night, you may want to check out how to jump start a car.

Immobilizer. Sometimes the built-in immobilizer inside a key cause the car can’t start. What you need to do is to take out the key and reinsert into the ignition, wait for few seconds and try to start it again.

Steering lock. Most of the newer cars nowadays come with the steering lock features. If you can’t twist the key you will have to jiggle the steering wheel a little bit to release the lock and this will allow the keys to turn. Some cars require you to push the key in and twist it a little bit to lock the steering.

Key type. Some newer car with new technology has different types of key especially Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, or Jaguar. Some car manufacturers use key that are flat head which does not look like a key, some car use magnetic key, some use thumb print to start the car, and some just use push start button.

Parking brake. Make sure the parking brake is always on before you start a car. That is the right way of how to start a car.

Source: Cars, Fast Cars, Cool Cars, Sports Cars

Well, you are in LUCK! We’ve got auditions coming in the fall. Keep checking back here for the exact date and time, but think the first two weeks of our semester here at MSU. If you want to have some amazingly good times and love your time at State, you should audition.

Don’t know what we’re all about? Check us out here.

Auditions consist of a verse and chorus of a song that showcases your voice and a joke. Dirty jokes are OK. So are classic rock songs. (Tip: don’t come in here singin’ opera man.) We may have you do some vocal exercises to check your range or do some relatively simple sight-reading (don’t stress over this too much if you’re not great at reading music). If you can beatbox or rap, you should probably let us know, because that’s a plus. We just might ask you to prove it.

A word of advice: practice your audition tune as much as you can. Do you really think you can fool us with something you threw together? If you CAN, then you’re ridiculously good and you know this. Most of us are mere mortals and need practice. That’s OK. We are looking for guys willing to make a sort of serious time commitment (the greatest “time commitment” youll ever make) and be ready to make big things happen, in the only way Dischords know how. Big shows (consistently sold-out 600+ crowds), big parties (lots of girls), hilarious gigs, roadtrips, its all gravy. Anyway, prove that you are willing to make the time commitment by setting aside a few minutes daily to run your song, and get to the point where you rock it out.

One more thing: This semester we have like 6, yes 6 out of 12 open spots. These will be sought after by about 60 guys, but dont let that intimidate you. Some are good singers, but most are underprepared. It’s a prime time to get in, especially for freshman who are in it for the long haul. So get your audition together and we’ll see you in the fall!

If you have a class during that time, you cant do it. Thats the rundown. I hope your questions were answered and I hope youre ready to bring it in August

We practice every Tuesday and Thursday after Men’s Glee Club (MUS 125 Section 2), which is required to be a Dischord and is a good time anyway. Those practices usually go from 5:30 to 7:00 and on Tuesdays we like to go sing for girls from 7:00 to maybe 9:00. We like girls and they tend to like us. You don’t like girls? That’s ok. More for us. You should still sing with us though. Free up your schedule for Glee Club and the Dischord times listed above and you’ll slip into the life of a Spartan Dischord seemlessly. And you’ll never look back.

Panasonic and Skype have teamed up and some of Panny’s new fancy-pants HDTVs feature the VoIP service right in the set. All you need is the $170 wide-angle webcam to get the party started.

The function was just activated in the VIERA VT25, VT20, G25, and G20 sets, which require the Panasonic-branded webcam. It’s a tad pricey, but it does offer four unidirectional mics, 720p@22fps record, a wide-angle lens, along with audio processing to counter echo.

Just think, maybe sometime soon, we’ll be able to enjoy videoconferencing just like Marty Mcfly in Back to the Future 2. That’s been our dream all along.

Andy never looked so good rolling in a Chevrolet Volt! General Motors and OnStar have just announced the impending release of their latest Volt app which will be available across a wide variety of smartphones. Using the power and functionality of the Android platform Chevrolet has created an application that takes advantage of Google Maps, Voice Recognition, and direct communication with the car via text message or email. When you hear that Android is taking over you may have thought they meant they are outselling a company that is named after a fruit, but not the case as we now see. Android is now the best invention since the universal remote with everything it can do these days.

OnStar with GM will be showing off what they have been working on at the upcoming 2010 Google I/O Conference. The features you will see being demoed are as follows.

• Charge status display – plugged in or not and voltage (120V or 240V)
• Flexibility to “Charge Now” or schedule charge timing
• Display percentage of battery charge level, electric and total ranges
• Ability to manually set grid-friendly charge mode for off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest
• Send text or email notifications for charge reminders, interruptions and full charge
• Display miles per gallon, electric only miles, and odometer readings
• Shows miles per gallon, EV miles and miles driven for last trip and lifetime
• Remotely start the vehicle to pre-condition the interior temperature
• Use Google Maps to send directions to the Volt so it can be pre-loaded before you even arrive in the drivers seat
• Have the choice of using either OnStar Navigation or Google turn-by-turn Navigation
• View your cars current location via GPS at all times

A real slick car with some real slick features. The app is currently available for Motorola Droid, Blackberry Storm, and iPhone. Check out this video of it on the Motorola Droid:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: PR NewsWire

Might We Suggest…

• OnStar and Chevy Gives Android Users Mobile Control of Volt
  One of the cooler software announcements to already come out of CES 2010 is from Chevy and OnStar regarding the upcoming 2011 Chevy Volt, their all electric vehicle.  The new Android-based applicatio…

The ads are cheesy as all get out: “Buying Roadshow” “Instant Cash For All” “Will pay up to 1100%” in giant block letters and starbursts. And the crazy thing is that they’re really good at packing in suckers eager to sell their “scrap jewelry,” dreaming of riches, but eventually convinced to be happy walking away with a few bucks. Over at Harper’s Magazine, ex-jeweler Clancy Martin takes apart these ads piece by piece and reveals what really goes on behind the black curtain. For instance:

But the key phrase in this ad is “up to.” And indeed, once can pay “up to” almost any price for the right piece of jewelry; these characters would happily pay “up to three or four hundred thousand dollars for the Hope Diamond” (but they would start you off in the teens). Every piece they price is “up to,” and every evaluation is a “free verbal evaluation,” and every private room contains a person whose job it is to explain to you why your piece is only worth the value of the scrap metal.

“Your sterling silver is the most common type on the market, or an incomplete set: so we have to scrap it, and we pay the price of the scrap silver weight, less a percentage for the smelter.”

Your diamonds? “Look under the microscope and see all of the flaws. You wouldn’t even want to wear it, much less expect a lot of money for it.” Your jeweler’s appraisal, that you brought in your pocket? “Did he charge you anywhere near what he appraised it for? No. That’s one of their tricks. To make you think you got a bargain.

If you’ve ever wanted to experience the thrill of living through Steinbeck’s The Pearl but don’t live near an ocean, a jewelry buying roadshow is your next best chance.

Stay tuned tomorrow when we run an advance excerpt of Clancy’s piece All That Glitters: An Ex-Jeweler Reveals the Art of the Swindle, from the June issue of Harper’s.

Buying Roadshows: The Pheromones of Cash [Harper’s]

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for those attending Google I/O, as OnStar is set to debut an app that it has been working on for the Chevy Volt, using Android.  The first iteration of this app, which is likened to more of a demo than a fully functioning app, was debuted at CES earlier this year, but Google I/O attendees can expect to catch a glimpse of much more over the next few days.

Probably one of the coolest features of this new app is a navigation tab that enables you to locate your car from your Android-based phone and determine your position relative to the vehicle – a feature that will surely come in handy when going to Disney, sporting events, and the like.  You will also be able to specify a destination from your phone which will be available to you upon reaching the vehicle – the car will then be prepared to give you directions via OnStar or Google Maps Navigation.  Unfortunately, the aforementioned functionality will not be ready to go by the time the Volt Mobile App is launched, however, here are some of the features that will be:

• Charge status display – plugged in or not and voltage (120V or 240V)
• Flexibility to “Charge Now” or schedule charge timing
• Display percentage of battery charge level, electric and total ranges
• Ability to manually set grid-friendly charge mode for off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest
• Send text or email notifications for charge reminders, interruptions and full charge
• Display miles per gallon, electric only miles, and odometer readings
• Shows miles per gallon, EV miles and miles driven for last trip and lifetime
• Remotely start the vehicle to pre-condition the interior temperature

OnStar Leverages Google Technology to Connect Customers to the Chevrolet Volt

New features coming for Chevrolet Volt Mobile App

DETROIT, May 18 /PRNewswire/ — OnStar is leveraging the power of Google technology to develop a number of new mobile app features that strengthen Chevrolet’s commitment to providing Volt customers with the most connected vehicle experience possible.

The public will get a peek at what OnStar is working on at the Google I/O conference May 19-20 in San Francisco, CA, where OnStar will debut and demonstrate new functionalities they’re developing for the Chevrolet Volt mobile application leveraging the Android™ platform.

“While OnStar will never lose sight of our core focus on safety and security, this relationship is an example of how we’re evolving our leadership position in connected vehicle technology,” said Chris Preuss, OnStar president. “What we’re talking about today is only the beginning.”

A new “navigation” tab has been added to the home screen of the existing Chevrolet Volt mobile app on the Android smartphone. When a Volt owner presses this tab, they will be able to see the current location of their Volt pinpointed on Google Maps™ , as well as their location relative to it.

From this map screen, owners can use Google search by voice to vocally search for a destination with their Android handset, and see where that destination is related to the Volt’s current location. They can then elect to send the destination from their Android phone to their Volt and have OnStar Turn-By-Turn directions to their destination waiting for them when they start the vehicle. Additionally, the owner will also have the option to get voice-guided directions to their vehicle from their current location, using Google Maps Navigation.

The new functionalities won’t be available on the Volt mobile app at launch, but are planned for a 2.0 version.

The smartphone mobile application for the Chevrolet Volt made its debut at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show and is planned to launch in tandem with the Volt this fall. Launch features include:

* Charge status display – plugged in or not and voltage (120V or 240V)

* Flexibility to “Charge Now” or schedule charge timing

* Display percentage of battery charge level, electric and total ranges

* Ability to manually set grid-friendly charge mode for off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest

* Send text or email notifications for charge reminders, interruptions and full charge

* Display miles per gallon, electric only miles, and odometer readings

* Shows miles per gallon, EV miles and miles driven for last trip and lifetime

* Remotely start the vehicle to pre-condition the interior temperature

“These two new features add to the suite of mobile application features for Volt that give Volt owners a personal connection to their car,” said Tony DiSalle, Chevrolet Volt marketing director. “Connecting customers to their cars is one way we’re using technology to provide value and a real useful benefit to the Volt owner.”

—

Ari Robbins

Call or Text: 404-654-3923

Follow me on twitter @arilrobbins