2010 Ferrari Concorso in Pasadena – Click above for high-res image gallery
Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, CA is most known for the annual Rose Parade on January 1st, with intricate floats and marching bands bringing in the new year. The famous street hosted a different kind of celebration this past weekend, though, with the Ferrari Club of American putting on a Ferrari Concorso on three blocks of the downtown portion of the city.
More than 100 Ferraris were on display, both current and vintage models. All four of the modern Ferrari supercars were present – 288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo – as well as the latest models like the California. There was even a Schumacher-driven 2001 Formula 1 car. Most of our time, however, was spent in the area of judged cars filled with pre-1999 models. Noted collector Bruce Meyer was kind enough to bring out his famous1956 625 TR, the Petersen Museum showed off a rare Vignale 225 Sport Spyder, and there was a multitude of gorgeous 275 GTBs and 250 series cars including a 250 GT SWB and not one but two 250 GT TdFs. You can see all of our photos from the event in the high-res gallery below.
As of a now, Evo fans can go into a Best Buy and Radio Shack and preorder the Evo 4G for pickup when the Android superphone launches on June 4. You will have to go into an actual store to place the order, but the good news is that you’ll get the $199.99 price instantly (provided that you sign up for a two-year contract). This will mean you actually pay $199.99 the day you purchase it, no sending in anything through the mail for a rebate.
Radio Shack is also offering a free $20 accessories gift card to those customers who put down a $50 deposit. Sounds like a deal!
EVO 4G Passes Through FCC; Release Imminent Engadget has managed to catch the EVO 4G passing through the halls of the FCC. The device was branded as PC36100 and sports Sprint’s 2500MHz WiMAX band, in addition to Sprint’s usual CDMA bands.
To be called the BMW M3 GTS-R, the model is rumored to feature a matte-black exterior, a front spoiler, wider rear fenders and light alloy wheels. BMW will also use plenty of carbon fiber in addition to the carbon fiber roof on the regular BMW M3 GTS. You can expect to see more carbon fiber on the deck-lid, hood and rear spoiler.
Power is likely to come from the same 450-hp 4.4L V8 under the BMW M3 GTS. The GTS-R could also be equipped with a KERS regenerative braking system from the 2011 M5.
Refresher: Weighing in at 3,285 pounds (the standard BMW M3 coupe weighs 3,704 pounds), the 2011 BMW M3 GTS is powered by a 4.4L V8 making 450-hp. Power is transmitted to the wheels through a 7-speed M DKG Drivelogic gearbox. The BMW M3 GTS accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 4.4 seconds with a top speed of 190 mph.
The latest numbers are in showing how many devices are using a given version of Android, and we’re slowly but surely getting more and more on Android 2.1. Devices on the latest version of Android ticked up to 37.2 percent, from 23.4 percent for the two weeks ending May 3. Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut) were down to 34.1 percent and 28 percent, respectively. That’s about a 3-percentage-point drop for Cupcake and 1-percentage-point for Donut.
Anybody want to guess how long it takes before we start complaining about how many devices are languishing on Android 2.1, with Froyo expected to be announced this week? (And if you really want to get into the nitty gritty, there are now stats for screen sizes and densities.) [Android Developer Blog]
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will establish an
independent presidential commission to probe the huge oil spill from a wrecked
BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an official said Monday.
The commission,
similar to other presidential-ordered probes into civilian disasters, will be
established by executive order, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Reports said
that the commission will be officially unveiled in the next few days, and will
supplement existing government inquiries into the disaster sparked by an
explosion aboard a drilling rig last month.
Obama has
gradually ratcheted up criticism of BP over the spill of millions of gallons of
oil into the Gulf in an unfolding ecological disaster, betraying more and more
frustration over the company’s failure to stop the leak. A visibly angered
president on Friday hit out at oil companies for trying to avoid blame over a massive slick, and vowed an all-out effort to stop the leak
pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.
“I will not
tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility. The people of the Gulf Coast
need our help,” Obama said, as he also unveiled a review of the
environmental safeguards to be put in place for oil and gas exploration.
He slammed the
three oil companies linked to the Deepwater Horizon rig—BP, Transocean, and
Halliburton—for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a
“ridiculous spectacle” by their top officials during congressional
hearings.
Senators join in
Eight senators urged Attorney General Eric Holder on
Monday to investigate possible civil and criminal misdeeds by British energy
giant BP in connection to a disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“We are
writing to ask that you open an inquiry into whether British Petroleum made
false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability
to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers, all
Democrats, wrote to Holder [PDF].
The group, led
by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, urged
Holder to investigate whether BP misled U.S. regulators on its ability to
respond to catastrophic oil spills.
They cited a
Feb. 23, 2009 document BP submitted to the federal Minerals Management
Service expressing confidence in its ability to contain an oil spill and
mitigate any impact on the environment. “In the event of an unanticipated
blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on
the industry wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such
responses,” that document said.
“In the
wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it does not in any way appear that
there was ‘proven equipment and technology’ to respond to the spill, which
could have tragic consequences for local economies and the natural resources of
the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers wrote.
They also cited
a May 10 document in which BP said all of its potential strategies for
containing the disaster “involve significant uncertainties because they
have not been tested in these conditions before.”
The senators
pressed Holder to evaluate BP’s actions “with respect to civil and
criminal laws related to false statements to the federal government” as
well as “any federal law or regulation that may have been violated in
connection with issues surrounding the spill.”
Head of MMS to retire
Chris Oynes, a top official overseeing offshore energy
for the Minerals Management Service—an agency blamed for lax inspection in the
Gulf of Mexico oil spill—announced his retirement Monday, his agency said.
“After 35
years of service he will be retiring from the agency,” an official at the
Department of the Interior, which includes MMS, told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Oynes was named
in 2007 as the associate director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals
Management Program in the MMS, with responsibilities including administering
the Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas program.
His retirement
comes amid scathing criticism of the agency for being too lax on enforcement of
safety standards in offshore drilling. Last week, President Barack Obama himself
slammed it as being too “cozy” with the companies it regulates.
After the Gulf
of Mexico disaster at a BP-leased offshore oil rig that ruptured an undersea
well which continues to spew crude into the water, the Obama administration
announced a breakup of the agency’s leasing and regulatory functions into two
separate entities.
Obama ordered
“top to bottom” reform of MMS after allegations it had allowed BP and
other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without first obtaining required
permits. “For too long, for a decade or more, there’s been a cozy
relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them
to drill,” he said.
The Washington
Post said the retirement would come May 31 and that Oynes, who oversaw oil and
gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted to MMS
associate director, had come under fire for being too close to the industry
officials he regulated.
MMS separately
drew criticism from senators Monday by failing to send an official to a hearing
on the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
“There’s
one set of witnesses that are not here, and I must say that’s from MMS,”
said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who heads the committee on homeland
security. “I regret that the MMS leadership has chosen not to appear
before our committee today because, really, they need to be asked the same
questions I’m going to ask Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and BP, because MMS,
as I’ve mentioned, must approve or reject the oil-spill response plans for
wells, which is where this accident occurred before those wells can be
drilled.”
Last week, one
MMS official told a hearing in New Orleans that the oil and gas industry
largely policed its own drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico with little
government supervision.
An MMS official
said the regulatory agency did not enforce compliance with its “safety
alerts” on underwater blowout preventers and allowed oil companies to
inspect their own drilling equipment.
“I am not
aware of who does the self-certification,” Michael Saucier, the Minerals
Management Service regional supervisor, said when asked about the inspections.
Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to break up the functions of the MMS to
eliminate a conflict of interest in its role as oil industry regulator and a
lessor of lucrative federal oil rights.
Audi gives the Q7 a supercharged six in two different strengths, and few will miss the engines it replaces.
As the auto industry starts the great engine shrink-down in preparation for new fuel-economy standards, Audi has been perhaps the strategy’s most visible proponent. To that end, the 2011 Q7 sport utilities headed to the U.S. will drop their big iron, the 3.6-liter V-6 and 4.2-liter V-8, in favor of two versions of the company’s relatively new 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 making 272 or 333 hp. Behind the six sits the new A8’s eight-speed automatic with a broad ratio spread for better mileage. On a recent trip to Munich, we pounded the autobahn in the new Q7 and found nothing lacking.
Twin independent floating cutters and foils work on wet or dry skin for silky smooth results. Two full-size trimmers provide the ultimate in close shaves. The unit is rechargeable, with each charge allowing 25 minutes of run time.
This gadget has it all: it’s a light-blocking face mask, plays nature sounds, plugs into any audio player and comes in a variety of colors. And for only $16, you can afford one for every room in your house. [Brando] More »
The worst hurricane to ever hit the United States is still being felt today.
It’s been almost 5 years since the deadliest hurricane and most expensive natural disaster in US history made landfall, and scientists are still discovering its affects. Scientists studying the hurricanes impact have shown the ecological impact and human health risks as a result of the exposed chemical containments.
According to the study, published in a special edition of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Hurricane Katrina caused significant ecological damage by altering coastal chemistry and habitat. (more…)
General Motors Co. acquired its first quarterly profit in almost three years, based on spending cuts as part of a reorganization to exit bankruptcy and strong sales of redesigned models, which the company approached a stock offering that would allow him to pay at least part of the federal aid it received.
The automaker said it achieved profits from sales of new models and because its bankruptcy last year allowed him to cut debt and other expenses. Furthermore, the company generated more profit for its growth in Asia and South America.
GM reported a net profit of $ 865 million, $ 1.66 per share in the first quarter. That compares to a loss of 6,000 million, $ 9.78 per share, a year earlier. The first-quarter revenue rose 40% to 31 500 million.
The new signature models like the Chevrolet Equinox and the Buick LaCrosse, contributed to GM operations in North America had revenues of 1,200 million, compared with losses of 3.400 billion in the same quarter last year.
The North American unit had been a constant burden for GM’s revenue before its application for federal bankruptcy protection.
GM’s chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, said that might be difficult to sustain the same level of earnings for the rest of the year because the production of the first quarter is usually higher, with producers getting ready for sales of spring.
The chief executive Ed Whitacre has forecast that profits will end the year at a time when car sales in the United States continues a slow recovery. That could lead to a sale of shares in GM and full payment of the 50,000 million dollars in federal aid that prevented GM went bankrupt last year. Currently, the U.S. government owns 61% of the company.
GM has returned a total of 6700 million dollars of federal aid. Barack Obama’s government expects to recover the remaining $ 43 000 million by selling its shares in the company.
Tonight’s episode of the podcast marks the official 1 year anniversary of our weekly Monday night show. It’s hard to believe it but we’ve been doing this for 52 weeks now! Our podcast goes live every Monday at 10PM EST/7PM PST over at BlogTalkRadio. We open up a chat room about fifteen minutes before we go live for all you enthusiasts and developers who wanna talk Android.
To mark tonight’s special occasion, we’ll be giving away two copies of TeleNav GPS for Android handsets. All you have to do is tune and listen live for the instructions! We promise we’ll make it easy on ya.
Slacker Radio Plus Giveaway! We’re pleased to announce another giveaway of Slacker Radio Plus accounts! If you’re not familiar with the streaming music service and Android application, it allows for personalized radio stations b…
President Barack Obama will establish the commission by executive order. It will be similar to panels created to investigate the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a public announcement.
The president will create the panel by executive order “in coming days,” a White House official said. “The commission will take into account the investigations underway concerning the causes of the spill and explore a range of issues including: industry practices; rig safety; Federal, state, and local regulatory regimes; federal governmental oversight, including the structure and functions of M.M.S.; and environmental review and other protections,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter in advance of the presidential announcement.
An hour ago White House sources indicated to CAP that an official announcement about this executive order could occur on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In addition to the horrible loss of eleven lives on the now sunken Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the BP oil disaster could be the most devastating environmental disaster to ever befall the United States. To understand what caused this oil nightmare, in early May CAP proposed that President Obama appoint appoint “an independent commission to completely examine the causes of the BP disaster and offer guidance for how we can make sure it never happens again.
This would enable investigators to conduct an independent assessment of the causes of the disaster, and determine the responsibilities born by BP, Transocean, and Halliburton. An independent inquiry would also be able to determine whether the Minerals Management Service of the Department of Interior fulfilled its oversight duties.
These were discrete incidents, while the BP oil disaster is an ongoing event so it may take longer to investigate and draw conclusions about the causes and damages. By using an executive order, President Obama can get this inquiry started much more quickly than by waiting for Congress to pass legislation. This will enable investigators to question witnesses while their memories are still fresh, and promptly order BP, Transocean, and Halliburton to preserve all relevant communications and documents.
When I took a quick trip out to Kauai recently, thanks to a great deal on airfare, I got to try a lot of great foods. Most of them, I didn’t bring home. Somehow tropical hot dogs and cinnamon kunckles seem best when they’re eaten right away. I did bring home a few things from Aunty Lilikoi, however. She isn’t a relative. “She” is a company based on Kauai that specializes in passion fruit products. I love passion fruit, so it was only natural that I tried to stop by to pick some goodies up to take home.
One of my favorites was the Passion Fruit Coconut Syrup that I bought. This delicious syrup is the very definition of tropical, with a sweet passion fruit base that is infused with coconut – and has shreds of coconut in it! I could put it in all kinds of dishes, but pancakes are a natural foil for syrup so I started with the obvious and made Passion Fruit Coconut Pancakes.
These pancakes are definitely tropical! There is passion fruit jucie in the pancake batter, as well as shredded coconut. Using coconut milk instead of regular milk will give them even more of a coconut flavor. but as they are they are light, fluffy and have a nice tropical flavor to them. Drizzling the passion fruit coconut syrup on top is what really makes them taste tropical, so if you’re a fan of these flavors, you might want to think about adding a bottle of this syrup to your wish list for your next birthday/holiday/etc.
I’m torn here. Not literally torn, as I expect to be when the robots take over and my body is used for spare parts, but morally torn. On one hand, here we have a little robot that could venture into dangerous situations via remote control and detonate bombs or flush out enemy dudes. Could save lives. On the other hand, here we have a little robot that, given the spark of strong AI, could rumble by the thousand through the wreckage of our world, checking every cranny for human insurgents. Just blast ‘em and let the EATRs clean up.
So as you can see, I can’t tell whether to cheer on our robot-loving military or cower under my bed, crying.
The Israeli roboticists who have created it (and advanced the machines’ day of ascendancy by who knows how long) call it the Pincher, and it’s really made for finding and detonating IEDs by firing tiny 8-inch-long rockets at them. The rockets, which they call pyrophoric arrows, bury themselves in the explosive and burn it away.
The robot itself is tiny (50 square inches, so probably around 7″x7″ — small enough to carry in a pack or mistake for a toy. I had a TMNT Pizza Van about that size that fired little pizzas from a launcher. I kind of wish I’d had one of these things. No! No, Devin! That’s what the machines want you to think! Be strong!
“The new Fiesta will deliver up to 40 mpg on the highway. It comes with the kind of agility and horsepower that make it a blast to drive, and it features more new-world technology than any other car of its kind – like push-button start, keyless entry and the SYNC hands-free communications and entertainment system,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford’s director of U.S. Marketing Communications. “It’s a pretty big deal, and we’re putting the media and creativity behind it to deliver that message to consumers.”
The campaign will launch with a new 60-second TV ad for the Fiesta that will debut tomorrow night during the live broadcast of “American Idol,” which airs 8 to 9 p.m. EDT on FOX.
Refresher: The 2011 Ford Fiesta is powered by a 1.6L DOHC 4-cylinder engine making 120-hp with a peak torque of 109 lb-ft. The EPA rated the 2011 Fiesta at 29/40 mpg (city/highway) when mated to a 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission and 28/37 mpg when mated to a 5-speed manual. Pricing for the 2011 Ford Fiesta starts at $13,320.
2011 Ford Fiesta:
The New Ford Fiesta – It’s a Pretty Big Deal:
2011 Ford Fiesta:
Press Release:
2011 FORD FIESTA: ‘IT’S A PRETTY BIG DEAL’
* Ford is launching the all-new 2011 Ford Fiesta with a broad-reaching advertising campaign built around the theme, “It’s a pretty big deal”
* The new campaign shares the same nontraditional approach that defined the Fiesta Movement, an initiative that introduced the new small car to consumers through socially vibrant agents who have been driving Fiestas in monthly themed missions and relating their experiences through social media sites
* The campaign also includes a significant multicultural element to reach out to two of the largest consumer groups in the small car segment – young African Americans and Hispanics
DEARBORN, Mich., May 17, 2010 – The same type of out-of-the-box thinking that led to the groundbreaking Fiesta Movement social media initiative is reflected in a new ad campaign to launch Ford’s all-new small car, the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
“The Fiesta Movement enabled us to introduce the car to market in a whole new way,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford’s director of U.S. Marketing Communications. “We are continuing that nontraditional approach with a unique advertising campaign designed to get people’s attention by entertaining them as well as educating them about the vehicle.”
The ad campaign for the new Fiesta – which arrives in dealer showrooms this summer – includes national broadcast, print, digital and out-of-home components as well as a comprehensive multicultural marketing strategy. The entire campaign is built around the theme, “It’s a pretty big deal.”
2011 Ford Fiesta ads: A nontraditional approach
A new 60-second television ad for the Fiesta debuts tomorrow night during the live broadcast of “American Idol,” which airs 8 to 9 p.m. EDT on FOX. It opens with two people sitting in a Fiesta talking about the vehicle’s push-button start feature.
“From there, a whimsical world starts to unfold all around them, and you see the product messages brought to life in organic, over-the-top ways,” said VanDyke.
The 60-second ad also will be running in cinemas this summer, appearing on the big screen just before the movies start. One of the films expected to draw huge crowds to the theater is “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which opens June 30.
The print ads get straight to the point with headlines like, “The Fiesta gets 40 miles per gallon. 21 hybrids do not,” and “The Fiesta has enough new-world technology to put a 50-grand car to shame.” The ads will be featured in a variety of publications – from women’s magazines like “In Style” to men’s lifestyle titles like “GQ.”
Billboards for the Fiesta also reflect an unconventional approach.
“Imagine a billboard positioned strategically above a gas station with the 40 mpg message and copy that reads, ‘Not everybody’s happy about it,’” explained VanDyke.
In addition to television commercials, print ads and billboards, the new campaign also includes extensive digital advertising, which directs consumers to the www.fordvehicles/fiesta website.
Unique webisodes combine information with entertainment
Ford is expanding the Fiesta website to include webisodes featuring agents of the Fiesta Movement proving – in their own uniqueways – why Fiesta is better than the competition. More than 500,000 people have viewed the first six webisodes since they debuted last week.
“We selected some of our most creative, funny and socially vibrant agents to help us showcase the vehicle’s class-exclusive features,” said Jonathan Beebe, Ford Digital Communications manager. “Not only do they know the vehicle inside and out, because they drove real-world miles on it with the Fiesta Movement, they also know how to make the webisodes relevant and engaging to their peers – digital or otherwise.”
For example, to illustrate the benefit of having Intelligent Access with push-button start, one of the agents decided to put the Fiesta up against the Toyota Yaris, which doesn’t even have keyless entry, and the Honda Fit, which has keyless entry but doesn’t have push-button start.
In “Dawn of the New Key Fob,” a zombie chases all three drivers through the woods. The Yaris and Fit owners don’t make it into their vehicles in time, but the Fiesta driver gets into his car and drives away before the zombie attack.
“Some of the webisodes are hilarious,” said Beebe. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously – the Fiesta is too much fun for that. The agents help us poke a little fun at ourselves and our competitors, while combining vehicle information and entertainment.”
Fiesta agent Brittani Taylor appears in a webisode titled “Fiesta vs. Lamborghini,” which pits the Fiesta against a $200,000-plus Lamborghini sports car.
“I’m an actress, so I had a lot of fun with it,” said Taylor, who amassed more than 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and 46,000 followers on Twitter during her stint as a Fiesta agent. “The Fiesta wasn’t as fast as the Lamborghini on the straightaway, but when it came to cornering and cool features like capless fuel-filler and push-button start, it was all about the Fiesta.”
There will be a total of 16 webisodes. The first set is already online. The second group will post in June.
“Our goal is to make people take a left-hand turn from their usual online browsing routine to check out how the Fiesta and its class-exclusive features can meet their driving needs,” said Beebe. “A zombie invasion might just convince them.”
2011 Ford Fiesta: Multicultural appeal
Research shows that two of the largest consumer groups in the small car segment are young African Americans and Hispanics. Ford has developed a multicultural marketing and advertising campaign designed specifically to communicate the Fiesta message to them.
To increase awareness of the Fiesta in the African American community, Ford launched a program called “Inspired by Color,” which challenged people to use their own personal style to connect with the colors and distinct features of the new Fiesta. Last month, more than 150 people turned out for a casting call at Howard University in Washington, D.C., dressed in a Fiesta-inspired way. Five finalists were chosen, and they will appear in a new television ad for the Fiesta that begins airing on the BET network June 1.
“Our goal was to create a unique program that truly embodied the spirit of Fiesta,” said Crystal Worthem, Ford Multicultural Marketing manager. “The Fiesta has an expressive, vibrant design and we wanted to tap into those style attributes in a way that was relevant to our target audience.”
In addition, radio commercials for Fiesta – produced with an urban flair – will air on 132 urban and adult contemporary stations in 78 markets throughout the country.
According to David Rodriguez, Ford Multicultural Communications manager, the small car segment has a high concentration of Hispanic buyers – the largest of any automotive segment –and many of them are bilingual.
“What’s unique about our marketing effort for Fiesta is that we’re focusing on bilingual to Spanish-dominant Hispanic consumers,” said Rodriguez. “Digital advertising will play a key role because we know that Hispanics over-index compared to average consumers on their use of the Internet.”
A combination of portal digital advertising and extensive social media outreach will direct traffic to www.readypatumundo.com (which means “ready for your world” in Spanish). The website provides a consumer-centric introduction to the Fiesta, focusing on SYNC, push-button start and the overall design of the vehicle.
“The website is unique in that the consumer can control how the words will show up in terms of being more Spanish-based or more English-based,” said Rodriguez. “The technology is a first for Ford.”
In addition to digital advertising, Ford will increase Fiesta awareness in the Hispanic community through print and broadcast advertising. The ads, which will be predominantly Spanish with some English phrasing, will run nationally with emphasis in five target markets with the highest concentration of Hispanic small car customers: Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, New York and Chicago.
Sometimes, here at PopCrunch, we can’t help but feel dissatisfied with our lot. It’s not that scrutinising the lives of celebrities isn’t a riot, that following their failure is not fun, and marvelling at their weight gain not an excellent way to pass the time; it’s that sometimes we wouldn’t mind trading in our gossiping malfeasance for a wardrobe malfunction. That is, we’re jealous. And never more so than when we see how the other half live. To console ourselves, we say the extravagant palaces of the rich and famous are tacky, distasteful, ostentatious. Here are a few of the worst. We’d hate to live like this.
Britney Spears
Here’s Britney’s pad. Disgusting isn’t it? It’s called Chateau Suenos, which translates as House of Dreams. Situated in the quiet yet star-studded neighbourhood of Calabasas, just outside Los Angeles, it’s a $10.5 million mansion housing a cinema, swimming pool and spa. It might look like a house for life, but for Britney it’s a stopgap. She just rents this dive while building her real dream house in the area.
John Travolta
John Travolta lives in an airport. At night, when no one is looking, he rides the baggage carousel for fun.
Will Smith
Will Smith allegedly suffered ‘House-Building Stress’ when building this barrack. Back in 2004, when his modest family home was but a pile of expectant rubble, he said in an interview: ‘Listen everybody; I’m into having a good, powerful, bustling American economy, but don’t build no house!’ Should have gone for a one-up two-down.
Candy Spelling
This is Candy Spelling’s home. She recently put it on the market for $150 million, making it the most expensive house in the world. Why’s she selling up? ‘As you get older, you know, it’s a lot to walk.’ We sympathize.
Shaquille O’Neal
Basketball player, actor and rapper Shaquille O’Neal has more than one gargantuan mansion to his name. Here’s the inside of one of his homes, situated on the appropriately named Star Island. Cosy.
J Lo and Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez live here. Big isn’t it? It looks like two houses; and boasting nine bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a gym, a recording studio and more, they need never see each other ever again.
Oprah
Oprah’s got a house or two. She owns a pad in New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island, a house in Georgia, a ski house in Colorado, a property in Hawaii, and a home in Antigua. Then there’s the one pictured, in Montecito, California, which she calls ‘The Promised Land’. Ew.
Rod Stewart
This is Rod Stewart’s Beverly Hills behemoth. Pictures of its interior reveal it’s as yellow on the inside as it is on the outside, and that he’s got a penchant for a naked bust.
Beckingham Palace, US
This is Beckingham Palace, Beverly Hills, belonging to David and Victoria Beckham. Priced at $22 million dollars, the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom house is in a 13,000 square foot plot with ocean views: the ultimate trophy estate.
Ira Rennert
The homes on this list are but McMansions compared to Ira Rennert’s enormous digs. The self-made billionaire is as famous for his home as he is for his self-made billions. His massive waterfront compound, which is thought to be the largest house in the US, contains two bowling alleys, two tennis courts, two squash courts, game rooms, a basketball court and at least 21 bedrooms: all this for just Rennert and his family. Monstrous!
Say what you will about Alfa Romeo‘s latest 8C-derived styling direction, but we’re going to miss the angular beauty of the current Brera and its drop-top Spider sibling. But before the achingly gorgeous two-doors sail off into the sunset – never having made it to American shores – Alfa has released an updated version.
The beneficiary of the latest from Fiat Powertrain Technologies, the Brera and Spider have now been made available with the 1750 TBi and 2.0 JTDM engines. The former is a turbocharged, direct-injection gas-burning four with 1742 cubic centimeters of displacement, 197 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque and propelling the Brera and Spider to 62 mph in 7.7 and 7.8 seconds, respectively, and a 146 mph top end. The latter is a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with 168 horses and 265 lb-ft of torque, capable of 8.8- and 9-second sprints to 62 for the coupe and convertible en route to a 135 mph terminal velocity.
In addition to the new engines, which you can read more about in the press release after the jump, Alfa is also making the Italia Indepenent trim level – previously a special edition – available across the range, with matte titanium paint, 18-inch black alloys hiding red brake calipers and special interior trim. Have a closer look in the gallery below to see what we’re missing on the Atlantic’s Western shores.
A long time ago LG promised to deliver more than 50 Windows Phone devices. Not much came of that announcement then, so its heartening to see the company is planning to release more than one Windows Phone 7 device.
The above picture published by Handcellphone.com claims to be a new Windows Phone 7 device with a 3.8 inch AMOLED screen and 5 megapixel camera and also included QWERTY keyboard, all in a device a bit thicker than the Nexus One. it clearly also has a front-facing camera, a feature now also getting more common in USA.
Apparently the picture had been leaked by a Microsoft employee from France. The larger screen certainly makes the smartphone a lot more attractive than the earlier model shown of by Microsoft at various events.
Do our readers like the device? Let us know below.
When MassCare passed, it was supposed to lower the average cost of healthcare by getting relatively cheap young people into the system, and ending the inefficiencies of caring for the uninsured. Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. The bill for the uninsured only dropped by about 40%; the young, cheap people turned out to almost all need subsidies, and worse, some of them figured out how to game the system by buying insurance, getting a bunch of expensive procedures, and then dropping the insurance again. There was a brief improvement in insurance prices for the individual market, because Massachusetts, with its community rating and guaranteed issue, had had a pretty sizable problem with adverse selection. But after a few years, insurance costs were still marching briskly upward, rates were among the highest in the country, and the system was putting heavy pressure on a budget that was already strained to the limit by the recession.
The Massachusetts governor’s answer to this problem was to
simply deny the Massachusetts insurers the right to raise their
prices. Then, when they refused to quote prices on the exchange at the
old, controlled prices, the government essentially argued that they
were a bunch of whiny liars who didn’t need all that extra money, and
commanded them to list their insurance at the old prices. As far as I
know, they never did find an actuary to sign off on the mandated
prices, but the insurers lost their hearing.
Well, now the whiny liars have upped the ante, claiming that they lost a bunch of money in the first three months of 2010,
mostly thanks to the extra money they had to reserve against the losses
they anticipate under the new rates. It will be interesting to see
whether we get another War on Accounting, where Deval Patrick accuses
the state’s biggest insurers of the dastardly use of Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles in order to embarrass his awesome government
program.
And indeed, it’s not impossible that there’s a
strategic element to this; there’s always discretion in how companies
reserve for losses. There is also always the possibility of accounting
error. But those possibilities are not unlimited, because financials
have to be signed off on by auditors who are keenly alive to the
possibility of ending up on the wrong side of a lawsuit if they wink at
obviously misleading representations. And four different companies
probably didn’t all make the same accounting error.
There’s a
depressing possibility, even a likelihood, that this is our future.
It’s hard to simultaneously expand demand, while lowering the
incentives for supply (i.e. Medicare reimbursements), without having
some pretty dramatic mismatches between the two. There’s an old adage
common in restaurants and engineering that goes “Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick Two.”
Change that middle word to “Universal” and you’ve got a pretty good
summation of the problem that Massachusetts now faces–and that the
rest of us soon will.
