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The Courant tried to reach Malapanis but could not. Her lawyer, James Wade, declined comment. As far as I can tell, Lovallo’s interview will be her first public comment on the case.

Lovallo’s show can be heard at 5 p.m. on the following stations: WDRC1360,  WMMW1470, WWRO12409 and WSNG610. 

Arctic Cooling, a brand that made its name selling cooling supplies for computers, has delved into the headphone market with their new Arctic Sound line. I had the opportunity to review Arctic Sound E352 headphones, the premium model of their five model collection. The E352 is built with a wooden chassis and a large driver coil which gives these headphones a high quality output with a warm and natural sound. Arctic Sound headphones are precisely engineered by Swiss and German audio experts, but does that really mean anything these days? How nicely has Arctic Cooling diversified into the headphone market? Dive in with me for the full review…

What’s in the Box:
-Arctic Cooling E352 Headphones (of course!)
-Durable Carrying Case with Zipper – Perfect for Storing and Protecting your earphones. Also prevents cord tangling
-3 Sets of Silicone Eartips  – Small Medium and Large
-Cable Clip

Design:
The E352s stands out from regular earbuds; The glossy wooden chassis distinguishes the E352s as a classier set of ‘buds. The earbud cable is a regular Y shaped cable with a rubber casing. The thickness of the cable is standard compared to any other inexpensive headphones. The strangest design flaw choice is that there is no “Right” and “Left” labels anywhere on these earbuds (no ‘R’s or ‘L’s either). The buds are shaped exactly the same so that’s no help either. The only design queue to help you orient your earbuds is the AC logo on the Y point of the headphones (where the headphone cable splits into separate right and left cables). The logo must face away from your body to properly listen. The driver enclosure on the buds are relatively long. This generally means the driver is larger, which is good. The buds will sit about half an inch outside of your ear canal. Personally, I found this feature enabled the bud to come loose from my ear with any decent amount of cable movement.

Performance
The performance of these E352 headphones is largely dependent on the type of music that is playing through them. Arctic Sound lived up to their claims of high quality sound with a warm and natural sound when listening to soft acoustical music (Simon & Garfunkel sounded great). This type of music was kind to the E352’s weak mid-range audio output. When playing songs with more low-range audio (bass) like a rock or rap song, the “enhanced bass” overshadowed the vocals (weak on treble). The bass sounded unnatural and forced. This unbalance of bass and treble makes these heavier genres of music sound untrue to how the song was intended to be heard. It is possible some users prefer this type of sound though.

The carrying case that came with Arctic Sound’s E352s is great. It’s durable, zipper sealed, and even allows you to wrap up the earbuds inside so they do not tangle. It may leave a small bulge in your pocket, but it’s sure to keep the earbuds safe and untangled.

Conclusion
Considering the E352’s are Arctic Sound’s most expensive earbuds ($69.95 from the website) they were a bit disappointing. Soft and Acoustical types of music sounded pretty good, but $70 is a lot to pay for headphones that don’t always sound good. Personally, I would wait until Arctic Cooling makes it further along on the headphone learning curve. The Enhanced Bass seems like a marketing gimmick; yes the bass is loud, but it does not sound good. Also, leaving off a “left” and “right” indicator on their earbuds seems a bit silly. The one thing Arctic Sound actually did right was the case; I will be sure to use it in the future. I would strongly recommend anyone considering the E352s to check out ThinkSound’s TS01 Earphones. Also encased in wood, the TS01’s sound much better and are priced just under $50.

New Four-Door Coupe Sign that BMW Design is in Good Hands
Canadian Auto Press

Some time ago BMW teased us with a full-size four-door coupe concept simply called CS Concept, and we all got pretty excited that it might see the light of day. After all, it was the most beautifully styled BMW we’d seen in years, and would have made a flagship worth of the vaunted CS nameplate. But alas the automaker officially killed any plans to produce it, if there actually ever were any, dashing the hopes of millions of roundel fans.

BMW Concept Gran Coupé

Now there’s new hope, and while the Concept Gran Coupé might not possess quite the fluidity of form that the CS captured, it is mighty good looking and appears close enough in design to the upcoming 5 Series to be a likely four-door coupe candidate.

Mercedes set the ball rolling with its CLS, forever changing the auto industry with a new four-door coupe segment, although now that the segment is established many give the honour of first four-door coupe to Maserati and it’s ultra-sleek Quattroporte that arrived on the scene a year earlier. Since then a variety of players have entered the scene, from the comparatively entry-level Volkswagen CC to the decidedly upscale Aston Martin Rapide, as well as Porsche’s shockingly good Panamera and Audi’s upcoming A7.

The Concept Gran Coupé, if produced, would fill the D-segment and target its main rivals directly; the CLS is based on MB E-Class architecture and A7 shares Audi’s MHB “modular architecture” with the A6; the Passat CC, also midsize, is not considered to be a direct competitor and the Rapide is in a different class altogether.

Those that have seen the next 6 Series are reporting that the Concept Gran Coupé is much the same other than side profile, the 6 will feature two doors instead of one and sport more rake in the C-pillar. Whether the Concept Gran Coupé sees the light of day or is a four-door tease of the next 6 Series two-door coupe, or the next 6 Series itself, or for that matter something altogether new, remains to be seen.

Still, the Concept Gran Coupé boasts particularly attractive lines, especially the roofline that is 100 mm (4 inches) flatter than either the 5 or 7 Series sedans and features frameless doors for a coupe-like presence. LEDs all-round bring it up to modern-day spec, while the interpretation of BMW’s trademark twin-kidney grille leading into a beautifully sculpted, pronounced hood and lovely recessed headlamp clusters is especially appealing. The lower front fascia’s air intakes are assertive without being overtly aggressive and sleek front-side panel air vents tastefully penned. The Gran Coupé’s deeply sculpted door panels add to the car’s muscular, almost animalistic edge that will likely be universally loved, while those who lean towards tradition will appreciate the trademark L-design taillights.

The Concept Gran Coupé and new 5 Series show signs that BMW is evolving from its previous flamed surface design language initiated by the famed (or infamous) Chris Bangle and 7 Series designer Adrian van Hooydonk. While some have lambasted van Hooydonk for the 7, and his Rolls-Royce Phantom design, it’s important to remember that he was also responsible for the much-lauded CS Concept mentioned previously. Likewise, van Hooydonk, still in charge of BMW’s global design, is also responsible in part for the current 1 Series, updated 3 Series, new 5 and, ahem, 5 Series Gran Turismo, updated X5, love it or leave it X6, much-improved 7 Series, gorgeous new Z4 and, of course, this latest Concept Gran Coupé.

The Concept Gran Coupé is a sign that BMW’s future design language is in good hands; it will be interesting to see how the new prototype affects upcoming production cars.

Department of Energy has announced the 20 teams from as many universities which will compete in the Solar Decathlon to design, build and operate the most affordable and energy-efficient solar-powered home. The event will be held at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in the Fall 2011.

The DoE intends to a) educate students and public about the various energy-efficient technologies having application in home designing, b) introduce to the public the advantages of energy-efficient homes and use of renewable energy and c) train the students in energy efficiency technologies. The teams will be evaluated on their performance through a series of contests involving various aspects of designing, building and operating a solar-powered home. The students will be evaluated on parameters such as architectural, economical and engineering aspects.

Universities selected for the 2011 Decathlon include Ghent University (Belgium), Purdue University (Indiana), Tonji University (Shanghai), University of Calgary (Canada) and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). (more…)

Filed under: Healthy Eating, Holistic Recipe

Have you ever checked the nutrition label of your breakfast cereal? You might be surprised to learn that your favourite, high-fibre, “healthy” cereal is jam-packed with sugar and sodium. Children’s boxed cereals are even worse and I’ve listed 10 … Read more

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Rushing to the launch party for tokidoki’s new makeup line for Sephora, I booked it through Midtown Manhattan hoping to find the event space without a problem. Still light outside, I arrived at the address and peering into the space, I felt like I was about to enter either a time warp of some awesome club on a Saturday night. Walking into the space, I was surprised to see a full sized skate ramp complete with three skater chicks doing tricks, full sized tokidoki characters dancing and mingling with the party guests, and donuts served on light sabers. I knew I was in the right place.

tokidoki, the lifestyle brand brain child of Italian designer Simone Legno is all about fun and the criminally cute. Growing up in Italy in the 1980s, Legno was inspired by the Japanimation cartoons and comics that were flooding the culture. Putting his own spin on the idea, Legno launched his brand in the form of clothes, toys, and accessories, and now makeup. tokidoki is a brand that emphasizes technology and has released USB keys, ear phones, and other technology pieces in the past. Now venturing into the world of makeup, tokidoki is partnering with Sephora, a brand Legno says understands “the relationship between fun, creativity, self-expression and color unlike any other retailer.”

And tokidoki’s new makeup line ain’t your grandma’s rouge. Designed much like their lifestyle brand to be innovative and cutting edge, the line blends the criminally cute with the quality makeup that Sephora stands by. The makeup itself is a hybrid between indigenous Japanese and Italian ingredients (much like tokidoki itself) and professionally milled powder formulations and makeup artist approved brushes and tools. The collection features various eyeshadows, palettes, lipglosses, lip stains, bronzer, powder, blush, nail polish, and then some fun items like key chains, makeup bags, and tank tops. The makeup is innovative because it adds both adorable and functional design aspects to every product. For example, the Prisma Gloss, $16, is housed in a standard plastic lipstick stick but has an attention to detail that most $16 lipglosses do not. The twist off top of the lipgloss houses the glittery skull and crossbones and a little tokidoki skull figure hiding in the cap of the gloss. Aside from packaging, the lipgloss applicator is made of silicone rather than a standard brush for longevity and ease of application. Ok so we get it, the packaging looks cute but is the makeup decent? From what I sampled from the gift bag, yes! The lipgloss is non-sticky and has a light purple hue that gave me that subtle “I just ate a grape popsicle” look. Other innovative products include palettes that are housed in a ring box style case that houses complementary eye shadows as well as a hidden little tokidoki character on the bottom of the palette. So cute! All the eye shadows are housed in the signature skull and cross bone style to add a little glam to your makeup bag.

At first glance, the tokidoki makeup line is adorable. The innovative packaging embodies the signature tokidoki style and I love the attention to detail such as the hidden tokidoki key chain characters in the palettes and in the top of the lipgloss. What makes this line different is that it combines innovative design and the tokidoki style with professional grade Sephora quality makeup. From what I’ve tried, I’ve been impressed with the fact that tokidoki was able to create a hybrid between the novelty of the tokidoki line and the quality of the Sephora brand.

Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, 30-Day Nutrition Challenge

Erika, one of the participants in our 30-Day Nutrition Challenge writes that she is suffering a bit living a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, caffeine-free, alcohol-free and processed foods-free existence. I think she is reacting to the … Read more

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-It’s still touch and go for Poison frontman Bret Michaels. The “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” crooner suffered a severe brain hemorrhage on Friday and remains hospitalized in San Antonio. Bandanas everywhere continue to fly at half-staff. …..

-When Miriam Starobin saw that her best friend, Allyson Golden, was choking on a dislodged piece of gum during music class this week, the 12-year-old Long Islander used her favorite cartoon for the inspiration to spring into action. “The first thing I did was channel SpongeBob. I saw SpongeBob do the Heimlich,” Starobin told Good Day NY on Friday…..

–In WTF News: A restaurant in Australia refused a blind man entry because the establishment’s managers thought his guide dog was “gay….” Sometimes there simply are no words. Movin’ on!

-Jamie Lee Curtis penned a poignant piece about her late mother, Psycho actress Janet Leigh, for the May issue of MORE Magazine….

-When all else fails, blame the Black guy: A White man charged in connection with six robberies in the Cincinnati, Ohio area used a African-American mask as a disguise during the crimes….

–Melissa Etheridge opened up about her split with wife Tammy Lynn on Friday’s Oprah. The “Come To My Wind” star told the talk show queen their split was mutual and blasted tabloid banter claiming she cheated on Tammy….

-Jeremy London, former star of Party of Five and 7th Heaven, reveals his drug hell…

-A North Carolina town popularly known as “Mayberry with a beach” has banned swimmers from wearing thongs….

-Watch your backs, Snooki and JWoww, the original Jersey girls are making a comeback — The Real Housewives of New Jersey return to Bravo on May 3. In this clip for the forthcoming second season of the popular docu-soap, accused “prostitution whore” Danielle Staub consults with a priest about the drama she’s been having with the other housewives. Visit Bravo.com for a litany of Season 2 video sneak peeks:

This is without a doubt one of the coolest apps of any kind on any platform. The latest update just made it even better. There is now a picture gallery with photos taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. This app now has “Magnetic Correction” to fix the angles of the stars to more accurately depict how it would look if you were looking directly at them. I highly recommend this app for any Android user.

Market description:

Google Sky Map: A star map for Android.

Google Sky Map turns your Android-powered mobile phone into a window on the night sky.

New in 1.4: Support for Samsung Behold. Minor performance improvements.

Keywords: planetarium, astronomy, skymap

Find us on Twitter: @googleskymap
Web site: http://www.google.com/sky/skymap

This update is long overdue. Those of you that have used this app know it’s not that good, and that’s disappointing for an official app. You would think the app from the company itself would be the best but that is often not the way it is. V1.2 brings with it the ability to access your inbox and notifications. Are you excited yet? This feels like when MMS was finally made available on the iPhone. This basic feature should’ve been there from the beginning.

The announcement of this update was made on the official page for the app. There are already a lot of users posting on their page how unhappy they are with this update. It seems as though it’s still subpar for most. Personally, I don’t use it a lot. How is it working for you? What do feel is still missing? Scan the qr code and give it a whirl.

(This is a guest post from the author’s blog.)

No group in America has been hit harder during the current recession than young adults.  Millions of Americans are graduating from college with virtually no money, lots of debt and with very dim employment prospects.  Those who don’t go to college are even worse off.  All their lives these young Americans were taught if they studied hard, got an education and worked within the system that good jobs and the American Dream would be waiting for them.  But now millions of them are realizing that all of their studying and hard work is not providing them with the rewards that they always thought they would get.  This is causing large numbers of young American adults to become depressed and disillusioned.  In fact, record numbers of them are moving back in with their parents.  But without decent jobs, what are they supposed to do?  

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March the national rate of unemployment in the United States was 9.7%, but for Americans younger than 25 it was 18.8%.  In fact, according to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37% of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or underemployed at some point during the recession.

Things are even worse for those under the age of 20.  According to a new report based on U.S. Census Bureau data, only 26 percent of American teens between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs in late 2009 which represents a record low since statistics began to be kept back in 1948.

But the inability to get good jobs is only part of the story….

*The Pew Research Center study also found that only 61% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are covered by some form of a health plan.

*According to a National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey, only 58% of those in “Generation Y” pay their monthly bills on time.

*Not only that, but according to a November MetLife poll, nearly 70% of those in “Generation Y” are not building up a cash cushion, and 43% are accumulating too much credit card debt.

*According to Fidelity Investments, those in Generation Y have more than three credit cards on average, and 20 percent of them carry a balance of at least $10,000.

So what does all this mean?

It means we are raising a generation of young Americans that are a financial mess. 

But isn’t that our own fault?

After all, most young Americans have never received any formal training on how to manage their money, and the role models of financial responsibility they do have (the rest of us) are hardly worth emulating.

But if each generation of Americans is becoming increasingly financially irresponsible, what does that mean for the future of this nation?

Don’t miss: 10 Countries On The Verge Of A Crippling Demographic Crisis

Join the conversation about this story »

Filed under: China, Beijing Motor Show, Off-Road

“Hand-crafted” can be something of a double edged sword in the car business. Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins are hand-made treasures that show off their artisans’ decades of experience. The attention to detail is obsessive.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are machines that look like they were haphazardly slapped together by some drunken hack in a toolshed. This Dongfeng “Hummer” falls solidly into the latter category.

The Beijing Motor Show presented our first opportunity to see one up close. Now, love ’em or hate ’em, a real H1 has that genuine military-industrial chic going for it. This vehicle, however, was a hot mess of the first order. The tires had painted-on whitewalls that looked as if they were applied by someone with a five-minute deadline, a paintbrush, and a gallon jug of Wite-Out. Truly, it’s something very special to behold.

Photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Beijing 2010: Dongfeng shows off whitewalled, hand-crafted “Hummer” originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call off the press conference: The climate change and energy bill that Sen. Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and Lindsey Graham worked on for months won’t be unveiled Monday as planned.

“I want to thank Senator Graham for his contribution to writing the American Power Act and I regret that allegations of partisan politics will prevent us from introducing the bill on Monday as planned,” Lieberman said. 

“I know from all of our work over the past year that Senator Graham shares our commitment to this bill that will create American jobs, move us closer to energy independence, and reduce pollution.  I look forward to Senator Graham rejoining our efforts after we work through the concerns that are preventing us from advancing a cause the three of us believe in so deeply.

“I remain committed to the American Power Act and am excited about what passage of the bill will do to promote energy security and invigorate our economy.  I will not give up and will continue to work with Senator Kerry, Senator Graham, and the broad coalition of industry and environmental support this bill has generated to pass the American Power Act this year.”

Looking for a better navigation experience on your Android device? Garmin’s entry into the Android game may the device you’ve been waiting for. this phone promises to have great navigation features that many of may feel Google Maps is lacking.

The guys over at Tmonews have gotten their hands on some pictures of the handset in the wild. I don’t know about you but no matter what the device is, I love pictures of things that haven’t hit the market yet. The device looks pretty cool and the box art is eye catching as well. head over for the full picture gallery and post your thoughts on the device here.

Rumor alert, Cisco may be entering the Android game. This rumored was pieced together during a recent CNET podcast. They received a tipped that said Cisco may be working on a 7 inch Android tablet that will be centered around audio, video and WebEx.

Along with the possible outing of the tablet, a few specs were also leaked. This device has a front-facing video camera, dual microphones with noise cancellation, and VPN support. This tablet will be marketed towards business people who want to have a secure portal to their office. It’s refreshing to see more companies adopting Android and putting their own flavor into the OS.

[via slashgear]

The world of Windows Phones changed when the 7 was added to the end, and it seems every graphic designer has been trying to replicate this change by bring the look and feel of “7” to “6.” This new theme was created by nickschot over at XDA, and why is it special? Well it comes with 3 different sections and more coming soon.

The bootscreen gives you the feeling of WP7S whenever you start your device.

The 6.5.X theme keeps that feeling going through your menus, and even through curtain application.

The start menu mod changes the layout of the menu, and changes the background and selector color.

The titanium theme, dialer theme, and lockscreen theme will be available very soon, but for the time being I think we have enough WP7S feeling for now. I mean I will not personally install this on my device because I am not a huge fan of WP7S look and feel, but a lot of readers are, so hopefully you enjoy this.

Download it

Renewable Energy World has an article on expanding the use of biogas in the gas network, taking a detailed look at experience in Germnay – Cleaning up the Gas Grid.

In Germany electricity production from renewable sources is supported at a special rate as set out under the renewable energy law (EEG). This special rate applies to electricity produced from biogas transmitted through the natural gas grid, but is also increased by an additional bonus for use of innovative technology, such as biogas upgrading. In addition, a new law on heating with renewable energies came into effect in 2009, which requires new buildings to be heated with a share of at least 20% of renewable sources or combined heat and power (CHP). Furthermore, there is a negotiated environmental agreement by the gas utilities in Germany to add at least 10% biogas to natural gas for vehicle fuel (LPG) in 2010 and 20% by 2020.

The main operational advantages of biogas feed-in to the natural gas distribution grid are that the biogas can be used at higher energy efficiency where the waste heat can be used. In addition, by using the gas grid for virtual storage, time-decoupling between biogas production and consumption can also be achieved.

In spring 2008 the energy utility Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW), together with its gas grid subsidiary Erdgas Südwest (ESW), began operations at a new facility, upgrading biogas and feeding it into to the natural gas grid. The bio-methane is produced in co-operation with an agricultural company of 20 farmers who own and operate the fermentation biogas plant and procure the biomass. The gas is produced by the farmers and sold to EnBW-ESW, which ensures the quality necessary in the gas distribution system, the measurement required for invoicing and deals with transport to the customer. Around 5 million Nm3 of raw biogas is upgraded annually to around 2.8 million Nm3 of biogas at natural gas quality and fed into the gas grid.

In conventional biogas plants in Germany the biogas is burnt in a co-located reciprocating-engine. This is normally in a rural area, where heat demand is very restricted. While some 15%–20% of the exhaust heat is consumed by the fermenter, in most cases the rest is difficult to sell and, as a consequence, the efficiency of biogas plants is limited. However, even under EEG-tariffs for electricity production, without heat sales it is becoming more and more difficult to achieve the economic operation of a biogas plant. Conversely, if biogas can be transported to a heat sink, a CHP plant can utilize the bioenergy much more efficiently and can supply heat at a better value and so at a higher income. If the biogas is to be transported in the wider natural gas grid, it has to be upgraded to meet the quality needed for the grid.

Technology Review has an article on research into combining ultracapacitors with thin film solar – Big Energy Storage in Thin Films.

Energy storage devices called ultracapacitors can be recharged many more times than batteries, but the total amount of energy they can store is limited. This means that the devices are useful for providing intense bursts of power to supplement batteries but less so for applications that require steady power over a long period, such as running a laptop or an engine.

Now researchers at Drexel University in Philadelphia have demonstrated that it’s possible to use techniques borrowed from the chip-making industry to make thin-film carbon ultracapacitors that store three times as much energy by volume as conventional ultracapacitor materials. While that is not as much as batteries, the thin-film ultracapacitors could operate without ever being replaced.

These charge-storage films could be fabricated directly onto RFID chips and the chips used in digital watches, where they would take up less space than a conventional battery. They could also be fabricated on the backside of solar cells in both portable devices and rooftop installations, to store power generated during the day for use after sundown. The materials have been licensed by Pennsylvania startup Y-Carbon.

An ultracapacitor is “an electrical energy source that has virtually unlimited lifetime,” says Yury Gogotsi, professor of materials science and engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who led the development of the thin-film ultracapacitors. “It will live longer than any electronic device and never needs to be replaced.” While batteries store and release energy in the form of chemical reactions, which cause them to degrade over time, ultracapacitors work by transferring surface charges. This means they can charge and discharge rapidly, and because the electrode materials aren’t involved in any chemical reactions, they can be cycled hundreds of thousands of times. Researchers have begun developing thin-film ultracapacitor materials but have had difficulty getting high enough total energy storage using practical fabrication methods, says Gogotsi.

Gogotsi’s group uses a high-vacuum method called chemical vapor deposition to create thin films of metal carbides such as titanium carbide on the surface of a silicon wafer. The films are then chlorinated to remove the titanium, leaving behind a porous film of carbon. In each place where a titanium atom was, a small pore is left behind. “The film is like a molecular sponge, where the size of each pore is equal to the size of a single ion,” says Gogotsi. This matching means that when used as the charge-storage material in an ultracapacitor, the carbon films can accumulate a large amount of total surface charge.