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Lena Goh, a spokeswoman for Microsoft in Singapore told PCWorld Microsoft has no plans to bring its newly announced Kin handsets to Asia, despite the large size and relative sophistication of Asian cell-phone markets.

Microsoft is not holding talks with Asian operators to offer the Kin, she said, noting that distribution agreements signed with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone were exclusive.

While Kin is slated to be released in the U.S. and Europe, Microsoft is focusing its Asian mobile efforts on the upcoming release of Windows Phone 7, Goh said.

Vodafone will be carrying the KIN the UK,  Germany, Italy, Spain and Spain by Fall later this year.

“Mobile social networking is increasingly having strong appeal for our customers,” said Patrick Chomet, group director of terminals at Vodafone. “KIN has a unique and intuitive way of engaging with the user, enabling them easily to share experiences and stay in touch with their friends.”

Vodafone has not revealed exact delivery dates or price information.

Like Double-Stuffed Oreos without a tall glass of milk or a bad day that doesn’t get better after a side-splitting episode of The Golden Girls, certain things should be illegal. Add porn parodies of good-natured TV musicals to that list.

FOX’s hit TV musical Glee is about to get a whole lot happier – the show has inspired a porn spinoff from the adult film aficionados at Hustler Video. X-rated lensman Axel Braun has cast a bevy of adult stars to appear in This Ain’t Glee XXX!

“Every character in our porno parody has a singing role!”

[JURIST] The Nebraska Legislature voted 40-9 Monday to approve a bill requiring a heightened level of informed consent and physician assessment of women seeking abortions. The bill would require health care professionals to determine if the woman seeking the abortion had been pressured into the procedure and would also require them to assess the woman for additional risk factors that could lead to mental or physical complications. Physicians would be responsible for assessing any risk factor mentioned in any research article appearing in peer-reviewed journals one year prior to the procedure, and failure to adequately assess a patient would expose the physician to civil charges. According to the bill, factors to be assessed include “physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational” factors. Critics of the bill claim it is too vague and that it would be difficult for physicians to know all the risk factors for which they are responsible. Proponents of the bill state that the type of patient assessment required by the bill for abortions is in line with the assessments required for other medical procedures. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman is expected to sign the bill into law Tuesday. Also Tuesday, the Nebraska legislature is expected to vote on a second bill that would ban abortions after the twentieth week and would narrow the circumstances under which exceptions to the law would be allowed.
If the Nebraska bills become law, they would join recent anti-abortion laws in Oklahoma, which advocacy groups have criticized and promised to challenge in court. The possibility of the Supreme Court hearing a case challenging these laws could have an impact on the confirmation hearings of President Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Mischa Barton was reportedly devastated after her ill-received Easter Sunday “Big Banana Jeans” made her the laughing stock of style blogs and the target of an online smear campaign by her former flame, oil heir (and Elvis doopelganger) Brandon Davis — but Davis has fired back, insisting he never poked fun at ex’s infamous pants or her recent weight gain.

And outraged “Greasy Bear” — who coined the phrase “Firecrotch” to the chagrin of actress Lindsay Lohan — claims he doesn’t even have a Twitter account and is emphatic that he never used the social networking service to hurt Mischa.

“Omg (oh my God). Just realised my ex turned in to 1 of the fattest people on the planet. I’m gonna start dating plus size models. Not! Mischa the Hefer (sic),” read a Tweet that hit cyberspace last Wednesday.

Brandon fumed to In Touch Weekly: “I would never say anything nasty about Mischa, especially about her weight. I am pissed that someone stole my identity and started Twittering things.”

Between the months of June and December last year, “Mr. Mallon” was filming the sun’s activities on a single film cell, which lay forgotten in his back garden. This is the beautiful result. More »

It seems like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration aren’t the only one after Toyota to pay fines. According to a report by USA Today, State Farm Insurance is after the Japanese automaker to repay them for any crashes related to unintended acceleration by its cars.

And it won’t stop there because other insurance companies are expected to follow the move by State Farm for repayment of claims – a move called “subrogation” in the insurance business. All that could end up costing Toyota from $20 million to $30 million, says Mark Bunim, an attorney with Case Closure.

Customers could also see a bonus from the repayments and their insurance deductibles could be refunded.

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide due to two recalls related to unintended acceleration.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: USAToday

Billboards are one thing,  but when palm.com/de tells you that the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus are coming to Germany on April 28th, it’s probably save to stop calling fake and start wondering when other GSM carriers in other countries can get in on the plus action. We’re actually starting to wonder if there’s something fundamentally Teutonic about webOS that can explain the love affair between Palm and the German people.

Actually, the bigger news is that O2 Germany will no longer have an exclusive on the device despite the fact that they’ve arguably tried harder than any other carrier on the planet to make the device a success – with great results. Anyhow, confirming rumors earlier this month, the Pre Plus is coming to Vodafone – in Germany anyway. Don’t count out O2, however, as we hear that they intend on ensuring Telmap navigator will soon be available for webOS. 

Again, it all goes down April 28th, which incidentally is the direction our morale is going as we wait for an actual, firm release date of the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T.

Update: if you love press releases, Palm has one for you.

Update 2: Title fixed (and yes, we’re tired of this alliteration). Good news for UK webOS lovers: Electric Pig reports that O2 UK says it’s coming.

Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

Something’s been growing in Nicole Scherzinger’s world since her rise to fame with The Pussycat Dolls — and we’re not talking about her bank balance.

The leggy brunette is tango-ing up a storm on the latest season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars — and InTouch Weekly spies couldn’t help but notice that she’s looking a bit chesticular.

Could just be a really good push-up bra, no?

(Sidebar: Isn’t it a tad bit unfair to put a girl who dances for a living up against way clumsier celebs on DWTS? Oh well, guess it’s not the first time it’s happened…)

Thousands are expected to converge on downtown Los Angeles early Tuesday to honor LAPD Officer Robert J. Cottle, killed March 24 in Afghanistan while on Marine Reserve duty.

Cottle, 45, was traveling with three other Marines
in the Marja region of the country, which has been the focus of an
intense U.S.-led offensive against Taliban forces in recent weeks.

Their armored vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, killing
Cottle and another Marine and seriously wounding the two others, said LAPD Capt. John Incontro, who oversees SWAT operations. 

Here are details about the memorial:

TRAFFIC

The funeral procession will start at the new LAPD headquarters and end at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Portions of 1st Street, Broadway, Spring Street, Temple Street, Hill Street, and Grand Avenue will be closed as early as 6 a.m., according to the LAPD.

TRANSPORTATION

Metro bus service in downtown Los Angeles will be affected.

A funeral procession will begin at 8:45 a.m. at the Police Administration Building, located at 100 W. 1st St., and will proceed to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 555 W. Temple St.

Numerous Metro bus lines in the Civic Center area will be detoured from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., at which time bus service will return to its regular schedules. Metro bus lines affected by the detours will include:

2, 4, 10, 14, 30, 31, 37, 40, 42, 42A, 45, 48, 55, 60, 68, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81, 83, 84, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 302, 333, 355, 439, 445, 485, 487, 489, 714, 730, 740, 745, 770, 794 and Silver Line, according to the L.A. Department of Transportation.

Cottle, who joined the LAPD in 1990 and won a coveted SWAT position six years later, is the first active LAPD officer to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, police officials said.



A veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq, Cottle had deployed to Afghanistan in August last year and was scheduled to return home this summer. Officers recalled a friend who stood out even in the rarefied air of SWAT for the intensity he brought to the LAPD’s most demanding assignment and the care he showed for other officers who had turned him into one of the unit’s leaders.

–Shelby Grad

Photo: LAPD

If you’re like millions of Americans, you might be wondering when your federal tax refund will arrive. Of course, if you’re like me, there’s no need to wonder because you haven’t even filed your taxes yet. There’s still two more days!

These days you don’t have to wonder about your federal tax refund status. You can check the status of your federal tax return on the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) website. It’s also possible to check the status of your return by phone by calling the IRS TeleTax System at 1-800-829-4477 or the IRS Refund Hotline at 1-800-829-1954.

If you e-filed your taxes, your refund information is available about 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your e-filed return. If you mailed a paper return, it takes 3-4 weeks until the information is available.

And as always be alert and don’t fall for any tax refund scams or fraud. The IRS never requests detailed personal information through e-mail, and they don’t send e-mail requesting your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.

You probably have had your battery-powered remote-controlled monster truck drive up your street before. Well, some kids in the Long Beach area built their own toy emote-control vehicles and had them go solar powered instead, and lined them up for a race amidst cheers and applause at the Good Neighbor Park. The 5th District Solar and Sustainability Task Force and Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske came up with the idea of this race. These kids racked their brains and built the cars themselves, with parts and material provided.

Styrofoam, wood, plastic and aluminum cars with solar panels and motors were flagged off. Though the weather looked dull, and the sun tried to disappoint the crowd by hiding away behind the clouds, most of these cars crossed the finish line. Some of them didn’t manage to compete though. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Michael Schumacher drive a solar powered Ferrari?

Electricity grids of the future will see an overhaul in the way they work and function. The process by which electricity is transferred to our homes will soon see a change; future electricity grids will be smarter, save costs and reduce pollution levels too. Appliances in future will also turn off in time to save up energy. Renewable energy will satisfy around 20% of needs, using solar power and wind power.

Besides this, homes with solar panels will also be connected to the grid, to distribute additional energy produced. Smarter appliances connected to these future smart grids will automatically turn on and operate at times when the electricity cost is low. So, having your washing machine turn on automatically at midnight will not be so surprising at all. Smart meters will also charge different electricity rates depending on the time of the day. With grids like these, cities will save up astronomical amounts of energy and costs in future.

[Physorg]

The hottest Taiwanese chubster on the web is back – and this time he’s dancing!

Lin Yu-Chun (AKA “Little Fatty”), the male soprano dubbed Taiwan’s Susan Boyle, shot to fame after his rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” became a YouTube hit last week.

The video has been viewed more than four million times.

Oddly enough, the Internet sensation failed to impress judges in the latest round of the Idol-esque talent show and was booted off the series after a lackluster performance last weekend.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the Chinese company who is set to buy Volvo from FoMoCo, said that it expects losses at the Swedish automaker to end as early as the fourth quarter.

“As far as I know, Volvo is in good operating condition and it’s possible it could break even in the fourth quarter of this year,” Geely CEO Gui Sheng Yue told reporters in Hong Kong.

Geely will pay a total of $1.8 billion for Volvo and its related assets.

The founder of Geely, Li Shufu, recently compared Volvo to a tiger that needs to be freed and no, we’re not kidding. Check out this post here.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

The GM electric battery testing lab is bound to swell up soon, thanks to the company’s $8 million investment. The Global Battery Systems Lab is currently the largest battery testing factory for automobiles in US. A new structure will be built, increasing space from 30,000 square feet to 63,000 square feet. This testing unit will help increase the development of the electric vehicle sector. The facility will also be used to develop technology for use in long range vehicles.

The 1,000 engineers who currently work in the facility will have more hands to work soon since the new facility will require more man-power too. GM is undeniably working towards having more of those clean and green vehicles on our streets soon.

[Inhabitat]

You probably have heard of the tallest building in New York going green. The Empire State Building, with a $500 million renovation, will stand tall with a newly found pride and soon loom greener in the New York skyline. To help power up, the building will have its 6,500 windows retrofitted with an insulating glass. This insulation film developed by Southwall, traps and blocks the suns heat owing to the increased number of cavities within the double glazed windows.

This will help reduce the buildings energy consumption by a sweet 38% annually, saving up $4.4 million in energy bills. The energy saved will be due to a reduced use of cooling systems in the building. Besides this, tenants are also required to change floor plans to use more natural light. The Empire State Building will be a gigantic example to skyscrapers around, to go green.

[BusinessGreen]

It’s Tuesday, MacBook Pros have been rumored for months now, we’ve seen suspicious activity at retailers such as Best Buy…it’s all pointing in one direction. A new iPod Shuffle. No really, could it be new MacBooks? Stay tuned. [Apple] More »

As assistentes de palco do programa Pânico na TV, da Rede TV! prometem ser a sensação da H-Buster, líder no segmento de áudio e vídeo automotivo, durante a 5ª edição do Salão do Carro e Acessórios, que será realizada de 17 a 21 de abril, no Expo Center Norte, em São Paulo. Dani Bolina, Elisiane Benites (Piu-piu), Juliana Salimeni (Juju) e Sandy Capetinha, que compõem o atual time das Paniquetes, como são conhecidas, e as ex-integrantes Gabriela Monteiro e Tania Oliveira, estarão no estande da multinacional, sempre no período da tarde, para tirar fotos e dar autógrafos aos fãs.

A programação da empresa, toda inspirada na Copa do Mundo, inclui ainda, exibições da Princesa das Embaixadas, Karine Duarte, apresentações performáticas das Cheerleaders H-Buster e do Bonde da Seleção H-Buster – dançarinas de funk embaladas ao som de um DJ.

Para Carlos Bizetto, gerente de marketing da H-Buster, o Salão é a melhor vitrine do mercado automobilístico porque reúne as melhores empresas em um único espaço. “Além disso, é voltado, preferencialmente, para o público masculino e nossa expectativa é que todos os visitantes passem no nosso estande nos cinco dias de feira”, ressalta.

No estande de 220 metros quadrados da empresa, o público apaixonado por carros e equipamentos poderá conferir as novidades e produtos como: CD/MP3 players, DVDs players, amplificadores, acessórios e uma completa linha de altofalantes, além dos outros produtos fabricados pela empresa, como as TVs de LCD, navegadores GPS e a grande novidade, os novos notebooks.

Serviço:
Datas e horários: sábado (17/04), das 11h às 21h; domingo (18/04), das 10h às 21h; segunda e terça-feira (19 e 20/04), das 13h às 21h, e quarta-feira (21/04), das 10h às 21h.

Local: Expo Center Norte (Pavilhão Branco)
Endereço: Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333 – Vila Guilherme, São Paulo
Informações: www.salaodeacessorios.com.br

– Paniquetes:
Serão duas horas de fotos e autógrafos com 2 Paniquetes por dia:
– Sábado das 16h às 18h: Dani Bolina e Tania Oliveira.
– Domingo das 15h às 17h: Piu-piu e Gabriela Monteiro.
– Quarta-feira das 16h às 18h: Juliana Salimeni e Sandy Capetinha.

Fonte: Alfapress

Pesquisa sobre financiamento de veículos realizada pela PROTESTE Associação de Consumidores constatou que no banco, negociando bem as taxas, o custo pode sair mais em conta do que a compra na concessionária. E que a venda de carros a prazo sem juros só se aplica para modelos mais caros e em condições muito específicas. O juro zero da porpaganda não significa custo zero.

Pesquisar bem antes da compra pode ser um bom negócio para economizar juros e taxas. Compradores muito ansiosos podem ser prejudicados ao comprar por impulso. A indicação da PROTESTE é comparar o Custo Efetivo Total (CET), que inclui todos os custos do financiamento) em diferentes estabelecimentos e comprar as diversas modalidades.

Os melhores CETs foram encontrados nos bancos e não nas concessionárias. O CET para financiamento via Crédito Direto ao Consumidor (CDC) de um carro de R$ 25 mil a ser pago em 24 vezes com 40% de entrada, variou entre 23 e 42% nas concessionárias. Já nos bancos, o CET para CDC de um carro de R$ 27 mil a ser pago nas mesmas condições variou entre 19 e 39%.

O estudo foi feito com envio de questionários para as quatro maiores montadoras e suas concessionárias (Chevrolet, Fiat, Ford e Volkswagen), para nove bancos e para as cinco administradoras de consórcios mais bem posicionadas no ranking do Banco Central. Também foram feitas simulações pelos sites das empresas.
As conclusões deste estudo são baseadas no financiamento de um carro zero, que custasse entre R$ 24 mil e R$ 27 mil, a ser pago nas seguintes condições:
Com 0% de entrada, em 24 ou 48 meses
Com 40% de entrada, em 24 ou 48 meses

A PROTESTE analisou também os financiamentos que oferecem juro zero. A condição só é verdadeira em raros casos. Em geral, os carros vendidos com juro zero são mais caros e a condição só vale caso o consumidor dê 50% de entrada, parcelando o total em no máximo 24 meses. Além disso, juro zero não significa CET zero. Para financiamento são cobradas taxas de administração e de abertura de crédito que podem ser mais caras que o convencional para “compensar” o juros zero.

Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os CETs para carros financiados via leasing ou CDC (Crédito Direto ao Consumidor) nas concessionárias. Porém, as duas modalidades de financiamento são bastante diferentes. No leasing, por exemplo, a antecipação de parcelas só é possível a partir da 24ª parcela.
Em relação ao prazo é importante lembrar que quanto maior o prazo de financiamento, maior o valor pago com juros. Por permitir a possibilidade de quitação antecipada de dívida, o CDC é a melhor opção para o consumidor quando não há diferença de CET entra as duas modalidades ou quando esta for pequena.

No caso do consórcio, o investimento só vale a pena para quem é sorteado no início. Para comprar um carro de R$ 30 mil, só valeria entrar em um consórcio se sorteado até o 44º mês. Depois do 44º mês, mais valeria depositar o valor da parcela em uma poupança ou em um fundo de renda fixa. Como não dá para saber quando será sorteado, é mais garantido fazer uma reserva de dinheiro por conta própria para comprar o carro sem pagar juros, em vez de entrar em um consórcio.

A compra de carro usado também deve ser feita com calma. A pesquisa constatou que os preços e condições para os carros usados variam muito até mesmo dobrando a esquina. Em uma concessionária encontramos um Celta 2007 com ar condicionado, trio elétrico e direção hidráulica pelo mesmo preço de outro Celta 2007 básico, inclusive com mais quilômetros rodados vendidos por uma concorrente no mesmo bairro.

A PROTESTE orienta que o consumidor simule o financiamento nos bancos além das opções de financiamento oferecidas pelas concessionárias. Assim, quando tiver o menor CET poderá voltar à concessionária ou ao banco, negociar melhores condições e fechar negócio.

Fonte: Proteste

You probably haven’t realized it, but moving your lawn does pollute air. They cause 5-10% of USA’s air pollution, due to petrol use. Petrol powered lawn movers also consume 2.2 billion liters of petrol annually. So to save up on energy, Colorado based Clean Air Lawn Care is using electric lawn movers, powered by solar panels. These solar powered lawn movers help the company save up around USD $10,000 annually on petrol, spending less than USD $500 to charge them up with. The company claims to have avoided 34 tons of air pollution in 2009.

[Image for representation only]

The next time you decide to move your lawn, give it a thought, and use an electric solar powered machine instead, and save up on your bucks while keeping the air clean.

[Energy Matters]