WHAT:

Top executives from Latin America’s most influential transit agencies will hold the first official meeting and opening ceremony for the launch of the Latin American Association for Bus Rapid Transit and Integrated Transport Systems or Asociación Latinoaméricana de Sistemas BRT y Sistemas Integrados de Transporte (ALABRT). Participants include the presidents and senior staff of 17 transit agencies from cities in Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Chile. Officials from Bogota’s Transmilenio in Columbia and Curitiba’s RIT in Brazil, two of the region’s most successful BRT systems, will also be present. The three-day event is hosted by Mayor of Curitiba Carlos Alberto Richa, sponsored by the Andean Development Corporation, and organized by the World Resources Institute’s EMBARQ Network.

WHEN:

Wednesday, April 14 to April 16, 2010

WHERE:

Av. Cândido de Abreu, 817 – Centro Cívico – Curitiba/PR.

WHO:

Carlos Alberto Richa, Mayor of Curitiba, and Eduardo Guimarães, Curitiba’s secretary of international relations, will host the association’s first meeting and launch ceremony.

Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitiba and renowned architect and urban planner, will be named Honorary President of ALABRT.

Luis Antonio Lindau, president of EMBARQ’s Center for Sustainable Transport in Brazil (CTS-Brasil)

Luis Gutierrez, EMBARQ’s director for Latin America

WHY:

ALABRT seeks to promote sustainable transport in Latin America by helping transit agencies share knowledge and build the capacity needed to improve the quality of their services, foster an efficient and competitive transport industry, and develop solutions to improve health, quality of life and economic competitiveness in Latin American cities.

RSVP:

Rejane Fernandes, CTS-Brasil communications coordinator
+55 (51) 3312-6324 or rfernandes@ctsbrasil.org

With a 20-20 vote, a bill that would set rules for entertainment ticket sales died in the judiciary committee Monday.

It was a tie vote even after the committee amended the bill, deleting its most controversial provision.

The original version of the bill would have required entertainment ticket venues with more than 3,000 seats to share with the public the total number of tickets available for an event, the number of tickets released to the public and the number of unavailable tickets.

That was the provision that was deleted, and it was the part of the bill that entertainment venues loudly opposed.

The state’s venues said that entertainment choices in Connecticut would be limited because the hottest stars would not come to the state. Venues said the stars would not want to report how they distribute tickets. 

The venues, and the state’s economy as a whole, would suffer, opponents said.

The secondary ticket market, however, supported the bill. They say the bill, particularly the section that lawmakers deleted, would better protect consumers and provide industry transparency.  

The amended bill kept language that would require venues to allow season ticket holders to resell their tickets without penalty. It also included a ban on the use or sale of software designed to circumvent security measures used to ensure equitable purchasing. Under the bill, violating the ban would have been a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Below are links to news stories of interest from newspapers that came up during a search today.  These links were active at the time of this e-mail, but should you want to save a story, printing it or cutting and pasting the entire article and saving it to your computer is recommended.  

State News  

Interest groups gear up for fight with legislators over funding  As a result, interest groups across the state, led by unions representing state workers and teachers, have begun deploying an arsenal of persuasion tools on lawmakers who will begin the final stretch of the legislative session this week. They plan to cap the effort with a rally in Springfield April 21 – perhaps the biggest of its kind in city history.   

State now behind $1 million in payments to Harrisburg schools
Harrisburg Daily –  About $400,000 of that amount is in the Transportation Fund. That fund will need a cash infusion to meet April payments, Smith said. The school board in January authorized Tax Anticipation Warrants – borrowing against future taxes — in case any funds dipped too low. “But I delayed that because we got an infusion of cash   

Check may almost be in the mail to Rochester schools   ROCHESTER — The Rochester School District may finally be getting the $10.1 million in Illinois school construction grant money it’s been waiting eight years to receive.   

SD227 board member still fighting for civil rights
Chicago Daily Southtown – In 1961, David Morgan fled the Jim Crow South in search of a better education in Chicago.  Nearly a half-century later, the 68-year-old educator says his freedom of speech has again been denied, his civil rights violated.  “We are fighting another civil rights battle here in the south suburbs,” Morgan said.  This battle is being waged not by white authority, but black – the troubled school board that oversees three high schools in Rich Township School District 227.   

Dist. 204 parents pushing for education funding reform
Chicago Daily Herald -Two months ago, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials fought the battle for state education funding with signs in their own front yard. Now, parents say, they’re taking the fight to Springfield. For three days in February, every sign at each of the district’s 33 schools told any   

District 200 teachers pay frozen in first year of new pact
Chicago Daily Herald – A tentative two-year contract that freezes most teacher salaries for one year is likely to win approval Wednesday from the Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 school board. If ratified, the pact will take effect July 1.   

District: Is 6 elementaries 1 too many for Urbana?
Champaign News Gazette –  The Urbana school board will begin talking at a special meeting Tuesday about whether the district should close one of its six elementary schools.   

RIF ripples: Much still unresolved after budget-related layoffs
Champaign News Gazette – Francinna Wright is in her 10th year of teaching young children at Urbana’s Washington Early Childhood school. She loves the close-knit atmosphere at her building, where many of the teachers have worked together for years. Her teaching style, the classroom setup and the units she teaches are all well-established. But because state funding for early-childhood programs   

Feds funds keeping preschool programs above water
Champaign News Gazette – Though state funding for early childhood education programs is still up in the air, Danville school officials said they will be able to offer at least 140 preschool seats in the upcoming school year, thanks in part to the continuation 

State cuts imperil preschool program   Northwest Herald – Pat Quinn and the Illinois State Board of Education, grants for District 19’s preschool program would be cut by 25 percent to 30 percent. …  

Kadner to receive lifetime achievement award
Southtown Star – His outrage is chronicled in literally hundreds of columns, which earned him the Illinois Education Association’s Hero in Education Award. …  

Kaneland teachers, school board to meet
DeKalb Daily Chronicle – the Kaneland School District may be nearing a deal that could avert some of the job losses planned at schools in Elburn, Sugar Grove, Maple Park and Montgomery. Representatives of the Kaneland Education Association are scheduled to meet with the Kaneland District 302 Board of Education on Monday, April 12, before the regular school board meeting   

Teachers Await Grade Level Survey
Mount Prospect Journal – have pushed back finalization of a survey to gauge teacher and staff views of grade level centers in River Trails Elementary School Dist. 26. Supt. Dr. Dane Delli said he, along with River Trails Education Association President Ann Forman and board member Alex Carrillo, are setting up a date most likely for sometime next week to get together and construct the survey.   

Creve Coeur to use stimulus on laptops
Peoria Journal Star – opportunity to enrich and support the middle school experience.” The district is among 15 Illinois school districts that will get $10 million in federal grants to enhance literacy and math education with technology. The money will pay for items such as laptop computers, computer notebooks and other “one-to-one” technological devices.   

Local School District Among 15 Getting Millions in Technology Grants
WGIL AM Radio 14 (Galesburg) –  Fifteen Illinois school districts, including one in Warren County, will get $10 million in federal grants to enhance literacy and math education with technology. The federal stimulus money will pay for items such as laptop computers, computer notebooks and other “one-to-one” technological devices.   

SD227 shares in $10 M in technology grants
Matteson Richton Park Star – Rich Township High School District 227 is among 15 illinois school districts that share $10 million in federal grants to enhance literacy and math education with technology. The federal stimulus money will pay for items such as laptop computers, 

Florida’s bold move
Chicago Tribune Editorial – The legislature’s move has teachers unions up in arms. Andy Ford, the president of the Florida Education Association, told Education Week that his group would work to shake up the make-up of the legislature. “We’re looking toward the November elections, where we’d repeal and reform the legislation, if we can change some seats in the Senate and the House,” Ford said.  Despite enormous pressure, legislators have sent a message that they’re committed to breathtaking reform. Their boldness is refreshing, a template we hope Illinois emulates.

Recession hits ‘private public’ schools, too
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – A study published last month by a nonprofit think-tank, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, reported that more than 1.7 million American children attend “private public schools” – filled with predominately white children, with less than 5 percent coming from low-income homes. In Illinois, 45 of the 60 schools deemed “private publics” are in the suburbs.   

U Of I Tuition Hike May Not Be As Bad As Thought
Chicago WBBH (CBS) 2 – That would be about $10,337 a year in Champaign, plus room and board. At UIC, tuition would be about $9,092, and in Springfield $8,068. Quinn has suggested an income tax “surcharge” to restore education funding for schools and universities, but his proposed budget calls for cutting education funding by $1.3 billion. Ikenberry said Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget would not chop   

School for blind, deaf children to stay open
Chicago Tribune – through local schools or special education co-ops. The Rock Center is one of many schools being stung by a recession that has diminished state revenue and property taxes, forcing numerous teacher layoffs. But although traditional school districts are able to fall back on property tax revenue, the Rock Center relies entirely on the state.   

After $8.5 million in cuts over past three years, Quincy School Board members …   Quincy Herald Whig – Quinn is going to follow through with what he said,” School Board Vice President Tom Dickerson said. “You’re talking about another $2 million or $3 million …   

Grayslake District 46: Teachers union deal helps save programs
Chicago Daily Herald – and standard step increases account for the 2.75 percent average. With the concessions already approved by the Grayslake Federation of Teachers union members, the agreement will go before District 46 school board for official approval April 28. District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll said Friday the teachers’ willingness to accept reduced raises will benefit students next year.

Political News

General Assembly returns to full plate
Chicago Daily Southtown – From Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed income tax increase to managing the state’s roughly $13 billion deficit, Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield this week with a hefty plate of unsettled measures before them. 

 Illinois Still Behind On Its Bills   Chicago Public Radio –  Governor Pat Quinn has lobbied hard to raise the income tax rate but the legislature appears unlikely to go along with him at this time.  

Bernard Schoenburg: Brady’s margin of victory grows a bit   The State Journal-Register – ? Pat Quinn, 7 percent for some other candidate and 10 percent unsure. Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, NC, also revealed results from a poll of 591 Illinois …  

Illinoisans must end tolerance of corruption   Bloomington Pantagraph – ?Pat Quinn is banking on ethics being a key issue in November’s gubernatorial election. Simon, a law professor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, …   

The Illinois spiral  Chicago Tribune Editorial – History often occurs with such bombast that we couldn’t miss it if we tried: a climactic battle, a pivotal court decree, the inauguration of an African-American president. Other times, history evolves quietly via the Law of Accumulation: Little things add up.   

Judge may unveil Blagojevich document  A federal judge says he may make public large portions of a sealed document outlining the government’s corruption case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.   

Judge with Chicago ties is on Supreme Court short list
Chicago Tribune – Blackmun for articulating in Roe and other cases “the important insight that a core set of individual rights exist that neither the states nor the federal government may trample.” At a 2005 law school lecture in New York, Wood also took direct aim at the notion that jurists need follow a strict and literal path in interpreting the meaning of the Constitution, a dearly held principle   

Lucky fix for schools without raising taxes
Chicago Daily Herald – Gov. Quinn brought the people of Illinois to the proverbial fork in the road and has presented us with two options: Either raise our income tax 1 percent or cut education. I have a better solution. The adult population of Illinois is around 9.5 million people. If my calculations are correct, 1.3 billion divided by 9.5 million equals about 136 one-dollar lottery tickets per adult.   

National News

TIME.com Today’s Top Stories

Can Obama Make Progress on Global Nuclear Security?

A Washington summit on securing nuclear materials will be largely about symbolic declarations and non-binding promises. But hawks and doves agree that it’s better than nothing

 

Why Republicans Aren’t Spoiling for a Supreme Court Fight

If Republicans believe there is political hay to be made over the fight to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, they didn’t show it in speeches at this past weekend’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans

 

Study: Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior

Many parents have found that a swift whack is sometimes the only way to get a child to behave, but a new study says it is bad in the long run

 

Is the Stock Market Headed Back Down?

An interview with David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto

 

Massacre Prompts Debate Over India’s Maoists War

A horrific massacre of paramilitary forces by Maoist guerrillas is part of a conflict that is increasingly about prosperous India versus poor India

After Stevens: The Long and Short of Obama’s SCOTUS Nominee Lists

Here is the unofficial list of other names from one outside group that is keeping a close eye on the President’s team as they work to reach a decision.

 

Can Hatoyama Be Japan’s Change Agent — At Home and Abroad?

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wants a more equal relationship with Washington, but nobody’s quite sure what that means

 

Questioning a Proposed Anti-Bullying Law

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is renewing her calls for the state to enact strong anti-bullying legislation.

 

What Would Henry Luce Make of the Digital Age?

The author of a new biography of Henry Luce wonders how the Time Inc. founder would meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century 

Word of the Day for Monday, April 12, 2010

neologism \nee-OLL-uh-jiz-um\, noun:

1. A new word or expression.
2. A new use of a word or expression.
3. The use or creation of new words or expressions.
4. (Psychiatry) An invented, meaningless word used by a person with a psychiatric disorder.
5. (Theology) A new view or interpretation of a scripture.

Sony is unveiling the newest addition to its CineAlta line of high-end acquisition systems: the SRW-9000PL camcorder. The new model expands the capabilities of Sony’s previously announced SRW-9000, adding a 35mm imager and PL mount to increase its flexibility and offer shooters more image creation options.

“Demand for digital shooting with a 35mm size sensor is rising for both motion picture and prime-time TV drama productions, two areas where our F35 has had great success,” said Chris Marchitelli, senior manager of CineAlta and Production Systems at Sony Electronics.

“This new model’s S35mm one-chip CCD sensor and PL lens mount are similar to the F35, so it combines the SR portability of the 9000 with the high-end optics of the F35, giving DPs an incredibly powerful and versatile tool for creating any ‘look’ they need.”

The SRW-9000PL offers full RGB image capturing (without color sub-sampling), ultra-wide dynamic range (over 12 T-stops), variable speed (SR Motion) with speed ramp capability, S-Log and HyperGamma capability. The camcorder is capable of 4:2:2 10-bit recording at 1080/23.98PsF, 24PsF, 25PsF, 29.97PsF, and 1080/50i, 59.94i. It can also record 4:2:2 1080/50P as standard configuration. The range of option boards developed for the SRW-9000 (2/3-inch version) can also be used with the SRW-9000PL (S35mm version) for additional performance and functionality.

• The HKSR-9001 HD-SDI expansion board adds dual-link HD-SDI outputs and an extra AUX input port, which works as an HD-SDI audio input for providing connectivity to an external audio multiplexing device. This allows users to multiplex up to 12 channels of audio to the HD-SDI input. The latest firmware version of the HKSR-9001 also provides 3G HD-SDI output capability.
• The HKSR-9002 picture cache board enables the camcorder to capture and record images with variable speed (SR Motion capability) from 1 to 50 fps. With this board, the camcorder can continuously record up to three seconds of images while the camcorder is in stand-by mode. When the record button is pushed, the stored images are recorded to HDCAM SR tape and the camcorder can continue recording in real time.
• With the HKSR-9003 RGB 4:4:4 processing board, the camcorder offers full-bandwidth digital 4:4:4 high-definition RGB recording and output capability. The option also offers S-LOG Gamma, essentially a “digital negative,” allowing users to tailor their images during post-production in the same way they would in a film-based work flow.

Both the SRW-9000 and the SRW-9000PL will be available with an upgrade path to Sony’s next-generation high-speed memory recording system. In addition, Sony will also offer a 35mm upgrade kit (HKSR-90PL) for the SRW-9000 2/3 inch imaging system. The SRW-9000PL camcorder and the HKSR-90PL are planned to be available in the fall, with suggested list pricing of approximately $125,000 and approximately $60,000 respectively.

(press release, pdf)

Now that we have seen and heard most of what these two devices are about, what do our readers think?

Now I know these handsets are limited and not suitable for smartphone users, but I find the UI concepts very interesting, and certainly much more so that the tiles in Windows Phone 7.  The Kin Spot in particularly is interesting, as well as Kin Studio, which has My Phone well and truly beat.

Would you recommend this handset to your Facebook-obsessed friends or is it too limited with too many unanswered questions? Let us know below.

Notre Dame Associate Professor of Law Paolo Carozza will spend the spring 2011 semester in Italy as a Fulbright scholar, working from the University of Florence on a book about the jurisprudence of the Italian Constitutional Court.

“My goal is to bring the work of the Italian Constitutional Court (ICC) to the attention of the English-speaking legal academy,” says Carozza, the son of Italian immigrants and an internationally known expert in the fields of comparative law, human rights, and international law. “Comparative constitutional studies, including the leading textbooks in the field, include little or no reference to the ICC…[even though] the ICC has arguably represented one of the strongest, best developed, and creative examples of constitutional judicial review anywhere.”

Carozza will collaborate with Andrea Simoncini, full professor of constitutional law at the University of Florence. The two met in 2004 during Carozza’s tenure as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Italy in 2004, and worked together again in spring 2009 when Simoncini held the Notre Dame Fulbright Chair. “The idea for this project was conceived and developed together during [Simoncini’s] stay here at Notre Dame,” says Carozza. “This project is literally a direct fruit of the Fulbright ideal of scholarly exchange.”

A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1996, Carozza is actively involved in the Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR), and serves as director of the doctoral program in international human rights law. He earned both his bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard, and pursued graduate studies at Cambridge University and at Harvard Law School as a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public International Law. After law school, he served as a judicial clerk for the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia and worked as an associate at the Washington, D.C., law firm Arnold & Porter. Carozza regularly teaches, publishes, and lectures in Italy.

For more information about Professor Carozza, visit his faculty profile page.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Participants contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

More features

By John F. Terzano

San Francisco’s top public defender, Jeff Adachi, recently called for the city’s crime lab to become independent of the police department. This announcement comes on the heels of a series of scandals in the San Francisco Police Department’s forensic laboratory initiated by the discovery that a criminalist was stealing cocaine from evidence storage facilities. What initially seemed to be a problem with one unethical employee has led to the unearthing of myriad problems within the lab, including two cases of tainted DNA samples. Moreover, a troubling audit was released showing an improper maintenance of chain of custody of evidence, inadequate record keeping, and a lack of cleanliness in the overall facility. Multiple legal challenges raised in the aftermath of the scandal, including a murder case, have pointed to the possibility that police and prosecutors withheld vital information about the drug thefts from defendants’ attorneys.

Adachi is right to push for an independent crime lab. The majority of publicly operated crime labs are part of a law enforcement agency. As a result, crime lab employees may come to see themselves as part of a crime fighting team, rather than objective agents of science. Given that many forensic examinations involve subjective interpretations of data, the risk for bias is greater when the lab is structurally part of law enforcement. Independent crime labs help to ensure that analysts operate maintain an impartial environment to ensure accurate, unbiased and reliable testing. The National Academies of Science recognized these concerns when they recently recommended that laboratories become independent of law enforcement agencies.

Independence alone, however, will not guarantee objective, reliable science. Substantive and consistent oversight plays a key role in ensuring that crime labs maintain high standards of accuracy, reliability, and objectivity. Each state has a compelling interest in maintaining stringent scientific standards, and relying on private accreditation programs with infrequent site reviews does not provide the level of oversight necessary when so much is at stake.

Heightened oversight of forensic laboratories is one of the most important recommendations The Justice Project makes in its policy review, Improving the Practice and Use of Forensic Science. States need an independent oversight commission for forensic crime labs that can set and enforce quality standards and provide more rigorous, ongoing oversight of forensic testing to ensure that the labs operates with the highest scientific standards. Such a commission could ensure that all lab employees have the proper training and appropriate professional certifications. Furthermore, the commission could implement safeguards against inadvertent bias in forensic analysis which would promote the objectivity and reliability of forensic testing and analysis.

Given the increasing use and importance of forensic evidence in the criminal justice system, it is imperative that the crime labs function accurately, objectively, and reliably. Both independence and ongoing quality oversight of forensic laboratories will increase the fairness and accuracy of the criminal justice system and help reduce the risk of wrongful convictions. Forensic science can be a powerful tool. Only by implementing meaningful structural reform will we acknowledge the importance of what is at stake.

I hit the streets of New York with a video camera, asking taxi drivers, youths, store owners and chicks eating donuts, “What’s the worst company in America?” Most people laughed and said, “Worst company?” — and then thought real hard and gave us some answers, answers which may shock you! This video has subtitles so you can watch it at work without anyone knowing.

For a town that doesn’t even have one, New Yorkers sure hate Walmart.

Hey, if you like that video, how about posting a video response to it on YouTube? Sound off on who you think deserves to win Worst Company in America! This guy is stoked about the contest and wants to put Ticketmaster “on blast”!

Make your voice count and vote in every round!

Camera
Ben Popken
Chris Prentice

Editing
Ben Popken

Interviewers
Ben Popken
Chris Prentice

Drum loop
Beatgorilla

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2010 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Print the bracket, here.

Want more Consumerist original videos? Hit our Videodrome.

On Monday, April 5, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers and raised new questions about the safety record of Massey Energy, the company that owns the mine. But as Mike Lillis reported, other Massey mines have been cited for a slew of safety violations that could put miners’ lives in danger. The Freedom Energy Mine #1 in Pike County, Ky., for example, has received 66 citations for safety violations since the Upper Big Branch accident, including 23 violations deemed “significant and substantial,” meaning they are “reasonably likely to result in a reasonably serious injury or illness under the unique circumstance contributed to by the violations.”

Using data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, TWI has compiled a running tally of safety violations racked up by the ten most cited Massey-owned mines. Check back daily for updates:

Mine	Violations This Year	Violations Since Upper Big Branch Explosion	“Significant and Substantial” Violations Since Explosion
Freedom Energy Mine #1	249	66	23
Independence Justice #1	115	0	0
Process Energy #1	102	7	3
Spartan’s Ruby Mine	102	0	0
Aracoma’s Alma # 1	98	7	5
Solid Energy #1	92	4	1
Mammoth’s Alloy Powellton	80	0	0
Spartan’s Road Fork #51	76	6	0
Independence’s Allegiance	76	2	0
Rockhouse’s Mine #1	72	2	0

Filed under: Budget, Europe, Hatchback, Audi, Celebrities, Luxury

When Audi first announced it would be relying on the talents of Justin Timberlake to push the company’s new A1, we were a little skeptical. At first, it looked like JT was to do little more than stand on stage and look pretty next to the pint-sized hatch, but it appears the four-rings has other plans in mind, including a new action driving series starring none other than the singer-turned actor.

If you’re thinking a bunch of star-packed mini-movies sponsored by a German automaker sounds more than a little familiar, it should. BMW followed the same recipe with Clive Owen in The Hire way back in 2001 and 2002. The result was a total of eight short films that remain some of our favorite time-wasters to this day. What can we say? You can’t have James Brown drag race the devil for his soul and not be a winner.

From what we can tell from the short trailer, Audi’s effort looks to have all the right ingredients. There’s gun fire, car chases, tire smoke, good music and, of course, a hot antagonist (Dania Ramirez). Throw in any semblance of plot, and you’ve already got 9/10ths of a Michael Bay masterpiece. Sign us up. You can hit the jump to see the trailer before the action begins next month.

Continue reading Video: Audi and Justin Timberlake show off The Next Big Thing

Video: Audi and Justin Timberlake show off The Next Big Thing originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Loop is Microsoft’s term for the Kin home screen, where users can pin their favourite contacts.  The actual position of the contacts will determine how frequently their updates will show up on the screen, and much like with Windows Phone 7 a swipe to the right will allow one to see a list of apps, including e-mail, phone, newsfeeds, browser and photos.

The main screen contains a list of updates (feeds) and the far left one a collection of your favourite people.

Via Engadget.com

Peugeot ha desvelado la nueva generación de sus conocidos motores diesel HDi que ahora cumplen con la norma Euro 5, en concreto son tres las nuevas mecánicas que llegaran a la marca del león, se trata del motor 1.6 HDI con variantes de 92 y 112 CV y el motor 2.0 HDi de 163 CV (motor que ya está presente en modelos de Citroën).

Repasando la gama de los pequeños diesel, tenemos un motor que llegará el mes próximo que será el 1.6 HDI de 112 CV, motor que substituye al anterior de 109 CV y que mejora considerablemente en prestaciones (sobretodo par motor) y en consumos. El par motor sube hasta los 270 Nm y los consumos se sitúan en 4,6 litros de media, una cifra muy buena para este motor, con unas emisiones de 119 g/km de CO2, por tanto no pagará impuesto de matriculación.

Por otro lado tenemos el 1.6 HDi de 92 CV que tardará más en llegar y se espera que esté disponible para el segundo trimestre del año, también contará con un buen par motor de 230 Nm y unos consumos reducidos.

Por último tenemos el bloque de dos litros HDI que ya está presente en la gama del Citroën C5, y que ahora llega al Peugeot 3008 y al 5008. El el caso del 3008 el motor 2.0 HDi de 163 CV se comercializará como la opción más potente (cuenta con motores diesel de 109, 150 y ahora 163 CV) e irá asociado al cambio automático de seis relaciones. El consumo medio es de 6, 6 litros a los 100 km, con un par motor de 340 Nm y sale a la venta con unos precios que parten de los 27.530 euros del 3008 con el acabado Premium.

Por último el nuevo monovolumen de Peugeot, el 5008, también recibe este motor 2.0 HDI de 163 CV que en el caso del monovolumen aumenta su consumo hasta los 6,8 litros a los 100 km y también va asociado al cambio automático de seis relaciones. Al igual que en el 3008, este motor destaca por las prestaciones y se convierte en la opción más potente en diesel con un precio de salida de 27.400 euros para el 5008 con el acabado Premium.

Fuente | Peugeot

UPDATE by John Chase at 3:30 p.m.

Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias today sought to change the subject from the controversy over his family’s struggling Broadway Bank and accused Republican opponent Mark Kirk of overplaying the issue.

In a luncheon speech to about 300 people at the City Club of Chicago, Giannoulias once again acknowledged his involvement in approving loans that turned into bad investments for the bank, which could soon be taken over by federal regulators.

But he offered no further explanation about his role in troubled loans made to crime figures, despite a recent Tribune story that raised new questions about those deals when he was a senior loan officer at the bank.

“The truth of the matter is when you have a bank with thousands of customers it’s easy to cherry-pick a few and go back in time and say I wish we wouldn’t have done business with these individuals…that’s not how the real world business model works, unfortunately,” Giannoulias told reporters after the speech. “As I’ve said before, if I knew then what I knew now, these aren’t the kinds of people that we want to do business with.

"And it’s an unfair and it’s an offensive characterization of Broadway Bank’s customers when we have hundreds, when we have thousands of customers that are hard-working men and women that have started their first store, bought their first home, hired individuals, have been a fabric of the economy here in Chicago that are great people, that wouldn’t have gotten their start if it weren’t for that bank.”



Giannoulias, the first-term state treasurer, instead sought to turn the heat up on Kirk, a North Shore congressman. He said Kirk has accepted campaign contributions from corporate interests and voted their way in Congress and that he has yet to discuss his stances on issues, including his vow to lead the repeal on the recently passed health care legislation.

 “My point here today is to elevate the debate,” Giannoulias said. “I’m not going to let this campaign be overshadowed by his negative attacks and lies. Not when people of Illinois desperately need solutions. Real families are dealing with real problems. It’s time to elevate the debate.”



Giannoulias ran for treasurer in 2006, touting his experience as senior loan officer at Broadway Bank. During his speech, he said he accepted responsibility for nine percent of loans currently on Broadway’s books that have gone bad.