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Looks like Samuel Powers is out of a home.

Dustin Diamond, who played the proverbial nerd Screech on TNBC’s Saved By The Bell from 1989 through the mid-’90s, is losing his Ozaukee County, Wisconsin home to foreclosure. According to legal documents filed this week, the unemployed Diamond is thisclose to being tossed out on his rear after falling more than $290,000 behind on his mortgage payments to Wells Fargo Bank.

Too bad the porn thing didn’t work out for him……

The ’80s teen star has been estranged from much of the rest of the Bell cast since penning the ill-received “tell-all book” Behind The Bell in 2009.

A huge torque bump brings the base TT closer to the TTS for 2011.

How do the Germans update an icon? Gradually, of course. Although it hasn’t quite achieved the level of, say, Porsche’s 911 or the VW Beetle, the Audi TT is a design icon nonetheless—just a bit younger. As a style-first, sport-infused incarnation of the Audi A3/VW GTI platform, the TT would be no more remarkable if not for its rounded overhang areas, Bauhaus-inspired geometry, and chopped roofline.

Although the TT dons fresh duds for 2011, none of its essential characteristics change. Heck, nothing changes much at all. What has changed are the headlamps of base TT 2.0 TFSI coupes and roadsters, which now adopt the winged-detail, LED-underscored headlamps first seen on the more potent TTS model, which was introduced last year. The lower air intakes have become more squared-off and three-dimensional in form, but the single-frame grille remains, albeit with glossy horizontal vanes. Out back is a new rear valance with two round exhaust tips but little else we haven’t seen before. Minor changes of even less note have been made inside the TT—just some new aluminum trim on the steering wheel and center console and a few piano-black pieces elsewhere. What you can’t see is the fact that the sport button will now modify both the steering assist and exhaust note for a meatier feel and sound.

Keep Reading: 2011 Audi TT and TTS – Official Photos and Info

Related posts:

1. 2011 Audi A8 – Official Photos and Info
2. 2011 Audi A1 – Official Photos and Info
3. 2010 Audi A5 Sportback – Official Photos and Info

Admittedly, I have a lot to learn at the Arizona Asian Festival. I don’t know tai chi. I can’t do origami. But I can say, without hesitation, that I’m a skilled eater, a talent that’s no doubt shared by our readers, who’ll enjoy tasting naan from India and spring rolls from Vietnam as much as I will.

Now in its 16th year, the Arizona Asian Festival brings East and West together this Saturday and Sunday at Heritage & Science Park. More than a dozen Asian cultures are represented, with two stages that showcase entertainment, including traditional dances and music, martial arts demonstrations, Japanese Taiko drumming and more.

Spend an afternoon strolling through the Avenue of Cultures, featuring booths from different cultures. Or take your tots to the Children’s Wonderland, designed to keep kids happy and parents sane.

Want to learn taekwondo? Local masters can show you how. Interested in body painting? Artists will demonstrate Mehendi, an ancient form of Indian body painting. And I haven’t forgotten my fellow foodies, who can sample heavenly food from Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, China, India and more.

Speaking of heavenly food, Heritage & Science Park has an even bigger coup in store for those who love Asian cuisine. Chef Nobuo Fukuda, winner of numerous accolades (including the biggie, a James Beard Award), is opening his first Downtown restaurant this summer.

Fukuda is transforming The Teeter House from a Victorian tearoom into a cozy sanctuary for his artful blend of Japanese and global cuisine. Nobuo at Teeter House will serve bento boxes, steamed pork buns and Asian teas at lunch, while dinner will feature his signature sashimi and izakaya, or Japanese tavern, food.

Expect local and organic produce in his dishes, and wonderful pairings of wine and food. We’ll keep you posted about the opening date of Nobuo at Teeter House, which will add even more luster to the Downtown Phoenix dining scene. Until then, kanpai!

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Toys/Games, Racing

Wonders never cease. The crew from Electronic Arts has decided to take its love of all things racing off the console and onto the track. The company just formed a genuine race team under the Need For Speed banner, and while we’ve seen plenty of brands go racing in the past as part of their marketing scheme, for the moment, this appears to be somewhat different.

For one, the team will be competing in at least two different series. While the fans in the states will get to feast their eyes on an NFS car getting sideways in Formula D, our European counterparts will have the opportunity to see the team compete in the VLN series, an endurance racing league that shares many of the same rules you’d find on your typical 24 hours of Nurburgring run.

EA has also managed to score some pretty serious talent behind the wheel. Patrick Söderlund, Mad Mike Whiddett and Matt Powers have all agreed to man the tiller in one car or another. The company has also announced it will be filming the whole shindig, so expect a 12-part series on the whole race season to come out of the project, too.

[Source: Kotaku]

Electronic Arts puts down controller, forms real racing team originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At a Council of Foreign Relations event in New York, Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Verizon Communications spoke to Alan S. Murray, Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor, Online, Wall Street Journal. He touched upon various topics including iPad and the iPhone. His comments on iPhone were pretty telling — revealing a kind of wistfulness.

“In our view, over time, is that as the devices come to a common architecture, we would be eligible for Apple to consider putting their devices on our network. It’s their shot, their call,” he said. “We’re open to doing it. eventually our view is we’ll get to carry the Apple standard when Apple’s ready to make that decision. We have expressed to Apple an interest in doing it; we have explained that our network is capable of handling it. But those of you who read about Apple — a great company, they operate on their own frequency.”

His comments about iPad were very telling as well.

But here’s the thing about the iPad that’s very interesting. So we look at it as a fourth screen. So you got your TV; you got your mobile device, right; you got your PC; and now you got a fourth screen. So it’s not clear that those four could become three, or those four could become five, but at this point it’s another screen in the marketplace. Now, the interesting thing about the iPad, from how Verizon looks at it– from a network person, first of all, it has no hard drive, right. It’s got flash memory. So that doesn’t mean anything to you, but it means a lot. It means they can produce a lower-cost device for the technology they put in, and the battery will last longer.

Seidenberg also discussed the net neutrality and the gulf between Silicon Valley and the phone companies. He also discusses the new found kinship with Google.

So if you look at Silicon Valley, they’re view was anything that Verizon, or AT&T, or any of the carriers did was an encroachment on the software business. So the best thing is to come up with a strategy that defines “network” and segments it away from software, and therefore you create a whole argument around Net neutrality. What we know is that the technology is not that easy to separate. Things are more integrated.

Here is the interview: I recommend you watch it.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of US Airways and the parent of United Airlines rose in after-hours trading after The New York Times reported that the carriers are in merger talks.

The newspaper’s DealBook blog cites people briefed on the discussions. Those people said no transaction is expected to be announced for at least several weeks, and that talks could still collapse.

Spokespersons for both airlines say they don’t comment on rumors.

Shares of United parent UAL Corp. rose $1.57, or 8.3 percent, to $20.52 in late trading. US Airways Group Inc. rose $1.78, or 26.1 percent, to $8.60.

The CEOs of both airlines have been outspoken about their willingness to be involved in some type of merger.

Join the conversation about this story »

Though McMahon won’t be attending the April 13 debate hosted by the Connecticut Tea Party Patriots group in Woodbury — she reportedly has several previous committments, including an event at Sacred Heart University, where she sits on the board of trustees — she will get some face time with tea party activists.

The candidate will attend a tea party meet-and-greet later this month, according to the group’s state coordinator, Tanya Bachand.

The group has been holding forums with each of the candidates for U.S. Senate. McMahon’s visit has been scheduled for April 24, at a location to be determined.

 

Found under: Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10, Android, Rogers, ,

Rogers Wireless is the Canadian carrier thats getting ready to start selling Sony Ericssons first Android device the Xperia X10. The phone is apparently already available for pre-order and youll have to be ready to pay 150 for the X10 bundled with a mandatory 3-year contract. The phone will be available on April 15 in just over a week so you have plenty of time to decide whether or not to get it. The phone will be available both in black and white but I am sure thats not a fact

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A coalition of neocons, oil industry executives and religious extremists want to redraw the boundaries of the Middle East. But it’s not going to turn out the way they want: Afghanistan is a no-win situation, and reports of war crimes and torture continue to do irreparable harm to America’s reputation all around the world.

Show: Freedom Watch
Host: Judge Andrew Napolitano
Date: 04/06/2010

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2. Ron Paul, Peter Schiff on Freedom Watch This afternoon, Ron Paul participated in Judge Andrew Napolitano’s online…
3. Steve Bierfeldt on Freedom Watch This Wednesday, Campaign for Liberty Director of Development Steve Bierfeldt…

Egads!  There’s nothing better than when “unlimited” means…oh, you know, unlimited.  To that end, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel is on the record saying that anyone who spends $29.99 per month on the Apple iPad unlimited data plan will actually have…wait for it…completely unlimited data.  In other words, there will be no 5 GB cap like the one that’s levied on other devices by AT&T.

So when you get your 3G iPad, be sure to stream those Netflix movies while you’re on the train.  Surf the web to your heart’s content.  Send all the pictures in the world to Mom.  Why?  Because you’re rocking unlimited interwebz, baby.

Via BGR

If you like your phones heavy and stupid, the Mobiado CPT001 is for you. It’s made of marble. You know, the heavy, polished stone? It will assuredly be offensively expensive and only complete assholes will buy one. [Mobiado via BornRich] More »

General Motors told its dealers earlier this morning that it is shutting down its Hummer brand for good. After a possible sale to Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to receive Chinese government approval in February, GM said it will consider other offers for the SUV brand.

After failing to come to terms with other offers, GM has decided to move forward with closing the brand, Hummer spokesman Nick Richards said. Jim Bunnell, GM’s general director of network support, broke the news to dealers during a conference call this morning.

Hummer CEO Jim Taylor will retire effective immediately.

Hummer has 153 stores in the United States. To clear out the remaining 2,200 new Hummers in stock, Richards said Hummer will run incentives through the end of this month.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Frustrated trying to find natural products at boutique nurseries and big-box retailers that have a patchy (kinda like your July lawn) selection of organic products and whose sales staff don’t know much about them?

Try finding a local feed and seed store. Many stock just what you’re looking for. Why? Because organic farmers use an array of organics and also because farming has a long history of employing natural treatments. How do you think they got things to grow down on the farm before all those chemical concoctions were created?

So here’s a list of useful landscape products we found at our local feed store, the venerated 124-year-old Lewisville Feed Mill in Lewisville, Texas.

1 – Chicken Manure – It may be poop, but it’s a premium fertilizer that’s higher in nitrogen than cow manure. However, because it’s so rich, it can burn plants. Organic gardeners recommend composting it first. Dairy cow manure is less rich and can be spread around and used as a top dressing on lawns and beds. For the straight poop on this topic see this excellent article: Manure Matters by organic gardener and author Marion Owen at PlanTea.com.

2 – Cottonseed Meal – Also a good nitrogen feed for lawn or gardens and it won’t burn turf, even if it’s liberally applied. It also supplies phosphoric acid and potash. No room to ruminate about those ingredients here. Suffice it to say that they’re nutrients your grass needs. One downside, because cotton is notoriously pesticide-heavy crop, this can contain pesticide residues.

3 – Alfalfa Meal – Another nitrogen source. Good for working into beds and amending soil when planting. For a comparison chart on organic fertilizers, see Rodale’s All New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening.

4 – Corn Gluten – The gold standard among organic gardeners for pre-emergent weed treatments. Some people also use it as a fertilizer. It comes in flake and granule form. You’ll pay more for granule, but it will stay put better too. For more info on why and how corn gluten meal works see the corn gluten website at Iowa State University, the leader in developing this natural weed fighter.

5 – Liquid Seaweed – Where’s a rich source of nutrients? Oh yeah, the oceans! Dilute and use as a foliar feed. Also works diluted in a couple gallons of water as a perk-me-up for flowering plants and shrubs. Cousin is Kelp Meal, considered a good soil conditioner.

6 – Expanded Shale – Not everyone needs this, but if you do need it, you need it badly. Expanded shale in tiny pebble form helps break up hard, clay soil, improving the drainage and aeration for plants. This rock also soaks up extra moisture and then releases it when the surrounding soil is dry, a minor miracle not to be celebrated in hot climates.

7 – Green Sand – A green-blue sand for “greening” and fortifying flowering plants and vegetables with potash. It’s rich because it’s derived from marine sediment rock. Also effective in loosening clay soils.

8 — Molasses – Don’t get organic gardeners started on this topic, they have a zillion versions of how to mix and use it, perhaps because the bag comes with instructions for feeding livestock, leaving open the question of garden applications. We say just a dab, like two or three spoonfuls does great things in a watering can. Molasses also works as a soil amendment, raising the level of microbe activity. Sweet.

Copyright © 2007-2010 | Distributed by Green Right Now Network

Time to float action, decision

Editor, The Times:

I was born at Ballard General Hospital 48 years ago and have lived in the Greater Seattle area all my life. One of things I love about our community is our style of discussion and civil debate. We all have input and we all have a chance to be heard.

Now that very thing I love could also make me crazy.

Mayor Mike McGinn has come to the planning of the 520 bridge replacement a little too late. [“Slam brakes on design of 520, McGinn urges,” page one, April 7.]

This topic has been discussed ad nauseam … There have been debates, votes and studies over the course of years. In the true Seattle spirit, we are trying to get everyone on board, but the truth is that not everyone will ever agree on any particular plan.

There are certainly things about the bridge replacement that I am not happy about. However, enough money has been spent, enough studies have been done and the time has come for action.

— Susan Trent, Bellevue

If you had your heart set on living next to President Obama’s Chicago home, you may need to re-think your dreams.

The Huffington Post is reporting that the home next to the Obama’s just sold to a Chicago buyer who paid $1.4 million dollars in cash. The home next door to the Obama’s was first listed without a price tag and then later listed for $1,849,000.

The 6,000 square-foot home has 8 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and was built in 1910. The neighborhood was billed as “The World’s Ultimate Gated Community” due to the high level of security on the street.

> See more Chicago homes for sale
> See Chicago home values

»  The iPad won’t save the publishing industry from itself. [Harvard Business Review]

»  Experts are unsure whether the device is secure enough for enterprise use. [InfoWorld]

»  How Intel (NSDQ: INTC) screwed itself out of the iPad revolution. [SAI]

»  iPad users watch 3 times more video than web users. [NewTeeVee]

I’m trying to keep the iPad-related posts here on MobileCrunch down to a minimum, because I figure you’re getting enough of it shoved in your face by other blogs, Twitter, and your mother after she saw it mentioned on the news and wanted to bond with you. With that said, this one gets a pass for being as much AT&T-related as it is iPad-related.

You see, most of the major carriers (including AT&T) like to pitch their data plans as being “Unlimited”. It just sounds awesome, you know? Thing is, it’s not actually “Unlimited” as in “without limits”. Once you dig into the fine print, you find all sorts of phrasing like “Unlimited.. within reason”, with the “reasonable” level generally coming in somewhere around 5 gigabytes. Go past this a few times, they’ll call and shout at you; go way past it regularly, they might nix your data plan (though I’ve never heard of that actually happening.)

With the iPad 3G, AT&T’s throwing this practice out the window.

The folks over at Gearlog spoke to AT&T’s Mark Siegel, who said, straight up: “unlimited is unlimited.” Not bad for $30 a month.

It’s kind of an odd device to make the switch with; given the iPad’s higher resolution and larger screen, it seems like more people are going to be using more data more often — but you know what? We’re not complaining.

Top o’ the news

• Did the 2.1 update slow your Droid’s graphics processing power?

Hardware news

• Cricket picking up Kyocera Zio M6000
• Could this be the LG Aloha ?
• Is this the Samsung Moment 2?
• Nexus One accessories hitting T-Mobile retail stores ?
• Android TV is made by People of Lava
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 coming to Canada’s Rogers network On April 15
• Need more proof that Verizon’s getting the HTC Incredible?
• Samsung Galaxy S approved by Bluetooth SIG?
• Review: HTC Legend with Android 2.1 and the new Sense UI
• HTC Desire, Legend rooted already

Software news

• Android Quick App: HelixLauncher
• TweetDeck Is coming to Android
• Skyfire browser coming to Android
• First pictures of Android 2.1 on the Samsung Moment
• Take Android screenshots without root
• Digg launches its own Android app
• Android Central’s Keyboard Roundup

Other news

• Google looking for "product marketing manager" for Android, Nexus One
• Another survey says Android will soon take over the world
• Win Phil’s Nexus One: First batch of entries for your perusal
• Google giving away phones again for devs going to IO conference

Want to be on the podcast?

Sure, you can just listen to the AndroidCentral Podcast. (And you should.) But it’s much more fun to be a part of it. And there are several ways you can do so.

• E-mail us: Have a question and want us to answer it on-air? E-mail us here.
• Voicemail: We love actually hearing from you. You can leave us a voicemail toll-free at (888) 468-6158 Ext. 222.
• The intro: Want to introduce the podcast? Leave us your name, what Android phone you’re using, and where you’re from. You can do so in a voicemail, or record it at home and e-mail it to us. Here’s an example: "Hi. My name’s Phil Nickinson. I use the Motorola Droid. Now get ready for the AndroidCentral Podcast."

You can also find us on Twitter: @androidcentral | @philnickinson | @tcpj_mickey | AndroidCentral staff list.

Credits

The AndroidCentral Podcast is sponsored by the AndroidCentral Store. And thanks to these great artists for providing their music under the Creative Commons license:

• Pure Attitude, by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.
• Summertime Instrumental by cdk, ccmixter.org

While you’re at it, file a civil suit too

It is unfortunate King County Metro decided to have “security guards” whose job descriptions apparently involve watching crimes being committed while collecting a salary rather than actually preventing crimes or helping victims. It is hard for most of us to understand how this could constitute a job and why the county thought this was an adequate defense of public safety. [“Girl beaten in tunnel to be tried for robbery,” NWTuesday, April 6.]

That said, the victim in this case is a rather flawed individual who, shortly before this attack, was by all accounts the perpetrator of a similar crime and apparently several others. She is working with attorneys to try and get rich off her misfortune. More power to her; the unspoken 11th Amendment is the right to sue and get wealthy off lawsuits. She probably deserves to win and taxpayers will shell out money for another bad decision by our leaders.

However, I encourage Tamie Cox, who was beaten and robbed by the aforementioned Aiesha Steward-Baker, to file a civil suit against the perpetrator. Her pain and suffering is no less than Steward-Baker’s and probably more because she, by all accounts, has not chosen to live a life of crime and violence. I hope Tamie Cox collects every penny Steward-Baker is given by the county and the city —although her case against the city seems tenuous at best.

— Nic Rossouw, Seattle

Not so fast on praising rebound

This is a response to [“Housing has more spring in step,” page one, April 6].

Though cautionary in expressing optimism about a rebound in the residential real-estate market, The Times fails to portray what the housing market could look like without the federal tax incentives for first-time and repeat homebuyers.

Furthermore, The Times forgets to mention the so-called surge in home sales via the government program cleared out some potential demand in the future. The buyers jumping in today because of tax incentives are the buyers who would have waited to buy tomorrow without an incentive. Hence, a weakening of Seattle and national housing markets in the near future should be expected.

To top it all off, the future of all real estate looks bleak with a second wave of mortgage resets starting to flood the housing market once again, along with a commercial real-estate tsunami pulling under scores of local and regional banks.

Though the deposits of these institutions are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the FDIC is effectively bankrupt. In May 2009, Congress authorized the Treasury to set aside $100 billion as “backup insurance” for the FDIC. How long will that last after having depleted $53 billion it had in reserves in 2008? Is there no end in sight?

Buyers needing a home to live in is one thing, but buying and hoping that a home will retain its value and not fall is the worry for today. With the landscape still soaked from the last inundation of foreclosures, buying a house or condo should be a last resort and a very good buy.

— Dan Piecora, Kirkland