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Ducati’s British division recently announced it has kicked-off a 0% APR typical finance campaign for the Streetfighter and Streetfighter S, which will run until April 30, 2010. Both Streetfighter naked bikes are available on deals over 36 months with a 50% deposits and 0% APR typical. A 2.4% flat rate is also available over 48 months with a 25% deposit.

Earlier this month, Ducati UK announced pricing information for the 2010 model year machines, with the Streetfighter priced at £11,750 and th… (read more)

Back in 2008, we wrote about Amazon’s questionable demand to book publishers that if they wanted to offer print-on-demand books, they had to use Amazon’s own POD solution. A few months later, a class action lawsuit was filed, and after a judge refused to throw out the case, it looks like Amazon quickly agreed to settle (thanks Achura). Unfortunately, from the wording of the agreement, even though this was filed as a class action, it’s not clear if it only applies to this one publisher or others as well. It is worth noting that Amazon is allowing the publisher to keep using alternative solutions and also agreed to pay the legal fees of the publisher. Amusingly, a monetary reward was on the table, and the publisher turned it down — and wanted it written into the settlement that it refused to take money — but Amazon didn’t want that mentioned in the official settlement. Still, it seems unfortunate that at least one publisher had to go through all this trouble just to use the print-on-demand offering of its own choosing. And, while it’s great for this one publisher, it leaves out the fact that many others caved in and agreed to deals that required them to only use Amazon’s solution.

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Filed under: Convertible, Auctions

Al Jardine, a founding member of the Beach Boys, was definitely not feeling good vibrations with this one. His restored Hemi Cuda recreation was stolen in St. Louis in 1975. It was returned that same year, but the authorities never removed the convertible from the stolen vehicle database.

The car was slated for auction at this year’s Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, but when a Motor Vehicle Department official noticed that the numbers on the car didn’t match those on the title, the Phoenix police impounded the classic. Turns out the car wears remakes of its original VIN, but the ‘Cuda was given a new VIN when it was re-registered after being stolen.

The St. Louis police gave the all-clear, though, so the Plymouth has been released and will make it to the auction dais. It will probably be playing, softly, “Don’t worry baby, everything will be all right…”

[Source: ABC15]

Beach Boys’ Hemi Cuda seized, released at Barrett Jackson originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whether Kimi Raikkonen will continue his racing career in rallying or switch back to Formula One at the end of the year will remain an unanswered question at least until the middle of the 2010 racing season. In an interview with Italian magazine Autosprint, the former Ferrari-an confirmed that he will make a definitive decision on his future midway through his maiden WRC campaign with Citroen.

While admitting that he spent some wonderful years in the Formula One series, Raikkonen also reveale… (read more)

If only I had heard about this application a week earlier, it would have been perfect timing. Former Cardinals and A’s slugger Mark McGwire came forward and admitted using steroids throughout his baseball career, breaking a five-year silence. It wasn’t a revelation or anything; everyone assumed that Big Mac was on the juice. Ballplayers took, and probably continue to take, steroids because they help them stay on the field longer and hit the ball harder. So what if you could install something on your BlackBerry that would make it run faster and use less memory? That’s what BerryJoose does. Thankfully, using it won’t get you the negative attention McGwire received last week.

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With the official debut of the 2010 NASCAR season only weeks away, the Motorsports division of American manufacturer Dodge announced its objectives for the future season, without aiming high. According to Ralph Gilles, Dodge CEO, the main objectives, as far as the Sprint Cup goes, at least, "win races, have drivers in The Chase and compete for the 2010 Sprint Cup Series championship."

Dodge is entering its second decade since it returned to NASCAR’ premier series. Since 2001, Dodge … (read more)

No, it’s not Dan Hardy, and it’s not Gegard Mousasi, who is reportedly being sought after by GSP’s trainer, Firas Zahabi, as a sparring partner for St. Pierre. The person who can take out Georges St. Pierre is a three-year-old boy named Leister.

St. Pierre is spending time at the Grudge Training Center in Colorado not only preparing for his Mar. 27 title bout against Hardy, but also helping his friend and teammate, Nate Marquardt get ready for UFC 109 and a fight with Chael Sonnen.

Thanks to Purefight for the video. 

Daily Random Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup millet, rinsed and drained
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cube vegetable bouillon
• 2 pounds diced and seeded ripe plum tomatoes (about 14 tomatoes)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup plain soy milk or fresh nut milk
• 2 teaspoons fresh basil, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh flat leaf parsley – garnish

METHOD:
Bring the water to a boil in a medium pot and add the millet and sea salt. Cover, lower heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until water is completely absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the bouillon cube and stir with a wooden spoon until the cube has completely dissolved, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Pour in the soy milk and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside.

When the millet is cooked, toss it with the sauce and basil, rosemary, sage and parsley. Serve hot.

NOTES:
Makes 5 cups.

Recipe provided by Alexandra Jamieson from her book “The Great American Detox Diet” (Rodale, 2005) – www.healthychefalex.com

She emails me on the Obama plan to limit bank activities:

1) I think that they are now panicking and veering from solution to solution. They will roil the markets and just make themselves panic more. Politically, i’m not sure. It will be hard for republicans to be against this, just like it is hard for them to fight the bank tax. Although if markets fall by hundreds of points, it gives the GOP an opening to say that Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing.

2) As for the merits – the problem is, Bear and Lehman didn’t have insured deposits, didn’t have recourse to the Fed, etc., but still posed significant risk. Why? Because by securitizing, derivative-izing and short-term-izing all manner of long-term debt, non-commercial banks made the economy’s store of credit much more vulnerable to market exuberance on the upside and panic on the downside. Mortgage and other credit depended at the margins not on bank balance sheets but on speculative demand.

3) To deal with that, I think we need consistent (and likely higher) margin requirements, capital requirements, clearing rules, etc., no matter who is holding/trading the debt. That would protect the economy more by putting a buffer between the pure, raw market and these debt instruments, just as we did long ago with equity markets.

4) I fear that if we curtail the big banks without doing these other things, the risks will just move, and people will continue to move their savings accounts into money markets to fund these risks. In fact, that is why we got rid of glass-steagall on the first place – to let banks compete fairly with the non-banks that had stolen their business.

5) So, do the margin and capital stuff to recognize the world we live in today … Doing that will make the economy better able to withstand financial failure, anyway, and the market, knowing this, will bring the institutions down to manageable size.

Reader Glen just sent us a link to this story and recipe by English chef and nutritionist Gurpareet Bains. Bains has made a rather outrageous yet intriguing claim: He says that he has invented the “world’s healthiest meal.”

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) may have spent €8 billion ($11.2 billion) acquiring Navteq in 2007, but today the handset maker announced it’s making its GPS navigation features available for free to all users.

Turn-by-turn navigation and traffic updates had respectively cost around €1.59 ($2) and €0.69 ($0.97) a day. But now the service will come pre-loaded on selected Nokia smartphones; those who already own devices can download the app.

The free service will help keep Nokia’s handsets, by way of services, more competitive with the rest of the smartphone market. It puts Nokia in competition on a services level against the likes of Google (NSDQ: GOOG), which offers a free navigation service for Android devices, and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), whose store boasts dozens of mapping apps, such as Tom Tom’s own app.

But to be clear, this remains at heart a device play: “This will help Nokia to boost our smartphone sales,” said Anssi Vanjoki, executive VP for Nokia, at the press event today in London.

Tom Tom, one of the most dominant GPS players whose iPhone application is one of the most popular in the App Store, saw its share price dip by 11 percent in early trading today in the wake of the Nokia announcement.

—So how will Nokia make money? That’s the big question. Nokia is hoping to use its Ovi services suite, of which Maps is a part, to drive handset sales. But it also sees potential revenue in third-party services developed on top of Maps – APIs were also opened up for this today, and Maps already offers location features for Facebook, Lonely Planet, Time Out etc. There are no advertisements on Maps today, but multimedia EVP Anssi Vanjoki says this may be a future income generator. Aside from leveraging Ovi to make its phones more attractive, Nokia hopes to make €2 billion ($2.8 billion) in direct services revenue by 2011.

—Will it work?: Remains to be seen, but Nokia may be on to something: stats released today from Essential Research indicate real-time traffic updates was the biggest driver to mobile internet adoption, among those who currently do not use it. It also found that social media was the biggest driver to mobile internet usage, so pre-integrating Facebook with the mapping service from the start could have also been a good move on Nokia’s part.

—What about other devices?: Vanjoki told me, on the sidelines of the event, that Nokia is “absolutely not” interested in developing the service for non-Nokia platforms. No question then of whether Nokia is really considering hiving off its handset division, something Vanjoki himself seemed to suggest in an interview last year: “That idea is absolute bull,” Vanjoki told me.

More from the announcement…

The service is available on 10 smartphones as of today, and Nokia says it will extend this to more devices in the coming months, including its Maemo-based devices.

At launch, the service will have turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, as well as traffic information for over 10 countries. There are detailed maps for over 180 countries. The turn-by-turn navigation can be set for both pedestrian and car journeys, although if you’re taking a journey that involves both, you will need to programme two different searches. A Nokia spokesperson said this might be a feature that will be more seamless in future.

Nokia reports its results next week.

Related

• Nokia To Blame For Weak Smartphone Sales In 2009
• Google Rolls Out Navigation To More Android Devices; Will Other Smartphones Follow?

Scientific breakthroughs and inventions are really required at present times when global warming is emerging as one of the major problems. However, even your smallest effort to contribute in this quest counts. Designer Elizabeth Joy Wong has worked on a simple phenomenon and has prepared a bicycle powered generator prototype. A friction drum attached with the bicycle wheel spins the alternator when the user pedals the bicycle and generates electricity which is stored in the power pack.

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Today a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment against DeDan C. Milton, 37, of Detroit, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and extortion and two counts each of bribery and extortion, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced.McQuade was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

DeDan Milton had served as an executive assistant to former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

The charges stem from the federal government’s investigation into bribes and kickbacks involving the sale of City of Detroit owned properties, including Camp Brighton in Livingston County and the Detroit Police Department’s 8th Precinct Station near West Grand River and Six Mile Road in Detroit.

Each extortion count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and each bribery count a maximum of 10 years.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark D. Chutkow and R. Michael Bullotta.

I would like to take some time to discuss with you both the causes and solutions for male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia). This condition has altered the lives of countless men. Fortunately, this is not a difficult problem to understand.

With only three root causes and a small handful of treatment options, male pattern baldness can be quite a transparent condition, which is very good news. In all actuality, I believe this form of hair loss boils down to just one primary challenge… follicle starvation.

Men with pattern baldness have starving hair follicles! And these are the reasons:

Inadequate consumption of the appropriate “hair nutrients” Androgens (male sex hormones) choking the follicles off from their food supply Lack of circulation in the scalp

So this is the essence of male pattern baldness.

Basically, a man with a genetic predisposition to over-produce the androgen dihydrotestosterone (dht) will experience a compromised delivery of nutrients to the hair follicles, resulting in a thinning… and eventually total disappearance of hair in the affected areas. This will most often manifest itself on the crown of the head, as well as atop the forehead, creating a “widow’s peak.”

The unfortunate reality is that not all sufferers of male pattern baldness are treatable. If you’ve lost your hair to the point of absolute baldness (zero hair cover whatsoever) of the affected area(s) of scalp, then your condition is beyond non-surgical forms of treatment.

However, if you still have fine hairs covering your “bald spots,” then you may respond favorably to treatment. In my opinion, the best treatment option is one that addresses all three of the hair loss causes listed above.

Recommended Male Pattern Baldness Treatment:

Take your vitamins! A good, all-natural multivitamin & multimineral supplement is ideal. Focus on magnesium, iron, b-vitamins, copper, and zinc. The addition of good antioxidants like green tea and vitamin c, as well as essential oils such as flax seed and fish oils will work wonders for your hair.
Block dht with either the drug finasteride (Propecia) or its natural alternative, saw palmetto extract. To avoid the potential risk of sexual side effects associated with finasteride, many men choose the saw palmetto option.
Restore proper scalp circulation with a daily 5% minoxidil topical regimen. This FDA approved topical treatment has proven itself effective for over 20 years. Used alone, it yields a success rate of approximately 64%. Combined with vitamin therapy and dht blockers, however, this number goes up dramatically.

One male pattern baldness product that addresses all three of these treatment angles is Provillus.

If you believe your hair loss is still treatable, and you would like to take a closer look at Provillus, you are invited to do so at this time.

Go to http://MyProvillus.com.

Obama’s plan to limit risky activities at big banks is more about forcing Republicans to take tough votes than preventing another credit meltdown.The Volcker Plan was already rejected by the WH econ team (Summers, Geithner) and this is being pushed by the political team (Rahmbo, Axelrod) in the wake of the Massachusetts Meltdown. (In fact, this may help tamp down pressure from congressional Dems to dump the econ team.)

The WH can’t trumpet the economy, can’t trumpet healthcare, so Plan C is to go after Wall Street and make the GOP look like its best friend. Who cares that some of the worst problem children of the financial crisis were relatively small and undiversified? Wasn’t it regulator pushing for Wells Fargo to absorb Wachovia, and BofA to absorb Merrill? But I think the Dems will be surprised at how many GOPers might go along with this, starting with John McCain who has already advocated the return of Glass Steagall. But he will be far from the only one.

It’s official: Comedian Conan O’Brien has inked a nearly $45 million deal to part ways with NBC after 16 years of service to the network.

After days of negoitations with Jay Leno and O’Brien, the network has announced an agreement that will allow Leno to return as host of The Tonight Show, while paying O’Brien to leave. Tom Hanks and Barry Manilow will be among the final guests when Conan signs off as host of the 60 year old TV institution this Friday, Jan. 22.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

According to The Associated Press, the deal includes a figure exceeding $33 million settlement for Conan. The $12 million remaining dollars of the $45 million settlement will be reserved for his staff. The terms allow Coco to pick up a gig at another network for the fall television season.

Leno is expected to return to his post as host of The Tonight Show on March 1.

Hair loss usually occurs because of hormonal factors. As a consequence, biological events like puberty, pregnancy and menopause that effect female hormone levels can also cause female hair loss. In the case of pregnancy, hair loss is simply a consequence of the stress the body undergoes during labor and should stop approximately 6 months after birth. Discontinuation of taking birth control pills can also cause temporary female hair loss.

The most common type of female hair loss is androgenetic alopecia or female-pattern baldness. This type of hair loss is associated with hair thinning predominantly over the sides and top of the head. Female hair loss affects about one-third of all susceptible women and usually onsets after menopause although it can begin earlier.

Other causes of female hair loss include dieting. Rapid weight loss over a short period of time promotes hair loss and some supplements such as excessive vitamin A also contribute to hair loss. Physical and emotional stress can cause hair loss but this usually only occurs when the trauma is excessive and of a long duration. Everyday stress does not promote hair loss. Find out more about Female Hair Loss

Some common myths related to female hair loss are that frequent washing and shampooing, and wearing of wigs and hats all cause hair loss. In addition, rumors abound that permanents, coloring, and other cosmetic treatments can cause permanent hair loss. Other myths are that brushing your hair everyday will create healthier hair, that shaving your head will cause hair to grow back thicker, and that stress causes permanent hair loss. Finally, other myths are that there is a cure for female-pattern baldness and that dandruff causes permanent hair loss.

These are just a few common myths associated with female hair loss. If you experience excessive hair loss, you should see a licensed dermatologist for a thorough diagnosis and treatment options.

Heredity and ethnic background are factors for unwanted hair. In women, hormonal causes such as pregnancy, menopause, hormonal problems, and taking certain male hormonal supplements, for birth control, weight loss/muscle firming, or at menopause are common.

Traditional methods such as shaving, plucking, depilatories, waxing, and electrolysis and more recent advances such as Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Laser treatment are using to be free from unwanted hair.

Laser Treatment:

The process takes from several minutes to several hours, depending on the area of the body involved. Laser hair removal uses a low-energy laser. The laser energy passes through the patient’s skin, being absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle. A percentage of the follicles are instantaneously and permanently disabled with each treatment. In most cases, no anesthesia is necessary.

Intense Pulsed Light and Lasers heat the area at the base of the hair where hair is formed, and the resultant damage reduces hair regrowth. Treatment feels like the snap of a hot rubber band, lasting only a few seconds. Surface anesthetic cream can be used before the procedure.

What kind of results can I expect?

Most patients receive well to excellent results with long lasting reduction in the amount and coarseness of hair growth. Some patients, may have less satisfactory results because of hormonal factors, skin or hair type, or because an optimal treatment series was not completed.

How many treatments will I need?

Hair must be treated during a specific phase in its growth cycle, the active or anagen phase. Because hair grows in staggered growth cycles, multiple treatments are required so that all the hairs are treated during their growing phase. The number and frequency of treatments vary by body site and for each individual.

Does it hurt?

Results:

These methods should be considered long lasting rather than permanent hair removal. The length of time that the hair is gone and the completeness of removal vary. The hair that re-grows may be lighter in color and finer in texture.

Immediately after the procedure:

Redness or bruising may occur either around the hair follicle or in larger areas, lasting for a few hours to a few days. The hair may be bleached or singed.

Side effects of IPL or laser hair removal:

Intense Pulsed Light and Laser hair removal are most effective and safest for dark hair on light skin. For that reason it’s important to avoid intentional sun or tanning bed exposure to the area to be treated for one month before each treatment, and to use a broad spectrum sunscreen to areas not covered by clothing. Certain medications increase light sensitivity and need to be discontinued briefly before treatment. Always check with the prescribing physician before discontinuing any medication. Side effects of treatments can include discoloration, temporary redness or swelling, and rarely scarring in the surrounding skin.

Benefits:

• A non-invasive, gentle technique that eliminates undesirable hair from all parts of the body.

• Leaves skin looking smoother and silkier.

• Treats larger areas effectively because it removes more than one hair at a time.

• Minimal discomfort.

• Replaces waxing, electrolysis and razors.

• Immediate return to normal activities.

Webmaster

http://www.the-dermatology-centre.co.uk

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Weighing just 3.5kg, it’s small enough to fit in your hand like a little kitten. It’s about as powerful as other Dysons, so sucking up all those cat hairs shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the City DC26.

It’s apparently been in the works for five years, according to vacuum god James Dyson:

“It took us five years to painstakingly compress and rebuild every single component before we had a machine that was a third smaller than its predecessor, yet could still tackle dirt like bigger machines.”

On sale from this weekend in the UK, it’ll cost £249.99 and will be available in “satin blue.” No word yet on worldwide availability, apart from Japan where it’s already on sale, though when it launches in the US we’ll let you know. [Dyson]