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Oh boy. Out of all the Dungeness crab dishes I’ve cooked lately, my boyfriend says this one is his favorite. It’s made with lots of ginger, some garlic, cilantro, and a little bit of soy sauce, and it’s so fragrant. The seasonings pair so well with the delicate, succulent crab. I like to cook some Asian noodles with this and use them to soak up the leftover seasonings.

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Honda Motor Co’s CEO Takanobu Ito has challenged his R&D team to produce a hybrid that exceeds the fuel-economy of the Toyota Prius. Ito said that the new hybrid won’t necessarily be a next-generation version of the Honda Insight, but may be another vehicle that will join the company’s hybrid lineup.

“We want to develop and expand our hybrids,” Ito told Automotive News during an interview at the Detroit auto show. “We made some major sacrifices to shift people and resources to do that.”

He said that Honda is currently concentrating on expanding its small-vehicle hybrid platform and said that the Japanese automaker’s large-vehicle hybrid platform is not ready.

Honda’s top management has been disappointed by the sales of the Insight since its U.S. launch last March. Even though the Insight undercuts the Toyota Prius by $2,500, it’s fuel-economy rating of 40/43 mpg (city/highway) falls short of the Prius’ 51/48 rating.

Click here for our review on the 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Just in time for tax season, online bookkeeping service Outright.com will begin providing a 1099 tax filing service for entrepreneurs and sole proprietors on top of its current W-9 service. The site is also launching what they say is the first community for the self-employed where startups and entrepreneurs can find bookkeepers.

For most of us, tax day is April 15, but for entrepreneurs required to meet the February 1 deadline for providing 1099 forms to contracted employees, the madness starts now.

Sponsor

“Startups working with contractors should have collected form W-9 by now,” Outright’s Paul O’Brien told ReadWriteWeb. Using those W-9 forms from users and their contractors, the site does the rest – automatically filling out 1099’s, e-filing them with the IRS and sending copies directly to the contractors.

Starting tomorrow, the new 1099 service will cost users $5 per filing, though for each contractor that joins Outright after their 1099 is filed, the site will refund their $5 fee. The fee for the 1099 can be deducted as a business expense on the user’s personal tax return.

The site will also be rolling out a social directory to help connect entrepreneurs and startups with Outright’s expanding community of bookkeepers. O’Brien says that there are a few thousand bookkeeping professionals using Outright, and this new directory will help them find businesses who need help around tax season.

Outright claims it is tracking over $1.2 billion worth of self employed and startup business, an increase of 21% from just three months ago when it announced tracking $1 billion. Self-employed individuals make up 75% of Outright’s users, and the majority of the remainder employ fewer than 10 people.

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Sony’s hard at work on its new motion controller for the PS3, and a new report claims that it’ll be called Arc. Arc vs Natal! Get excited! [VG247 via Electronista]

The funeral is for a female college student who was crushed in the earthquake.

Children’s-affiliated pediatrician Lester Hartman, MD, who runs a clinic in Haiti’s Central Plateau, made his way to the country within days of the earthquake to offer much-needed medical care. He returned home at yesterday and emailed us about the widespread destruction–and the accompanying resiliency of the Haitian people–that he witnessed firsthand.

Hartman sponsors three students in Haiti, all of whom were in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck. They were lucky to survive the quake, and returned to the capital city with Dr. Hartman to help with relief efforts.

My daughter Sarah and I are back- got home about midnight last night. Sarah was a huge help in all ways, but being close to fluent in Spanish ,while we spent much time trying to cross the border, was a huge help. Also a huge help was the Dominican pharmaceutical distributor who gave of thousands of dollars of meds, the civil defense team from the DR that crossed the border to help, and the director of HOPEH, Marline Olivier, a small woman with an amazing spirit who got the trucks, food and led us down the mountain (I nominated her for CNN Hero-she is sure mine).

Dr. Hartman, his daughter and the Haitian students his family sponsors. After surviving the earthquake, the students returned to Port-au-Prince to help with relief efforts.

My focus is the people, not the destruction- there will be more of the physical devastation than you can imagine you can imagine. Let’s focus on the people. The three students our family sponsor saw death firsthand in Port-au-Prince. When I asked them to return to Port-au-Prince to help, they responded yes with no hesitation.

In the photo, the first person, from left to right, is Richardson, a high school student we sponsor, who dreams of a farm and a house. He calls my wife “Mom”.

Next is Paschal, who suffered the most. His university class in Port-au-Prince collapsed and he was sandwiched between 2nd and 3rd floor, with about a 18-24 inch crawl space. Twenty-three of 30 students died. He demonstrated courage by returning as a rescue worker with us! He is one of the smartest people I know and a most diligent student.The third is Jothson- he also calls my wife “Mom”. He was ill that day and missed his class, and all his classmates were killed.

My wife’s cousin’s son, Nathan Bean, was perfect for myself and the Haitian kids. He was the essence of Patch Adam in a disaster, and had those three students, who had seen all the devastation, singing Bob Marley songs in the truck all the way down the mountain!

We walked through not even tent cities around the airport but rather bed sheet cities looking for pregnant women, young children, elder and ill people regardless of age.  We brought up 40 people. They will be housed in a closed public school (who knows when that will open), fed for now with the $4000 to $5000 worth of groceries and clothed. Today, there’s expected to be a second wave of people, as a team goes back down.

Massive destruction occurred as we got closer to the fault line along the mountains edges. It was almost like the earth was liquid and those buildings at the crest of a wave were flattened. That is all I want to say about the scene, as sadly I have seen  my hometown of New Orleans have “Katrina Disaster Tours” to the Lower Ninth Ward- which has not been rebuilt despite all the bluster.

I’m proud to say our little team started delivering care and aid at about 141 hours from the time of the earthquake. But what I’m most impressed with is the resilience of this first free black republic. The Haitian people, while desperate, were gracious as we walked through these camps near the airport. It is their proud heritage that keeps them going and it will be that which rebuilds their country- a country which in its first 60 years was largely ignored by the US during slavery.

Give as much as  you can. Remember this will fade from memory when the press stops sending the headlines in the horribly devastated areas. When I visit New Orleans and Haiti, I see the parallel of aid workers going down to rebuild with the names of their aid organizations in bright green, blue or orange T-shirts.

I want to thank everyone for your support and prayers. Let these continue. Joy lies in the fight, the attempt, the suffering involved, not the victory (Gandhi). In my sadness, I find some of my greatest joy. Amen.

The foundations of structures for offshore wind and wave energy projects can serve as artificial reefs and boost local populations of fish, crabs and blue mussels, according to a recently published dissertation.

Dan Wilhelmsson of Stockholm University’s Zoology Department found that the seabed around wind turbines had higher densities of fish compared with areas further from the turbines and in reference areas, according to the report in Science News.

Wilhelmsson says,

Hard surfaces are often hard currency in the ocean, and these foundations can function as artificial reefs. Rock boulders are often placed around the structures to prevent erosion (scouring) around these, and this strengthens the reef function.

Wave power foundations also attract fish and large crabs and lobsters settle under the foundations. When holes are drilled in the foundations, the crab population increased dramatically.

Still, the predatory animals that are attracted by the artificial reefs can significantly decrease, and even wipe out, other species nearby. Wilhelmsson believes that the foundations can even be designed to favor certain species or to reduce reef effects in certain area.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the availability of $25 million in grants to help schools operating a National School Lunch Program replace outdated equipment with new, energy efficient appliances including refrigerators, ovens, and other food service related equipment to help improve the quality of meals. Close to $500,000 of funding is available to Louisiana schools. Click here for more information.  Photo from: iparenting

Since China led the global recovery in 2009, we’re all sort of cheering for Big Red.

And of course, China is reveling in its growing power.

State-owned newspaper China Daily published dozens of celebratory year-in-review articles, including a list of “ten areas where China has scored — or is destined to make — number one in the year 2009.”

If you’re feeling jealous, then think of them as China’s top ten bubbles-in-the-making.

See China Daily’s Top 10 Ways China Is Dominating The World –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Crazy, Depressing List Of Things That Were True In 1999, But Are No Longer So
• China’s Stupendously Modern Train System Down For Three Hours Because Someone Smoked A Cigarette
• Why Shanghai Real Estate Is The Most Obvious Bubble Ever

NEW YORK — Citigroup said Tuesday it lost $7.58 billion during the final three months of 2009 as consumers still struggled to repay loans and the bank repaid its government bailout money.

Citigroup on Tuesday said $6.2 billion of the loss was tied to paying back $20 billion in money it received from the government.

The New York-based bank set aside $8.18 billion to cover soured loans during the quarter. However, in an encouraging sign, Citigroup’s provision for loan losses declined 10 percent from the previous quarter and 36 percent from the year-ago period when the credit crisis peaked.

Still, the bank’s chief financial officer, John Gerspach, said in a statement, “the environment continues to be challenging.” And the company noted in its news release that it had cut 100,000 jobs during the past year.

Citigroup was the bank hit hardest by the credit crisis and recession, receiving $45 billion in bailout money. It may turn out to have the poorest fourth-quarter showing among the big banks, as it lacks the big investment bank and trading operations that have helped other companies offset their losses from bad loans.

On Friday, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported a $3.28 billion profit on the strength of its investment banking unit. JPMorgan said it set aside $7.28 billion for failed loans during the fourth quarter, nearly identical to the amount it reserved during the final quarter in 2008. It also warned that it didn’t know when it would be able to stop adding to its loan reserves.

Citigroup’s Gerspach did say the bank is seeing signs credit might be stabilizing or improving, especially in some of its international businesses.

The bank lost 33 cents per share during the quarter, in line with analysts expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.

Citigroup raised $20 billion in new capital during the fourth quarter to repay bailout funds. The government converted $25 billion of the bailout money into a 34 percent stake in the bank, and said last month it would sell its shares over the next year.

The bank’s stock fell 9 cents to $3.33 pre-opening trading. The stock price is perhaps the clearest indication of how far Citigroup fell during the banking crisis and recession; at the stock market’s peak in October 2007, it traded at $45 a share.

Citigroup spent much of 2009 trying to reorganize and streamline its operations to return to consistent profitability. It split its operations into two units, Citicorp and Citigroup Holdings.

Citicorp, which holds the bank’s primary businesses such as regional consumer banking, generated net income of $1.7 billion during the quarter. Citigroup Holdings, which is where the bank placed noncore assets that it has been looking to sell or unwind, lost $2.5 billion during the October-December period.

Total assets in Citigroup Holdings fell by $70 billion to $547 billion during the fourth quarter. Over the full year, Citigroup Holdings completed 14 sales, including Smith Barney and Japanese units Nikko Cordial Securities and Nikko Asset Management.

For the full year, Citigroup lost $1.61 billion, or 80 cents per share. It lost $27.68 billion, or $5.61 per share in 2008.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Despite undergoing 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day, reality personality Heidi Montag-Pratt says she’s not addicted to going under the knife.

Heidi hit headlines last week, when she revealed that she was “beyond obsessed” with getting work done to her body in the Jan. 25 issue of PEOPLE. The star now insists that isn’t the case.

“I would say that none of those people know me at all, and that’s just a judgment,” Heidi said during an appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday. “I’m not addicted. If I were addicted, I would have had 10 plastic surgeries,” she said, making a distinction between having surgery and undergoing a “procedure.”

The Hills starlet insist she still looks like herself – just a “different, improved version.” The 10 procedures Heidi underwent on Nov. 20 included: a mini brow lift, Botox in the forehead, nose job revision, fat injections in cheeks and lips, chin reduction, neck liposuction, ears pinned back, breast augmentation revision, liposuction on her waist and thighs, and a butt augmentation.

Heidi once again noted that her career as an aspiring singer requires that she be beautiful — inside and out.

“I’m in a different industry and I have to do things that are going to make me happy at the end of the day.”

Preware is a free Homebrew Installer from WebOS Internals for your Palm Pre or Pixi. Preware lets you download content directly to your phone. If you don’t yet have Preware, you can be in on the fun in a matter of minutes with the Preware Getting Started Guide.

Preware now includes content from Palm as well as PreCentral, PreThemer, WebOS-Internals, and others. All that means that now Preware now displays over 2,500 packages, including Homebrew Apps, patches, themes, and now official Palm Apps for your webOS Pre or Pixi.

Meanwhile, Homebrew games are coming along. In Preware, just tap Available Applications then Games to see them all! You can download games like Quake, SuperTux, Classic Invaders, DOOM!, Presteroids, Topple Maze, and Preopoly for free.

While Preware does not offer the webOS "Type to Search" feature in the main menu like the Palm Catalog, Preware does offer a List of Everything that now really is a list of everything. The secret is to start typing in the List of Everything and the "Type to Search" will work there. This upgrade also sports a new Upgrade All feature and a number of new features under the hood. Plus many more features are planned. And Preware can even remove apps when you have no signal.

One last note: with so much new content, Preware can now now take over 70 seconds to load even on a fast WiFi connection. If you don’t themes or Palm apps, click the Preware menu at the top-left then Manage Feeds. Then set the theme and Palm feeds to OFF. To see everything again, set all of the feeds back to ON. Make sure you are set to update feeds every launch.

So much has improved that the Preware Guide needed an update too, so be sure to check that out. Huge props to WebOS Internals for the massive update!

If you find yourself with idle time on your hands, BlackBerry games can come in handy. That’s not idle time as in vegging out — there are PS3s and Xboxes for that. But plenty of people face daily commutes, wait for meetings, and otherwise experience downtime during the day. Cell phone games have existed for quite some time, and as platforms have evolved so have the available titles. The iPhone made quite a leap in this regard, thanks to its large touchscreen. The BlackBerry Storm, too, has a penchant for gaming. Today we’ll take a look at some interesting titles for the Storm.

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