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Cakesicles are popsicle-shaped cakes that bake in a unique pan and, when finished, can be skewered with popsicle sticks to give the cakes (or cookies) you bake with the pan a fun look. Norpro’s Heart-Sicle Pan offers another variation on this unique type of cake. This nonstick pan features heart-shaped molds that are a similar size to the popsicle molds, and the cakes baked in it can be mounted on popsicle sticks and presented in just the same way as the popsicle-shaped cousins. Hearts are good all year round, but they are particularly nice around holidays like Valentine’s Day, as well as during anniversaries and birthdays.

Cookies and brownies hold up very well in a pan like this one because they are sturdy enough to support their own weight when on a stick. Cakes will hold up quite well, too, thanks to the size of the pan. However, for the sturdiest cakesicles you should sandwich two together with some frosting, insert your popsicle stick into the center, then dip the whole thing in glaze or melted chocolate to hold everything in place and rally create a finished popsicle look.

Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) announced today it plans to build a Design and Development Competency Center in Columbus, Indiana, as part of its car seat product capital investment program which involves a total investment of US$20.8 million through 2013.  DJG will spend $3.6 million and will add 39 jobs at its Columbus facility with a total of 98 jobs being created over the next four years.

"The development of this world class technology center with specialized research and design facilitie… (read more)

According to a recent survey (qjnet/news/survey-says-only-15-of-gamers-buy-dlc.html), only 15% of gamers buy DLC and a much larger 43% aren’t even aware that they exist. While that particular survey wasn’t exactly scientifically conducted, Nintendo must have similar figures on

Everyone is trying to guess what the features are of the tablet that Apple may announce on Wednesday 27. What’s its name? What’s the OS? How big? Tell us what you think and win an Apple tablet.

Rules

Apart from the usual Gawker legalese, here’s it how it works:

• You fill out the survey linked below before the Apple event, and whoever gets closest to having all the answers right is eligible to win a free Apple tablet—whatever it ends up being called—courtesy of us.

• If the final feature is not exactly like one of the answers we provided, we will pick the closest answer. If the feature is not in the answers, that question will be void, but the rest of the questions will still be valid towards winning.

• There is a reasonable chance that many people will get the correct answers. In the event that there are, all of those who made the cut will go into a drawing, from which we’ll pick a winner at random.

Click here to complete the survey of features. The winner gets an Apple tablet.

Your name and email will only be used to contact you in case you win the tablet.



Here are my guesses:

Name
I think they will call it iBook, just because it’s a good brand, a short name that sounds great, and ties in with the whole tablet format.

OS
The tablet will run a variant of iPhone OS, with additional software classes to address its special features. Fundamentally, it will be like the iPhone OS—it should be able to run apps straight away (although developers will tailor them to the new screen size, selling them in the app store as fatter apps that support both the iPhone OS and the Tablet OS).

Screen
The screen won’t be OLED, but I would like to think that—given Apple’s push towards LED backlighting, with its energy savings and better image quality—they will use a 10.1-inch LCD-LED display.

Connectivity
The connectivity is a tricky one. Since I believe the Apple Tablet is a complete new paradigm in computing, one goes away from desktop metaphors, and is always connected—it makes sense that it supports 3G. But would Apple tie this thing to a carrier, like some rumors say? And if they do, and it’s AT&T, would I be able to have two SIMs under the same AT&T number?

Camera
Another tricky one. Some people say no webcam at all, other say no cameras at all, others say both. I want to believe that this thing will, at last, support videoconferencing.

Storage
The top model will have 64GB.

Material
I like the idea of the back being chrome, so I can touch up my makeup.

Keyboard
Another tricky one. I want to believe that Apple is including a stylus and that their handwriting technology—already present in Mac OS X, coming from Newton OS—is good enough. However, this will require multiple-language support, something that doesn’t seem to be implemented right now. So I want handwriting, but I’m leaning to a screen-based keyboard.

User interface
The iPhone has been a huge hit because it’s simple. No complicated desktop metaphors, no confusing windows, just a modal device that morphs into different devices. Normal people, regular consumers who hate normal computers—the majority—get it. It will be like the iPhone, modal, hopefully with aggressive multitasking, and a clever way to navigate through running applications.

Extras
Another wild guess. USB 3.0 support would be nice, or even Lightpeak, but I really want this thing to support a stylus.

Battery life
This could have 10 hours of battery life. If its guts are not much different than an iPhone, there will be a lot of empty space in there, enough to fit some extra battery cells.

Price
People are guesstimating a wild range. Mine: $600, and they will still make money out of it. My gut feeling is that Steve Jobs and Co. believe this will be their biggest contribution to computing since the original Apple Macintosh. And they will want it to be cheap, so it can spread quick, like wildfire.

Main functions
Like the iPhone was a phone, an iPod, a web browser and a mail machine, this device will also have three or four main functions (apart from the thousands that it can take thanks to the applications). My wild guess is that movies will be a good one, as will web, ebooks, and videochat/communication.

Main role
While many computer fans will see this device as a secondary device or a peripheral, I believe Apple will position it as a full computer. Like I said before, most people don’t need a computer. Most people don’t spend hours writing emails or documents outside of the office. Most people don’t spend hours doing spreadsheets or painting photos outside of work mode. Most people just browse, send the occasional image, do some chat, access Facebook, tweet a bit, read, browse, watch movies, listen to music… that’s why the iPhone has become such a driving force in the industry, with many regular consumers adopting it as their main computing device. My guess is that this computer will be the main computer of most of the people who buy it. Not for the office, but their personal computer.

Now it is your turn to give us your guesses, and get a chance to win an Apple tablet.

Click here to complete the survey of features. The winner gets an Apple tablet.

Your name and email will only be used to contact you in case you win the tablet.

This week on TreeHugger, the newest electric cars, solar powered dogs, cardboard computers, self-assembling solar cells, and how Apple will control your energy in the near future.

LG Unveils New Flexible e-Ink Newspaper, No One Gets Excited
LG, for reasons no one has been able to really guess yet, decided to wait until after CES to announce their newest digital contraption intended to take the place of newspapers – a 19″ flexible digital display.

Hi-Tech, Satellite-Controlled Robot ‘Gliders’ to Scour Ocean Depths Up to 3,280 Ft
Sure, they look like torpedoes. But they’re so much more useful. They cruise the ocean, exploring depths of over 1000 meters (3,280 ft)—and they use only as much energy as bike light in the process. A fleet of these robot gliders, which move across the ocean’s surface like a sailplane, is being massed for their first ‘swarm’ mission in the tropical Atlantic.

Acer Unveils New Aspires As Their Greenest Laptops
Acer has launched two new notebooks, Acer Aspire 3811TZ and Aspire 3811TZG. They’re part of the Timeline series, which touts a 40% energy efficiency improvement over traditional laptops, and these two notebooks are free of two toxic materials that many companies either have, or are working to eliminate from their laptop lineups as well.

Advocates for Electronics Producer Responsibility Speak Out Against NYC e-Waste Lawsuit
The e-waste collection battle heats up in New York City. Get the latest information from those who are backing the city’s plan to have gadget producers pick up the tab – and the devices – from city residents who want to recycle.

Apple May Help Slice Home Energy Use With Smart Grid Project
Apple is going after the low-hanging fruit, and mulling a move into the energy management market. The company is developing a system to help you regulate and decrease the amount of power you use in your home.

2010 Detroit Auto Show: BMW ActiveE Electric Car
Most of you probably know about the MINI-E, an electric version of the MINI made by BMW to do real-world EV testing (and exploit a CARB loophole, some say). BMW says that it will repeat the experiment, but this time with the ActiveE, a converted BMW series 1 coupe. Get the latest on this, and many other electronic and hybrid car information from the Detroit Auto Show

Cardboard PC Concept Case Becomes Reality, Goes Into Mass Production
Remember a year ago when we showed you the ReCompute cardboard PC case dreamed up by designer Brenden Macaluso? We didn’t think it was too hot of an idea but it looks like it got the support from elsewhere because the ReCompute has gone into mass production.

The Causeworld Mobile App: Go Shopping, Earn Karma, Save the Planet
It’s called Causeworld and here’s how it works: download the app for your iPhone or Android device, walk into a store and “check in” on your phone (geotagging helps determine where you’re at), as you earn Karmas you spend them on causes like carbon offsets and tree planting. You don’t actually have to buy anything, just divulge that you’ve set foot in that particular department store, grocery, hardware store, Abercrombie, etc. Corporate sponsors pony up the dough, you just decide how it’s divvied up.

Self-Assembling Solar Cells Take Cue From Salad Dressing
The principle behind these self-assembling solar cells is one which I imagine every person who reads this is familiar with: Until you mix it together salad dressing stays neatly separated. Now take that idea—the hydrophobic and hydrophilic qualities of two liquids—apply it to manufacture of solar cells and you get a glimpse of the genius of this. Heiko Jacobs and Robert Knuesel, writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that it can be done.

Solar Powered Dog Sweater Gathers Power From Your Pooch (Video)
How can you make your dog earn it’s keep? Tape a solar cell to its sweater and add a battery pack to its collar, then send it outside. That’s what Erik Schiegg has done with his Solar Dog prototype invention. Check out how your dog could be the solution to your charging woes.

TreeHugger’s EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Want to have your mind blown, slightly? Try this:

• Open any YouTube video
• In the video’s URL, switch out the “Y” in “Youtube” for a 3
• Ask yourself why you didn’t think of this first.

KickYouTube handles video downloads in an equally clever way, and with even more options. [Lifehacker]

All Kankakeee District 111 schools are closed today because of a teachers’ strike, according to the district’s Web site.

The union and district failed to reach an agreement to avoid a strike late last week, and on Monday the district canceled classes for today in anticipation of the walkout.

About 5,800 students at 12 schools which include classes from kindergarten through 12th grade, will be affected until the two sides come to an agreement.

A 14th and so far last negotiating session was held Friday. And on Sunday, about 200 of the
373-member teachers’ union met to organize picket lines, make signs and rally.

The union and the district reached a tentative agreement Dec. 15, which averted a strike at that time.

But the union membership rejected the proposal two days later on a vote of 142-to-121, and no replacement proposal has been put forward.

– Staff report

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

The blitz is on! PhoneDog is giving away dozens of new cell phones to kick off 2010! Free to play and free to win! Click here to play!

Note we said commercial scale, this isn't just some small impractical research lab trick:

Business Wire: Ethanol derived from sugarcane in Brazil is one of the most efficient biofuels in terms of energy balance and carbon emissions. The benefits of this alternative fuel are substantial: it is a renewable energy source and its combustion reduces atmospheric emissions, especially NOX.

The Juiz de Fora Power Plant is a simple-cycle, natural gas plant with a total capacity of 87 megawatts, located in the south of Minas Gerais state, approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. The plant has two GE LM6000 gas turbines, one of whose combustors has been modified by GE to enable the use of ethanol, making it dual-fuel (ethanol and natural gas). This enhances the plant’s energy security and reliability by providing a valuable alternative fuel source for the power plant that previously had only one available fuel.

As the world’s second largest producer of ethanol and the world’s largest exporter, Brazil will benefit from incorporating ethanol into its thermal generation profile because of the abundant fuel supply. The country’s 35-year, large-scale experience in ethanol use is based on efficient agricultural technology for sugarcane cultivation, producing 26.9 billion liters (or about 7.3 billion U.S. gallons) in 2008, according to data provided by the Federal Government.

Flexibility is a key characteristic of GE’s aeroderivative product portfolio. From supporting a wide variety of operating profiles to fast, easy, modular maintenance programs, GE’s aeroderivative gas turbines support the operating needs of its global customers. To better support a rising need for reduced environmental impact and improved plant economics, GE’s aeroderivative team is focused on developing alternative fuel solutions that will further augment the portfolio’s existing performance flexibility.

“GE’s continued investment in research and development of aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines enables the LM aeroderivative gas turbines to lead in technology, performance and operational flexibility while providing value to the customer,” said Darryl L. Wilson, president and CEO—Aeroderivative Gas Turbines for GE Power & Water. “The LM series has the ability to operate with a variety of fuels and features advanced emission control technologies.”

Read more here >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Brazil "brAAf"s Up A Hot New CDO
• Brazil Could Become The Biggest Oil Producer in Latin America
• RBS: Red-Hot Brazil Is Still Blowing Away Expectations

Although Saab, the car manufacturer, will most likely cease to exist as an entity, Saab vehicles owners and fans will always be around. Their existence (if you doubted it until now) was confirmed on Sunday, in front of General Motors’ main office in Luton, UK, where a convoy led by Saab rally legend Erik Carlsson and comprising some 150 Saab vehicles set up camp to protest against the American bully.

The gathering (which, in our opinion, has all the chances of becoming a regular event, shoul… (read more)

According to the analysts at research firm Gartner, mobile application stores are expected to generate revenues of nearly $7 billion over the course of this year. That figure is a combination of the $6.2 billion spent purchasing the mobile applications themselves combined with an additional $.6 billion generated through advertising revenues from in-app ads. Not surprisingly, Apple dominates this market, accounting for 99.4% of the market as of last year, states the report.

Sponsor

Over the course of 2009, mobile application download revenue exceeded $4.2 billion, with eight out of every 10 apps downloaded offered free to end users, says Gartner. Going forward, the analysts predict mobile application stores’ revenue will grow to $29.5 billion by the end of 2013. That revenue, again, will be a combination of paid applications and free applications running ads.

3 Billion in Apple App Sales? Not Exactly

While we’re sure the general trend is correct as far as the growth of mobile application stores and Apple’s position as the market leader, we have to agree with the note that John Gruber recently made on his blog regarding these figures. He quotes a portion of the report where analyst Chris Foresman says:

Earlier this month, Apple announced that sales had topped 3 billion; that means iPhone users downloaded 2.5 billion apps in 2009 alone. Gartner’s figures show another 16 million apps that could come from other platform’s recently opened app stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 percent of all mobile apps sold for the year.

Gruber notes that Apple didn’t actually announce 3 billion in sales, they announced 3 billion downloads. In fact, you can see the original press release making this announcement here. Not only that, but another Gartner analyst Miguel Fontanez told us earlier this month that Apple, as a rule, does not disclose App Store revenues as a separate line item in their revenue reporting. That means that any estimation of Apple’s App Store sales are just that – an estimation.

Last week, in speaking with Peter Farago of Flurry analytics to calculate App Store piracy numbers, we determined that Apple had generated approximately $750 million in sales to date. That’s 3 billion downloads over the lifetime of the App Store with roughly 25% of them being paid downloads. In other words, if Gartner used the 3 billion to determine Apple’s position as the market share leader in sales, then their calculations would be off.

However, as Gruber also notes, if Gartner’s calculations are accurate regarding the other mobile platforms (16 million in app sales, they claim), then it’s clear that Apple still has the app store to beat… even if they don’t account for 99.4% of the market.

We don’t expect Apple’s dominant position to change anytime soon – the company has momentum. In November 2009, Apple announced they offer over 100,000 applications and by now that number has likely grown even more. However, other mobile application stores are growing quickly, too. Google’s Android marketplace, for example, with its open nature unhampered by any sort of bogged-down app review process, has now topped 20,000 applications as of December. The Android mobile operating system is growing in popularity, too (usage increased 3% over the past three months), meaning it will soon be a contender for a hefty slice of that the app store pie in years to come.

Discuss