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C’est lors de tests en Scandinavie que les anglais de Car Magazine ont surpris la remplaçante de la série 1, prévue pour 2012, et les camouflages étaient bien légers…

–> Toute l’actualité du groupe BMW et de ses marques, en continu, est sur le Fil News BMW/Mini !

–> BMW a cette particularité de ne jamais laisser les rédacteurs de blogs comme celui-ci ou les journalistes tranquilles. Après une journée déjà bien chargée du côté de l’hélice, voici que pointe la future Série 1 2ème.du nom. Mais cette fois, BMW n’y est pour rien.

-Le but de BM semble être de conserver sur cette seconde génération, qui sur les photos ressemble plus à un restyling, les fondamentaux de l’actuelle Série 1: lignes tranchées, feux revenant sur les ailes, et grille identifiable entre toutes. D’ici son apparition sur le marché, en 2012, la petite de BM aura fort à faire avec quelques concurrentes de poids déjà dans les starting-blocks, telle l’Audi A1 ou l’Alfa Giulietta, et bien entendu la première d’entre elles; la future A3.

-la Série 1 F20 partagera, comme l’actuelle, une bonne partie de son patrimoine génétique avec la future « 3″ F30, attendue un an plus tard. BM n’avait pourtant pas exclu de passer à la traction pour cette nouvelle génération (eh oui!), mais la demande des clients en 6 cylindres étant forte, c’est le chassis de la « 3″ qui a été retenu.

-Et donc, il y aura bien des 6 cylindres en ligne sur la future « 1″. Downsizing oblige, ils seront relativement petits et Turbo, mais là, toutes les bavaroises y viennent, voir la future M5 F10… on parle côtés moteurs, pour l’instant, des versions suivantes:

1. 116i: 1.3 turbo 136cv.
2. 118i: 1.3 turbo 177cv.
3. 120i: 2.0 turbo 218cv.
4. ?       : 3.0turbo ? (6 cylindres, probablement celui de la 535i GT, 306cv. actuellement) 
5. 2.0d & 3.0d en différentes puissances, avec système anti NOx

-La 5 portes devrait être présentée à l’automne 2011, quelques mois avant la 3 portes. Quant-aux Coupé et Cabriolet, ce sera pour fin 2012. D’autres carrosserie seraient en cours d’évaluation, notamment un break de chasse… 

Nouveau: pour profiter facilement et rapidement des notifications de nouveautés sur le site, pensez à vous abonner via Twitter. Chaque modification, nouvel article ou nouvelle vidéo sur notre chaîne Youtube, fait l’objet d’un Tweet immédiat!

(Photo: Doug Goodman)

Last year, The Daily Green recognized Greg Perry, a schoolteacher in Ohio, as the first recipient of its Local Hero Heart of Green Award. Greg empowered his marketing class at Beachwood High School in Ohio to stage the Green Dream, the largest green products and services expo in Ohio.

The extraordinary class project raised $150,000 in 2008 and exceeded that mark in 2009 — all to create the Ultimate Green Classroom, a model classroom completely refurbished with sustainable, nontoxic materials, powered by the sun and open to the school and to the community. And he did it all while battling cancer.

Adamant that the Green Dream live on, he taught his class by Skype and made a courageous appearance at The Daily Green’s Heart of Green Awards that brought the audience to tears. (He’s doing great by the way, and is back leading his class.)

We learned about Greg from you, the readers of The Daily Green. We asked for nominations for the local hero award, and received 40 inspiring stories of real people making a real difference.

We’re ready to get inspired all over again.

With the Heart of Green Awards, we honor those people, organizations and companies that have taken the green message to the mainstream — to the “heart” of the American people. We honor those people who strike a chord with regular people. We honor those who help us all live a more earth-friendly lifestyle.

Who in your community deserves to be recognized? Is it the organizer of a local farmers’ market … or the local farmer herself? Maybe it’s the shopkeeper who refuses to sell suspect plastics … or the construction worker who donated his time to weatherize neighborhood homes. Is it the mayor who installed solar power panels on the town hall … or the watchdog who held the mayor accountable for a bad decision?

Whoever you think is deserving, we want your nominations. Tell us, and the rest of The Daily Green audience, why your nominee deserves to be recognized as a Local Hero with a Heart of Green. We’ll recognize many of the nominees by publishing your accounts of their good deeds on The Daily Green, and the winner will receive his or her award at the Heart of Green Awards ceremony this April in New York City.

Get inspired by Greg’s incredible acceptance speech, and then scroll down for the nomination guidelines.

Heart of Green — 2010 Local Hero Guidelines

• Keep your nomination succinct — about 250 words. Explain why your nominee deserves to be recognized for bringing the green message to your community. If we highlight your nominee, your writing will appear on the site, so make a succinct persuasive case to The Daily Green audience.

• Attach a quality photo of the nominee that The Daily Green has permission to publish.

• Include email and telephone contact information so we can reach both you and the nominee.

• Email nominations to TDG senior editor Dan Shapley. Write “Heart of Green nomination” and the nominee’s name in the subject line.

• State how you know or are affiliated with the nominee. Disclose any and all business interests.

• If you are nominating someone who has been previously nominated, you must submit a new nomination that adheres to the 2010 guidelines.

• Send nominations by Friday, March 5.

• Nominations may be published at the sole discretion of The Daily Green, and must adhere to our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

• Winners will be chosen at the sole discretion of The Daily Green.

More from The Daily Green

• Photos From The Daily Green’s 2009 Heart of Green Awards
• 40 Inspiring Stories of Real People Making a Difference
• Heart of Green Awards: Acceptance Speeches, Highlights, and More
• The Daily Green’s 2009 Heart of Green Award Winners
• The 2009 Heart of Green Awards

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

There is no easy way to talk to children about the destructiveness caused by natural disasters. Thrive spoke with Children’s psychiatrist Stuart Goldman, MD, about how to talk to your children about Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Below are excerpts from that conversation and information from Children’s Psychiatry Department’s pamphlet “Helping Children Cope with Frightening Events without Frightening Them.”

Parents often don’t give children a chance to talk. In situations like this, kids feel helpless, which can lead to feeling very overwhelmed by the situation. Parents need to combat these feelings of helplessness by having conversations with their kids about the devastation in Haiti.

In general, you want to limit media exposure and set aside a quiet time to talk with your kids.  Start the conversation with an open-ended question: “What have you heard or seen on television about the earthquake in Haiti?”

Most adults have an easier time talking than they do listening, but it is important to let your children talk and for you, as a parent, to listen to what they have to say. Your child will then listen to your thoughtful and caring answers to their questions and be comforted by them.

For children under 8 years old, try to keep the conversation as simple as possible. Don’t go into details of the earthquake, but rather focus on the safety of your family and the people closest to you. Assure them that everything possible is being done to keep your child safe.

For children 8 to 12 years old, you can discuss more details of the earthquake. These are valuable pieces of information for children this age that help them understand the scope of the events.

For adolescents, ask what they know about the earthquake and explain the pieces that are missing or that they have wrong. Expect discussions of future implications. Adolescents have the ability to discuss events on a more sophisticated level but still need emotional support and reassurance about their safety.

Suggesting a way your children can help in Haiti’s time of need can be a very valuable way of empowering them during this scary time. Your children can run a clothing drive, raise funds for the Red Cross and write letters of support. If your family is religious, say a prayer of support.

Do you have any tips for how to talk to children about frightening events?

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle sparked complaints from frequent flyers on Tuesday after she reportedly began singing into a mop in a bizarre meltdown at London’s Heathrow Airport.

The sometimes-unstable Susan stunned travelers by dancing and belting out songs into a mop head in a first-class lounge, while awaiting a British Airways (BA) flight to Chicago, Illinois to film a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show, according to Britain’s The Sun.

“It was chaos. Susan was very restless and agitated from the minute she walked in and immediately started making a scene. She was singing and dancing around, shouting obscenities at full volume,” says one spywitness.

During her bizarre performance, which sparked complaints to staff, she also used the mop to polish passengers’ shoes. Boyle, affectionately known as SuBo, then fled the lounge, yelling, “I’ve escaped, I’ve escaped!” Airport employees were called to quiet Susan down after she began shouting obscenities.

A spokesperson for British Airways confirms the incident, saying: “A customer in the BA lounge on Tuesday was asked to temper their behaviour as it was becoming disruptive.”

The exhausted Susan was famously admitted to a London clinic in May after losing the championship round on the UK talent series Britain’s Got Talent.

The singer, 48, whose debut album “I Dreamed a Dream” has sold more than three million copies worldwide.

A rocky advertising climate might force the International Olympics Committee to delay bidding for media rights to the 2014 and 2016 games. Over the past years, bidding wars have become the norm for broadcasters who want to gain access to the NFL, NCAA, and Olympic markets, and fees have skyrocketed. But now, as traditionally big TV advertisers spend more on the Web and less in general, media companies are reluctant to shell out billions for events that aren’t the advertising jackpots they once were.

NBC Chairman Dick Ebersol announced on Sunday that, due to the escalating cost of media rights, his company will lose money broadcasting next month’s Winter Olympics. The Wall Street Journal reports that some media executives “saw Mr. Ebersol’s comments as a signal to the IOC to lower their expectations in anticipation of bidding for 2014 and 2016,” but the IOC is hoping that if it delays the bidding until next year, the market will have recovered enough to support another hike in fees.

The NCAA is facing a similarly unenthusiastic broadcaster landscape in its quest to strike a new long-term deal for March Madness rights. The league can opt out of its 11-year contract with CBS if it receives a better offer for the tournament rights, though its recent request for proposals has not prompted one. CBS does not expect to make much money, if any, over the next four years of the contract and hopes the NCAA would be willing to expand the tournament or bring in another broadcaster to ease the costs. Compromises like these may be the only way for struggling media companies to stay in the game. If TV advertising is on a more permanent downswing, however, athletic organizations may have to find an alternative to the current bidding system.

One of our connects just hit us up with some awesome info — T-Mobile’s responding to Verizon’s lower pricing. Here’s what we’ve got:Note: SRP = Standard Retail Pricing and NET = price after 2 year agreement. We’ve been told on average pricing dropped around “$30-$50.”

• BlackBerry Curve 8520 — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• Samsung t349 — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• HTC Touch Pro II — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• Samsung Gravity — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• Samsung Highlight — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• Nokia 3711 — reduced NET pricing
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 — reduced NET pricing
• Samsung Behold II — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• Motorola CLIQ — reduced NET pricing
• T-Mobile G1 — reduced SRP and NET pricing
• HTC Dash 3G — reduced SRP and NET pricing

Pretty nice, right?

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Just prior to the Consumer Electronics Show, I was asked to participate in a collaborative mobile trends effort. The results are out and I’m honored to be in such good company — over four dozen people participated and I’m not at all shy to say that most of them are far smarter than me. Each of us was asked to identify and briefly describe what mobile trends we envision for the next 10 years. Having read through the listing, there are some expected overlaps, but there’s also many unique aspects as well.

The slide show is freely available to view or download, so if you’re interested in hearing about mobile in the next 10 years, I highly recommend a peek. Thanks for asking me to take part, Rudy!

Related GigaOm Pro Research: “10 Mobile Predictions for 2010“

The guys at AppsFire has done it again – it’s built a simple but compelling little iPhone app that you should probably download right away. Pastefire is an app that lets you capture and act upon information sent with a click from your computer’s browser to your iPhone.

See a phone number on the web you want to call? A text or a link you want to paste into an SMS? Click the Pastefire bookmarklet on your browser, then launch the Pastefire app on your phone and the most appropriate action for the type of media captured will happen automatically. It’s easy, fast and free.

Sponsor

The app has some bugs, but it’s a good start. For some reason a captured address doesn’t get presented with a “search in Google” option in Pastefire, which would be really nice. I’m sure these things will be worked out.

Not to overstate things, but this is a great example of device convergence that makes the iPhone all the more valuable – is it not? We love handy little services like this and the crew at Appsfire comes up with things like this all the time. Are there other handy little must-have iPhone hack apps we should know about? Let us know in comments below.

Discuss

Gov. Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law that will increase public safety by advancing his ongoing overhaul and reform of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ meritorious good conduct credit program that can reduce prison sentences.

“I thank and congratulate the General Assembly for backing my recommendations and taking swift action to enact this important public safety initiative,” said Gov. Quinn.

“This law will protect the public while preserving the integrity of the criminal justice system and the court’s sentencing of offenders.”

The new Public Safety Initiative law establishes key requirements regarding meritorious good conduct credits that can reduce prison sentences.

The law requires prisoners in state custody to serve at least 60 days of their sentences before being eligible for meritorious good conduct credit.

Last month, at the Governor’s direction, the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) reinstated an agency practice requiring inmates to serve this minimum amount of time in a state facility before being awarded such credit.

The law also requires IDOC to provide at least 14 days advance notice to the appropriate local prosecutors prior to releasing an inmate receiving meritorious good conduct credit.

Senate Bill 1013 is one major result of Governor Quinn’s mandate to repair IDOC’s Meritorious Good Time (MGT) program, a release program first authorized by statute in 1978.

On December 30, Governor Quinn announced an overhaul of this prison release program and committed to working with the General Assembly to quickly enact reforms.

These changes are based on feedback from criminal justice expert and former judge David A. Erickson, whose review of the MGT program for the Quinn Administration will include meetings with law enforcement officials, state’s attorneys and other stakeholders, including the John Howard Association.

As part of his ongoing overhaul, Gov. Quinn last month terminated IDOC’s recently-accelerated MGT program, which did not require inmates to spend at least 60 days in IDOC custody before being awarded any meritorious credit.

In addition, the new law formalizes Gov. Quinn’s December order that IDOC must provide local prosecutors with at least 14 days advance notice before releasing an inmate based on meritorious good conduct credit.

This notice will provide local authorities with sufficient opportunity to appropriately respond to and disseminate notices.

The passage of the new law is only one part of Governor Quinn’s continuing effort to reform the IDOC meritorious good conduct credit program.

The Governor recently announced appointments to further improve the administration of IDOC programs affecting public safety.

Governor Quinn named law enforcement veteran Michael J. McCotter as Chief Public Safety Officer at IDOC. The Governor also named Sean Vinck, Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Office of the Governor, as a special administrator for IDOC, and Mark S. Prosperi, a former Assistant United States Attorney, as Public Safety Liaison Officer for the Office of the Governor.

Senate Bill 1013, sponsored by Sen. Michael Noland (D-Elgin) and Rep. Emily McAsey (D-Lockport), is effective immediately.

For more information on IDOC, please visit idoc.state.il.us

More than 4000 physical structures were destroyed or damaged in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the country on 12 January 2010. About 2000 residential buildings have partially or totally collapsed and the same number of buildings shows severe damage. A number of critical infrastructures such as government buildings, educational structures and hospitals have collapsed or are severely damaged. These are the preliminary findings of a rapid damage assessment carried out by the JRC based on the analysis of very high resolution satellite imagery acquired before and after the disaster.

>> For additional information and damage assessment maps, see the press pack

I’m still not convinced that the chances of Scott Brown beating Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election are as high as 50%.  I would like this to be true, but the universe is not here to please me–though Martha Coakley’s nearly unprecedented gift for putting her foot in her mouth certainly seems to be.

Nonetheless, I think it’s worth speculating, as my colleague Derek Thompson already has:  what if?  What happens to health care? 

The
progressive pundits seem to be pretty united in their belief that this
is no big deal, nothing to see here, move along–either they’ll rush
through a compromise, or the House will pass the Senate bill
unchanged.  The libertarians I know, on the other hand, are equally
convinced that this means the death of the bill.  At this point, there
are clearly a fair number of Democrats who would really rather not pass
this, but are afraid to defy their party.  If all they have to do is
stall long enough to let Brown take his seat, well, that’s not hard to
do, especially since Stupak seems so far pretty adamant about accepting
the Senate compromise.

Moreover, Brown’s election probably makes
a bunch of Blue Dogs even more nervous than they already are–when
they’re already about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of
rocking chairs.  How much discipline can the leadership exert on those
quailing members, given how shaky many of their campaigns are looking?  If Scott Brown can get elected in Massachusetts
with a pretty clear mandate to kill the health care bill–even in an
off-year special election . . . well, how frightened are you really
that Harry Reid’s going to be around next year to take his vengeance?

The
leadership could try to stall Brown’s certification.  But I have no
evidence that they are any less appalled by the idea than I am–and
even if they were, I’m pretty sure they’ve already realized that it
would be political suicide.  There is simply a limit to how brazenly
legislators can flout the will of the folks who elect them. 

So
I guess I’m in the camp that thinks a Scott Brown victory means that
the health care bill goes down.  On the other hand, given the
near-perfect correlation of one’s opinion on the matter with one’s
opinion on the health care bill, I think it’s pretty clear that we’re
all seeing what we want to see.

You may have noticed that we’re not really big on dieting in the count-your-calories, watch-the-fat sense around here. But we do feel that there are times when a period of eating lighter meals helps us feel refreshed and healthy, especially after a period of more indulgent eating like during the holidays or after a long vacation (or both!). Here are some of our favorite recipes from The Kitchn archives that we go to when we want clean flavors, nutritious ingredients, and a fresh start.

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As expected based on speculation earlier this week, Verizon Wireless formally announced changes to their wireless calling plans.

The new calling plans, which take effect on January 18th, will be renamed “Nationwide Talk” and “Nationwide Talk and Text,” and unlimited options will be available for $69.99 and $89.99, respectively.  Family options will be available as well, with unlimited talk starting at $119.99 and unlimited talk and text starting at $149.99 (both including two lines).  Additional lines will cost $49.99.

Prepaid plans will be revised as well, with a $5 price increase across the board over postpaid options.  The unlimited talk plan will be available for $74.99, while the unlimited talk and text will be $94.99.  450 and 900 minute options will be available as well.

In addition to the LG enV Touch and the Samsung Rogue (which were billed as “multimedia phones” last year), data packages will now be required on the LG Chocolate Touch, LG enV3, LG VX8360, Motorola Entice W766, Nokia 7705 Twist, and Samsung Alias 2.  Options include a 25 MB data plan for $9.99 monthly, or an unlimited option for $29.99 monthly.

Existing Verizon Wireless customers will not be affected by the changes, unless they choose to move to one of the new “Nationwide” plans.  While the unlimited plans have been lowered to a reasonable price (are you listening, AT&T?), the concept of data requirements on the phones listed above is a bit frustrating, to say the least.  For those that want one (or more) of the 3G devices above, make sure to buy before Monday in order to avoid the data requirement.

An Ohio Air National Guard C-130 pilot, who flew into the Haiti airport the day
after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, said he was surprised by the condition of
the runway…