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A Mini anunciou hoje seu novo modelo conversível de quatro lugares denominado Mini One Cabrio mais econômico que os modelos anteriores.

O Mini One Cabrio conversível é equipado com um motor de quatro cilindros com 98 cavalos de potencia chegando a desenvolver de 0 a 100 km/h em 11,3 segundos atingindo uma velocidade máxima de 181 km/h.

Esse novo modelo além da potencia do motor esta equipado com uma gama de componentes que usam tecnologia de ponta como direção eletrônica, sistema DSC para controle de estabilidade e quatro airbags.

Sua configuração poderá ser escolhida pelo comprador que terá a suas disposições opcionais como pintura exterior, design e cores interiores. As vendas terão início em março de 2010.

Novo Mini One Cabrio

Fonte: TopSpeed

I don’t want to say that ILM and Weta did a bad job on Avatar’s visual effects, but an Atari 2600 edition of Avatar would still get most of the point across. [Penney Design via GameSetWatch via Kotaku]

CES 2010 Wrap-Up: Noah’s Top 5 Devices

4. Notion Ink Adam E-Reader

Why an E-Reader in my Top 5 CES Devices when it’s not a Kindle? Because this is the E-Reader that’s got Kindle rethinking its long-term future.

Notion Ink’s Adam takes the E-Reader concept and adds enormous value to it by way of Pixel Qi’s dual-mode display technology. People like E-Readers because their E-Ink screens are easier on the eyes than LCD display for long-term reading sessions. But $300 read-only devices are, and will always be, a niche market (even if the niche of “readers” is a fairly big one). Shoehorning everything from HTML Web browsers to Android OS into an E-Ink device adds functionality, but it’s greyscale functionality. And who really wants to browse the Web or watch Leno-vs-Conan video clips in greyscale?

Enter Pixel Qi and their technology that enables a single display panel to shift from an E-Ink-style high contrast greyscale, without backlighting, that’s optimized for displaying book-like text to a full-color LCD meant for computer-esque tasks like Web browsing and photo viewing. The tech isn’t 100% there yet, but it’s far enough along to clearly show a near-term future in which convergence rules and single purpose tablets like Kindle and Nook should be faced with rapidly declining sales figures. Of course Kindle and Nook are backed by two of the largest retailers of books on the planet, so don’t count them out just yet. But I’d bet we’re more likely to see subsequent K’s and N’s with similar dual-mode displays than without them.

Adam takes advantage of that multitasking display, if you will, by backing it with Android 2.0 and NVIDIA’s new Tegra 2 processor. By the time thing thing’s ready to ship, we should be seeing Android 2.1 (at least) and refined software including more and better text input options. And after Adam, don’t you think we’ll see more convergence devices with displays built to adapt to use cases and external conditions like direct sunlight?

As Jon Herrmann put it over on Gizmodo, “The bullet’s in the chamber. E Ink is going to die.” Which is good, because for as nifty a transitional technology as E-Ink is – I mean, has been – a $300 device that pulls off book reading and Web surfing has a lot more value in the global marketplace than a $300 dedicated E-Reader. No matter how many Kindles were gifted for Xmas 2009.

Previous: Palm Pre Plus

Next: Google Nexus One

Nissan officials said Monday that we can expect to see an addition to their crossover lineup with the introduction of the Nissan Juke this September. Built on the same platform as the Nissan Versa, the Juke will supplant the Rogue as Nissan’s entry-level crossover. Much of the styling detail is borrowed from the Qazana concept that Nissan showed in Geneva this past march.

During a meeting with journalists on Monday at the 2010 North America International Auto Show, Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares said “We are doing so well with the Rogue that there is no reason to think we won’t do better with the additional of a smaller crossover,”

In addition to the Juke, Nissan has seven launches planned for 2010 including the Nissan Leaf in December and a 40th-Anniversary edition of the Z. The 2011 Infiniti QX will debut at the 2010 New York Auto Show.

-By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News

As you probably know, Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake last night. According to the latest estimates, over 100,000 people may have died and large parts of the island’s infrastructure have been destroyed.

Here is a short list of things you can do right now to get help to Haiti. Just watch out for unsolicited emails. Quite a few scammers and spammers are trying to profit from this catastrophe and have set up fake donation sites and are running phishing scams.

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Text to Give Money

As Twitter’s Evan Williams just noted on the official Twitter blog, giving money to relief organizations has never been easier. All you need is your phone.

• The American Red Cross allows anyone in the U.S. to text HAITI to 90999 as an easy way to donate $10 to the recovery effort. The money is billed to your mobile phone account. According to the latest tally, the Red Cross has already raised over $800,000 through text messages.
• Musician Wyclef Jean’s Haiti-focused organization, Yele is also accepting text-message donations. To donate $5, text Yele to 501501 or visit the foundation’s Web site.

Of course, all the major relief organizations also have websites and will happily accept your donations. Our friends at Mashable have compiled a good list of worthy organizations.

Stay Informed

Here are a few Twitter lists you can follow to stay informed.

• New York Times: follows updates from organizations like the Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services and InternetHaiti.
• CNN: follows many of the same news sources as the New York Times, but also features updates from local bloggers and Twitter users.
• This local blogger is also posting regular updates.

If you know of other news sources, local bloggers or organizations, let us know in the comments.

Discuss

For its presence at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Tesla showed off a red Tesla Model S Sedan and announced that it has produced the 1,000th Tesla Roadster.

“A year ago right here in Detroit we had delivered about 150 Roadsters, so VIN 1,000 is a humble but important milestone for us,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “It’s fitting to do something special with this unique car.”

As for the Model S Sedan, Tesla was keen on letting us know that the sedan is a 7-passenger vehicle with a third rear-facing row for children only. The Model S is expected to begin production in 2012 with prices to start at $49,900 after U.S. federal tax credit.

Click through for the high-res image gallery and the press release.

2010 Detroit: Tesla Model S Sedan:

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

Press Release:

Tesla Celebrates 1,000th Roadster

Electric automaker displays VIN 1,000 at North American International Auto Show, will donate full value to charities

DETROIT — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Tesla Motors has built its 1,000th production vehicle — a significant milestone for the only automaker worldwide producing and selling highway-capable electric cars.

The car, which bears the unique Vehicle Identification No. 1,000, is a special-edition Roadster Sport in “Millennial White,” with a unique interior and carbon fiber accents. VIN 1,000 will be on display at the North American International Auto Show through Jan. 24.

The world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer will donate the $175,000 Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of this collector’s car to several charities in metro Detroit.

Tesla will donate the full value of the car to organizations including:

* Forgotten Harvest: Oak Park, Mich.-based charity focused on alleviating hunger and waste by rescuing food from more than 450 food industry donors.
* The Children’s Center: Detroit-based coalition of civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders dedicated to helping disadvantaged children and families.
* FOCUS: Hope: Detroit-based community organization focused on food and health programs to single low-income mothers and children, civic revitalization, and back-to-work education projects such as a “green jobs” training program.
* Sierra Club: The nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental group with over 1.3 million members and supporters, winning big victories to stop global warming and move America into a clean energy future.
* National Wildlife Federation: America’s largest conservation organization with more than 4 million members, partners and supporters working to protect and restore wildlife habitat, confront global warming and connect with nature.

Tesla, a Silicon Valley-based automaker that began vehicle development in 2004, has delivered Roadsters to customers in 43 states and 19 countries. The company operates 10 retail outlets in the United States and Europe.

Roadster Road Trip Car and Model S on Display

The Tesla booth at the Detroit auto show also features “VIN 750,” an Arctic White Roadster Sport that recently completed a 2,700-mile cross-country road trip to Detroit from Los Angeles. Tesla employees drove 750 through nine states, three time zones, and two snowstorms – without a drop of gasoline.

The acclaimed Roadster accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 and is twice as energy efficient as leading hybrids. It is the only highway-capable electric vehicle for sale in North America or Europe.

The 2010 North American International Auto Show also marks the Detroit debut of the Model S. The Model S is an electric, seven-passenger sedan that Tesla plans to begin producing in early 2012 with an anticipated base price of $49,900 after a US federal tax credit.

– By: Omar Rana

More sources are now claiming the Chinese government is behind the recent cyberattacks against Google and 33 other Silicon Valley companies, reports security firm Verisign iDefense. The attacks, revealed yesterday via a posting on Google’s official blog, were hacking attempts on the technology infrastructure of Google and other major corporations in sectors that included finance, technology, media and chemical, said Dave Girouard, president of Google Enterprise.

Although Google’s politely-worded blog post doesn’t come out and directly blame the Chinese government for these attacks, many have suspected that is the case, including, apparently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now even more sources are coming out to confirm the Chinese government’s involvement. According to Verisign, their sources within the defense-contracting and intelligence-consulting communities also believe “agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof” are to blame for these recent attacks.

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About the Attacks

Google has stated that the attackers unsuccessfully attempted to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. However, only two Gmail accounts were accessed and only account information and the email subject lines were seen, not the content of the emails themselves. The company also said that at least 20 other large companies were attacked as well. Now Verisign reports that number is 33.

In light of these attacks, Google boldly declared they are reconsidering their decision to do business in China – a surprising turn for the Internet giant who once claimed that operating in China didn’t violate the company’s motto, “Don’t be evil,” despite the fact that it required censoring search results according to the Chinese government’s wishes. That controversial act, though hotly debated at the time, was not all that surprising. Many Western firms ultimately have to cave in to Chinese demands in order to gain access to the 300 million plus Internet users the country holds. Google, for all their proclaimed high ideals, appeared to be no exception.

Until now.

The company has changed its course, stating that they will no longer censor the search results for their Chinese portal google.cn, launched in 2006 with the lofty goal of providing reliable access to information, albeit filtered information, for millions of Chinese citizens. Google is leaving the next move up to the Chinese government. If officials do not accept Google’s decision to provide unfiltered information, Google says they will have to withdraw from the country.

Policy Change Hints at Government Involvement in Attacks

So what has changed between then and now? The Chinese government hasn’t altered their position on Internet censorship, nor have they asked Google to make any changes to the agreement already in place. Many immediately suspected that the sole reason for Google’s decision has to do with the attacks themselves – attacks that hint at government involvement.

According to Verisign’s sources, that does appear to be the case. The company says they’ve confirmed with two independent sources that both the source IPs and drop server (the server used to host malicious code and store the stolen files) of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting of either agents of the Chinese state or those acting on their behalf.

Verisign also notes that these recent attacks resemble a similar July 2009 incident against 100 or so IT-focused companies. At that time, the hacks involved an emailed PDF file that contained an unpatched Adobe Reader vulnerability, which allowed the attackers to deliver the malicious code. That vulnerability remained unpatched until just yesterday, notes Rick Howard, director of security intelligence for VeriSign iDefense.

While July’s attacks were detected early and were largely uneventful, December’s attacks did find some success. In addition, these same sources claim that the files in both cases share similar characteristics. For example, both attacks used a backdoor Trojan in the form of a Windows DLL, and both share two similar hosts for the command-and-control (C&C) communication. In layman’s terms, if the cyberattack was a ground assault during a war, the C&C would be the general barking out the orders. Also in both incidents, the IP addresses used for C&C are in the same subnet and only six addresses apart from each other. That means both attacks are likely to have been instigated by the same entity and may imply that the recent victims’ technology infrastructure has been compromised since July.

While none of these findings are a true smoking gun pointing to the Chinese government, it is believed that China encourages their hacker community to attack foreign entities while publicly denying any involvement in such attacks. That may be the case now. Or it could be that this time, the attacks are not just being state-permitted, they’re being state-directed.

Discuss

The MiniGuru keyboard has three layers of functions designed to keep your fingers on the home row. Theoretically, that means you could type more efficiently. It would also mean a major overhaul to your typing technique.

Special modifier keys can be held down with a free thumb, allowing the user to cycle through layers of programmable key functionality. For example: hold down the modifier and J, K, L and ; can become arrow keys. There is also a mouse pointer in the center of the board if you choose to take this whole home key thing to the limit.

Again, the options for the keyboard are highly customizable, with changes saving to the firmware—but it’s going to take a lot of convincing when this thing comes out at the end of the year. I’m set in my typing ways dammit. Don’t try and change me. [Guru Board via ZDNet]

Ah, the iPhone. What would life be without it?

You can get directions, make dinner reservations, break up via text and now, thanks to the latest app, you can get live streaming mugshots on your phone! Wait–is that mom?

Arrested! Mobile Mugshots prides itself on “Real People! Real Arrests! Real Mugshots! We collect mugshots from jails all over the USA and post them for you to view.”

The iPhone app, gratis on iTunes, serves up police pics from around the United States with full names, birth date, age, the date and time of arrest as well as the alleged crime.

Finally, a way to track Lindsay Lohan’s movements!

Check out some recent perps here.

Related Content:
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I went out in the woods yesterday to find tracks of the coyote who kept me up all night by howling outside my window. I found them, but more interesting was this:

Enter hapless bunny, stage left. He hops along for a bit, then a hawk swoops down and gobbles him up. Notice the wingtip print at right, and lack of further bunny prints.

AMMAN – Private companies with renewable energy projects will now be able to negotiate directly with the Energy Ministry as part of a series of changes to the sector, a senior ministry official announced on Wednesday. Investments in renewable energy …

So just how badly did the financial crisis screw up growth prospects for the United States? Moodys chief economist Mark Zandi has an answer. And it’s disturbing. His testimony (.pdf) before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission addresses precisely this topic. I found the most alarming section of his testimony Moodys’ projection of would happen to GDP in the long run, due to the crisis. The associated chart provides a frightening picture of the depth of its effects.

Here’s the full section about GDP in the Long Run, which includes the chart:

Fallout from the financial crisis will continue well beyond the current recovery. Most critically, it will likely lower GDP for an extended period. That is, GDP will not return to the level that would have prevailed if the financial crisis had never occurred, at least not for the next five to 10 years. This is similar to the experiences of other economies that have suffered similar financial crises. Real U.S. GDP is expected to be some 4% lower 10 years from now than it would have been if the financial crisis had been avoided (see Chart 10).

The lower GDP stems from a smaller labor force–some unemployed workers never find a job and eventually give up looking–a lower capital stock due to less investment, and reduced total factor productivity. There is strong evidence that the labor force will be smaller. Labor force participation has fallen to 64.6% from 65.8% a year ago and above 67% at its peak a decade ago. Workers in their 50s and 60s with less education and skill face dim job prospects and are more likely to be forced into retirement. Many held manufacturing and construction jobs that are gone forever, and live in parts of the country where it will be difficult to sell a home and move.

Business investment spending has also been severely depressed by the financial crisis, causing the nation’s manufacturing capital stock to decline. During the 12 months ending last November, capital stock fell almost 1%. The only other such decline came in the technology bust a decade ago, which followed a lengthy boom in the late 1990s. In the expansion leading up to the current period, the fastest the capital stock grew was closer to 2%.

If Zandi’s right, then this is really bad. That graph shows the effect of the financial crisis on real GDP all the way through 2020 — more than a decade after it took place. It shows that if the U.S. economy would have had, say, 6% real GDP growth between 2015 and 2020 — which is pretty healthy, by the way, then that real GDP will now be a meager 2% instead, courtesy of the financial crisis.*

*Correction: As a few commenters have pointed out, this chart is actually talking about simple % decrease of future GDP — not GDP growth — in the years shown. Probably 99 times out of 100 when you see a graph dealing with GDP that has % on the vertical axis and years on the horizontal axis, it’s talking about growth, which is why I interpreted it in this way. Zandi’s office confirmed that this is that other rare case.

So the graph isn’t nearly as dramatic. It says that, after 2010, growth will no longer be affected, which is actually surprisingly optimistic in my opinion. But even then, it still shows that the U.S. will have taken a permanent hit in GDP. In other words, we’ll never get back some of the economic value lost during the financial crisis. So I think the graph is still scary, but not as scary as originally thought.

David Gregory, Moderator of “Meet the Press,” NBC News, will address the members and guests of The Executives’ Club of Chicago at its Communications Committee Breakfast on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

Mr. Gregory will speak on “The President and the Press Corps: A Look at the Obama Administration, the 2010 Midterm Elections and Politics in America.”

Mr. Gregory was named Moderator of “Meet the Press” on Dec. 7, 2008.

Since then he has covered the Obama administration from all angles, reporting extensively on the economy, health care reform and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition to “Meet the Press,” he regularly substitute anchors for “Today” and “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” and is a regular contributor and analyst for those programs, as well as MSNBC.

The breakfast program will be held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive, in the Crystal Ballroom, Lobby Level, West Tower.

There will be a networking reception for attendees prior to the program at 7:30 a.m., with the breakfast starting at 8 a.m. The cost to attend is $36.50 for Executives’ Club members; $57.50 for non-members.

For more information about the program, including registration information, please visit the Club’s Web site at executivesclub.org.

About The Executives’ Club of Chicago

The Executives’ Club of Chicago is a business forum for thought leadership, education and best business practices.  Founded in 1911, the ECC is one of the oldest and most prestigious business organizations in the Midwest.

The Club serves the community by providing information and resources needed to establish effective global partnerships, enhance intellectual exchange, develop diverse civic-minded global business leaders and promote Chicago as a world class business center.

KNOXVILLE — This week the university’s dining service announced a name change, extended hours of operation and new campus locations.

ARAMARK, which operates campus dining, announced that they were changing the service’s name from UT Campus Dining to UT Volunteer Dining, to better connect with the spirit and energy of the university.

UT Volunteer Dining has added new locations and revamped some existing food service locations on campus in an effort to better serve the public:

• A Pizza Hut Express is now open in the Café at the Arena, featuring Personal Pan Pizzas, P’Zones, breadsticks and more. Pizza Hut will accept Meal Equivalency from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

• The POD Market is now open at Volunteer Hall, behind the College of Law. Students can use their Dining Dollars and Meal Equivalency at this convenience store, which will feature grab-and-go sandwiches, Java City coffee, snacks, bottled beverages and health and beauty items.

• The Quiznos in Rocky Top Café at the University Center has been replaced with a dual-lane Subway sandwich shop to add speed of service and a value menu.

• The IHOP in Presidential Dining has updated the menu, expanding their lunch, dinner and late-night selections and will be adding booth seating in February.

UT Volunteer Dining also announced extended hours of operation at Smokey’s, which will now be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday. Meal Equivalency will be accepted for dinner at Smokey’s.

For more information on these changes, contact UT Volunteer Dining at 974-4111.

Maxwell and I just returned from our third ten-day Vipassana meditation course up in a chilly corner of Massachusetts. We returned to NYC this weekend, greeted by bright light, loud noises and for me, January’s traditional Eating Light theme on The Kitchn.

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Filed under: CES, Europe, Technology, Audi

Continue reading Audi and NVIDIA bring 3D acceleration, Google Earth to the dashboard masses [w/video]

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