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Is your resolution to eat healthier and be a little bit greener this year? Get on top of both with this easy to follow seasonal food chart from UK restaurant, Leon.

• Read the full post at Re-Nest

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When it comes to making green choices, the array of options can be baffling so, when it comes to making decisions, we often look to our gurus to guide us. Danny Seo is one of our constant touchstones; he does it economically, simply and very, very stylishly. If you’re lucky enough to live in Canada, you may have caught his segment on Canada AM, “Green This, Not That.” For the rest of us, he shared his tips on making decisions at the grocery store.

• Read the full post at Re-Nest

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We just received an email from our friends at http://android.com.pl who are advising that all HTC Hero units in Europe will see an upgrade to Android 2.1 starting February 15th.  They’re claiming their source for this comes from the top at HTC Poland.  We’ve been hearing rumors of HTC skipping Android 1.6 to jump into the 2.0/2.1 playing field soon. With Android 2.1 just being released yesterday, the news of 2.1 surprises us.  If it were 2.0 or 2.01, we’d feel better.

On a side note, they’ve been informed that the HTC Tattoo will not make the cut due to its hardware limitations.  We’ve listed the changes below that are being reported.  Have any you guys heard anything to confirm this?

• Android 2.1 is much faster
• One interesting option is a preview of desktops, you can zoom out two Finders as pages in your browser. Effect. Effectively reduce the deskop, brillant view.
• Icons have clear coat (Espresso perhaps?)
• At the bottom of the menu we have: phone, menu, contacts
• HTC added a nice transition when you quit the application and move around the options.
• Lock screen is not rounded.
• Faster-running HTC keyboard.
• New widgets from HTC (News and Weather, YouTube)
• Improved flashplayer. Operates smoothly.
• Graphic change in the gallery and video player (Cosmetic procedures)
• And the rest of the news, which introduces a new android. (Market etc.)
• We have more RAM.  About 130-140mb after killing the process. “

According to Mplayit CEO Michael Powers, the size of a mobile platform’s app store is now mostly irrelevant. Facebook-based mobile app store Mplayit took a close look at the most popular apps for Android, BlackBerry and the iPhone and found that the most popular apps on all three platforms tend to be very similar. As the popular app stores continue to grow, users on all the major platforms also drift towards the same known brands and hits like EverNote and Pandora.

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Mplayit also found that one of the fastest growing app categories across all the major platforms are barcode scanners. Apps like ShopSavvy and RedLaser have clearly hit upon an unfulfilled need.

Size Doesn’t Matter

According to Powers, asking how many apps exist for a given platform is now a moot question. All the major platforms now offer more than enough apps and as long as people can find the apps they are looking for – and as long as these apps are good – most consumers will be happy. Most users simply don’t need 50 different apps to write their grocery lists.

Looking at Mplayit’s list of the most popular apps across the top platforms, it also becomes clear that quite a few of these categories are being dominated by known brands like Shazam, Pandora, Evernote and Facebook. Mplayit, of course, is in the business of giving app recommendations across platforms and doesn’t fail to note that it’s own store is a good alternative for finding apps outside of the standard top 20 charts.

Or Does It?

To some degree, Powers’ comments about the size of today’s app stores rings true. Maybe it really doesn’t matter that the Android store only features about 20,000 apps and that the Apple App Store now holds more than 100,000. Maybe it is true that consumers tend to gravitate towards the same brands on all platforms.

At the same time, though, having more apps in the store also means that there is a more active developer ecosystem around a given platform. While iPhone developers rightly gripe about Apple’s approval process, we’ve seen a lot more innovative apps for the iPhone than for Android.

Is the size of the Android market holding you back from making the switch? Do you think Android has enough good apps that make up for the smaller app store? Do you think the quality of today’s BlackBerry apps is good enough? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Discuss

Is the future of the computer flat?

The Consumer Electronics Show was a veritable parade of thin tablet computers. But are Microsoft and Apple’s slate laptops leading a revolution that consumers want, or are they blindly following each other to disaster, like lemmings off a cliff? I know Megan leans toward the lemmings. I’ve been more optimistic. But now I’m wondering if Farhad Manjoo is right about this:

Today PCs are the world’s most powerful procrastination machines. For
half the day we use computers to get things done; during the other
half, we use them to watch movies and TV, to read books, to sort
through family photos, to listen to music, and to squander hours and
hours surfing the Web. Computing is now often what people in the TV
industry call a “lean-back” experience–when you’re watching YouTube
videos or reading an e-book, you’re only occasionally interacting with
the machine. So why do you need a keyboard and a mouse?

Computers are the ideal procrastination machine because they hold both
our work and a million ways to procrastinate from it. This is different
from television, where turning the cable box on signals to your brain: Power off. Work time over. If
Apple is building a flat, personal entertainment tablet, it’s counting on
consumers to want a laptop that’s less like a computer and more like a
television: A device that we’ll only power on when our minds are ready
to power off.

I’m not ready for that machine. That computers contain
the seeds to both my productivity and my procrastination is a source of
perpetual stress. But in a weird way, I’ve learned to live with, and
love, that combination of convenience and anxiety. I don’t think I’m ready to part with either.

The Chicago Cubs today named future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux as an assistant to General Manager Jim Hendry.

Maddux’ responsibilities will include assisting the coaching staffs at major league and minor league spring training, assisting in the development of Cubs minor leaguers during the regular season and assisting Hendry and the baseball operations department in talent evaluation.

“We are thrilled to have Greg back with the Chicago Cubs,” said Hendry.

“He has such a vast knowledge of all phases of the game and the ultimate respect of everyone from the players to the front office. The addition of Greg Maddux makes us a better organization.”

“I’m looking forward to working my way back into the game and am happy that the Cubs have given me the opportunity to do that,” said Maddux.

“I started my career with the Cubs and Chicago has always been the best place in the league to play. I’m eager to do whatever I can to help the organization and am looking forward to getting started at spring training.”

Maddux retired from baseball in December of 2008 as the eighth-winningest pitcher in the history of the game with 355 victories, 133 of which occurred during his 10 seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

He won the first of his four career Cy Young Awards with the Cubs in 1992 when he went 20-11 with a 2.18 ERA (65 ER/268.0 IP) in 35 starts.

Originally selected by the Cubs in the second round of the 1984 Draft, Maddux went 133-112 with a 3.61 ERA during two stints with the Cubs from 1986-92 and 2004-06.

His 298 starts and 1,305 strikeouts with the Cubs rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in franchise history.

Maddux also earned the first two of his eight National League All-Star nods with the Cubs and won six of his major-league record 18-career Gold Glove Awards during seasons he pitched for the Cubs. He was the first pitcher in major league history to win four-consecutive Cy Young Awards (1992-95).

On May 3, 2009, the Cubs retired uniform No. 31 in honor of Maddux and Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins.

Number 31 became the fifth to be retired by the Chicago Cubs, joining No. 14 in honor of Ernie Banks in 1982, No. 26 in honor of Billy Williams in 1987, No. 10 in honor of Ron Santo in 2003 and No. 23 in honor of Ryne Sandberg in 2005.

Jenkins and Maddux are the only pitchers in Cubs history to have their uniform number retired.

Victoria, Australia | Outsider Art

A mere hour from Melbourne, in the Dandenong Ranges, one finds a landscape of huge pine trees and beautiful fern gullies. In one of such gullies, a man’s life-work and dreams live on.

Born in 1898, William Ricketts began developing his skill in clay modeling in his teen years. In the 1930s he purchased a four-acre plot of land on Mount Dandenong, naming it ‘Potter’s Sanctuary’.

Beginning in 1934, William Ricketts started work on his clay figures that would soon adorn all of his property. In the 1960s, after having gained some local notoriety for his sculptures, the Victorian Government bought the sanctuary and some surrounding land to become a park for public use. He continued to live on and work in his Sanctuary until 1993, when he passed away.

Between 1949 and 1960, Rickett traveled often into the desert interior of Central Australia. It was here that he spent time with both Arrente and Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people. These native peoples not only inspired his work as models but influenced his philosophy as well. Rickett is known for his belief that all humans should be stewards of the land, just as the Aborigines he spent time with were.

The goal of his life-long project was to provide a relaxing setting where one could reflect on man’s, oft forgotten, connection to nature. Nestled in a glade covered in fern and mountain ash trees, William Ricketts’ masterpiece feels alive. Some covered in moss, the 92 ceramic sculptures in the park all blend seamlessly into their natural surroundings.

“Each one of us is a transformer of Divine Power
and when love finds form in sculpture and music
we are richly blessed because through such we can reach God…
Man is nature’s masterpiece, therefore claim
your inheritance by giving her the co-operation you owe.”

-William Ricketts

Article Tags: climaterealists.org.nz

Source: clareswinney.wordpress.com

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-Demonstrate your Conan support with these “I’m With Coco” graphics sweeping the web. For the record, I’m rolling with Team Jay, thank you very much……

-Talk about the New Year’s Eve from Hell! A Dallas woman is in jail after she bit off both her boyfriend’s lips during a drunken NYE kiss…..

-Another former Child of Destiny is sending Daddy Knowles “To The Left….”

-New Selena Gomez Borden Commercial……

-Hey Posh, don’t quit your day job! Victoria Beckham made her judging debut on the ninth season premiere of American Idol last night….The reviews are not pretty…..

-ABC has handed out early renewals to its three promising freshman comedy series, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and The Middle….

– Pop star and talent show judge Dannii Minogue is expecting her first child…..

-Shaq’s being sued by one of his bucktoothed Buss It Babies….

-ABC Family has renewed two successful series – The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Make It or Break It…..

-Johnny Depp’s GF ….
Vanessa Paradis for Chanel

-People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has requested that police in Arizona confiscate Michael Jackson’s two giraffes after it was reported that two of the late pop star’s four giraffes died of possible neglect….

-God’s daily message to Pat Robertson is in: The Evangelical idiot is feeling the wrath of Hell this afternoon after he remarked during today’s episode of the 700 Club that yesterday’s 7.2 earthquake in Haiti is God’s vengeance upon the Haitians for making a deal with the devil to rid themselves of French leadership. WTF? When is someone going to stick this old battle axe in a retirement home?

Filed under: Car Buying, Coupe, Performance, Japan, Lexus

Lexus LFA – Click above for high-res image gallery

We knew the new Lexus LFA was fast, but we didn’t know just how fast until reports came in of the rapid rate at which wealthy Japanese customers are snapping it up. In the three months since the final car was unveiled, all 165 examples of the Toyota division’s supercar have reportedly been spoken for.

Whereas in North America, the allotment of LFAs will be leased in order to counter speculation, in Japan (as in Europe), buyers will be able to buy their super-Lexi outright, at a price of 37,500,000 yen (~$410k USD) apiece. If the remaining 335 examples destined for markets abroad go as quickly as Japan’s allotment, we could be looking at one of the fastest cars ever made – in one sense or another.

[Source: Response via Le Blog Auto]

Report: All 165 Lexus LFA supercars earmarked for Japan already spoken for originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York, New York | Incredible Ruins

Few diseases have had a greater impact on the history of human civilization than smallpox.

The bubonic plague certainly wins for its baroque presentation. Malaria and HIV are concurrent with our times and thus feel more real. But smallpox takes the contamination cake. It has been around for more than 3,000 years in all parts of the world.

Before the vaccine was discovered in 1796, more than 400,000 people a year died from smallpox in Europe alone. According to the World Health Organization, smallpox killed one in ten children in Sweden and France and one in seven in Russia.

The disease killed Louis XV of France and other European monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I had the disease as a child and wore heavy make-up to conceal her pockmarks. In the French and Indian Wars, blankets containing smallpox were purposefully given to Delaware Amerindians, in an early instance of biological warfare. Through extensive worldwide vaccination efforts, the disease was eradicated in 1979 – the only disease to be completely eradicated through human intervention.

By the end of the 1800s, efforts were made in Western Europe and the United States to eradicate the disease by universal vaccination. But before that time, many cities built hospitals specifically for treating smallpox sufferers.

In New York City, the southern tip of Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) provided ferry access but kept the infected patients far away from the population. Better know for Grace Church on Broadway and St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Madison Avenue, James Renwick Jr. designed the smallpox hospital in his Gothic Revival style. From 1856 until 1875, the hospital treated about 7,000 patients a year. In 1875, the building was converted into a nurses’ dormitory, and the city smallpox hospital was moved to North Brothers Island, in part because Blackwell’s Island had become more densely populated. By the 1950s, Renwick Hospital had become useless and was abandoned by the city, quickly falling into disrepair.

However, in 1975, the Landmarks Preservation Commission took interest in the dilapidated structure and declared it, in its ruin, a city landmark. They reinforced the walls to prevent it from completely falling apart but have not renovated it or opened it for tours. Only some of the outer walls and the foundation remain today. It is behind a fence on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island.

Filed under: Health, Fitness, Healthy Eating

Shaped like a pear? While you’re probably not overjoyed by the fact that you have a bit of extra padding in your tush and thighs, new evidence shows that you should actually be grateful for your build. Research from Oxford University in England states that those who carry a little extra weight in their backside and thighs might be healthier than those who carry their extra weight in their gut.

The reason? Fat carried in your belly is different from the fat you carry in your butt and thighs. Stomach fat is easier to break down than than the other kind of fat, but this process results in a build-up of cytokines, which can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The fat on your backside, on the other hand, actually produces hormones that can protect against these kind of diseases. While you should still make sure you’re maintaining a healthy weight, the researchers also concluded that carrying some fat in this region is very important for your health because it gives the body a place to store essential fatty acids — and if these acids are stored in organs, it can lead to heart disease.

The bottom line? Like J-Lo, don’t be afraid to show off your shapely backside, it tells the world of your potential for a long and healthy life.

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It’s only been a few days since Palm opened the proverbial flood gates of Apps with the launch of their new web distribution program at CES this year, and a lively ecosystem is already beginning to sprout up around it: We have our own App Catalog viewer in glorious beta form here at PreCentral, we know that Preware will soon be able to tap in to the app feeds provided by Palm, and now the very first on-device web only app viewer has gone live in the official App Catalog. AppScoop! (free) allows for the viewing of all of the non-reviewed web only applications (all 17 of them, at this point). Tapping on one of the listed apps allows you to read descriptions, view thumbnails, and even install the application directly to your phone just like Palm’s own ProjectAppetite demo allows you to do.

It’s pretty impressive to see an application like this appear in Palm’s official app store, and I think that the rollout of their distribution program in earnest hasn’t been on the radar of the media as much as it should be thus far – it’s a pretty big deal indeed.

Podemos estar o no de acuerdo en la manera en que GM está hundiendo a Saab, pero lo cierto es que el trabajo en la planta principal de Saab en Suecia, continúa y a buen ritmo. El día de ayer, el primer convertible salido de la fábrica de Saab, en la célebre Trollhattan, ha visto la luz.

Desafortunadamente, la novedad, que debería ser todo un logro corporativo para la marca sueca, queda enterrada bajo muchas dudas, sobre el destino de la marca sueca.

Volviendo al convertible en cuestión, es un 9-3, construído en la misma planta que los 9-3 (berlina), los 9-5 actuales, junto con los nuevos 9-5. La intención de Saab había sido concentrar en Suecia la producción de la mayor cantidad posible de modelos.

Algunos dicen que en las próximas 48 horas sabremos la decisión final del destino de Saab. Se dice que mañana se presentará una nueva oferta de la mano de Genii Capital/Ecclestone, mientras que se espera alguna mejora de Spyker en su propia oferta.

Vía | Autocar

Más información | Saabs United

Valleywag is offering up to $100,000—yes, One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars—to anyone who can provide them with pictures or video or one hour of touching and licking with the Apple Tablet. Here’s the juicy menu:

• $10,000 for bona fide pictures.
• $20,000 for video of one in action.
• $50,000 for pictures or video of Steve Jobs holding one.
• $100,000 to let us play with one for an hour.

The money will be paid after the tablet is revealed and the material is proven to be the real McCoy.

I’ve to say that we are all pretty excited at the idea of any Bothan spy breaking the Cupertino blockade and running away with one of the prototypes. [Valleywag]

Whatever Google’s reason for threatening to leave China, the latest numbers from StatCounter, a free online stat service, show that it certainly isn’t for lack of opportunity. Google has been steadily gaining ground on China’s premier search service, Baidu, since last August.

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According to StatCounter, Google held just 28% of China’s search market back in August and since has climbed to nearly 43%. That’s a 15-percentage-point gain in just four or five months. Yahoo and Bing account for just over 1% of China’s search engine market.

While estimates put Google’s projected 2010 income from business in China at around 2% of the company’s entire revenue, the long-term implications of pulling out of the country are much larger.

If any company should just give up the ghost and get out of China before making any more PR (and human rights) gaffes, maybe it’s Yahoo.

Discuss

You’re hard pressed to find any sector of the tech economy that is getting more financing than cloud computing.

Today’s announcement by Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft is a good example. The two tech giants announced a partnership today that is valued at $250 million.

Why are these ventures getting such an influx of revenue? If content is king, then infrastructure in the castle in the cloud.

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Castles cost a lot to build and so does a cloud service. The Microsoft-HP deal is a case in point. The two companies are building a cloud infrastructure that spans hardware and software integration. They are developing their own applications. It’s like an effort to build a massive data center network that works as one giant computer.

The investment includes the use of HP servers for Azure, the cloud platform developed by Microsoft. In return, Microsoft software, database programs and other applications will be loaded on the HP machines.

Both companies want to own the enterprise. It’s apparent that the two feel this can only be done by having a deep cloud-based infrastructure that bundles a full suite of software and tools to optimize systems for business customers.

Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOm makes an excellent point in asking if optimization is the new code word for proprietary systems. There’s a danger in that for customers as it can lead to vendor lock-in.

But Microsoft and HP obviously see a need to form their own partnership to compete with the likes of Cisco, which has a deal with VMWare. Oracle, for its part, is still waiting for approval on its deal with Sun Microsystems.

Enterprise customers should be wary of these mega deals. The castle in the cloud may look nice but the enterprise customer may find itself in the dungeon if it makes too heavy an investment in proprietary systems that lock them into specific vendors.

Discuss