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Rice University analysis questions US ethanol subsidiesOregonLive.comIn 2007, Congress mandated that biofuels production increase from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Corn ethanol is capped at 15 …and more »

American manufacturer Chrysler announced the appointment of Beth Ann Bayus, former Internal and Product Communications executive, as head of Internal Branding. She will report to Gualberto Ranieri, Communications vice president for the group.

Bayus, which holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in Communications from Wayne State University, will be responsible for communications strategy for all internal stakeholders… (read more)

Filed under: Government/Legal, Middle East

Israel is the next contestant in the Cash-for-Clunkers game, but playing it a bit differently than national counterparts: Israel’s intentions appear to be solely for the purpose of getting older cars off the roads. Run jointly by the transportation and environmental protection ministries, the program will hand over 3,000 New Israel Shekels (NIS) ($810 U.S.) to anyone who turns in a car more than 20 years old.

The program imposes no obligation to buy a new car – just hand over the old car and walk away with the cash. With 100 million NIS devoted to the cause and five years allotted in which to spend it, Israel is ready to take 33,333 beaters off its byways. Hat tip to Karin

[Source: Haaretz | Image: Beny Schlevich – C.C. License 2.0]

Report: Israel gets into the Cash-For-Clunkers craze originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Representatives from Apple have visited executives for Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “three or four times” to talk about the Apple tablet’s potential for  medical professionals at Cedars-Sinai, according to entrepreneur Jason Wilk.

Wilk, the founder of a startup company backed by the Y-Combinator incubator group, wrote on his blog that “My Dad plays golf with Cedas-Sanai hospital execs, who say they have been getting frequent visits from Apple about a new device in the last 6 weeks.”

In a phone call, Wilk said the number of visits was “three or four” and that his second-hand information suggested Apple wasn’t yet trying to close a sale, but rather probing for possible uses for the new device, which is almost certainly the tablet computer Apple plans to debut on January 27th.

It would be oversimplification to interpret the visits as proof that Apple plans to focus on medical professionals, rather than home consumers, as the tablet’s primary market.

Instead, the question is: Can Apple succeed where PC makers have failed?

We’ve been told for years that medical professionals were the guaranteed-to-succeed market for tablets. Bill Gates raved about his in 2006. But tablets like the Dell Latitude XT2 XFR, pictured above, have stiffed again and again, in part because of their ungainly laptop-with-a-backwards-facing-display design.

Wilk notes that the $2,000 Motion Computing C5 is one of the few successful devices on the clinician market, thanks to its one-piece, easily-carried form and lab-smock-white casing. A new generation of slimmer, cheaper tablets — analysts estimate Apple’s will list for $1,000 — might finally make sense for doctors and nurses to carry instead of a clipboard.

[Photo: AllPosters.com]

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D. J. Grothe, the new President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, was interviewed by the folks at Pod Delusion. I’ve embedded the interview below (D. J.’s part starts around the 10:40 mark).

D. J. is a good guy, and I think the JREF is in excellent hands.

Tip o’ the electron to Jon Treadway, and James O’Malley for the embed.

Some wanted to call the Jelfin ball-shaped mouse a crapgadget, but that was until they wrapped their hands around the spherical mouse. We aren’t saying the Jelfin is the best mouse in the world or that it makes you forget about your mouse-woes — that’s if you’ve even ever had them — but the gel covered ball is comfortable. At first it was a bit odd to navigate our MacBook Pro 13’s desktop with a ball in hand, but we got the hang of it. But while we like the feel of the buttons, which are differentated with raised gel lines, they don’t have enough give and we had to press too hard to double click. We also aren’t thrilled that its got a long white USB cord, either. Chances are you’ll be better suited by a Logitech for real productivity, but we did enjoy using a ball as a mouse more than we ever could have imagined.

Jelfin ball-shaped mouse hand-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t normally get adrenalized with LCD monitors, but when they get a dash of that DisplayLink magic then it’s another story. Enter the Sideline Cinq — a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 vibrant LCD (with SD card reader) that needs just one USB cable for both data and power, plus it’s kosher with both Windows and Mac. Sure, the Cinq looks bulky, but at 15.6 ounces you’d likely need some serious lottery luck for it to cause any damage. There’s also a stand to avoid the attachment’s sticky tape mess on your machine — you can go landscape or portrait. The only grumble we have is that it needs a non-glossy option. $249 and the Cinq’s yours in Q3, or $199 if you pre-order from Sideline’s site. Now, how about three of these for some hardcore flight-sim sessions?

Sideline Cinq USB companion monitor hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now this is one place that combines two of my passions games and booze! Ludia’s Bar has definitely lived up to be the awesome meet-up place that it is. The networking hub from Dragon Quest IX

I’m still not sold on pico-projectors, but obviously that fact hasn’t stopped companies from continuing to make them. I even saw one on a cellphone in a commercial once—they’re so mainstream, man! And now Favi has two more:

Who? Right. Favi’s a first-timer around here. Anyway, they have two new additions to the pico-projector space: The RIOLED-Q and the RIOLED-V, two distinct little things that focus on business use (the former) and Linux/web apps (the latter.)

In the former’s case, “business” translates into a bright, 2-speaker-sporting pico-projector with A/V, VGA and USB connections. There’s memory built in, although it’s not said how much, and the form factor is small (note the pen), which is no surprise.

The RIOLED-V is actually a netbook slash projector, featuring Linux, web apps (YouTube, Flickr and a few other ubiquitous ones like weather and email were mentioned) and wi-fi. It kind of reminded me of that MSI projector PC the CES guys spotted out in Vegas this week, albeit a smaller, half-baked version that does not look anything like a small space ship with 1080p.

Both projectors are due out in February or early March. Maybe I’ll come around on the whole pico-projector category by then. [Pico-Projector Info]

Así es, los últimos rumores indican que Adrían Campos está en conversaciones con diferentes inversores para vender el equipo antes de que de comienzo el primer Gran Premio de la nueva temporada. Incluso se afirma que la venta se podría cerrar esta próxima semana.

Por otra parte, la intención de Campos es la de vender solo parte del equipo, para intentar conseguir el dinero necesario para competir, sin perder la titularidad del mismo, no se descarta la posibilidad que lo vendiera entero.

El propio Adrían Campos ha realizado la siguiente declaración: “No es ningún secreto que no tenemos el dinero. Si podemos encontrar a un buen inversor, podríamos vender parte del equipo. Pero si fuera necesario, podríamos venderlo entero, aunque se tendrían que cumplir unas condiciones”.

Si los rumores son correctos, se estarían llevando a cabo diversas negociaciones con Tony Teixeira, jefe de la A1GP.

Related posts:

1. Adrián Campos desvelará sus pilotos en el GP de Europa
2. Campos Grand Prix es el primer equipo español en la Formula 1
3. Pedro de La Rosa y Bruno Senna ya podrían haber confirmado su fichaje por Campos Meta

The Wireless Power Consortium aims to create a wireless charging standard by mid-year, allowing interoperability between the various wireless charging solution OEMs.

Menno Treffers, a Philips executive who is chairman of the consortium said at a group of vendors at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday ”If it’s not ready by then, I will eat my hat,"

The consortium has 27 members including Nokia, Research In Motion, Philips, Sanyo, Samsung Electronics, Energizer and Hewlett-Packard, as well as component and wireless-power technology companies such as Texas Instruments and Fulton Innovation.

The standard is for magnetic induction, a contactless technology, and can deliver up to 5 watt. This is enough for small electronics such as smartphones, Bluetooth headsets and MP3 players. A further standard will later be developed for laptops. The coils are small enough to fit in a Bluetooth headset, and devices charge as fast as if connected directly, but with about 70% efficiency.

Compatible products will carry the "Qi" logo, pictured above.

Until it arrives, some vendors won’t release any further products. "We’re done for now until the standard is complete," said Serge Traylor, brand manager for charging and rechargeable systems with Energizer. When the standard is done, Energizer will release a mat for charging as many as two devices, for about $100, and charging sleeves for smartphones, for $30 to $40, he said.

Powermat, who already have a full range on the market, and Apple are however not on board, which may create some difficulty and confusion in the market.

"If we get the standard done, that will give [wireless power] the most market appeal," said Treffers. "Otherwise it will be something that’s nice for geeks and users with specialized needs."

Read more at Networkworld.com here.

First reaction: WOWOWOWOWOW! What a fabulous first manga for the new year. Indeed, nothing is simple about this all-in-one-volume story … except for a little wish that the pages might have lasted a little longer …

Open the first page and forget linear time. Jim, the journalist-turned-novelist, tells Ian, “Your life is amazing … I could make a movie about you and everyone would think it was fake. You’re going to be my next novel. A year from now…” So the story of Ian’s amazing life unfolds backwards – with a few zig-zags along the way … because as the title clearly warns, this story is ‘not simple.’

Ian lands at a diner with Irene, a teenager who literally picks him off the streets as a decoy for her real boyfriend with whom she plans to run away. Over coffee (for him), hot chocolate (for her), and french fries, Ian tells Irene about how he met a kind, older woman three years ago who also picked him up off the streets, fed him, and mutually shared life stories. The two strangers agreed they would meet once more three years later …

The coincidence is much more … and Irene amazingly turns out to be the niece of the older other woman … perhaps. In a case of mistaken identity, Ian’s story unexpectedly ends … but the manga continues, going backwards from the American diner to a London jail where Ian’s beloved sister is awaiting release to the Melbourne home of Ian’s Australian family that is all too quickly falling apart. Little is as it seems, of course … nothing is truly simple in life.

Using stark black-and-white drawings that capture some of the most expressive (over-large) eyes in print, Ono follows a young life haunted by disjointed relationships and missed connections. “I’m hoping we can all be together again,” Ian finally voices out loud. Just before he sets out on his final quest, he asks Jim, ”If I have nothing but good experiences from here on … then the novel will have a happy ending too, right?” Such a fervent prayer for a never-simple ending …

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2010 (United States)
not simple © Natsume Ono/Shogakukan
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.

The 2010 F1 season hasn’t even started, and former world champion Lewis Hamilton already threw the first punch in his quest for his second F1 title. Seen by many as the main favorite to win the world title in 2010, the McLaren driver admitted to the world the satisfaction he had when beating former teammate Fernando Alonso in his very rookie year in the series.

Back in 2007, the Brit was coming to F1 as the new kid on the block and had no plans to play second fiddle to Alonso. In … (read more)