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Design Hara’s green HTPC is a sleek, stylish computer which is totally green. Not in any other terms, apart from the fact that is made of recyclable green materials. The chassis or the side panels are made of recyclable materials. The internal sections of the PC are connected by a bolts and nuts structure, making it easier to separate so recyclable e-waste can be removed. The unit is compatible with Mini-ITX small motherboards and uses only a third of the energy consumed by desktop computers. Thus, this also helps to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions.

[YankoDesign]

El preparador estadounidense Vorsteiner ha presentado un nuevo Kit de actualización para el BMW Serie 3. El nuevo paquete aerodinámico V-MS, ha sido construido para el BMW E92 Coupe y también se ajusta para al E93 Cabriolet.

Ambos paquetes llegarán al mercado la próxima semana, y también hay previsto un paquete para el E90 que se lanzará a mediados de año. Los ingenieros de Vorsteiner, diseñaron el paquete para que se adaptase a la serie 3 sin tener que quitar el parachoques.

El kit es relativamente sencillo e incluye un separador frontal de dos piezas inspirado en al competición y un nuevo difusor trasero con dos aletas que mejora la aerodinámica del coche. También se ofrece un alerón posterior fabricado con fibra de carbonocomo las otras dos piezas que conforman el Kit.

Para completar el kit, se ofrecen llantas de 19 o 20 pulgadas. Los dueños de un E92 o E93 pueden adquirir el paquete en cualquier concesionario de la compañía y del precio no tenemos ningún dato.

BMW Serie 3 by Vorsteiner

Vía | Wolrd Car Fans

I love it when a plan comes together, especially when that plan involves dropping a tank out of an airplane and still shooting bad guys with that tank. Hannibal, oh how I’ve missed you.

The movie’s coming out on June 11th, but this should to get me through until then. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, but great casting, over the top explosions, and B.A. Baracus? Yes yes yes. [Vimeo via Major Spoilers]

Words by Gordon Welsh (Auto Editor)
(Click on Image for full review)

Gordon Welsh (Auto Editor)

Almost every vehicle that crossed my path this year had a common theme: sustainability. This year’s cars and motorcycles weren’t so much about the vehicle itself but rather how it was powered.

Over the last decade, horsepower wars between elite manufacturers reigned supreme. While producers constantly upped the ante, efficiency was merely an afterthought. This year showed us a different side of the industry, however. With gas prices still outrageous and our economy freefalling, carmakers began to churn out likable, earth-friendly vehicles. While this in and of itself wasn’t so revolutionary, this year marked the first time that some of these vehicles actually made it to production. Everyday cars like the Nissan Leaf will shortly be gracing our roads; the terrific thing about the Leaf is that, as opposed to the Chevrolet Volt (whose production has been pushed back every quarter since the Bush administration, it seems), it is affordable, practical, and looks like any Japanese subcompact. The Tesla Roadster established itself as a relatively affordable electric supercar, and has been tested through the roof, to much success, by numerous publications. The Leaf and the Roadster are still the exception rather than the rule, but they mark a point in time where a dream came quickly to fruition, with outstanding results. They are perfect examples of a job done right.

Design, of course, went hand-in-hand with these dramatic new offerings. This year’s creations seemed intent on drawing attention, rather than serving as functional bodywork and accessories. In my interview with Mercedes’ head of design, Gorden Wagener, the question was raised: why does every green car have to look like a green car? Gorden felt, and I concur, that such styling will ultimately be unnecessary. Without a doubt, the aesthetics of many of this year’s cars seemed forced. Certainly yes, there are simple modifications that result from, for example, having an all electric car (for example, less vents due to less heat dissipation from the motor, compared to a gas-powered engine). I suppose that in some cases, companies may want to raise awareness about a new vehicle or a new method of powering a vehicle; if this is so then I can see the case for some cars being styled the way they are. But, once these cars become more common, I think we will come to realize that they are at least mildly overdone. I hope that in 2010 automakers will come to their senses and bring cars to the board that look good and are still considered ‘green.’

I think one should truly enjoy driving at all times, and that when possible, we should drive cars that inspire us and make us smile. Having said that, I think vehicles like the Veritas RSIII, Alfa 8C Spyder, and the Morgan Aeromax Supersports have to point to carmakers who feel the same way. I realize they’re not the most practical of vehicles, but their wicked combination of style and performance leave almost nothing to be desired. Sustainability aside, I think these cars point to the fact that there are still inspired companies out there, and inspriation is what I would like to see in the upcoming year.

In the last few months I’ve read that many companies have cut back on funding and production for smart diesels and other clever vehicles. This would lead me to believe we should expect the same old bland production vehicles in 2010, but I’m hoping this isn’t the case. I’m looking forward to more diesel production from luxury manufacturers like BMW (the 335d is simply outstanding), Audi, and Mercedes, who already have a bevy of terrific cars in their fleet and will add several more throughout the year. I’m excited at the prospect of the Mini Coupe and the Mercedes BlueZero, and other affordable, efficient, and inspired cars. Who knows, 2010 might even be the year Chevy finishes the Volt!

We were struck that five of the six of the stories headlining  this morning’s Clean Technology Bulletin, put out by Barclays Capital’s Vishal Shah, were about China. For us this is  yet another, all-be-it informal, indication of the country’s emergence as a renewable energy leader.

Also, the bulletin’s five Chinese-focused stories are on solar generation.

The bulletin leads with ReneSola pulling the plug on its Dynamic Green Energy acquisition; It follows with a story on Chinese solar panel maker Yingli Green Energy’s stated goal to cut solar photovoltaic power cost to less than 1 yuan/kWh by 2010; Third on the list is a story on a Chinese-lead effort to produce cheaper silicon-based panels. There is then a story on China’s solar company CNPV Solar Power, entering into a long-term sales agreement with Galip Solar of Germany. The fifth story on the bulletin is on Chinese solar PV maker Solarfun Power plan to increase production from 550 megawatts to 700 megawatts by April 2010. The final story on the bulletin is not Chinese. It focuses on New Mexico utility PNM.

How important of a player is China in the green energy sector?  Well, for starters the country plans to spend $220 billion in clean energy over the next two years and the country’s renewable energy market is estimated by some to be worth as much as $1 trillion a year.

The Chinese appetite for green energy helped ensure  that in 2009,  a majority of cleantech investments went to Asia, which for the first time got more investments than the Americas. Bloomberg News reports that investments in sun, wind and biofuels in the Asia-Pacific region attracted $37.3 billion in new investments in 2009, up 25 percent from 2008, compared to $32 billion in North and South America.

New Web site will be the Definitive Source for Local, Regional and National Real Estate Auctions

Capitalizing on the growing popularity of auctions as a preferred method of real estate sales, OwnACondo.com has purchased the domain RealEstateAuctions.com.

The purchase was made Jan. 6, 2010 and will enable OwnACondo.com to immeasurably expand the real estate auction services that it offers as part of its newly established Auction Division, according to Brian Kuzdas, the company founder and owner.

“There is simply not a better name to have for real estate auctions,” Mr. Kuzdas explains.

“I equate it with having Doctors.com or Lawyers.com if you’re in that field. It’s absolutely huge for us and for our customers–locally, regionally and soon nationally.”

The domain name of RealEstateAuctions.com is currently “parked” with no content, a situation that will quickly change, says Mr. Kuzdas.

“We expect to have an entire, full-service website in place within the next 60 days, with plans to conduct our first real estate auction under this new name in late March or early April, 2010,” he says.

“RealEstateAuctions.com will be a subsidiary of OwnACondo.com and will auction all types of real estate, except condominiums.”

Real estate auctions are growing in popularity as buyers and sellers alike seek an accelerated way to conduct business.

Almost $60 billion in real estate sold nationally in 2008, with an even greater amount expected for 2009 once year-end totals are in.

Auctions are expected to account for 30-35 percent of all real estate sales in coming years, according to statistics from the National Auctioneers Association.

“Buyers love auctions because of the potential for great deals, and sellers love auctions because it’s a fast way to sell their property quickly to qualified buyers. By no means are auctions just for distressed real estate anymore,” explains Mr. Kuzdas.

RealEstateAuctions.com was purchased after six weeks of negotiations, with the aid of a broker who helped locate the owner of the domain.

“The name had been parked and unused for more than 15 years,” Mr. Kuzdas says, “and now we’re the proud owners of the best domain in the industry!”

RealEstateAuctions.com will house its offices side by side with OwnACondo.com as both entities expand nationally.

We all know that no one can beat Davis for the sophistication and expertise with which they make their weather stations. Apart from their Vantage Pro2, which is a whopping $600, they also have now to offer their slightly lesser versioned Vantage Vue Wireless Weather Station for just about $395. This solar [powered wireless instrument does all the required jobs like collecting the wind speed, directing data, temperature, humidity and rainfall amounts. The only thing the lesser version of the machine is that it lacks the sophistication of having moisture sensors that could have been really helpful for the farmers. Al last someone has thought about some serious do-it-yourself sort of a thing for knowing the weather conditions themselves.

[Dvice]

Filed under: Budget, Hatchback, Chevrolet, GM, Misc. Auto Shows, India, Canada

The question of whether or not General Motors will bring its diminutive Chevrolet Spark to the United States still doesn’t have a definitive answer. Thanks to a GM of India press release, however, we now know that the little urban runabout will be coming to North America, although that geography obviously also includes Mexico and Canada.

In the past, GM spokespeople have suggested that it might be possible for the Spark (A.K.A. “Beat,” or that unbearably irritating robot from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) to be imported Stateside and that the automaker had kept U.S. regulations in mind when designing the car. Regardless, with gas as cheap as it currently is and a new Aveo just around the corner, we’re certainly not holding our breath for a U.S. launch any time soon, and we feel that seeing the Beat in Mexican and/or Canadian showrooms is more likely.

That said, feel free to hit the jump to read GM of India’s press release on the introduction of the Beat, which made its production-ready debut earlier in the week in New Delhi.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading GM confirms Chevrolet Spark for North America after all

GM confirms Chevrolet Spark for North America after all originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: SUV, Mercedes-Benz, Diesel

Some of us are big fans of diesel engines. Huge fans even. We love the slow-revving grunt. We love the incredibly long time it takes them to run through a tank of fuel. We love lazily cruising at 70 mph while turning over less than 2,000 rpm. There’s even more to love, but we have to admit, none of us currently own a vehicle powered by a modern diesel engine that requires AdBlue, a urea-based solution that breaks down nitrogen oxide in exhaust gases that’s required for some diesel-powered vehicle to meet strict emissions standards. If we did, we might be a little irked like Tom Mutchler over at Consumer Reports.

Mutchler recently took the publication’s diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz GL320 BluTec to a dealer because a warning light indicated that the SUV was low on AdBlue. The total bill for a refill? $316.99! The GL gulped 7.5 gallons of this costly solution, which accounted for $241.50 of the total bill. For those who don’t do math, that’s $32.20/gallon. Labor and tax accounted for the remainder, which is also shocking considering the only labor involved was twisting a cap and pouring.

It took CR about 16,566 miles to run low on AdBlue, which means they’ll be spending $1,457.80 on the stuff over 100,000 miles. Sure, that may not be a lot of money for someone who just purchased a $67,000 SUV, but Mutchler makes a good point reminding us that BMW covers that cost for its diesel-powered vehicles up to 50,000 miles.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports pays $32.20/gallon to fill up on AdBlue originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile is making a real splash in the new year with its Android devices. First, there was Google’s announcement that consumers can buy its new Nexus One with a 2-year plan from T-Mobile. Now, the carrier has announced that it will bring the Vega, the first in-home Android-run tablet, specializing in home scheduling and other basic functions, to the U.K market later this year.

We covered the first appearance of the Vega back in November, and T-Mobile even hinted that it was looking to sell an Android tablet as far back as August.

Developed by Seattle-based Innovative Converged Devices (ICD), a mobile computing engineering firm, the Vega includes features that make it a solid in-home device, suited for the average family kitchen, including a 15-inch touchscreen, NVIDIA Tegra 250 mobile web processor, full HD 1080p video playback, 3G, Wi-Fi and a T-Mobile SIM card.

Much like a cell phone, the Vega gives users the ability to surf the internet, send texts and keep track of each other’s lives through a universal calendar. The device can also be accessed from anywhere, including via the web on a mobile handset, work computer, or home PC.

The calendar is probably the most impressive part of the Vega. Family members can each upload their personal schedules and the device will work to integrate them and send SMS text messages as reminders — a useful feature when you keep forgetting to pick up your kid from soccer practice.

The Vega will only be sold in the U.K. to start, and will  be coupled with T-Mobile’s family package. The company has not yet disclosed any pricing information, but notes that its goal will be to target the mass market.

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Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo says that the developed world is warming up to smartphones that share a lot of features. But the world’s biggest cell phone maker has sold more than 750 million basic phones in the emerging markets around the world in the last five years. And while smartphone users have a lot in common, he says that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work in the rest of the world. That’s the theme of his speech at the Consumer Electronics Show.

It’s no secret that Nokia has had a tough time getting traction in the U.S. with smartphones against competition from Apple’s iPhone. But Nokia has fielded lots of local teams to research markets around the world and has found that it has to help make local solutions viable to increase phone usage. One of the company’s cheapest phones, the Nokia 1616, costs around $32. That amounts to a month’s of wages in many countries. Yet it sells in huge numbers, thanks to customized services that make it far more useful in emerging markets.

Kallasvuo noted how far the industry has come since Nokia introduced a $6,000, $1 per minute cell phone in 1987. He notes there are interesting divergences around the world. In Ghana, there is a hack that allows a phone to have two SIM cards, or unique identifications. There are many places in Africa where entrepreneurs operate businesses that make money from charging stations, as many people have no access to home electricity.

In India, Nokia has set up a system, Progress Project, to allow business to send transactional data back and forth via text message. So whole businesses are running on cell phones. These are being used by farmers in rural areas to auction off onions in western India. There, the phone serves as the banking system, currency provider, and marketplace. Last year, the company introduced Nokia Money to bring together payments on a global scale. It’s not tied to a single bank, carrier, or country. It’s important, Kallasvuo says, because 75 percent of the world’s people still haven’t sent an email.

Through its Ovi Store for mobile apps, Kallasvuo hopes that developers will create many more apps that can be useful in different regions in the world, from Sesame Street educational phone apps to local business directories. Improving lives can happen through hardware, software, and services.

“I firmly believe we have only scratched the surface of our ability to do business and do good in the world,” Kallasvuo said.

The company is putting money behind this interest in the emerging world. It is creating the Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge, giving the winner of someone with the best ideas for the emerging markets a $1 million investment from Nokia. The winner will be announced in June and the site is CallingAllInnovators.com.

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Remember that quirky little square LG phone from last year, the Lotus? Well, they’ve gone and made another one: the Lotus Elite. This ought to sound pretty familiar for anyone who’s been reading MobileCrunch for a while, as we scooped all the details on this handset (sans the name) way back in October.

All of the details coming out today, from the January launch date to the touchscreen face and 32GB microSD card support, are spot-on for what we wrote at the time. The rest of the specs stayed more-or-less the same; there’s a QWERTY keyboard hidden inside the clamshell, and they’ve kept the same 2.0 megapixel camera on the back. Available in red beginning January 10th, and black as of February 14th. Expect it to set you back $99 bucks after a 2-year contract and a $50 rebate.

Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies

Inbrics is set to unveil their Android powered MID (mobile internet device) at CES 2010.  Information is scarce about the unit, but here is what we know:

• 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screen with a rsolution of 800×480
• 833 MHz Cortex A-8 processor
• Good connectivity options, WiFi N, Bluetooth, 3G or WiMAX
• TWO cameras, the back camera sporting 3 megapixels.  The front camera is VGA.  Video conferencing anyone?
• 16GB! of internal storage with a micro SD expansion slot.  Very cool to be able to hold a large amount of media.
• You can dock this phone with an HDMI attachment to feed the video to your high def television.
• VoIP capable.  Oh how I wish Google voice would go VoIP
• Tablet style layout, which is not something surprising but it’s a spec.  Meh.

It seems that Inbrics is trying to create a super converged device that will act like a home phone with VoIP, then when you leave your WiFi area switch over to using the cellular radio.  Interesting idea and one that I would really like to see in action.   Inbrics said in their press release that they were looking to provide a home web station, allowing you to interconnect with all your other devices, and becoming a hub for your media and communications.

There is not much more info out there about this unit, there is no carrier relationship to announce as Inbrics is shopping around for suitors.  The rep from Inbrics has been quoted saying that it SHOULD hit America sometime in 2010, but no carrier was announced.  They do have relationships with several different companies, so I am sure we will see forward progress on that in the future.

Overall impression on the phone from the little info we have is that it seems like a multimedia machine.  It is going to have a custom UI like Motoblur, which will be geared towards utilizing the cameras and web connectivity.  I like the fact that it has a good size storage, with more expansion capabilities, and the two cameras is something that I have been thirsting for to do video chats.  The processor leaves a lot to be desired, especially since they are touting this as a multimedia hub.  The ability to dock with an HDMI connection is interesting, but not sure how much of a selling point it will be.

All in all, I think it is an interesting handset that has some potential, whether or not it will do well in our smartphone market here in America is yet to be seen.

Source: TMCnet

Friday, January 8, 2010

GREENSBORO — The company that will train pilots to fly Honda Aircraft Co.’s new corporate jet has agreed to train some of those pilots here.

FlightSafety International will put its first simulator inside Honda’s plant, which is under construction at Piedmont Triad International Airport. The simulator will begin training pilots in December 2011, just as the first customers take ownership of the new jets.

The company will benefit from a sales tax exemption on flight simulators that North Carolina lawmakers passed last summer.

The simulators can range in price from $8 million to $12 million. When the legislation passed, state Commerce Department officials estimated the exemption would cost the state up to $128,000 in one-time revenue.

Greensboro was competing with several other locations where FlightSafety has training operations, including Atlanta. Georgia passed a similar tax break early in 2009.

“We wanted those dollars to stay in North Carolina and that exemption was the best way to do that,” said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance.

Although the state will lose the one-time sales tax on the simulators themselves, the airport will gain from 25 to 30 jobs a simulator. All pilots, co-pilots and chief mechanics will have to be trained before they’re allowed to operate one of the jets. And those pilots will also have to return for annual retraining, Lynch said.

State and local developers have been trying to build up Greensboro’s aviation sector, building on the presence of companies like HondaJet and FedEx. Lynch said local leaders had spoken with other areas that had developed aviation clusters.

“To a person, they would encourage us to try to get a flight safety operation in Greensboro. That is a key component of the infrastructure,” Lynch said.

FlightSafety is the largest such company in the world, according to its spokesman. It has 40 training centers and trains 75,000 people every year.

Formed in 1951, the company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway and trains pilots for other aircraft companies such as Gulfstream and Cessna.

Local economic development officials hope that this first flight simulator will build into a training base for other companies’ products.

There has been some hope on the part of economic developers that FlightSafety would put two HondaJet simulators in Greensboro.

But company officials said they were unsure where their second simulator would be located.

“We’re not sure exactly where it’s going to be located at this point,” said FlightSafety spokesman Steve Phillips. “It will probably be in Europe but that’s still to be determined.”

The location, he said, would be determined by customer demand.

Asked if the sales tax break helped lure the company, Phillips said it did.

“That was certainly a factor,” Phillips said.

Passing the tax break was a priority for the Guilford County legislative delegation and drew the support of Gov. Bev Perdue’s administration. Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco lobbied for the measure, even appearing at an ad hoc committee meeting called on the floor of the House during the last minute rush to pass bills before the end of session.

Perdue herself traveled to New York to meet with company officials, Lynch said. Lynch and Crisco met with company officials at the Paris Air Show in June.

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France’s culture minister confirmed Friday that the chasing of file-sharers will begin in the spring. Those caught will be subjected to the much-touted “3 strikes” regime.

After seemingly endless legal tennis, the French government, led by Nicholas Sarkozy, finally pushed their controversial graduated response system through.

Last week, French senator Michel Thiolliere said that he had high hopes for the so-called Hadopi legislation, estimating that nearly everyone warned for a second time would stop illegal file-sharing for good.

Today, French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand admitted that there are some technical bugs to iron out of the system, but they should be fixed in the coming months.

The hunt for illicit file-sharers, he said, will begin in the spring.

In the meantime, French file-sharers will be getting prepared.

Article from: FreakBits

by Chris Hayes, posted on January 8, 2010 at 09:52

As every person in North Carolina saw their tax bill increase last year, the State of NC was busy granting a tax break to a company owned by the world’s 2nd richest man — Warren Buffett.

The Greensboro News & Record today reveals that flight simulator company FlightSafety is expanding operations to Greensboro will receive a $128,000 sales tax break on the purchase of the flight simulators.

FlightSafety is the largest such company in the world, according to its spokesman. It has 40 training centers and trains 75,000 people every year.

Formed in 1951, the company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway and trains pilots for other aircraft companies such as Gulfstream and Cessna.

This marks the second time in eight months that North Carolina has given incentives to a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. In April 2009, MiTek industries was given $28,000 in cash to expand its operations in Edenton, NC.

The sales tax break was contained in SB 1057 which passed the NC Senate unanimously (46-0) and passed the NC House by an 80-32 vote.

I guess the leaders of NC are concerned that Mr. Buffett had fallen to #2 on the World’s Richest Man list and wanted to give him a little extra cash to help get him back above Bill Gates.

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	Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett (Security Analysis Prior Editions) by Benjamin Graham Buy new: $47.25 / Used from: $46.96 Usually ships in 9 to 11 days
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