Blog

After getting flamed all over the internet “as a maniacal crackpot mom” for writing that video games are from Satan (qjnet/news/game-developer-of-the-millenium-satan.html), Frumpy Mom Marla Jo Fisher did some thinking that maybe she went overboard. She writes again,

Filed under: CES, Videos, Ford

Continue reading MyFord Touch and SYNC App Ecosystem hands-on [w/video]

MyFord Touch and SYNC App Ecosystem hands-on [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’s cold out there.

By “out there,” we mean pretty much anywhere in the U.S. north of Brownsville, Texas. Check out the U.S. weather map. Temperatures range from a chilly-for-Florida 49 degrees in Miami and a “This isn’t why we moved to Texas” 23 degrees in Dallas, down to a “Do we even have a weather map color for this?” 27 degrees below zero up in Montana. Now that’s cold.

While we’re all freezing, natural-gas investors are cheering (or perhaps doing cartwheels). Gas prices closed above $6 per million BTUs yesterday for the first time in a year as all that frigid weather drives up demand for gas, which heats more than half of U.S. homes.

This morning, government data showed that the U.S. pulled 153 billion cubic feet of gas out of storage last week, triple the draw down in the same week last year. Expect an even bigger number next week, which will reflect this week’s brutal cold.

So is it time to toss out the “gas glut” commentary along with the Christmas tree? Not so fast. For one thing, storage levels remain 11% higher than normal for this time of year, and a couple cold weeks aren’t going to do much to change that.

Moreover, as cold weather pushes up gas prices, that will actually surpress demand for non-heating uses of gas. At $6 per million British thermal units, gas no longer looks cheap compared to coal, the way it did when prices dropped below $3 in September. Jefferies analyst Subash Chandra figures natural gas has given back all of the 3 billion cubic feet of daily demand that it took away from coal earlier this year. That helps explain why gas prices are actually trading down a few pennies this morning.

Of course, that’s nothing more than the law of supply and demand—not exactly a new principle. But it’s not the way natural gas markets have worked in recent years. Instead, prices tended to spike whenever demand picked up due to supply fears, as producers struggled to pump enough gas. They would catch up just in time for demand to fall, flooding the market and driving prices back down. The result was a price roller coaster, with frequent spikes and plunges.

The huge gas discoveries of the past few years have changed all that. Now there’s plenty of gas, and producers can quickly ramp up and down drilling in response to shifts in demand. The result, at least in theory: price stability. Gas has spent most of the past year bouncing between $3 and $6 per million BTUs—a tame year compared to the $5.50 to $13.50 swings of 2008.
Will it last? More and more market-watchers are saying “yes”. Of course, those same experts once predicted $200 a barrel oil. So buyer beware.

Well, I’m guessing that. Anyway, solar power – woo! It’s the future aspazzarently – is what you need when you’re a doofus like me who’s forgotten to charge her car kit. Er, hang on. I don’t have a car.

So, what’s IOGEAR’s $69.95 kit got? Well, there’s a solar-powered Bluetooth speakerphone which you can mount either on the windshield or visor. There’s multi-point connection, enabling you to switch between two phones. There’s echo cancellation and noise reduction, a volume and mute button (surely all car kits have these as standard?), and a micro-USB cable and one of those adapters you stick in the cigarette lighter. One charge will give you 11 to 13 hours’ continuous talk time.

And if anyone dares tell me I’m just phoning in my work these days, I’ll run you over.

Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage has been traced, there were five bodies been found. But right now YSR dead body photos have not been leaked at any site.
All the five bodies including CM’s body have been recovered from the ruins of helicopter. Bodies are burned and Reddy belonged to the Congress Party who had become the chief minister of his state for the second consecutive time earlier this year. As he announced several government schemes for the welfare of the poor people living in villages and remote areas, he was a popular leader. He will surly missed by us!!!

I will post any pictures as soon as it is released.

Related posts:

1. Ysr Death Conspiracy Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…
2. Ysr Dead Body Photos Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s…
3. Ysr Murdered All the five bodies including CM’s body have been recovered…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you’re driving a Porsche sports car, the last thing on your mind is probably how many miles per gallon you’re averaging or whether or not you’re being kind to mother nature – and Porsche CEO Michael Macht truly understands that. Macht told AutoCar that Porsche has no plans to build a hybrid version of the 911 or the Boxster.

“It’s technically possible but it’s not part of the plan. It also adds weight,” he said. “We want brake regeneration and stop-start for our sports cars, but not hybrid. They’re not driven in the city, where you get most of the advantages [of a hybrid].”

Nonetheless, Macht did confirm that Porsche is looking to do an all-electric sports car; however he said that the Stuttgart automaker would not put it into production unless it could reach the performance levels of a gasoline model.

Porsche is currently working on bringing its Cayenne S Hybrid to the market.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

The latest peace pact in the generics wars has been signed by AstraZeneca and Teva, shielding AstraZeneca’s mega-selling heartburn drug Nexium from Teva competition until 2014. Now the question is whether a similar deal with another generic maker — Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories — is far behind.

AstraZeneca said the deal will allow Teva to sell generic copies of Nexium in the U.S. starting on May 27, 2014, when the first of AstraZeneca’s patents on the drug expire. Back in 2008, AstraZeneca made a separate Nexium deal with India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories.

Morgan Stanley analysts quoted by Reuters said that India’s Dr. Reddy’s posed the only credible risk to Nexium sales before 2014; they predicted AstraZeneca would cut a deal with Dr. Reddy’s before the end of 2010.

All this fuss stems from the fact that Nexium is AstraZeneca’s biggest seller, ranking as the world’s third-largest drug, with sales of $7.8 billion, according to IMS Health.

Other drug makers have been cutting similar deals on mega-blockbusters losing patent protection in the coming years. Pfizer and Ranbaxy settled their legal fight over Lipitor when they agreed that Ranbaxy could start selling generic copies of the drug (the biggest seller of all time) in November of 2011.

Photo: PR Newswire

This is a very reasonable economic forecast for 2010 from AEI’s John Makin (via Jon Chait’s great new blog.) Chait focuses on the part that says the stimulus boosted GDP by 4%, and wonders whether Republican senators will bother to read that part. Fair enough. I want to focus on the part about consumer demand, and why it’s not sustainable without more government stimulus.

When we reported that GDP growth between July and September was 3.5%
(it’s been revised down to 2.2%), I pointed out that families’
discretionary income actually
fell between July and September even as consumption on durable goods
skyrocketed. The difference was government stimulus, like the housing credit and Cash for Clunkers. Makin makes the same point:

During the three months ending in October, real consumer spending rose
at a 2.6 percent annual rate while real disposable income rose at a 0.6
percent annual rate. Whether spending can continue to grow
substantially in excess of income growth, and therefore draw down
savings, remains one of the major uncertainties overhanging the U.S.
economy as we move into 2010.

This provides a chicken-egg conundrum. Employers won’t grow the
compensation pie unless they see sustainable demand for their goods or
services. They won’t see sustainable demand for their goods and
services unless Americans keep spending money. Americans won’t keep
spending more money than they’re getting from employers. It seems to me
that the only way to complete the circle is to continue to rely heavily
on government stimulus, in the form of tax credits for employers to
hire or employees to spend.

If we’re going to see a robust recovery next year, the most likely
driver is still exports. The American consumer still needs crutches to
stand, but the Asian consumer is on a tear. The ’00s boom was fueled by
American demand, but in the recovery it’s America that will be leaning
on China and India to buy our stuff and bring us back to full
employment.

We’ve liked Gunnar’s strain-reducing specs in the past, so we expect that these not-movie-theater-ugly new 3D glasses will be just the ticket for what is looking to be a 3D-heavy 2010.

Gunnar asks, and rightfully so, why the 3D glasses should be the weakest link in a new, multi-million dollar 3D industry. Their solution is this stylish pair of specs that will be available in several popular 3D formats, ostensibly including versions for polarized and shutter 3D.

Joe Croft, co-founder of Gunnar explains: “While typical 3D eyewear is stamped from a flat sheet of plastic, GUNNAR lenses are shaped, formed and cut to provide distortion free optics.” High quality, comfortable, and, in this case, cool* 3D glasses will be an essential component of a successful transition to viable, enjoyable 3D in the home.

The glasses will be available from $90 in Q2, with perscription lenses arriving in months thereafter. [Engadget]

*note: Addy Dugdale refuses to deem 3D glasses “cool” until they look like this:

All the five bodies including CM’s body have been recovered from the ruins of helicopter. Bodies are burned and Reddy belonged to the Congress Party who had become the chief minister of his state for the second consecutive time earlier this year. As he announced several government schemes for the welfare of the poor people living in villages and remote areas, he was a popular leader. He will surly missed by us!!!

I will post any pictures as soon as it is released.

And

And

Related posts:

1. Ysr Death Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…
2. Ysr Dead Body Photos Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s…
3. Ysr Murdered, Ysr Murdered Photos Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

American Windows Mobile users, rejoice, for the mighty HTC HD2 is coming to your land. T-Mobile and HTC announced that the massively large, thin, and fast capacitive touch smartphone that I fell head-over-heels for last month is coming to the US as a T-Mobile exclusive this Spring. More on the freshly minted T-Mo HD2 product page.

HD2 is the first ever Windows Mobile phone with a capacitive display, and the massive 4.3″ size of its screen combined with the device’s sleek shape and thin profile made it the first WinMo phone I’ve gotten all lusty about in quite some time. HTC Sense worked wonderfully on the unlocked GSM version of the device I demo’d, thanks in large part to the zippy 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running under the hood. Frankly, using HD2 felt more like having a tablet computer in my hand than any mere phone. Then again, whenever I had to dig past HTC Sense to use WinMo, I was brought somewhat back down to Earth.

Power users who want/need Windows Mobile should, quite honestly, love this device provided that HTC and T-Mobile are able to iron out a few minor kinks I encountered on the demo I used. And when T-Mo gets that 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network rolled out across the country? Look out.

Check out my hands-on video with HD2 for more on this beastly smartphone.

Coming in an impressively small package is the LaCinema Mini HD, the all-in-one Wi-Fi High Definition media center. In a rather elegant blend of sleek design and easy usability, the LaCinema offers a very convenient experience.

Absinthe’s triumphant return continues, and Philadelphia Distilling Company has jumped on the bandwagon with their gorgeous specimen that seems to be a cut above the rest. Using a unique double maceration process to combine two different types of wormwood with anise and other flavors is only the beginning; the booze is created in a customer copper pot still imported from Scotland that was created by Forsythe, who also makes pot stills for Glenlivet and Woodford Reserve. In addition to having a master distiller at the helm, Vieux Carre also boasts the distinction of being the first legal absinthe to be distilled, bottled and sold on the east coast of the United States in nearly 100 years. That’s enough to sell us. Check out more information and tried-and-tested absinthe recipes on Vieux Carre’s website.

Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage has been traced, there were five bodies been found. But right now YSR dead body photos have not been leaked at any site.
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy is no more between us!! Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in a chopper crash. The tragedy became like that when Wednesday morning over tiger-infested Nalamalla forests, the helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, and other four members went missing in pouring rain.

Related posts:

1. Ysr Death Conspiracy Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…
2. Ysr Death Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…
3. Ysr Murdered, Ysr Murdered Photos Where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s BEL-430 Chopper’s wreckage…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What a difference a year makes. I don’t recall seeing nearly as many different e-book readers at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show. At least not from mainstream, everyday brand names. But at the Digital Experience mini-show, I did stumble on a new eInk model from Samsung. The company actually has two new e-book readers — the E6 and E101 — but only the smaller E6 was on the floor.

There isn’t much to differentiate the E6 from other devices currently on the market, aside from the electromagnetic resonance stylus pen. The pen is used for handwritten notes and for navigation, although there are slide-out nave controls on the bottom of the reader. Like the Alex from Spring Design, the Samsung E6 and E101 aren’t partnered with any content providers. Instead, you have access to over 1 million books through Google. Connectivity is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and you can email PDFs of your handwritten notes. You also pick and download content over Wi-Fi. 2GB of fixed storage, two weeks of battery life and  dual speakers round out the 6″ inch E6 and 10″ E101.

A few minutes of playtime tells me that the stylus input is only marginally adequate. It felt a little slow to respond, but perhaps using the pen takes some getting used to. Aside from no content providers, one challenge for these units is the price. Samsung expects to sell them later this year at $399 and $699. Those prices aren’t compelling when the only content is Google Books for now, although that content is free. We weren’t provided a list of all of the supported content formats, but EPUB and PDF were specifically mentioned.

By the way, I just got word that the Alex from Spring Design is officially launching later today at the same $399 price as the Samsung E6. Although it doesn’t have any content partners either, it does have a very nice and responsive second display running Android. Expect to see it for sale on Feb. 22.