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I recently reported on the Blackfriday list that talked about some deal, well it seems HTC is giving more and more to us. HTC is now offering a rebate to help their carriers out there to sell more devices. HTC is giving a $100 rebate for purchasing the Imagio, Touchpro2, Tilt 2 and Ozone. This deal is only for their Windows Mobile phones and will go on for a while. This deal sounds great I bet and you most want to know what the catch is? well you have to bring in your old Smartphone—which i bet is more than $100—and trade it for the $100 rebate they are offering. The deal only goes for Nokia, Iphone, Blackberry and palm, or anything else that runs Windows Mobile. This is not the greatest deal, but at least it is something.

Once the new phone is purchased, the customer can go to the appropriate site below and enter their specific promotional code. This will provide them with a mailing label, which they use to send their old smartphone, a copy of the UPC code from the new phone, and a copy of the invoice from the new phone. After that, they get a $100 check in the mail!

More information is available at the HTC trade-in website.

Read more at Wirelessandmobilenews (long name)

WM

Reader mick alerts us to the story of a small eight-person startup that makes a popular app for backing up your iPod music, which had been called “iPodRip” until Steve Jobs and Apple’s lawyers got involved, demanding the company cease using the name and hand over its domain. It’s even told the guy that even if he rebrands his app, he can’t even say that it’s the app “formerly known as” iPodRip. While lawyers told him he could successfully fight Apple on this, the guy gave in and is in the process of changing the name to iRip. Someone involved with the company actually sent Steve Jobs an email about the whole situation, and got the response:

“Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.”

Pleasant. Of course, at this point it seems worth pointing out that years long battle Jobs fought with the Beatles’ Apple Corp. over the “Apple” name. Would Jobs have been okay if John, Paul, Ringo and George had simply told him “Change your company name. Not that big of a deal”? Now, yes, it is true that a company needs to enforce its trademark, lest it become generic, but in this case it certainly seems like the name was descriptive in a way that certainly didn’t imply endorsement from Apple. But, of course, when you’ve got lawyers who can bully on your behalf, the details apparently aren’t that important.

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Remember ACS:Law? The shakedown organization that appears to have taken over where Davenport Lyons left off (including using some of the identical documents), and who has “partnered” with DigiProtect, the company that gleefully admits that it purposely puts files on file sharing networks just to collect the IP addresses of anyone who downloads, is asking for the identifying info on 30,000 UK users. To put that in perspective, in the years long campaign by the RIAA to sue people for file sharing, they apparently requested info on about 35,000 IP addresses. Of course, when spreading such a big net, it’s no surprise that tons of innocent people get caught in it. But that’s really of little concern, since no real lawsuits have been filed. They’re just hoping a bunch of people feel that it’s easier to pay up. It’s not about stopping piracy or getting people to buy — it’s about shaking people down for as much money as possible.

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We were just talking about how pretty much any government database will get abused by government employees eventually. But it’s not just on the accessing or revealing of data that this can happen. How about the collection of data as well? Jabberwocky alerts us to the news that police in the UK have supposedly been arresting innocent people just to add them to the UK’s DNA database. The report looking into this, sarcastically titled “Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?” finds that nearly one in five of the DNA records in the database are from innocent people. And part of that is an “arrest first, ask questions later” policy towards collecting DNA:

The commission had received evidence from a former police superintendent that it was now the norm to arrest offenders for everything possible. “It is apparently understood by serving police officers that one of the reasons, if not the reason, for the change in practice is so that the DNA of the offender can be obtained,” said Montgomery, adding that it would be a matter of very great concern if this was now a widespread practice.

Oh yeah, to make matters worse: “there is very little concrete evidence on the importance of the DNA match in leading to a conviction and whether the suspect would have been identified by other means anyway.” Don’t you feel safer now?

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Every family has their own traditions.  My family is no different.  Christmas time was always a time of good cheer.  Surrounded by family, friends, in-laws, out-laws, and friends that felt like family, all was right with the world.  With the passing of my step-mom, who I consider my mommy, life just hasn’t been the same.

The days leading up to Christmas Day were filled with excitement and anticipation.  Not anticipation of what gifts I would receive but, that of seeing the joy on my children’s faces as they opened their gifts or sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Our traditional Christmas Eve was spent sitting in my in-laws living room surrounded by friends and family opening our stockings.  Whether it was chapstick, hair ties, cute Christmas pins, or lottery tickets in our stockings, it was a time that filled my heart with joy.  We spent hours laughing, drinking home-made egg nog, noshing on cheese and crackers, and enjoying our family.  My ex-husband and I would then go to my Aunt Linda’s house with the children.  Dividing our time between different family members was exhausting but, it was the best time in my life. 

Christmas day was always special.  The children would wake up and come downstairs to find Grandma already in the kitchen with her cup of coffee and a warm smile on her face ready to give great big hugs to all the kids.  Meanwhile, upstairs, my ex-husband and I were praying for just one more minute of sleep.  But, of course, the excitement overtook us and we couldn’t resist joining the kids.  We would stumble downstairs and greet everyone with a “Merry Christmas” and mom(my mother-in-law) would shuffle us out to the kitchen for our first cup of coffee. 

Then, Grandma would take the kids into Pop-Pop’s room to roust him out of bed.  Sending the kids in was a sure way to accomplish this task.  Once we were all settled in the living room, presents were passed around, wrapping paper became the new rug, and smiles were abundant in our little house.  Later, my father, whom lived across the street, and mommy would come over with my sister and the whole day started all over again.

Now, my children go to their father’s for the holidays without me.  This is a very special time for them and their father.  I’m very happy that they get to spend time with their dad.  I just hope that they cherish it while they still have the time.  Their dad is an amazing father whom now has a wonderful wife and new baby.  The kids have learned a new Christmas tradition with their dad and his wife.  It will be their time to remember. 

My time to remember has already come and gone.  I will always remember even if I can’t experience it anymore.  My mom was the backbone of the family.  She had the strength and wisdom of 1000 people.  You could say that she was an army all by herself.  She could delegate chores and get things done with such finesse that no-one else ever could.  I will never forget our holiday traditions.  Time changes everything and I’m longing for Christmas past.

Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Mercedes-Benz

MEC Design Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG – Click above for high-res image gallery

Say what you will about the retro design of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Some call it a contemporary take on a classic shape, others may deride the lack of originality. But at least it’s consistent. Which is a heck of a lot more than we can say for what MEC Design has done to it.

The Berlin-based tuner has been dreaming up how it could butcher the gullwing’s lines, and from the looks of things, they’ve done a bang-up job. First thing you notice is the nose – you could hardly miss it – that apparently attempts to bring the preceding SLR McLaren’s F1-inspired treatment back. But MEC hasn’t stopped there. The full aero kit includes side skirts with integrated exterior lighting. The rear end fits in a spoiler, chrome tailpipes and a new diffuser. There are comically oversized and blinged-out rims. And they’ve theoretically fitted a carbon and Alcantara steering wheel.

And that’s where the sigh of relief comes in. Thankfully, MEC Design hasn’t actually gotten its hands on an actual SLS to perform these mods. And for the sake of everything we hold dear, we hope they never do.

[Source: MEC Design]

Continue reading Gah! MEC Design fantasizes over tuned Mercedes SLS AMG

Gah! MEC Design fantasizes over tuned Mercedes SLS AMG originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A recent study has produced some astonishing and disturbing results. Tuna was ordered from 31 sushi restaurants. Genetic tests were then used to identify the species of fish ordered. Nineteen of the restaurants surveyed incorrectly described or could could not indicate which species of fish they had served. A few establishments actually served endangered bluefin tuna not knowing which tuna type they were selling to their customers.

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Sweden, Europe | Weird Weather Phenomena

In the small village of Gravendal in Dalarna, Sweden there is an old wooden water tube, leading water to the local electric power station. Because of it´s age, this tube is full of holes so water squirts out in various places, in wintertime it forms amazing ice sculptures in the trees nearby.

Locally this phenomenon is called the “elk shower”. Whether the elks actually take a cold one once in a while is unknown, but if you are very quiet maybe you might be able to sneak up on one..

It seems pretty bizarre that companies and industry organizations would be against helping those with reading disabilities or vision impairment — but that’s exactly what you get in the discussion over creating some loopholes in copyright law to make it easier to reformat content to help those who would have difficulties reading it otherwise. Their concern, of course, is anything that can be seen as weakening copyright law. As we’ve noted in the past, there’s never really been any weakening of copyright law… ever. The only exception I can think of is when the US officially established that government documents could not be covered by copyright. But every other change has only strengthened it — so perhaps it’s no surprise that the usual suspects, including the MPAA and the RIAA are upset about this, claiming that this WIPO treaty on this subject would “begin to dismantle the existing global treaty structure of copyright law, through the adoption of an international instrument at odds with existing, longstanding and well-settled norms.”

Now, that’s funny, because you could pretty much say that ACTA is doing the same thing… and yet these same groups are strongly in favor of ACTA, which would also be at odds with existing, longstanding and well-settled norms.” Funny how their view changes completely when discussing treaties that would beef up copyright law vs. those that would create important and useful loopholes in it.

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Filed under: Performance, Videos, Dodge

Pushing a performance monster like the Viper ACR around a race track at ten tenths takes some pretty massive cojones. But few tracks require the testicular fortitude of Laguna Seca.

The iconic circuit in Northern California is packed full of decreasing radius corners, off-camber turns, and the indomitable corkscrew. Fortunately, Dodge test driver Chris Winkler was up to the task, and pushed the ACR around dry lagoon to a record-breaking lap time of 1:33.944, edging out its cousin the Devon GTX in the process to claim the fastest road-car lap time around the track.

Now we’ve got footage that takes us inside the cockpit for the record run, which may seem like old hat to the video game crowd, until you realize this was happening in real life. Follow the jump to check it out.

[Source: Chrysler via YouTube]

Continue reading VIDEO: Inside the cockpit of the Viper ACR’s record lap at Laguna Seca

VIDEO: Inside the cockpit of the Viper ACR’s record lap at Laguna Seca originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When an art dealer is shot in his gallery, Castle and Beckett discover that a bullet is missing from the crime scene.

Add this to your queue
Added: Wed Nov 25 23:18:04 UTC 2009
Air date: Mon Dec 07 00:00:00 UTC 2009
Duration: 43:27
Closed captions available.

Betty, Matt and Amanda’s love triangle explodes in the Bahamas.

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Added: Wed Nov 25 23:18:04 UTC 2009
Air date: Fri Dec 04 00:00:00 UTC 2009
Duration: 43:24

With newspapers struggling with declining sales and subscriptions, it seems that a few of the major newspaper chains have realized that when they have a newspaper with something of real value to a lot more people than usual, perhaps it makes sense to bump up the prices. Both Tribune Co. and E.W. Scripps are planning to raise the newsstand price of Thursday’s paper, treating it like a standard Sunday paper, recognizing that many people want the paper just for the ad circulars that detail “Black Friday” sales. In some ways, it’s yet another point of evidence that ads (relevant ones) represent content — in this case, content that a lot of people are apparently willing to pay for.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Chevrolet, Misc. Auto Shows

Loma Performance seems to think that its new BlackforceOne Corvette is somehow evocative of POTUS’ personal airplane. “Clearly reminiscent,” they go so far as to say in their press release. (We think the moniker sounds as if could have been the title of a 1970s action film starring Fred Williamson.) Anyway, labored connections to the Prez’s 747 aside, with the BlackforceOne, Loma appears to have come up with something pretty tasty.

It starts off as a base-engined C6 Vette, which is subsequently twin-turbocharged to make 783 horsepower (794 PS). Of that, a devilish 666 hp (675 PS) or so actually make it to the rear wheels. Accordingly, the sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) takes a scant 3.4 seconds, and the top speed is 205 mph (330 km/h). The stock brakes are replaced with carbon-ceramic discs all around, and the suspension, wheels, tires, exhaust and other drivetrain components are also upgraded accordingly.

The package is then wrapped in a widebody kit drenched in one of three matte paint finishes. Production will be limited to 25 examples, according to Loma, which will formally unveil the BlackforceOne at the Essen Motor Show.

[Source: Loma Performance]

Continue reading Loma Performance unveils Corvette C6.BlackforceOne

Loma Performance unveils Corvette C6.BlackforceOne originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daciyao, China | Rites and Rituals

The Hanging Temple, located about 60 km southwest of Datong, China in Shanxi province, is one of the world’s forgotten wonders. Clinging to a crag of Hengshan mountain, in apparent defiance of gravity, it consists of 40 rooms linked by a dizzying maze of passageways. The temple is said to have been built by a monk named Liao Ran, during the late Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) and restored in 1900.

The temple was constructed by drilling holes into the cliff side into which the poles that hold up the temples are set. Interestingly the temple is dedicated to not just one religion, but three, with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism all worshiped within the temple and represented in 78 statues and carvings throughout the temple.

Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, France | Instruments of Science

As far as energy sources go, focused solar heat is ancient. In ancient Greece, glass vases were filled with water to create a “burning glass” and as the Greeks got better at creating lenses, focused sunlight was used to light sacred fires and even cauterize wounds.

The most famous of these solar powered burning lenses is the system Archimedes is said to have used to ignite a fleet of Roman ships. And it wasn’t just the Greeks and Romans who used solar power lenses either, “Visby” lenses made of ground rock crystal were used by the Vikings in the 1000s, and similar technology is believed to have been used by the Celts and even the ancient Egyptians.

The name “solar furnace,” translates in Latin to heliocaminus. A heliocaminus was simply a glass enclosed room meant to focus and heat the room, much like a modern sunroom. The principles behind a modern solar furnace hasn’t changed much from these sun rooms and “burning lenses.”

The world’s largest solar furnace is located in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, a commune in the sunny Pyrenees mountains on the French-Spanish border. The furnace consists of a field of 10,000 mirrors bounce the sun’s rays onto a large concave mirror which focuses the enormous amount of sunlight onto an area roughly the size of a cooking pot which reaches temperatures above 3,000 °C or 5,430 degrees Fahrenheit.

The solar furnace itself itself exactly new. The first modern solar furnace was built in Mont Louis, in 1949 by professor Félix Trombe, and the current one was constructed in 1970. However the solar furnace continues to generate a beam of focused sunlight as powerful today as it was 3000 years ago.

It’s been somewhat amusing over the last day or so to see a bunch of our usual critics all submit the same exact story with some sort of triumphant “I told you so!!!!!” (usually in less friendly language). It’s a report that music sales are up in Sweden following the strict anti-piracy law that went into effect earlier this year. The claim is that this is proof that the RIAA/MPAA/IFPI/BPI/etc strategies work. To them, this is clear, irrefutable evidence that draconian measures to crack down on unauthorized file sharing really does make people buy. That would be quite interesting if true, but our friends employed by these companies might want to wait a bit before breaking out the champagne over a dead cat bounce.

First, there are some who are questioning the actual numbers. So far, the only numbers have come directly from the IFPI, who hasn’t provided much in the way of detail (and have a long history of publishing questionable, fact-challenged numbers). In fact, the very lack of detail would likely indicate that there are extenuating circumstances here. And, when we’re talking about Sweden, it has to also be noted that services like Spotify (which dragged the labels kicking and screaming into the modern world) were just launched at the very end of last year. So, it could be that it was one of these more modern services that helped convince people to buy music rather than any crackdown. But, of course, the bigger question is whether or not any boost is sustainable. It was reported that there was a drop in file sharing after the Swedish IPRED law went into effect (though, again, many argue that the “drop” was simply because more people started using encryption and those who measure file sharing traffic had no way to deal with it, so pretended they all stopped). Yet, it didn’t take long for the traffic numbers to bounce back up.

And that’s the issue. If your entire business model is based on whacking people with a stick and telling them what they can’t do, you may get brief moments of compliance, but at the first chance they get to go back to a more consumer-friendly system, they will. So while our friends in the entertainment industry will likely misread this situation into believing that its strategy of pissing off pretty much everyone makes business sense, let’s wait and see how this works out in the next year or so. Dead cat bounces can fool lots of folks, but there are very few industries that succeed by basing their future on such things.

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Filed under: Performance, Ferrari, Rumormill

It’s been nearly six years since production ended on the Ferrari Enzo. That’s longer than we had to wait for the Enzo to arrive after the preceding F50 ended production, but far longer than the gap between the F40 and F50 or between the 288 GTO and the F40. In the interceding years, rival automakers like Lamborghini, Bugatti and even Aston Martin have been glad to present the uber-wealthy with million-dollar supercars, but Ferrari hasn’t sat idly by. The exotic automaker from Maranello has been working on plans of its own, speculative details of which have begun to take shape.

According to reports, the project codenamed F70 should hit the streets by 2012. And when it does, expect it to take its cues from the FXX development program and the Millechilli concept car. That means all the latest high-tech race-derived technology packed into a compact frame placing its emphasis on weight reduction.

A carbon fiber body and chassis, along with a stripped-down cockpit will do their part, but don’t expect the F70 to go light on the power. Ferrari’s new turbo system could be ready for the Enzo replacement, possibly employing electric actuators to spool up the twin turbos to avoid lag. Coupled with direct injection, the V8 should at least match the Enzo’s 650 horsepower, but cut down significantly on carbon emissions while rocketing its rich occupants to sixty in three seconds flat and top out around 230 miles per hour. Of course, this is all an educated guess at best, but it looks good so far.

[Source: Auto Express]

REPORT: Ferrari’s twin-turbo F70 shapes up to succeed the Enzo originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Senate needs to take action, now

Editor, The Times:

U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon continues to press the Senate to take action on climate change, and they have continued to delay moving forward with a bill [“U.N. chief prods Senate to tackle climate change,” Seattletimes.com, Business/Technology, Nov. 10]. They seem willing to postpone it until after health-care and financial reforms are enacted.

The problem with this strategy is that the longer we wait, the worse the effects of climate change will become. Even worse, we will be giving a head start to other countries who are already investing in clean-energy technology.

Instead, we should be investing in clean-energy projects that will create green-collar jobs — jobs that most anyone can do. Contrary to what some may think, these jobs don’t require fancy technology, and actually only require basic skills like the use of a caulking gun.

This is why we need Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to not only support a bill, but to urge that we confront the problem of climate change now.

With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, a climate-change bill would help provide funding that allows the U.S. to become a leader in clean energy and would provide much-needed jobs.

— Matt Ojala, Seattle

No one cares what Ban Ki-moon, United Nations thinks

All the recent discussion of U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon [“Global climate change accelerates in dozen years since Kyoto accord,” page one, Nov. 23], misses an important point: Nobody cares what Ban Ki-moon or the U.N. thinks.

If efforts to transition to clean energy are seen as appeasements to these figures, or anyone besides the American people at large, they will never enjoy success. The massive amount of political will needed to power this change can only come from one source: the economic self-interest of the American people.

In fact, clean energy is in the economic self-interest of the American people, but this is seldom talked about. According to Thomas L. Friedman, it is the next global industry, set to generate enormous amounts of wealth.

We need to be much more vocal in asserting the economic rationale for going green. It is on this point that the battle is currently being waged in Washington, D.C. And it is the point that Ban Ki-moon will need to emphasize if he wants anyone to take him seriously.

— Daniel Silbaugh, Lynnwood

Global warming is a natural disaster, nothing else

Global warming, earthquakes, volcanoes, global cooling, global freezing, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons and a new ice age or melting ice caps.

They all have in common one thing: They are natural disasters that mankind has no control over. Period.

We have to prepare as best we can to cope with results of these disasters that we have no hope of stopping.

— Brian Maes, Olympia