Windows 7 Service Pack 1: What's inside

Leakers seem to have gotten their hands on what may be the final Windows 7 Service Pack 1/Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 builds.
(I had heard rumors that Microsoft had put the finishing touches on SP1 in December, but don’t know for sure whether that is true.)
Microsoft officials are not saying whether the latest leaked version is the “real” SP1 release-to-manufacturing version. As usual, the advice to customers is to wait for the official Microsoft-provided SP1 before deploying to avoid potential malware and security risks.
Unlike previous first service packs of Windows — which were an absolute must-have for many business users before they’d even think about deploying the latest Windows variant — the coming SP1 feels a bit anti-climactic. (At least on the client side.)
Microsoft officials have said not to expect any new features in Windows 7 SP1. (There was a Microsoft blog post last year that acknowledged there would be some “feature enhancements” in SP1 around federation services, audio devices and printing.) They’ve also said to expect a couple of new virtualization updates in the server version of SP1, specifically RemoteFX and a dynamic-memory adjustor for Hyper-V.
RemoteFX is a new graphics acceleration platform that is based on desktop-remoting technology that Microsoft obtained in 2008 when it acquired VDI vendor Calista Technologies. The new Hyper-V feature in SP1 will dynamically adjust memory of a guest virtual machine on demand.
For months, Microsoft execs have been telling business users there is no need to wait for SP1 to begin their Windows 7 deployment processes. Quite a few have heeded this call, with Forrester Research estimating that 10 percent of business PCs in North America and Europe already were running Windows 7 as of last fall. Forrester said at that time that 90 percent of those users it surveyed eventually planned to move to Windows 7.
I’ve asked Microsoft officials when MSDN, TechNet, volume and other customers should expect the final SP1 build and was told the company had nothing more to share at this time.

Virginia based CSC outbids HCL for $600 Million ArcelorMittal IT deal

In a deal considered as one of Europe’s biggest IT contracts, steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal will be upgrading their IT infrastructure. Priced at $600 Million, the 5 year contract to consolidate the steel giant’s IT systems across Europe was closely competed.
Global heavyweights in the field such as IBM, HP, Capgemini were bidding along with Computer Science Corporation (CSC), Wipro and HCL. Earlier rumors placed Wipro as the front runner since Wipro was already in a 5 year contract with ArcelorMittal working on unifying their messaging systems. However, it came down to HCL and CSC in the end with CSC outbidding HCL.
CSC has close to 25,000 employees in India and quite a bit of the new ArcelorMittal contract is expected to be done in India. CEO of Outsourcing and Investment advisory firm Tholons, Avinash Vashishtha gave a few reasons as to why CSC is a better choice for Arcelor Mittal:

• CSC’s presence in Europe helps them navigate through the outsourcing laws which HCL cannot.
• CSC will be able to provide packaged solutions for applications development whereas HCL will have to develop applications specifically for ArcelorMittal.

According to Avinash Vashishtha, it will cost CSC less compared to HCL for deploying these systems. As part of the contract, CSC will be maintaining ArcelorMittal’s data centers to increase efficiency. ArcelorMittal is expected to reduce costs by upto 20-30% once the systems are in place

The History of Electric Vehicles

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. A small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835. Practical and more successful electric road vehicles were invented by both American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson around 1842. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells. Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish.
France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of electric vehicles in the late 1800s. In 1899, a Belgian built electric racing car called "La Jamais Contente" set a world record for land speed - 68 mph - designed by Camille Jénatzy.
It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles after an electric tricycle was built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon both in 1891. Many innovations followed and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, the first commercial application was established as a fleet of New York City taxis built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.
The early electric vehicles, such as the 1902 Wood's Phaeton (top image), were little more than electrified horseless carriages and surreys. The Phaeton had a range of 18 miles, a top speed of 14 mph and cost $2,000. Later in 1916, Woods invented a hybrid car that had both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor.  

By the turn of the century, America was prosperous and cars, now available in steam, electric, or gasoline versions, were becoming more popular. The years 1899 and 1900 were the high point of electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of cars. Electric vehicles had many advantages over their competitors in the early 1900s. They did not have the vibration, smell, and noise associated with gasoline cars. Changing gears on gasoline cars was the most difficult part of driving, while electric vehicles did not require gear changes. While steam-powered cars also had no gear shifting, they suffered from long start-up times of up to 45 minutes on cold mornings. The steam cars had less range before needing water than an electric's range on a single charge. The only good roads of the period were in town, causing most travel to be local commuting, a perfect situation for electric vehicles, since their range was limited. The electric vehicle was the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort to start, as with the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling with a gear shifter.
While basic electric cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate, massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with production peaking in 1912.
The decline of the electric vehicle was brought about by several major developments:

• By the 1920s, America had a better system of roads that now connected cities, bringing with it the need for longer-range vehicles.
• The discovery of Texas crude oil reduced the price of gasoline so that it was affordable to the average consumer.
• The invention of the electric starter by Charles Kettering in 1912 eliminated the need for the hand crank.
• The initiation of mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford made these vehicles widely available and affordable in the $500 to $1,000 price range. By contrast, the price of the less efficiently produced electric vehicles continued to rise. In 1912, an electric roadster sold for $1,750, while a gasoline car sold for $650.

Pillete, the new concept of Bluetooth headset

Pillete, the new concept of Bluetooth headset is so tiny, it’s almost invisible to the untrained eye when you are wearing it. So you don’t have to worry anymore about looking like Robocop when walking down the street with it, but you have to consider the possibility of people starting to think you’ve lost your marbles and you’re talking to yourself.
The downside is the fact that people have different sized ears and the device might be too small and slip out or to big and not fit. People who often use earphones will tell you I’m right. But once they’ll figure out a way to make the Pillete adjustable, this design will be the future of all headsets.

I, for one, welcome our Linux Penguin, Jeopardy Overlords

“I’ll take evil, science-fiction computers for $2,000,” Alex. OK, we’re not quite there yet, but in the early going, IBM’s Watson supercomputer beat Jeopardy super-champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a practice round. And, what is Watson running? Linux, of course.
There’s nothing surprising about that. The fastest of fast computers have long used Linux In the latest TOP 500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, 459 of the Top 500 supercomputers were running Linux.
Watson is made up of ten racks of IBM POWER 750 servers running Linux, and has 15Terabytes of RAM; 2,880 3.55GHz POWER7 processor cores and operates at 80 Teraflops. You’re not going to find one of these at your local Best Buy.
Watson isn’t just an ordinary supercomputer though crunching linear equations, the Linpack Benchmark, at ever faster speeds. By comparison, that’s easy. No, IBM has been working on Watson for almost four years on solving the problem of ‘understanding’ natural language questions.
Sure if you ask a question Google just the right way, it will give you the right answer. But, as Stephen Chapman explains in his story on how to become a Google search ninja, you need to ask questions in a way that Google understands, which is far more complex and precise than the way you’d ask a person a question.
Expert systems, which have been around for decades, can answer natural language questions, but only within a narrowly-defined field. No one thought a machine could do well at “Jeopardy!” because there’s just too much trivia-just like human contestants Watson isn’t allowed to hunt for answers on the Internet-and Jeopardy’s clues are mini-puzzles in themselves that require “understanding” before you can come up with the right question to their answers.
Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer that beat then world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six game match in 1997 had a far easier task. Chess is, after-all, a game played on a board with 64-squares and a limited, strict set of rules. Jeopardy or any English-language trivia game though can touch on any subject and is played within a language that even native-speakers can have trouble mastering.
Watson, though, thanks to many man-years of programming and engineering, is up to the challenge. Watson may not win, this time around, in the real matches which will be aired on February 14, 15, and 16, but eventually it will. This doesn’t mean though that we can start fearing the Terminator’s Skynet or 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL. Instead, we can start looking forward to Star Trek-style Library Computer Access/Retrieval System (LCARS) computers where all we need do is talk to our computers to get our answers and perhaps, in time, even “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.“

Solar Cars

 

High-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) cells located 

on top of the Sojourner vehicle generated 16 watts

NASA

 During the 1990s, regulations requiring an approach to "zero emissions" from vehicles increased interest in new battery technology. Battery systems that offer higher energy density became the subject of joint research by federal and auto industry scientists.
Solar cars were first built by universities and manufacturers. The sun energy collector areas proved to be too large for consumer cars, however that is changing. Development continues on solar cell design and car power supply requirements such as heater or air-conditioning fans.

Solar Car Races

Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins were the first solar car racers who completed a Solar Trek from Perth to Sydney, Australia in 1983. In the 1987 race, the GM Sunraycer completed the 3010 km trip with an average speed of 67 kmh, setting the scene for an extensive research and development program among the teams.

Infographic: Get Ready for LTE

 The next generation of wireless network is coming, and it will be fast. We’ve been excited about Long Term Evolution networks and their speed gains for years, and they are finally rolling out in the U.S. in a big way this year thanks to Verizon Wireless and AT&T. For more on the technology, what is does and how it will affect you, check out our handy infographic.

Microsoft to Use Privacy in Battle with Google

Does it take more than a shirt printed with the word "private" and lip service for a company to prove how important your privacy is to it? Microsoft seems ready to battle Google by competing on privacy, but not ready enough to protect your privacy from government surveillance.

The past year was full of privacy leaks, so it's popular for companies to jump on the privacy bandwagon. Does it take more than a shirt printed with the word "private" and lip service for a company to prove how important your privacy is to it?the Microsoft VP who oversees IE, discussed IE9, the browser market, and privacy at the AllThingsDigital CES event last week. Hachamovitch spent most of the interview talking about Microsoft's commitment to privacy. While it's true that Microsoft deserves praise for the anti-tracking protection in IE9, unlike when it tossed out privacy in favor of advertising revenue in IE8, it's more likely that Microsoft's motives are centered on competing on a privacy platform to beat out Google. The Microsoft VP fired shots at Google during Walt Mossberg's interview.

Mossberg: A cynical journalist might suggest that you're embracing privacy and wearing a shirt because Firefox et al are eating your lunch.
Hachamovitch: Paying Windows customers want a great experience that includes privacy, including through their browser. But another way to view people who use browsers is that they're objects to be boxed and sold. We don't believe that. We believe Windows customers should have a great experience with their browser.
Mossberg: As opposed to?
Hachamovitch: Well, Chrome, for instance, is funded by advertising.
But Microsoft's decision to protect its users privacy has some very definitive limits. Over the years, Microsoft has spurned users' privacy in favor of assisting law enforcement and intelligence agencies obtain private user data. Microsoft spies on its users for free, unlike Google which at least charges law enforcement $25 per user to hand over data.
This is where Microsoft should take notice of Twitter which fought to protect its users' privacy, fought a gag order in response to the WikiLeaks subpoena when no one would have even known. In the end, this prioritizing of its users' privacy over government prying will pay off. That bold move on Twitter's part will be a goldmine in PR and settles it in users' minds that their privacy IS important to Twitter . . . not just a word on a shirt or lip service.
Instead, Microsoft wants to keep law enforcement and government intelligence agencies happy because they are big-time paying customers. It appears as if their money is more important than individual paying customers. The Redmond giant offers the computer forensic software COFEE for free to law enforcement, helping their efforts to extract private data from Windows computers. In fact, on the COFEE website, Microsoft posted, "If it's vital to government, it's mission critical to Microsoft."
If Microsoft cared about regular users, it might consider a bold move such as hardening Windows to protect privacy. Unless you bought Windows 7 Ultimate edition, Microsoft does not include BitLocker disk encryption. It says regular users don't care about encryption, and if they do, there are third party alternatives. With most computers in the world running Windows, think how much Microsoft could affect the widespread adoption of encryption by regular users if the software giant chose to enable encryption by default. But no! That might make life harder for law enforcement to spy and MS doesn't want to upset its great customer -- the government.
Microsoft's VP of Trustworthy Computing, Scott Charney, who proposed each PC needs a certificate of good health or no net access allowed, may play a part in the company's decision not to enable encryption by default. Charney used to work as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice and served as Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).
Competing on a privacy platform with Google? Microsoft, take note, disk encryption is enabled by default on Google's new Chrome OS platform and it's one checkbox away from being enabled on Apple and Linux Ubuntu.
In another move that might be targeting Google, Microsoft is trying to patent Facebook's privacy system.invested $240 million in Facebook in 2007, calling it a "strategic alliance." Recently, Bing became the search engine provider for Facebook. So, although Microsoft filed the patent of the Facebook-like privacy system, it is most likely another strategic strike at Google on the privacy platform. Microsoft
Microsoft chose "no comment" to all when I posed these questions regarding the privacy patent:

• Is this an offensive or defensive patent?
• Is this patent to Facebook-like privacy settings aimed at Google or any other major competitor of Facebook and Microsoft that has an interest in social networks?
• Is Microsoft considering giving Facebook a license?

Yes, Microsoft is getting better about privacy but it has a long way to go, starting with the definition of what privacy is to its regular users who are usually also paying customers . . . not just privacy so long as it doesn't upset government agencies. Look at Twitter's bold move to actually embrace the privacy of its users. If Twitter chooses to advertise its commitment to privacy, including protecting users from government surveillance, at least it would be true and not deceptive advertising.

 

Google's H.264 decision: It's all about YouTube costs

Everyone wants to boil down Google’s decision to remove H.264 support from Chrome to be a religious one. To me, it’s obviously infrastructure-related.
Ah, the smell of religious fervor in the morning. Do you smell it? That flame-war smell. It smells like… FORMAT WARS!
Google announced on its Chromium Blog on Tuesday that over the next few months, development builds of the Chrome browser would no longer support the H.264 video codec which is used in a wide variety of embedded video formats used on web sites all over the Internet.
Instead, Google will put its support behind the WebM (VP8) and Ogg Theora codecs, which are Open Source alternatives to H.264/MPEG-4, which is licensed by MPEG LA, LLC.
Now, I’m not going to get into the depth of the religious discussion of why Google decided to embrace one format over the other, especially since the licensing fees we are talking about are a drop in the bucket if you compare it to Google’s overall annual revenue.
To me, this is not a format religion issue. Nor is it a licensing costs issue. And it’s got very little to do with Chrome or a platform play. In my opinion, this is all about infrastructure costs.
Infrastructure build-out and optimization strategy is something I know a great deal about. It’s what I do as my day job as an Infrastructure Architect at IBM — understanding what our customers need to do in order to minimize their infrastructure overhead in terms of systems, storage, networking and facilities as they plan for further growth.
Google is a giant company which makes an awful lot of money. But that doesn’t mean they are immune from infrastructure planning. If anything, it’s got to be the number one item they look at on their balance sheet in terms of overall spending.
In Google’s last form 10-Q that was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which they posted on September 30th of 2010, the company doesn’t outline in detail what the company actually spends in terms of line item detail on infrastructure.
But if you read between the lines, on page 26 of that report, under “Trends in Our Business” the impact of infrastructure cost and the cost of traffic acquisition on the company is crystal clear:

We continue to invest in systems infrastructures, increase our hiring, and adjust our compensation programs as required to manage our growth and develop and promote our products and services, and this may cause our operating margins to decrease. Acquisitions will also remain an important component of our strategy and use of capital, and we expect our current pace of acquisitions to continue. Our full-time employee headcount was 19,665 at September 30, 2009 and 23,331 at September 30, 2010. We expect our cost of revenues will increase in dollars and may increase as a percentage of revenues in future periods, primarily as a result of forecasted increases in traffic acquisition costs, data center costs, credit card and other transaction fees, content acquisition costs, and other costs. In particular, traffic acquisition costs as a percentage of advertising revenues may increase in the future if we are unable to continue to improve the monetization or generation of revenues from traffic on our websites and our Google Network members’ websites.

Now, what’s one of the biggest cost centers at Google in terms of infrastructure? Next to the search business, it’s YouTube.
The movement away from H.264 and to open formats such as VP8 and Theora is simply a canary in a coal mine.
The religious decision about what format they eventually chose is a red herring, a side discussion that simply detracts from the real issue — It’s all about Google coming to the conclusion that supporting all kinds of video formats at YouTube requires a large amount of infrastructure, which costs a great deal of money.
My guess is that the decision to eliminate H.264 not only applies to the Chrome browser for the PC, the Mac and Android Devices, but to also to the actual encoding of content stored in YouTube’s Storage Area Networks (SANs).
Over the last few years, YouTube has utterly exploded in terms the size of their stored content, if not for the 800,000 funny cat videos alone.
In 2008, YouTube also began to support HD video, which dramatically increases the amount of infrastructure required. If you have to support content in different formats and in different resolutions, you’re gonna need a much bigger boat.
I’m guessing that in capacity planning for the next several years of YouTube infrastructure expansion, the IT people at Google made a rough order of magnitude calculation for what they would need through 2013 and said “Holy Crap!”.
Considering that YouTube probably accounts for most of the Web’s streaming video traffic next to Netflix, I can understand why Google made the choice to rationalize its format support, starting with Chrome.
Eventually, in order to consolidate their infrastructure overhead, Google will need to transcode the entire
 YouTube library into a smaller subset of formats, and since they have to go through the painful effort of doing this anyway, they might as well do it with open formats that they control in which they are beholden to no-one.

 

A list of supported video formats on YouTube

The less formats that they need to support, the less that they need to build out in terms of datacenters and storage. With YouTube, we’re talking about exabytes upon exabytes of storage. Maybe even petabytes. Hundreds of millions of dollars or even billions worth of SAN hardware and facilities to house it.
So from the perspective of a secondary content provider and as developers of browser software, such as Apple and their Mobile Safari which runs on iOS, you can either continue to embrace H.264, or your can go with what YouTube uses.
My guess is that in addition to Android licensees, Apple and other device manufacturers which use embedded browsers such as RIM are not going to deny their customers and end-users embedded YouTube video support if Google chooses to encode to to a VP8/Theora standard, and I would expect the same of Microsoft and Internet Explorer and its embedded variations as well. Mozilla and Firefox we already know is completely on-board.
Is Google’s H.264 to VP8/Theora transition motivated by religion, or about the real business of building out infrastructure to support YouTube? Talk Back and Let Me Know.

Disclaimer: The postings and opinions on this blog are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

HYUNDAI CURB CROSSOVER CONCEPT DEBUTS AT DETROIT AUTO SHOW

Hyundai California Design Center and Hyundai Motor America presented the world debut of the Hyundai Curb concept vehicle during a press conference at the Detroit International Auto Show today. Curb is a compact Úrban Activity Vehicle (ÚAV) for the next generation of Hyundai buyers. Curb is also a test bed for future Hyundai Blue Link™ and vehicle connectivity technology.

HIGHLIGHTS FOR CÚRB CONCEPT

• Compact ÚAV for Generation Y living an urban lifestyle with an active night life

• ‘Tough Tech' design – high-tech interior, rugged exterior

• Advanced Hyundai Blue Link and vehicle connectivity technology

• Via touch sensors and screens

• Continental 12-inch display

• Continental Reflective Heads Úp Display (HÚD)

• Big cargo-hauling capability

• Pop-up roof rack and pull-out bike rack

• 1.6-liter 'Gamma' powertrain

• Curb is the twelfth signature concept vehicle (HCD-12) to be designed at the company's California Design Center in Irvine, Calif.

POTHOLES AND NIGHTCLÚBS

The inspiration for Curb came from the need to evolve Hyundai's 'Fluidic Sculpture' design language for younger buyers. Hyundai designers wanted to create a vehicle loaded with technology that was at home in an urban environment with potholes and densely packed nightclubs on the streets. The vehicle needed to secure the advanced Blue Link and connectivity features against impact and shock. From these ideas, the ‘technology rugged' design direction for Curb was formed.

'We wanted the Curb to be urban tough without lòòking like a Brink's truck,' said Jason Brown, Hyundai designer. 'City driving was going to be its forte, not crossing the Rubicon trail, but we wanted it to have urban armor for daily driving on city streets. It needed to empower its passengers in this setting.'

EXTERIOR DESIGN

The Curb's design starts with the glass that spills into the hood and wraps around the cowl, covering the A pillars. This look resembles the face shield of a sport bike motorcycle helmet. Beneath the glass are structural trusses with the glass panels applied like a shield.

'The truss frame structure going up the pillars helps increase greater visibility in dense urban environments,' said John Krsteski, Curb design manager.

The striking profile is dominated by a boomerang trajectory bodyside line. This dominant line brings the entire design together and reinforces the feeling of strength with its positive and negative shapes.

'The world has never seen lines like this on a car before. It is as if the architect Santiago Calatrava inspired it,' said Arash Badeanlou, Hyundai designer.

The thin, sleek headlamps and taillamps dive into the vehicle, creating the illusion that they are connected into the engine compartment or interior. To complete the ‘technology rugged' look, designers added 22-inch five spoke wheels and Michelin tires with a custom saffron colored tread pattern to match the interior. These wheels have spokes set into the tires to make them have a more pronounced profile. To enter the Curb, one simply drags their finger across a touch pad to open the doors.

The exhaust vents serve a dual purpose. They pop out to reveal a bike rack so the owner could park and ride a 'Fixie' (fixed gear) bike to the rest of his destinations as an alternative transportation source. The roof also features pop-up roof rack towers, demonstrating the perfect blend of being rugged, yet high-tech. Curb has a lighted clam shell rear hatch, also opened via a touchpad for loading gear and a third rear access door for easy passenger ingress and egress.

At startup, the Curb's numerous LED lights illuminate sequentially, starting with the outside rows and the Curb's badging illuminates through the paint. Shamze Custom Coatings developed the One-Way paint finish allowing the Curb name to illuminate through the paint.

EMPOWERED CONNECTIVITY

Connectivity is the theme for the interior, which is why information flows seamlessly from outside to inside of the Curb.

'The goal was to make sure passengers felt connected to each other and the urban environment around them,' said Bradley Arnold, Curb interior designer. 'We wanted to empower the passengers with information and make them feel that the exterior was connected to the interior.'

A large acrylic screen with multiple zones allows information to be passed between passengers all via a touchscreen that appears endless. It flows like a river from the gauge cluster to the center stack controls, across the instrument panel and all the way into back seat. The §teering wheel itself is an opaque surface with a monitor showing through. There are also monitors in the back of the headrests. A Heads Úp Display (HÚD) provided by Continental with navigation keeps the drivers eyes on the road, while passengers search for their favorite channel on Pandora. Drivers are able to navigate their music via a 3-D carousel of album cover art as well as view the related cover art for a currently playing track. Cameras also replace the side mirrors and are linked to the HÚD. The screen can also display vehicle diagnostics, download apps and act as a video phone all with a single touch sensor control strip provided by Methode.

To bring the outside look inside, the Curb designers had the rocker panels flow into the interior of the vehicle to create a seamless design. The Curb links its interior and exterior designs together by having the rocker panels viewable from the exterior flow into the interior. The three-holed open truss structured A-pillars enhance the driver's cornering visibility, structurally support the roof and are made from a single milled piece. This metal structure connects everything together.

Saffron accents inside match the ones on the tires. The saffron accents appear as a gradient pattern on the seats, which are made of super-stretch, fast-drying board short material. The rear seat also has forward and aft movement.

When it comes to storage capacity, Curb has rear head rests mounted to its robust frame, rather than to the seats. These head rests swivel up into the roof, allowing the rear seats to fold flat.

HYÚNDAI BLÚE LINK TECHNOLOGY

Generation Y wants to be connected to their electronics at all times. Inside the Curb, a driver could be listening to their favorite station on Pandora, cruising the city and get a phone call from a friend. Úsing Blue Link, the caller's location shows up as a Point-of-Interest (POI). The friend tells the driver that he just discovered a great band playing at a local club and invites him to come. His location then becomes the destination for the turn-by-turn directions.

The Blue Link Location Sharing feature will send Curb's location to select members of social networking sites. The process starts by adding friend's email addresses to the Blue Link Location Sharing website. The driver can then let his or her friends know they are in route by sending a Location Sharing message from inside Curb. If a friend has accepted the owner's invitation to Location Sharing then that location will show up as a point of interest on the navigation screen.

BLÚE LINK FEATÚRES INCORPORATED INTO CÚRB CONCEPT

Blue Link Assurance

-Automatic Crash Notification and Assistance
-SOS Emergency Assistance
-Enhanced Roadside Assistance
-Blue Link Essentials

Remote Access:

-Remote Door Únlock / Lock
-Remote Horn & Lights
-Panic Notification
-Remote Vehicle Start
Convenience:

-Alarm Notification
-Quick Tips
-Location Sharing
-Voice Text Messaging
Vehicle Self Diagnostics:

-Automated Diagnostic Trouble Code Notification
-Maintenance Alert
-Monthly Vehicle Report
-Recall Advisor
-Web Vehicle Diagnostics
Theft Protection:

-Stolen Vehicle Recovery
-Stolen Vehicle Slowdown
-Vehicle Immobilization
Safeguard:

-Valet Alert
-Geofence
-Speed Alert
-Curfew
Blue Link Guidance

-Turn-by-Turn Navigation
-POI Search by advanced voice recognition system
-POI Web Search & Download
-Daily Route Guidance with Traffic Condition
-Traffic
-Gas Station Locations & Gas Prices
-Eco-Coach
-Restaurant Ratings
-Weather
1.6-LITER GAMMA POWERTRAIN

The Curb is powered by a turbocharged 1.6-liter Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) four-cylinder engine mated to Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG). This powertrain develops 175 horsepower and 169 lb. ft. of torque. By adding Idle Stop and Go (ISG) technology, the Curb would deliver 30+ miles per gallon in the city and 40+ miles per gallon on the highway.

Oracle9i: New Features For Administrators Exam

Part of the certification terms and conditions state that you must not reveal the content of any questions from the OCP exams. That said, I will give you some general points about the 9i beta upgrade exam.

Remember, the beta and production exams will differ slightly so don't count on my comments to to relect exactly the content of the production exam. In the beta exam you can enter comments on each question. The questions may be revised based on your comments and the performance of the questions in general. So here goes:

• Unlike the 8i exam, there were no free typing questions, such as "fill in the missing word".
  
• The exam made heavy use of the "pick the most correct answer" style of questions ie.
  

  In the UK 99% of women have names begining with the letter 'Z'. Which of the following is a UK womans name?
  
  A - Barbara
  B - Helen
  C - Sarah
  D - Zelda (correct)
  

  All names are correct, but in the context of the question the most correct is (D). This style of question was very hard in the beta exam due to bad question writing. Hopefully they will be more clear in the production exam.
  
  
• The "pick 3 out of 5" and "pick 5 out of 8" style questions were used frequently. These are difficult because you nearly always know some of the answers, but often do not know all. Once again, the production exam may well have less of the "pick 5 out of 8" questions depending on the question performance. This style of question was by far the most common. Also, some of the beta questions did not have enough correct answers to pick. In these cases I picked a random answer to complete the question and filled in the comment section to say the question was impossible to answer correctly. I assume these bad questions will be filtered out.
  
  
• There were very few straight forward multiple choice questions, like "pick 1 correct answer". Where these were present they were often of the "most correct" style.
  
  
• There was comparatively few syntax questions. I've never seen the point of testing syntax, preferring to focus on concepts. This seemed like a bonus for me but those who are good at learning syntax parrot-fashion may miss the easy points.
  
  
• When syntax was tested, it invariably involved knowledge of both explicit syntax and default actions of commands. The questions would often have two correct answers, one using the explicit syntax and one which relied on the default action of the command. For these I took the view that I would always use the default action, not the explicit sytax. I was assuming that they were testing how well you knew the syntax. I might have guessed wrong so don't follow blindly if you feel different.

Buy on the rumor, sell on the news?

Apple’s (AAPL) stock price has been strapped to a rocketship lately, climbing from $213 to $325 per share — up a stratospheric 53% — in 2010.

Look farther back and the gains are even more dramatic. (AAPL shares cost $5.50 in 1996).
This morning AAPL shares opened at $344, Verizon announced the iPhone and AAPL closed at $341, a small loss. Is this a classic case of “buy on the rumor, sell on the news?” Or is it the backlash that started even before the Verizon iPhone got announced?
Critics have panned the Verizon iPhone for several reasons:

• Lack of 4G. Apple couldn’t live with some of the design compromises necessitated by first-gen LTE chips. My guess: the chip is too thick and power hungry.
• Slow 3G on Verizon. BGR points out that Verizon’s 3G gets about 1Mbps down while an iPhone on AT&T can download as fast as 5Mbps.
• iPhone 5 in June? Verizon iPhone buyers won’t be eligible for a subsidized upgrade for 20 months. You can always pay full freight ($600 or $700) or say hello to the iPhone 6.

Don’t shed a tear on behalf of Apple and it’s shareholders just yet though, Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek has raised his target on Apple to $450 per share.
What’s your take on AAPL stock? Buy, sell or hold?

Kinect tinker brings motion controls to Adobe Flash

In the spirit of opening up Microsoft's Kinect gaming peripheral to more types of user control schemes, the Blitz marketing agency tomorrow is planning to release software that will let the Kinect work with Adobe's Flash, as well as other interface tools like Microsoft's own Silverlight.
Blitz's workaround for this was to go through a socket server to transmit Kinect's data stream to other applications. In terms of Flash, this turns three-dimensional movements into coordinates that can be read by Flash applications or games. In the example video (embedded below), you can see that turns doing something like moving your hand in a forward motion into clicking on an object. While demoing the new tool, Blitz software developer Yosef Flomin also mentions that because the processing is done outside of Flash, it won't cut into the computer's resources.
Blitz says it will releasing the source code for the project at its Labs site tomorrow at 8 a.m. Pacific. In the meantime, the group has put together a very detailed video of how it can be put together with Flash applications to create motion-controlled user interfaces:

Honda Debuts Sleek and Sophisticated Concepts for All-New 2012 Civic Si Coupe and Civic Sedan Models(Press Release)

DETROIT, Jan. 10, 2011 – The Honda Civic Si Concept coupe and Civic Concept sedan are making world debuts at the North American International Auto Show today, providing the first official glimpse at the styling direction of the all-new, ninth-generation 2012 model set to go on sale this spring, the company announced.

"The Civic is known for providing a balance of 'just-right' packaging, fun-to-drive character and outstanding fuel economy, at a price that even first-time buyers can afford," said John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda. "The redesigned Civic builds on this legacy and promises to be the best Civic yet."

The 2012 Civic embraces the company's vision as a "Civic for all people," a phrase originally expressed in defining the goal of the first-generation Civic. With the widest array of engine choices available in its class, the 2012 Civic lineup intends to meet the needs of an increasing group of compact-vehicle buyers with a renewed vision of a "Civic for all people." The diverse vehicle range includes a sedan and a coupe with conventional gasoline models, two sporty "Si" performance versions, along with one hybrid and a natural gas alternative-fuel variant. Collectively the depth of the Civic line offers a compelling balance between fuel economy, low emissions and fun-to-drive performance unlike any other vehicle in the industry.

As a new interpretation of the current Civic's iconic "one-motion" mono-form shape, the upcoming, ninth-generation Civic conveys a more substantial, high-energy appearance. The exterior styling of both Civic concept models showcases the sedan's and coupe's clean-yet-powerful lines with steeply raked windshields, wide stances and pronounced character lines along the profile. The lower character line on both models broadens toward the rear fenders to enhance the dynamic feeling of forward energy. The front fender surface treatments form a complex, three-dimensional look to further enhance the image of sophistication and structural depth against the deeply set headlights.

The Civic Concept sedan takes on a sophisticated presence with a front grille defined by crisp lines and a solid bar that integrates a chrome Honda emblem. The look of the Civic Si Concept coupe conveys an aggressive demeanor with a more angular front fascia, mesh grille and a tapered rear roofline that flows smoothly into the trunk. The Civic Si Concept coupe is exclusively equipped with a rear air diffuser, a center-mounted exhaust outlet and a rear deck lid spoiler with dual vents. Each concept model has 19-inch machined alloy wheels.

Powertrain Technology

The Civic's family of engines with "intelligent" Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control (i-VTEC®) technology become even more fuel efficient for 2012. The upcoming Civic Hybrid offers the latest generation of the compact and lightweight Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA™) gasoline-electric hybrid system and features the first application of a lithium-ion battery in a Honda hybrid.

Building on its emphasis on fuel-economy, most upcoming Civic models receive Honda Eco Assist™ technology, already available in the CR-Z and Insight hybrids. The 2012 Civic is the first U.S. Honda model to employ Eco Assist technology in a gasoline-only powered vehicle. Eco Assist is just one example of how the new Civic can be customized and configured by the drivers to suit individual preferences.

Additionally, Honda is expanding retail sales of the natural gas-powered Civic GX model, which is the only OEM-built, dedicated CNG passenger car assembled in America. The increased availability of the Civic GX helps bring inherently clean-burning natural gas technology to an even broader audience while also supporting diversity in transportation energy resources.

Safety

The 2012 Civic continues to emphasize safety and is anticipated to score well in both the federal government's New Car Assessment Programi (NCAP) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safetyii (IIHS) vehicle evaluations. The 2001 Honda Civic Coupe was one of the first two passenger cars ever to earn the federal government's top 5-star crash safety ratingiii for the driver and front- and rear-seat passengers in both frontal and side-impact crash tests.

All 2012 Civics are equipped with Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) as standard equipment. Additionally, the ninth-generation Civic continues to provide Honda's exclusive and innovative Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure for frontal collision energy management.

Accolades and Manufacturing

As a top-selling model for Honda, the current, eighth-generation Civic has sold more than 1.5 million units since the 2006 model went on sale in late 2005. The 2006 Civic earned both the prestigious Motor Trend "Car of the Year" and the North American Car of the Year awards.

The current-generation Civic continues to be a significant entry-point to the Honda brand for younger buyers, introducing on average more than 90,000 new-car customers under the age of 35 to the brand every year. More than 95 percent of all Civics sold in the U.S. as of calendar-year 2010 were madeiv in North America at manufacturing facilities in either Greensburg, Indiana or Alliston, Ontario in Canada.

Detroit 2011: Honda Civic Coupe and Sedan Concepts are visions of a compact future

Honda dusted off concept versions of the ninth generation Civic Coupe and Sedan at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show today, and the automaker says that along with mildly updated exteriors, both vehicles will wear improved interiors compared to the current-generation Civic. Judging from the history of Honda concepts, there's a good chance that the production versions of both the four and two-door Civics will be very similar to the vehicles you see above. That means that the Civic Coupe will wear styling influenced heavily by the current Accord Coupe.

Meanwhile, four-door buyers can expect an exterior design very similar to the 2011 Civic. Though the sedan's front-fascia wears a little bit more menace than the current design, the carried-over grille and headlights are more than a little familiar. Out back, new tail lamps and a re-sculpted trunk deck dominate the view.

Honda says that for the first time, buyers in all 50 states will be able to get their hands on the natural-gas Civic. Previously, the green machine was only available in select markets. Additionally, the Civic Hybrid will now boast lithium-ion batteries as opposed nickel-metal hydride.

Microsoft details Office 365 for education plans

Microsoft today unveiled five new plans for its Office 365 suite aimed at giving educational institutions access to hosted Office services, as well as a licensed version of the Office software.
The educational version of Microsoft's Office 365 service, which Microsoft says will be available to K-12 institutions later this year, runs from a free plan that brings things like Web e-mail and antivirus protection, all the way to a $17-per-month plan that includes VoIP and a license to MS Office Professional Plus for faculty and staff. This top-end plan can be had by students for $5 a month:

As part of the new plans, Microsoft is offering its Lync Online communications platform and SharePoint Online free of charge for students, while charging faculty and staff $10 per month, per user.
Microsoft introduced Office 365 late last year as a re-branding of its Business Productivity Online Services Standards Suite, and has since been it rolling out to an increasing number of businesses as part of a private beta. Missing from the equation had been plans for an educational version, which the company is remedying with today's news.
Along with the new plans, Microsoft said that the number of Live@edu users is up to 15 million students, up from 11 million three months ago. Live@edu is Microsoft's free e-mail, calendaring, and Office Web apps offering, which it's pushed out to institutions through agreements like the one the company made last month with State University of New York, or SUNY schools. Compared to these new Office 365 offerings, Live@edu is on the lower spectrum of utility, though will be getting some performance and security improvements sometime next month.

Facebook settlement under fire: The Winklevoss twins ask court for more

Mark Zuckerberg’s former Harvard classmates - twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss - have changed their mind about a $65 million settlement from Facebook in 2008 and have asked an appeals court to void it, arguing that Facebook didn’t disclose an accurate valuation of its shares before agreeing to pay them $65 million in stock and cash, according to a Bloomberg report.
The lawyer representing the Winklevoss brothers says that the lawyers on both sides of the original settlement “made a mistake” with the settlement, noting that the transaction had “business issues that needed to be addressed and weren’t. They ended up with an agreement that’s vulnerable to the attack we’re making on it.” He argued that the settlement should be worth more now that Facebook has received a $450 million investment from Goldman Sachs.
Facebook has argued that the settlement is enforceable and that the Winklevosses are suffering from “settlers’ remorse..”
I’m inclined to side with Facebook on this one. Can anyone really expect a court to void a year-old settlement because the company is now worth more? Of course it’s worth more - it’s growing. And, at this rate, it will continue to grow even more. Are we to expect the Winklevoss brothers to try to void a settlement every time Facebook shows signs of valuation growth?
The Winklevoss brothers should take their money and move on. The Facebook of today isn’t the same Facebook that was launched on the Harvard campus. This is the Facebook that Zuckerberg and his team in Palo Alto have built into what it is today.
If the courts void the settlement and bring this matter back into the judicial system, the only ones sure to get paid will be the lawyers.

U.S. Looks to Japan for EV Quick-Charge Plug

One major hurdle to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles is the time needed to recharge them. So-called quick chargers that do the job in about 30 minutes address that problem, but one major obstacle to the widespread adoption of quick chargers is the lack of a standardized plug.
That may soon change.
Earlier this year the Japanese embraced a standard plug they call CHAdeMO. Now it appears the United States may follow suit. According to a report in Yomiuri Shimbun, the United States (presumably through the Department of Energy) will install 310 CHAdeMO-equipped quick-chargers in Arizona, California, Texas, Tennessee, Oregon and Washington.
Those markets happen to be where the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are currently available.

As Yomiuri Shimbun notes, widespread adoption of CHAdeMO by the United States and Japan almost certainly would make it the world standard for 440-volt DC charging. The Nissan Leaf already features a CHAdeMO-ready socket — it’s the larger one in the photo above. This is the first large-scale use of the standard outside of Japan, and speaks to the foresight of the Japanese automakers in rallying around a standard.
CHAdeMO, adopted by Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru and 154 other Japanese companies, is a riff on charge de move, or, roughly, “charge for moving.” It’s also a pun on the Japanese phrase “O cha demo ikaga desuka,” which means, “Let’s have a tea while charging.”

Aussie Solar Car Aims for World RecordAussie Solar Car Aims for World Record

A team from the University of New South Wales is hoping the sun will lead them to a Guinness world record for fastest solar-powered vehicle.
The record run is set for Friday on a naval base in the town of Nowra and should be a piece of cake for the team behind the Sunswift IV — affectionately known around campus as IVy. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, they already hit 64 mph back in 2009, during a race between Darwin and Adelaide. The current world record is 49 mph, and IVy’s drivers are hoping for 56 mph. That means the sweet taste of victory might just be bitter Vegemite.
IVy is the fourth incarnation of the Sunswift car project, which first formed way back in 1995. Since then, the team racked up a lot of engineering awards, while the Sunswift III (IIIvy?) gained a world record crossing Australia from Perth to Sydney.
IVy, built at a cost of around $180,000 U.S. over the course of 18 months, has about the same footprint of an average car but with half the height. Onboard solar panels generate 1,300 watts, which the team proudly notes is the same amount of power needed to toast two pieces of bread.
Instead of pumpernickel, the panels charge a lithium polymer battery that runs the brushless 1800-watt DC motor that turns IVy’s three wheels.
If you’re interested in following their progress but can’t make it to Australia, the team has set up a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. We’ll be sure to update you if any records shatter down under.

Fast Formula to Validate User Tables in Oracle HRMS

In this practice you will learn how to write a fast formula that validates the user table. For this you need to first write a validation formula and then select the formula in the Columns window and test it by entering values outside the valid range in the Table Values window.
Writing Formulas to Validate User Tables
Write a validation formula that returns an error and a message if a user enters a value less than 10 or greater than 50 in the Dues column of your Union Dues user table. Name the formula XX_CHECK_UNION_DUES, where XX is your group identifier.

Select the formula in the Columns window, and test it by entering values outside the valid range in the Table Values window.

Writing Formulas to Validate User Tables
1. Navigate to the Formula window using your local Super HRMS Manager responsibility.
(N) Total Compensation > Basic > Write Formulas
2. Set your effective date to 1 January 2000.
3. Enter XX_CHECK_UNION_DUES in the Name field.
4. Select User Table Validation in the Type field.
5. Select the Edit button.
6. Write your formula, and verify it.
7. When the formula verifies successfully, close the Edit Formula window.
8. Save your work.

Formula
Your formula should be similar to the following:

INPUTS ARE entry_value(text)
IF TO_NUM(entry_value) <> 50
THEN
(formula_status = 'e'
formula_message = 'Union Dues must be between 10 and 50. Please re-enter.')
ELSE
formula_status = 's'
RETURN formula_status, formula_message

Selecting the Validation Formula in the Columns Window
9. Navigate to the Table Structure window using your local Super HRMS Manager responsibility.
(N) Other Definitions > Table Structure
10. Set your effective date to 1 January 2000.
11. Query: xx Union Dues in the Name field, where xx is your group identifier.
12. Select the Columns button.
13. Select your validation formula in the Formula field.
14. Save your work.

Testing Your Validation Formula
15. Navigate to the Table Values window using your local Super HRMS Manager responsibility.
(N) Other Definitions > Table Values
16. Set your effective date to 1 January 2000.
17. Query: xx Union Dues, where xx is your group identifier.
18. Select Query By Example - Run from the View menu.
19. In the Union A row of the Values region, enter 5 in the Value field. Tab to the next field. Your error message should be displayed.
20. Re-enter 30 and tab to the next row.
21. Select Correction.
22. Enter 60 in the Value field and tab to the next field. Again, your error message should be displayed.
23. Re-enter 32.
24. Select Correction.
25. Save your work.

Dell Updates Alienware m17x Gaming Laptop With 3D Display

 Dell has updated its Alienware m17x gaming laptop with a stereoscopic full 3D display. The new M17x is Alienware’s first 3D-capable gaming laptop, offering a realistic, lifelike, mobile gaming experience in a 17-inch full HD 120Hz 3D display. This laptop is powered by a second-generation Intel quad-core processor with an Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 and the Hyper-threading technology, a powerful graphics card, a scalable memory and an expandable storage. The new Alienware M17x with a 3D display will be launched on January 10th, 2011 for $1,499 upwards. Watch the video after the jump.

Samsung 9 Series 13.3-inch Thin Laptop

Samsung today announced the availability of the new 9 Series thin and light notebook computer for mobile professionals. The Samsung 9 Series comes equipped with Samsung’s SuperBright Plus display, which provides a 400nits brightness, a 100,000:1 contrast ratio and a 160-degree of viewing angle. The laptop also adopts a 1.40GHz Intel Core i5 2537M processor, a 4GB DDR3 memory, a 128GB SSD, a 13.3-inch HD LED-backlit SuperBright Plus display with a 1366×768 pixels resolution and an Intel HD GT2 integrated graphics. Additional specs include a couple of 1.5W stereo speakers and a 1.5W sub-woofer, 802.11b/g/n wireless, WiMax, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0, and up to 6.5-hour of battery life. The Samsung 9 Series will be launched in February 2011 for $1,599 each.

How to generate, develop or edit a QuickPaint Report or Formula in Oracle HRMS

 In this article you will learn how to define a QuickPaint Report in Oracle HRMS. The article also speaks about how to edit QuickPaint Formula.

Defining a QuickPaint Report
1. Define a QuickPaint report that displays contact information for an employee.
For example, your report could display the following database items:
PER_EMP_NUMBER
PER_FULL_NAME
PER_KNOWN_AS
PER_WORK_PHONE
PER_ADR_PHONE_1
PER_MAIL_DESTINATION
PER_SEND_EXPENSES
CON_FULL_NAME
CON_WORK_PHONE
CON_ADR_PHONE_1
2. Query the generated formula in the Formula window.
3. Find the Line displaying the PER_KNOWN_AS database item.
4. Edit the formula so that this line is displayed only for employees who have a preferred name on record.
Solution - Writing Generating and Editing a QuickPaint Report

Defining a QuickPaint Report
1. Navigate to the Define QuickPaint Report window using your local Super HRMS Manager responsibility.
• (N) Processes and Reports > Define a QuickPaint Report
2. Enter the name XX_Employee_Contact_Details (where xx is your group identifier) and, optionally, a description for your report.
3. Enter a report header and labels for your data in the Report Definition area.
4. Select the Show Items button and run queries to find the database items you want to include in the report. Copy each item and paste it into the Report Definition area.
5. When you have the field labels and database items in the appropriate positions, save your work. This generates a formula.

Report Definition
Your report definition should be similar to the following:
Employee Contact Details
--------------------------------
Employee Number: &PER_EMP_NUMBER
Employee Name: &PER_FULL_NAME
Preferred Name: &PER_KNOWN_AS

Home Phone: &PER_WORK_PHONE
Work Phone: &PER_ADR_PHONE_1

Address for Mail: &PER_MAIL_DESTINATION
Address for Expenses: &PER_SEND_EXPENSES

Emergency Contact
------------------------
Name: &CON_FULL_NAME
Home Phone: &CON_ADR_PHONE_1
Work Phone: &CON_WORK_PHONE

Editing a QuickPaint Formula
6. Navigate to the Formula window using your local Super HRMS Manager responsibility.
(N) Total Compensation > Basic > Write Formulas
7. Query: XX_EMPLOYEE_CONTACT_DETAILS, where xx is your group identifier.
8. Select the Edit button.
9. Find the Line displaying the PER_KNOWN_AS database item. Move this line within an IF statement, as follows:
IF NOT PER_KNOWN_AS WAS DEFAULTED
THEN
LINE06='Preferred Name: ' + PER_KNOWN_AS
ELSE
LINE06=' '
Note: The line number may be different in your formula.
10. Save your work.

Note: If someone resaves the QuickPaint definition, your edits will be overwritten. So copy your formula to a formula of another name, such as XX_EMP_CONTACT_DETAILS_BACKUP.
Note: If you are saving to your orginal name a dialog box appears. Select Correction.

Formula -Your formula should be similar to the following:

DEFAULT FOR CON_FULL_NAME is ' '
DEFAULT FOR CON_WORK_PHONE is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_KNOWN_AS is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_FULL_NAME is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_EMP_NUMBER is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_WORK_PHONE is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_MAIL_DESTINATION is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_SEND_EXPENSES is ' '
DEFAULT FOR PER_ADR_PHONE_1 is ' '
DEFAULT FOR CON_ADR_PHONE_1 is ' '
LINE01=' '
LINE02='Employee Contact Details'
LINE03='--------------------------------'
LINE04='Employee Number: ' + PER_EMP_NUMBER
LINE05='Employee Name: ' + PER_FULL_NAME
IF NOT PER_KNOWN_AS WAS DEFAULTED
THEN
LINE06='Preferred Name: ' + PER_KNOWN_AS
ELSE
LINE06=' 'LINE07=' '
LINE08='Home Phone: ' + PER_WORK_PHONE
LINE09='Work Phone: ' + PER_ADR_PHONE_1
LINE10=' '
LINE11='Address for Mail: ' + PER_MAIL_DESTINATION
LINE12='Address for Expenses: ' + PER_SEND_EXPENSES
LINE13=' '
LINE14='Emergency Contact'
LINE15='------------------------'
LINE16='Name: ' + CON_FULL_NAME
LINE17='Home Phone: ' + CON_ADR_PHONE_1
LINE18='Work Phone: ' + CON_WORK_PHONE
LINE19=' '
LINE20=' '
RETURN LINE01, LINE02, LINE03, LINE04, LINE05, LINE06, LINE07, LINE08, LINE09, LINE10, LINE11, LINE12, LINE13, LINE14, LINE15, LINE16, LINE17, LINE18, LINE19, LINE20

Cadillac Returns To Racing With CTS-V Coupe

 
Two teams set to compete in SCCA World Challenge GT Series

• Racecar based on award-winning CTS-V Series line

• Program designed to validate, enhance Cadillac performance

• Andy Pilgrim, Johnny O'Connell signed as Cadillac drivers

DETROIT – Cadillac announced today it will return to racing in 2011 with a race-prepared version of its CTS-V Coupe competing in the Sports Car Club of America World Challenge, North America's top production-based racecar series.

The move returns Cadillac to a series where it competed from 2004 to 2007. Competing in the GT Class with the CTS-V Sport Sedan, Cadillac captured the Manufacturer's Championship in 2005 and 2007 and the Driver's Championship in 2005.

Cadillac will field two teams in the upcoming SCCA World Challenge GT Class with a racecar based on the CTS-V Coupe. The CTS-V line, which also includes the CTS-V Sedan and CTS-V Wagon, was recently named to Car and Driver magazine's 10 Best list for 2011.

'Returning to racing in the SCCA World Challenge is a great way to demonstrate the performance and capability of the CTS-V Coupe,' said Don Butler, vice president for Cadillac marketing. 'The racecars in this series are production based, which allows us to validate our performance against the best of our competitors on the track, and not just the showroom.'

Cadillac is working with Pratt & Miller, a New Hudson, Mich., engineering firm which specializes in motorsports, to develop the CTS-V Coupe racecar. While some of the production CTS-V components will be modified due to the unique demands of racing or to meet the SCCA series' technical rules, every effort is taken to maintain as much production content as possible.

'The SCCA World Challenge lends itself well to a natural transfer of knowledge,' said Jim Campbell, GM vice president for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. 'The series will become a key test-bed for Cadillac. We anticipate using what we learn on the racetrack to ensure the V-Series stays on the cutting-edge of performance.'

The first event in the SCCA World Challenge is March 25-27 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Johnny O'Connell, a three-time GT1 champion in the America Le Mans Series, and Andy Pilgrim, who won the 2005 SCCA World Challenge GT class in a Cadillac, will be behind the wheel of the CTS-V racecars.

Introduced for the 2003 model year, the CTS-V has quickly earned a reputation among luxury sports car buyers. For the 2011 model year, Cadillac added the CTS-V Coupe and the CTS-V Sport Wagon to the CTS-V Sport Sedan, creating an impressive family of performance vehicles. The CTS-Vs feature Brembo brakes, a supercharged 6.2L V8 delivering 556 horsepower and a Magnetic Ride Control suspension system that can read and react to the road 1,000 times a second.

Started in 1944, the SCCA organizes and supports racing at all levels from amateur to professional. The World Challenge series is designed to provide teams, manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers a competitive production-based race series in which to prove their products. The races follow a 50-minute maximum time limit, with the number of laps and total distance determined by track configuration, lap times and race conditions.

Hybrid Efficiency Meets Lincoln Luxury in the 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid

The all-new 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid -is the most fuel-efficient luxury car in America. It features 39 combined mpg.The front-wheel-drive 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid is also, on average, more than 50 percent more fuel-efficient than other luxury cars. On top of that, the 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid delivers over 700 city miles on a single tank of gas.
Lincoln has always been synonymous with luxury. In fact, the 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid has more standard luxury. Features include the SYNC® voice-activated communications and entertainment system, walnut swirl or olive ash wood trim and Bridge of Weir leather-trimmed seating. This leather employs a chromium-free tanning process and can be recycled at the end of its life. And the wood trim comes from forests that are managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards.

The 2011 Lincoln MKZ features the standard dual-LCD SmartGauge™ with EcoGuide that provides feedback on fuel efficiency and your driving performance. It has a full-color display with leaves that appear or fade in real time based on short-term driving efficiency. As your driving becomes more efficient over the long term, flower blossoms appear in the display.

Dell XPS 17 laptop, XPS 8300 desktop join growing Intel Sandy Bridge brigade

Yesterday, I posted about Alienware systems that were being fitted with Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors, but Dell didn’t forget about its mainstream products as well. It’s introduced a refreshed version of its XPS 17 laptop as well as offering the new Dell XPS 8300 desktop.
The XPS 8300 will feature Core i5 and i7 quad-core Sandy Bridge CPUs at a starting price of $749 when the desktop becomes available on January 10. Apparently, it will be available at retailers other than Dell.com, as Micro Center is already listing a version on its Web site. For $1,149.99, this configuration has a Core i7-2600 processor, 8GB of RAM, 1.5TB hard drive, and an AMD Radeon HD 5770 graphics card.

The XPS 17 gets new Core i3, i5, and i7 mobile processor options as well as brand-new Nvidia GeForce GT 500M series graphics cards. There’s also a 3D configuration available that upgrades your screen to a 1,920×1,080 3D display and comes with the Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics card, though you’ll need to buy Nvidia’s 3D glasses separately. You also get an integrated subwoofer, Skype HD certified webcam, and chiclet-style keyboard. You’ll have to wait a little longer to grab this model: The new XPS 17 will be available on February 1 at a starting price of $1,449.

Verizon iPhone Imminent: Could it be White?

Verizon is having a press event next Tuesday and the WSJ claims it will be to make the announcement of the iPhone coming to Big Red. This has been expected to happen for some time so it’s no big surprise, but perhaps Apple is bringing the mythical white iPhone to Verizon?
It is widely speculated that a Verizon iPhone will be a very good thing for both the carrier and for Apple. Verizon’s customer base is large and an iPhone launch is likely to generate quite a few sales for both companies as soon as the iPhone hits the shelves. Verizon has a bit of clout even where Apple is concerned, and while this is simply an educated guess on my part I wouldn’t be surprised if the announcement next week includes a white iPhone.
The white iPhone 4 has long been a point of contention with customers, namely the lack of the option. Several reasons for Apple’s lack of producing a much-desired white model of the phone have been given by Apple since the iPhone 4’s launch, including the unlikely excuse that a white version is too hard to make. My take on the whole situation is that a more likely reason there is no white iPhone in AT&T’s inventory is because Verizon has an exclusive with Apple for one.
Verizon is late to the iPhone party and while getting a CDMA version to sell will be a good thing, the carrier surely wants some sort of exclusive to hold over AT&T. What better exclusive than a white iPhone 4 that is available no where else?