Wednesday, December 15, 2010
No, We're Not Kidding: Paris Hilton starts her own MotoGP team - Autoblog (blog)
No, We're Not Kidding: Paris Hilton starts her own MotoGP team
We wish we were kidding. We really do. It's not anywhere near April 1st yet, and the reports seem to be true: Paris Hilton â€" yes, that Paris Hilton â€" is launching her own motorcycle racing team.
How on Earth did we arrive at such a situation, you ask? The deal apparently stems from a â€" sigh â€" "dance party series" (whatever the heck that is) called SuperMartxé VIP. She of the constant "wardrobe malfunctions" lends her name and likeness to the series, which has now embarked on title sponsorship of a MotoGP team. According to reports, when the celebrity heiress was approached with a licensing agreement, she got so excited that she bought into the team to become a part owner.
Fortunately, Hilton won't be riding the racing bikes herself. Or actually running the team, for that matter. Those tasks fall to the hands of By Queroseno Racing, its technical director Ricard Jové and its riders Sergio Gadea and Maverick Viñales. Paris will, however, be appearing at five of the MotoGP 125cc races in which the team will be competing in the upcoming season. Seriously, we're couldn't make this stuff up.
[Source: MotoGP via The New York Times | Image: Michael Tran/FilmMagic.com]
Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia
Google chrome apps Chrome 9 beta to bring faster, fancy graphics
Pakar Iklan Google chrome apps Chrome 9 beta to bring faster, fancy graphics ; Mozilla and Microsoft have been racing to see which will be the first to release a production-quality browser with hardware-accelerated graphics, but at the current rate, it could be Google's Chrome 9 that crosses the finish line first.Google likely will be issuing Chrome 9 in beta form soon. It had been planned for Tuesday, but Anthony LaForge, a Chrome technical program manager, pushed it back. "The crash rate [of] 400 crashes per million page loads on the browser is simply too high," he said in a mailing list message
Hardware acceleration isn't a simple either-or situation, but rather a long list of possible ways a graphics chip can speed up the task of painting pixels on a screen. Among aspects that can be accelerated: SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics); 2D graphics drawn with the new Canvas feature; font rendering; video decoding and resizing; the graphical formatting, transitions, and transformations of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets); WebGL for 3D graphics; and compositing different elements of a Web page into the single view a person sees.
Chrome is due for at least some of them--compositing, WebGL, and 2D Canvas, for example. However, it's very much a work in progress: accelerated 2D Canvas is disabled in Windows XP, and a second phase of 2D Canvas acceleration is currently scheduled for Chrome 11.
WebGL holds the potential to dramatically transform the Web, most notably through 3D games but also many other possibilities such as online maps and virtual worlds. Google, with Chrome OS heightening its emphasis on Web applications as an alternative to native, is a major advocate of WebGL.
Chrome relies on the OpenGL interface for 2D and 3D graphics acceleration. That's complicated on Windows, where OpenGL support is spotty in comparison to Microsoft's rival DirectX technologies. Google sidesteps the limitation through a project called ANGLE that translates OpenGL commands into DirectX.
Even so, there are plenty of problems. To minimize them, Chrome will come with a blacklist to disable the feature on incompatible computers.
Also of note for Web appliction fans is Chrome 9's support for IndexedDB, a developing standard that enables Web application storage. That could be instrumental for reinstating Google Apps' ability to work offline, a major requirement for the success of Chrome OS and the cloud-computing philosophy.
Speaking of Web applications, Chrome 9 also comes with a new task manager to show what Web applications are running, including background applications that might not be immediately apparent.
USA TODAY Chrome Web Store Download application
USA TODAY Chrome Web Store Download application ; The USA TODAY Chrome application has all the latest news, sports scores, weather, stock quotes and photos available. "We were so pleased to be available on the Chrome Web Store when the site launched. We're excited about this new opportunity to reach consumers," said Steve Kurtz, vice president of digital development for USA TODAY.
"The web has become an incredibly powerful platform for innovation, allowing users to do much more online than they ever imagined," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google Chrome. "The Chrome Web Store showcases the power of the open web and we're excited to have USA TODAY as a part of it."
USA TODAY is now available on major platforms and devices including iPhone, Android, iPad, Google TV and the Chrome Web Store. USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.
Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than six million downloads on mobile devices. The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
USA TODAY is now available in the recently launched Chrome Web Store. Consumers can download the USA TODAY application
"The web has become an incredibly powerful platform for innovation, allowing users to do much more online than they ever imagined," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google Chrome. "The Chrome Web Store showcases the power of the open web and we're excited to have USA TODAY as a part of it."
USA TODAY is now available on major platforms and devices including iPhone, Android, iPad, Google TV and the Chrome Web Store. USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.
Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than six million downloads on mobile devices. The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
USA TODAY is now available in the recently launched Chrome Web Store. Consumers can download the USA TODAY application
The good, the bad and its prospects Google's Chrome OS netbook
Pakar Iklan The good, the bad and its prospects Google's Chrome OS netbook ; Google’s Chrome OS is off to rough start. It arrives just as growth of netbooks seems to be cooling off–and just as Android smartphones and tablets are taking off. A former Googler predicted it would be dead within a year. Free software advocate Richard Stallman described Chrome OS as part of plan “to push people into careless computing.” And ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley wonders just “who the real Chromebook user is supposed to be?”
To make matters worse, Chrome is running late. When Google announced it a year ago, the company promised the first netbooks would be available in time for the holidays. But building an operating system is no easy task, and with lots of bugs left to stamp out, the first Chrome netbooks from the likes of Acer and Samsung won’t appear until mid-2011.
Since the hardware is just a prototype, the final Chrome netbooks are likely to look different (though the basic specs probably won’t change all that much). It’s more interesting to read reviewers’ impressions of the Chrome OS since it offers a very different user experience. Several themes–both positive and negative–have popped up in reviews:
The good:
Quick setup
When you first boot the Cr-48, you enter your Google credentials (the netbook snaps a picture for your profile) and you’re good to go. All of your bookmarks, extensions and applications (Gmail, Calendar, Docs) are up-to-date and in sync with your PC(s) and other devices. If you’ve ever used an Android smartphone, you know this is a great feature, especially if you are a heavy user of Google services.
Short boot time
The Cr-48 boots in 15 seconds and wakes instantly from standby. That is certainly faster than Windows laptops, but it is about the same as the MacBook Air. Moreover, as Laptopmag.com points out, when you include the time to enter your Google credentials–required at start-up–it really takes more like 25 seconds to get up and running. Still that’s a big improvement over my Windows laptop.
Long battery life
Google claims the Cr-48 will last for 8 hours and can remain in standby for up to 8 days. It’s tough to test this because there’s no apparent way to turn off the power settings that automatically dim the display after a few minutes. But most reviewers have found that the Cr-48 seems to last a full day–and perhaps even more with the 3G radio turned off–which sounds great.
Wireless built-in
The Cr-48 has both WiFi and a 3G modem for wireless broadband, and it is designed to be always connected. In this sense, it is similar to what Qualcomm, Nokia and others used to call smartbooks (though an Atom-based netbook won’t have the same standby time as an ARM-based smartbook or tablet running Android or iOS). Google has cut a deal with Verizon to offer 100MB of 3G data per month for free. The other monthly plans include 1GB for $20, 3GB for $35, and 5GB for $50. You can also purchase an unlimited day-pass for $9.99. Integrated wireless WAN isn’t a new feature in laptops, but with deployment of faster 3G and 4G networks and the introduction of wireless broadband in other devices such as e-readers and tablets, more users will want it.
Innovative keyboard
The changes that Google has made to the keyboard are controversial–some reviewers like them, others find them self-serving and confusing. Google replaced the Caps Lock with a Search key (which automatically opens a new tab in Chrome), eliminated the Function keys and Windows Command key, and added keys for browser commands such as Forward, Back and Refresh. These changes might take a little getting used to, but on balance they make a lot of sense given how much time we all spend in a browser, and it would be nice to see similar experimentation on Windows PCs and Macs.
The not-so-good:
Nothing but browser
The Chrome browser basically is the OS–or at least its interface. This keeps things simple, but it is also very limiting. You can’t minimize or re-size Chrome windows because there’s no graphical user interface behind it. You can open multiple tabs or multiple browser windows and cycle through them, but that’s about it (there are one or two applets such as Google Talk that remain visible on top of open windows). The file system is rudimentary. There is no equivalent to Windows Explorer so you can’t view folders (except for the Downloads folder) or copy files from one location to another. Similarly when you insert an SD card or USB drive, you can upload files to an online service but you can’t save them to local storage.
Limited settings
The System Settings menu has a series of tabs for modifying basic options such as the date and time, language, home page and default search provider. You can also change the look and feel of Chrome by downloading and installing new themes. But Chrome is missing many of the settings you’d find in the Control Panel or other parts of Windows. For example, you can’t view basic system specs (processor type or amount of memory), change the power settings or check how much free storage space is remaining.
Few apps
The Cr-48 comes with a handful of pre-loaded applications including Get Started, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Talk and two games. You can install additional apps and extensions from the Chrome Web Store (chrome.google.com/webstore). Some major apps such as Skype and Evernote are not available, but the selection will surely increase over time. Chrome runs only Web apps, meaning that they are really interactive Web sites and not applications that you download and run locally. Some Web apps, including new ones using HTML5, should work offline, but this is still an emerging standard. You can watch videos or play games that use Adobe Flash, but you can’t use Netflix’s streaming service because Chrome does not have a Microsoft Silverlight extension.
Slow performance
Every reviewer has had issues with the performance, even in comparison with smaller netbooks using an Atom processor. Basic services such as Google Talk and Pandora seem to slow down the system. Adobe Flash is one of the big culprits here. The performance on sites such as YouTube and Hulu is sluggish, and in some cases the Flash plug-in fails to work at all. Adobe admits that Flash Player 10.1 support on Chrome notebooks is a “work in progress” and promises that fixing it is a top priority.
The hardware needs work
Like most netbooks, the Cr-48 has only a handful of ports including VGA, one USB connector, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. There’s no HDMI, no DisplayPort, and no powered USB/eSATA. Apple got beat up for leaving Ethernet off the MacBook Air, so it is only fair to note that Google has done the same with the Cr-48. Driver support is a challenge even for Microsoft (remember the Vista launch?), so it isn’t surprising that this is a work in progress on Chrome. Some USB peripherals may work and many others will not. The ClickPad also seems to be crying out for better drivers: several reviewers said it veered back and forth between non-responsive and overly-sensitive. Finally, the keyboard isn’t backlit and there is no keyboard light.
Printing is problematic
Speaking of drivers, you can’t print directly from a Chrome netbook. Instead you use Google Cloud Print service, which is currently in beta, to send the print jobs to a Windows PC connected to a printer. Of course, this implies that you already have a Windows PC and aren’t relying on a Chrome netbook as your primary PC. There’s another catch: Cloud Print won’t work with your Windows PC if it is using the latest version of Chrome 8. Instead you have to install a developer build of Chrome 9, which is less stable than the beta or “stable” versions. (ZDNet’s Larry Dignan sorted it all out here.) Despite these hassles, Cloud Print seems to work as advertised and it is a reasonable workaround for those using a Chrome netbook as a companion device.
That’s a long list of issues, but I wouldn’t write off Chrome just yet. True, the user experience is very different from a typical laptop, and Chrome OS doesn’t have many of the features in Windows 7 or Mac OS X. Furthermore tablets will almost certainly continue to grow at the expense of netbooks running all operating systems. But the Chrome netbook is a niche product specifically designed for users who want a device with a keyboard, but are happy to live entirely in the cloud. As carriers launch faster 4G networks and developers release more HTML5 applications, that niche should grow.
One big question mark, though, is the price. If they are priced below their Windows counterparts (Verizon or other carriers might subsidize it, pushing the price down even further), Chrome netbooks could have a fighting chance. Read More ..
To make matters worse, Chrome is running late. When Google announced it a year ago, the company promised the first netbooks would be available in time for the holidays. But building an operating system is no easy task, and with lots of bugs left to stamp out, the first Chrome netbooks from the likes of Acer and Samsung won’t appear until mid-2011.
Since the hardware is just a prototype, the final Chrome netbooks are likely to look different (though the basic specs probably won’t change all that much). It’s more interesting to read reviewers’ impressions of the Chrome OS since it offers a very different user experience. Several themes–both positive and negative–have popped up in reviews:
The good:
Quick setup
When you first boot the Cr-48, you enter your Google credentials (the netbook snaps a picture for your profile) and you’re good to go. All of your bookmarks, extensions and applications (Gmail, Calendar, Docs) are up-to-date and in sync with your PC(s) and other devices. If you’ve ever used an Android smartphone, you know this is a great feature, especially if you are a heavy user of Google services.
Short boot time
The Cr-48 boots in 15 seconds and wakes instantly from standby. That is certainly faster than Windows laptops, but it is about the same as the MacBook Air. Moreover, as Laptopmag.com points out, when you include the time to enter your Google credentials–required at start-up–it really takes more like 25 seconds to get up and running. Still that’s a big improvement over my Windows laptop.
Long battery life
Google claims the Cr-48 will last for 8 hours and can remain in standby for up to 8 days. It’s tough to test this because there’s no apparent way to turn off the power settings that automatically dim the display after a few minutes. But most reviewers have found that the Cr-48 seems to last a full day–and perhaps even more with the 3G radio turned off–which sounds great.
Wireless built-in
The Cr-48 has both WiFi and a 3G modem for wireless broadband, and it is designed to be always connected. In this sense, it is similar to what Qualcomm, Nokia and others used to call smartbooks (though an Atom-based netbook won’t have the same standby time as an ARM-based smartbook or tablet running Android or iOS). Google has cut a deal with Verizon to offer 100MB of 3G data per month for free. The other monthly plans include 1GB for $20, 3GB for $35, and 5GB for $50. You can also purchase an unlimited day-pass for $9.99. Integrated wireless WAN isn’t a new feature in laptops, but with deployment of faster 3G and 4G networks and the introduction of wireless broadband in other devices such as e-readers and tablets, more users will want it.
Innovative keyboard
The changes that Google has made to the keyboard are controversial–some reviewers like them, others find them self-serving and confusing. Google replaced the Caps Lock with a Search key (which automatically opens a new tab in Chrome), eliminated the Function keys and Windows Command key, and added keys for browser commands such as Forward, Back and Refresh. These changes might take a little getting used to, but on balance they make a lot of sense given how much time we all spend in a browser, and it would be nice to see similar experimentation on Windows PCs and Macs.
The not-so-good:
Nothing but browser
The Chrome browser basically is the OS–or at least its interface. This keeps things simple, but it is also very limiting. You can’t minimize or re-size Chrome windows because there’s no graphical user interface behind it. You can open multiple tabs or multiple browser windows and cycle through them, but that’s about it (there are one or two applets such as Google Talk that remain visible on top of open windows). The file system is rudimentary. There is no equivalent to Windows Explorer so you can’t view folders (except for the Downloads folder) or copy files from one location to another. Similarly when you insert an SD card or USB drive, you can upload files to an online service but you can’t save them to local storage.
Limited settings
The System Settings menu has a series of tabs for modifying basic options such as the date and time, language, home page and default search provider. You can also change the look and feel of Chrome by downloading and installing new themes. But Chrome is missing many of the settings you’d find in the Control Panel or other parts of Windows. For example, you can’t view basic system specs (processor type or amount of memory), change the power settings or check how much free storage space is remaining.
Few apps
The Cr-48 comes with a handful of pre-loaded applications including Get Started, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Talk and two games. You can install additional apps and extensions from the Chrome Web Store (chrome.google.com/webstore). Some major apps such as Skype and Evernote are not available, but the selection will surely increase over time. Chrome runs only Web apps, meaning that they are really interactive Web sites and not applications that you download and run locally. Some Web apps, including new ones using HTML5, should work offline, but this is still an emerging standard. You can watch videos or play games that use Adobe Flash, but you can’t use Netflix’s streaming service because Chrome does not have a Microsoft Silverlight extension.
Slow performance
Every reviewer has had issues with the performance, even in comparison with smaller netbooks using an Atom processor. Basic services such as Google Talk and Pandora seem to slow down the system. Adobe Flash is one of the big culprits here. The performance on sites such as YouTube and Hulu is sluggish, and in some cases the Flash plug-in fails to work at all. Adobe admits that Flash Player 10.1 support on Chrome notebooks is a “work in progress” and promises that fixing it is a top priority.
The hardware needs work
Like most netbooks, the Cr-48 has only a handful of ports including VGA, one USB connector, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. There’s no HDMI, no DisplayPort, and no powered USB/eSATA. Apple got beat up for leaving Ethernet off the MacBook Air, so it is only fair to note that Google has done the same with the Cr-48. Driver support is a challenge even for Microsoft (remember the Vista launch?), so it isn’t surprising that this is a work in progress on Chrome. Some USB peripherals may work and many others will not. The ClickPad also seems to be crying out for better drivers: several reviewers said it veered back and forth between non-responsive and overly-sensitive. Finally, the keyboard isn’t backlit and there is no keyboard light.
Printing is problematic
Speaking of drivers, you can’t print directly from a Chrome netbook. Instead you use Google Cloud Print service, which is currently in beta, to send the print jobs to a Windows PC connected to a printer. Of course, this implies that you already have a Windows PC and aren’t relying on a Chrome netbook as your primary PC. There’s another catch: Cloud Print won’t work with your Windows PC if it is using the latest version of Chrome 8. Instead you have to install a developer build of Chrome 9, which is less stable than the beta or “stable” versions. (ZDNet’s Larry Dignan sorted it all out here.) Despite these hassles, Cloud Print seems to work as advertised and it is a reasonable workaround for those using a Chrome netbook as a companion device.
That’s a long list of issues, but I wouldn’t write off Chrome just yet. True, the user experience is very different from a typical laptop, and Chrome OS doesn’t have many of the features in Windows 7 or Mac OS X. Furthermore tablets will almost certainly continue to grow at the expense of netbooks running all operating systems. But the Chrome netbook is a niche product specifically designed for users who want a device with a keyboard, but are happy to live entirely in the cloud. As carriers launch faster 4G networks and developers release more HTML5 applications, that niche should grow.
One big question mark, though, is the price. If they are priced below their Windows counterparts (Verizon or other carriers might subsidize it, pushing the price down even further), Chrome netbooks could have a fighting chance. Read More ..
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Rea happy with start of MotoGP test - Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Jonathan Rea has revealed that he established a ‘good feeling’ aboard the Honda RCV212 during his maiden MotoGP test with HRC at Sepang in Malaysia.
In a private three-day test session around the Sepang International Circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Honda Ten Kate World Superbike Championship front-runner Rea joined HRC test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi to help to develop the RCV212 in preparation for next season.
After the bike’s riding position was adjusted to suit his stature, the 23-year-old joined his Suzuka 8-hour team-mate out on the track, with the pair making the most of the warm weather at the 5.548km circuit to complete almost a full day’s work, interrupted only by a brief rain shower.
“Today I had great fun learning a MotoGP bike, and the Sepang circuit is impressive,†the Ulsterman reported following 51 laps as he familiarised himself with the characteristics of the grand prix machine.
“My body is still not 100 per cent and this is a pity, but I had a very good day with the HRC test team.
“I’ve spent almost all of my career on production-derived bikes; I just rode a 125GP a few years ago, and today I had a good feeling riding the Honda RCV212.
"The bike feels very powerful, the engine revs higher than my CBR1000R and it is easy to change direction.
"I’d like to thank HRC and Honda Europe for this opportunity, and I’m looking forward for the next two days of testing.â€
Tabungan 2 in 1
Monday, December 13, 2010
Paris Hilton Sponsors 125cc MotoGP Team. Seriously. - About - News & Issues
MotoGP racing is a place where exotic technology and outrageous performance are wielded by personalities who battle on the world's greatest tracks. It's a high-speed playground that represents the pinnacle of two-wheeled motorsports-- and an unlikely arena for celebutante Paris Hilton who, in a bizarre news item, just announced she's fielding riders for a team in MotoGP's 125cc class.
Working in conjunction with the Barcelona-based By Queroseno Racing (BQR) team, Hilton will lend her likeness and appear at five sanctioned races during the 2011 season.
Does this mean that MotoGP teams will sponsor any celebrity for the sake of a few bucks and more mainstream exposure? Perhaps. But don't count on MotoGP jumping the shark just yet; the battles have been more exciting than ever, and Valentino Rossi's move to Ducati adds yet another layer of intrigue towards what promises to be a thrilling 2011 season.
Source: NY Times, via Twitter
Related:
- 19 Year-Old Moto2 Rider Shoya Tomizawa Dies at San Marino Grand Prix Crash
- 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis Moto GP: Welcome to the New World Order
- Valentino Rossi Ends Yamaha "Love Story," Officially Signs to Ducati
- Keira Knightley Rides Motorcycle Bandwagon for Chanel Ad
Photo Getty Images;
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