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<title>Haaze.com / Khushi / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Senator wants more secure Web sites for Wi-Fi use]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=senator-wants-more-secure-web-sites-for-wi-fi-use</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=senator-wants-more-secure-web-sites-for-wi-fi-use</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=senator-wants-more-secure-web-sites-for-wi-fi-use</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sen. Charles Schumer wants online companies to switch to a more secure protocol to better protect consumers who access Web sites via public Wi-Fi hot spots.The New York Democrat yesterday issued a call to such companies as Amazon and Twitter to switch their default pages to HTTPS from HTTP to help prevent cybercriminals from stealing online passwords and credit card numbers over public Wi-Fi networks. In his request, Schumer said that programs such as Firesheep allow even hackers with no programming skills to easily capture usernames, passwords, browsing history, and other private information from unsuspecting users in spots with unsecure Wi-Fi.&quot;Free Wi-Fi networks provide hackers, identity thieves, and spammers alike with a smorgasbord of opportunities to steal private user information like passwords, usernames, and credit card information,&quot; said Schumer in a statement. &quot;The quickest and easiest way to shut down this one-stop shop for identity theft is for major websites to switch to secure HTTPS web addresses instead of the less secure HTTP protocol, which has become a welcome mat for would-be hackers.&quot;In a letter to Amazon, Twitter, and Yahoo sites urging them to adopt HTTPS by default, Schumer said that without the more secure protocol, hackers can view log-in information and passwords as well as items like purchase activity and the types of products someone shops for.&quot;I am therefore calling on you to make the switch to a default HTTPS protocol for all browsing on and interface with your site,&quot; Schumer wrote in his letter to the Web sites. &quot;Many other companies have already made this change, and it would be in the public interest for you to do so as well.&quot;A quick check of the three sites targeted by Schumer found that Amazon does use HTTPS for both logging in and purchasing items. Yahoo uses HTTPS for its log-in page, but Twitter does not. Facebook recently rolled out an option that lets users enable HTTPS when browsing the site, though that must be switched on manually.Schumer acknowledged that some Web sites do initially encrypt user information, while others offer an option to turn on HTTPS, but none of them uses HTTPS as &quot;the default for all use and browsing.&quot;The HTTP protocol is typically used for Web pages that don't transmit secure data. In contrast, the stronger HTTPS protocol uses SSL (secure sockets layer) to encrypt sensitive information, such as passwords and financial data. Most reliable online merchants will use HTTPS to protect shoppers plugging in their payment information, but there's no hard and fast rule on when companies should use one protocol versus the other.Many sites use HTTPS for their log-in pages' many don't. But Web sites typically don't encrypt all pages with SSL, as the senator seems to be advocating. Such a move is usually considered overkill and can exact a performance hit. However, the senator's point seems to be that without SSL on every page, a user's browsing history, cookies, and other data can still be captured.Whether the Web sites in question respond to Schumer's request, here are a few pieces of advice always worth noting about security:Never conduct financial transactions over an unsecure Wi-Fi network.If you use a shared computer in a library or other public spot, be sure to clear the cache, cookies, and history after you've finished browsing.Finally, make sure your own home Wi-Fi network is protected with WPA or WPA2 security.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Air Force base to gasify waste for energy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-force-base-to-gasify-waste-for-energy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-force-base-to-gasify-waste-for-energy</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-force-base-to-gasify-waste-for-energy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[WALTHAM, Mass.--In the quest for renewable sources of energy, the military is giving garbage a go.The Edwards Air Force base in Southern California will test out a shipping container-sized trash-to-energy unit from IST Energy. The Air Force will be the first customer for IST Energy's Green Energy Machine (GEM), which is designed to convert waste into electricity and heat, according to the company.Making gas from trash in the office parking lot (photos)  Two years ago, IST Energy showed off the prototype of the GEM and earlier this month began showing the unit to potential customers. About 20 companies, which either have a sustainability initiative or pay a lot for waste disposal, have come to check out the unit here so far. IST Energy is one of a number of companies seeking to draw usable energy from everyday garbage with a less damaging environmental impact than incinerators. The company projects a 5- to 10-year payback on the $1.1 million GEM, depending on its waste and energy costs.Instead of burning waste, the GEM uses a gasifier, where dried and pelletized waste is heated to above 600 degrees Celsius in a vessel with limited oxygen. The heat causes the material to break down into what is called a synthetic gas, or syngas, made mostly of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane in IST Energy's gasifier, explained Matt Young, the engineering group leader for waste-to-energy systems at IST Energy.The syngas is the fuel for either a natural gas engine or boiler after some modifications. Or the gas can be mixed with diesel fuel to run a generator. Three tons of waste a day is enough to power a 100-kilowatt generator, but the net output is 72 kilowatts because of the power needed to operate the machine. Heat can be fed into a building's heating system as well.The companies that have come to see the GEM are seeking to lower the amount of trash they need to remove and to generate energy on site, Young said. &quot;It's really changing the way they look at waste. They see it as a resource rather than a burden,&quot; he said. The military in particular is keen to reduce its waste and carry less diesel fuel in the field, which is a security liability. In 2008, the Army tested a portable waste-to-energy unit, called Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER), in Iraq. The Army says it's still interested in the technology but the TGER has not yet been deployed elsewhere. Edwards Air Force base will receive its GEM in April, where data will be collected for a report to the Department of Defense.Green credGasification is a technology that's seeing a resurgence of interest from energy entrepreneurs in part because it produces a fuel--syngas--which can be used to make electricity or heat. Ze-Gen, for example, has built a larger waste-to-energy system designed to convert construction and demolition waste into electricity. The GEM is optimized for certain types of waste, such as food waste and packaging, which an office building would typically generate. It is not designed to work with construction debris or biohazard waste. Using an EPA model, IST Energy calculates that the greenhouse gas emissions are lower from the GEM than hauling garbage to a landfill. If a facility were to use three tons of trash in the GEM each day rather than sending it to the landfill, it would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 540 tons for that year, said Young. In terms of other air pollutants, IST Energy expects to meet air quality standards for the diesel generators or natural gas engines that the syngas would be used in, he added.The roots of the machine's development go back to the Department of Defense, which funded two projects that led to the creation of IST Energy. One was to improve on a mobile gasifier and the other was around creating pellets from a stream of waste. Over the past two years, IST Energy has worked on improving the reliability and efficiency of those components.Inside the GEM is a whirl of machinery and ducts crawling in different directions. Apart from the gasifier and pelletizer, much of the equipment is off-the-shelf. For example, gases from the unit are &quot;scrubbed&quot; to remove particulate matter, and ferrous metals are removed with a magnetic belt. Ninety-five percent of waste put in is converted to energy, leaving an ash that's approved for landfills, Young said.It's also heavily instrumented with sensors and an Internet connection so IST Energy and customers can monitor the output and spot maintenance issues. A waste-to-energy system is not the first thing organizations will think of to showcase corporate sustainability efforts and lower their environmental footprint. But now waste is part of the distributed energy picture. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[With solar power, it's Green vs. Green]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-solar-power-its-green-vs--green</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-solar-power-its-green-vs--green</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-solar-power-its-green-vs--green</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When Mike Peterson jumped into a colleague's single turboprop Pilatus and flew over the remote Central California valley that he now hopes to turn into a solar plant, he saw sunshine, flat land that would require little grading, and two big transmission lines to tap into. &quot;Wow,&quot; he remembers thinking at the time. &quot;God made this to be a solar farm.&quot;But when Kim Williams looks out at that same land from her lowslung ranch house, she sees an area rich with wildlife that is helping support her grass-fed chicken farm, her neighbor's cattle operations, and her peaceful way of life. She supports solar energy on a small scale--the electric fence around her chicken coop is powered by solar--but says when she learned about the solar plant she felt shock and disbelief. Now, she's suing to block it.The push to create an alternative to carbon-based fuel has hit an unlikely snag: environmentalists.The split between Peterson and Williams illustrates this awkward state of affairs. To a growing number of environmental advocates, the dozens of large solar plants that are springing up in vast areas of the western wilderness are more scourge than savior.The upshot is that those who on paper seem to be perfect allies for solar are turning into its biggest enemies.That includes the Sierra Club, which last week filed what senior attorney Gloria Smith says is its first suit against a solar plant, a giant 664-megawatt project called Calico that is slated to go up in the desert near Barstow, Calif. It would lie smack in the middle of habitat for rare plants and animals, in an area Smith calls &quot;a very unfortunate site.&quot;The Calico project will use SunCatcher mirrored dishes developed by Sterling Energy.(Credit:Salt River Project)The legal brawl comes as the U.S. is racing to adopt renewables. In the United States, renewable energy, including solar, makes up just 8 percent or so of electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That figure was expected to jump to 13 percent by 2035--but that was before the Green vs. Green feud.Even though Williams and her cohorts support the broad goal of reducing dependence on fossil fuels, they say it comes at too high a cost if it means building on undeveloped land. Helping their case: the proposed plants are often slated for areas with threatened or endangered animals, including kit foxes, kangaroo rats, rare lizards, and others.Now, the groups have gone from complaining to litigating. That means solar companies must take funds and management time that would have been spent on developing their plants and spend them instead on fighting lawsuits. For some companies, the likely result is that plants won't be built.Let the sun shineFor the solar industry overall, the situation marks a fundamental shift in attitude. Where previously almost any bare patch of desert seemed like a prospective solar plant, now the reality is that much of the nation's most fertile ground for alternative power and energy independence may well remain undeveloped.And the backlash is likely to slow down the number of big plants developers will try to get through. Some 142 U.S. solar plants are under development, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association, up from just 28 two years ago. Many of these are well over 500 megawatts' a handful are over 1,000 megawatts, meaning they would cover hundreds of acres of land and power at least 300,000 homes each.The big plants give the U.S. a chance to gain ground in the solar power industry, where it lags countries like Spain, which has around 30 large-scale solar plants in the construction phase. China, which dominates the solar panel business, is also racing ahead, with an aggressive renewable-energy policy and big loans to companies.Solar energy is among the strategic industries in which China is considering investing up to $1.5 trillion over five years to cement its position as a provider of high-value technologies.In one major project, China's Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing is working with Burbank, Calif.-based eSolar to build a series of plants totaling 2,000 megawatts of electricity in the deserts of Northern China. Some 60 miles away, Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar is working on the first stage of its own China plan, a 2,000-megawatt project.Analysts say the prevailing view in China is that the good done by solar plants outweighs any damage they may do to the environment, and concerns about plants and animals are minimal. Not so in the United States.This is eSolar&amp;39's demonstration plant in Lancaster, Calif.(Credit:eSolar)State of solarCalifornia lies at the center of the U.S. solar industry, thanks to a confluence of sunlit land and a legal requirement for 33 percent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. More than 40 solar utility plants are in development, according to the state's public utilities commission. Almost all of them have or will run into problems with environmentalists or people who simply don't want the plants in their backyard--plants like Peterson's Solargen.The company was born in 2006, as the government was bolstering its support for the solar sector through tax credits and loan-guarantee programs. Peterson, the company's chief executive, was among those who bought in. Previously, he had advised high-net worth individuals at Goldman Sachs, and later founded and managed an alternative-energy investment firm.But the Solargen executives weren't the only ones who had spied opportunity. The Solargen team figured it could never compete with the hordes of developers focusing on the deserts, where too many projects were chasing too few power lines to carry all the electricity they would generate. Fewer companies were looking in Central California.When Peterson first saw Panoche in 2008, he said he felt he had hit the jackpot: a 20,000-acre valley with few inhabitants that seemingly no other developers had their eye on. While most other utility-scale plants are planned for government-owned property, this land was privately owned--which Peterson assumed would make the permitting process easier.He quickly moved in, figuring out who owned the land he would need--both for the plant and a preserve to mitigate loss of habitat for animals and plants on the site--and enlisting local movers-and-shakers to help him get it. He recalls negotiating with one rancher who kept a shotgun at his side for the entire meeting' another unsuccessfully kept trying to ply Peterson, a Mormon who doesn't drink, with spirits.Meanwhile, he was trying to nail down funds. That's been tough for almost all solar energy companies, particularly start-ups, in a climate where investor cash has slowed to a trickle. The more innovative the technology, the harder it has been to line up financing. Many companies are trying to tap into loan guarantees on offer from the U.S. Department of Energy, but the application process is lengthy and rigorous. Peterson says his application was turned down.Trips to Silicon Valley's fabled Sand Hill Road got him nowhere. Venture capital investment has declined overall, but clean technology has been particularly hard hit. Just $625 million was invested in the sector in the third quarter of 2010, the National Venture Capital Association says, compared to $1 billion two years ago.Peterson's then limited experience in solar energy didn't help. And the founder of Solargen, Eric McAfee, had landed in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found he had caused drilling company Verdisys to make misleading disclosures about its expenses and revenues. In 2006, McAfee agreed to pay a $25,000 civil penalty without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. Peterson calls McAfee, chairman and CEO of ethanol company AE Biofuels, &quot;a leading thinker in renewable energy&quot; who regularly addresses forums such as Milken Institute conferences, and adds that the SEC never filed any restrictions against McAfee.Desperate for financing, Peterson finally dusted off the Mandarin he had learned as a Mormon missionary to Taiwan in the early 1980s, and went back for several visits. He can still rattle off the greeting with which he began each meeting--describing how much he enjoyed his time in Taiwan, how glad he was this project has brought him back, and how sorry he was about his rusty language skills.One company he hit up was UMC, which had founded NexPower Technology, a thin-film solar manufacturer. To seal the deal with its investment arm, Peterson agreed to buy some panels from NexPower for the plant as long as he can find a lender willing to finance a project using those panels.The gambit worked. He won investments from UMC Capital, his largest backer, and Chinatrust Venture Capital, amounting to $6.5 million. Altogether, Solargen has raised close to $12 million, Peterson says. Building the plant will cost a total of $1.3 billion, he estimates.While Peterson was lining up financing, however, some Panoche Valley residents were lining up against the plant, which they learned about in the summer of 2009 after a Pacific Gas &amp; Electric representative mentioned it to Ron Garthwaite, a local dairy farmer.&quot;It was kind of hard to get our minds around,&quot; says Williams, who moved to the Valley from San Francisco a few years ago after reading sustainable-agriculture bestseller &quot;The Omnivore's Dilemma&quot; and deciding she, too, could raise chickens.Solargen's plans to put the plant on just a small portion of the valley, allow sheep to graze beneath the panels, and buy property and easements to set aside 20,000 acres of land in and near the valley as nature reserves did nothing to alleviate her concerns.She, Garthwaite, and others like the Santa Clara chapter of the Audubon Society started organizing to fight it.But where Williams was seeing red, the county was seeing green. Solargen has offered to pay a $1 million-a-year fee to the county for the life of its plant--a nice addition to a county where the annual operating budget runs around $40 million. And Solargen meant jobs--up to 200 during peak construction. The county approved the project.&quot;The majority of the population of my district supported it,&quot; says Reb Monaco, the outgoing member of the board of supervisors who represents the rural southern part of the county, including the Panoche Valley.In the heat of battleThose who didn't quickly dusted off a well-worn playbook: using environmental laws to fight a development project.Lawyers say the moment state or local government approves an environmental plan offers the best opportunity to sue to block a plant, using the federal law known as the National Environmental Policy Act or state law such as the California Environmental Quality Act as grounds. Having threatened or endangered species of plants or animals on a site gives the suits far more heft, they say.San Joaquin kit fox(Credit:U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)Save Panoche Valley, the organization Williams helped create, and its allies filed a lawsuit in November alleging that the county approved subpar environmental and water assessment reports and improperly canceled conservation agreements to keep the land in agricultural use. Threatened or endangered animals such as the San Joaquin kit fox, the giant kangaroo rat and the blunt-nosed leopard lizard receive special mention throughout the lawsuit. The county doesn't comment on allegations in pending lawsuits, said assistant county counsel Barbara Thompson.Getting the permits rescinded is the ultimate goal, the groups say. But almost as good is simply delaying the process. &quot;A long drawn-out one would be a victory too,&quot; says Garthwaite, who believes Solargen would simply run out of money and time to keep fighting.If worst came to worst, Solargen could simply sell the project without developing it, says Christine Hersey, a solar analyst at Wedbush Securities who has been following environmental concerns closely. Because Solargen already has its land and most of its permits, the business has value, but would have more value if the company also had an agreement with a power company to purchase its electricity, something Peterson says he's working on.Right now, the battle is in the hands of the county, which is preparing a response to the lawsuit ahead of a hearing scheduled for March. Peterson says he's worried the overhang will make it harder for him to raise his next round of funding--in particular, $7.5 million he needs to come up with by February as a deposit for a powerline-interconnection study required by the utilities that own the lines he hopes to connect to.What's nextPeterson's fears are well placed, says Hersey, the solar analyst at Wedbush. &quot;Investors who were performing their due diligence would want those (lawsuits) resolved before they committed any capital,&quot; she says, speaking generally about the solar industry. And as more solar projects from a variety of companies wind their way through the approval process, litigation &quot;will become a bigger issue,&quot; she says.Among the plants she considers at high risk is First Solar's 300-megawatt Stateline project, which has high numbers of threatened desert tortoises.Several other projects are already mired in legislation or under threat of it.The Quechan Tribe, a Native American group centered around the border between Arizona and California, has sued the Bureau of Land Management over a 709-megawatt plant planned for its ancestral land in the Imperial Valley, citing animals such as the flat-tailed horned lizard. The tribe charges the BLM approval of the project didn't follow appropriate procedures. Last month, it secured an injunction blocking the plant, under development by NTR's Tessera Solar.Heliostats track and focus sunlight directly onto BrightSource&amp;39's Luz Power Tower solar boiler, which contains a steam turbine to generate electricity.(Credit:BrightSource/Eilon Paz Studio EPP)Just last week, La Cuna de Aztlan, a Native American advocacy group, and its co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit over federal approval of six solar plants, citing the cultural environment, among other issues.Among the six is the 370-megawatt Ivanpah plant in the Mojave Desert, for which BrightSource Energy broke ground in October. BrightSource already made some concessions after the Center for Biological Diversity, known for litigation on development it believes threatens the environment, raised concerns. The Tucson, Ariz.-based group is keeping a close eye on other proposed solar projects, according to biologist Ileene Anderson.In its suit filed last week in the Supreme Court of California, the Sierra Club sued the California Energy Commission over its approval of the Calico Solar Project. Among the Sierra Club's worries: the plant is going in an area rich with desert tortoises, which are threatened under federal law and endangered under California law, and other species. CEC officials &quot;look forward to defending our position in court,&quot; said spokeswoman Sandy Louey. The developer, Tessera Solar, sold the project to New York-based K Road Power late last month.Groups ranging from the Audubon Society to the Defenders of Wildlife to the Natural Resources Defense Council are also lobbing out objections against other projects.About half of all plants in development now are having issues concerning plant and animal habitat, culture sites, or water demand, Hersey estimates. Many of those could end up in court. And just the threat of litigation seems likely to affect the scale of solar, analysts say. Developers could cut back the size of future proposed plants, and think more carefully about where they should go--and that's the point, environmentalists counter.Serious solarCalifornia has a handful of solar plants that date from the late 1980s, but the solar industry has only recently taken off in a big way. Fears over dependence on overseas fuel sources, a growing distaste for coal-powered electricity and generous government subsidies have all conspired to boost the industry.Currently, the largest solar plant in the U.S. is just 160 megawatts--enough to power up to 50,000 homes. But BrightSource's Ivanpah at 370 megawatts just upped the ante. A stream of proposed plants is following in its footsteps, including a pair of 550-megawatt plants slated to break ground next year in San Luis Obispo County and Riverside County, and a 1,000-megawatt plant under development in Riverside County.Of course, savvy operators can try to stave off legal action. Until last week's lawsuit by the Cuna de Aztlan, BrightSource had successfully taken this approach with Ivanpah.One tactic is to go all out to protect plants and animals at risk. Solar companies can go above and beyond the requirements of the law, with extra-detailed studies of the species in question, extra-large purchases of land for use as preserves to offset ill effects at the site, and so on.Solar Millennium is getting a lesson in going to great lengths with its proposed 250-megawatt Ridgecrest plant, mostly on private land in California's Kern County. Officials are worried about the effect on the Mohave ground squirrel, so Solar Millennium is considering whether to fund a two-year study to evaluate the squirrel population in the area. Phil Leitner, the independent biologist leading the study, says if the study goes ahead, he plans to trap squirrels, put radio collars on them, and take tissue samples from their ears to determine their genetic makeup.Back in the Panoche Valley, the environmental reports and the permitting process have eaten up almost two-thirds of the money Solargen has raised. Among the bills: paying for scat-sniffing dogs to run up and down the hills, looking for traces of the endangered San Joaquin kit fox.But not all the valley's residents are against the plant. &quot;It's good for making work,&quot; says Mario Bencomo, 53, a ranch hand who says several unemployed friends are eager for jobs.And naturally, many landowners want to see the plant go up, including San Benito County residents who live outside the Valley but own land there. Some have sold options on their property for the project--for prices of up to $2,600 an acre, according to a person familiar with the situation. Among them are Reprise Software vice president of operations Sallie Calhoun and her husband, Reprise chief executive Matt Christiano.In addition to her Panoche Valley property, Calhoun also owns a ranch a few minutes' drive from the valley in the hamlet of Paicines. She uses sustainable grazing techniques there, chairs the board of a group that works to restore grasslands, and generally considers herself a steward of the environment.She sees no conflict between her position on the environment and her support of the solar project. &quot;I am passionate about preserving open space,&quot; she says, adding she believes the solar plant achieves that goal. &quot;The idea that we're going to protect every lizard, every drainage, seems counterproductive.&quot;Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Unwrapping a new laptop or desktop Check out these essential day-one tweaks and apps first]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=unwrapping-a-new-laptop-or-desktop-check-out-these-essential-day-one-tweaks-and-apps-first</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=unwrapping-a-new-laptop-or-desktop-check-out-these-essential-day-one-tweaks-and-apps-first</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=unwrapping-a-new-laptop-or-desktop-check-out-these-essential-day-one-tweaks-and-apps-first</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Toyota lays out green-car push with hybrids, EVs]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=toyota-lays-out-green-car-push-with-hybrids-evs</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=toyota-lays-out-green-car-push-with-hybrids-evs</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=toyota-lays-out-green-car-push-with-hybrids-evs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Toyota Motor unveiled big plans for staying in front in clean-car technology as rivals race to play catch-up, saying it would launch 11 new hybrids and a rechargeable Prius that may cost as little as $36,000. Having dominated the hybrid field for more than a decade with the iconic Prius and 13 other models so far, the world's top automaker has won a reputation as the most advancedcar maker in next-generation technology. But with governments tightening environmental and fuel economy standards, competitors are turning up the heat with new technologies including battery electric cars and &quot;range extenders&quot; such as General Motors's Volt, which generates electricity on-board with a gasoline engine.Toyota said one of its 11 new hybrid cars to be rolled out by the end of 2012 would be a compact with fuel efficiency exceeding 40 km/liter (94 mpg) measured under Japanese test cycles--the highest for a gasoline-electric model. Investors showed little immediate reaction to Toyota's announcement, limiting its shares' gains to 1.4 percent in Tokyo compared with a 2.2 percent rise in Tokyo's main index. &quot;The news is neither positive nor negative in my opinion,&quot; said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a manager at SMBC Friend Securities. &quot;Toyota had a lead with the Prius, but the Chevrolet Volt will likely grab attention at GM's listing later today. Like Nissan's Leaf, attention is also shifting toward electric vehicles, and in the eyes of stock investors, hybrids might seem rather inferior.&quot;Electric buzzBuilding on its hybrid technology, Toyota said it would begin selling a Prius-based plug-in hybrid by early 2012 mainly in Japan, the United States and Europe, targeting sales of more than 50,000 units a year. The car, which unlike a conventional hybrid can be plugged in to enable longer-distance driving using only electricity, is expected to cost as little as 3 million yen ($36,000) in Japan, Toyota said. GM has priced its Volt at $41,000, while Nissan Motor Co's all-electric Leaf will start at 3.76 million yen before subsidies.The electric-car all-stars come out (photos)  Smaller car makers meanwhile, have poured much of their efforts into improving internal combustion engines, with Mazda Motor Corp planning to launch a subcompact gasoline model next year that gets fuel economy of 30 km/liter--equivalent to Honda Motor Co's Fit hybrid car in the same segment. With $23 billion of cash on hand, Toyota is among the few car manufacturers able to spend on research and development across the range of technologies. &quot;Energy-related policies are difficult to predict and vary depending on governments,&quot; Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada told the news conference. &quot;To prepare for all the possibilities, Toyota will take a holistic approach, with hybrid technology at the core of our strategy,&quot; he said. In the field of battery electric vehicles, which Nissan and its French partner, Renault SA, are aiming to lead, Toyota confirmed it would begin selling a model based on the tiny iQ in the United States, Japan and Europe in 2012, initially targeting urban commuters. It expects annual sales to start off at a few thousand units. Toyota is also considering launching electric cars in China, the world's biggest car market, with road trials planned in 2011. Further out, Toyota said it would begin selling fuel-cell vehicles, which are also all-electric but run on hydrogen fuel, in the same three markets from around 2015. Their high cost are a hurdle, but Toyota said it expected to be able to offer the sedan for under 10 million yen--about one-tenth of what the zero-emission vehicle cost at the beginning of the decade. Toyota is also working on developing next-generation batteries in-house, an ambition that had been held by the group's late founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Having established a separate battery division in January with about 100 researchers, Toyota said it had made some progress toward creating a full solid-state battery in a compact package, as well as determining the reaction mechanism of lithium-air batteries. Application of such batteries, however, is still decades away, executives said.Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The 404 703: Where we're Sheetzucacapoopoo about the Audiophiliac (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-703-where-were-sheetzucacapoopoo-about-the-audiophiliac-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-703-where-were-sheetzucacapoopoo-about-the-audiophiliac-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:11:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-703-where-were-sheetzucacapoopoo-about-the-audiophiliac-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Infor names Charles Phillips CEO]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=infor-names-charles-phillips-ceo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=infor-names-charles-phillips-ceo</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:24:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=infor-names-charles-phillips-ceo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Charles Phillips(Credit:ZDNet)Charles Phillips, who recently left Oracle as co-president to make way for Mark Hurd, will become chief executive of Infor, which makes enterprise planning software for mid-sized companies. In a statement, Infor said Phillips will be CEO and a member of the board. Current CEO Jim Schaper will remain chairman. At Oracle, Phillips was on board as the company acquired a bevy of companies ranging from BEA Systems to Siebel Systems.Read more of &quot;Infor names Charles Phillips CEO&quot; at ZDNet's Between the Lines.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kineto Wireless gets $3M to improve mobile phone coverage]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kineto-wireless-gets-3m-to-improve-mobile-phone-coverage</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kineto-wireless-gets-3m-to-improve-mobile-phone-coverage</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kineto-wireless-gets-3m-to-improve-mobile-phone-coverage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Kineto Wireless, developer of software that leverages Wi-Fi technology for mobile phones, has raised $3 million in equity and debt funding, according to a filing with the SEC.Based in Milpitas, Calif., Kineto allows mobile phones to work on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Last month, T-Mobile announced plans to preload its Android phones with Kineto&amp;'s app for Wi-Fi calling.The company last raised $9 million in funding in March. Investors include Venrock Associates, Sutter Hill Ventures, Oak Investment Partners and Motorola Ventures.Previous Story: Zetta brings in $11.5M for enterprise cloud storagePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Kineto Wireless, Motorola Ventures, Oak INvestment Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock Associates          Companies: Kineto Wireless, Motorola Ventures, Oak INvestment Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock AssociatesVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What October&'s drop in video-game sales means]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-octoberrsquos-drop-in-video-game-sales-means</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-octoberrsquos-drop-in-video-game-sales-means</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-octoberrsquos-drop-in-video-game-sales-means</guid>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. video-game store sales fell 4 percent in October, largely because of a weak sales month for new hardware.Is that good or bad Store sales are getting harder to interpret as the industry moves away from shipping games in boxes &amp;8212' but they still represent seven out of 10 dollars spent on games in the U.S., even with the runaway growth of digital downloads and virtual-goods sales in social and multiplayer games.In stores, game sales were up in the month, while hardware sales were down. And a lot of gamers were probably saving their dollars to buy high-profile products in November such as Microsoft&amp;'s Kinect motion-sensing system and Activision Blizzard&amp;'s big title, Call of Duty Black Ops.Total U.S. game industry sales &amp;8212' including PC, handheld and console games &amp;8212' were $1.07 billion, down 4 percent from $1.11 billion a year ago, according to market researcher NPD Group. Video game hardware sales were $280 million, down 26 percent from $381 million. Software sales (console and handheld only) were $605 million, up 6 percent from $573 million a year a go. Accessories, driven by sales of the Sony PlayStation Move motion-sensing system, were $142 million, up 18 percent from $120 million a year ago.Unit sales for software and accessories were essentially flat compared to last October, but, as mentioned, that doesn&amp;'t take into account additional sources of revenue such as digital downloads, used game sales, rentals, social network games, and mobile apps. Those could account for as much as 30 percent of the total spent on games, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier.The best-selling hardware system for the month was the Nintendo DS, and the Xbox 360 was the only game system to see a unit sales improvement compared to a year earlier. But as of last month, NPD stopped providing hardware unit sales numbers in its press releases.Microsoft disclosed that its Xbox 360 unit sales were 325,000, up 30 percent from a year ago. Frazier said she anticipates the Nintendo Wii and the DS will benefit from holiday gift-giving.There were plenty of new game launches during October, which was a crowded month because no one wanted to compete with the Nov. 9 launch of Call of Duty Black Ops, which is the blockbuster of the season. The heavy launch schedule helped push software sales above a year ago. Still, year-to-date, the video game industry&amp;'s sales are down 8 percent versus a year ago.The No. 1 game of the month was NBA2K11, the basketball game from Take-Two Interactive that had the luxury of being the only major basketball game on the market because Electronic Arts canceled its title. In order, the next top-selling games were: Fallout New Vegas from Bethesda Softworks, Medal of Honor from Electronic Arts, Fable III from Microsoft, and Star Wars The Force Unleashed II from LucasArts. Halo Reach, launched in September, was the No. 6 title.Next Story: Facebook fixes bug disabling female user accounts Previous Story: Former MySpace execs launch Gravity to personalize the WebPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Fallout New Vegas, Medal of Honor, NBA 2K11Companies: bethesda softworks, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, nintendo, NPD, Sony, Take Two InteractivePeople: Anita Frazier          Tags: Fallout New Vegas, Medal of Honor, NBA 2K11Companies: bethesda softworks, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, nintendo, NPD, Sony, Take Two InteractivePeople: Anita FrazierDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[So you think you&'re a journalist Sell your stories on eByline]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=so-you-think-yoursquore-a-journalist-sell-your-stories-on-ebyline</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=so-you-think-yoursquore-a-journalist-sell-your-stories-on-ebyline</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=so-you-think-yoursquore-a-journalist-sell-your-stories-on-ebyline</guid>
<description><![CDATA[eByline, an online service that brings together freelance journalists and publishers looking for stories, announced today it has raised $1.5 million in its first round of funding from The E.W. Scripps Company.The site, eByline.com, serves as a marketplace for freelance journalists and reporters to showcase their work and offer it up for syndication. Reporters can set whatever price they want for their work. Publishers can then pick and choose from individual stories and pay the reporter directly without having to set up any kind of subscription. eByline then takes an 8 percent cut of the transaction.Not everyone can jump on the service as a freelance journalist, though. eByline requires that potential freelancers have samples of paid freelance reporting work from within the year prior to joining the service a4&quot; commentary writing, which is what many leisure bloggers do, doesn&amp;'t count. Freelancers have to provide clips as well as have some educational background, although the site doesn&amp;'t specify what level of education is required. Reporters also need referrals from an editor or news organization and must be U.S. citizens (&amp;''due to tax reporting and payment processing&amp;''), although it looks like the service might be working to expand beyond that last restriction in the future.Publishers can also sign up to distribute their content and can set their stories to be distributed under embargo if they choose. On this front, eByline is taking a crack at the major wire services, which provide a lot of content to daily newspapers and other news publications across the world. The major services a4&quot; like Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones a4&quot; all provide content as part of a subscription. eByline hopes to buck that trend by providing content  la carte.The Los Angeles, Calif.-based company was founded in 2009, but the service officially launched last month. Its partnered content publishers include ProPublica, business entertainment news magazine Variety, and some independent news publications like The Texas Observer. It has four employees.Next Story: iPhone users pay the least for monthly wireless service Previous Story: The iPhone app is the Flash homepage of 2010PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: freelance, journalism, news publications, wireCompanies: Bloomberg, Dow jones, eByline, Thomson Reuters          Tags: freelance, journalism, news publications, wireCompanies: Bloomberg, Dow jones, eByline, Thomson ReutersVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Our Favorite Singer/Songwriter Launches A Mad Libs-esque iPhone Song&nbsp'App]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=our-favorite-singersongwriter-launches-a-mad-libs-esque-iphone-songnbspapp</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=our-favorite-singersongwriter-launches-a-mad-libs-esque-iphone-songnbspapp</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=our-favorite-singersongwriter-launches-a-mad-libs-esque-iphone-songnbspapp</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Just in case you&amp;'re unaware of our affection for singer/songwriter Jonathan Mann, see here, here, here, here, or here. But the relationship didn&amp;'t start out so friendly. Initially, we ripped him for the Bing jingle song he wrote to win a competition. And Mann responded by writing a song about me. But it&amp;'s all good. We&amp;'re BFF now. And Mann keeps cranking out the hits. Now he&amp;'s trying to see if his song-a-day success can transfer to an iPhone app.Songatron is an app that Mann and developer Iliya Yordanov&amp;nbsp'dreamed up so that anyone could have fun with the songs Mann writes on a daily basis. Essentially, it&amp;'s a lot like Mab Libs, but for music. You load up the app, say a word, and pick a song you want to apply it to. The song then plays (complete with Mann singing and playing the music) with your word inserted in key points.Sure, it sounds a bit simple. Maybe even dumb. But it&amp;'s actually pretty funny. And as Mann notes, it&amp;'s great if you want to let someone know that you admire them a4&quot; or if you want to mock them. I mean, just listen to this and this and especially this. Yep, awesome.Once you pick the version of the song you like you can easily share it via email, Twitter, Facebook for all to enjoy.And while the app costs $1.99, Mann has included 10 different songs, and promises to add 5 new songs a month from his collection (many for free, but some via in-app purchase). Plus, as a Thanksgiving Special, the app is 50 percent off, so it&amp;'s only $0.99 now. Good fun for the holiday times.Meanwhile, the regular music career keeps progressing for Mann. Besides the Bing jingle, he got quite a bit of publicity when Apple played his iPhone 4 Antenna song before their &amp;''Antennagate&amp;'' press conference over the Summer. Likely as a result, Mann will now be speaking and performing at MacWorld 2011 in January. He&amp;'s promised me that &amp;''I&amp;'m MG Siegler&amp;'' will be played on stage. And he sent me along a clip of him and his band performing the song live recently. They&amp;'ve converted it into more of a punk rock song. It&amp;'s actually pretty awesome.Watch Mann describe his new app below. The app works on the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. Find it here. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple to announce Verizon iPhone within next few weeks]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-announce-verizon-iphone-within-next-few-weeks</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-announce-verizon-iphone-within-next-few-weeks</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-announce-verizon-iphone-within-next-few-weeks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple may be gearing up to announce its long-rumored iPhone for Verizon&amp;'s network within the next few weeks, &amp;''maybe by Valentine&amp;'s Day&amp;'', reports BusinessWeek.Even if the announcement doesn&amp;'t happen, the mere rumor of its possibility will cast a shadow over next week&amp;'s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where many cellphone carriers and manufacturers are set to show off their new drool-worthy wares.Additionally, this year&amp;'s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, another major spot for unveiling new mobile gadgets, will be happening from February 14 to 17. If Apple announces the Verizon iPhone within the next few weeks, it will no doubt dominate the news at MWC.As TechCrunch&amp;'s MG Siegler points out, Apple also has another showstopper up its sleeve &amp;8212' the announcement of the iPad 2. Tablets will certainly be one of the hottest topics at both CES and MWC, but the prospect of Apple revising its successful iPad will surely take some wind out of the sails of tablet announcements from competing companies.It&amp;'s certainly a possibility that Apple will announce both products at one event, especially since a Verizon-compatible CDMA iPad 2 would likely join the Verizon iPhone. But Apple could also hold off on announcing the iPad 2, especially since the original iPad wasn&amp;'t actually released until April of this year, even though it was announced in January.Previous Story: Appconomy raises $1.5M to build enterprise mobile appsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: CDMA, iPad, iPhone, smartphones, tabletsCompanies: Apple, Verizon          Tags: CDMA, iPad, iPhone, smartphones, tabletsCompanies: Apple, VerizonDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Low costs and green creds at budget modular hotel - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=low-costs-and-green-creds-at-budget-modular-hotel---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=low-costs-and-green-creds-at-budget-modular-hotel---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Travel</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=low-costs-and-green-creds-at-budget-modular-hotel---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We''ve seen plenty of a4Ano-frills chica4 hotels emerge over the years, including Dutch Qbic and citizenM, which both take a modular approach to building hotels. Borrowing a page from each of those concepts, Spanish Lookotels is gearing up to build an energy-efficient budget hotel with 100 modular rooms in less than six months.For its a4Alowxuriousa4 hotel, Lookotel envisions a structure in which every room is a separate, prefabricated module. Rooms will range in size from just 9.7 square metres up to 12.10 square metres, each one of them self-sufficient structurally, architecturally and functionally with a sofa bed, TV, desk, chair, telephone, individual air conditioning, bathroom, automated controls and wifi. Self-service check-in and -out will be enabled by automatic dispensers and control-card access, while a built-in safety system and 24-hour telephone customer service will keep guests comfortable. Building costs will be minimized through reduced construction time and raw material costs, the hotel says, while operational costs will take advantage of reduced staff costs, an energy-efficient and low-maintenance design, and supply-chain solutions including services outsourcing. Staff wage costs, for instance, will be 70 percent lower than those in equivalent Spanish hotels, according to City-of-Hotels.com, while energy expenses will be 40 percent lower.With initial financing of EUR 60 million, Lookhotel hopes to build 10 such hotels in Spain before expanding around the world, the site reported, noting that early interest has been shown by several budget airlines. Meanwhile, the hotel seeks franchisees for its concept' one to get in on early...Website: www.lookotels.comContact: info@lookotels.com<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[For The First Time, EPA Fuel Economy Guide Rates SUVs And&nbsp'Vans]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-the-first-time-epa-fuel-economy-guide-rates-suvs-andnbspvans</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-the-first-time-epa-fuel-economy-guide-rates-suvs-andnbspvans</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Khushi</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-the-first-time-epa-fuel-economy-guide-rates-suvs-andnbspvans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) today released the official 2011 Fuel Economy Guide, providing information about estimated mileage and fuel costs for model year 2011 vehicles sold in the U.S. For the first time, the annual Fuel Economy Guide includes medium-duty passenger vehicles, generally large sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and passenger vans. These were not previously subject to fuel economy measurement and labeling requirements. Listings in the 2011 Fuel Economy Guide provide an estimated annual fuel cost based on a vehiclea4a4s MPG rating and national estimates for annual mileage and gas prices. The online version lets users input local gas prices and information about their normal driving habits to get a personalized fuel cost estimate.The EPA and DOE will provide additional automobile fuel economy information online as more 2011 models, including electric carsa4&quot; like the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leafa4&quot; and plug-in electric hybrids become available. The guide arrives as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and nine others, has accused the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of setting unattainable goals for vehicles&amp;' fuel efficiency by the year 2025. The Detroit News reports: &amp;''The NHTSA and EPA said they could propose anywhere from 47 mpg to 62 miles per gallon (MPG) by 2025, achieved by a range of 3 to 6 percent increases annually.The agencies said the added costs per vehicle would range from $770 to $3,500 by 2025. The move could add $12 billion to $50 billion annually to the price of new cars.But the automakers said the actual price could be 2 1/2 times higher, based on a National Research Council report. They said under some scenarios, consumers wouldn&amp;'t recoup the higher vehicle costs through fuel savings.&amp;''In late October, the EPA and U.S. Department of Transportation released the first national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from and improve fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles including combination tractors, heavy-duty pickups and vans, and vocational vehicles (such as delivery trucks, dump trucks and buses).Environmentalists and auto industry officials told Politico.com that they expect &amp;''conflict with the administration as government control of GM and Chrysler diminishes, especially when Republicans take over the House next year.&amp;''On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced plans to reduce the government&amp;'s 61% stake in General Motors to 35% in the next few years, starting with a $10 billion stock offering Nov. 18th. The offering marks the probable end of an era when the U.S. government and auto industry collaborated extensively to save more than an estimated 1 million domestic auto-industry jobs.With respect to the EPA, the President said in a post-election news conference on Wednesday: &amp;''The EPA is under a court order that says [greenhouse gases] are a pollutant that fall under their jurisdiction&amp;8230'We need to not ignore the science [but] find ways to solve [environmental] problems in ways that don&amp;'t hurt the economy, that encourage the development of clean energy in this country, and give us the opportunity to create jobs [while] putting us in a competitive posture around the world.&amp;''Image via: Chego101 CrunchBase InformationGeneral MotorsInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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