Muscle car wars: It's all about the horsepower

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau ? ? ? 2 hrs.

?Where?s the Z/28?? asked 16-year-old Michael Kimberly as he wandered through the Jacob Javits convention center in New York on Saturday morning, tagging along on a tour his parents had signed up for at the New York International Auto Show.

The two older Kimberlys were there to check out all the ?green cars,? including the new Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid and Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid models making their debuts at the annual show. But younger Michael, about to get his driver?s license, had something decidedly different in mind ? the super-high-performance version of the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro that was the biggest surprise introduction at the 2013 NYIAS.

The 550-horsepower ?pony car? has been drawing deep crowds to the Javits Center?s somewhat isolated North Hall since the show opened its doors to the public last week. But it?s not alone.

The Detroit Bureau: Shelby Bulks Up Ford's Raptor Pick-up with 575 hp

Even before they get through the turnstiles, showgoers can check out a 1,200-horsepower version of the Ford Mustang specially tuned by Las Vegas-based Shelby American, the company started by the late Carroll Shelby who also lent his name to the only somewhat less ferocious Shelby GT500 Mustang.

Curiously, Ford?s stand is relatively low-key at this year?s New York show, though a look at the Mustang display hints at big news to come. Ford is counting down to April 2014 which will mark the 50th anniversary of the original American pony car ? with many expecting to see the official unveiling of the next-generation Mustang at next year?s show.

Rumors are rampant, and most well-placed observers anticipate big news, starting with Mustang?s first-ever independent rear suspension. That should move it into contention with a number of global performance cars ? but also help it catch up with Chevrolet, which adopted an IRS design when it re-launched the Camaro four years back after a near decade-long absence.

The Detroit Bureau: Lawsuit Claims Design Defect Can Lead Ford Cars to Surge out of Control

The two muscle cars have long been arch-rivals, and Chevy briefly gave up on the game before bringing the Camaro back into the market in 2010. It was an unexpectedly successful move, the coupe now solidly outselling Mustang.

But the segment is prone to radical shifts and that requires a steady roll-out of minor updates and more radical variants like the 2014 Camaro Z/28. The 550-horsepower bruiser brings back a name not seen on the American market since 2002.

While Ford and Chevrolet battle for leadership in the pony car segment, they aren?t alone. Chrysler?s Dodge division has continued amping up the performance of its own pony car, the Challenger coupe, as well as the 4-door Dodge Charger.

The Detroit Bureau: VW Golf Named World Car of the Year

Indeed, notes analyst Joe Phillippi, while the media may put plenty of emphasis on all the new green machines coming to market, ?horsepower is still big with consumers.? Indeed, some of the biggest announcements on the auto show circuit this year, from Detroit to Geneva, have focused on performance.

At the extremes, Ferrari introduced its new flagship, the LaFerrari, McLaren launching its P1 ? both capable to speeds well in excess of 200 mph. Chrysler?s new SRT Viper TA ? short for Time Attack ? isn?t much slower.

Mercedes-Benz, which is racing to adapt to shifting global trends to smaller luxury models, is not backing away from its commitment to performance, its AMG brand-within-a-brand bringing the new CLA 45 AMG to New York. A fair bit smaller than the current Mercedes C-Class, it will blast out a hefty 355 horsepower through all four wheels.

Indeed, horsepower is getting as much focus as fuel economy at the NY Auto Show. Audi is launching an assortment of beefed-up models bearing its mid-range ?S? and track-ready ?RS? badges, updating everything from its small A4 to the flagship A8 line.

The Detroit Bureau: Chevy Delivers NY Auto Shows Big Surprise with Debut of Camaro Z/28

Porsche?s stand is a testament to muscle, no surprise considering it is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic 911 with the launch of the Porsche 911 GT3. It punches out 475 horsepower and is capable of launching from 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds ? on the way to a 195 mph limit.

Even Volvo, a brand normally associated with safety, is muscling up with the introduction of three new R-Design performance models. That includes the all-new V60 R-Design, its first true station wagon entry in several years. Not to get too far from its roots, the 329-hp V60 R-Design also features a new camera-based system that can spot pedestrians and bicyclists and pedestrians and bring the car to a rapid halt if a collision seems imminent.

Then there?s Subaru, which revealed a ?concept? version of the next WRX, its ?hot hatch.? As with the majority of recent show cars, it?s expected to go into production with only minor changes next year.

It?s not just passenger cars getting the performance treatment. Shelby American also revealed a special version of the big Ford F-150 Raptor pickup, bumping its power from 411 to 575 hp.

The good news for those who disdain an assault on the environment is that despite adding power, most makers are also improving mileage. The latest version of the Porsche 911, for example, added about 15% more horsepower even as it delivered a roughly equal dip in fuel consumption.

Credit an emphasis on improved aerodynamics and what the industry likes to call ?lightweighting,? as well as powertrain breakthroughs such as 8- and 9-speed gearboxes, direct injection and turbocharging. Even electrification. The McLaren P1 and the new LaFerrari both rely on hybrid systems developed first for the Formula 1 racing series. This approach deliver better mileage under everyday driving but also throttles out several 100 more horsepower when called for.

So, while most industry surveys might suggest that mileage is the top concern for the average driver, industry planners know that muscle still matters. Pony cars and performance machines aren?t going away. The good news is that they?re both faster and more powerful than ever while still meeting tougher emissions and mileage mandates.

Related at NBC News:

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Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

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TechCrunch's Freezing European Team Departs To Launch Unerdwear ? 3D Softwear Startup

If there's one thing tech nerds need more than anything else it's style - these days, warmth. Which is why TechCrunch's European team (Ingrid, Mike, Natasha and Steve) are excited to announce the launch of our very own range of softwear: Unerdwear. Knowing that Europe's weather is starting to resemble a feature-length episode of Game Of Thromes (Winter is coming? it's still here? when will it end??? etc...), we hope you'll join us in this endeavour by signing up pre-launch. We've obviously handed in our notice to Eric and Alexia and will all be shortly leaving TechCrunch to go full time into the hot (we hope) world of 3D Undergarment Printing.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/0tLf5jfarR0/

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Dell CEO memo talks of a 'significant' boost to PCs and tablets in restructuring

When Michael Dell signaled intentions to take his company private for an overhaul, there were questions as to just what he wanted to do if and when shareholders weren't watching his every move: was he going to shift attention away from PCs toward the enterprise? There's no reason to worry, according to a staff memo that his company has published through the SEC. Dell tells his employees that the firm will "significantly increase investment" in PCs and tablets after going private. While he's cryptic about what that means, he does note that there would be a shift away from valuing gross margins -- in other words, the company may take a hit on profits to make its device sales sing. Other strategies are more what you'd expect from any good business: more research and development, a simpler experience and a stronger push into developing markets like Brazil and China. We can't say we're completely surprised when Microsoft made an investment in Dell's reorg precisely to safeguard PCs, but it's good to know that Dell's interest in PCs still extends well beyond the server room.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Dell

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Source: SEC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/02/dell-ceo-memo-talks-of-a-significant-boost-to-pc-and-tablets/

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Holy Crap, A Woman Almost Got Run Over By a Train Because She Was Trying to Pick Up Her Phone from the Tracks

Holy freaking smokes, almost getting hit by a train doesn't get closer than this. A young woman in Sao Paulo, Brazil had apparently dropped her phone onto the metro tracks and foolishly jumped down to retrieve it. Couple of problems with this situation: she couldn't get back on the platform, the train was coming into the station fast AND SHE PROBABLY WOULD"VE DIED. Miraculously, two guys managed to pull her out right before she would've gotten hit. It's terrifyingly close. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DntxTfcAIEY/a-woman-nearly-got-run-over-by-a-train-because-she-was-trying-to-pick-up-her-phone-from-the-tracks

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Shain Gandee Fans Mourn 'Buckwild' Star Like Family

Gandee Candy fans react on MTV and Twitter and share their shock.
By Emilee Lindner

Shain Gandee on "Buckwild"
Photo: MTV

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704715/shain-gandee-dead-fan-reactions.jhtml

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Ships must kill off the beasties in the ballast water

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Dangerous biological stowaways could easily be banished from ships' ballast. It's a disgrace that rich nations won't play ball, says Fred Pearce

THEY called it the blob that ate the Black Sea. Thirty years ago, a ship from North America sailed up the Bosphorus and dumped ballast water containing comb jellyfish from back home. The invader ? Mnemiopsis leidyi ? went crazy, gobbling up plankton and triggering a catastrophic decline in marine life, including commercial fisheries. At one point its biomass reached a billion tonnes, 10 times the world's annual fish landings.

Around a decade later an unknown ship, probably from the Bay of Bengal, discharged ballast water into the coastal waters of Peru, releasing a strain of cholera that contaminated shellfish. People ate the shellfish and the disease spread, killing 12,000 across Latin America.

Right now, the same thing, or something worse, could be happening almost anywhere. A United Nations treaty agreed in 2004 requiring ships to install kit to kill off biological stowaways in their ballast water has still not been ratified by enough nations to come into force. Its day may come when the environmental protection committee of the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) meets in London in May. We can hope so, but that has been said many times before.

This delay is a disgrace. Environmental problems often remain unfixed because the solutions are too hard or too expensive or the problem itself is contested. But this one continues to grow because of the indolence of governments, the prevarication of shipping companies and the inattention of environmental groups who, had they waged a serious campaign, would surely have prevailed by now. Why aren't Greenpeace and its ilk shutting down ports till they enforce ballast water clean-up?

Most cargo ships and tankers need ballast to avoid capsizing, especially when they are empty. The most convenient source is the sea. Ships take water on board after offloading cargo and discharge the ballast when they take on a new load ? often in a port thousands of kilometres away.

We are talking about a lot of water. A large ship can carry 60,000 tonnes of ballast. The 70,000 or so vessels that would be covered by the treaty transport more than 7 billion tonnes of ballast water round the world each year, says David Smith, head of technical services at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK. At any one time the world's ballast water contains an estimated 7000 different species in the form of seeds, spores, plankton, bacteria and the eggs and larvae of larger creatures.

Ecologists say that alien species are the second biggest threat to the planet's biodiversity after habitat destruction. Marine species are among the most enthusiastic invaders, and the global transport of ballast water is the single biggest cause of their spread. That's how the European zebra mussel got into North America's Great Lakes, where billions of dollars were spent to keep it from blocking irrigation channels and water pipes. That is how the dinoflagellates that cause toxic "red tides" spread round the globe, how Chinese mitten crabs reached Europe, how Asian kelp made it to southern Australia, and how Mediterranean mussels came to carpet the coast of South Africa.

The Mediterranean, the world's busiest sea, has 900 alien species in its waters, mostly discharged from ballast tanks. A new one arrives every nine days, according to the UN Environment Programme. Not all alien species cause trouble. Most are harmless. But the risk of a new zebra mussel or comb jellyfish or disease infestation is ever present. So why the delay in addressing the threat?

To come into force, the Ballast Water Convention requires 30 nations to ratify the treaty, which they have ? but those nations must hold the registrations for 35 per cent of the world's merchant shipping tonnage. So far the ratifiers only rack up a smidgen over 29 per cent.

The prime villains are the small nations that offer "flags of convenience" to foreign shipping lines so they can benefit from low taxes and lax regulations. Of the major flag of convenience nations, only Liberia, the Marshall Islands and Antigua and Barbuda ? which together hold about 17 per cent of the world's shipping tonnage ? have ratified. Panama, the Bahamas, Malta and Cyprus, which collectively account for 30 per cent, have not.

But perhaps the real scandal is that many industrialised nations, which enjoy lecturing small nations about their environmental inadequacies, have also chickened out. If the US, UK, Germany, Italy and Japan got off their high horses and ratified the convention, their collective tonnage would instantly trigger the treaty into force. They should.

The technology is available. The IMO has certified more than 20 commercial treatment systems involving various combinations of filtration, irradiation, ozone, heat, electrolysis and biocides.

Admittedly, retrofitting the fleet will be costly ? up to $500,000 dollars per ship for the biggest vessels ? and take time. But a study by the environment group WWF suggests that the economic cost of dealing with existing invasive species from ballast water is more than three times the cost of preventing more. And the polluter should pay.

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With China's Hottest Social Network in Danger, Netizens Cry: Hands ...

(Copyright Tea Leaf Media)

Could the growth of Weixin, China?s hottest new social network, be in danger?

Weixin, developed by Chinese Web giant Tencent and marketed globally as WeChat, is a free mobile communications app?with about 300 million total users. It allows users to reach out to old friends?and find new ones?via voice message, photo sharing, video chat, and walkie-talkie. Weixin was introduced in 2010 and has grown rapidly domestically and internationally ever since.

But the government may have other plans. On March 31, State-run China Central Television (CCTV) posted the following via its account on Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging platform:

Head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Miao Wei has stated that the MIIT is currently considering whether to require [Tencent], the operator of Weixin, to implement a fee on [the service]. They have already asked operator [Tencent] to submit a [plan] to the Ministry. [Mr. Wei] also stated that fees in addition to data fees paid to telecom operators are entirely reasonable, but the supervising bureaus can [view the matter] from the users? perspective, [so although] fees on Weixin are possible, they will not be onerous.

The comment follows a March 28 statement by another powerful Chinese official that Weixin ?should charge a fee.? Tencent has so far held fast its position that it would keep Weixin free.

The move is widely seen by users as a way to placate China?s powerful telecom operators ??China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile ? who are trying to defend their turf since their core business of voice communication and SMS are threatened by Weixin.?All three are state-owned enterprises, also called SOEs.?Weixin?s rapid growth may have cannibalized SMS [text message] fees for China?s mobile providers; in 2012, Caijing magazine reported that ?the number of SMS messages sent by China Mobile users witnessed record low growth in 2012.? With its powerful voice communication features, Weixin may also have taken a bite out of the operators? voice fees.

The latest statement from the MIIT has gone viral on Sina Weibo, with over 18,000 users sharing the post and over 6,000 weighing in to comment. User @dhljl echoed a widely held sentiment that ?the day Weixin charges a fee is the day it is destroyed.? Weibo commenters apparently comprised many Weixin users as well, as they rushed to defend the service with argument, epithet, or humor.

?If Tencent does not want to charge a fee, what law can the government or telecom operators rely on to force Tencent to charge a fee? This is totally unprecedented in history,? tweeted businessman Wang Weijia (@???).?Outraged users also point out that the potential fee would be a double-whammy, since users already pay telecom operators for data downloaded over their networks, including for content sent on the Weixin app. @ImKayWu?tweeted, ?The telecom operators cannot compete with Weixin so they try this underhanded move. Shameless. If we enjoy something nice for free it seems to get in their way.?

If the contemplated fee were to become reality, it would mark government?s departure from a relatively laissez-faire approach toward Chinese Internet companies and hark back to the bad old days of planned economy. While the Chinese government engages in active Internet censorship, it has nonetheless given Chinese companies a rather free hand to make business decisions, including whether to charge fees.

One reason for the heretofore hands-off approach is authorities? stated desire to encourage ?indigenous innovation,? a policy announced in 2006 intended to reduce reliance on foreign technology (and line the pockets of Chinese business). In some ways, the so-called Great Firewall of Censorship, which renders Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus unreachable via standard Mainland connections, is part of this policy.

And it has worked. China has produced some of the world?s largest Internet companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, Sina and a slew of others, making China one of the world?s largest e-commerce markets and contributing billions of dollars to the economy.

With a fee on Weixin, Chinese authorities would undermine that objective and it could kill the golden goose. Weixin has risen to become a potential rival to all comers worldwide, including WhatsApp and LINE, or even Skype and Facebook. As @??__ wrote, ?At the start, users chose Weixin because it was free. Now, Weixin [has become] an open sharing platform, and not just because of voice and text communication?Weixin?s competitors have come to include Weibo, Facebook, and [other] social networks.?

Weixin?s appeal is indeed vast, particularly within China. It has become known as a way for young Chinese to find romantic hook-ups using its location based services. With its photo-sharing, walkie-talkie, and group-chat functions, it has also become a valuable tool for dispersed families to keep in touch.

The smart money says that Chinese authorities, and the SOEs with whom they remain closely tied, will not follow through with their threat. At best, it would represent a short-term revenue boost to telecom providers, but at the expense of one of China?s most promising and innovative new products. Even that much cannot be guaranteed. The fee may simply drive erstwhile Weixin users into the arms of the inevitable next-generation Weixin copy-cats, who would gladly continue to siphon revenue from the Big Three.

At worst, the move would enrage users and simply shift wealth from everyday Chinese users and an innovative private company to three SOEs. The appearance of an unholy alliance between government and SOEs prompted one Reuters columnist to call the latter a ?vampire squid? late last year, and that perception has only intensified with recent negative state media coverage of Apple, Inc. that appears protectionist in nature.

Without knowing Chinese authorities? true intent, it?s at least likely that they have used recent statements as trial balloons, gauging reaction on Weibo and other social media platforms in order to determine the extent of possible blowback. It would not be the first time that the Chinese Internet, with its relatively free-wheeling commentary, were used as a window into public sentiment by officials who lack more democratic means of pulse-taking.

If China?s government is listening, the message that grassroots users are sending is clear. As @???????? wrote, ?Nation, what do we common folks look like in your eyes? Tools to make money? What are you doing to make peoples? lives better?? In other words: keep your hands off our Weixin.

Source: http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/03/with-chinas-hottest-social-network-in-danger-netizens-cry-hands-off/

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