| Big wheels keep up to the marque by buying flash
AS ECONOMIC barometers go, there could hardly be any more dashing a $580,000 status symbol on wheels and at least 80 Australians have already placed their order for Ferrari's slick new model, the F430 Scuderia. The latest street incarnation of the world's most famous motor racing emblem is an eight-cylinder, 503-horsepower, high-performance vehicle its Italian makers would seem wholly justified in touting as a "unique supercar perfect for passionate and sporty customers". Then there's the Porsche 911 turbo, retailing at $370,000. More than 100 Australians put themselves behind the wheel of one last year, and others are queuing to take delivery of the next generation GT2 priced at $425,000. Property developer Zac Brankovic, 38, who has been driving Porsches for about five years, shelled out $260,000 for his Porsche Carrera S convertible.
Your Hometown News - Waveland
What would seem to be good news is bitter-sweet for one Waveland family. They were awarded one of the Mississippi Cottages, but they say the one bedroom unit is just too small for a family of four. Now they are pleading with MEMA officials to rethink their formula when it comes to handing out cottages.
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Bringing eastern promise to the track
Ferrari did the same. Renault moved out of its Paris factory to stage its launch in its Paris communications centre. So far, so downbeat. But then last week, half a world away, Formula One's traditional blend of the grand and the gaudy came back with a bang. In Mumbai, the sport's latest adventurers, the new Force India team, brought a bit of Bollywood to Bernie-land with a lavish, star-studded launch. Hundreds of thousands were spent, rivers of champagne flowed and hyperbole was over-inflated to Zeppelin-like proportions. "After the excellent testing times we have had, I feel confident that my goal of a podium finish at the Indian Grand Prix of 2010 is realistic," announced the team's flamboyant owner, Dr Vijay Mallya, a bejewelled character so bling he makes Flavio Briatore look dowdy by comparison.
Two murders and two life sentences won't alter one convict's ...
Let's do it this way. I will tell you this story a few times from different people's points of view, and you can make up your own mind. This is about a guy who wound up spending 11 days in jail on what started out as a jaywalking charge in downtown Dallas. .
Groups unite to undo Comcast transfer restrictions
A number of consumer groups and legal scholars have united to petition the FCC over Comcast's bandwidth policies, the Associated Press reports. The news organization recently uncovered that Comcast has been sabotaging BitTorrent traffic, slowing it down or preventing it from functioning at all. Consumers Union, Media Access Project, the Consumer Federation of America and professors from Yale, Harvard and Stanford's law schools have come forward, asking the FCC to label Comcast in violation of government policy; two more groups, Free Press and Public Knowledge, are asking for a $195,000 fine per affected subscriber. An executive VP with Comcast, David Cohen, has responded by saying that FCC policies acknowledge a need to control network traffic. The company has in the past admitted to "delaying" BitTorrent traffic, but insists it is unavoidable, since even a small number of file sharers can slow an entire network.
Greed will drive Premier League to more than 39th Step
If you work at a company of substantial size, chances are that there will be an employee whose job it is to cut the budget. He will probably be incentive-rewarded, too, perhaps with a small percentage of the money he has saved. His job will be dressed up as having something to do with efficiency or better use of resources; in the old days he would be called a time-and-motion man. The bottom line is that if the budget — and I’ll make it easy because this is an E-grade mathematics O-level student you are reading here — is £100 million, his job is to get it down to £90 million. And the next year, when the budget is £90 million, to make his bonus, he again has to cut it by 10 per cent. Now it is £81 million. And his job hasn’t changed and he’ll want to hit that target in time for Christmas next year, too, which is probably why you can never get a seat on a Ryanair flight these days and every Travelodge is rammed Monday to Friday.
Residents evacuating as flood waters continue to rise in Pulaski ...
Emergency Management is going door-to-door checking on homeowners who live in flood plains. "We're making contact with them today to see if they want to go ahead and evacuate if their water threat is more than it was yesterday, today," explained John Thompson with Emergency Management. Moving out is the only option for Mike Adams. He says he can't believe he's going through this again. “I thought it was over with. We already dealt with the insurance companies and dealt with FEMA, and now we called them back and told them the water is rising again," he said. “[We're] just trying to do the best we can." Adams plans on moving back in when the water recedes. He says flooding isn't going to keep him from enjoying the beauty of the Tippecanoe River.
Island ferry still in dry dock
The multimillion rand Robben Island Museum ferry, Sikhululekile, has still not taken its much-anticipated first test run. This is despite engineers working for a second day on a leak discovered during Wed-nesday's pre-launch inspections. V&A harbour master Steven Bentley told the Cape Argus that according to his knowledge, the ferry was "still on the synchro lift and has not been tested" on the waters. The synchro lift was the mechanical lift which hoisted boats up and down, he said. A leak at the cooling intake of the hull was detected on Wednesday as the R26 million ferry was being lowered into Table Bay Harbour. Bentley said it was common for new boats to have leaks and that engineers had continued with repairs yesterday.
Microsoft Slipping Off the Online Video Market
Microsoft only served 180 million videos in December, for a total of 1.8% share. Back in 2006, the Redmond company was building its own YouTube, under the Soapbox brand, a service that was subsequently melted away into MSN Video. But despite owning the MSN portal, which attracts in excess of 500 million visitors each month, MSN Video is failing miserably at getting off the ground. Overall, MSN Video attracted just 20 million unique visitors in December 2007, for a share of 10.9%, four times less than Google 80 million audience, and a share of 43% of all Internet users in the U.S. "Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property in December with 3.3 billion videos viewed (32.6 % share of videos), gaining 1.3 share points versus the previous month. YouTube.com accounted for more than 97 % of all videos viewed at the property.
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