Sofi1

New York Auto Show - Day Two

sofi1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:25:17 GMT

A case in point, I recently test drove the 2008 Hummer H2 through busy downtown streets and found it to be much smaller on the road and more maneuverable than I expected. From the outside it looks enormous, but drive the H2 and you might be surprised how “small” it really is.

At the far end of the spectrum, the small but larger-than-life Mazda2 won the World Car of the Year award during a ceremony held this morning at the 2008 NYIAS. It was chosen from a list of 39 original entries from across the globe. The Mazda2 was also voted onto the short-list of top three design finalists, together with the Audi R8 and Volvo C30.

Though not available in North America at this time, it may not be long before the mighty Mazda2 is spotted parked next to a Hummer H2 at the local grocery store. We can only hope!

The focus of Day Two at the 2008 NYIAS was on the future of automobiles. Mitsubishi Motors chose to take us on a journey of their past accomplishments as a way to set the table for what they have planned for the present and into the near future.

The Mitsubishi i MiEV is designed to halt global warming, be easy on the pocketbook, provide strong acceleration, let the neighbors stay asleep, (it is quiet) and allow for charging the battery anywhere with a standard plug. Lofty goals for sure, but Mitsubishi is confident the i MiEV will meet and exceed expectations.

Working with GS Yuasa Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Motor Cars established a joint venture company, “Lithium Energy Japan” to manufacture high-capacity, high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The company projects the rear-midship mounted commuter will quick charge in as little as 30 minutes. Someday soon, the i MiEV may be coming to an outlet near you.

Beijing Auto Show Unveiled

sofi1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:21:18 GMT

As one of the fastest-growing carmakers on the planet, the Chinese automotive industry has taken an unusual approach to staging international auto shows. Like Geneva and Detroit, it has a major exhibition every year, but like the biennial events in places like Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo, China alternates its big one between Shanghai and Beijing. This year it's Beijing's turn.

The show is a chance for not only the local makers to strut their stuff, but for other global players on hand to show both production and concept cars for both China and international markets.

The most talked about concept at Beijing is the Geely Tiger, which is also known as the Geely GT. This 2-door show car was shown without the Geely badge, leading to some speculation that the automaker has an eye to creating an upscale brand similar to Lexus or Infiniti and that the Tiger would be its flagship model. In any event, this V-6-powered 2+2 is evidence that the Chinese are catching up quickly to the rest of the world and may be a formidable player even in luxury segments.

Relying heavily on its Shanghai design studio, General Motors developed the Buick Invicta show car, which not only hints at what a future LaCrosse midsize sedan might look like, but it also underscores the importance of the Chinese market. Buick actually sells more cars there than it does in the United States. The Invicta brings back an old Buick name from the 1950s and puts it on the flanks of an ultramodern 5-passenger sedan.

Crossovers are the hottest segment in the industry today, and the Audi Q5 made its world debut at Beijing, which shows the universal appeal of these types of vehicles. While the Q5 shares some styling cues with the larger Q7, it has a healthy dollop of station wagon styling, thanks to its thinner pillars and large glass area. The Q5 is intended as a replacement for the Allroad Quattro in Audi's lineup.

Audi wasn't alone with a world debut of a production model. Its Stuttgart-based rival introduced the Mercedes-Benz GLK. This answer to the Q5 in the compact crossover segment has a more truck-oriented design theme. It is boxier, with sharp edges and offers V-6 power in both 2- and all-wheel-drive versions.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) is a multifaceted concern with ties to GM. It also owns the tooling to the Rover 75, which it continues to build today as the Roewe 750. But like Geely, SAIC hopes to expand beyond the Chinese mainland. The new Roewe 550 is a handsome, midsize family sedan that may be the answer to those hopes. Built on a new platform, the 550 is powered by a turbocharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine, which provides good performance and fuel economy.

WWE tries to put headlock on Japanese market

sofi1 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:18:18 GMT

TOKYO - Posing for a snapshot with a glittery championship belt in a packed theater, Seigi Nishiyama was among some 600 fans who can't get enough of World Wrestling Entertainment.

"The stories are so much more detailed compared to Japanese wrestling — it's like watching a movie," the 34-year-old food manufacturing employee said Sunday.

WWE is famous in the United State for its brand of professional wrestling, a kind of simulated sport and performance art that combines brute force with elaborate soap-opera story lines and larger-than-life characters with names like the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio.

WWE's big push to market itself in Japan is nowhere clearer than at gatherings like Sunday's SummerSlam Festival, a raucous party that charges fans a $30 admission fee to watch recorded WWE pay-per-view events on giant video screens.

The videos can also be watched at home, but going to events gives fans things they can't find in their living rooms — such as guest wrestlers flown in from the U.S., booths selling WWE T-shirts and key chains as well as plenty of camaraderie in this niche but seriously dedicated crowd.

WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., racks up annual global pay-per-view sales of $100 million. It won't disclose regional breakdowns, but it sees Japan as one of its most important overseas markets.

The latest push is spearheaded by the WWE's Japan office, which opened this year and is its only overseas office devoted to a single nation. The office hopes to woo Japanese newcomers, including teens and families, not just its usual 20-40 year-old fan base.

It remains to be seen whether WWE can follow the path of such American imports as Hollywood movies, hip-hop music and Disneyland.

Japan has its own brand of professional wrestling that is less outrightly fictional than WWE. The WWE is open about how no real fighting is involved. But Japanese wrestling is historically inspired by its American counterpart and boasts its own heroes and themes.

WWE's only Japanese superstar is 40-year-old Shoichi Funaki, who goes by the ring name Funaki. He acknowledges that Japanese are just starting to enjoy WWE, with all its boisterous exchanges and flamboyance, complete with heckling.

"Japanese fans are changing," he told The Associated Press. "The key is to give them more opportunities to watch WWE. If they see it, they'll get it."

Funaki said working with the WWE requires him to sell his created character to fans as a full-fledged entertainer, not just an athlete, as well as more obvious challenges such as mastering English and staying in top shape.

WWE's weekly TV shows — called Raw, SmackDown and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) — feature ongoing story lines.

"Even if you've never watched it before, you can jump in and start watching because it's good versus evil," said Ed Wells, vice president and general manager of WWE Japan. "We always refer to ourselves as sports entertainment. We created that genre in the U.S. and it's something that we are now, as of this year, taking really worldwide."

Japanese jeweler offers million-dollar tableware

sofi1 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:12:18 GMT

A Japanese jeweler is selling a 13-piece tableware set made entirely of pure gold for $1 million.

The set by Ginza Tanaka includes goblets, plates, chopsticks and cutlery, each engraved with a dragon, which symbolizes eternal youth and health.

The items are available as single purchases, with spoons priced at 650,000 yen each and soup bowls going for 32 million yen

It is also an ancient Chinese tradition that those who eat from gold tableware will have eternal youth and life.

The company said the tableware was aimed to appeal to Chinese customers. China's increasing ranks of newly rich are buoying the luxury market despite the global economic slowdown.

“Recently, there have been a lot of Chinese customers. When they visit our store, we try to appeal to them by showing we can also design Chinese-style tableware,” said Naoto Mizuki, general manager of the store's marketing department.

“I'm sure that this would be a nice gift for older people so that their whole family can enjoy dinner together.”

The company also hopes that the set will be used as gifts for the elderly to mark Respect-for-the-Aged Day on Sept. 15, a spokesman said.

Ginza Tanaka has offered in the past a range of goods made from gold, ranging from a gold bathtub to a gold bathing suit.

FDA warns against infant formula from China

sofi1 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:00:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tainted infant formula from China may be on sale at ethnic groceries in this country, even though it is not approved for importation, federal officials warned on Thursday.However, the Food and Drug Administration stressed that the domestic supply of infant formula is safe.

FDA officials are urging U.S. consumers to avoid all infant formula from China, after several brands sold in that country came under suspicion of being contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in plastics. Officials said there have been reports from China of babies developing kidney stones as a result. There have been no reports of illnesses in the U.S.

"We're concerned that there may be some infant formula that may have gotten into the United States illegally and may be on the ethnic market," said Janice Oliver, deputy director of the FDA's food safety program. "No infant formula from China should be entering the United States, but in the past we have found it on at least one occasion."

CDC: Blacks, gays at high risk for HIV infections

sofi1 — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:01:18 GMT

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Young black gay men, black women and white gay men in their 30s and 40s are much more likely to be newly infected with HIV than other groups in the United States, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The analysis -- based on figures showing that the HIV infection rate for 2006 is much worse than previously thought -- looks at the number of new HIV infections and who gets them. The study appears in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

It shows 53 percent of the estimated 56,000 cases of new HIV infection in 2006 were among gay and bisexual men, and 46 percent of the infections occurred among blacks. Within the gay and bisexual group, young black men (13 to 29 years old ) were roughly twice as likely to get infected as young white and young Hispanic men. And among women, black women were almost 15 times more likely to get HIV than white women and almost four times more likely than Hispanic women.

Rich People

sofi1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:08:02 GMT

Have you ever thought about can become a rich man like Nouveau Riche? I think I may help you with that, you can read about people who became rich, their life stories will inspire you and it will make it easier for you to know about what are the special thing with your ideas, remember to be rich like Nouveau Riche, there are many issues that you have to consider to make sure that you in the right way, one of these issues is to believe in your self.

Read this about Al-Walid bin Talal : Al-Walid began his business career in 1979 upon graduation from Menlo College. Funded by a $30,000 loan from his father and a $300,000 mortgage on his house, he initially brokered deals with foreign firms wishing to do business in Saudi Arabia.[citations needed] This was followed by land deals in the 1980s, along with major investments in the Saudi banking industry, which proved to be undervalued at the time.[citation needed] The Prince's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a substantial tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. With an initial investment of $550 million to bail out Citibank caused by underperforming American real estate loans and Latin American businesses, his holdings in Citigroup now comprise half of his wealth worth US$10 billion. He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Inc., Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies.

I am sure one day you will be like Nouveau Riche if you believe in your self. have a nice day

Tiger Woods golf course in Dubai ‘on track’

sofi1 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:09:18 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Tiger Woods is already the world's top-ranked golfer and highest paid athlete. And if all goes according to plan, he'll soon be sporting his biggest trophy yet: a luxury golf course hewn from the sands of the Arabian desert.

The ambitious project, touted as the first course in the world designed by the 2008 U.S. Open champion, remains a work in progress on the outskirts of this Middle Eastern boomtown — much like the rapidly growing city itself.

But the project's chief said Monday that the first phase of the development, which among other unlikely features promises 5 million square feet of locally grown grass and more than 30,000 full-grown imported trees, is on target for completion sometime in the last three months of 2009.

Adapting to Climate Change: A Business Approach

sofi1 — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:57:18 GMT

This report outlines a sensible business approach to analyzing and adapting to the physical risks of climate change. It focuses on a critical first step in assessing these climate impacts: understanding the potential risks to business and the importance of taking action to mitigate those risks. Not all businesses need to take action now; this paper develops a qualitative screening process to assess whether a business is likely to be vulnerable to the physical risks associated with climate change, and whether a more detailed risk assessment is warranted.

U.S. trade gap widens

sofi1 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:27:18 GMT

The U.S. trade deficit widened much more than expected in July as average oil prices jumped to a record $124.66 per barrel and the volume of crude oil imports grew to the highest in four years.

The monthly trade gap swelled to $62.2 billion US, the largest since March 2007, from an upwardly revised estimate of $58.84 billion in June. Wall Street analysts had forecast the deficit to expand to $58.0 billion from the original June tally of $56.8 billion.

As crude oil prices surged in July, the volume of oil imports jumped 15 percent to 342 million barrels, the highest since June 2004 even though prices were almost double the average of last July.

Total petroleum imports hit a record $51.4 billion, helping lift overall imports of goods and services 3.9 percent to a record $230.3 billion.

Imports of autos and consumer goods declined slightly in July and two other categories — food, feeds and beverages and capital goods — rose only slightly in a sign that the weak U.S. economy is crimping demand for foreign goods.

Reflecting the larger role oil is playing in the trade deficit, the non-petroleum deficit shrank to its lowest level since October 2002, while the petroleum deficit hit a record $43.4 billion.

Exports of U.S. goods and services increased 3.3 percent to a record $168.1 billion, with industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, autos and auto parts, and consumer goods all setting individual records.

In line with the higher oil prices, the U.S. trade deficit with Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was a record $24.2 billion.

The trade gap with China widened 16.1 percent to $24.9 billion and remained slightly ahead of last year's record pace.