Volvo has unveiled a range of vehicles which aim to provide an eco-friendly option for consumers. The DRIVe cars offer an average fuel consumption of around 70 miles per gallon, according to its makers. Vehicles across the range include a C30, V50 estate and S40 saloon and share a 1.6 litre diesel engine featuring start-stop technology. The cars narrowly miss out on the 100g/km road tax emption limit, coming in at 104g/km, falling instead into the ã35 per year tax band. Super-clean diesels are coming The perception of diesel engines as frugal but dirty may be about to change. Particulate filters are now able to remove all trace of soot from diesel exhaust and the latest hybrids use the technology in tandem with electric motors. Volvo has announced plans for a new eco-friendly, plug-in hybrid car, which will boast CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km. The car will powered by both an electric motor and a diesel engine. Volvo claims that carbon dioxide emissions will be lower than 50g/km. According to Volvo, the lithium-ion battery pack that powers the electric motor takes about five hours to charge using a standard wall socket. The car […]
NEW YORK — The percentage of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their house is worth will nearly double to 48 percent in 2011 from 26 percent at the end of March, portending another blow to the housing market, Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday. Home price declines will have their biggest impact on prime ‘conforming’ loans that meet underwriting and size guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bank said in a report. Prime conforming loans make up two-thirds of mortgages, and are typically less risky because of stringent requirements. ‘We project the next phase of the housing decline will have a far greater impact on prime borrowers,’ Deutsche analysts Karen Weaver and Ying Shen said in the report. Of prime conforming loans, 41 percent will be ‘underwater’ by the first quarter of 2011, up from 16 percent at the end of the first quarter 2009, it said. Forty-six percent of prime jumbo loans will be larger than their properties’ value, up from 29 percent, it said. ‘The impact of this is significant given that these markets have the largest share of the total mortgage market outstanding,’ the analysts said. Prime jumbo loans make up […]
From uncles wearing skinny jeans to mothers investing in ra-ra skirts and fathers nodding awkwardly along to the latest grime record, the older generation has long known that the surest way to kill a youth trend is to adopt it as its own. The cyberworld, it seems, is no exception. The proliferation of parents and teachers trawling the pages of Facebook trying to poke old schoolfriends and lovers, and traversing the outer reaches of MySpace is causing an adolescent exodus from the social networking sites, according to research from the media regulator Ofcom. The sites, once the virtual streetcorners, pubs and clubs for millions of 15- to 24-year-olds, have now been over-run by 25- to 34-year-olds whose presence is driving their younger peers away. Although their love of being online shows no sign of abating, the percentage of 15- to 24-year-olds who have a profile on a social networking site has dropped for the first time – from 55% at the start of last year to 50% this year. In contrast, 46% of 25- to 34-year-olds are now regularly checking up on sites such as Facebook compared with 40% last year. Overall, 30% of British adults […]
Rupert Murdoch has ramped up his push to make readers pay for news online, saying News Corp will start charging for access to all its news sites across his media empire. Seeking to counter the leakage of advertising revenues to the internet, which has hurt the traditional business model of newspapers, the 78-year-old media mogul said today he was ‘very hopeful we can produce significant revenues from the sale of digital newspaper content. ‘Quality journalism is not cheap, Mr Murdoch said. ‘An industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalising its ability to produce good reporting. He was scant on details for such business models today, which could include online subscriptions, charging fees to read single stories and selling content on new platforms such as mobile reading devices. But he said that News Corp would start charging soon. ”We’re thinking in terms of this financial year,’ Mr Murdoch said. It’s been a deep change from his stance only two years ago when he maintained advertising would fund free sites. Since then, the global advertising recession has cut swathes through the profitability of News Corp’s newspaper and free-to-air television business. The company today […]
The military wants soldiers who can withstand anything – even the worst and most debilitating wartime injuries. Now Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research team, is trying to make traumatic injuries more like minor scrapes, patched up to be good as new. Or better. Darpa’s been working on superhuman soldiers for years. They’ve toyed with cellular mitochondria and pondered putting soldiers on the Atkins diet. In 2006, Darpa launched an ambitious Restorative Injury Repair program, that aims to ‘fully repair body parts damaged by traumatic injury. Earlier this year, researchers funded by that program generated new human muscle that could replace damaged tissue. Now Darpa’s asking for a device that can use adult stem cells for a regenerative free-for-all, pumping out whatever needed to repair injured body parts, including nerves, bone and skin. Already, research has proven that adult stem cells can act the same way embryonic ones do – differentiating into the highly-specified cells that form complex body parts. According to Darpa’s solicitation, 85 percent of recent wartime injuries involved damage to the extremities and facial regions. That often means multiple surgeries, rehab and permanent disability for vets. They’re hoping to eliminate the injuries, and their long-term […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
