100-mpg car by "G"

Google said Tuesday it is getting in on the development of electric vehicles, awarding $1 million in grants and inviting applicants to bid for another $10 million in funding to develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles capable of getting 70 to 100 miles per gallon.

The project, called the RechargeIT initiative and run from Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, aims to further the development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles - cars or trucks that have both a gasoline engine and advanced batteries that recharge by plugging into the nation's electric grid.

"Since most Americans drive less than 35 miles per day, you easily could drive mostly on electricity with the gas tank as a safety net," Dan Reicher, director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org, wrote on the organization's Web site. "In preliminary results from our test fleet, on average the plug-in hybrid gas mileage was 30-plus mpg higher than that of the regular hybrids."

The project also aims to develop vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, allowing cars to sell their stored power back to the nation's electricity grid during times of peak demand.
13 great fuel-efficient cars

"Linking the U.S. transportation system to the electricity grid maximizes the efficiency of our energy system," said Reicher. "Our goal is to demonstrate the plug-in hybrid and V2G technology, get people excited about having their own plug-in hybrid, and encourage car companies to start building them soon."

General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) has promised to sell a plug-in hybrid version of its redesigned Saturn Vue SUV but has not set a specific date for production. The company has contracted with two battery suppliers to work on an improved battery technology for the vehicle. The company is also working toward a production version of its Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid concept car shown at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. That vehicle would be driven entirely by electricity with an on-board engine used only as a back-up generator.

Ford Motor Co. (Charts, Fortune 500) also has a drivable plug-in hybrid demonstration vehicle based on the Ford Edge SUV. Similar to GM's Chevrolet Volt in its basic engineering, that vehicle uses a hydrogen fuel cell as a back-up generator but could use a gasoline engine or some other type of motor to charge the batteries.

Because they have to store up and release large amounts of electricity, plug-in hybrids require more advanced batteries than hybrid vehicles currently on the market. The batteries in non-plug-in hybrid vehicles continuously store and release small amounts of electricity, a work cycle that puts little strain on the batteries.
Google takes on Detroit

While many people don't associate Google with energy, analysts say the fit isn't all that unnatural.

Renewable energy, unlike coal or nuclear, will likely come from thousands or tens of thousands of different locations. Analysts have long said that one of the big challenges will be managing that flow into and out of the nation's electric grid, and that companies that manage the flow of information are well placed to handle that task.

The $1 million in Google grants went to Brookings Institution to run a conference on plug-ins, CalCars and Plug-In America to educate the public about plug-ins, and the Electrical Power Research Institute, the Rocky Mountain Institute and Dr. Willett Kempton from the University of Delaware for plug-in R&D.

Google (Charts, Fortune 500) also said it has turned on its massive solar panel installation at the company's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.

At 1.6 megawatts, Google said it's the biggest solar project on a corporate campus in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.

Source: Cnn.com

Driving Nightmares versus Beauty

Is this done just for the view...?
Driving over then under the water...

And if this guy meets another bus going the other way...?

Up , up, up and away...

A couple more pics of the same bridge...

Another way t o elevate travelers in a short distance...

I've heard of wiggly roads before but this one takes the cake...! Actually, it looks like fun!

Night View

One Million Dollar Shoes at Oscar

So much for modesty. Come Sunday, Oscar-nominee Diablo Cody, will not only look like a million dollars, but she will also be stepping onto the red carpet in a million dollars pair of shoes.

The writer of the hit indie, “Juno”, will wear designer Stuart Weitzman’s million dollar shoe to the big event at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The `Retro Rose’ shoe features two Kwiat diamond roses, fixed to 1940’s-style beige metallic T-strap high heels. More than 1,800 Kwiat diamonds weighing 100 carats were used to make the roses and 400 of them have been incorporated into the design of the shoe, which is worth over $1 million.

The shoe master also created a ballerina flat with a the same diamond design so that Diablo can slip into something more comfortable after walking the red carpet.

He says, “I think it is great and typically Diablo that she chose to be not just glamorous but also practical in her choice of shoes for this year’s Academy Awards.”

Source: Hollywood.com

Amazing Ferrari F1 made by Chocolate

Ferrari has sweetened their Formula One programme by unveiling this chocolate-made life-sized model of the F2008 racing car. Comprised of 2,000kg (4,405 lbs) of chocolate, the “project” began when confectioners melted chocolate a year ago and started making a small version based on a small-scale model of the F2008.


“The project started one year ago, just for fun,” said Luigi Liberti, president of the Scuderia Ferrari Club Napoli, “but then the Club Pasticceri Italiani started to get really enthusiastic and eventually it became a life-sized model.

They started melting the chocolate in 2007, at first copying a small-scale model of the Ferrari F2008, then getting the full scale model done using chocolate imported especially from Belgium.”

Everything on it is edible, everything including the red coating. The car had been on display in Sorrento, hear Naples as a display piece at a Ferrari owners’ party. But today it is being smashed up with hammers so guests can eat it p. For just ?12,000/ €15,900 you can have the exact same thing, a year from now!

Source: Trendaz

Unique Amazing Hanging Restaurant

Any one interested in having a unique dining experience?

You can have breakfast, lunch, dinner or cocktail or invite your boss for a meeting while enjoying your meal.

50 meters above ground dining event arranged by a professional event arranger of Benji Fun company. It provides seating for 22 complete with Chef, server, musician and you can select your own location without limitation. Guaranteed safety with the hoisting crane which can accommodate a whole band of musicians.

This restaurant is in Belgium.

Biggest Dogs In The World

HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON

HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

Put about 100 bricks in some
Particular order in a closed
Room with an Open window.

Then send 2 or 3 candidates in
The room and close the door.

Leave them alone and come back
After 6 hours and then analyze
The situation.

If they are counting the Bricks.
Put them in the accounts Department.

If they are recounting them..
Put them in auditing.

If they have messed up the
Whole place with the bricks.
Put them in engineering.

If they are arranging the
Bricks in some strange order.
Put them in planning.

If they are throwing the
Bricks at each other.
Put them in operations.

If they are sleeping.
Put them in security.

If they have broken the bricks Into pieces.
Put them in information Technology.

If they are sitting idle.
Put them in human resources.

If they say they have tried Different combinations, yet
Not a brick has Been moved. Put them in sales.

If they have already left for The day.
Put them in marketing.

If they are staring out of the Window.
Put them on strategic Planning.

And then last but not least.
If they are talking to each
Other and not a single brick
Has been Moved.

Congratulate them and put them
In top management.

Road to Death - Crazy Routes

Crazy Routes in Andes, Albania & New Zealand

Necessity may dictate that you choose the "road less traveled", but for goodness sake, leave weaker-nerved passengers behind. They might experience life-changing (and underwear-changing) circumstances that they will never forget, or forgive. One of the Chinese military roads to "boost the morale of their troops"

And here is how they navigate it:

Tirana to Elbasan Road in Albania
This is a hairy route, very high, badly maintained with high volume of heavy truck traffic - count on these Albanian drivers to be dare-devils, too. Whatever pictures we could get, look pretty serious: The cool thing about this road is that it leads to various interesting "rabbit trails" with ancient ruins at the end:

The Skippers Canyon Road near Queenstown:

Katie Laurence writes to us:
"This road is made from a very narrow cut in the middle of a sheer cliff face. The large tourist buses go along it, and it's so narrow that if two vehicles have to pass each other, one vehicle might have to reverse for anything up to 3 kilometres of winding narrow road to get to a place wide enough to pass. It is the SCARIEST road you could imagine..."

And this is how it looks close up, with sheer drops just outside the single lane (with almost not enough space for tires) -

Stelvio Pass Road - redefining switchbacks - A Scenic yet Dangerous Road!
Height - 2757 meters
Location - in the Italian Alps, near Bormio and Sulden, 75 km from Bolzano, close to Swiss border. (The road connects the Valtellina with the upper Adige valley and Merano)
Claim to fame - "the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, after the Col de l'Iseran (2770 m)"

The Pulpit Rock Hike - if you fall, it's 1000 meters down

This place is indeed so spectacular, that we are going to write a special post about it. For now, just to give you a taste of some scenery - a few shots of people definitely having fun (not forgetting thousand-meter drops at every turn)

New sQuba Car Can Drive on Water, Underwater

This has got to be one of the craziest cars that Rinspeed has ever created, because not only can the sQuba concept car compete on dry land, it can actually drive on water, as well as underwater. Yes, you read that correctly and this apparently is no joke.

The drop-top roadster is made of lightweight materials and can effectively use its wheels as some sort of rudder system, propelling itself across the surface of the water not unlike, well, a boat. To take things even further, the car can dive up to 10 meters underwater for a true scuba experience. Naturally, the driver and passenger will need their own air supply devices.

Better still, the Rinspeed sQuba concept is a zero-emissions vehicle thanks to its full dependence on electric motors. This also eliminates the petrol motor's reliance on air. Crazy.

Source: Mobile Mag

Fan forks out for Shakira's Bra

A fan has paid $3,000 (£1,500) to own one of Shakira's bras in an auction for the pop star's children's charity.

The singer, who noted that her "breasts are small and humble" in her hit single Whenever, Wherever, is clearing out her wardrobe for the Bare Feet Foundation.

More than $60,000 (£30,700) has been raised so far, with one fan paying $14,100 (£7,200) to meet Shakira.

The charity is currently building a school for poor children in the singer's home country, Colombia.

The jewelled bra, which Shakira wore on her Oral Fixation world tour in 2007, was designed by Roberto Cavalli.

Other items in the auction included a purple wig and Gibson guitar used in the video for Las De La Intuicion, which sold for $3,301 (£1,700).

Another popular item was a shiny lavender skirt with turquoise and coral beading that Shakira wore while singing Hips Don't Lie on tour, which fetched more than $1,076 (£550).

However, a Garden of Eden-style figleaf costume worn on the cover of her Oral Fixation 2 album failed to attract a starting bid of $10,000 (£5,000).

Still up for grabs until Sunday are an electric Fender guitar and an acoustic Taylor guitar, both bearing Shakira's autograph.

Courtesy : BBC News

Feb 14th special..

So Boys Beware :) or Send Gifts to India

World Press Photo Awards 2008

A basketball match from Chris Detrick's portfolio that won him the third prize in the sports action stories category
Photograph: Chris Detrick/AP/The Salt Lake Tribune

Operation rock avalanche, Afghanistan, won first prize in the general news stories category
Photograph: Balazs Gardi/AFP/ANP/VII Network

Hunting the Narwal in Nunavut, Canada won second prize in the nature stories category
Photograph: Paul Nicklen/AP/National Geographic

The evacuation of dead mountain gorillas at Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo won first prize in the contemporary issues singles category
Photograph: Brent Stirton/AP/Getty Images for Newsweek

The evacuation of dead mountain gorillas at Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo won first prize in the contemporary issues singles category
Photograph: Brent Stirton/AP/Getty Images for Newsweek

A retired circus artist won the arts and entertainment stories first prize
Photograph: Rafal Milach/AFP/ANP/Anzenberger Agency

Freeride competitor Philippe Meier chased by an avalanche in Flaine, France won the sports action singles prize
Photograph: Ivaylo Velev/AFP/ANP Bul X Vision

Russian president Vladimir Putin, the photograph that won first prize for single portraits
Photograph: Platon/AFP/ANP/Time Magazine

Competitors crossing the Copenhagen marathon finish line won first prize for sports features
Photograph: Erik Refner/AFP/Berlingske Tidende

PKK fighters in southern Kurdistan/northern Iraq won first prize for people in the news
Photograph: Philippe Dudouit/EPA/Time Magazine

Mui, a homeless woman with HIV, and her son bathing in the Red River, Hanoi, Vietnam, the picture that was the first prize winner for daily life singles
Photograph: Justin Maxon/AFP/ANP/Aurora Photos

A girl in an animated character costume taken in Shanghai, China, winner of the arts and entertainment singles award
Photograph: Ariana Lindquist/AFP/ANP

Rural school girls in eastern Turkey, winner of the portraits stories prize
Photograph: Vanessa Winship/EPA/Agence Vu

Kenyan policemen chase opposition protesters who were looting goods from a shop in Kibera, a picture that won third prize in the category of spot news singles
Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA

An endangered plant at Wanzhou city garden sanctuary, China won first prize in the nature singles category
Photograph: Fang Qianhua/AP/Nangfan Dushi Daily/Southern Metropolis Daily