The Class Action

In the Class Action filed in 2007, Plaintiff alleges that VW knowingly concealed, suppressed and omitted to disclose to consumers that Class Vehicles contained defectively designed timing belt tensioners, timing belts and/or associated parts (”timing belt system”), and that VW failed to disclose and/or misrepresented the appropriate service interval for replacement of the timing belt system in Settlement Class Vehicles. VW has denied any defect, wrongdoing or liability whatsoever and deny that this lawsuit could properly be certified as a class action for trial.

Has yours snapped yet?

Mine did. And it was a thoroughly sickening and indignant episode that occurred during an extremely heavy commute time, on a dangerous and well-traveled curve in the road, along one of the most congested streets in all of Read the rest of this entry »

The Scenario

So you went a little nuts on your MySpace profile - you posted your age, your interests, some of your funniest home movies and the secret spots you like to frequent on Saturday following your morning dog walk. It felt freeing and liberating to tout your spot in this world and advertise your status to your online “friends”.

And it exploded from there: you started posting in public forums without hesitating to include your full, given name (so you can get credit for your impassioned responses), then proceeded to open numerous accounts on the Facebooks, Friendsters, LinkedIns and Meebos of the world. You even dropped your digits at one point on Craigslist, where they remain cached to this day on Yahoo!. There’s no question about it: you’re now officially “out there”.

But as your friends began to accumulate and as your forum posts became popular (and distributed), your online presence began to balloon to uncontrollable (and uncomfortable) proportions. Personal commentary, asides and intimate information usually reserved for loved ones was now on public display - an inadvertent consequence of your own making.

And with the recent advent of employers checking potential job candidates online before making their hiring decisions, it might be wise for the current job-seeker to Read the rest of this entry »

Want to perform a Google search without Google results?  Apparently someone does.

And that someone would be Finnish blogger Timo Paloheimo, who has created, ahem, “Google minus Google“.

The site
has
emerged as
a reactionary responseThe site has emerged as a reactionary response to a recent article written by NYT’s Miguel Helft.  Helft’s piece detailed the enormous presence of Google domains in search engine results (Knol, Blogger, and YouTube) and the potential for the company to achieve “Media Company” standing on the web, primarily as a result of Google’s reach and search engine prowess.

As it stands, when you perform a Google search on the web, inevitably you’ll find (mixed in with other results) YouTube videos, Blogger blogs and other Google-owned enterprises that may or may not capture your next click.

Clicks equal visits; visits equal potential advertising revenue through…clicks.

Timo could have no more of this.

And it didn’t take much time for his site to catch on: Read the rest of this entry »

The Telegraph has disclosed that the British government is pushing ahead with plans for a national road-pricing scheme, including testing “spy in the sky” technology.

Imagine:  having to think about some chilling, omniscient force in the sky tracking (and calculating costs of) your journey to pick up a six pack of Heineken from your market of choice.  Then, imagine having to consider such big-brother monitoring in an environment where you’re already paying some of the highest taxes on the planet, living amongst thousands of always-on CCTV cameras, and being sent letters of disapproval if you use bandwidth-hogging applications on your own PC.

It’s true:  British motorists already pay some of the highest taxes in the world and with government finances under severe pressure, the “pay-as-you-drive” scheme could provide a Read the rest of this entry »

Apple’s iPhone, and other subsequent touch-screen clones, have been hogging much of the high-end smartphone spotlight ever since the iPhone’s initial launch - and even more so after the recent media-hyped iPhone 3G release. And with little to no response from Nokia (by way of a competing piece of hardware), it would appear our Finnish friends have been hiding in the wings while the show goes on.

[Note: At the time of this writing, two new Nokia smartphones are set to be announced this coming Monday (August 18th): the N79 and N85 - both phones being touted as possibilities by the mobile community.

In late 2007, information regarding Nokia’s ongoing touchscreen development emerged from the horse’s mouth in the form of a marketing video shown at a London Expo. Later, filed patent information (and images) demonstrating a “Haptikos Tactile Touchscreen” leaked its way onto many websites virtually confirming Nokia’s intentions to develop not only a touchscreen device, but one that would sort of “touch” you back.

And if that wasn’t enough of a smoking gun, Nokia has $trategically placed a mystery touchscreen device (Nokia Tube?) in the hands of our universally loved, James Bond-esque vigilante superhero in the recent blockbuster, “Dark Knight”.

But while the ordinary citizens of Gotham wait for Nokia’s next jaw-dropper to emerge, third-party application development continues to flourish for our current (and much loved) N and E series Symbian S60 devices.

Below is a “Top 10″ (alphabetical) list of some of the Read the rest of this entry »

Now that the new California law has passed banning “hands-on” cellphone use in automobiles, people may just be anxiously clamoring for something else to do with their newly freed hand (ok, stop it).

The folks over at Maplin (the electronics specialists) believe they have the answer: a portable, 12V, in-car microwave! Finally, your meals can now be “on the move” with this small, somewhat-modern black box that will sit inconspicuously on your passenger-seat floor mat.

In no time you’ll be heating up your poppyseed muffin, or drinking piping hot lattes in the comfort of your Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, so no reservations yet - but that day may not be too far off…

It was however announced today that a team of UC Berkeley scientists are a step closer to developing cloaking devices that could render people and objects invisible.

A group of researchers have successfully demonstrated, for the first time, that they can now cloak 3D objects (as opposed to previous successes in cloaking only thin, two-dimensional objects) using engineered materials that redirect light.

We can see objects because they scatter the light that Read the rest of this entry »

In a previous SMASHgods post, we discussed the stylish and decidedly quick Zap Alias. When surfing around I’ve found that there isn’t too much in the way of media (videos specifically) regarding the upcoming all-electric sports car, and most of the information has been conjecture on the part of Alias followers and supporters.

Today I had a chance to visit the Zap showroom in downtown Santa Rosa and record a video of the Alias (on my cell): the chassis, the engine(s) (there are two), the suspension system and a little of the showroom floor can all be seen in the footage.

The car is still deemed a “prototype”, according to the gentleman who let me in, but in an effort to lay any claims to rest regarding the car’s authenticity or its viability as a conveyance, Zap has the Alias’ innards laid out to bare (next to the outer body), and it’s certainly a simple, yet smart design. What you see in the video is the real deal, and the whole package — yet split apart for all to see.

I also picked up an official Zap Alias pamphlet detailing Read the rest of this entry »

Ever fancy living like those little blue creatures you used to watch on Saturday mornings? A certain faction of people in Kyushu, Japan are doing just that. And if you thought styrofoam was reserved only to house your cup of morning coffee, read on.

Habitat For the 21st Century

The designer of the 480 domes at Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu was certainly thinking outside the “box”.

These igloo-shaped structures built from snap-together wall sections (175 lbs each) are made of 100% expanded polystyrene foam (styrofoam). Now this may seem unconventional, but the company lists a number of advantages that styrofoam has over traditional materials.

Unlike traditional wood and metal structures, styrofoam dome homes won’t rust, rot or attract wood-gnawing termites. They’re also highly resistant to earthquakes and typhoons given the aerodynamic shape. And surprisngly, the walls, which are treated with a flame retardant, emit no toxic fumes in a fire. Read the rest of this entry »

If there was ever a time to issue a “WT…F”, I’d say it’s right about now.

You’re looking at the GoateeSaver, a medieval grooming device used only by “real men”, (according to the company’s slogan). It’s actually a modern-age mouthpiece designed to give your face fuzz that perfect contour.

It works by basically covering the surrounding areas of the goatee with its plastic rim, while the shaver bites down on the internal clamps (like those god awful dental x-ray tabs) to hold it in place. Simple enough, and looks like it would Read the rest of this entry »

Ok this is kind of cool and somewhat useful — a BMW owner in Munich apparently grew tired of his black bimmer and hired a group of guys to wrap it up in some white tape (in lieu of a new paint job).

Now this isn’t your normal run-of-the-mill duct variety, but a more advanced 3M wrap, and the process is actually referred to as “foiling”. It’s the stuff used by the German military (drab colored) and it protects paint finishes from rock damage, nicks, chips, etc. And the stuff lasts.

German foiling link here. Be sure to check out the foiled Veyron and the R8.

You can leave your car “wrapped” for 3-4 years without any resulting damage. You can even take it Read the rest of this entry »

When the iPhone/iPod Touch app store opened less than a month ago, it was greeted with mixed emotions: it brought with it the promise of increased security and quality, yet on the other hand forced app developers to adhere to Apple’s rigid standards, which may or may not diminish third-party, non-Apple creativity.

That said, it baffles the mind when something like I Am Rich passes Apple’s strict development standards and makes it into the app store for customers’ consideration.

A Business Expense?

The application, designed solely for the purpose of reminding you that “you were able to afford this”, is a ‘work of art’ according to the designer Armin Heinrich.

From the Apple Store:

For supporters of Apple’s app store and system, it begs the question, “did this one just slip through?” or Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t follow the white rabbit (”Pretty Rabbit” in this case) down the Twitter hole - unless you fancy transforming your PC into a zombie.

Twitter is the latest social networking site to suffer the fate brought on by cyber criminals and their intentions to turn the happy, carefree micro-blogging site into a trapdoor for their malicious payload.

It all begins with a fake Twitter profile that claims to link to a p0rn video, but instead downloads another application claiming to be an Adobe Flash player. The downloaded application then installs Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping the power bill low has never been this much fun, and we have a team of Dutch researchers to thank for this breakthrough in renewable energy.

A group of scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have found a way to harness energy from the wind by flying a 10-sq meter kite around.

The kite is attached to a generator, and produces 10 kilowatts of power, which is enough electricity to power 10 family homes. Read the rest of this entry »

So you’ve stopped going to “those” types of websites that could potentially fill your PC with all kinds of malicious malware, viruses and back door trojans — nice move. You also keep your virus definitions up-to-date and run regular scans of your entire machine. Your backups couldn’t be more religious, and you archive everything to DVD on a weekly basis. You’re safe, right? Maybe not…

There’s a new kind of security exploit that involves a new image format called a “GIFAR”, where users who simply LOOK at the image, will fall prey to its nefarious objectives.

Computerworld: Here’s how an attack would work: A bad guy would create a profile on a popular Web site — Facebook, for example — and upload his GIFAR as an image on the site. Then he’d trick a victim into visiting a malicious Web site, which would tell the victim’s browser to go open the GIFAR. At that point, the applet would run in the browser, providing the hacker access to Read the rest of this entry »

The Scenario:

You’re sitting at your desk, listening to some Katy Perry streaming in from your Yahoo! Music. The beat and mood are right, you’re into the groove and you’re making some serious progress on your project. Then you hear:

“DZZZZZSHT DIHHHT DU DIGHHHHT ZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIT”

The GSM signal from your mobile device causes your computer speakers to emit devilish sounds, obliterating your mood as well as your music, sending you into a virtual frenzy in search of your cell so that you can toss it into the waste receptacle.

Ok, not quite that bad but annoying enough.

In scouring the net for a possible preventative measure, it appears this Read the rest of this entry »