I’ve been looking online at new cars lately, and have fallen in love with the Audi new TT, the
2010 Audi TT Coupe. It’s one heck of a good looking car, and if there are two things I absolutely am passionate about, it’s technology and cars. Admittedly tech wins out most of the time, but really technology and cars go hand in hand, and become more integrated all the time.

I had considered previous Audi TT models, but decided back then that it wasn’t a good time to splurge on a new car. However, now that the money situation is a little better, it’s hard to resist the beauty of the Audi new TT. One thing that separates it from previous versions is that it’s actually a little bit larger, while still appearing sleek and classy. The interior is also upgraded to be more in line with the company’s higher end cars, which is a definite plus.

Now, as for the engine four or six cylinder is an option, and liking some extra power I’d probably opt for the six. Also an option is Audi’s magnetic ride damper system which provides drivers and passengers with one of the smoothest rides out there.

                                                    
You know those people that just have to tweet about everything, from their morning Cheerios, to their nightly Crest  White Strips treatment? Well, it would seem that the wife of Twitter CEO Ev Williams is one of those folks, given that she recently enjoyed “tweeting” during labor. Of course, her in-labor tweets are a publicity boost for Twitter (as if they need it) which certainly can’t hurt things for the micro blogging platform, but it does bring up the question – When is a situation just too personal to tweet about?

In this case, with iPhone firm in hand, Sara Williams tweeted from the time her water broke up to the time she was required to push. Apparently she even used an iPhone app to measure the time between contractions. Her last tweet before the actual child birth was a both humorous and likely serious “Epidural, yes please.”

While the pains of labor would probably have me throwing my iPhone at the wall, I do think it’s kind of funny that someone could think of tweeting at a time like that, and I have to believe that it was likely planned as a publicity move for Twitter. I know quite a few people thought her tweeting during labor was a bit tasteless, but either way, they sure are talking about it, and that’s probably good news for Twitter.

There’s some good news for those of you who may have been considering the purchase of an Amazon Kindle 2, but were holding off due to the steep price. It would seem today that Amazon has made a significant price slash to the popular electronic reader, having dropped sixty dollars off the price of the Kindle 2, making it available now for $299. The Kindle 2 was previously being sold at Amazon.com for $359 per unit.

Of course, the large price drop should result in increased demand for the already popular unit, as it now fits into more people’s comfortable price range. Unfortunately for those who have their eye on the larger Kindle DX it has not received a price drop and still remains listed at Amazon.com for $489.

                                                    
Apple’s newest release of their Safari internet browser looks to be off to a very good beginning, as the new version has seen over eleven million copies downloaded in its initial three days on the market. Notably, it is approximated that six million of those downloads were done on Windows run machines.

So why are people flocking to the new Safari? Well, the new version, called Safari 4, offers a very quick javascript engine which is estimated to be a whopping eight hundred percent faster than the one supplied by IE 8. Also, the new browser is reported to be very stable, with users experiencing a very low amount of crash issues thus far.

If you want to give the new Safari 4 a test drive, you can find it on Apple’s official page.

                                                    
“Hacker Croll” has supposedly managed to infiltrate the Twitter website with an administrator account. The person has bragged about the breach in a French web forum, saying he hacked into Jason Goldman’s account, a product management director at Twitter. As proof, he published 13 screenshots of the company’s account management interface. The screenshots indicate that he accessed several celebrity Twitter users, such as Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder admitted on the site’s blog that the site was accessed, but that no account data was changed or deleted. The only unauthorized activity that took place is that 10 accounts were viewed without permission. Hacking into Twitter doesn’t seem like a worthwhile activity for a hacker since there isn’t any user financial information listed on the site. More of a technical challenge, which seems not to pose much of a barrier for some.

                                                    
If your area is like mine, The Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicle is one of the most in demand automobiles for sale. It’s hard to get a hold of one, and often a long wait is required before even having the privilege to buy a Prius. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Honda is set to unveil an offering very similar to the Prius, in order to take advantage of the vehicle’s massive popularity.

The Honda is readying to unleash the ‘10 Honda Insight Hybrid, which should retail for just under twenty thousand US dollars. The car is quite comparable to the Prius – a small stylish five seat hybrid with excellent fuel mileage. Honda expects the auto to sell a whopping 200,000 models in just its first year!

If you yourself decide to take the plunge and purchase a new car, I’d highly recommend that you do yourself a favor and purchase some quality car detailing products to keep it looking in tip top shape. I’ve just seen to many people splurge on new cars only to have them look not so pretty in a few years or even months!

                                                    
Researchers from MIT have apparently made a large discovery in regards to recharging lithium-ion batteries more effectively, in a way that is being touted to largely improve the efficiency of hybrid vehicles. Believe it or not, the discovery allows batteries to be recharged almost ninety percent faster than previous batteries. The MIT scientists were able to accelerate the pace at which lithium ions move, vastly increasing the recharge times.

This could lead to huge advances in electric and hybrid vehicles, and mean great things for protecting our environment. Way to go, geniuses at MIT!

** A heads up on the slow down in posts lately, it’s due to the fact that it is tax time and I’ve been busy attending to my yearly finances. Because I do business globally, I’ve had to consider the services of an International tax lawyer in order to get things done right, which has taken more time than I expected. There should be an increase in post volume soon!

Eek. Be careful with your iPod Touch, as a family in Ohio is now suing Apple over claims that their fifteen year old son’s iPod Touch exploded, and caused the boy severe burns. Apparently the iPod Touch was in the boy’s pocket, and in the off position, when it exploded with enough vigor to cause a large hole in his pants, his underwear, and second degree burns to his leg.

The Ohio boy’s mother has filed a lawsuit suing Apple for an amount of $225,000 US dollars. Also, in somewhat of an odd move, she is also suing ten employees of the Apple store which sold them the device. She states that the boy is plagued by pain and mental anguish from the claimed explosion.

Imagine if the device had exploded close to his face, it could have blinded him or worse. After having some major tooth work done after a recent sports injury, I am extra careful all the time no matter I’m doing. The one good thing that came out of my ordeal, is that I found some excellent San Diego Oral Surgery clinics. For the child who got scalded by his iPod Touch, I’m guessing the one good thing that he gets out of his ordeal will be settlement money from the law team at Apple.

The BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has revealed information regarding its new online application store, which would be costlier than Apple’s. BlackBerry App World is set to launch later this month in Canada, the U.S. and Britain with the purpose of allowing customers to select and download games, social networking and personal productivity applications, and other software for a numerous BlackBerry models. RIM opened the online store this week, inviting customers to register and developers to submit their applications.

Apple’s iTunes app store is loved by iPhone users, who have made more than 500 million downloads. As the iTunes app store, BlackBerry App World would allow some applications to be free while the rest will range in price from $3.69 to $12.25. iTunes charges 99 cents for many of its apps, although it does have more expensive offers as well. Payments on Blackberry App World will be administered via PayPal.

RIM first declared its intentions regarding the store in October. Back then, it stated it is working with PayPal on a system that would permit customers to make their purchases right on the BlackBerry. It also stated the company would take a 20% commission, allowing developers to keep 80% of revenues. Apple lets developers keep 70%. Microsoft is also preparing to launch its own app store for mobile devices, Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The store is set to open in the fall when the company launches its new Windows 6.5 operating system for mobile phones.

Struggling Internet search portal Yahoo has introduced a new type of online advertising that integrates traditional search results with pictures and video. For example, on the Yahoo page, type in the keyword “pedigree,” and a sponsored search result for Pedigree dog food will appear together with a video ad that’s aired on TV for the past few weeks. The new ads were tested with a small group of advertisers during the 4th quarter, and advertisers noticed click-through rates rise by as much as 25%, according to Yahoo. This percentage may be misleading because people may have just clicked more since it is a new feature.

The new ads are presently offered on an invitation-only basis. So far, Pepsi and Esurance have also created search ads. Yahoo’s new ads, are called “Rich Ads in Search,” and enable advertisers to:

* post images and video designed for improved branding impact;
* deep links creation to relevant pages, which can help drive conversions directly from the Yahoo search page;
* include fields within the listing for searching desired products or a store location without additional navigation.

Yahoo’s new search ads are an attempt to take back some of the market share that the company has lost to Google. On the other hand, introducing a video to search ads may act as an obstacle between consumers and the quick information they seek online.