Archive for January, 2012

AT&T orders 1,200 compressed natural gas Chevrolet Express Vans from GM

Posted by Sebastian Blanco on January 31st, 2012
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Filed under: Chevrolet , Natural Gas What’s the biggest compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle order that GM has ever received? Thanks to an announcement yesterday from the automaker and AT&T , we now know the answer is 1,200 vehicles. That’s how many Chevrolet Express Cargo Vans AT&T will get from The General. The dozen hundred vehicles will go into service across the country and are part of AT&T’s much larger initiative to green up its fleet. From electric vans to other electric vans to hybrids , the company has invested in a variety of alternative powertrain vehicles. It pretty much has to look at many options if it wants to reach its target of deploying 15,000 alternative power vehicles by 2018 . This $545-million project started in 2009; the 5,000th vehicle joined the fleet last week. The 1,200 new GM vans are all Chevrolet Express models that have been built at the factory to burn CNG in their Vortec 6.0L V8 engines. GM says the modifications include “hardened exhaust valves, and intake and exhaust valve seats for improved wear resistance and durability with gaseous fuel systems.” The fuel may burn cleaner than gasoline, but these are still fuel-hungry monsters that get a gasoline-equivalent fuel economy of 11 miles per gallon (city) and 16 mpg (highway), according to previous statements from GM , which also indicated the CNG versions cost an extra $14,590 compared to regular gas vans. AT&T’s order is the latest in a bit of an upsurge in CNG vehicles in America and around the world . The Honda Civic Natural Gas won the 2012 Green Car of the Year award at last year’s LA Auto Show and is the first passenger car to be available in all 50-states. CNG has long been more popular in the fleet market than in general use, since fleet managers can calculate the cost benefits fairly easily, just ask Waste Management or the AT&T of last March, which ordered 100 CNG-powered Chevy Express vans . If everything goes as planned , AT&T should have around 8,000 CNG vehicles in its fleet sometime this decade. Continue reading AT&T orders 1,200 compressed natural gas Chevrolet Express Vans from GM AT&T orders 1,200 compressed natural gas Chevrolet Express Vans from GM originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Buick’s smartphone games simulate fuel-efficient driving in app form

Posted by Danny King on January 31st, 2012
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Filed under: Etc. , Hybrid , Buick GM sells Buick smartphone app game that simulates fuel-efficient driving Remember the car-racing video games you played as a kid? Think of this as the opposite. General Motors is looking to raise consumer awareness of the hybrid drivetrains on its Buick LaCrosse and Regal by selling three Buick-branded smartphone application games that reward players for “driving” in a more fuel-efficient manner. GM’s free Buick eAssist Fuel Efficiency games, which are being sold for both iPhone and Android phone users, challenges the players to drive their Buicks to a particular location without running out of gas from a heavy foot. The games highlight eAssist features such as its regenerative braking system, which stores energy created through braking that can be used to propel the car. Buick’s $30,820 LaCrosse (see Autoblog’s test drive review here) has a hybrid system that helps the approximately 3,900-pound car get 25 miles per gallon in the city and 36 miles per gallon highway. Buick’s eAssist system which mates a 182-horsepower 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder gasoline direct-injection engine with an electric motor that can deliver an additional burst of up to 15 hp during acceleration while shutting the engine down when not in motion. The eAssist system is also available on the 2012 Buick Regal. http://green.autoblog.com/2011/04/01/2012-buick-lacrosse-eassist-quick-spin-review/ http://www.autoblog.com/buick/lacrosse/ http://www.autoblog.com/buick/regal/GM sells Buick smartphone app game that simulates fuel-efficient driving Remember the car-racing video games you played as a kid? Think of this as the opposite. General Motors is looking to raise consumer awareness of the hybrid drivetrains on its Buick LaCrosse and Regal by selling three Buick-branded smartphone application games that reward players for “driving” in a more fuel-efficient manner. GM’s free Buick eAssist Fuel Efficiency games, which are being sold for both iPhone and Android phone users, challenges the players to drive their Buicks to a particular location without running out of gas from a heavy foot. The games highlight eAssist features such as its regenerative braking system, which stores energy created through braking that can be used to propel the car. Buick’s $30,820 LaCrosse (see Autoblog’s test drive review here) has a hybrid system that helps the approximately 3,900-pound car get 25 miles per gallon in the city and 36 miles per gallon highway. Buick’s eAssist system which mates a 182-horsepower 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder gasoline direct-injection engine with an electric motor that can deliver an additional burst of up to 15 hp during acceleration while shutting the engine down when not in motion. The eAssist system is also available on the 2012 Buick Regal. http://green.autoblog.com/2011/04/01/2012-buick-lacrosse-eassist-quick-spin-review/ http://www.autoblog.com/buick/lacrosse/ http://www.autoblog.com/buick/regal/GM sells Buick smartphone app game that simulates fuel-efficient driving Remember the car-racing video games you played as a kid? Think of this as the opposite

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Diabetes Impairs Cognition

Posted by Matt Petronzio on January 31st, 2012

Diabetes is one of the world’s most widespread diseases, affecting some 250 million people worldwide and about 60 million new cases diagnosed each year. The know effects and complications of diabetes include changes in large and small blood vessels, which in turn can lead to peripheral neuropathy, loss of vision, renal failure, heart attacks as well as cerebrovascular disease including stroke. Neurological co-morbidities of diabetes have recently begun to attract more interest. They are among the most common but also under-recognized complications of diabetes. Individuals who are obese and/or with alterations of insulin homeostasis, including diabetes, are at an increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The risk of vascular dementia is increased 2 to 2.5 fold in people with type 2 diabetes, that of developing Alzheimer’s disease is 1.5 to 2 fold. The association between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease is particularly pronounced in carriers of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele. Carriers of this allele who also have type 2 diabetes have a two-fold increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who have the allele but not diabetes. The neurocognitive effects of diabetes are most clearly visible in children and the elderly. In people with type 1 diabetes, changes are seen in the first five to seven years of life when the brain is developing. The elderly, over 65 years of age in whom the brain undergoes neurodegenerative changes are also particularly vulnerable to the neurocognitive effects of diabetes. These neurodegenerative changes include generalized brain atrophy, with larger lesions than those found in controls without diabetes, often in subcortical areas of the brain. Leukocaryosis, also known as white matter hyperintensive lesions are usually seen in people of the age of 80, but appear earlier and are more extensive in the brains of people with diabetes. MRIs often shows atrophy of the amygdala in people with diabetes. Finally patients with diabetes often have extensive amyloid plaques that are otherwise characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. The occurrence of amyloid plaques in the brains of people with diabetes points to a link between the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. In patients with insulin resistance, too much insulin enters the brain. Both insulin and amyloid are metabolized by the insulin degrading enzyme (IDE). Since IDE has a much higher specificity for insulin than amyloid, the overabundance of insulin in the brain effectively blocks the clearance of amyloid and so promotes plaque formation. In summary, diabetes appears to accelerate the aging process of the brain by increasing atrophy and reducing the cognitive reserve

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Getting Your Internet Marketing Dream Job: How to Interview & Succeed at a Top Agency

Posted by Ashley Zeckman on January 31st, 2012

Picturesque view of Lake Minnetonka from the TopRank Online Marketing office Today marks my 4 month anniversary at TopRank Online Marketing and almost 5 years in the online marketing industry.

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From tiny to titanic in 24 million generations

Posted by Thorin Klosowski on January 31st, 2012

It takes eons for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to an elephant’s size, but reductions in size go much faster, scientists say.

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Bob Lutz: Hey right-wingers, stop attacking the Chevy Volt

Posted by Sebastian Blanco on January 30th, 2012
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Chevrolet , GM In the wake of last week’s bruising hearing on Capitol Hill about the safety of the Chevrolet Volt , which itself followed an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that concluded plug-in vehicles do not “pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles ,” former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz has written a column for Forbes that strikes back against the media (especially conservatives) who are attacking the car he thought would be one of his most important legacies. Politicians and members of the media on the right, from Mitt Romney to Neil Cavuto , have talked smack about the Volt, and Lutz says this “has attracted my attention and ire.” In typical Lutz fashion , he doesn’t mince words, writing: The Oscar for totally irresponsible journalism has to go to The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, with, as its key guest, Lou Dobbs. Amid much jocular yukking, the Volt was depicted as a typical federal failure. … Boiled down to the subtext, Dobbs’ message was this: “All Volts catch fire, and therefore all Volts have been recalled.” That simply isn’t the case. … To top it off, these two media pros lamented the fact that the same government that had forced GM to produce the Volt was now extending $7,500 tax credits towards its purchase, thus squandering even more of “our taxpayer” dollars on this failed Socialist-collectivist flop. Truth? The $7,500 tax credit was enacted under the Bush administration! Don’t let Lutz’s words make you think he’s taking a left/liberal stance. He’s still a self-declared “conservative Republican” who hates that right-wing talking heads are spiraling downward into this sort of “deliberate misstatement of facts.” They “have managed to make me embarrassed to describe myself as a conservative,” he writes, adding, “Let’s leave the ‘invention of facts’ to the left-wing climate-change alarmists.” There, that should offend pretty much everyone who’s not in the dead political center. Bob Lutz: Hey right-wingers, stop attacking the Chevy Volt originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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GM testing OnStar feature to boost renewable-energy charging in Chevy Volt

Posted by Danny King on January 30th, 2012
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Filed under: Emerging Technologies , EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Chevrolet , Carbon Offset General Motors is developing a feature for its OnStar navigation service that will allow Chevrolet Volt owners to better match recharging patterns for the extended-range plug-in vehicles with the availability of renewable energy. GM is working with utility company PJM Interconnection on the feature, in which OnStar users will know what percentage of a grid’s power supply is coming from renewable sources such as wind. OnStar will be able to regulate the recharging activity for Volts according to peak wind time, which according to PJM is generally between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. GM is running demonstrations of the feature this week at the 2012 DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio. GM will also work with Google at testing the OnStar feature on 17 Chevy Volts at Google’s campus in Mountain View, CA. OnStar, which is available on 45 GM models, is used by 6 million subscribers in North America and China. Continue reading GM testing OnStar feature to boost renewable-energy charging in Chevy Volt GM testing OnStar feature to boost renewable-energy charging in Chevy Volt originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Google+ Optimization vs. Community Building: Pros & Cons of Google SPYW

Posted by Lee Odden on January 30th, 2012

Google+ Optimization or Community Building? Initially I looked at Google+ the same as other Google social projects like Wave and Orkut

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BMW, Tendril will build demonstration home ‘wired’ for ActivE electric vehicle

Posted by Danny King on January 29th, 2012
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Filed under: Emerging Technologies , BMW BMW and Boulder, CO-based energy management company Tendril will build a demonstration home designed to power BMW’s ActiveE electric vehicle while minimizing the home and the car’s carbon footprint, the New York Times reported. The home, which will be built at BMW’s San Francisco Bay Area technology office by this March, will have “smart” thermostats, solar panels and appliances, the newspaper said, citing the companies, which didn’t disclose how much the house will cost to build. The home will manage energy delivery to minimize power usage during the costliest times on the grid. The German automaker is joining Toyota and Nissan among electric-drive car makers that are building demonstration homes geared towards getting data on “smart” energy usage. Last August, Nissan started selling a home system in Japan that allowed the Leaf to be used as backup electricity-storage system for homes. The Leaf, if it starts with its 24-kilowatt-hour battery fully charged, can supply enough electricity to power a typical Japanese home for about two days, Nissan said at the time . BMW last week delivered its ActiveE electric vehicle to its first U.S. customers, as the German automaker enters the next phase its domestic EV testing after the Mini E. The car will be available in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, New York, Boston and Hartford, CT, at a rate of $499 a month with a $2,250 downpayment. Open enrollment for the program started this week. BMW, Tendril will build demonstration home ‘wired’ for ActivE electric vehicle originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Arabia identified as key stop in early human migrations

Posted by Dusty Wright on January 28th, 2012

Arabia was the first staging post for humans when they first migrated out of their ancestral home of Africa,

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