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Ford and Chrysler have come under fire from the Made in the USA Foundation over certain advertisements. The foundation has filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission for misleading ads, claiming that both automakers have advertised vehicles as made in America that were actually imported from foreign countries.
The filing points out that Ford advertises the Fusion as an American car, when the vehicle is actually assembled in the automaker’s facility in Sonora, Mexico. The complaint goes on to say that the advertisement is misleading and gives consumers the wrong impression about the sedan’s origins.
Chrysler fared no better. The Made in the USA Foundation specifically took issue with the company’s new commercials for the Chrysler 300. The spots carry the popular “Imported from Detroit” tagline, which the foundation says leads buyers to believe that the sedan is American built. In fact, the 300 is assembled in Ontario, Canada using an engine built in Mexico.
So far, there’s no word on how the FTC will proceed with the complaints, though we can imagine the automakers’ defense. While both vehicles may be assembled elsewhere, the bulk of their engineering took place right here in the States. Plus, both Mexico and Canada are indeed both in North America, just not the United States of America. Hit the jump for the Made in the USA Foundation press release.
via Made In America group files complaint against Ford, Chrysler for misleading ads.
Ubuntu a second look..
So I for some reason have always been a fan of Ubuntu. Not that I used it on a regular basis I am primarily a Mac user. With that said if I needed a samba server, web server or well just about any server I use Ubuntu server. Its easy to configure and in a couple of hours and few hunded bucks in hardware I can bang out a dependable server.
Apple recently added some cloud services and man I am a fan! The integration with my iphone, Macbook Pro and AppleTV its outstanding! I digress.. My point will become clear in a moment.
A few days ago I needed to do some testing and downloaded the newest version of Ubuntu Server got it installed and had my testbed up and running in no time. While I was on the Ubuntu site I noticed they released a new version of their desktop product Ubuntu 11.10 curious to see what is new and if it has really reached the point that I feel I can recommend it to USERS that do things like pictures and music I downloaded it.. In the process I noticed that they are now offering a cloud service much like Apple.. Hmm interesting. A quick search of the itunes store turns up two very cool apps..
and
“Store your files, photos and music in Ubuntu One and access them from any of your devices anywhere in the world. An Ubuntu One free account is needed which gives you 5GB of cloud storage”
Enter Ubuntu One.. 5gb in the Cloud that allows you to store your music and files and access them from your iphone/android. Wow Im impressed. I am in the process of testing this system and I will report as I go to its usefulness and performance. I hope that it is all that it sounds to be. I press people all the time to get a mac because it is simple to use and dependable but many times cost is a deterrent. This could be a great alternative.. unfortunately that reamins to be seen.
I will be doing some testing over the next few weeks and report my findings. I am optimistic at this point.
iPhone 4s Jailbreak has Arrived.
Well folks, the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived! The iPhone 4S UntetheredJailbreak was released today in the form of Absinthe. The Dream Team, consisting of Pod2G,P0sixNinja, MuscleNerd, Planetbeing and even Saurik have managed to fix the remaining errors with this A5 Untethered Jailbreak and it is now ready for public distribution. With the A5 UntetheredJailbreak ready for distribution, this means you can simply download Absinthe and Jailbreak your iPhone 4S Untethered running the iOS 5.0, iOS 5.0.1 (9A405 and 9A406) firmware. Now you can gain the missing functionality of tweaks and themes you have been longing for!
http://www.ijailbreak.com/iphone/iphone-4s-untethered-jailbreak-released/
AT&T Hikes Data & Tethering Data Prices
AT&T in a surprise step Wednesday increased its mobile data plan prices with cap changes to match. New customers will pay an extra $5 per month on plans but will get more data depending on the plan they use. Basic Data Plus users get the least increase, moving from 250MB to 300MB per month with $20 the new baseline; the more common Data Pro plans are now $30 and $50, but supply 3GB (up from 2GB) and 5GB (up from 4GB).
Wi-Fi Data & Tethering Data Plan – Wireless from AT&T
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/01/18/att.hopes.to.eke.more.from.data.users/#ixzz1jr1b6aXd
Target Plans Apple Mini-Stores – NYTimes.com
Target confirmed on Thursday that it planned to test Apple mini-stores at 25 of its retail locations this year.
Apple already has centers within Best Buy stores, but an expansion to Target makes the computer brand accessible to shoppers who are not necessarily looking for electronics.
Target currently sells some Apple products, like iPads and iPods, but it does not sell Macintosh computers.
The announcement confirmed rumors reported by AppleInsider and other technology blogs late last week.
The Apple details came after Target said it would open in May small boutiques within its stores called The Shops at Target. The shops will initially feature small local stores like Polka Dog Bakery in Boston and The Webster in Miami, which sells clothing and accessories. Items created by the stores exclusively for Target will be sold for six weeks in stores and online.
Stores-within-a-store, with dedicated floor space and signs and shelves designed by a brand, have been a popular strategy for a while. Department stores have long had small boutiques for designers like Ralph Lauren or Chanel. J. C. Penney, a Target competitor, has made its stores-within-a-store — for Sephora, Call It Spring, MNG by Mango and other brands — a centerpiece of its strategy.
Target said it would continue with its well-known designer collaborations, where fashion designers make a low-priced line for Target. When the Missoni for Target line was introduced in September, the Target Web site crashed under the huge demand and it took months for some consumers to get their orders. The next designer collaboration, to be sold in February, is with Jason Wu.
Adonit astonishes with new pressure sensitive iOS stylus | Macworld
The pen provides up to 200 levels of pressure from a combination of hardware and software, according to Adonit chief marketing officer David Sperry. The Touch’s free SDK will be available to all app makers upon the stylus’s release; it allows writing and drawing apps to take advantage of the pressure levels and palm rejection algorithm, and program the pen’s two side-buttons. Currently, Adonit has been working with both ProCreate and Sketchbook Pro on SDK implementation. (My time with the pen was spent using ProCreate.)
But unlike some of the faux-pressure solutions of the past, the hardware component is just as important as the software: The Jot Touch communicates the level of pressure from the spring-tip to your iOS device via Bluetooth, no dock connector required. The pen charges magnetically through a tiny USB dongle. Sperry estimates that the pen should last 12 hours on a single charge under Bluetooth 3.0, with that estimate likely to double once Apple implements the Bluetooth 4.0 standard.
This all sounds impressive, sure, but does the pen hold up where it really matters—when drawing or writing? My quick test returned a resounding yes. While the Adonit team is still tweaking the exact balance between how hard you press to make the resulting lines, even their early prototype works as advertised. The new, springier nib not only makes it feel like you’re drawing and tapping on an actual surface, rather than a screen—the lines don’t lie. When I traced the pen over the screen lightly, I received a thin, pale line; added pressure, and the line darkened and widened. It’s not quite like working with a Wacom tablet, but it’s insanely close.
Adonit is aiming for the Touch to be out in March, with a price tag less than $100.
via Adonit astonishes with new pressure sensitive iOS stylus | Macworld.
Lawsuit Claims Symantec “Scareware” Warns Of Fake Threats To Sell Upgrades – Forbes
The Registry Mechanic trial software a user claims showed him fake errors to convince him to pay for a full $29.99 version.
Security firms often warn users about “scareware”: malicious software that performs fake antivirus scans and then demands the user pay for a cleanup. Now a lawsuit claims that the world’s top antivirus firm, Symantec, is itself a scareware scammer.
James Gross, a resident of Washington State, filed what he intends to be a class action lawsuit against Symantec in a Northern District California court Tuesday. Gross claims that Symantec defrauds consumers by running fake scans on their machines, with results designed to bully users into upgrading to a paid version of the company’s software.
“The Scareware does not conduct any actual diagnostic testing on the computer,” the complaint reads.
via Lawsuit Claims Symantec “Scareware” Warns Of Fake Threats To Sell Upgrades – Forbes.
Apple, iPhone and iPad News | ModMyi – A5 Jailbreak Yet Another Step Closer – No More Sandbox Issues
Hacker planetbeing, a part of the A5 untethered jailbreak dream team, announced via a tweet on Twitter today that we are one step closer to the A5 untethered jailbreak. Why? Because the dream team’s newest member, saurik, helped them with getting out of the sandbox. It was originally planetbeing’s responsibility to deal with the sandbox, but saurik helped once more. Saurik has been in cahoots with the A5 untethered jailbreak since the beginning.
It all started with pod2g’s A5 caching issue. Saurik was able to assist in getting pod2g over that mountain. Not too long ago, we reported on MuscleNerd and pod2g tweeting the update that they were almost past solving the sandbox. Saurik’s introduction to the issue today pretty much steam-rolled it and the ending was a happy story.
Escaping the sandbox is a very important step in the jailbreak. This is good news because the sandbox is one of the tough security measures that makes hacking into an iDevice hard. It mixes things around – imagine a literal sandbox. If you buried several small parts in it and mixed it all around, you would find it incredibly difficult to find the things that you buried in it because it hides the resources. This is the idea behind it. The sandbox measure keeps information from being discovered by malicious processes. It runs new processes separate from other processes so that they are limited in resource and cannot cause damage.
With the sandbox measure completely defeated, the rest of the jailbreak process will coast along nicely. We don’t have an estimated time of arrival for the jailbreak yet, but we can properly assure you that the toughest mountain has been climbed. We expect that many iPad 2 and iPhone 4S owners will be happy to hear this news.
via Apple, iPhone and iPad News | ModMyi – A5 Jailbreak Yet Another Step Closer – No More Sandbox Issues.
OS X 10.7.3 Build 11D42 Seeded to Developers [Update: Release Description] – Mac Rumors
According to those familiar with the update, Apple is asking developers to focus their testing on the following areas: Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari. The delta version of the new build for updating from OS X 10.7.2 weighs in at 989.75 MB, while a combo version good for updating from any previous version of OS X Lion weighs in at 1.26 GB.
OS X 10.7.3 will be Apple’s next free maintenance update for OS X Lion users. The current version, OS X 10.7.2, was released in mid-October and brought support for Apple’s new iCloud services. OS X 10.7.3 developer builds have so far released a few hints of Apple’s work, including drivers for new graphics cards that could appear in an updated Mac Pro and active efforts on HiDPI display modes that could come to fruition in a “Retina” MacBook Pro rumored for release early this year.
Update: We’re hearing that the new Build 11D42 is likely to be either the golden master version of OS X 10.7.3 that will be released to the public or very close to it. Consequently, a public release could come in the relatively near future.
Update 2: Build 11D42 contains what is likely to be the final release description for OS X 10.7.3:
via OS X 10.7.3 Build 11D42 Seeded to Developers [Update: Release Description] – Mac Rumors.
So, you say you enjoyed those word-search puzzles flung at you in third grade—the ones where you’d try to find the words hidden in a large grid of letters. And you appreciate the satisfying effect that occurs when you clear a Tetris row. And you relish games that slowly but oh-so-surely become more challenging over time. And you have a thing for steam punk interfaces. Then Ayopa Games’ $4 W.E.L.D.E.R. is for you.
At its very core, W.E.L.D.E.R. is that word search game. You create words of four or more letters by swapping in nearby letters. So, for example, you have the letters PUSN nicely lined up. Tap S and then N and the two letters change positions, forming PUNS. When this happens, the letters vaporize, you earn points, and, Tetris-like, any letters above them drop down. (If you’re lucky, those shifting letters also form words, which are immediately cashed in). You can also swap letters that aren’t in the combination you’ll eventually create. Instead, choose one of the eight letters that surround the letter you want to swap. Additionally, there are wooden “blank” letters you can double-tap to create any letter of your choosing. So if you have N-U-M-Blank-L-E-S, you can double-tap on the blank, type in B with the old-fashioned typewriter keyboard, and you’ve got NUMBLES. You can form words horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally.
via W.E.L.D.E.R. Version: 1.11 Review | iPhone and iPad Games App | Macworld.
