Powell beats Bolt

World 100m record holder Usmain Bolt paid for his slow start and lost to fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell at the DN Galan meet at Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday. Powell won the contest leading from start to finish and winning in 9.88 second beating Bolt by one hundredth of a second. Usmain Bolt set the world record of 9.72 on May 31^st in New York. Powell’s previous record stood at 9.74. The meet also saw the fourth fastest 110m hurdles time in history. Dayron Robles missed his world 110-meter record by just 0.04 seconds, winning the race in 12.91. The Cuban, who set the world record last month in Ostrava, Czech Republic, beat four Americans in the race. David Oliver (13.04) and Aries Merritt (13.33) also made the podium.

Guidelines for Olympics for locals

The Olympics is fast approaching and there are no respites for the Chinese residents from the authorities. Guidelines are being released left and right since China is heavily banking on this Olympics to show to the world that it should be taken seriously. The latest guidelines give advice on Chinese-language posters was put together by the propaganda department of Dongcheng district to educate residents on how to properly welcome visitors during the Olympics. One poster includes questions which the locals shouldn’t ask the foreigners. Chinese people tend to ask certain questions when they meet new people but researchers believe that foreigners may have an adverse reaction to that. This may lead to a bad image for the people of China. So the guidelines came out to address this issue. The list includes personal questions about their love life, age, health, income, political views, salary, religious beliefs or personal experiences. Another poster gives advice on talking to disabled people. Locals are told not to use phrases such as "It's up there," or "It's over there" when talking to anyone who is visually impaired, and to avoid phrases such as "It's behind you" to physically impaired athletes. Instead, locals are recommended to use phrases such as, "You are really great," or "You are wonderful."

MMI gets an upgrade

If you are wondering what MMI stands for then you don’t drive an Audi car or heard about their best in the world Multi Media Interface. It is considered by many to be the best in car system today. Although Audi has no current competition it isn’t resting on its laurels and instead going for an upgrade for the system that will appear on it A8 luxury sedan initially. It will hit other Audi vehicles pretty soon. Apparently the new MMI is 7-inch LCD with an 800 x 480 resolution alongside a DVD drive, 40GB internal hard drive, Dolby Digital 5.1 support, optional analog / digital TV tuner, Bluetooth, twin CPUs (800MHz and 500MHz), NVIDIA graphics for "genuine 3D maps" and an optional (but necessary, really) Audi Music Interface for connecting your favorite PMP.

Unique Money Saving technique

Do you want to save $12,000 in three years. If you answer yes to that then start saving your fives. Yes a woman working as a reporter for the Boston Globe did exactly that. She came upon the idea on the internet just like you are doing right now. She started pocketing all her fives. When she had ten of them she would go and deposit the $50 in her savings account. Then once that account has $2,000 she purchases a CD to earn higher interest. She kept doing this for three years and saved up $12,000. She says that it is not easy and requires a lot of discipline.

Netbooks

Now if you have heard the term netbooks over the past six months and wondering what it means then you just joined a growing list of people. They are basically laptops but have a smaller screen size like 10 inches or 9 inches or even 8 inches. They are powered by low power processors and they are essentially meant to do basic tasks like browsing, chatting, movies etc. ASUS took it upon themselves and unleashed a slew of laptops and they are still doing it. Everyday a new ASUS comes along and the series is called Eee PC. Its major competitors include MSI and now Dell has joined the bandwagon with its e series starting at just $299. The prices of these netbooks are less than 700 and majority are around the $500 mark. Apparently these low prices are keeping away some manufacturers in spite of the growing demand for such netbooks. Major PC makers including Sony think that the low prices and huge competition means lower margins and they think that time and development of such products isn’t worth the money they are going to make from them. However ASUS isn’t bothered by any of this and they just com out with a new variant almost every week and most have gotten bored by it. I should add that some of them are really stylish and good value for money.

Spain Armada sinks the Germans

The Spanish armada led by their superb midfield clinched the Euro 2008 by beating Germany through a solitary goal by Fernando Torres. The Germans never looked like scoring and the score line was a little less flattering for Spain. The beauty of their football has been of the highest quality throughout the tournament and they showed why they were the only unbeaten team in the tournament. The Germans must be satisfied with their final appearance since on both their previous matches they were not the best side on the pitch but somehow squeaked through.

The tournament had started with an oranje revolution with both France and Italy at the receiving end. Italy made it through the group stages only to fall at the feet of Spain. The Dutch were sunk by a super Russian performance led by their playmaker Arshavin. The story of the tournament however remains the Turks football. Their never say die attitude and positive football saw them to the semi finals although they led only for a total of 13 minutes throughout the competition. They scored last minute equalizers or injury time winners but they couldn’t hang on against the Germans although they played the better football. Their bench strength amazed the whole world. In the final analysis this tournament will be remembered for Spain banishing their demons and a win for beautiful and artistic football.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait...

Demands of electric cars

Carmakers are rushing to introduce electric cars to satisfy the customer’s needs for cheaper ways for transport and to avoid gasoline. There are few problems with many customers complaining that they may not get enough electricity to charge their car regularly as they say the networks are already loaded. The utilities do not agree with this point. They say that the electric cars aren’t going to suddenly appear out of nowhere but will gradually increase in numbers. The companies argue that they only need to gradually increase the capacity with increase in demand. Utility officials say they already are coping with increased demand, especially during peak-use periods in the afternoon and early evening. But the rest of the day, most utilities have excess generating capacity that could be used to recharge cars. But the preparation doesn't mean electric vehicles will be accommodated without problems and good planning, the officials say. Since most electric cars will likely be charged during off-peak electric use times, utilities should have no problem generating enough electricity. But since people with the means to buy electric cars likely will live in the same areas, utilities worry about stress on their distribution systems. Officials are trying to collaborate with carmakers to address such issues.