Mitsubishi delays the release of New Lancer Sedan Generation

Mitsubishi will have to delay the release timeline of the new generation Lancer sedan because of spending cuts. Instead of respecting the life cycle of five years, will have to adopt a seven this time, prioritizing more profitable models, said product manager brand, James Tol, during the launch of the Outlander crossover in Australia. But the prototype of the new model is already under study and should be ready to be shown to the public for the first time in the Hall of Tokyo (Japan) in November of next year, probably as a hybrid AWD.

Unlike the current generation, the new Lancer will not look so aggressive. The Japanese decided to adopt a new line look more friendly. Moreover, it also will not apply the same visual identity in all its models, and has been doing lately along with other brands such as Volkswagen and Ford. A good example of the new strategy will be compared with the small Mirage Outlander crossover, two cars brand identities with different looks.

The information was revealed by Osamu Masuko, Mitsubishi executive, who also confirmed that the idea of the brand is to combine sportiness and environmental awareness. It is expected that the hybrid powertrain is composed of a block diesel and electric.

The aging, oft-forgotten Mitsubishi Lancer won’t get a replacement until sometime in 2014, but a new report states that the next-generation model could be a relatively drastic departure from the car you see here. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation President Osamu Masuko told Australian site The Motor Report that the new Lancer will be smaller than the current car, going in a different direction than the vast majority of other automakers.

Masuko-san says: “The new Lancer will be a very new car, and will be sized somewhere between the current model and its predecessor”

Mitsubishi delays the release of New Lancer Sedan Generation

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Renault introduces new Symbol at the Hall of Istanbul

The Renault Clio is a supermini car produced by the French automobile manufacturer Renault. Originally launched in 1990, it is currently in its fourth generation as of 2012. The Clio has seen substantial critical and commercial success, being consistently one of Europe’s top-selling cars since its launch,[1] and it is largely credited with restoring Renault’s reputation and stature after a difficult second half of the 1980s. The Clio is only one of the two cars, the other being the Volkswagen Golf, to have been elected European Car of the Year twice, in 1991 and in 2006.

The Renault Symbol, or Thalia in some markets, is a supermini car produced by the French automobile manufacturer Renault.[1] It was introduced in late 1999, under the Clio Symbol name, as the saloon version of the second generation Renault Clio, and unlike the hatchback it was marketed only in those countries where saloons were traditionally preferred over hatchbacks,[2] while it was not available in Western Europe.[3]

The second generation has a different design than the third generation Clio and is built on the platform of the first generation car. A third generation has been introduced in late 2012, as a rebadged version of the second generation Dacia Logan.

In late 1999, the Clio Symbol began production in Turkey, as the saloon version of the Clio II.[5] It was subsequently launched in other countries, under different names, depending of the market: Clio Symbol,[6] Thalia,[7] Clio Sedan,[8] Clio 4 Puertas,[9] Symbol,[10] or Clio Classic.[11] The car was intended for sale in developing countries, where saloons were traditionally preferred over hatchbacks, most notably in Eastern Europe. In some Latin American markets, like Chile and Mexico,[12] the facelifted model was offered as Nissan Platina, with slight changes at the front of the car to make it resemble the Nissan Altima. It is longer by 38 cm (15.0 in) than the hatchback and has a larger boot of 510 litres (18 cu ft).[13]

This model was offered in three equipment levels: Authentique, Expression and Dynamique. Expression included driver airbag, air conditioning, trip computer, electric mirrors, electric front windows, CD-player and height adjustable steering wheel. Dynamique added passenger airbag, ABS, rear electric windows, body colored door handles and alloy rims, although the ABS and passenger airbag were optionals that could be added to the lower levels too. Automatic air conditioning was available as an extra feature.[34]

Symbol the sedan based on the 1999 Clio continues to sell, but Logan did always get overlooked. The solution? The two become the same car. Renault presents this weekend at the Hall of Istanbul the new Renault Symbol, which is nothing more than the new Dacia Logan with a new front.

While the front has double parabolic headlights integrated into the grille and the bumper still new – it should also be seen in the Logan and Sandero Brazilians begin to be sold in Brazil in late 2013, and online since 2014. At the rear there is no difference regarding the new Logan.

Besides the visual front modified, the Symbol has some more equipment to please the Turkish market. which will go on sale soon. The interior has not been shown yet, but Renault says in new equipment as a controller and speed limiter, automatic digital air-conditioning and GPS navigator with touch screen.

Lets see the next steps of Renault.

Review by Alessandro Drago. Drago is a engine engineer specialized in diesel and fuel injection.  http://www.true-start.com/category/car-tips

 

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Diesel Engine Specialists features Frontier 2014

The Frontier was introduced in 1997 for the 1998 model year as a replacement for the aging 1986.5-1997 Nissan Hardbody Truck. Nissan first offered the Frontier with a 4-cylinder engine, the KA24DE, but added the V6 engine, the VG33E in 1999. Elsewhere, the Frontier was also known as the Nissan Navara. Nissan was the pioneer of the “Hardbody” or “Nissan Frontier” since 1986. The first was the D21, considered to be a small pick up. After more than 10 years with the D21, the second generation Navara was manufactured from 1998 and went until 2005 which was classed as a compact sized pick up. It was replaced with the bigger, taller, longer D40, which Nissan now considers to be a mid-size pick up truck.

The Frontier also has more comfortable trappings for passengers and more interesting ways to tie down cargo. Available in extended or four-door form, it lacks the regular cab offered on the Tacoma, but the Frontier’s seats have more support and offer a more natural seating position, at least in front. Of the pair, the Frontier’s back bench offers a little more seat comfort.

Initially, the Frontier was considered a compact, but beginning with the totally redesigned model year 2005 Frontier (introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show), it became more mid-sized (as did rival Toyota Tacoma for this model year). It uses the new Nissan F-Alpha platform and exterior body styling resembles that of the company’s full-size Nissan Titan truck. In 2012 production was shifted from Smyrna, Tennessee to Canton Mississippi.
No truck in this class manages truly great safety ratings, but the Frontier is ahead here, too, scoring very well overall; the Tacoma lags both in the IIHS roof strength test (particularly important for rollover-prone pickups) and in federal testing.

Built in Japan from 1997 to 2000. Versions: Ready-to-mingle cab, Queen Cab, Bro Cab (Introduced in 2000 and only available on 2000-current models). Engines: Petrol (KA24DE) and Diesel (TD27) (2wd and 4wd) with 5 speed manual transmission. An unforseen bonus of the combination bench seat/manual transmission was awkward man touching when going into ratios 2 and 4. These models were also exported to Central and South America. US production in Tennessee started in 1998 with a Ready-to-mingle cab and a Queen cab. A Bro Cab arrived in 2000. The biggest draw of the Bro Cab is its seat designed to accomodate those who gave their legs in service to our country.

Nissan Navara is the name for the D22 and D40 generations of Nissan pickup trucks sold in Asia while in the North, Central and South America and the Philippines it is sold as Nissan Frontier. The line was started in 1998, and its immediate predecessor is the D21 Nissan Hardbody truck. As of 2002, the D22 series Nissan Truck is no longer sold in Japan, with the primary market having been relocated to North America. It is now built at the Smyrna, Tennessee Nissan factory.
Currently the D22 Navara series remains on Nissan lineup for many countries and is known as Nissan NP300, Pickup, Frontier and Navara D22. In 2009 the D22 was updated with redesigned exterior door handles.

While many of the competitors is brand new Nissan Frontier is renewed, as does the Toyota Hilux. The unique look of the Nissan Frontier in special series “10 Years”, launched last November, triumphed and was incorporated by all versions of the Frontier line in 2014. The difference is due to the new design of the front bumper, the fog lights and grille. Moreover the range has been reformulated versions.
Already available in dealerships, the 2014 Frontier have prices starting at U.S. $ 45,990. The entry version, however, is no longer the “XE” and is now called “S”, the intermediate “SE” flips “SV Attack”, while the “LE” becomes “SL”. The change standardizes the versions Frontier with other models of Nissan such as Mexican March versa.

Since version input “S”, the Frontier now has now onboard computer; silver details in the rings of the dashboard buttons and power windows and chrome trim the buttons of the air-conditioning, parking brake, outputs air and inner door handles. The “S” also won key keyless system.

In the middle option “SV Attack”, the 2014 Frontier brings new 2DIN radio with CD, MP3 and auxiliary inputs and SD card and alloy wheels with distinctive design in titanium color, the same shade fog lights and bottom detail the bumper.

The AT SL has new alloy wheels rim 18, silver finish on the bottom of the bumper, plus new design of the fog lights, which are now chrome. The version now has side moldings in body color, leather steering wheel with new design, leather seats with embossed identification of versions, I-Key smart key, vehicle dynamic control (VDC), reverse camera and air Conditioning digital automatic two zones. The entire line of Frontier pickup account airbag and antilock brakes with ABS system with electronic brake distribution (EBD) as standard.

The engine is always the 2.5 16V turbodiesel. The options with AWD are programmed to generate power of 190 hp at 3,600 rpm with maximum torque of 45.8 Nm at 2000 rpm, while the 4 × 2 delivers 163 hp at 3,600 rpm and 41.09 Nm at 2000 rpm.

Release  By Alessandro Drago . Alessandro is a diesel engine engineer in Brazil

Diesel Engine Specialists features Frontier 2014

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Drivers Know Cell Use Is Dangerous But Drive Anyways

A survey released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that while most drivers understood the dangers of using electronic devices while behind the wheel, a large percentage used them anyway.
According to the survey, released as part of the NHTSA’s recognition of April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, approximately 660,000 drivers used cellphones or manipulated electronic devices while driving during daylight hours, numbers that have held steady since 2010.
While fiddling with a stereo or iPod is dangerous and distracting while driving, according to the NHTSA, texting and hand-held cellphone use were considered more dangerous and have garnered more attention from recent surveys and studies.
The NHTSA survey also found that 74 percent of drivers support a ban on hand-held cellphone use, while 94 percent believe texting while driving should be outlawed. On average, these drivers believed the fines for these offenses should be at least $200, according to the report.
Texting while driving is currently outlawed in 39 states and the District of Columbia (see map below). Hand-held cellphone use is outlawed in 10 states, and the District of Columbia.
Wireless provider AT&T released a texting while driving survey of its own last month. Ninety-eight percent of the drivers it polled also said they understood the dangers of texting while driving.

Despite the fact that almost all drivers surveyed by AT&T said texting and driving was dangerous, 43 percent of teenage drivers said they still did it, while 49 percent of older commuters admitted the same.
“Many drivers see distracted driving as risky when other drivers do it, but do not recognize how their own driving deteriorates,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a statement. “I urge all motorists to use common sense and keep their attention focused solely on the task of safely driving.”
No doubt, some new gadgets and technologies have become distractions, making it more difficult for drivers to focus on the road. But innovation, rather than simply cutting back on device usage, can possibly be the fix to the problem.
States that have outlawed hand-held cellphone use do allow other hands-free methods of talking, whether it be a speakerphone, voice activated system or an in-ear Bluetooth or wired headset.
Samsung recently introduced S Voice Drive with its Galaxy S 4 phone. The software allows drivers to do such things as play music and get directions while keeping their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
States That Have Outlawed Texting While Driving
(Image credit: Highway Loss Data Institute)
Admittedly, fears that some of the new gadgets will contribute to distracted driving may still be warranted. CNET reported that Google’s Glass, for instance, has already been discussed as possibly becoming banned for West Virginia drivers before it’s even gone on sale. The futuristic, eye-glass headset computer projects images in front of the eyes, showing directions and notifications. Google Glass also allows users to engage in hands-free video chatting and Internet searching. Talk about distracted driving …

Drivers Know Cell Use Is Dangerous But Drive Anyways
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With H-1B cap exceeded, visa lottery will be needed

Computerworld - WASHINGTON – The H-1B visa caps have already been reached and the government will hold a lottery to distribute visas, federal officials said late today.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said it had received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet both the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000-visa cap set aside for advanced degree graduates of U.S. universities.
The government started receiving petitions on Monday, April 1, and treats the first five days as one day. If the caps are exceeded at the end of the five days, a lottery is held.
The USCIS, as it has in the past, will use a “computer-generated selection process” to determine who will get a visa for the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The agency did not say how many visas it had received. In 2008, the last time the USCIS held a lottery, it had received 163,000 petitions within five days.
A lottery was expected. Immigration attorneys had been predicting it for weeks, and the government said in March that it expected the cap to met swiftly.
The USCIS processing facilities in Vermont and California received around 60,000 H-1B petitions on Monday.
Patrick Thibodeau covers cloud computing and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at  @DCgov or subscribe to Patrick’s RSS feed . His e-mail address is pthibodeau@computerworld.com.
See more by Patrick Thibodeau on Computerworld.com.
Read more about Gov’t Legislation/Regulation in Computerworld’s Gov’t Legislation/Regulation Topic Center.

With H-1B cap exceeded, visa lottery will be needed
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Apple, Google won't face poaching class action suit, yet

By Jonathan Stempel

Fri Apr 5, 2013 2:47pm EDT

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge ruled that a lawsuit alleging a broad conspiracy among Silicon Valley companies not to poach each other’s employees cannot proceed as a class action for now, but left the door open for workers to eventually sue as a group.

In a decision released on Friday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said the five software engineers suing Apple Inc, Google Inc and five other companies have yet to show enough in common among the proposed class members to allow them to sue together.
But in deciding to give the plaintiffs another chance, the federal judge said she was “keenly aware” new evidence had recently become available that could support class certification.
She also said the nature of the “alleged overarching conspiracy” and desire to litigate it all at once weighed “heavily” in favor of certifying a class, which the plaintiffs’ lawyers have said could include tens of thousands of people.
The case has been closely watched in Silicon Valley, and much of it has been built on emails among top executives, including the late Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.
If the plaintiffs win class certification, then they would have more leverage to extract large financial settlements than if they were to sue individually.
Other defendants in the case include Adobe Systems Inc, Intel Corp, Intuit Inc, and Walt Disney Co’s Lucasfilm Ltd and Pixar units.
PLAINTIFFS TO PRESS ON
The defendants were accused of violating the Sherman Act and Clayton Act antitrust laws by conspiring to eliminate competition for labor, depriving workers of job mobility and hundreds of millions of dollars of compensation.
These allegations are similar to those raised in a U.S. Department of Justice probe that ended in a 2010 settlement, which forbade several of the defendants from entering an anti-poaching conspiracy, such as through the use of “Do Not Cold Call” lists.
Koh said she wants more evidence that a proposed class does not include large numbers of people who suffered no harm.
She also expressed concern over whether evidence would show that the defendants had “such rigid compensation structures” that would have affected nearly everyone in a class.
But in a signal that certification could be forthcoming, Koh appointed Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.
“The court has invited us to provide further answers to certain specific questions, which we are prepared to do,” Saveri said in an email. “We are in the process of determining a schedule for doing that as quickly as possible.”
Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette declined to comment. Google spokesman Matt Kallman would not discuss the decision, but said “we have always actively and aggressively recruited top talent.”
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the chipmaker opposes certification, and believes the evidence will show its employees “were fairly compensated in a highly competitive market.”
Adobe spokeswoman Christie Hui declined to comment. The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
EMAIL TRAILS
Among the revelations in the litigation was a 2007 email trail involving Jobs and Schmidt, then an Apple director, over Google’s apparent effort to recruit an Apple engineer.
After Jobs emailed Schmidt that he “would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this,” Schmidt forwarded the email to others he urged to “get this stopped.”
Koh also cited a January 2007 email from Ed Catmull, then Pixar’s president and now president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, to the head of Disney Studios that suggested a desire to avoid bidding up the price of talent.
“We have avoided wars up in Norther[n] California because all of the companies up here – Pixar,, Dreamworks, and couple of smaller places – have conscientiously avoided raiding each other,” he wrote.
All of the defendants are based in California: Adobe in San Jose; Apple in Cupertino; Google and Intuit in Mountain View; Intel in Santa Clara; Lucasfilm in San Francisco; and Pixar in Emeryville. Walt Disney is based in Burbank.
The case is In re: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 11-02509.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Leslie Gevirtz)

Apple, Google won’t face poaching class action suit, yet
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Apple, Google won't face poaching class action suit, yet

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Facebook Home Will Find Home on Tablets

Mark Zuckerberg is right: I check my phone’s homescreen about 100 times a day. But I don’t check Facebook 100 times a day. I check my email, my text messages and this website and others. I check Facebook periodically on my phone, but it tends to be only when I have a notification or to see how many likes I got on my last post.
I check my tablet though about two times a day, depending on the day. Usually it’s at night. And you know what my first or second stop is on my iPad? Facebook. And it’s a long stop. I spend time going through my feed, clicking on links I see and hitting “Like” more than I should.
According to a number of data sources, tablet usage is heaviest from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and that’s because people are leaning back during those times, rather than leaning into a computer or phone trying to work or get something done. During those evening hours, they are checking in on their friends, watching TV or reading or playing games.
PHOTOS: Facebook Home and HTC First in Photos
The focus of Facebook’s event Thursday was the mobile phone, although it did mention at the end that its new Home Android software would come to tablets. Home, for those who might have missed the news, transforms an Android phone into a Facebook phone. Instead of a lock screen or homescreen, you get Facebook’s Cover Feed, which cycles through images and posts from your Newsfeed.

There’s also a new messaging feature called “Chat Heads.” When you get a message from a Facebook friend, a small little circular icon pops up with your friend’s profile photo in whatever app you are in. You can still use other apps in Home, including the main Facebook app, email and a web browser, but the focus is on Facebook.
“Tablets are going to be awesome,” Facebook’s Adam Mosseri, the lead product designer on Home, told me in an interview after the event Thursday. “Cover Feeds looks really good. It’s a big beautiful social magazine. There are a lot of things we have to do to make it work, but just by testing it, it will feel really good. It is immersive content, the bigger it is the better it feels.”
It sounds a lot like Flipboard, an app for the iPad and Android that allows you to view news and social media feeds in a attractive digital magazine format. It also lines up with what Mark Zuckerberg said at Facebook’s News Feed announcement a few weeks ago: “What we want to do is give everyone in the world the most personalized newspaper.”
RELATED: Facebook Home and HTC First: Impressions, Video and Photos
But Mosseri also revealed that the idea to put it on a tablet was actually just an afterthought. “One of the guys was just wondering what this looks like. He just dropped it on a tablet,” he explained. Home won’t be coming to Android until later this year.
Android tablet marketshare is nowhere near the levels of Android smartphone or iPad marketshare, but part of that has to do with the lack of strong Android tablet apps. And that’s likely why Facebook didn’t focus on putting Home on tablets. But it should.
Putting Home on Android tablets like the Nexus 7 or Samsung Galaxy Tabs might not only improve the experience of using Facebook on Android tablets but improve the experience of using Android on a tablet in general for many people. (The current Facebook app for Android tablets, by the way, isn’t much more than an enlarged version of the phone app.)
The Home interface is extremely well designed, playful and the content lends itself to what people are already looking at on their tablets. So no, I don’t check my tablet 100 times a day, but Facebook Home would have a much more useful home on my tablet than on my phone.

Facebook Home Will Find Home on Tablets
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