Windows 7 Is the Fastest Selling OS in History!

Microsoft has declared a massive victory for its latest operating system: "Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling Operating System in history," according to Craig Beilinson, the Director of Marketing for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division. Unfortunately, Beilinson did not share the exact unit sales number. But has evidence to back his claims: The week of the Windows 7 launch saw PC sales jump almost 50% over the week before; PC sales on Black Friday were up 63% over last year's Black Friday; and for the entire holiday 2009, there was more than 50% increase in PC sales year over year.

Beilinson also touted the diversity of the Windows 7 OS. It is not only available on 1,400 PCs, but also 11,000 Windows 7 devices and components. Say what you will about Microsoft losing its edge, but the software is being used in Netbooks and Tablets (the recently revealed HP slate), Windows Mobile 6.5 in a variety of partners' phones (the recently announced HTC HD2), and even Microsoft extending software to the car industry (Fiat, Ford, and Kia).

Block on Ice!

Like turning a Subaru Impreza STI into the world's fastest snow cat. See? We'd be frankly irresponsible if we didn't report that.

Ken's Scooby snow cat packs 400bhp and features four cat tracks in the place of wheels, making it pretty much the ultimate vehicle to hoon around Utah's wintry backcountry in search of, like, powder stashes and pillow lines and that kind of stuff.

"The TRAX STI combines two of my favourite things in life: driving a rally car in the snow and snowboarding in the backcountry," says Block.

He leads a tough life, our Ken. Oversteering snow cats, oversteering rally cars, scaring the bejesus out of James May - how's he going to find time to take on Seb Loeb in the WRC next year?

Marie Digby Is The Face Of Arden B

Looks like we're all about to know Marie Digby a lot better real soon!

The Avalanche singer has been signed as the new face of Arden B in the brand's first ever partnership with a musician.

Photos of Marie donning the brand's Resort 2010 collection are featured in all of the label's stores nationwide and on the Arden B website. Also on the site, fans can enter to win an Arden B. giftcard and a signed copy of Marie's new album, Breathing Underwater.

Sharon Hughes, Chief Merchandising Officer for the company said:

"Arden B is focused on delivering trend right, unique fashions for the independent contemporary woman - all at an amazing price. We really felt Marie is a talented, fresh face that fits well with the brand and we are excited to launch the program in-stores and online."

Sounds good for both parties!

Congrats on the new pairing.

1999 Bugatti Concept

1999 Bugatti Veyron design proposal by Walter de'Silva

The car you see here is not the latest special edition Bugatti Veyron, nor is it a Chinese knockoff of the extreme hypercar. It is in fact a 1999 Bugatti Veyron design concept built by then-SEAT head of design, Walter de'Silva. It seems Walter was asked to submit a design concept by then-head of Volkswagen Design, Hartmut Warkuss. Word came that VW head honcho Ferdinand Piëch was working on the revival of theBugatti brand and he needed some proposals.

This full-scale mockup was built and presented, but ultimately rejected in favor of Hartmut's own design. Thank goodness.

The de'Silva concept car languished in some dark corner until Quattroruote uncovered it and printed a spread on the car in August. Scans of that article have found their way onto the interwebs and ultimately into our own grubby little hands so we could share them with you.

While there are some similarities between the de'Silva concept and the production Veyron, we're glad VAG decided to go with the Warkuss design. Based on the Giugiaro-styled Chiron 18.3, the Veyron ultimately looked much more sophisticated and elegant. Still, this concept lives on as a footnote in the long story of the world's most outrageous supercar.

Noble’s Noble-beater

And this is Fenix Supercars' first offering, confidently predicted to go on sale in the UK late this year. We don't know what it'll be called, but we know it'll be fast.

It'll be offered with the choice of two engines: a GM-sourced ‘LS3' V8 putting out 480bhp, or the psychotic 6.2-litre supercharged V8 from the Corvette ZR1, developing a scary 638bhp. Noble says the supercharged car should hit 100mph in under seven seconds, and top out over 200mph.

Quick enough, especially with a kerbweight estimated at 1,200kg (in comparison, the M600 weighs 1,250kg and musters 650bhp). And, though it's difficult tell much from these shady shots, it shouldn't be a minger either.

"The new car's styling owes nothing to what I've done before and has quite literally been a ‘clean sheet' exercise from the start," says Lee Noble. "It's edgy, with powerful lines, and aerodynamically will be in another league to any of my previous cars."

Even so, getting the car into production before the end of 2010 remains a big ask.

New Meriva: unhinged

Prepare for a shock. A small shock, admittedly, but a shock nonetheless.

This is the new Vauxhall Meriva. Not a 'concept previewing the new Vauxhall Meriva', but the real, production Vauxhall Meriva. And it has suicide doors!

Actually, Vauxhall doesn't call them suicide doors. They're FlexDoors, apparently, which "allow unimpeded forward access/egress to and from the cabin". That's marketing-speak for ‘make it easier to get in and out of the back'.
We are unashamed suckers for a good suicide door - even on a sensible five-seat family car - so the Meriva is off to a good start. And it should be a tidy all-round specimen when it goes on sale later this year after its debut at the Geneva show in March.

For a start, it looks good, adopting bits of Astra/Insignia design language - check out that ‘sideblade' running down from the front wheel arch - and adding a natty new kink in the window line, which helps to improve visibility from the rear seats but mainly looks rather good.

With a wider track and longer wheelbase than the outgoing Meriva, it should drive better than the old car. It'll be launched with a range of six turbo engines borrowed from the Astra, ranging from 74bhp to 138bhp. Strangely, there's no word on a VXR version yet.

Burj Dubai renamed to “Burj Khalifa”

Dubai opened the worlds tallest skyscraper Monday, and in a surprise move renamed the gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa in honor of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, the ruler of neighboring Abu Dhabi which came to its rescue during the financial meltdown.

Blazing fireworks rippled up and down the glistening massive structure of concrete, glass and steel pinnacle rising 828 meters (2,717 feet) after it was officially opened by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al-Maktoum.

Abu Dhabi provided direct and indirect injections totaling $25 billion last year as Dubais debt problems deepened.

“Today the United Arab Emirates achieves the tallest building ever created by the hand of man… and this great project deserves to carry the name of a great man. Today I inaugurate Burj Khalifa,” Sheikh Mohammad said.

Parachutists bearing the UAE colors of red, green, black and white then touched down as a giant portrait of Sheikh Khalifa was projected on an outer wall of the structure which cost $1.5 billion to erect.

In the fireworks spectacle that followed, blossoms of flames crackled up and down the huge building and out into the Dubai night sky, followed later by lasers sweeping the horizon from the towers many levels.

Dubai hopes the opening of the Burj Khalifa -the latest in a series of grandiose projects – will burnish an image tarnished by its crippling debt woes. The needle-shaped tower, described by its developer as a “vertical city” as it dwarfs existing skyscrapers, boasts new limits in design and construction. Emaar Properties, the partly government-owned developer, had maintained the suspense about the skyscrapers final height, saying only that it exceeded 800 meters (2,625 feet).

The construction of the tower, which began in 2004, “cost $1.5 billion,” Emaar chairman Mohammed Alabbar said.

Burj Khalifa has more than 200 floors, only 160 of which will be inhabited, while the remaining floors are for services.

Tonight its the official inauguration of Burj Dubai, The Tallest and Magnificient!!

The inauguration of Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, developed by Emaar Properties, will feature a spectacular display of sound, light, water and fireworks on the evening of January 4, 2010, will be watched live by “an estimated 2 billion people”, according to a press release from Emirates news agency WAM.

A combination of dazzling fireworks, light beams, choreographed water displays, and sound '&' music effects will describe the evolution of the world's most iconic new building in a breathtaking sensory journey.

In all, 868 high-powered 'stroboscope' lights will be integrated into the facade of Burj Dubai and the tower's spire - and each stroboscope will be fired individually to create a series of hypnotic lighting sequences.

The entire display is controlled by a sophisticated arrangement of ultra high-tech IT systems, which choreograph at least 50 different sequences of lighting, fireworks, water and sound effects.

Event experts from France, Britain and the United States collaborated on the project, demonstrating the global spirit of teamwork which defines Burj Dubai itself.
Powerful strobe lights will be fixed near the pinnacle of the tower, and six 'narrow beam' search lights will be positioned 700 metres up the tower.

The entire inauguration show consists of a pre-show and three themed acts - From the Desert Flower to Burj Dubai, Heart Beat, and From Dubai '&' the UAE to the World - and a firework finale.

A giant screen on Burj Park Island, as well as several television screens placed across Downtown Burj Dubai including the Waterfront Promenade, will broadcast the inauguration in real-time. Hundreds of international media, including Dubai TV, will report live from the scene.

The building is part of the 2 km2 (0.8 sq mi) flagship development called "Downtown Burj Dubai" at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architect is Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006.

The Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm SOM was in charge of the project design. The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers., Besix and Arabtec. Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction project manager .

Under UAE law, the Contractor and the Engineer of Record are jointly and severally liable for the performance of Burj Dubai. Therefore, by adoption of SOM’s design and by being appointed as Architect and Engineer of Record, Hyder Consulting is legally the Design Consultant for the tower.

The total budget for the Burj Dubai project is about US $4.1 billion; and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US $20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Dubai had reached US $4,000 per sq ft (over US $43,000 per m2) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Dubai, were selling for US $3,500 per sq ft (over US $37,500 per m2).

Current records

• Tallest skyscraper to top of spire: 818 m (2,684 ft) (previously Taipei 101 - 509.2 m (1,671 ft))
• Tallest structure ever built: 818 m (2,684 ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m (2,121 ft))
• Tallest structure: 818 m (2,684 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m (2,063 ft))
• Tallest freestanding structure: 818 m (2,684 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m (1,815 ft))
• Building with most floors: 160 (previously both 1 & 2 World Trade Center – 110)^[23][3]
• World's highest elevator installation^[24]
• Worlds fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s)^[24](previously Taipei 101 – 16.83 m/s)
• Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 605 m (1,985 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 449.2 m (1,474 ft))
• Highest vertical concrete pumping (for any construction): 605 m (1,985 ft)^[25]
• The first world's tallest structure in history to include residential space^[2]
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world^[26]
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
• Tallest service elevator in the world
• Worlds highest installation of an aluminium and glass façade, at a height of 512 m (1,680 ft)

Google's Chrome grabs No. 3 browser spot from Safari

i told ya! Chrome indeed was the Browser of the year lol


Computerworld - Google's Chrome overtook Apple's Safari to become the world's third-most popular browser just 16 months after its debut, a Web metrics company said Friday.

Internet Explorer (IE), meanwhile, lost almost a full percentage point in December, the latest slip in a decline that accelerated during the second half of 2009.

Chrome ended December with a share of 4.63%, according to California-based measurement firm Net Applications. Apple's Safari, which dropped into fourth place for the first time, posted a share of 4.46%. The swap in positions came a month earlier than Computerworld's December prediction, which had been based on a three-month gain-loss trend of the two browsers.

Chrome's December increase of 0.7 of a percentage point, the largest since Google launched the browser in September 2008, may have been partly fueled by the release three weeks ago of beta editions for Mac and Linux.

Although it fell to the No. 4 spot, Safari didn't stand still last month: It picked up 0.1 of a percentage point. Opera Software's flagship browser also gained ground in December, and accounted for 2.4% of all browsers used in the month, a record for the Norwegian-made program. However, Mozilla's Firefox lost 0.1 of a percentage point, finishing with 24.6%, delaying for at least another month the No. 2 browser's move past the 25% milestone.

Tramontana R, the weirdest car

Stunning? Or stunningly ugly?

This is the Tramontana R, an open-wheel hypercar fresh out of Spain and packing visuals that make the KTM X-Bow look a bit tame. It’s a bit clichéd to reference the Batmobile when talking about mental stealth supercars, but it seems apt here. Maybe with a bit of cockroach thrown in for good measure.

The Tramontana R is powered by a Mercedes-sourced 5.5-litre V12 fitted with a massive pair of turbochargers to boost power to a monstrous 760bhp and 811lb ft of torque.

All of which makes Tramontana’s claims of a 3.6-second 0-62mph time sound distinctively conservative – though we’re not complaining about the ten second run to 120mph. Long gearing, perhaps?

There’s room for two under the front-hinging canopy – you can wedge a passenger behind you in proper fighter pilot formation (clichéd reference number two). The custom Ohlins suspension allows you to adjust the R’s ride height by up to five centimetres, which brings the total ground clearance to, er, about five centimetres.

the Sound was decent ,the Caterham R500-style six-speed sequential box, though we’re less keen on the 385,000 Euro price tag. Tramontana reckons it can build 12 Rs this year… but as always, we’ll retain a healthy degree of scepticism until we get a drive in one.