Honda's Trying to Save the Drive-In

With hundreds of drive-in theaters expected to close at the end of the year once studios stop distributing 35mm film prints, Honda is backing a national effort to save the screens built around car culture.

?Project Drive-In,? sponsored by Honda, aims to save as many drive-ins as possible that haven?t been able to make the switch to digital projection, and will supply at least five drive-in theaters with the projectors.

Individuals can vote to determine which theaters will receive the projectors at http://www.projectdrivein.com.

Voting began Aug. 9 and ends on Sept. 9.

The five winning theaters will be revealed shortly after that, with each theater hosting a special screening of Sony Pictures Animation?s ?Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2,? out Sept. 27.

?Cars and drive-in theaters go hand-in-hand, and it?s our mission to save this decades-old slice of Americana that holds such nostalgia for so many of us,? said Alicia Jones, manager of Honda and Acura Social Marketing at American Honda Motor Co. ?We?re committed to helping the remaining drive-in theaters flourish with the move to digital projection.?

The first drive-ins opened in 1933 and reached their peak during the 1950s and 1960s, when there were more than 4,000 theaters across the country.

The National Assn of Theater Owners has been helping drive-ins make the transition to digital, but only around 10% have made the switch so far due to the cost of the digital projectors, estimated at more than $75,000 per screen.

On the ?Project Drive-In? site, Honda will also host an online auction that features tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of the ?Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2? premiere, as well as additional film-related merchandise.

Honda will also launch pop-up drive-ins at Honda dealerships across the country to help raise awareness, with free screenings of the animated sequel. Honda operates a network of more than 1,000 dealerships in the United States.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1928115/news/1928115/

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NVIDIA Tegra Tab-7 Photos Leaked, Looks Like Nexus 7 But Better than iPad?

NVIDIA started expanding beyond their comfort zone. Instead of focusing just on graphics and chipsets, the company decided to try their hands on computer manufacturing. For quite some time now, there have been reports about a possible tablet from the company. True enough, leaked photos of the NVIDIA Tegra Tab-7 surfaced.?

Supposedly called the Tegra Tab, a set of images have been revealed on what the tablet will look like. The photos suggest that NVIDIA may be able to come up with something more than the Microsoft RT. The device in fact bears similarities with the Google Nexus 7.?

Can it compete on the market??

The Tegra-tab, as mentioned, follows the design of Asus on its tablets. It also has a textured back. Other reported features include a micro-HDMI port, stylus slot, power button, standard 3.5mm audio jack, rear camera and volume rocker. It was reported back in April that NVIDIA already filed for the "Tegra Tab" trademark in the United States.?

According to a report by SlashGear, NVIDIA could be working on several versions of a tablet. The company already released Shield - their Android-based gaming console. The Tegra Tab may likely like be a variant of this developer unit. Google chose Qualcomm instead of NVIDIA for their chipset.?

Releasing an Android-based console plus the Tegra Tab can be the company's way of marketing their chips. NVIDIA previously expressed that they are aiming on introducing quad-core chips to Android. They want to market Android-based tablets at an affordable price.?

NVIDIA's head also expressed their intent on improving the company's value and its products. It failed with their attempt to get FonePad under Asus. The company preferred Intel instead of NVIDIA's chips. ?The company also admitted their first venture did not push through as expected. NVIDIA did not name the platform though it did give out a hint on a new platform. It is not clear whether the company is referring to the refreshed versions of the Microsoft Surface.?

The original Surface featured a Tegra processor.?

Microsoft and NVIDIA already announced their partnership over the second generation of the Surface tablets. However, NVIDIA will still need to make an official announcement about Tegra Tab.?

To contact the editor, e-mail:

Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/498797/20130814/nvidia-tegra-tablet-7-tab.htm

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Business Intelligence Startup Looker Raises $16M From Redpoint, First Round

Looker, a business intelligence startup founded by an early lead engineer from Netscape and LiveOps, has raised $16 Million in series A funding, led by Redpoint Ventures with First Round Capital, who invested in the company's $1.7 million seed round, also participating. This brings the company's funding total to $17.7 million.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2oRhd76IzQk/

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Samsung Galaxy phones to support 9 Indian languages

NEW DELHI: Smartphone giant Samsung announced that its Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets will now support content and user interface in nine Indian languages. The company has partnered with Reverie Language Technologies for this initiative and will offer support for Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujrati, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Vineet Taneja, country head, Samsung Mobile India said that it aims to bring the Android experience to the masses with local language support. This iniative is aimed at first-time internet users and non-English speaking masses of the company, he said.

Smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Grand, along with the Galaxy Tab 3 series will support the nine languages. The company said that its entry-level Android model Galaxy Star will begin supporting the same from this month, while the rest of the devices in the portfolio will be able to provide content and interface over the next two months.

Users will now be able to access applications from Samsung App Store in local languages, under categories like games, entertainment, lifestyle, utility, business and devotion. Some of the apps available in nine languages on Samsung phones include The Times Of India, Facebook, Gmail, Mydala, BSE and Bharat Matrimony, among others. The South Korean manufacturer also said that the number of local languages being supported will increase gradually.

Samsung announced that it will work with content providers and app developers to create more regional apps.

Source: http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/c/33039/f/533923/s/2fe35ac0/sc/5/l/0Ltimesofindia0Bindiatimes0N0Ctech0Cpersonal0Etech0Ccomputing0CSamsung0EGalaxy0Ephones0Eto0Enow0Esupport0E90EIndian0Elanguages0Carticleshow0C217984120Bcms/story01.htm

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Shatner helps Priceline.com beam up to $1,000 stock frontier

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John Melloy CNBC

1 hour ago

PR NEWSWIRE

William Shatner in a Priceline.com ad. The company's stock is in sight of breaking the S&P 500's $1,000 price barrier.

To boldly go where no stock has gone before...

Driven at warp speed by Star Trek's Capt. Kirk (aka TV pitchman William Shatner), Priceline.com is set to become the S&P 500's first ever $1,000 stock.

That astronomical price is a result of not only domestic growth but gains in market share in countries slow to transfer over to online travel bookings.

"Priceline's comeback is almost as remarkable as Shatner's," said Simon Baker of Baker Avenue Asset Management. "Their recent blowout numbers were particularly impressive. Crank the dial to 1,000 and 'Beam me up, Scotty.'"

Shares of Priceline are up more than 70 percent since bringing back Shatner of "Star Trek" fame back as its star in U.S. advertisements one year ago (after "killing" him off seven months prior in an ad).?

Maybe the thought of breaking through the $1,000 price barrier made investors nervous on Monday as the stock actually fell over $10, or 1.1 percent, on the Nasdaq. Still, at $959.45 per share, the four-digit price is still closer than a new galaxy for the Starship Enterprise.

The stock went into warp drive last week after the company reported net income jumped 24 percent in the second quarter, as travel bookings climbed 38 percent. Even more impressive, international bookings surged 44 percent in the period, marking the fifth quarter in a row of 40 to 45 percent growth for that metric, according to Piper Jaffray.

(Read more:The Street's fave small firm is crushing the market)

At least 17 Wall Street analysts came out with glowing reports after the earnings release, raising their share price targets to above $1,000. The average target price of those analysts is $1,133.

Standard & Poor's confirmed there has never been a $1,000 a share member in the 56-year history of the S&P 500, even during the dot-com bubble that gave birth to Priceline. Of course back then, many companies would split their shares before getting close to that milestone.

That financial maneuver has grown out of practice as companies try to emulate Warren Buffett's and Steve Jobs' dislike of stock splits for encouraging speculation. Currently, Google?whose founders also don't believe in splitting stock?has the second-highest stock price in the index at $884 a share.

While an astute acquisition of fare aggregator Kayak.com will help drive Priceline's growth in the U.S., it's the company's international sites like Booking.com, TravelJigsaw and Agoda that will be the biggest driver of future earnings growth, according to the analysts.

(Read more: Ford hits the fast lane: Shares could race up 30%)

Goldman Sachs sees adjusted earnings per share jumping 11 percent in 2014 and 14 percent in 2015 as Europe stabilizes.

"Priceline is one of the few stocks on a monster run in 2013 where the company has grown earnings just as quickly as the stock has appreciated," said Enis Taner, global macro editor for RiskReversal.com. "In the past three years earnings have tripled and the stock has tripled. This stock is no bubble."

The one concern analysts cited was overspending on marketing expenses, especially in Europe as Priceline tries to steal from existing sites or be the first stop for users switching from offline to online hotel bookings. But if the company can keep margins under control, the trip to $1,000 should be coming in at least the next 12 months, analysts said.

Ironically, it may be its pitchman who needs a raise. As the stock rocketed higher last week, Shatner tweeted;

"Congratulations to @Priceline on their stock price. Wish I hadn't sold my stock all those years ago."

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2fde6414/sc/2/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cshatner0Ehelps0Epriceline0Ecom0Ebeam0E10E0A0A0A0Estock0Efrontier0E6C10A90A0A644/story01.htm

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Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2457)

The laptop PC, as a product category, may be shrinking, but the ultra-budget category has actually seen sales grow, dominated by one name in particular: Chromebook. The ultra-low pricing and Web-centric Chrome operating system have undeniable appeal for shoppers that want a laptop purely for getting online, and the prices are hard to beat. The new Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2457) is the third Chromebook variation from Acer, starting with the Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2847) and followed up with the Editors' Choice Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055), which boosted performance and battery life with a larger battery and double the installed RAM.

Design and Features
This latest iteration of the C7 Chromebook utilizes a design identical to previous models, with a plastic chassis. It has an 11.6-inch display with 1,366-by-768 resolution, just like an old netbook. It's a little clunky looking, especially when compared with the sleeker lines of the Samsung Chromebook Series 3 (XE303C12), but it's sturdy and compact. Measuring 1.1 by 11.2 by 8.0 inches (HWD) and weighing only 3.04 pounds, this little Chromebook is also pretty portable.

As with the other members of the Acer Chromebook family, the C710-2457 is based on the Acer Aspire V5-171 netbook. To streamline manufacturing, Acer uses the existing keyboard, but with minor tweaks that make it a bit more like the Chrome-specific keyboard seen on the Samsung Series 3 or the Google Chromebook Pixel (64GB, LTE). There's also a small clickpad, with support for one- and two-finger tapping instead of the usual right- and left-click buttons. Google has also tweaked it for faster navigation in Chrome, with simple two-finger scrolling, and an easy click-and-drag function.

So how does the new C7 Chromebook C710-2457 compare to the other C7 Chromebook models? It retains the smaller 4-cell battery of the Acer C710-2847, adds the larger allotment of RAM (4GB instead of 2GB) from the Acer C710-2055, and replaces the 320GB spinning hard drive with 16GB of flash memory, as seen on both the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook and the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14.

The loss of local storage space is a bit of a step back. While Google pushes folks to embrace the cloud completely and commit everything to Google Drive?and even throws in a free 100GB of Google Drive storage to get you started?having local storage space available is a much easier sell than all-cloud-all-the-time. This is especially true when dealing with bandwidth limitations and non-ubiquitous Wi-Fi; while Chrome has significantly increased the number and scope of its apps with offline functionality, local storage may be even more important, making data available when connectivity is not.

Despite the small size, the C7 Chromebook C710-2457 also has a healthy set of features, given the price, with three USB 2.0 ports, a combination headphone and microphone jack, a case lock slot, an integrated card reader (SD/MMC), and an HDMI-out port for connect to a TV or monitor. You'll also find both VGA output and an Ethernet port, two options that required accessory dongles on the Samsung Series 3. In addition to the Ethernet port, the C7 Chromebook (C710-2457) is equipped with 802.11 a/b/g/n WLAN. You won't find Bluetooth, however, or the faster USB 3.0 ports. There's no 3G or 4G LTE equipped configuration available yet. In contrast, the relatively expensive ($329) 3G version of the Samsung Chromebook Series 3 comes with a 3G radio and 100MB per month free service.

Acer covers the C7 Chromebook with a one year warranty on parts and labor, while Google provides searchable tech support guides online for both Chrome OS and the C7 Chromebook.

Performance
With the change to RAM, storage type, and battery size, the Acer C7 has its own little niche in the Chromebook family. The C710-2457, with its 4GB of RAM, offers faster performance than the Samsung Series 3 and the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14, and is on par with the Editors' Choice Acer C7 (C710-2055).

With the smaller 4-cell battery, however, it won't last quite as long away from the outlet. In video rundown tests, with a 10-hour streaming YouTube video, the new C710-2457 lasted 3 hours 8 minutes. This isn't terrible, but it's on the short end of the spectrum?the Editors' Choice Acer C7 C710-2055 lasted more than an hour longer thanks to a larger battery, and the Samsung Series 3 lasted 5:25 with a slimmer, non-swappable battery.

While the new Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2457) gets dinged for the loss of the larger hard drive and the shorter life of the smaller battery, it does have one of the lowest prices of any of the available Chromebooks. For a product that's all about affordability and making the Internet available to all, even that $20 to $50 price difference is worth a lot, but the previous Acer C7 model remains the Editors' Choice due to its longer battery life and larger hard drive.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/MjD87NO8PJc/0,2817,2422961,00.asp

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Oil & Gas - Chile - Gas returns Chile's Enap to the black

Chile state oil and natural gas firm Enap posted net income of US$77mn in the first half of this year compared to a US$170mn loss in the year-ago period, according to the company's latest MD&A.

Enap management credited the return to profitability to a rising volume in gas sales, lower operating costs through increased gas use and increased operation of Enap refineries.

First half operations revenues were flat at US$5.72bn, however, sales revenue rose 14.8% to US$4.13bn in 1H13 from US$3.59bn in 1H12, Enap said.

In the same period cost of sales fell 6.2% to US$5.38bn from US$5.73bn in 1H12. Enap sold 5.12Mm3 of gas in 1H13, up from 4.53Mm3 in a year ago.

Source: http://www.bnamericas.com/news/oilandgas/gas-returns-chile-state-oil-firm-enap-to-black-in-1h13

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