Honda will bring plug-in hybrids, full EVs to United States in 2012

Though they probably won't look anything like Honda's adorable EV-N, the Japanese automaker's got some new technological vehicles up its sleeves -- in a speech today, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito formally announced plans to produce a plug-in hybrid competitor for Toyota's flashy new PHEV Prius by 2012, which rumor has it will sport an estimated fuel economy (when it's using fuel, we assume) of roughly around 140 miles per gallon. Better still, a completely battery-powered electrical vehicle will also go on sale by 2012, and you won't have to fly to Japan to try them out, as they're slated for the States as well. Hydrogen fuel cells are apparently still Honda's long-term solution, though the FCX Clarity received only a passing mention. In the short term, Honda's still circling the wagons around part-gasoline systems like the Civic (which will receive a Li-ion battery pack) and the Fit Hybrid, destined for Japan this fall.

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ALPA intensifies into tropical depression while leaving RP

The active low-pressure area (ALPA) that threatened parts of Luzon over the weekend has intensified into a tropical depression as it left Philippine territory Monday.

But state weather forecasters are still monitoring the movement of the cyclone code-named "Caloy," lest it make a U-turn and return toward the Philippines.

"Yung ALPA tuloy na naging bagyong tropical. Gayunpaman ito [ay] naging bagyong tropical [nang] dumaan na rito sa atin, kasalukuyang tumatawid na ng South China Sea (The ALPA became a tropical cyclone but is now crossing the South China Sea)," Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecaster Elvie Enriquez said on dzBB radio.

She said the ALPA intensified into a tropical depression after making landfall. She said that unless it makes a U-turn, it will not affect any part of the country.

"Nagbigay lang tayo ng warning at local na pangalan, dahil nasa Philippine area of responsibility (We gave it a name and issued a warning only because it is still in the Philippine area of responsibility as of this morning)," she said.

On the other hand, she said Pagasa is not discounting the possibility of Caloy making a U-turn.

"Yan ang isa sa ating binabantayan. Wala tayong dini-discount na possibility maaring mag-recurve (That is one thing we are watching. We are not discounting the possibility of it recurving)," she said.

Another weather disturbance in July

Pagasa's 5 a.m. advisory said that as of 4 a.m., Caloy was 200 km west of Subic, Zambales, with maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center.

It was moving west northwest at 20 kph and is expected to be 590 km west northwest of Dagupan City Tuesday morning.

"This weather disturbance is now too far to directly affect any part of the country," it said.

Meanwhile, Enriquez said there is a possibility of another cyclone forming before the end of this month.

"On the average we get two cyclones in July. So far only one has passed through Philippine territory," she said.

Source: GmaNews

Noynoy wants a more advanced weather forecast system

Dismayed with the "sorely lacking" capability of the state weather agency to forecast the movement of weather disturbances hitting the archipelago, President Noynoy Aquino wants a more responsive weather forecasting system to prevent costly errors like what transpired on Tuesday when typhoon "Basyang" (international name: Conson) was forecast to hit northern and central provinces but devastated Metro Manila instead.

"We will review everything. All things need improvement," Aquino said in an ambush interview with newsmen after an emergency meeting with the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) General Headquarters' in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City where he reprimanded officials of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) for its delayed forecast updates on the movement typhoon.

"Why is it that they say that (the typhoon) would go to this direction, but it would go to another direction. We have to improve on this area. We have to have fool proof (forecasting system). We need to find out what methods need improvement?" he said.

Aquino said he wants a weather forecasting system that could keep up with the rapid movement of storms so the response efforts of the government is not compromised especially in a country visisted by more than 20 typhoons annualy.

"I want to emphasize to them (Pagasa officials) that we must have a system with more precision because a storm can move rapidly. We must know the significant changes at the earliest possible time because what happened was we made preparations in certain areas (but the typhoon) hit another area,"  Aquino said referring to Pagasa's weather disturbance bulletins which are released every six hours.

During the briefing in Camp Aguinaldo, Aquino admonished Pagasa's "long time problem."

"You do what you are supposed to do. This is  not acceptable. I hope this is the last time that we are all brought to areas different from where we should be," he said. "We rely on you to tell us where the potential problems are."

"All the agencies have adequately met their responsibilities at this point in time but your information is sorely lacking. We have had this problem for quite a long time," the President added.

Pagasa was also criticized in September 2009 when it failed to warn Metro Manila residents of the voluminous rain poured by tropical storm "Ondoy (international name: Ketsana), which inundated Metro Manila resulting to deaths of hundreds of people.

Also at the briefing, the President directed the Philippine Coast Guard to conduct a feasibility study to form an advance warning system that would inform fisherfolks of an approaching typhoon.

Meanwhile, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Soliman was directed to ensure proper accomodation for those who were evacuated because typhoon Basyang. She asked Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo to help out on the matter.

Soliman reported that residents in Dinggalan, Aurora, who were evacuated earlier, had already returned to their homes.

Others affected by the typhoon, Soliman revealed, were 113 families in Baseco, Manila; 43 families in Delpan, Manila; and 100 senior citizens from a nursing home in Tanay Rizal.

On Tuesday night, during a dinner with the Malacañang Press Corps. (MPC), President Aquino said the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), Pagasa's parent agency, is exerting efforts to upgrade its weather forecasting system that would include adopting an advanced warning system technology from Germany.

Aquino said there have been grants from European countries that would finance the technology upgrade for disaster mitigation.

On the other hand, the President kept mum about the government's depleted calamity funds.

"Let's wait for the Department of Budget and Management's (DBM) pronouncement. All agencies have needs and economic managers have to manage the debt cap. We'll wait for their assessment," he said.

Source: MB

Yamaha offers electric scooters for green errands

TOKYO — Yamaha is targeting fashionable green-minded consumers with a new electric scooter designed for short city commutes.

The 240,000 yen ($2,700) "smart minimal commuter" EC-03, shown to reporters Wednesday, is zero-emission and super-quiet, making it convenient for late-night city driving, according to Japanese motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor Co.

Its maximum cruising range on a single charge is technically 43 kilometers but in regular road conditions, drivers should not count on more than 25 kilometers, Yamaha said.

"Aspiring to low-emissions societies is a certain global trend," said Hiroyuki Yanagi, Yamaha president and chief executive.

The scooter, which recharges from a regular home socket, goes on sale in September in Tokyo and nationwide in October. It is being introduced in Taiwan and Europe in 2011. There are no plans for the US market so far. Yamaha hopes to sell 1,000 in Japan in the first year

Yamaha believes it can compete against the Chinese and smaller manufacturers to gain top global market share in electric motorcycles in the next few years by exploiting its half-century of experience in manufacturing two wheelers.

It faces competition from electric bicycles, which are generally more simply constructed than the EC-03, and are already booming in China, with an estimated 20 million in use.

In April, Honda Motor Co. showed an electric scooter, EV-neo, but that was planned only for leasing in Japan in December, targeting companies like newspaper publishers and pizza joints that make deliveries.

Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, also makes motorcycles and competes with Yamaha in that sector. Overseas plans and sales to individual consumers for EV-neo are undecided.

Honda said it hadn't decided a leasing price for the scooter because of the high cost of the battery, a lithium-ion battery from Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp.

Yamaha's electric scooter is packed with lithium-ion batteries from Sanyo Electric Co., a subsidiary of Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp.

It is unclear whether Yamaha's target buyers — Japanese women, who routinely use bicycles for grocery shopping and other errands — will opt for a green scooter.

Yamaha said it's investing 6.2 billion yen ($70 million) through 2012, for introducing affordable motorcycles in emerging markets, developing green technology and products such as EC-03 and expansion in Southeast Asia.

Source: GmaNews

Is FarmVille maker Zynga about to become Google Games?

Word on the internet this weekend was that Google has invested a huge amount of money in Zynga, the company that makes Facebook-centered games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars and FrontierVille. Rumor has it that the $100 million-plus investment is part of a larger strategy that will end up with the launch of Google Games later this year. There's no more popular, more addictive collection of games on the Web than Zynga's, so it makes sense that Google wouldn't want to compete starting from scratch.

TechCrunch speculates that Google will be able to break up Zynga's partnership with PayPal, and push all those in-game purchases through Google Checkout. Of course, this is also a major development in Google's relationship to Facebook, because Zynga has gathered a massive amount of data from Facebook users, so Google could be using that as a backdoor to buy into Facebook's network and boost its own social offerings (like Google Me, maybe) [Google Me needs games too! -Ed]. In case there was any doubt Google Games is for real, TC also posted a link to a job opening for a Google Games product lead.

Source: Downloadsquad