|
|
|
This recall may not be unusual, but the fact that it's coming from Toyota will set alarm bells ringing in consumers' heads as they remember (I was going to say recall) Toyota's problems over the past year.
(Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will pay to fix about 650,000 Prius models worldwide for a coolant pump glitch that could cause the top-selling hybrid to overheat and lose power, the automaker said.
Read more on Toyota's Prius recall.
.. miles per gallon.
The Volt has a combined (electric-only mode and gasoline-only mode) EPA-rating 60 mpg.
By contrast, the Toyota Prius has a rating of 51 MPG in the city and 48 on the highway.
The EPA's numbers suggest that General Motors (gasp) exaggerated the Volt's performance.
Here's the article.
(Edmunds Inside Line) DETROIT -- The 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the industry's first mainstream plug-in hybrid, has been rated by the EPA at 93 MPGe in electric-only mode and 37 MPG in gasoline-only mode. The EPA also has issued a "combined composite" rating of 60 MPG for the Volt.The EPA numbers are well short of General Motors' initial claim last summer that the Volt would achieve a mileage rating of 230 mpg -- a claim that the government agency was quick to pooh-pooh.
Read more on the Chevy Volt.
Kim Kardashian is part of an interesting phenomenon of celebrity. She is famous for being famous, and that landed her a role in a reality TV show, which made her even more famous.
But can she sell shoes?
In my Business Casual column, I looked into that question and how society's changing view of morality is affected by commerce.
Here's how I started the column:
When I read the names Kim Kardashian and Skechers USA in the same sentence this week, I sensed that there was a deeper, existential issue involved.On Monday, Skechers, the Manhattan Beach-based shoe company, said it hired celebrities Kardashian and her mother, Kris Jenner, to promote the company's Shape-ups footwear, which are pitched as a way to get in shape simply by putting them on your feet.
Read Business Casual.
The reality TV and sex-tape star -- and her proud mother -- will promote shoes made by Manhattan Beach-based Skechers USA Inc.
(monstersandcritics.com) Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and mum Kris Jenner have reportedly signed a seven-figure endorsement deal with shoe company Skechers.According to E!Online, the pair will be the face of Skechers' 'Shaping Up With the Kardashians' challenge.
Read more on Kim Kardashian and Skechers.
Forget my cur·mudgeonly attitude to General Motors, but I'm not as impressed with the car company's initial public offering as everyone else seems to be.
That's the topic of this week's Business Casual column.
Here's a sample:
So hurray for GM and Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush for helping save the company and preventing a domino effect that could have seen other major automakers and their suppliers fall.But is it too soon to say that I am tired of all the celebratory talk?
Read Business Casual.
Ron Sugar, who is still relalively young at age 62, is a hot commodity as a company director because of his impressive performance leading Northrop.
(San Jose Mercury News) Apple has named to its board of directors Ronald Sugar, the former chairman and CEO of military contractor Northrop Grumman, the Cupertino computer and mobile device maker announced Wednesday.
Rad more on Ron Sugar.
It reminds me Honda's Asimo robot.
Who is Rep. Jane Harman's top campaign donor?
What about Maxine Waters?
Today's Business Casual answers these questions and more.
Here's how I started the column:
It's no surprise that the South Bay's four local members of Congress were winners in Tuesday's elections.But few know about the other "winners" - the companies and industries that gave money to these politicians.
Company donations to an election campaign are legal and can result in added access to the politician.
It's back to the drawing board for Mattel in its intellectual property case against MGA Entertainment over the puty Bratz dolls.
(Bloomberg) -- MGA Entertainment Inc. said it won a new trial on all issues decided in a 2008 trial that gave Mattel Inc. rights to most of MGA's Bratz dolls products.Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, California, on Oct. 29 granted MGA's request for the new trial, and invalidated the $100 million damages verdict awarded to Mattel in the case, MGA said in an e-mailed statement.
Read more on Mattel's Bratz case.
Honda wants to promote the use of robots in daily life because it developed a robot called Asimo.
Quote of the short film: "... robots have a bad rap."
Here's the Honda robots video.
