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Mazda is defying industry trends with surging sales of its gas-powered SUVs. Can it keep the momentum going without a fully electric vehicle in its lineup? While many automakers are racing toward electrification, Mazda is proving that there’s still room for gas-powered success. The Japanese automaker is set to break its U.S. sales record from 1986, with over 420,000 vehicles expected to be sold in 2024—a 16% increase from the previous year. Mazda’s president of North American operations, Tom Donnelly, credited the popularity of its compact crossovers and mid-size SUVs for this growth, with a target of 450,000 vehicles for...

On March 4, 2017, President Trump tweeted “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Following President Trump’s tweet, the mainstream media said that President Trump was “crazy” for accusing Obama of spying on him. In response to President Trump’s allegation that Obama illicitly spied on him, The “Whistleblower Tapes” were published which proved President Trump’s allegation against Obama was true. One of the many illegal actions that President Obama partook during his eight years in office was the assimilation of personal data on all Americans....

The final tallies for 2013 sales are in for the Chevy Volt and its little sister, the Chevy Spark EV. The results are ugly. While the Volt relies on both a gas engine and electric power, the Spark is actually an electric-only vehicle, assumedly designed to compete with the all-electric Nissan Leaf which had sales of 22,610 for the year. The Spark EV did not compete well, with sales for 2013 coming in at only 589 for the seven months in which it was offered. Chevy Volt sales for the year also disappointed, coming in at 23,094 and down from...

It seems the city of Vancouver, British Columbia is demonstrating that quite literally. "Bancouver," as it will not be affectionately referenced has decided to ban door knobs. No, seriously, they have.

Our department is 'graphics challenged' when it comes to producing quality, professional-looking charts out of MS Excel (R). I am seeking FReeper advice on what plugins or packages out there are RECOMMENDED to take what comes out of Excel and turn those graphics into sharp, professional graphics for the web, Word and PowerPoint. What do you guys recommend? CAVEAT: not sure we have a staffer who will take the time to employ Photoshop for real.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's existing electric power grid could fuel as many as 180 million electric cars, a Department of Energy study estimates. The study, being released today by the department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is the federal government's first look at the grid's capacity to handle the demands of so-called plug-in hybrids, which can be operated as an all-electric car for most daily commutes. Until now, there have been few detailed studies of the effect of plug-ins, which are championed by environmental groups and the utility industry. Currently there are only a few hundred plug-ins on the road, most...

During a recent meeting held at Macromedia's San Francisco headquarters, Silicon Valley companies asked a familiar question: What to do about Microsoft? But the strategy event, sponsored by the World Wide Web Consortium, differed significantly from so many others, at which participants have typically gathered to oppose the software giant's power. This time, Microsoft was the guest of honor. "There's no doubt that there are some people who are happy to see Microsoft get nailed for anything," said Dale Dougherty, a vice president at computer media company O'Reilly & Associates. "But for those of us who are part of the...

Microsoft has suffered another legal setback in the patent dispute with software developer Eolas and is now advising Web authors on workarounds, as new details emerge of its plans to tweak Internet Explorer. A federal judge last week rejected Microsoft's post-trial claim that Eolas had misrepresented the facts in the patent case, which claimed the software giant had stolen browser technology relating to plug-ins. The ruling came after a $521 million verdict against the software giant last month, and ends Microsoft's first attempt to challenge the result. Several more post-trial motions remain to be dispensed, and Microsoft doesn't expect a...