Google: Android 4.0 'Holo' theme to be mandatory on all devices with Android Market

Google is rightfully proud of its native theme in Ice Cream Sandwich. Dubbed Holo, it's intuitive, functional and -- dare we say it -- downright sexy. Now, in an effort to provide all users with a consistent interface, the company is making the theme essential for all Android 4.0 devices that come bundled with the Android Market. That's right, the stock, undiluted experience. Don't be alarmed, though, because manufacturer customizations aren't going anywhere, and the changes aren't terribly drastic. In fact, for users of Sense, TouchWiz and the like, Google is issuing architectural mandates that will make it dead simple for independent developers to create apps that fit nicely into these customized environments, complete with the proper widgets and colors. In other words, app designers may effortlessly choose between Holo or the manufacturer's default theme when considering the software's interface -- although, we'd really love to see this decision extended to end-users. Meanwhile, it seems terribly unlikely that Google's new mandate applies will bring choice to the home screen, keyboard and dialer as well. We can only hope, right?

Google: Android 4.0 'Holo' theme to be mandatory on all devices with Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Phone Scoop  |  sourceGoogle  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/03/google-makes-holo-theme-mandatory/

appetizer recipes alistair overeem alistair overeem deep impact insight bowl russell brand files for divorce bowl game schedule

US auto industry to post another good sales year

In this Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 photo, a Lime Squeeze Metallic 2012 Ford Fiesta SE, left, and an Ingot Silver Metallic 2012 Ford Focus Titanium 5-Door Hatchback are shown at the Maroone Ford of Miami dealership in Miami. Ford, GM and Chrysler saw their combined share of the U.S. market rise by 200,000 cars and trucks between the end of 2010 and November, 2011. U.S. auto sales are poised for a second straight year of growth in 2012 _ the result of easier credit, low interest rates and pent-up demand for cars and trucks created by the Great Recession. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 photo, a Lime Squeeze Metallic 2012 Ford Fiesta SE, left, and an Ingot Silver Metallic 2012 Ford Focus Titanium 5-Door Hatchback are shown at the Maroone Ford of Miami dealership in Miami. Ford, GM and Chrysler saw their combined share of the U.S. market rise by 200,000 cars and trucks between the end of 2010 and November, 2011. U.S. auto sales are poised for a second straight year of growth in 2012 _ the result of easier credit, low interest rates and pent-up demand for cars and trucks created by the Great Recession. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

This photo taken Dec. 11, 2011, shows 2012 Chrysler Jeep Wranglers for sale at a auto dealership in Springfield, Ill. After hitting a 30-year low in 2009, U.S. auto sales are poised for a second straight year of growth in 2012 _ the result of easier credit, low interest rates and pent-up demand for cars and trucks created by the Great Recession. Auto website Edmunds.com forecasts a 37 percent rise in sales at Chrysler Group LLC in December. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

DETROIT (AP) ? After hitting a 30-year low in 2009, U.S. auto sales are poised for a second straight year of growth ? the result of easier credit, low interest rates and pent-up demand for cars and trucks created by the Great Recession.

The sales forecast bodes well for the industry's continued recovery and for the broader American economy.

In 2009, Detroit automakers were in peril. Car sales plunged as unemployment soared, and loans became harder to get. Chrysler and General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection. Ford avoided bankruptcy only by borrowing billions.

Now credit is more available, interest rates are low and Americans need to replace old cars and trucks they kept during and after the downturn. Millions of drivers in their teens and 20s are expected to buy vehicles, too. That could mean more jobs, more factory shifts and overall growth.

Vince Powell, a retiree from Winfield, Pa., recently traded in his wife's 7-year-old Chrysler 300 luxury sedan for a 2011 model. The old car had 145,000 miles on it, but it was the deal he got that most attracted him: a low interest rate (2.7 percent per year), a six-year loan term and a big discount off the $31,900 sticker price.

"I'm getting a $300 per month payment," he said just before closing the sale at Beaver Motors in Beaver Springs, Pa., near Harrisburg. "I've never had a new car for 300 bucks a month."

In their effort to survive, all three automakers downsized and positioned themselves to turn profits ? even if sales remained depressed. Now that sales are rising, the outlook has brightened considerably.

Automakers report U.S. sales for 2011 on Wednesday. When final figures are calculated, sales of new cars and trucks are expected to reach 12.7 million, up from 11.5 million in 2010 and 10.4 million in 2009, the worst year since 1982.

In 2012, they could climb as high as 13.8 million, close to what experts consider a healthy market ? around 14 million.

December sales could reach an annual rate of 13.4 million, which would make it the second-strongest month of the year. Only November was better. Auto website Edmunds.com forecasts a 37 percent rise in sales at Chrysler Group LLC in December, thanks to new and revamped products such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV and the Chrysler 200 midsize sedan.

Carmakers have announced plans to crank up factories and add thousands of jobs. Last January, Ford said it would hire 7,000 workers over the next two years. During the summer, GM said it would add 2,500 at the Detroit factory that makes the Chevrolet Volt electric car. Volkswagen hired 2,000 for a new plant in Tennessee, and Honda added 1,000 in Indiana. The industry will add 167,000 jobs by 2015, a 28 percent increase over current levels, predicts The Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

During the summer, the auto industry was adding jobs at a faster pace than airplane manufacturers, shipbuilders, health care providers and the federal government. It kept adding jobs even when the national unemployment rate rose above 9 percent, Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. debt for the first time and the stock market tumbled.

Government estimates show Americans spent roughly $40 billion more on new cars and trucks in 2011 than in 2009. Based on annualized figures from the first quarter of 2011, new-car spending totaled $206 billion, or 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product, Commerce Department data shows. That compares with $166 billion in 2009, about 1.2 percent of the country's economy.

And the momentum in auto sales is likely to continue because people need to replace aging cars, said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an automotive consulting company in Troy, Mich. The average American car is now 11 years old.

U.S. auto sales peaked at 17 million in 2005, when Detroit's automakers were much bigger and overproduced cars that they were forced to discount heavily. Sales could eventually reach that level again around 2018, said Schuster, because of 70 million so-called millennials born between 1981 and 2000 who need to set up households and buy cars.

Other trends emerged in 2011. Many people bought smaller vehicles as gas prices hit a record average of $3.53 per gallon. Fuel-efficient compact cars, which have been vastly improved by automakers, are likely to unseat the midsize sedan as America's favorite passenger car for the first time in 20 years.

At the other extreme, pickups rebounded as businesses started to replace older trucks. Sales for the year were expected to rise 11 percent, and Ford's F-Series will remain the country's top-selling model, a title it has held for more than three decades.

For much of the year, U.S.-based automakers took advantage of Japanese car shortages to increase sales, especially in the compact car segment normally dominated by the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. Japanese companies ran short of popular models after an earthquake and tsunami disrupted production in Japan in March.

Ford, GM and Chrysler saw their combined share of the U.S. market rise by 200,000 cars and trucks between the end of 2010 and November, 2011. The Detroit Three's market share rose from 45.1 percent last year to 47 percent through November of last year. At the same time, Honda's share fell 1.6 percentage points to 9 percent, while Toyota's dropped 2.5 percentage points to 12.7 percent.

Schuster expects Japanese carmakers to take back some of the sales they lost.

Geoff Pohanka, who runs a chain of car dealers in the Washington area, said his December has been strong, thanks especially to the restocking of cars at his Honda and Toyota showrooms. He predicts Japanese car companies will offer incentives to regain lost sales.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-02-Auto%20Sales-Preview/id-d26fe8f96c2a473e85ddc1d62592e038

elf on the shelf barney frank barney frank 2012 grammy nominations stephen sondheim los angeles news grammys 2011

Evaluate Car Insurance Prices

Having your car insured is not dependent on choice, but is really needed by the law. So if you possess a car, you have no option but to have it insured. The cost of all things is booming higher day by day. Car insurance rates are not left much behind, and they too cost you quite a good deal. However as already stated, it is needed by the law, so you need to go for it. Luckily, there are lots of businesses that offer you cheap car insurance. Your car is going to be insured, and you will not need to pay a lot of money for the similar.

On searching the web for car insurance businesses, you will come across a number of results. To get the least expensive rate, you will need to visit quite a few websites and then compare rates. All this can take quite a good deal of one?s time. Even then, you cannot be sure that you will obtain the appropriate results. You might miss some websites that offer less expensive rates, and therefore end up paying more than required. There, nevertheless, are websites that helps you compare car insurance rates. You?ll not need to visit 10 various websites, because all your work is going to be carried out by one itself.

You can visit http://carautoinsurancerates.com/ and then go through the car insurance rates quoted by various businesses. In case you are pleased by the rate of a particular company, then you can visit its official web site to view proper details. This will not only help you proceed through all low car insurance quotes, but make the entire process much easier. You?ll not need to spend hours in front of the pc just going to the websites of various insurance businesses. This might only finish up puzzling you. Nevertheless, before you choose to go for the insurance policy of a particular company, make sure you properly undergo every piece of information. The insurance should cover all the things that you need, in the cheapest feasible rates.

Guest post by Tosi I. Mazariegos

Source: http://fguide.org/evaluate-car-insurance-prices/

brining a turkey brining a turkey who won dancing with the stars 2011 five iron frenzy wild horses lyrics sweet potato recipes green bean casserole recipe

Paul Szep: The Daily Szep -- Chemicals

'; var coords = [-5, -78]; if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'homepage' ) { coords = [-5, -70]; } else if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'mapquest' ) { coords = [-5, -68]; } FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-szep/the-daily-szep-chemicals_b_1178786.html

mike wallace mike wallace is jon bon jovi dead jon bon jovi jon bon jovi kim jong il died warren hellman

Aretha Franklin is engaged to longtime friend

FILE - In this May 17, 2011 file photo, singer Aretha Franklin appears at a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. Franklin released a statement Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, saying she's ready to tie the knot with longtime friend William ?Willie? Wilkerson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - In this May 17, 2011 file photo, singer Aretha Franklin appears at a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. Franklin released a statement Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, saying she's ready to tie the knot with longtime friend William ?Willie? Wilkerson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

(AP) ? Aretha Franklin is engaged to longtime friend William "Willie" Wilkerson.

The Grammy-winning singer told The Associated Press in a statement Monday that she and Wilkerson are considering a summer wedding, perhaps in Miami Beach, Fla. The Queen of Soul wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht.

The 69-year-old jokes: "No, I'm not pregnant."

Franklin and Wilkerson became engaged over the holidays.

She is considering Vera Wang, Valentino and Donna Karan to design her dress.

Franklin has been married twice before.

___

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-02-US-People-Aretha-Franklin/id-6e0f590a8bec4f5db53927b9d7b7e088

elf on the shelf barney frank barney frank 2012 grammy nominations stephen sondheim los angeles news grammys 2011

_neophile: Top Gear S17 E7 - India Special http://t.co/pKtSfQLd

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
Top Gear S17 E7 - India Special youtube.com/watch?v=DUuyOt? _neophile

Pied de page

Source:

after christmas sales 2011 tyson chandler tyson chandler best ipad apps chris paul chicago bulls carmelo anthony

Jenni Lake Lost Her Fight WIth Cancer, but Gave Her Son Life

Jenni LakeIt was truly an inspiring story, but one that ended on a very sad note this week.? Jenni Lake, the courageous Idaho Teen who stopped her cancer treatments in order to avoid terminating her pregnancy, died 12 days after giving birth to a very healthy baby boy.? This is her story.

Jenni Lake was a happy go lucky teenager until the migraines started.? She was 16 and a sophomore at?Pocatello High School when she went to Salt Lake City for an MRI.? The scan revealed a two centimeter mass on her brain. ? Jenni had a biopsy and soon after she was diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma. She had three tumors on her brain and three on her spine.? She had to start chemo and radiation immediately and even with both the doctors gave her a 30% chance of living two years.

She was also told there was a good chance that even if the cancer treatments did work she would be left sterile, with no chance of ever getting pregnant.? She had a boyfriend at the time, Nathan Wittman, and he stuck with her through all the treatments all the issues and he even took her to the prom the following year.? At that point her treatments were shrinking the tumors and it seemed as if she may get through it.

Then she woke up one morning in pain, her stomach was wrenching and she needed to go to the hospital.? What she found out was she was pregnant.? Her and her boyfriend hadn?t worried about protection because they were told she couldn?t conceive anyway.

The Oncologist told her that her treatment regimen could not be given to a pregnant woman, she had two options.

1. Get an abortion and continue her treatments

2. Keep the pregnancy but stop the treatments.

Jenni relaized that it was going to be option 2.? She was going to give life to her baby, and then hopefully continue the treatments after she gave birth.

In the end though, Jenni only weighed 108 pounds when she gave birth a few weeks ago.? Her cancer had come back with a fury and she new that it wasn?t going to get better.? She had the baby 12 days ago and on the day she delivered, she told the nurse ??I?m done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,?? said Diana Phillips, Jenni?s mother.

She named the baby Chad Michael.? Then she died 12 days later.

What decision would you have made in Jenni Lake?s Shoes?

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/173006/jenn-lake-lost-her-fight-with-cancer-but-gave-her-son-life/

weather nj nyc weather nyc weather philadelphia weather chris carpenter chris carpenter the brothers grimm

Sadrists call for new elections in Iraq

(AP) ? The leader of a powerful anti-American political party in Iraqi parliament is calling for new elections as the country's worst political crisis in years escalates.

Bahaa al-Aaraji, the head of the Sadrists' bloc in parliament, said Monday new elections are needed because of instability in the country.

The Sadrists are loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and are partners in a Shiite-dominated government coalition with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The prime minister is currently in a political showdown with the top Sunni political figure, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, after the government issued an arrest warrant for al-Hashemi.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A suicide bomber set off a car bomb Monday at a checkpoint leading to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, killing seven people and injuring 32 others, officials said.

The attack followed a series of bombings last week that killed up to 70 people in a single day, increasing fears about Iraq's future after U.S. troops withdrew this month.

Two police officers said the bomber struck during morning rush hour, hitting one of many security barriers set up around the ministry's building. Five policemen were among the dead, they said.

Two doctors at nearby hospitals confirmed the causality figures.

"We first heard a thunderous explosion and then saw a ball of fire," said Mustafa Mohammed, 42, an employee at the nearby Ministry of Oil who was with other employees in a bus when the bomb went off.

"The car pulled over and we left it immediately to see all the area engulfed with smoke and the bodies of the injured or killed people were lying on the ground," Mohammed said.

Also Monday, a roadside bomb hit a passing army patrol in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two others, a police officer and a doctor said.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

No one has claimed responsibility for either attack, but suicide attacks and attacks targeting Iraqi security officials are usually carried out by the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group.

U.S. and some Iraqi officials have warned of a resurgence of Sunni and Shiite militants and an increase in violence after the full U.S. troop withdrawal.

Adding to Iraq's troubles is an increase in political tension stemming from a showdown between the Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and the top Sunni political leader in the country.

Al-Maliki's government has issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges that he ran hit squads against government officials.

Al-Hashemi has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-26-ML-Iraq/id-cab5b1b2cad8470aa0a1c74a6fb4b950

chuck liddell dancing with the stars brandi glanville beanie wells beanie wells dina manzo

MVALLE888: Shocking Video: Sheep Beaten to death With A Baseball Bat -Warning Graphic Footage!!! http://t.co/BKdDHhjI #Scandals

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
Shocking Video: Sheep Beaten to death With A Baseball Bat -Warning Graphic Footage!!! is.gd/OGIXEP #Scandals MVALLE888

MIRIAM VALLE

Pied de page

Source:

generators generators lesean mccoy while you were sleeping while you were sleeping happy halloween happy halloween

Happy Holidays from Jennifer Freeman

Merry Christmas from Jennifer Freeman and 2-year-old daughter Isabella Amour! “During the holiday season, my sisters and I love to cook yummy dishes and bake desserts. Now that Isabella is two, we will have her join in on the fun!” the My Wife & Kids star, 26, tells PEOPLE of their plans. “Isabella has been [...]

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/KLbP_9iBKw4/

mcrib pumpkin seeds mark herzlich malawi malawi angela davis angela davis