According to Tree Hugger, Honda’s new hybrid vehicle, the 5-door hatchback Insight, will be available in the spring of 2009 for about $18,500. The Insight will likely have an EPA rating similar to the Civic Hybrid which gets 40 mpg in the city, and 45 mpg on the highway.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents would use that reverse psychology tactic on you to get you to do something you didn’t initially want to do?

Well, Leonardo DiCaprio, Halle Berry, Dustin Hoffman and about twenty of their closest A-list friends are hoping that using the same gambit on the American public will encourage them to vote, er…or not to vote.

To register to vote or to learn how to vote early, visit DeclareYourself.com. For voting locations, visit Maps.Google.com/Vote.

 

 YouTube: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Living in Savannah means that whenever I fly, I usually have to make a connection, typically in Atlanta. It’s sort of the gateway between the Southeast and the rest of the world. While navigating the world’s busiest airport, it’s easy to start thinking about global travel.

Gadling recently posted a video that offers more insight on the flow of global travel. In fact, it shows every flight that takes place within a single day and represents them in yellow on a world map.

As night turns to day, the U.S. lights up and the flow of travel begins heading West. As it gets later, those flights head across the Atlantic and so on. The video is a bit mesmerizing but it’s interesting to note other travel trends after seeing it a few times.

Between shooting Project Runway promos abroad and hitting up New York’s fashion week, designer and reality TV personality Santino Rice has been busy. He recently took a break from his hectic schedule to make a special appearance in Minneapolis, where he showed off new designs and mingled with local fashionistas. From a hip loft-like space, Santino talked about Minneapolis and dressing appropriately and fashionably for cold weather, as well his work on a new VH1 TV show. He couldn’t offer any details about the show but predicts it will be bigger than Project Runway.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Many have tried over the years to take on iTunes, but all have either failed or settled for competing for second place. Not deterred by that fact, social networking site MySpace has decided to throw its hat into the ring.

Boasting a user base of 120 million plus people, MySpace is the most serious contender for the digital music distributor crown that iTunes has ever faced. By tapping into its massive user base, MySpace has a distinct advantage over the current champion.

Like iTunes, MySpace sells individual songs as well as full albums. Unlike iTunes, however, MySpace allows its users to put together 100-song playlists that can be placed on their personal page. Not only does this give the MySpace user a way to enjoy a wide variety of music for free, but it will also expose anyone who visits that page to their personal music preferences.

The major labels—like Warner, Sony, Universal and EMI—are all on board, as are a number of small and indie labels. At launch the service had a few hundred thousand songs, but according to MySpace’s chief operating officer, Amit Kapur, they will eventually surpass the 8.5 million songs that iTunes currently has.

It’s too early to tell if MySpace can unseat iTunes as the digital music destination of choice, but what is certain is that the music wars are about to get a whole lot more interesting.

“Project 10 to the 100th” is a call for ideas from the folks at Google. Google will give up to 10 million dollars to any person who comes up with with the best idea to help as many people in the world as possible. Basically, you submit a cool idea (and even a 30 second video explaining it if you want) that you think will help the world by October 20th, and if your idea is picked, it will join a list of 100 great ideas that will then be voted on by the public. The top 20 ideas will then be handed off to an advisory board who will select five final ideas for implementation. The categories they are looking for are things like: energy, environment, health, education, etc.

Start thinking.

If you read The New York Times online you might have noticed a new toolbar at the top of your screen today. The paper rolled out its new TimesPeople social networking feature this morning, which is a way to “share and discover the best of the NYTimes.com.” According to the new feature’s FAQ:

TimesPeople is a social network for Times readers. But it’s not a social network like Facebook or MySpace — you won’t have Times friends, and it won’t get you Times dates. Instead, you’ll assemble a network of Times readers. Then you’ll be able to share interesting things on NYTimes.com with others in the network. For example, when you recommend an article, comment on a blog post, or rate a movie or restaurant, these activities will become visible to other TimesPeople users in a special toolbar at the top of every NYTimes.com page. You’ll also have a personal page that keeps track of your TimesPeople activities and lets you browse your network of readers. TimesPeople is a great way to discover things on NYTimes.com that you might not otherwise have found and to share your discoveries with other NYTimes.com readers.

For those with privacy concerns, there is a difference between what is public and what is not. So, for instance, that article you emailed to your friend, that’s private. Essentially, your activity becomes public when you interact with the site, by making comments on an article for example, as this is meant to be viewed by the public anyway and this is the kind of information that will be shared with the TimesPeople community.

“Public activities” include comments you post, recommendations you make, reader reviews you submit, ratings, and any other actions you take on NYTimes.com that are designed to be visible to other users. The articles you read or send friends, the searches you do, or the advertisements you click are not public activities.

If you are an avid reader of the online version of the paper, these new features will probably only enhance the experience. You’ve probably already been using one element of the site, which is the “most emailed” link. It’s a good way to get a sense of what other readers of NYTimes.com think is the most compelling content of the day and you can join the dialogue by agreeing or disagreeing with that larger community choice.

While U.S. airlines stumble through tough times, European Airlines, such as Lufthansa and KLM, are embracing the social networking world in the hopes of drumming up new business and learning more about their customers.

Last week, German carrier Lufthansa launched what it’s calling the first airline-sponsored social networking site for college students. GenFlyLounge is a spot where students (with vaild IDs) can buy discounted flights and interact with fellow travelers about various destinations. The added bonus for Lufthansa is that it will gain all sorts of information on travel preferences from a coveted demographic.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has also jumped into the game, launching sites, like KLM Club Africa and Club China, that cater to business travelers. Flying Blue Golf is a KLM and Air France-backed site where golfers can log in, post scores, rate courses and of course book future golf trips.

Another site is from Scandinavian Airlines, which isn’t officially a social network. But it’s notable in its focus on providing content for gay and lesbian travelers. Gay staff members at the airline post travel advice for visiting Stockholm and Copenhagen and interactive maps and other information is offered through various partnerships.

It’ll be interesting to see if domestic carriers take note of this activity abroad. Much of what’s currently out there for U.S. travelers often devolves into complaints about the airlines, as MSNBC.com points out:

In the United States, Web sites such as FlyerTalk.com provide platforms for people to talk about airlines and, not infrequently, vent about the troubled state of air travel. But airline-sponsored social networks are different; they allow airlines to help shape the conversation.

The Japanese are probably the most inventive and forward thinking people on the planet when it comes to utilizing limited space. With 35 million people in metropolitan Toyko-Yokohama and an estimated 15 million or more bikes there is a lot of bike clutter surrounding train stations, pedestrian walkways and roadways. Bikes are everywhere. Bikes are very important for Japanese commuters and are a big link in the commuter chain as many suburban Japanese will bike to a station and take the train into the city for work. In an attempt to deal with this vast amount of two-wheeled congestion around train and bus stations, some train stations have found a better way to deal with all the bike clutter.

This automated bicycle parking system in Tokyo is a classic example of Japanese innovation when it comes to ease of use and space utilization. For the small monthly fee users roll their bike into an automated kiosk and it is swiftly whipped away to an underground chamber where it is stashed until the commuter returns for it later in the day. Apparently it only takes 10 to 15 seconds to retrieve the bike once it’s sent for.

There are similar parking systems in Japan for cars as well.

It’s that time of year again; the air is crisp with the beginnings of fall, candy corn lines the grocery store shelves and devoted emos are dusting off their copies of The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Fifteen years after its release, the cult favorite is still churning out ample profits with 3-D theatre screenings, special-edition DVDs and as many Jack and Sally toys, T-shirts and trinkets you could ask for.

To add to Nightmare’s already sizeable franchise, Walt Disney Records is set to release Nightmare Revisited, 20 cover tracks of the most beloved of spooky holiday ditties.

I know what you’re thinking.  Disney?  No worries, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and those High School Musical kids have no part in this compilation. The bands involved are all, well…bands you might expect to see on a Nightmare Before Christmas cover album.

Nightmare Revisited:

01 DeVotchKa: “Overture”
02 Danny Elfman: “Opening”
03 Marilyn Manson: “This Is Halloween”
04 All-American Rejects: “Jack’s Lament”
05 Amiina: “Doctor Finkelstein/In the Forest”
06 Flyleaf: “What’s This?”
07 Polyphonic Spree: “Town Meeting Song”
08 The Vitamin String Quartet: “Jack and Sally Montage”
09 Sparklehorse: “Jack’s Obsession”
10 KoRn: “Kidnap the Sandy Claws”
11 Rise Against: “Making Christmas”
12 Yoshida Brothers: “Nabbed”
13 Rodrigo y Gabriela: “Oogie Boogie’s Song”
14 Amy Lee: “Sally’s Song”
15 RJD2: “Christmas Eve Montage”
16 Plain White T’s: “Poor Jack”
17 Datarock: “To the Rescue”
18 Shiny Toy Guns: “Finale/Reprise”
19 Danny Elfman: “Closing”
20 The Album Leaf: “End Title”