I don't see a problem with it, either. Having the games in Chicago would bring in millions of dollars for the city, create urban development, and boost tourism to soaring levels. So in that sense, it would have seemed odd had Obama not supported his hometown's bid to host the games - the city, and the country, would benefit a lot. And there's no conflict of interest.

The idea that foreign cars are far and away better than American cars just isn't true anymore. American cars are much more dependable than they used to be, and anyone who assumes they'll have a better experience with a Honda or a Toyota over a Ford or Chevy should do more research. Did you know that in one of JD Powers' latest studies on 3-year-old vehicles, the Buick tied for first place with Lexus, and Cadillac and Mercury got higher scores than Honda and Toyota? Read more about it here. 

US automakers realize they're never going to gain support if their products aren't at least somewhat comparable to foreign cars. They've started to improve on design, gas mileage and durability and shouldn't be crossed off the consideration list anymore.

The key number for me is the 40 miles per charge - that's what makes the Volt a worthwhile purchase and I can't wait until it comes out at the end of next year. I work in downtown Chicago (where gas is more expensive than in the suburbs), and only live 18 miles away from my job - so for the most part, I wouldn't even need to tap into the 230 mpg gas engine. $40K is a bit of a hefty price, but I'd spend a lot less on gas and that would make up for the sticker price soon enough.

Amen to that! And why does that always seem to happen during important calls?? And it's not just when I'm in the house - I could be in a store, at a restaurant, or even outside - where I should get the best reception - and I STILL lose connection. SO annoying. Anyone know which companies have the best call performance?

Well maybe the VapoRub isn't always the right choice. The Vicks website allows you to select certain symptoms - and age of the person who's sick - to find out which (out of the Vicks selection, of course) product is the best cure, like the VapoRub, cream, nasal spray, inhaler, etc.

Anonymous and BigDaddy make good points - it's all about common sense and following directions. Just because you can buy some medicine as easily as you can candy doesn't mean that you should use it freely and with everyone. The directions on the bottle specifically say that the product is for "Adults and children 2 years and over" and that it should not be used "in nostrils." It's a shame that that poor girl developed breathing problems, but the company and its product are not to blame.

If I were living in Mass., I'd definitely make use of that application. Most of the current transit apps for the iPhone cater to New Yorkers, so it's nice that people in other states will soon have access to that feature. 

More geeky news: the Hybrid2 bike concept, through which rented bikes would be able to help power city buses. Basically, the regenerative braking system (which makes the bike hybrid) would store energy, transfer that energy to a grid and be able to charge hybrid electric buses. That's about as much as I understand, so there are more details here, along with a video. It's a cool concept.

I voted "yes," but here's someone who obviously doesn't agree with me: Matt Asay of CNET, who wrote that, despite the new version of Office, it's new partnership with Nokia, and the soon-to-be-released Windows 7, Microsoft is boring, lacking innovation and "is becoming a footnote in the history of computing." Um? I agree with themiamigrrl - Office Word is better overall for more in-depth tasks, and the Office Web Apps feature - the biggest draw to the 2010 suite - is a big step forward for the company, in terms of online capability and competition. Read more of Asay's argument that "Microsoft's technology strategy needs a refresh" and see whether you agree or not.

I know Atlantic City, Charlotte (NC), Atlanta and Boston have similar services for homeowners. And people in my neighborhood (near AC) definitely make use of it. When all it takes is walking to the edge of the driveway, why not? 

Speaking of homeowners, here's another good way to save energy and (over time) money: get a white roof. This NY Times article talks about the benefits of having one (or any light color roof). Although a little more expensive than dark ones, white roofs can lower an air-condition bill by 20 percent and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Some states even offer tax rebates for businesses with white roofs, which has been the standard at 75 percent of Wal-Mart chains for the past 10 years.

@benice2000

Do you think the government's $150 billion plan (money for for training programs, new jobs with environmental and traditional companies, etc.) will be enough to pull the U.S. out of this rut and save struggling states like yours? Some say it won't significantly raise the number of jobs and others say it will take too long and that there needs to be an immediate turnaround.

Students are desperate - I noticed that most of the people in the article did not even speak Mandarin before moving to China - which reinforces how students are willing to do what it takes to snag a reputable job given the bleak situation in the U.S. Industries that are hanging by a thread in America are thriving in Europe. Not only do recent graduates have to worry about finding a job, but the majority of them have loans to pay off as well. It sucks for the U.S., but who can blame them?

There's no way Google is going to win over Microsoft's 400+ million users in the near future, and I don't think they're really expecting to, but they certainly aren't going to let Microsoft triumph easily. Google announced last month that Docs will undergo major improvements within the next year. Dave Girouard, pesident of Google's Enterprise unit, said Google has "a lot of work to do" and that "In a year, those products will be night and day from what they are today." He didn't really specify what changes are to come, but acknowledged that Gmail and Calendar are two things that draw people to the Apps suite, so they will both be improved, as well as "overall user experience," according to the article. Of course, this announcement was made before details of Office 2010 were officially made public, so who knows how that new info have affected/will affect the next changes for Google.

re: OpenID

Check out the security page on OpenID's website. I don't use the service, but after reading the security concerns on its own website, I think I'll keep separate accounts - and thus my privacy - like many of you are saying. 

"Similar to OpenID Phishing is OpenID Realm Spoofing. It is very easy to for a malicious RP to craft an Authentication Request with an openid.realm set to a trusted domain, including *.http://microsoft.com, *.http://google.com, *.http://aol.com, or *.http://go.com by using open redirect servers or by exploiting XSS flaws on the trusted domain. When signing in, the user's OP will assert to the user that they're signing into the trusted domain, when in fact, they're being redirected back to the malicious RP."

There's no denying the convenience of OpenID and similar services, but I don't think I would use it to access extremely important personal information.

Agreed, good point RedLetterDuke - no matter how fantastic Google Apps is, it's not useful without WiFi! So yes, it's a win-win situation for Microsoft - although not so much for IT managers. Bob Muglia, head of server and tools at Microsoft, says that with cloud computing, businesses will spend less on IT management - about 20 percent - as Microsoft will be managing their software and data instead:

 "The movement to cost savings associated with a cloud is primarily a driving down of people costs," Muglia said. "You move from a world where you have to manage applications 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to a 9-to-5 day." For Microsoft, it would potentially increase sales from each customer, but at a lower profit margin. 

"As we move to a cloud environment, we see this environment shifting and providing better value to customer but also providing better revenue to us," Muglia said. " ... we're providing the software, the hardware and the people. Our COGS [cost of goods sold] goes up but so does our profitability."

A CNN commentary by policy analyst Samuel Sherraden today suggests that the green sector of the economy is currently not strong enough to help lift the U.S. out of its miserable economic state, and that Obama shouldn't rely so heavily on it as the solution to the recession. He says that the government should invest less money into the green sector and more into areas that are more likely to boost the economy:

"Money spent on infrastructure, more aid to state governments and boosting exports by cutting corporate taxes would do more to help our economy recover than pouring money into a relatively small number of green jobs."

Sooo, is that $150 billion plan just a waste of time and money?