Cash-For-Clunkers Website launched by federal government

By Patrick Olsen.
If you've got an older, fuel-inefficient car, you're probably wondering how the newly approved Cash for Clunkers law can help you out. Here are the rules and scenarios you'll need to know to take advantage of the legislation, as well as where you can go to get any other information you'll need to make the deal work.

The Rules

Ground rules: First, the vehicle you trade in must have a combined EPA gas mileage rating of 18 mpg or below. Check below if you're not sure how to find that rating

Also, the new car you buy or lease — and it must be a new car; used-car purchases don't qualify — can cost no more than $45,000, and the car you trade in must be a 1984 model or newer. Oh, and you have to have owned and been insuring the car you're looking to trade in for at least the past year before you can cash in on this deal; no dusting off that junker that's been sitting in your garage for years (or buying your neighbor's) and trading it in for a credit. As of now, the program runs from July 1 through Nov. 1.
If you want to trade in your car... read more

Question(s) of the day: Cash for clunkers

By Kathleen Pender - Net Worth Plus

Jet America Airlines To Fly For 9 Dollars

Low cost airlines start to fly in the travelers' radar as Jet America Airlines introduces 9 dollar fares and will start operations on July 13. One wonders how is Jet America going to make money with 9 dollar fares? Or is this only to create some initial buzz?

Jet America Airlines 9 dollar fares will get the discount travelers from Newark, NJ to Toledo. There will be only nine seats in each flight that will cost nine dollars each. According to Tampabay Jet America Airlines will make money from additional fees, just like other low cost airlines.
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IndyCar Introduces iPhone App

IndyCar fans can enjoy race video and monitor what's happening live at the track right in the palm of their hands. The Indy Racing League is launching the IndyCar application for iPhone and iPod touch users. The application was developed in partnership with mobile media company July Systems. ==>> more...

New Federal CAFE Standard Announced by President Obama

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--Today changes are being announced for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, which are intended to encourage automakers to build and sell more fuel efficient cars, leading to a cleaner environment and less dependence on foreign oil. The new regulations, which will go into effect in 2011, will eliminate the discrepancy between the federal standard and the standards generated by California and other states, making it easier for automakers to coordinate their product plans for the United States market.

more at>>> http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/05/19/461644.html

Prepaid wireless, many Americans are looking for ways to cut back their monthly expenses

Traditional prepaid services or pay as you go services allow people to buy their own phone at full retail price and then put a certain amount of money in an account that is deducted based on usage. Some plans offer buckets of minutes for a set price, and some allow people to just put however much money they want in their prepaid phone accounts. These plans allow people to know exactly how much they are spending each month, and if they run out of minutes or money in their accounts, they simply add more online, over the phone, or at a retail location. More....

By Marguerite Reardon

Number-Crunching Search Engine WolframAlpha Preps for Launch

The upcoming search site Wolfram|Alpha is ready to go live in a matter of days, but don't expect a Google-like experience when using the engine. Wolfram|Alpha is armed with technologies and formulas that considers not only the particular words in a query, but also what they mean when taken together. It can also perform computations involving numbers or formulas users enter.

A new search service that brings a measure of artificial intelligence to traditional Internet searching is set to go public soon. Wolfram|Alpha has been anticipated for several months, and the company behind it recently drew attention by opening access to a small number of testers.

The service should launch late this week, states the company's blog, though it names May 18 as the official date.

The brainchild of creator Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine that analyzes the relationships among search terms to create an answer to a search query. It is based on Wolfram's math formula software Mathematica, a tool for scientific computation that also functions as a programming language.

Wolfram Research, the company Wolfram created, has been providing selective access to testers in preparation for the planned launch.

The Wolfram search engine is not likely to go into head-to-head competition with the likes of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) or Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Live Search. Instead, it will provide researchers with an alternative approach to traditional searching.

"What they are doing is brilliant. This will shorten people's work time. It is a great boon for productivity," Brooke Aker, CEO of semantic search technology firm Expert Systems, told TechNewsWorld.

More...

Jack M. Germain
TechNewsWorld

Obama hopes for more, see the biography.

President Obama addressed a town hall meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, and held a primetime news conference for his first 100 days. Traditionally, commentators have used the milestone to assess presidents' early successes and failures. The latest polls suggest President Obama continues to enjoy a high level of popularity, but Obama hopes for more. He told Midwesterners Wednesday (April 29, 2009) that he's "pleased with the progress we've made but I'm not satisfied."

Since taking office on January 20th, Obama has, among other things, passed an economic stimulus package, ordered the closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and opened a diplomatic dialogue with countries like Iran and Cuba.

Obama reached his 100th day with strong public backing. An Associated Press poll found that 64 percent of Americans approve of the president's job performance and 48 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction. The "right direction" number is up eight points since February and 31 points since October, the month before Obama's election.

More and biography at biography.com