Police said Spears, pictured in October, was driving at night when she crashed
Pop star Britney Spears has been involved in a minor road accident on the Ventura Freeway in Los Angeles.
The 26-year-old was driving her Mercedes through slow-moving traffic when she struck a Nissan which had stopped in front of her, police said.
The Nissan bumped into another vehicle but there was no damage and nobody in any of the cars was injured.
Officers from the California Highway Patrol went to the scene but no charges will be brought, a spokesman said.
This is not the first time that Spears has been involved in a traffic accident.
Last August she escaped a hit-and-run charge after paying an undisclosed amount of money to the owner of a vehicle into which she allegedly crashed in a car park.
And in 2006 Spears admitted making a "mistake" after being photographed driving with one of her sons on her lap, rather than strapped into a baby's car seat.
The singer's father, James Spears, currently has control of her assets.
He was granted what is known as "temporary conservatorship" in February after she was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
Spears' publicist did not respond to an e-mail message sent by the Associated Press requesting a comment on the latest incident.
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The number of viruses, worms and trojans in circulation has topped the one million mark.
The new high for malicious programs was revealed by security firm Symantec in the latest edition of its bi-annual Internet Security Threat Report.
The vast majority of these programs have been created in the last twelve months, said Symantec.
Cyber criminals pump out malware to fool anti-virus programs which look for characteristics they have already seen.
Money game
The latest edition of the Symantec report covers the second half of 2007 during which time the security firm detected 499,811 new malicious code threats. This figure was up 136% on the first six months of 2007.
Throughout 2007 Symantec detected more than 711,912 novel threats which brings the total number of malicious programs that the security firm's anti-virus programs detect to 1,122,311.
The report notes: "almost two thirds of all malicious code threats currently detected were created during 2007."
The vast majority of these viruses are aimed at PCs running Microsoft Windows and are variants of already existing malicious programs that have proved useful to hi-tech criminals in the past.
Symantec said part of the rise was down to criminals increasingly using trojans as a "beachhead" to gain access to a PC and then use that route to download and install a variety of other malicious programs.
Popular malicious installations include key loggers that spring to life if particular websites are visited or programs, such as online games, are started up.
The report also put the growth in malicious code down to the increasingly professional digital criminal underground.
Typically, groups engaged in hi-tech crime employ groups of programmers to generate the novel variants.
The fact that these programmers expect to be paid drives the criminals to make as much money as possible out of the information they steal and to be constantly on the look out for new victims.
Said the report: "The combination of these factors results in a high volume of new malicious code samples that threaten users online."
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Some record labels want persistent pirates thrown off the net
European politicians have voted down calls to throw suspected file-sharers off the net.
The idea to cut off persistent pirates formed part of a wide-ranging report on creative industries written for the European parliament.
But in a narrow vote MEPs backed an amendment to the report which said net bans conflicted with "civil liberties and human rights".
It puts MEPS at odds with governments planning tough action against pirates.
Piracy police
"The vote shows that MEPs want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off internet access shouldn't be used," said a spokeswoman for the European Parliament after the vote.
The amendment was added to the so-called Bono Report on the Cultural Industries. This was written by French MEP Guy Bono to inform forthcoming European parliament policy that would encourage growth in the region's creative industries.
The amendment called on the EC and its member nations to "avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of internet access."
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents Europe's music industry, said the amendment was "badly drafted" and contradicted the rest of the report.
"We look forward to a full discussion in the European Parliament in the coming months on how best to address copyright theft online," said the IFPI.
The vote has no legal force and leaves national governments free to implement their own anti-piracy plans.
But, said the Open Rights Group, it does "signify resistance" among European law makers to the strict measures that nations such as France are implementing.
In late November 2007 France announced its intention to implement a law that turns net firms into anti-piracy watchdogs.
Information gathered about individuals who persistently share music and movies online will be passed to a government unit that will issue warnings or ask for an individual's net access to be suspended or shut off.
The British government has floated similar plans but net firms have rejected calls for them to act as watchdogs.
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Inside the spintronics chamber: IBM's Kevin Roche shows how he is designing an entirely new way of storing data.
Handheld gadgets storing thousands of hours of film footage could soon be a reality thanks to IBM scientists.
Researchers for the computer giant are working on a technology known as racetrack memory which uses tiny magnetic boundaries to store data.
In a paper in the journal Science, the team at IBM's Almaden lab in California outline ways to make the building blocks of the novel storage medium.
The capacity of MP3 players could increase 100 times from present levels.
But the IBM team say racetrack memory is still seven to eight years away from commercial use.
Memory boost
Currently most desktop computers use flash memory and hard drives to store data - both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Hard drives are cheap but their moving parts mean they are not very durable. They are also slow in that they typically take a few milliseconds to find and fetch data.
By contrast flash memory is more reliable and data can be read from it much faster though it has a finite lifespan and is expensive compared to hard drives.
The work being done on racetrack memory by Dr Parkin and colleagues could produce a storage medium that is cheap, durable and fast.
Ultimately, said Dr Parkin, racetrack memory could replace both flash and hard drives in computers and other gadgets.
"We have demonstrated the physics and materials underlying racetrack memory," said Dr Stuart Parkin, an IBM fellow at the Almaden laboratory.
"It's now possible to build a racetrack memory though we've not built one yet," he said.
The racetrack memory stores data in the boundaries, known as domain walls, between magnetic regions in nanowires.
The medium gets its name because the data races around the wire or track as it is read or written.
Spintronics memory might mean devices that can hold 500,000 songs
The domain walls are read by exploiting the weak magnetic fields generated by the spin of electrons.
The tiny amounts of power needed to exploit these fields means racetrack memory generates far less heat than existing devices.
Many modern computers already use spintronics to improve the density of data on a hard drive.
In the paper in Science and an accompanying review, Dr Parkin, Masamitsu Hayashi and colleagues describe their progress towards making the building blocks of racetrack memory.
The team has been able to create, move and detect the tiny magnetic boundaries "properly timed, nanosecond long, spin-polarized current pulses" and have paved the way towards creating working racetrack memory systems.
The team has also shown how to fabricate the slim wires that would form the racetracks on which data is stored.
If the expected data densities of the technology are realised it could mean gadgets that have about 100 times more memory on board than is possible today. It would mean that a portable MP3 player could hold up to 500,000 songs.
"We are embarking on a path to build a prototype," said Dr Parkin. He said it could take up to four years to produce that prototype and a further three or four to refine it for commercial use.
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With the new 3-series, designers will attempt to address criticisms of the current car’s awkward styling and lack of interior space. These renderings, compiled using information from sources close to the project show that the new car will have a pronounced kidney-grille with the air-intakes positioned on either side of the bumper just below the headlights.
New options for the 2012 3-series will include hybrid variants as well as the latest version of BMW’s Efficient Dynamics. The X-Drive AWD system is likely to gain favour thanks to a redesign of the system to reduce weight, which will only increase fuel consumption by 0.5L per 100km over RWD models.
Other features that may make it to production include night-vision devices, a heads-up display and radar safety systems.
The number of segments in which BMW is represented today is larger than ever before. So the brand offers Sheer Driving Pleasure in all kinds of different manifestations. But the concept of Sheer Driving Pleasure remains just as up-to-date and popular as before, coming out particularly in the BMW 1 Series Coupé: No other car offers equally dynamic driving characteristics, simply because no other brand offers comparable heritage and experience in the production of sporting and compact two-door models.
Rumors are flying in saying that this might be the M1 version that everyone has been talking about, but under a different name: Tii. Time will tell and so far, we can only speculate since we all know how well BMW is guarding their secrets.
Full Press Release
October 24th, Tokyo Japan
2007 Tokyo Auto Show
Based on the new BMW 1 Series Coupé being presented to the world public for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show 2007, this fascinating design study is the consistent evolution of BMW’s compact two-door with a clear focus on uncompromising sportiness. With its aerodynamically optimised body, a wide range of lightweight features serving to minimise the weight of the car and its axle load distribution, as well as an interior tailored specifically to the ambitious driver, this concept study clearly offers a high level of driving dynamics right from the start.
Character:
• Design study based on the BMW 1 Series Coupé with an uncompromising focus on motorsport.
• BMW Concept 1 Series tii as a young interpretation of classic BMW brand values.
• Implementation of specific requirements for motorsport ensured through the design of the car.
• Design study following the tradition of BMW’s compact, light and extremely
sporting coupés. The characteristic features of models particularly
successful in motorsport have gone straight into BMW Concept 1 Series tii.
• BMW Concept 1 Series tii underlines the extremely sporting potential and the youthful, temperamental character of the BMW 1 Series. The design study raises the focus on pure driving pleasure already associated with the BMW 1 Series Coupé to an even higher standard.
• As the fifth concept car presented by BMW in 2007 alone, BMW Concept 1 Series tii clearly demonstrates the exceptional bandwidth covered by the world’s leading manufacturer of premium cars. Following the BMW M3 Concept Car, the BMW Concept CS and the BMW Concept X6/BMW Concept X6 ActiveHybrid, BMW Concept 1 Series tii stands out as a unique symbol of maximum driving pleasure also in the compact segment.
Exterior:
• Through its unique, completely different design, BMW Concept 1 Series tii clearly emphasises its outstanding potential in driving dynamics.
• Optimised aerodynamics on the body with individual, distinctive design of the front air dam, side-sills and rear air dam. Special gurney flaps generating additional downforce on the rear axle.
• Further enhancement of agility and efficiency through consistent lightweight engineering using carbon components inter alia on the engine compartment lid, the mirror caps, and the inlays for the front air intakes at the side. Significant reduction of weight versus series production cars.
• Sporting, accentuated, contrasting and, at the same time, typical BMW colour scheme on the exterior and interior. The body colour Alpine White is combined with the very dark carbon structure of the CFP elements, with further highlights added in Blue.
• BMW Concept 1 Series tii takes up striking features of former motorsport models in many of its details: fins along the engine compartment lid to optimise the flow of air, contrasting colour scheme on the engine compartment lid, decal strips on the roof of the car and the rear lid in contrasting colour, visible, open towing fixture.
The guys at Auto Express have got their hands on some recent BMW Z4 spy photos. The first photo is a prototype and you can clearly see that the soft rooftop has been replaced by a metal folding top, similar to the one found in the E93 3 Series Convertible.
We have mentioned before that the 2009 BMW Z4 will be powered by the same engine found in the 135i and 335i models, more specifically, the twin-turbo 3.0-liter. We also agree with the Auto Express folks on the idea that the Z4 will probably get a diesel engine as well, somewhere down the road.
Since BMW is actively pushing their EfficientDynamics technology, we believe that the new Z4 will be taking advantage of that program.
The BMW Blog, which is fast becoming our main resource for news regarding the propellor brand, is reporting that the 2009 Z4 will be offered both as a soft-top convertible and a hard-top. Much like Mazda offers the MX-5 with a traditional softy and a separate model with a folding hard top, BMW will reportedly do the same for the Z4. In this competitive market for the upper middle class dollar, BMW will be able to satisfy traditionalists and performance purists who like the ease-of-use and lighter weight of a soft-top convertible, while also addressing the needs of buyers who want a Z4 that's useable all year round. The Z4's main competition, the Mercedes-Benz SLK, is only offered as a hard-top convertible, which also gives BMW a leg up on its main rival in this segment. It's hard to argue with an automaker offering customers more choice, and we're eager to see how the Z4's unique styling blends with a hard roof. We've already seen spy pics of the car wearing the metal roof, which led many of us to believe that the new hard top would be the only option. We'll have to wait and see whether BMW Blog got it right and the brand it favors will be offering both, but this blog has been right before
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www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com
A site of which this blogger previously wasn't aware is reporting that the body of the soon-to-be-revealed Tesla WhiteStar sedan was originally penned by one Henrik Fisker. According to Street Import Online, a mole deep within San Carlos has spilled the beans that the designer who recently unveiled his own plug-in hybrid super sedan, the Fisker Karma (above), had previously been contracted by Tesla Motors for its second product. According to Street Import Online, Tesla had backed out of a deal to have Fisker create the body for the WhiteStar electric sedan but kept the design.
We contacted Tesla's Marketing VP Darryl Siry to verify the accuracy of this story, and Siry declined to either confirm or deny the report, which you can interpret however you choose. If the story is true, it may well have prompted Fisker to pursue building a similar vehicle under his own name, which led to the Karma. The WhiteStar sedan is planned as a battery electric sedan, although Tesla has acknowledged that is also developing a range-extended electric hybrid version. Regardless of who actually drew the WhiteStar, Tesla has said it plans to reveal the sedan's design later this Spring after it begins delivering a steady stream of EV Roadsters.
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www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com
I must be missing the gene that makes high-riding vehicles appealing to so many other people. As a car enthusiast and an engineer, I can certainly appreciate the performance that companies like BMW and Infiniti have managed to wrangle from vehicles like the X6 and the EX35. But there is absolutely nothing in the new 2009 BMW X6 that couldn't be done better in a vehicle with a normal car-like ride height. After all, who is going off-roading in one of these? The best explanation I could get out of BMW officials for the existence of the X6 is that many drivers like that commanding view of their surroundings that the elevated altitude provides.
According to BMW, the X6 is designed to provide stylish coupe looks with the high performance people expect of a BMW and the utility of an SUV. As is so often the case, vehicles that try to fit too many categories at once end up not fitting any of them very well. It's not all bad news for the new X6, though. While it's not my cup of tea, there are undoubtedly some who will love this beast. Read on after the jump to find out if the X6 is something you might want in your garage.
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www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com
Like most rendered ruminations, we know absolutely nothing about these digital drawings of a car named the Aston Martin AM V10, other than they were penned by someone who goes by Sabaman. They're not new either, having been uploaded onto the interwebs about a year ago. Nevertheless, they're very good and show off a vision for Aston Martin's future that's become all the more relevant since the brand's been sold by Ford. Perhaps building ever faster versions of its current lineup won't cut the mustard someday soon, and Aston will begin considering a proper halo car. Such a low-slung, mid-engine exotic like this AM V10 concept could do the trick. It's swoopy with a familiar Aston Martin front face, but the rest of the body is pure sex. Again, we reiterate, these renderings are purely fantasy and nothing like this is being planned, but we wouldn't mind if it were. Thanks for the tip, Timon!
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The vast majority of viruses are aimed at Windows machines
