An automobile is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. Different types of automobiles include cars, buses, trucks, and vans. Some include motorcycles in the category, but cars are the most typical automobiles. The term automobile is derived from Greek auto- ("self") and Latin mobilis ("movable"), referring to the fact that it "moves by itself". Earlier terms for automobile include motorwagen, and horseless carriage. Although the term "car" is presumed to be derived through the shortening of the term "carriage", the word has its origin before 1300 A.D. in English as, "carr"—derived from similar words in French and much earlier Greek words—for a vehicle that moves, especially on wheels, that was applied to chariots, small carts, and later—to carriages that carried more people and larger loads. As of 2005 there were 600 million cars worldwide (93 cars per 1,000 persons) .

The automobile was thought of as an environmental improvement over horses when it was first introduced in the 1880s. Before its introduction, in New York City alone, more than 1,800 tons of manure had to be removed from the streets daily, although the manure was used as natural fertilizer for crops and to build top soil. In 2006, the automobile is recognized as one of the primary sources of world-wide air pollution and a cause of substantial noise pollution and adverse health effects.

History

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More on [ Automobile ]

TechCrunch

GigaOm Buys A Mobile Blog - One Less Independent Blog In The World
Michael Arrington Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:00:09 -0000
Blogging network GigaOm will announce the acquisition of the small but excellent mobile-focused blog jkOnTheRun this evening. Founders James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel will remain in Houston and continue doing their thing. The deal size isn’t being announced, and it’s likely small. But it shows what might be the beginning of something that I wrote about [...]
Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”
Michael Arrington Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:39:25 -0000
Google’s on and off negotiations with Digg have been back on in a big way for the last six weeks, we’ve heard from multiple sources inside of Google, and the two companies are close to a deal that will bring Digg under the Google News property. The acquisition price is in the $200 million range, [...]
Apple Launching App Store Beta Program
Jason Kincaid Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:37:08 -0000
Apple’s App Store has seen an unprecedented amount of success and exposure since its launch, with millions of total downloads and 909 applications already available. Unfortunately, Apple has been unable to keep up with the influx of submissions from developers (each app must be approved before it appears on the store), leaving many companies [...]
Sugar Inc Breaks Up With NBC, Brings Ad Sales In House
Michael Arrington Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:03:22 -0000
Fast growing women-focused blog network Sugar Inc announced that they’ve terminated their year-old ad sales relationship with NBC. All ad sales will now be via an in-house sales team, says the company. There was speculation that NBC’s recent investment in Blogher, arguably a competitor to Sugar, was to blame. But Sugar CEO Brian Sugar (guess where [...]
TicketLeap Gets $2 Million For Modest-Sized Event Ticketing
Jason Kincaid Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:15:07 -0000
TicketLeap, a service that helps promoters sell tickets to their events though a self-serve platform, has raised $2 million in a Series A funding round led by MentorTech Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. TicketLeap differentiates itself from large ticket vendors by catering to small companies and events. Rather than charge event coordinators for selling [...]
Chad Dickerson To Leave Yahoo For Etsy
Michael Arrington Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:25:38 -0000
Chad Dickerson, a long time Yahoo exec and the head of their Brickhouse special projects group, is leaving the company to become the CTO of Etsy, a a website that allows users to buy and sell handmade items. Mike Folgner, the former GM of Yahoo Video, will take Dickerson’s place at the head of Brickhouse. We [...]

ENN Investing and Corporate Social Responsibility

Study Suggests Carbon Market Encourages Chopping Forests
The current carbon market actually encourages cutting down some of the world's biggest forests, which would unleash tons of climate-warming carbon into the atmosphere, a new study reported Monday.
Technology Companies Tout Greener Credentials, but Significant Improvements Are Distant
With energy costs high and environmental friendliness making for good public relations, more tech companies are touting ways they are "greening" data centers, which serve up Web pages, swap Internet traffic, and process and store business information.
Westinghouse Seals Mega China Nuclear Deal
U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric signed on Tuesday a multi-billion-dollar deal with Chinese partners to build four nuclear reactors in eastern China, finalising a pact agreed between Beijing and Washington seven months ago.

The Financial Page

Sponsoring Recklessness
James Surowiecki Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When do the words “not guaranteed” actually mean “guaranteed”? Whenever the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are involved. The two companies have long been required to tell investors that their securities are not guaranteed by the federal government. But in the financial markets everyone has always assumed that . . .
Oily Speculations
James Surowiecki Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When bad things happen, it’s always nice to have a scapegoat. So, with Americans furious about soaring oil prices, Congress has gone in search of someone to blame. There are a number of usual suspects to choose from, depending on your politics--OPEC, greedy oil companies, lily-livered environmentalists opposed . . .
All Together Now?
James Surowiecki Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0000
These aren’t great times for CBS. It’s no longer the network ratings champ; its radio business is dragging; and a recessionary economy is bad news for a company dependent on advertising revenue. So it isn’t exactly surprising that the company felt it needed to do something dramatic. What’s surprising is . . .

NYT > Your Money

Off the Shelf: Who Wants to Retire Later? (Don’t Laugh)
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:22:47 -0000
In their new book, Alicia H. Munnell and Steven A. Sass argue that we may have to work longer and retire later if we want to avoid a decline in our standard of living.
Your Money: Honor Your Word, or This Banker May Call Mom
Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:35:03 -0000
A look at the local community bank, where bankers try to make prudent loans within the community and try to keep customers from making a mess of their finances.
Update: New Proposed Legislation on 401(k) Debit Cards
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:06:16 -0000
Interviews with Senator Charles E. Schumer, who introduced legislation to outlaw using debit cards in tandem with 401(k)s, and Bruce R. Bent, chairman of Reserve Solutions’s parent company.

The Economist: The World Bank and the IMF

Who runs the world?: Wrestling for influence
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
The post-war global institutions have largely worked well. But rising countries and growing threats are challenging their pre-eminence THE powerful, like the victorious, do not just write history. They grab the seats at the top tables, from the United Nations Security Council to the boards of the big international economic and financial institutions. They collude behind closed doors. They decide who can join their cosy clubs and expect the rest of the world to obey the instructions they hand down. That is how many outsiders, not just in the poor world, will see the summit that takes place from July 7th to 9th of the G8, the closest the world has to an informal (ie, self-appointed) steering group. Leaders of seven of the world's richest democracies, plus oil-and gas-fired Russia, gather this year in Toyako, on Hokkaido in northern Japan, to ruminate on climate change, rising food and energy prices, and the best way to combat global scourges from disease to nuclear proliferation. ...
International government: What a way to run the world
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
Global institutions are an outdated muddle; the rise of Asia makes their reform a priority for the WestCLUBS are all too often full of people prattling on about things they no longer know about. On July 7th the leaders of the group that allegedly runs the world--the G7 democracies plus Russia--gather in Japan to review the world economy. But what is the point of their discussing the oil price without Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest producer? Or waffling about the dollar without China, which holds so many American Treasury bills? Or slapping sanctions on Robert Mugabe, with no African present? Or talking about global warming, AIDS or inflation without anybody from the emerging world? Cigar smoke and ignorance are in the air.The G8 is not the only global club that looks old and impotent (see article). The UN Security Council has told Iran to stop enriching uranium, without much effect. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is in tatters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the fireman in previous financial crises, has been a bystander during the credit crunch. The World Trade Organisation's Doha round is stuck. Of course, some bodies, such as the venerable Bank for International Settlements (see article), still do a fine job. But as global problems proliferate and information whips round the world ever faster, the organisational response looks ever shabbier, slower and feebler. The world's governing bodies need to change. ...

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