The race ended with Kevin Harvick taking that checkered flags, while many angry competitors landed in the dust.

The race began 90 minutes late due to the ran and went far past midnight, but that was only the beginning.

But the whole race was filled with excitement. Within the race, the six multi-car crashes in the second half of the race upped the ante, with a 20-carcrash  that included four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson that stopped the action for 20 minutes.

Harvick took the lead and bypassed all the crash action for his second victory of the season and his first at Daytona since 2007’s Daytona 500, nearly an hour earlier than Tony Stewart’s in 2005.

But it was a bit of a messy race. Harvick had to desert his teammate and drafting partner Clint Bowyer, a situation that he didn’t want to be in, according to ESPN.

“It was every man for himself at that point,” Harvick said. “You know the guys behind you are going to push you as hard as they can. So if I’d slowed down to let him in or something like that, it would have just given the other line more momentum. At that point you just hope your line goes faster than the other line. Tonight we were in the right line, on the bottom and it wound up working out.”

Kasey Kahne scored second place, while Jeff Gordon nabbed third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton followed fourth and fifth.

A massive $20 million repaving job will begin next week on Daytona International Speedway’s well-worn pavement.

Read more from ESPN and NASCAR.

Image courtesy of myfoxorlando.com and NASCAR.

Succeeding Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit, Montreal-native Nezet-Seguin accepted the assignment after two guest-conducting gigs with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As one of the States’ largest orchestras, his appointment comes just ten years after having received his first post as music director for the Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal.

Canadian and American art music fans would agree; having Nézet-Séguin is exciting news. A breath of fresh air. A boyish charm. A young energy. All that light up the orchestra as he leads them.

According to an in-depth article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, this is good news.”Sometimes you have to take a risk, and it doesn’t feel like a huge risk,” said one of the orchestra members. “The risk is that it’s only 75 percent of what is hoped for, and the best case is that it’s 110 percent.”

The 110-year-old orchestra is currently struggling through some financial issues. Their latest projection estimates a $1.6 million deficit at the end of the season. The hope are that the new director will, perhaps, stimulate generosity.

Nézet-Séguin’s arrival in Philadelphia will be in phases. In 2010-11, as music-director-designate, he will conduct two weeks. In 2011-12, he’ll conduct five. In his first season, 2012-2013, he will conduct up to seven. The numbers will increase to 15 weeks in the following two years, then 16 weeks in the final two. He also leading subscription concerts, special events, tours and summer appearances.

This will keep him busy, especially since he will still be leading the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, as well as representing the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as music director and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Read more from the Philidelphia Inquirer.

Image courtesy of the Philidelphia Inquirer

The breach exposed an exclusive email list, including thousands of big-name folks in finance, politics and media. Names such as New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson and Diane Sawyer of ABC News made the cut, among others.

There’s more. According to Gawker, it was possible that 114,067 user accounts have also been hit, and every iPad owner may need to watch out. A recent update confirmed this from AT&T.

The breach exposed subscribers’ email addresses and  associated IDs used to authenticate the subscriber on AT&T’s network. The data was gathered from Goatse Security, which obtained it from an easily-accessible script on AT&T’s website. And according to Gawker, the route to getting it was pretty easy:

• Get data from AT&T’s website
• Provide associate ID as part of an HTTP request
• Script would return the associated email address
• Figure out the associate ID with some easy linking using Internet sources from folks who aren’t terribly private
• Send a”User agent” header in their Web request
• Write a PHP script

Okay, maybe not so easy for your average Joe, but a simple procedure for those in the field.

And so, AT&T exposed far too much info, definitely not a plus for the telecommunications company.

Since the onslaught of the breach, The New York Times contacted their staff with a request to turn off the iPad network and AT&T sent out an apology, explaining they are “continuing to investigate and will inform all customers whose e-mail addresses and ICC IDS may have been obtained.” And of course, they go on: “We take customer privacy very seriously and while we have fixed this problem, we apologize to our customers who were impacted.”

Read the full story from Gawker, along with the latest update: AT&T Fights Spreading iPad Fear

At just 1.5 pounds and 0.5 inches thick, it’s easy to take everywhere you go – especially with a ten hour battery life and built in 802.11n wireless network, as well as an optional 3G model when Wi-Fi isn’t available.

Inside, there is also an enhanced, custom designed A4 chip allowing for extreme productivity – this is combined with your choice of a 16, 32 or 64GB flash storage, for your collection of files, photos, movies, apps and more. Although it seems to be lacking specific connectors (such as a USB), it does include a 30-pin dock connector. And the built-in speakers allows for movie watching and music listening with ease (headphone jack is included).

Built In Apps

The new iPad can easily run about 140,000 apps available at the app store. It also comes with many of the applications that we already know and love, including updates to Safari, Mail, iTunes and more.

iBooks

It also acts as your own personal reader, with an LED-backlit screen display allows for reading in dim lighting. Five of North America’s largest trade book publishers, including Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette, have signed as head suppliers of the new iBook store.

The Environment

The new iPad is designed with specific features to be earth-friendly, including BRF-free, PVC-free, and mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free display glass. It is also made of  a recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure.

We’re waiting in anticipation to see what its like – so far, it looks great, but its missing a lot of potential. With its lack of camera, wireless sync, multitasking, and no flash, support, we’re not sure if the price tag correlates with what it delivers.

How much?

The Apple iPad Wi-Fi models, set to launch in March, start at $500 for 16GB version, $600 for 32GB, and $700 for 64GB (US Dollars). The 3G, penned in for April, begins at $630 for 16GB version, $730 for 32GB, and $830 for 64GB (US Dollars). International pricing and availability will be announced at a later date.

Specs

Size/Weight

• Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
• Width:  7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
• Depth:  0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
• Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Display

• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen
• Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Capacity: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive

Processor: The Apple iPad is powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip

Battery and Power:

• Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

See more at apple.com

The Cunningham Dance Foundation released a statement Wednesday saying that the choreographer passed away from natural causes in his home on Sunday.

A top contender in the arts community for 60 years, he formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953, choreographing almost 200 works for it.

He began to dance as a young child, then soon become a soloist with from 1939 to 1945 with Martha Graham, a pioneer in modern dance.

His first solo concert debuted in New York in April 1944, along with the music of his  partner and collaborator John Cage. He went on to form his own dance company in 1953, then proceeded to, along with Cage, merge music and movement in a new way.

Cunningham abandoned traditional connections between movement and music, and instead chose to interconnect the two arts only as independently; he also did away with conventional storytelling, focusing on the poetry of dance.

Cage was a pioneer of indeterminacy in his compositions; Cunningham took the same approach, changing modern dance thereafter.

For more information about Cunningham, his works, legacy, awards, and approach to modern dance, visit merce.org.

At least half a dozen galleries in Scottsdale, AZ have closed in the past year, with others close on their tail.

They’re not alone; 24 galleries have closed their doors in Manhattan and between 10 and 15 in Santa Fe, N.M – both art-driven areas.

Some owners refuse to give up; according to the Associated Press, Scottsdale resident and gallery owner Kraig Foote of art one gallery in Scottsdale has taken every step he possibly can, including putting his house up for auction and selling his own art collection for pennies of its worth.

“I have given up everything,” he said in the report. “I’m trying to make it to December. I think people will start spending again once they get to the next holiday. They’ll say, ‘We’ve saved, let’s get something.”

But that doesn’t look to promising, as the economic downfall looms.

Read the full story here.

Image: Leslie Levy, left, who has owned an art gallery in the Scottsdale Arts District, is closing up shop after 32 years. keprtv.com

His connection to the BSO is close to heart – his wife, Kim, was a longtime member of the staff, and now and a trustee.

“The support for classical music is diminishing,’’ Taylor explained recently in an article from Boston.com. “We have real concerns for what the future is for it. We also know it takes a huge structure to maintain a symphony and a lot of money.’’

He has also already committed to upcoming shows next year.

Read the full story here.

Image courtesy of bostonherald.com

The nominations include:

5 Aldermanbury Square – Eric Parry Architects
Kentish Town Centre – AHMM
Maggie’s Centre -  Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners
Fuglsang Kunstmuseum – Tony Fretton Architects
Bodegas Protos – Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners
Liverpool One Masterplan – BDP

See the details for each finalist here.

The RIBA Stirling Prize 2009 winner will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize 2009 Dinner on 17 October 2009 at Old Billingsgate, London.

Image courtesy of bdonline.co.uk

Contemporary buildings were no stranger to him; his clients include famous names found in any modernist architecture text, among them Richard Neutra, Rudolf M. Schindler, Gregory Ain, Frank Lloyd Wright,  John Lautner, Eero Saarinen, Albert Frey, P and many others.

Known to perhaps make architecture look too beautiful, Shulman had a heavy hand in making his photography deliver the best possible representation. He would gladly rearrange furniture, bring in props, use model, and crop unwanted images.

According to the LATimes, Shulman found these tactics part of the job, saying he wasn’t just the photographer, but instead “selling modernism.”

“I sell architecture better and more directly and more vividly than the architect does,” he had explained.

Read the full story here.

Image courtesy of wirtzgallery.com

Despite her seven-digit salary from Vanity Fair, her celebrity and high-end clients, her ongoing art exhibitions, and her newest book “At Work” making best-seller lists, she’s said to be struggling to stay afloat.

Read the full story here.