Back In Black. The 2011 Porsche 911 Black Edition.

Combining puristic design, high-quality equipment, and convincing performance, Porsche has combined and concentrated all the aspects of 911 fascination and enhanced them even further. The result is the 911 Black Edition. Available as a coupe and cabriolet, in black. Limited to just 1,911 units.



The Black Edition is a special equipment package on the 911 Carrera fitted with the 345 horsepower 3.6 liter flat 6 engine, which can be equipped with either a six-speed manual transmission or the PDK seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.



The 911 Black Edition is painted in plain black as standard, with basalt black metallic also available as an option. The Cabrio hood is principally of black cloth. The grey top-tint in the windscreen is standard in the 911 Black Edition, rounding off the overall impression.





The special 911 Black Edition is super sexy and black as they come. Here's what makes it special.

•The exterior is painted solid black:

•19" 911 Turbo II wheels featuring a two-tone finish:

•Brake calipers are painted black:

•All black interior:

•Interior accents are painted in an aluminum finish:

•Black instrument dials:

•The rear section of the center console is painted black:

•A black SportDesign steering wheel:

•Black Edition logo on door entry guard in stainless steel:

•Porsche Communication management [PCM] with navigation module:

and a Bose surround sound system.

Prices start at $81,300 for the 911 Black Edition with manual transmission and go up to $95,620 For The Black Edition Cabriolet [PDK].

The 911 Black Edition will be launched in April 2011.
images and information courtesy of Porsche

All 46 Superbowl Rings To Date And Some Fun Facts About Them.

Don't fret, further in this post, each of the above rings are shown enlarged for detail.

A NEW MORE DETAILED POST WITH BIGGER PICS AND MORE INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE

One of the most recognizable pieces of bling are given to the players of the National Football League's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Who makes them? Who gets them? What are they worth?

The rings almost always include the team's name, logo, and Super Bowl number (usually in Roman numerals). Most of the rings also have larger diamonds or diamonds made into the shape of the trophy, that represent the number of Super Bowls that franchise has won.

For example, Pittsburgh's 2008 ring has six trophies and six large diamonds, representing the six Super Bowls they have won to date:

above: The Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XLIII ring weighs 104 grams and incorporates 63 round, brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.61 carats.

I don't know how much the total carat weight varies year to year or the actual market value, but here are some facts about the rings, courtesy of Wikipedia:

•The NFL pays up to $5,000.00 per ring, with up to 150 rings per team. The NFL pays for the cost of 150 rings to the winning team, at roughly $5,000 apiece, depending upon the fluctuating cost of gold and diamonds. If the rings are over the $5,000 limit, the team owners must make up the difference.

•Recent rings have been appraised in excess of $20,000, with some valued at $45,000. but manufacturers keep this information confidential

•The rings are made by the company of the winning team's choosing. The majority of the Championship Super Bowl rings have been manufactured by Jostens in Denton, Texas. They've made 28 of the past 43 rings.

•The Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl rings were manufactured by Herff Jones (based in Indianapolis), at their Warwick, Rhode Island ring plant.

•Austin, TX based Balfour Company has manufactured numerous Super Bowl Rings

Tasteful? No.
Impressive? Yep.

The rings are made after the game for obvious reasons, so this years' ring is not included among the images below, shown in chronological order.

Rings from 1966-1974:

Rings from 1975-1983:

Rings from 1984-1992:

Rings from 1993-2001:

Rings from 2002-2009:


UPDATE: Here are the 45th (2010) and 46th (2011) Super Bowl rings:

Go Granny. Cloris Leachman Takes On The Go Daddy Girls For Network Solutions.

This Super Bowl season, Network Solutions has created a purely social media campaign to go up against the big guns [e.g. Go Daddy]. They've just released a new mockumentary internet video campaign starring their very own Go Granny, played by Academy Award winner, Cloris Leachman.



Go Granny looks back on her wild past as the original “Domain Name Girl.” With the message— get serious about your small business, she's joined by the NetSol woman, BlogHer's Lisa Stone, female entrepreneur and internet superstar.



You can also check out @Go_Granny’s wild escapades on Twitter.

To join the Twitter Takeover, follow the hashtag #gogranny on:
Friday, Feb. 4 at 6 pm
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 3 pm
Sunday, Feb.6 at 3 pm

Network Solutions