europe

General Motors today announced it will unveil a five-door 2011 Chevy Cruze hatchback at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

Wayne Brannon, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe, said the total compact segment in Europe represents about 4.8 million units, which is more than a quarter of the total market and hatchbacks represent about 65 percent of that volume.

"Hatchbacks play a critical role in many markets," said Brannon. "We therefore expect to see increased business in a number of regions, while sending out a signal that Chevrolet is now a serious mainstream player in Europe.&… Read more

IBM and the European Union are teaming up to offer a better way to scan the massive collection of Europe's treasured historical documents.

Expanding on an existing collaboration project, Big Blue and the EU will now be working with more than two dozen libraries, research institutes, universities, and companies across Europe to help them digitize their rare books and documents.

The project known as Impact (Improving Access to Text), is using new tools and tapping into crowd sourcing to speed up the mass digitization process and ensure that the scanned documents are as accurate as possible. Impact will also … Read more

Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe's coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.

A picture of the European Union's renewable energy landscape for 2020 is emerging for the first time as the bloc's 27 member states scramble to meet a deadline for setting their "National Renewable Energy Action Plans."

The documents were due to be delivered to the European Commission by midnight on Wednesday, although most missed the deadline and none of the plans has yet … Read more

LONDON--After 16 months at Yahoo's helm and an expectations-beating first quarter, new chief executive Carol Bartz brought some of her down-home style to the Old World for her European press debut Wednesday.

Bartz fielded questions, touted Yahoo's refurbished strategy, and, flanked by the company's head of European operations, touted news that the Internet pioneer won sole rights to show game highlight videos for the Premier League, the 20-club group top of the English football competition pecking order. Bartz was here as part of a tour to meet senior ad agency executives in London and was due for … Read more

Is it just me, or does the planet seem really angry these days? Earthquakes galore, tsunamis, and now this ash-spewing volcano! We're doomed, I tell ya. Doomed!

Anyway, pity the poor traveler who's stuck in Europe until flights can resume. As we reported Tuesday, to help make those folks' lives a tiny bit easier, travel-guide publisher Lonely Planet is offering 13 European iPhone guides free of charge.

That's pretty generous, as they normally sell for $9.99 apiece. And, psst, you didn't hear this from me, but you don't actually have to be stranded in … Read more

Microsoft will plug a hole in a built-in filter in Internet Explorer 8 that can be used to launch the very types of attacks on Web sites it was designed to help prevent, the company said on Tuesday.

The company will update the IE cross-site scripting (XSS) filter in June to fix a hole that researchers warned about at the Black Hat Europe conference in Barcelona last week. The researchers showed how problems with the filter could be used to inject malicious code onto sites including Google, Microsoft's Bing search site, and Twitter.

"A June release is what'… Read more

Unhappy with their lot, six of seven second-tier browsers have petitioned regulators for increased prominence on the screen that gives Windows users in the European Union a choice of browsers besides Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The browser makers on Thursday sent a petition to Neelie Kroes, a European Commission vice president, and other regulators who have been dealing with the browser-choice technology that Microsoft has begun distributing to millions in Europe as part of an antitrust case against the software company. The top five browsers dominate the market, but more obscure browser makers hope the EU antitrust action will grant … Read more

Offshore wind capacity in Europe is expected to grow from 1.3 megawatts in 2008 to 18.8 megawatts by 2015, according to estimates from research group Frost & Sullivan.

The change will come from an increased interest from the banking industry in offshore wind project investment.

Previously, there was a high risk associated with offshore wind farms because of a relatively untested permitting process, the expensive initial layout for turbines and equipment, and the difficulty of installing offshore wind farms in comparison to onshore wind farms.

But as the U.K. and German governments began offering more support to … Read more

Surprises can be fun, but not when it comes to bills. Electronic Housekeeper, a CES newbie, has made it possible for homeowners to monitor their water, gas, and electricity. Knowing which devices are draining the most energy and who's taking the long showers might be the first step toward lower energy bills.

After selling its products in Europe and the Middle East, Denmark-based Electronic Housekeeper will bring its innovations to North America. The company has created a wall-mountable console that communicates wirelessly with electronics, appliances, heating, air conditioning, as well as water and electricity meters.

Monitoring household appliances and … Read more