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Private Toyota Friend social network lets owners talk to their cars and each other

Toyota is launching a social-networking service that will enable owners to engage in verbal dialogue with their Toyota cars. They can share the exchanges in the network and broadcast them via Facebook and Twitter. According to the Associated Press, Toyota is teaming up with U.S.

Automakers try to stop increase in ethanol limit to 15 percent of gasoline

Automakers are seeking to head off an EPA ruling that would allow gasoline to contain 15 percent ethanol, up from 10 percent now, and they've won some bipartisan congressional support. The two main automaker industry lobbies have argued that the U.S. Department of Energy has done insufficient testing to assure that gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol won't harm vehicles.

Caterham creator Graham Nearn dies

Britain has lost another of the champions of its specialist sports-car industry, Graham Nearn, who died on Oct. 24 at age 76. Originally a Lotus dealer, Nearn built a highly successful sports-car business around the lightweight two-seat Lotus Seven, which he bought from Lotus founder Colin Chapman in 1973.