Edmund’s Inside Line just broke the news about the new Nismo version of the new Nissan 370z. With power bumped up to 350hp using a new intake, exhaust and ECU reprogramming, this version of the Z should be one of the fastest to hit our shores. Pics are below.

The Toronto Star has been running a series of online maps on their website in a column titled Map of the Week. From mapping crime and accidents, to health and STDs, these maps mashup data with the tracts that make up Toronto. The latest map is about neighborhoods – they’ve been asking for input into what are the boundaries of all the neighborhoods people use in the city. Names like “Rosedale”, “East York” and “The Annex” these neighborhoods make up the fabric of the city. Curiously, where my condo is an area without a neighborhood name at all. Apparently, we don’t qualify under for titles of our neighbor neighborhoods.

Well, many reports of Google cars driving up and down Toronto are coming in. It’s true, Google Street View is finally coming to Canada. Originally blocked by the country’s various Privacy Commissioners because of privacy concerns, Google has pledged to blur faces and cars from the Canadian images in order to comply with our laws. So, don’t smile when you see their cars, wave instead.

CNet is running a great article about the servers that Google uses in their large (and many) data centers. Because they need so much computing power worldwide, they have gone to great lengths to ensure a lot of power efficiency is built into the physical architecture.

What do you do when you’ve put a downpayment on some goods and the retailer closes suddenly? My friend found himself in this situation when Neoset closed it’s doors yesterday and left him without furniture and out the deposit he made for the purchase. Ellen Roseman wrote in the Toronto Star three recommendations to prevent a complete loss of your deposit:

1. Don’t pay in full. You will be asked to put money down, but keep the deposit as low as possible.
2. Don’t use cash for payments. You will be treated as an unsecured creditor if there’s a bankruptcy and ranked behind other secured creditors, such as banks and landlords.
3. Do use your credit card instead. You should be able to get a refund under the card issuer’s zero liability guarantee.

Luckily, he used his credit card and hopefully they will be able to refund his deposit.