Reuters - Rivals heaped criticism on surprise front-runner Rick Santorum in a debate among Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday, hoping to stall his surge at a pivotal period in the 2012 campaign.

Reuters - Rick Santorum finally got his chance at center stage in a debate of Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday that represented the best chance to address large numbers of voters before a pivotal period in the 2012 campaign.

Reuters - Rivals heaped criticism on surprise front-runner Rick Santorum in a debate among Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday, hoping to stall his surge at a pivotal period in the 2012 campaign.

AP - Oil slid from a nine-month high to below $106 a barrel Thursday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies grew more than expected last week, suggesting demand remains sluggish.

Fans (present company included) flipped out when Mattel announced that it would release a 1:1 replica of the hoverboard from "Back to the Future II" and "Back to the Future III." However, the replica doesn't actually float, and it's not even clear how it glides over surfaces, which is perhaps why one enterprising individual took matters into his own hands.

Inspired by an art exhibition by Nils Guadagnin, YouTube user dondula7 created a floating hoverboard using an electromagnetic kit. Dondula7 notes on his YouTube page that his replica is still a work in progress, and he's hoping to build a better display to hide the magnets.

Also, this isn't quite ready for human use, as the board is only capable of supporting up to 5 pounds in weight. Still, it's a pretty neat DIY project in our book, and it even got a shout-out on the "Back to the Future" Facebook page. No word yet on whether it has to power to float on water.

Mini will show off the Clubvan concept at the 2012 Geneva auto show in early March.

There was a time when Mini's designers did crazy things to its standard models, then presented them as concepts at auto shows. Witness the Rocketman concept, which started out as a standard Cooper model, then added weirdly hinged doors and a big glass bubble at the rear.

But during the Geneva auto show next month, Mini will display what it calls the Clubvan, a new concept based on its Clubman model. And no, the Clubvan does not have disco lights, pumping music, and a crew of 24 hour party people dancing through the night.

The Clubvan is essentially a panel van. Mini covered up the rear side windows, painted a company logo on the side, then apparently went to the pub and called it a good day's work. In glowing text, Mini's press release suggests that the Clubvan would be a great delivery truck for urban boutique stores.

But no matter how many windows the company covers up, it won't make the Clubman any bigger, so most companies would be better served by something like the Ford TransitConnect.

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Source: Cnet Science (2012-02-22 22:00:12)