Darren Pedota is a Chicago police officer that is being sued by a man that was tased 11 times while having a diabetic seizure. Apparently the police officer believed that the man’s seizure was an act of aggression. Pedota was one of the officers that arrived on the scene at about the same time as the EMT. The police was helping the paramedics move the man. The man suddenly had a seizure during that process and Pedota started to tase him according to the Courthouse News/Gizmodo. The unidentified man is suing Pedota for excessive force, failure to intervene, and battery.

The picture that you see here is of a robotic hummingbird that can search for survivors around areas of wreckage. The robotic hummingbird costs $2.1 million and was put together by researchers in Japan at Chiba University. The hummingbird has the ability to float in mid-air using infrared sensors. A tiny camera will also be installed on the robotic hummingbird in order to inform rescue authorities where people are.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Kia Motors Corporation are partnering up on a project called UVO. UVO is short for “Your Voice.” UVO will be a similar product as Microsoft’s SYNC partnership with Ford Motor Company. UVO is part of Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Technologies. Microsoft and Kia will announce the product at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The Uvo has a 4.3″ color display. The display will be built into Kia cars starting in summer 2011 and will land in the 2011 Sorento first. Uvo will have a 1GB hard drive for media storage and will have the ability to rip CDs. Other features include SIRIUS satellite, AM/FM radio, and supports speech-recognition.

The company behind the Pixi and the Pre, Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) has hit a milestone for their application store called Palm App Catalog. There are now about 1,000 applications on the Palm App Catalog for sale. This is great news for webOS users. More options for them. Palm officially passed the 1,000 application mark on January 1, 2010.

Getfugu, Inc. is a mobile search company that develops applications with a focus on image recognition. By pointing the mobile phone’s camera at a logo, search results are grabbed that are related to the company. Getfugu raises $800,000 of a $10 million financing commitment. The commitment is being provided by Hutton International Investments.

“We are pleased to continue expanding our opportunities for business development through our relationship with Hutton,” stated Getfugu Co-Founder Carl Freer in a press release. “We remain very excited about the growth potential of Getfugu and its new ‘See It, Say It, Get It’ mobile search technology,” commented Hsin-Hau Lu, Managing Director of Hutton. “We look forward to assisting Getfugu in its expansion efforts, particularly in the substantial Asian market where we believe it will be adopted quickly.”

SS&C Technologies has filed for a $300 million IPO. SS&C designs software for trading and modeling companies. Some of the functions include portfolio management, reporting, accounting, processing, clearing, and performance measurement. SS&C started 23 years ago and is based in Windsor, CT. SS&C employs about 1,100 people. The company attempted to go public in June 2007, but withdrew from the IPO several months ago.

SS&C was founded in 1986 by William Stone. The company was being publicly traded up until November 2005, but SS&C went private around then. The Carlyle Group took the company private in November 2005 in a $982 million deal. SS&C earned about $280 million in 2008 and $205 million in 2006.

Lexy is an on-demand news and entertainment podcasting company that can be accessed by dialing 415-692-4933. According to a document filed with the SEC, Lexy has raised $458,000 of an $800,00 round of debt, rights and securities. Lexy is based in San Francisco, California and the company previously raised about $1.25 million in seed funding from KPG Ventures in March.

Although the automotive industry has taken a hit this past year, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has seen a 33% increase in sales. Car makers as a whole sold about 1,029,911 cars and trucks this December which is 15.1% higher from a year ago. Ford sold about 178,073 vehicles in the month of December which does not include their Volvo unit.

Another recent announcement made by Ford was that they will be the first automotive company to introduce iTunes tagging. Ford already has a partnership in place with Microsoft for their SYNC devices, but the iTunes tagging feature makes Apple Ford’s second major operating system and software partner. When using HD Radio in Ford Motor vehicles, drivers will be able to tag a song and will be able to buy it directly from iTunes.

Below is the full press release from Ford regarding the iTunes tagging feature: