To unveil the technology that the companies use in everyday consumer products and to showcase the new innovative gadgets, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the best places. This is for new startups and for well established big companies. In this article, we will see a few of the technological trends in the automobiles at 2014 consumer electronics show.
- Self driving car: Prototypes which have the capability of autonomous driving and concept cars are unveiled by a few companies. One of them is Audi’s A &, which itself is piloted onto the state. An all-electrical vehicle, Navia shuttle introduced by the Induct Technology. It drives itself and is fit for ten people standing. This is available in the United States from this year onwards. BMW introduced a highly automated driving car which helps in emergency situations. It has electronically controlled steering works with accelerator and brakes with perfect harmony.
- Connect with smartphones: The Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) is an affiliation of automakers Hyundai, Honda, General Motors, Audi and the tech companies Google and Nvidia with a view of bringing Android operating system into the vehicles. Audi is launching Android into its upcoming vehicles. The reasons for this are Android is more friendly to develop the apps than the Apple, Android is a open source platform, Audi and Google already had established relationship with Google Mapping data, and a recent study by the IDC showed that 81 percent of smartphone shipments are Android based third quarter of 2013 data. This will enable the driver to sync the music across their tablets, phones and vehicle, getting the new applications like weather, traffic, etc.
- Advanced infotainment controls: The old stereo systems are no longer used by the automakers. Today, they have the flexibility to design new infotainment systems that are more intuitive and safer. Mazda Connect is the next generation infotainment system launched by Mazda in its 2014 Mazda 3. The system designed with a simple user interface. Regardless of the function that using by the driver, it shows consistent look.
- Car interface wearable technology: This is the first time that we saw interaction of the car and the wearable technology in the CES. A Pebble smartwatch having Digital Drive Style App by shown by the Mercedes Benz. It display the basic information of the car, and also give the vibrate alerts of upcoming accidents or traffic on the road. A Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch was shown by the BMW. i Remote app in the watch helps to run the 2014 BMW i3 electric vehicle. This device display the battery charge, doors and windows status, and the climate control. To give the navigation directions, this app can recognize the voice commands.
Automakers announce before and in the consumer electronics show their technological advancements in the vehicles. Most of these are on connecting the vehicles. Tech companies are putting their efforts in automobiles to make driving more enjoyable, cleaner and safer.
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Tags: Automotive
Ted Silva served three seasons as the Pitching coach for UC Irvine a perennial powerhouse in Division I baseball out of the Big West Conference.
He joined as an “assistant coach in the LMU baseball program” in first season.
Silva and head coach Jason Gill
1994 : No strangers to each other, Silva and head coach Jason Gill spent time as teammates on the Cal State Fullerton baseball team in 1994, helping the Titans to a 47-16 overall record and a College World Series berth.
2005 and 2006 : As coaches, the two last reunited in 2005 and 2006 as part of a Fullerton staff that guided the Titans to a pair of Big West Conference championships, and a trip to the College World Series in 2006.
2004 : Silva, who served as an assistant coach in charge of pitching at Villa Park High School in 2004, prepared at Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, Calif. and graduated in 1992.
1995 : Silva was a 21st round draft selection in 1995, and spent five years in the Texas Rangers Organization following a brilliant collegiate career. He spent one season pitching overseas in Taiwan, and pitched in the independent Atlantic League.
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Tags: Sports
Interiors is said to be incomplete without chandeliers and colorful lamps in home. In decorating your home chandeliers are an ideal option. It can be an attractive feature in the room. Chandeliers bring light down to us wherever required thereby brightening each corner of a large room. In this article, we will discuss types and selecting chandlers for your home.
Types of chandeliers:
There are many designs and patterns available to you, you can select a design depending on how much you want to spend.
If you prefer to be casual, a heavy chandelier made of crystal may not suit your lifestyle. Market has various types such as brushed nickel, real antler chandeliers or chrome to faux chandeliers.
If you prefer a vintage look, select the one that is antique with some updated design with silver metalwork. Another way to make modifications to an antique chandelier is to spray paint them that matches your interior decoration.
The crystal chandelier: The crystal chandelier is covered with glass and crystal accessories. Its body ia made of wrought iron or any metal. They are best for dinning rooms.
The antique chandelier: It is mostly made of wood and lighted using candles. Rich and finest wax is used to make these candles. It is often selected for creating a vintage look at home as it is extremely old model.
The french chandelier: These are ideal for living rooms and bedrooms as they are attractive and has an exclusive look.
The chabby chic chandelier: These are the most popular types available in market and are mostly placed in lobbies, libraries and even bedrooms.
Tips for selecting right chandelier for the room
When selecting a chandelier, first decide for which place you want to buy – dinning room, entryway, bedroom or living room. The height and width of the chandelier should be in proportion to the size of the room. Then, decide the type of chandelier you want to buy. Here are tips for selecting different types of chandeliers.
Living room chandeliers: When selecting a chandelier for the living room, it should serve two purposes – it should be a decorative, and brighten each corner of the room. Choose the chandelier according to the theme of the room.
Dinning room Chandeliers: The important thing to remember, when purchasing a chandelier for the dinning room is to focus the table. Chandelier should be placed lower enough to provide light to you and your friends or companions. Make sure that it is not placed too low so that people wont bump with the chandelier when moving.
Bedroom chandelier: When selecting a chandelier for the bedroom, opt for one that is attractive and exclusive too. The french chandeliers are the best choice for bedrooms.
Entryway chandeliers: When selecting a chandelier for entryway, be sure of the dimensions as a large area can make small chandelier disappear and a huge one for small area can make the place look more smaller.
When installing a chandelier, make sure that it should be hung along with general lighting as only a chandelier light can create shadows leaving the room looking dull.
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Tags: Home Improvement
Digital is one of the emerging opportunity for the auto industry. Year over year automobile customers dependence on digital is increasing. Google recently released a research report on the auto research and purchase process affects with digital. According to this report the auto intenders at present are open minded with 72% of search sessions are involving cross shopping. On average the shoppers are turning to twenty four research touch points. As well the usage of mobile has increased 35% year over year with a focus on comparison and research activities. Videos are the part of research is on the rise and online video was the number one format for encouraging brand consideration. Majority (62%) of the vehicle owners said that the future purchases could influences by the customer.
- Cross shopping: Cross shopping is the standard behavior, a double digit increase is showing with segment searches.
- In the segment searches there is no difference in 2010 and 2011 with 9% and in 2012 with +22% rise it reached 11%.
- In third party searches cross shopping is decreasing by -7% year over year from 2010 to 2012, 29%, 27% and 25% respectively.
- There is a +4% growth in brand purchases from 2010 (27%) to 2011 (28%) and the following year is also same as 28%.
- There is no change in the competitor search from 2011 to 2012 as 36% and it is a +3% increase from 2010′s 35%.
- Time and online sources: According to the September 2013 Millward Brown Digital and Google Vehicle Shopper Path to Purchase Study, regardless of time in-market, purchasers use many online sources. In total 82% of purchasers are in-market for three months or less. For less than one month research on average 7.3 digital sources are used, for one to three months and more period research 8.1 sources are used.
- Research points by auto shoppers: Today’s auto shoppers are doing more research than ever. On average there are 24 research touch points. Shoppers are looking for information for cars/trucks on different aspects through different mediums. The points they touched are models comparison, dealer sites, search engines, sharing, request a quote, watching videos and video sites, consumer review sites, original equipment manufacturer sites, third party sites, TV, radio dealer location and following in the social media.
- Digital drives auto shopping: The major factors that drive in person are dealer visit & test drive (89%) and salesperson (82%). In offline TV (53%), Newspaper (38%) and magazines (35%). Even digital is playing a big role leading up to purchase and increasing year over year. Dealership and manufacturer websites are 83% and 81% respectively, search engines 77% (+20% increase year over year). Online mapping tools (43%) having +23% of year over year growth and video sites (37%) have +28% growth.
Along with them advertisements like direct emails, video ad, mobile and tablet ads, TV, search, email, online website, newspapers and magazine ads are prompted consumers to start researching.
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Tags: Automotive, online shopping
In the pantheon of auto cargo friendly features, no one can come close to topping the truck’s pickup bed with regard to sheer, carry anything utility. Whether you are transporting a new couch to spruce up your living room decor or materials for a do it yourself home improvement project, this bed ensures that the truck is equipped to meet all cargo hauling challenges.
The added benefit of relative fuel efficiency can also be offered by certain trucks. The ten pickup trucks shown below get the best mileage of all trucks in the market. Hybrids have been making progress across a variety of vehicle segments, and in the truck category is also no exception.
2013 Toyota Tacoma – Combined: 23 mpg, city 25 mpg, and highway 23 mpg. With ample ability on and off the road and multiple configurations, the 2013 Toyota Tacoma is one of the top choices among midsize trucks.
2013 Ram1500 – Combined: 21 mpg, city 18 mpg, and highway 25 mpg. With a winning combination of a well trimmed cabin, a smooth ride and a strong power-train, it is the top pick in the segment of full size pick up.
2013 Chevrolet Silverado1500 Hybrid – Combined: 21 mpg, city 20 mpg, and highway 23 mpg. This hybrid car can accelerate to nearly 30 mph on electric power alone and city gas mileage is considerably high for the big truck.
2013 GMC Sierra 1500 Hybrid – Combined: 21 mpg, city 20 mpg, and highway 23 mpg. The Sierra delivers a smooth ride, strong towing and hauling capability, and a distinctive styling in a full size pick up.
2013 Nissan Frontier – Combined: 21 mpg, city 19 mpg, and highway 23 mpg. In the midsize pickup segment this is a top pick, and has innovative features, relatively nimble handling and brawny nature.
2013 Ford F-150 – Combined: 19 mpg, city 17 mpg, and highway 23 mpg. The 2013 Ford F-150 is America’s top selling pickup, offers a substantial array of powertrains and trims to accommodate all kinds of hauling, towing or off road needs.
2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 – Combined: 18 mpg, city 15 mpg, and highway 22 mpg. The 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is a strong contender in the full size pickup segment despite an aging design. It offers good highway manners, capable performance and a wide range of body styles.
2013 GMC Sierra 1500 – Combined: 18 mpg, city 15 mpg, and highway 22 mpg. This is a worthy competitor among fresher rivals, strengthened by a comfortable ride, capable performance and a wide range of body styles.
2013 Chevrolet Black Diamond Avalanche – Combined:17 mpg, city 15 mpg, and highway 21 mpg. With the utility of a pickup truck and the comfort of an SUV, it features a unique blend of the two.
2013 Honda Ridgeline – Combined: 17 mpg, city 15 mpg, and highway 21 mpg. The Ridgeline doesn’t have the muscle that serious truck buyers demand. But its combination of pickup utility and a carlike ride makes it all the pickup that many buyers will ever need.
The rankings are based on EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), miles per gallon ratings for highway and city travel. Each vehicle on the list is placed according to its combined fuel economy rating. The EPA’s combined fuel economy gives 45% score to highway mpg rating and 55% to city mpg rating.
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Tags: Automotive
The automobile industry is kept on updating its technology from its introduction. In almost every part of the car is changed from its first introduction. In the month of December the auto sales rising nine percent in US. It is the best number even since before the recession. Slew of new products, improved income and cheap financing are help to continue it in 2013.
- Communication: Most of us are spending an increasing amount of time in the vehicles. The urban and suburban growth lead to the more traffic due to lack of construction to keep up and the vehicles on the road is also keep on growing. Drivers are demanding and expecting communication with the outside world while they are in their cars. So more vehicle manufacturers including the systems to make communication easier. Now the automakers are concentrating and scrambling on mobile device integration to distinguish themselves. Our mobile devices and the car’s on board electronics becoming ever more connected from infotainment to safety features to diagnostics. We will see more interchange between high-tech companies and automotive like Google and Microsoft, and with open source technology platforms like Linux and Tizen continued to develop.
- Safety priorities: There is already good technology in the cars to keep users safe. Now OnStar and GPS are the standard fodder, even though all other automakers are increasing the safety priorities. You can expect to see more features this year along with blind spot alerts, lane departure warning, parking guidance and self-driving technology.
- Luxury and sports cars: It is not a coincidence that there seem to be more sports cars and luxury cars on the roads. The high-end luxury car brands like Maserati, Bentley, and Lamborghini did well last year (2012) and there is a some great sporty offering from Peugeot and Toyota. This is because of new generation is earning good money, investing in a new set of fancy vehicle and the baby boomers are almost reached retirement age.
- Service and aftermarket demand: The auto accessories aftermarket is already having 257 billion dollar and is boosting with the opportunity of software, which helps to sell all kinds of high tech car accessories to the consumers directly. The owners are keeping their vehicles longer because of more engagement with customers, prepaid service plans, and the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) aggressive service programs benefits. As well the auto manufacturers are providing advanced diagnostic technology, which helps them to communicate and track the customer requirements.
Because of stable fuel prices and the environmental friendly consciousness most of the people are opting for the hybrid cars. As well these are reaching the expectations of the consumers.
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Tags: Automotive
Recruitment process and policies can be affected by various internal and external factors. Factors that can be controlled by the organization are called internal factors, whereas factors that cannot be controlled by the organization are called external factors.
Internal factors that affect the recruitment process
- Size of the firm/organization: The size of the organization affects the process of recruitment to a large extent. Many organizations that are big select more candidates when compared to small firms. Big organizations find recruitment process less problematic than the organizations that are smaller.
- Recruitment policy: Sometimes recruitment policy that is followed by an organization can also affect process of recruitment. The policy might be concerned in hiring candidates from outside the organization. On the other hand the organization wants to hire from internal source.
- Organization’s image: Sometimes the process of recruitment is affected by the image or goodwill of the organization. Organizations that have good image attracts highly capable, competent and potential candidates to a large scale. Maintaining good public relation with the public, rendering services to the public, etc., will be helpful for building good image and reputation for the organization.
- Job image: Jobs that have good working conditions, better career, remuneration, promotions, etc., are able of attracting more qualified and potential candidates on large scale.
- Cost issues: Recruitment process incurs expenses to the organization so it will employ the source that will be less expensive way of recruitment.
External factors that affect the recruitment process
- Competitors: Competitors recruitment policies also affect functions of recruitment in the organization. To compete with these policies, organizations have to make changes in their recruitment policies.
- Demand and supply: For a particular skill if the demand is higher than its supply, then the process of recruitment will evolve more efforts. On the other hand if there is more supply for demand, the process of recruitment will be easy.
- Political and social environment: Recruitment policy is also affected by social and political environment. For example, if the government changes, it will have a great impact on recruitment process of the organization because of the changes in government rules and regulations.
- Legal Considerations: Legal considerations regarding employment provision for the casts that are under-privileged can have positive effect on recruitment process of the organization.
- Unemployment situations: Unemployment also has great impact on recruitment policy. The process of recruitment will be easy and simpler if the rate of unemployment is high.
Tags: Recruiting
Website is an identity for every business. It is the primary source for the digital marketing campaigns. People find about the auto dealership details from different sources, they first check the website for clear details. So website is very important for an auto dealership. It should be feel good experience to the visitors, and search engine friendly for more visitors. Then the reputation of the dealership will increase before the customer visits you directly. Now we will see some of the important website designing tips for the auto dealership.
- Proper placing of keywords: Keywords are very important for an auto dealership website to attract the targeted customers with proper search engine optimization of the website. If you are using the wrong keywords for you dealership website, the target market and the search engines will never find your business. The keywords placing process includes the following steps.
- Prepare a list of potential keywords – words or terms that are relevant and not excessively used.
- Enter the potential keywords into a keyword research tool (like Wordstream, Wordtracker, Google Adwords Keyword tool).
- Finalize the keyword list with the research results (create a list of both targeted keywords and broad keywords).
- Prepare those keywords for launch. Typically place 3 to 4 related keywords per page. The best places to keep the keywords are:
- File or folder names, URL’s, footer links, internal links, main website copy, title attribute on links, alt texts, bullet points, H1, H2 and H3 tags, breadcrumb trails, navigation, website slogans, meta descriptions and title tag.
- SEO friendly navigation: Search engine friendly navigation means to make the website as to understand the search engines. One of the major issue is, people use images instead of texts in websites in navigation links. The search engines can not understand the images texts. The buttons are also not readable by the search engines. So as much as possible use text instead of images and buttons.
- Images: The auto dealership websites images need to be optimized for search engine visibility and faster loading of pages. Try to keep the image file size as small as possible. It helps the mobile visitors to load the page faster. Try to keep the image resolution 72dpi and the size between 30kb to 100kb.
- Social media integration: Social media is playing a prominent role in the present days. It will help your dealership firm to gain credibility and build as a trusted community. Integrate the social media websites based on your target customer base. If your target is the young people try with Facebook, if professionals LinkedIn, mostly concentrate on the local area with any type of demographic. Do some research based on the targeted demographics in the social media website.
Concentrate on the optimizing of HTML code for your website. Because it has importance in the search engine algorithms. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Automotive, Internet Marketing
Social media marketing has gained huge popularity in the past few years. This is because it is easy and accessible to connect, inform, educate and empower large group of targeted audience. In present scenario, it is used for more than branding, customer service, public relation and retention. In this article, we will discuss about the importance of social media marketing in present scenario.
- Social signals affects your search engine ranking: Search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo considers many factors while ranking a website like on-page coding, on-page content, backlinks, keywords in domain name, description, URL, title and others. Social signals are one among the above important factors in indexing the content in the search engines.
According to Searchmetrics findings, top ranking URLs have more number of likes, shares, tweets and plus ones. Therefore, it is clear that the URLs with more number of social signals ranks top in the search results.
- To monitor your competitors: Social media is one such platform where you can monitor your competitors. There is a popular saying – “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. It is necessary to know how your competitors are doing business, for that you need to know:
- How they are presenting their business in social media sites?
- How they are engaging customers?
- What type of content they are posting?
- What people are saying about them?
- How they are replying to positive and negative feedback?
- What keywords they are choosing in describing their organization? Etc.
By monitoring these things you will get to know your competitors closely and it will help you in improving your social media marketing.
- Improving business by social media: Small businesses are showing more interest in marketing their business in social media. Because of its benefits in improving brand awareness, search ranking, relationship building, sales, etc.
- According to Michael Stelzner’s “2013 Social Media Marketing Report”, Leading benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and traffic.
- 89% of marketers said that social media has generated more business exposure.
- 75% of marketers said that social media has increased traffic to their website.
- 58% of marketers said that social media has improved search engine ranking.
- Generating leads and sales: One of the biggest advantage of social media is, it is the place to engage target audience and convert them to leads and increase sales. There is also a scope to get referrals from satisfied customers, friends and business partners.
- According to the research report by Michael Stelzner –
- 61% of small business marketers generated leads by social media.
- 43% of small business marketers improved their sales by social media.
Day by day more number of customers are joining social media and spending their time on social media platforms. So, it is worth to have social media profile for your business in order to generate leads, sales and online reputation for your business.
With some basic facilities and less expensive cars will always rule market. This is because most people’s purchasing power is limited that extent only. Instead of going for used cars, they can buy a new car. Most car manufacturers focus on small cars to sell at lower price.
- Nissan Versa: Nissan Versa is surprisingly a capable family car. It offers as much space as mid sized sedans. Feel and look of interior is average. Versa has CD stereo and air conditioning as standard equipment. It is available for less than $12000. It gives 27 to 38 miles per gallon based on the city and on highway driving.
- Chevrolet Spark: Chevrolet Spark is available for above $12000. It can give 32 miles per gallon in city and 38 miles per gallon in highway driving. It offers grand price tag includes ten airbags, alloy wheels, power windows and air conditioning. It is tiny and the front seats are reasonably spacious, and having highly practical interior.
- Smart for two: The smart for two is available at around $13000. The mileage is 34 miles per gallon in city and 38 miles per gallon in highway. It has rough shifting transmission, three cylinder engine and two seats.
- Ford Fiesta: It is costing around $13000. The fuel economy is 29 miles per gallon in city and 39 miles per gallon in highway. It has an auxiliary input jack, AM/FM radio and air conditioning. The high tech six speed twin clutch automatic transmission for Ford Fiesta is available at $1,095.
- Kia Rio: The Kia Rio is available around $14000. The mileage is equal to the Ford Fiesta as 29 miles per gallon in city driving and 39 miles per gallon in highway driving conditions. It has the standard features of USB input jack in CD stereo, and air conditioning. If automatic transmission is needed have to buy more expensive model.
- Chevrolet Sonic: It is really a good small car with spunky design in the hatchback, smooth shifting transmission, surprisingly nice sounding engine and well tuned suspension. It has the protection of ten airbags which is more than the most high end luxury cars. It is available in between $14000 to $15000. The mileage of Chevrolet Sonic is 26 in city and 35 in highway.
- Toyota Yaris: The Toyota Yaris is available around $15,000 with mileage of 30 in city and 37 in highway. Toyota Yaris redesigned this year to the last year’s version. It can give excellent value for your money, more reliable and easy to park. The standard features in 3 door model are nine airbags, USB compatible stereo and air conditioning.
The manufacturers reduce the number of features in inexpensive cars. But some features can extend. Before buying check with all the suitable features as you wish and take the decision. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Automotive, US Auto Industry