Preparing for a Hurricane

Weathering the storm is a serious matter.  We’ve all been through some type of preparation for some kind of weather turmoil.  From putting up shutters, purchasing food in bulk, and having enough batteries to power a small village, we’ve all done what it takes to protect our families and property.  In today’s blog, we’re providing some quick tips to help you guys out.  If you have any tips to add, please provide them below, we love your feedback!

1.    Select a safe location for your family to weather the storm – it could be a place in your home, most likely with no window on a bottom floor.  If you don't have a safe area, make note of safe shelters in your area beforehand, contacting the building for arrangements.

2.    Stock up on food and water – make sure you purchase non-perishable foods, water, and MAKE SURE you restock up over time to avoid spoilage.

3.    Prepare your home – put up hurricane shutters, collect all of your screws/washers and tool kits ahead of time just in case.  If you don’t have shutters, stock up on plywood that’s precut for your windows.  Also, gather anything loose in your yard to avoid projectiles during the storm. 

4.    Develop a family communications plan. You might become separated before or after the storm. It's a good idea to have an out-of-state contact (a relative up north?) to act as the point of contact for all family members in the event of an emergency.

5.    Plan for your pets!! Maybe even evacuate them to a friend’s home in a safe area.

6.    Keep your car gassed up!!! When a storm approaches, lines get long and a lot of stations run out of gas.  Always have more than enough.

Supplies:

• Non-perishable food
• Drinking water
• Batteries
• Medication for all family members
• First aid kit
• Flashlights
• Battery-operated radio
• Cash
• Toiletries
• Clothing

We wish you the best of luck!

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Automotive Advertising

Facebook Makes Changes...

Facebook is the number one social media network on the planet, and as we all know, it has paved the way for millions of people to act and react simultaneously.  You're on Facebook.  Your family's on Facebook.  And yes, your Mom is on Facebook.  We're all familiar with the platform.  Facebook is making some SUBSTANTIAL changes to their privacy policy.  In part, inspired by Google+'s plethora of features.  Accessibility is the main priority here and a lot of features are being moved to News feeds and profile pages as opposed to setting pages. 

"A new drop-down menu will appear next to individual status updates and pieces of profile information (see above), enabling users to select the “audiences,” groups, and friend lists who can see those bits of their personal lives. The View Profile As tool will now reside at the top of your profile page rather than deep in the privacy settings, making it painless to preview what your mom will see before approving her friend request. Keep reading for a breakdown of some of the other big additions."
-Washington Post

Now, you will also be able to tag people who are not yet your friends, with users being able to accept or deny those tags before they're associated with you.  An ideal feature for night's that you would like to forget by not being tagged performing a "keg stand".  It helps protect your online integrity and private life. 

A couple other features include:

• Geo-location in status updates
• Ability to change who sees Facebook updates after they've posted.
• Change of "Everyone" terminology to "Public" (borrowing the lingo from Google+)

The changes begin on Thursday August 25th, showing a great initiative in Facebook's dominance.  What else do you think Facebook should change?  Let us know in the comments below! 

Automotive Advertising

Google Does it All...Including...Self Driving Cars??

How would you feel about a self-driving car? Sound a bit farfetched? Well, the geniuses at Google have been hard at work making this innovation come true. We don't even have the words to explain this awesome new technology. See for yourself why Google is a global company bent on world domination, one piece of technology at a time. This is truly amazing!

Feel free to comment!

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Automotive Advertising

BIG List of Fun Facts!!

In today’s blog we’re talking BIG, with influences from Automopedia, we’ve provided a detailed list of great facts!!! Enjoy!

1. The 1st automobile racetrack in the US was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which consists of 3 million cobblestones.
2. In its 1st year the VW Beetle sold only 330 cars in the United States.
3. Women spend more than $65 million on new cars and trucks, influence 80 percent of all new car purchases, and will buy 60 percent of new cars in 2001.
4. In 1916, 55 percent of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten.
5. 135 million cars travel the nation's roads and interstates each day.
6. The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
7. One seventh of the new auto/truck sales in the US are in Southern California.
8. The average 1999 model year automobile cost $5,674 per year to own and operate.
9. In the 1970's cars were scrapped almost twice as often as small trucks, but over the years cars have become more durable and in 1999 the scrappage rate was almost equal.
10. The city with the most Rolls Royce's per capita is Hong Kong.
11. Windshield wipers were invented by a woman.
12. The brake light in the rear windows was put there after a suggestion by Elizabeth Dole.
13. The first person to win the Indianapolis 500 at a speed of over 100 MPH without a relief driver was Billy Arnold who won in 1930 with an average speed of 100.448 MPH.
14. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At the time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

15. n 2002 30% of the cars sold were SUVs. It’s rumored the Chevy Nova sold poorly in Mexico because the word “Nova” is close to the Spanish phrase “doesn’t go.” Maybe it didn’t sell because it was a Chevy…or because it was Mexico.

16. Only FOUR automobiles were registered in the United States in 1895. I guess everybody had to learn to share!

17. Over 90% of car owners admit to singing while behind the wheel.

18. The first speeding ticket was issued in 1902.

19. In 1960, you could purchase a brand new Buick La Sabre for under $3000. With that you basically got two-doors, a (manual) steering wheel and an engine.

20. Mary Anderson patented the windshield wiper in 1905 after she noticed snow and rain gathering on the fronts of trolley cars and automobile windows.

21. In 1898, the New York City Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists.

22. The World’s Oldest Car was built in France in 1884 for French Count De Dion.In 2009, New York and New Jersey were surveyed as having the Worst Drivers in America.

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Automotive Advertising

What’s Your Social Media Influence?

Good morning, fans!  In today’s blog, we’re going to discuss your presence in social media.  You’re the much-needed backbone to a digital revolution.  Providing comments, retweets, check-ins and a plethora of other content to the web.  We have one question though: have you ever wondered how BIG your influence was?  Well Klout,  a scoring system of your overall online influence, might shed some light.

Klout scores you on a range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger realm of influence.  Klout uses over 35 variables to measure your reach and network score.

Klout explained: “True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages. Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100. Network score indicates how influential your engaged audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action -- "action" might be defined as a reply, a retweet, a comment, or a click. We perform significant testing to ensure that the average click-through rate on links shared is highly correlated with a person's Klout Score. The 25+ variables used to generate scores for each of these categories are normalized across the whole data set and run through our analytics engine. After the first pass of analytics, we apply a specific weight to each data point. We then run the factors through our machine-learning analysis and calculate the final Klout Score. The final Klout Score is a representation of how successful a person is at engaging their audience and how big of an impact their messages have on people.”

Klout is an awesome new way to check your personal influence on the web…we know, you’re DYING to see yours.  Visit: http://www.klout.com and find out your score today! 

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Automotive Advertising

4 MORE Important Safety Features!

“Driving is a privilege.”  The statement has been instilled in us since we took over the wheel.  Precautions like checking your rear-view mirror, adjusting side mirrors, and wearing your seatbelt become instinct on a road full of imminent danger.  Danger can be avoided by taking precaution.  In today’s blog, we discuss 3 awesome options for keeping safe while you drive  

1.    Antilock Braking System – this system prevents your car’s wheels from locking up by rapidly applying brake pressure.  It kicks in during heavy braking, but light breaking on slick roads can also activate it.  ABS has two distinct benefits: 1. Shorter stop distances on slippery surfaces. 2. Maintenance of steering control.  It gives the average driver more control over emergency situations. 

2.    Stability Control – this uses sensors to monitor how closely a car’s path matches your intended path based on steering, throttle and brake inputs.  Stability control is great at helping the driver maintain control during emergency maneuvers, and is especially useful when driving larger vehicles with a high sense of gravity. 

3.    Child Safety-seat Compatibility - All 2002 and up vehicles come with the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system in the backseat, which provides a more secure means of installation for child safety seats with tethers.

4.    Tire-pressure Monitoring System – A tire-pressure monitoring system uses a dashboard warning light to let the driver know when a tire doesn't have enough air to be driven on safely Of course, even the best monitoring systems are no substitute for checking your tire pressure on a regular basis

What are some additional safety features you would recommend? Let us know!

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Automotive Advertising

7 Things You Should Have in Your Car

Ok, as an individual who enjoys a tidy workspace, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to be compared to the vehicle equivalent of the individuals on the TV show: “Hoarders.”  We also want you to keep safe while you make your daily commute, so we’re feeling a bit conflicted.  In most cases, your vehicle is well equipped with the necessary tools to run smoothly.  In today’s blog, with help from The Simple Dollar, we provide a list of some extra essentials that could aid you daily.

1.    Owner’s manual This should naturally be in your glove compartment anyway, but you want to make sure that it is indeed in your car.

2.    Maps Keep a detailed map of the state you’re in in your car at all times – or even a current atlas if you have room. Don’t completely rely on a GPS navigation system.

3.    First aid kit (and manual) This can be vital if you’re in an accident and someone has injuries. Slowing down bleeding quickly can mean the difference between walking something off and going into shock.

4.    Flashlight (and extra batteries) Similarly, a flashlight is utterly essential at night if you need to change a tire.

5.    Bottled water This is necessary for sustenance if you get stuck somewhere and have to wait for a while.

6.    Food! Non-perishables, need we say more?

7.    Umbrella stay dry, my friends.

Got anything you’d like to add to the list?  Well come on down! Add your essentials below:

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Automotive Advertising