Reinventing the SUV for the 21st century

In creating the 2011 Explorer, Ford  engineers and designers had an enormously difficult task set before them. Ford's President of the Americas, Mark Fields, described the job as "Reinventing the SUV for the 21st century." Despite the near complete collapse of the traditional mid-to-large SUV market over the last several years, Ford still sees a substantial market for the capabilities of these boxy behemoths. Customers just don't want the traditional downsides that accompany these body-on-frame 'utes – specifically, their higher fuel consumption and poor ride and handling.

The new Explorer remains squarely targeted at traditional SUV buyers.
Since its debut some 20 years ago, the Explorer has sold over six million units, four million of which are still traversing the world's roads. Through much of the late-1990s and early part of the last decade, the Explorer was Ford's second-best-selling vehicle behind its F-Series pickups, regularly selling 400,000 units a year. Fast-forward to 2009, and that volume had plummeted to just over 52,000. Even so, Ford believes it still has an opportunity. According to the automaker's vice president of global marketing, Jim Farley, each year, at least 140,000 Explorer owners come back to Blue Oval dealerships looking to purchase new vehicles. And obviously, they just aren't buying Explorers.

When word got out that Ford was developing a new unibody Explorer off the same platform architecture that underpins the Taurus and Flex – not to mention the Lincoln MKS and MKT – many people wondered why Dearborn had elected to develop yet another crossover, especially since the Taurus X/Freestyle had just been killed due to slow sales. This predicament was not lost on Ford's product planners, and their four-wheeled response is a new Explorer that remains squarely targeted at traditional SUV buyers – shoppers that Ford sees as a distinct group from most crossover intenders. Long ago, Jeep proved with the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee that a unibody chassis isn't necessarily an impediment to building a fully capable off-roader, and Ford appears to have taken that lesson to heart, along with targeting big improvements in fuel economy and driving dynamics. Follow the jump to find out if they succeeded.

Himeji Castle - Japan

Himeji Castle - Japan

Nokia C5 Smartphone with Ovi Maps

The first smartphone from C-series by Nokia went on sale in the Indian market, the model called Nokia C5 Smartphone. Nokia C5 running Symbian S60 3rd edition FP2 and is positioned as the Finnish manufacturer smartphone is optimized for social networks. This is supported preloaded in memory smartphone applications for social networks Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, hi5 and Friendster.

Nokia C5 was officially announced in early March this year. Smartphone users can offer 2.2-inch display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, GPS-module with free navigation service Ovi Maps 3.0, 3,5-mm audio connector and support for high-speed networks HSDPA. Nokia C5 – is one of the cheapest phones with free navigation Ovi Maps. The cost of this unlocked version in the Indian market is only $ 175.

Home Based Business Startup Tips

Home Based Business Startup Tips

You might have seen lot of internet websites offers to build home based business startup and after spending thousands of hours searching, online for information they may not look as good and dandy as you had expected to be. If your internet business has not yet succeeded or not viable, there must be something, you must have missed to have your own profitable home based business startup. There are no big secrets and all it takes is to learn and implement that to earn money online. Set a goal and focus on finding a system that works for you. After you have found a system, you must stick to it.


Here we have a few tips on how to own home based business startup to earn money online.

1. Create a product
The only secret of success in this home based business startup is to find out what people want to buy and then sell them what they want. Create information-based products or your own digitally delivered product such as ebooks or tapes etc. Develop your own specific strategy to earn money by selling the product online.

2. Setup a payment system
Get a merchant account as soon as you set up the website to accept online payments from day one. Integrate the system by linking to your website via encryption software. Address security issues by using trusted providers. Get detailed reporting and monitoring of the figures regularly to identify any particular areas for concern.

3. Affiliate program
Get mass distribution through an affiliate program. After creating a website, find an affiliate program such as Clickbank for collaboration. Affiliate program websites are companies that promote products relevant to the kind of site you have. You can be paid for every click or for every sale by the merchant and for every registration with the merchant's company can help you a lot to earn money 24 hours round the clock. How much you get and how successful you are depends upon your choice of affiliate marketing with your home based business startup.

4. Monitor web traffic
Affiliate merchant directs traffic to his website by providing his visitors fresh content that will keep people coming to his website. Techniques like link building and link swapping, and other Search Engine Optimization techniques get your website links onto other sites where more people can find them.

5. Advertise
For your home based business startup, you need a publicity campaign, search engines or reciprocal linking. Keep the website current with fresh content. Contain something that people will want to keep coming back for. Get feedback with direct articles that have information about your site and by starting a new blog.

Cute Summer Dresses For Kids

Cute Summer Dresses For Kids

Humanoid Robots Olympic Games China

Humanoid Robots Olympic Games China


The World's first International Humanoid Robots Olympic Games kicked off on June 21, in China's Harbin's Institute of Technology. Two years after hosting a memorable edition of the human Olympic Games, China becomes the first country to host an Olympics dedicated to humanoid robots. Nineteen teams, from China, United States, Japan, South Korea or Germany have brought their best robots to compete in this historic three-day event.

To enter the competition, robots had to be less than 60 cm long, and have a human shape, with a head, two arms and two legs. Just like in the real Olympic Games, the sporty robots had to compete in multiple challenges, 24 to be exact, ranging from boxing, to weight-lifting, dancing, or sprint. But there are also some unusual domestic events, like cleaning or medical care.

The sprinting contest took place on the first day, with the winner running a distance of five meters in 20 seconds flat. Not bad for a small robot, I think. Check out the video at the bottom, to see these little guys sweating silicone at the Robot Olympic Games.