Tag: mobile gadgets

Connected technology, combined with handy compact tools are taking spares out of trunks.

A range of different types of mobile gadgets and common tools are starting to reduce the trend of keeping spare tires in vehicle trunks, while at the same time they boost the safety of the passengers inside a car.

The trend is moving quickly enough that automakers are adding spares to fewer new car models.

Until very recently, a spare tire was considered to be a standard part of a vehicle’s equipment, but with the use of mobile gadgets and handy tools, that addition is becoming less commonplace. In fact, a recent study conducted by the American Auto Association (AAA) has indicated that almost four out of every ten new cars are sold without the addition of a spare tire – something that used to be included in all new vehicles. The same study found that 36 percent of 2015 vehicle models come with tire inflation kids or run-flat tires instead. That is an increase of 5 percent over 2006.

This is leading the AAA to make recommendations to drivers to keep the right tools and mobile gadgets handy.

According to AAA, even though flat tires aren’t reducing in frequency, spare tires are going extinct. John Nielsen, the organization’s managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair has explained that “AAA responds to more than 4 million calls for flat tire assistance annually and, despite advances in vehicle technology, we have not seen a decline in tire-related calls over the last five years.”

In order to ensure that vehicles and their passengers stay safe, it is recommended that a spare be kept in every vehicle – even if a tire repair kit is also stored in the car. Proper maintenance of the tire inflation is also important to preventing flats in the first place. Running over a nail can’t always be prevented, but using a good digital tire pressure gauge to make sure the inflation is where it should be can prevent a slow leak from becoming a fast problem while on the road or after parking at the next destination.

Mobile gadgets that have GPS and the roadside assistance stored in contacts can also be very handy in the case of a flat or other road event. Some good quality tire pressure gauges now come with additional safety features such as glass hammers and seatbelt cutters, which can help to keep vehicle occupants as safe as possible even when if the worst should happen.

The new guidelines include a recommendation for shorter and less formal videos to suit news consumption trends.

BBC journalists have now been instructed that their news videos should be less formal and shorter, in order to better appeal to the shift that the public has been making toward mobile devices when they consume the news.

These new guidelines were created and issued to reporters under the title of “How to Win at Mobile”.

Journalists were instructed to try to keep their videos limited to 60 to 90 seconds in length, as this is considered to be more appealing to people who will be viewing them on social media and mobile devices, said the documents. The guidelines use certain popular sources such as Vice and Buzzfeed, which were both in attendance at a recent conference. The guidelines were meant to provide advice with regards to the ways in which to better reach the millennial generation, who are much less trusting of mainstream media, and who “prize authenticity, immediacy and vibrancy.”

The BBC stated that this strategy was simply to better suit mobile devices and not to try to imitate others.

According to a spokesperson from the company, “We are committed to providing the trusted news we know audiences value and expect from the BBC, at the same time we must also keep pace with the way people want to access news. This means more public service news via mobile so it can be personal, portable and on-demand.”

These new instructions were created as a component of Project Newstream at the BBC. Project Newstream is a type of initiative designed to ensure that the content produced by the corporation will be more mobile friendly. It was first unveiled in September by its director general, Tony Hall.

Upon first unveiling the strategy, Hall explained that the corporation would be using the next decade in order to “ride two horses – serving those who have adopted the internet and mobile media, while at the same time making sure that those who want to carry on watching and listening to traditional channels continue to be properly served too.”

This change in direction has arrived at the same time that the BBC has been struggling to justify the online news coverage that it has been creating, in face of the criticism that it has been receiving from commercial rivals. Several newspaper industry players who are in direct competition with the new media organizations when it comes to snatching up online advertising spending, have said that the BBC should be scaling back its operations in terms of digital news for PC and mobile devices.