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Feb Looks More Promising for Edge
The Edge, a midsize crossover sport utility vehicle under the Ford marquee, has become controversial not only for of its distinctive appeal but due to last year’s delay in scheduled delivery to dealerships. According to the Ford Motor Corp., the delay was triggered by last minute supplier concerns, stubborn weather that includes ice storms in Texas, and other quality issues. The Ford Edge was finally delivered on December instead of the scheduled early part of November.
The CUV from Ford is off to a nice start, with January’s first full-month sales greater than those of the Ford Fusion sedan which is the big hit of Ford’s last year’s. Moreover, the automaker expects to yield more sales this February.
Ford knows that one wrong move in these crucial phase of its turnaround plan could cost the company its future. This is why the automaker was obviously vigilant with the production and delivery of its two new crossovers – the Ford Edge and the Lincoln MKX.
According to Ford, about 10 percent of Ford dealers still have not received their first batch of Ford Edge units. The company added that all of them will receive their initial allotment by the end of this month. Smaller Lincoln dealers will have to wait longer for their Lincoln MKX orders though. This is because the company intends to build up inventories at high-volume dealers in major metropolitan areas first.
Sources familiar to the delay issues said that the automaker discovered a minor quality issue with the ball bearings in the rear axle that prompted a last-minute redesign. As a result, some of those who had pre-ordered the ford Edge did not get it on the scheduled time.
“It’s never easy to launch anything in the middle of winter, but we’ve been working real hard to get units out with the right quality,” Ford spokesman Jim Cain said. “We’ve got a lot of problems that are good ones to have.”
But dealers still waiting for the new crossovers felt the other way around. Randy Fuller, the owner of Pinetop Motors in Lakeside, Ariz., did not receive his first Edge until three weeks ago and has been unable to get additional models notwithstanding having customers waiting for them. All of those purchasers want the 18-inch rims, and that automaker has yet to fill those orders. But Fuller said such delays are not unusual in any launch. “It usually takes about six months to catch up,” he said.
Despite the delay, the Ford Edge still yields increasing demand. Bob Jamison, the owner of James Ford in rural Half Moon Bay, Calif., normally sells mostly pickups and vans. He has already received two Ford Edge units and has sold both of them already. “It’s the best vehicle Ford has had in awhile,” Jamison said. “We’re extremely happy with them and look forward to getting some more and selling them.”
Nonetheless, a number of dealings are lamenting foul. “Someone ends up waiting, and it’s usually the little guy,” said Michell Van Vorst, the executive director of the Ford Dealers Alliance, a trade group representing Ford dealers. She said dealers have complained to her organization about the delays, adding that lawyers are reviewing Ford’s allocation policy.
The Ford Edge which debuted at the 2006 North American International Auto Show is a vehicle that bridges the gap between minivans and truck-based sport utility vehicles. The crossover is designed to rival the Chevrolet Equinox and the Hyundai Santa Fe.
Ford is also in the process of enforcing its turnaround plan to alleviate its standing in the industry. Ford brands like Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo are also modified to boost the restructure plan. As a fact auto parts like Volvo water pump, Jaguar heating and cooling system, Land Rover engines and other car systems are now aimed at refinement for improved quality.
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Filed under Quitting Aids by on Feb 13th, 2010. 
Tower Arizer
Homeland Security Dumping Its Highly Praised “virtual Fence”
Department of Homeland Security said today they will replace its highly valued “virtual fence” on the U.S. Mexican border starting with the Arizona-Mexico section. The new replacement system will include new towers, radars, cameras and computer software, scrapping the brand-new $20 million system because it doesn’t work sufficiently, officials said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially accepted the supposedly completed fence from The Boeing Company just two months ago.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have acknowledged that the pilot program designed to detect potential illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and terrorist crossing the U.S.-Mexico border doesn’t work and is not worth keeping or to even try to continue to tweak it.
Chertoff accepted the program on Feb. 22 after Boeing claimed they had apparently resolved software glitches. But within a week, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it “did not fully meet user needs and the project’s design will not be used as the basis for future developments”.
The expensive and unusable system was made up of nine towers along a 28-mile (45-kilometer) section of border straddling the border crossing at Sasabe, southwest of Tucson.
DHS has ordered about 20 new towers, some holding just communications gear, others featuring new cameras or new radars, now at an undetermined cost.
The ‘Virtual Fence’ along Ariz.-Mexico Border had already been delayed for more than three Years.
The department also is spending an estimated $45 million or more to have a customized computer program written so the collected data is more quickly and efficiently fed to Border Patrol agents.
Even though the system has been operating it hasn’t come close to meeting the Border Patrol’s goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington.
“Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn’t meet their expectations.”
Agents began using the virtual fence last December, and the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 detentions since, said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington.
But that’s just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross through the Sasabe corridor daily.
The towers, equipped with radars, optical and thermal imaging cameras and other sensors, are supposed to show nearby Border Patrol agents a complete picture of the border on the laptop computers in their patrol trucks. But the system’s less-than-optimal results have been heavily criticized by politicians and others and therefore are being replaced.
The department also is spending at least $45 million to have a customized computer program written so the collected data is more quickly and efficiently fed to Border Patrol agents.
Although the system is operating today, it hasn’t come close to meeting the Border Patrol’s goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington.
“Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn’t meet their expectations.”
Agents began using the virtual fence last December, and the towers have resulted in more than 3,000 detentions since, said Greg Giddens, executive director of the SBI program office in Washington.
But that’s just a fraction of the several hundred illegal immigrants believed to cross through the Sasabe corridor daily.
The towers, equipped with radars, optical and thermal imaging cameras and other sensors, are supposed to show nearby Border Patrol agents a complete picture of the border on the laptop computers in their patrol trucks. But the system’s less-than-optimal results have been heavily criticized by politicians and others.
The virtual fence is part of a national plan to use physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities to secure the Mexican border — and ultimately the Canadian boundary too.
Boeing used off-the-shelf software and other equipment initially to get the system up and running quickly.
“Boeing has delivered a system that the Border Patrol currently is operating 24 hours a day,” Boeing spokeswoman Deborah Bosick said. She declined further immediate comment.
The pilot project was not intended to be the final, state-of-the-art system for catching illegal immigrants, Giddens said.
The problems with the system involved not just the computer software but the radar and satellite links used to send the information. All will be replaced with different types.
The Government has no estimate as to when the new system will be up and fully operating nor the total costs of the revised project.
Sources:
U.S. Homeland Security
U.S. Border Patrol
Boeing Company
Secure Border Initiative (SBI)
U.S. Customs
Arizona Daily Star
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Filed under Quitting Aids by on Feb 6th, 2010.
Extreme Arizer
Why Home Movie Film Doesn’t Last Forever
More durable in comparison to videotape, home movie film was in its heyday from the 1930s to the 1980s. In the 21st century, consequently, most film is reaching the end of its average shelf life of approximately 40 years. The chemical properties of film are decomposing at a fast rate and are especially susceptible to time, equipment, and environmental factors. Unless these film reels are transferred to digital formats, their images will eventually be lost and irretrievable.
Overview
The fact that many aging Hollywood movies have already been professionally transferred to digital formats may have created a false sense of security regarding families’ personal home movies. Yet while home movie film was popularized during the early half of the 20th century, unfortunately it is not a permanent or durable medium. There are hundreds of thousands of reels stored away in families’ basements, closets and garages, containing priceless images of family memories that are fading away with each passing year.
There are three major elements to film formats that contribute to its eventual degradation: time, equipment/usage, and environment. Most experts agree that film begins to degrade on average after 40 years, even if stored properly in a cool area in airtight containers. Some of the most clear evidence begins with the appearance of the film reel itself, with curling, buckling, warping, brittleness, and in some cases, even a strong smell of vinegar.
Culprit #1: Time
The first enemy of film reels is the simple passing of time. Like most physical media, the elements that went into the creation of the film break down bit by bit over time. Color dyes lose their vibrancy. In the rare event that the film contained an audio track, the sound becomes distorted. The acetate composition of the film breaks down and can release an unpleasant acetic acid that smells like vinegar. Time is an unavoidable but realistic factor and has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of valuable feet of footage that once were extremely vibrant.
Culprit #2: Equipment and Usage
If you’re of a certain age, you may remember the temperamental old elementary school film projectors or your parents’ family projector at home. Any number of problems occurred during the handling of the film. If it was loaded improperly, for example, the gauges or perforations could be torn, rendering it impossible to run it through correctly. Worse still, it sometimes caused the film to come to a complete stop and a resulting hole burned in the strip because of prolonged exposure to the equipment lamp. Even with normal running, the lamp itself was a problem, as its heat wore down the condition of the reels. Bad splices, where torn film was re-taped together again, could come apart and cause a jam in the projector. And too tight or too loose tension also caused the pull down claw to create a jam and the film to fold up like an accordion. Unlike videotape, which is packaged in a protective case, film is also susceptible to scratches because it is exposed.
Culprit #3: Environment
The third major enemy to film is the environment, including elements such as heat, moisture, mildew, and water. Unless a film reel has been stored carefully in an airtight container in a cool area of the house, weather conditions such as dampness or extreme heat can dramatically affect the film. Environmental conditions coming in contact with the image layer of the film, called emulsion, usually mean disaster. These elements react with the materials that comprise the film, and cause warping, distortion, and brittleness.
Film is Celluloid
Understanding the chemical makeup of film is helpful in realizing why it is so fragile. It typically consists of a strip made up of a cellulose acetate or nitrate material that is coated with a photosensitive “emulsion” on which the images are contained. By virtue of its physical nature, therefore, film can suffer any number of mishaps that aren’t present in the digital world, such as broken sprockets, brittleness, curling, and loss of pliability – all of which render it difficult or impossible to run on a projector either to view it, or from which to capture images frame by frame for a digital format.
Solution
Film footage is often the best home movie medium there is because of its strong color clarity (if it has been stored properly). Kodachrome clarity has been amazingly resilient in most cases. These film memories need to be preserved for future generations, however, and the best method is to transfer them to contemporary digital formats, such as DVDs. Once the older physical media is transferred into an electronic file, it can be more easily shared, enjoyed, and distributed without worry of degradation.
About iMemories
iMemories is a leader in the dynamic Web 2.0-generation of Internet services. The company transforms old-media memories into crystal-clear digital files that consumers can enjoy and share—whenever and wherever they like.
In iMemories’ 8,500-square foot fiber-optic studio, production professionals use state-of-the-art technology and techniques to convert old home-movie films, videotapes, photographs and slides into organized archives and full-length digital productions. Memories that were deteriorating in the dark are preserved forever on optical disc—and easy to edit, organize, store and share worldwide through iMemories’ private, secure online user experience.
In a market crowded with audiovisual houses and small firms offering basic video-transfer services, iMemories’ technology and expertise enable it to deliver a premium product efficiently and affordably. Founded and led by new-media entrepreneur Mark Rukavina, iMemories is privately held and based in Scottsdale, Ariz. To learn more, visit www.imemories.com or call 480-767-2510.
©1998-2007 iMemories. iMemories name and iMemories mark are trademarks of iMemories, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Disclaimer:
This article is provided as an educational guide for iMemories customers. Use of or reliance upon the information set forth in this article shall be at the reader’s own risk, and shall not establish any contractual or other legal relationship between the author and the users of this information.
Share online video with family and friends. Home Movies on DVD.America’s #1 trusted brand for transferring home movies to DVD.
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Filed under Quitting Aids by on Jan 29th, 2010.
