Audi A1 Sport

Quem diria que o nosso mercado veria uma marca como a Audi trazendo uma novidade a cada duas semanas? A bola da vez é o menor do modelo da linha, que agora inicia o processo de expansão de sua linha no país. Se até então ele só aparecia aqui nas versões genéricas, a Sport chega para realçar um lado do A1 que o brasileiro até então não conhecia: é impressionante como essa generosa evolução de desempenho combina muito bem com a esportividade exalada de nascença pelo desenho desse compacto alemão.

A questão está em que o A1 é um compacto de imagem, mas não segue a variante tradicional de visual retrô como os pioneiros Fiat 500 e Mini Cooper. Ele se entende melhor com a variante mais recente, que começou com o Citroën DS3 e há poucas semanas ganhou força com o Opel Adam. O A1 tem nível de sofisticação digno de disputar clientes com eles, mas obtém sua imagem sedutora olhando o futuro, e não o passado. Seu desenho segue as tendências mais recentes da linha Audi, mas ele ganha charme a mais por alguns detalhes exclusivos. É o caso dos arcos laterais, que ladeiam parabrisa, teto e vidro traseiro e no duas-portas podem vir em cor prata. Já o quatro-portas tem toda a seção acima da linha de cintura em preto, sem depender da cor externa escolhida. Mas tudo isso lhe traz um status apenas urbano, de carro bonito e simpático para transitar com requinte pela cidade. Como esses modelos em momento algum preveem incursões no fora-de-estrada, o toque extra à imagem vem se fazendo com as versões esportivas. É o caso da versão Abarth para o Cinquecento, John Cooper Works para o Cooper, e Sport para o A1.

Assim como a BMW com o equivalente M1, a Audi também preferiu guardar o nome que as regras da marca dariam a este modelo. Este daqui deveria se chamar S1, mas a nomenclatura não refreou seu desempenho. Se o visual ganhou apenas as rodas maiores e os parachoques mais agressivos, o moderno motor 1.4 da versão comum recebeu turbo e passa a se chamar TFSI. Esta sigla já é objeto de culto entre os carros do Grupo VW pelo alto desempenho, que aqui se manifesta na potência de 185 cv, um salto de 63 cv sobre o 1.4 comum. Aliar isso ao mesmo câmbio S-Tronic de sete marchas e dupla embreagem que se usa até no superesportivo R8 significa um desempenho de foguete a um carro um tanto mais leve. Esta versão baixou dois segundos na aceleração de 0 a 100 km/h, chegando à marca de 6s9. Já a velocidade cresceu o suficiente para merecer o limite eletrônico de 250 km/h. Isso sempre frustra os amantes da velocidade, mas no caso do A1 Sport se torna um bem-humorado argumento de venda a mais: carros como A4, A6 e A8 custam muito mais, mas os R$ 109.900 parecem bem baratos ao lembrar que o A1 Sport termina alcançando mesma velocidade máxima que eles.

Read more > Audi A1 Sport

Chitika now supporting all countries

Chitika is one of the advertising programmes that is an alternative to Google AdSense.

Initially, their ads were only shown to website-visitors who were in the USA and Canada.   That list extended a while ago.   Now they say that they're available in all countries.

Actually, their post makes it sound like you can sign-up as a publisher no matter what country you are in.  But I was signed up while they were still limited to showing ads to USA/Canada visitors, despite not being in those countries.   So I'm pretty sure that they mean their ads will be shown in all countries.

Read more > Chitika now supporting all countries

Custom Search Engine improvements

Google have announced version 2 of the "custom search element" - this is the "thing" that lets you put a custom-search tool in your blog (and any other website).

Important features are:

• Search UI is rendered based on the settings stored on the Google CSE servers ... any configuration changes you make in the CSE control panel ...[are shown]  on your web pages the next time they reload. ...

• All element code is loaded asynchronously for reduced page load times.

• Client-side customization allows you to overwrite global CSE settings on a per-page basis ...

Faster load time is very welcome - I've been noticing that custom search gadgets take a long time to load, relative to other things on my blogs.

And the first feature seems very handy - it means not having to copy-and-paste new CSE code whenever you change a CSE using the control panel. But this has a price: the existing code (in the best option for Bloggers) had two parts - one for where the seach box goes, and one for where the search results go. In the new code, there are still these two parts, but each one has two sections: one section that needs to be added to the header and one to the place (usually a widget for Bloggers). That means:

• Four separate pieces of code to install
• Installing means editing the template as well as adding a gadget
• If you change your template, you need to remember to re-install the CSE code too. 

That said, I'm not sure if the first code sections need to go into the header, or whether they could beside the other parts, perhaps with a loss of speed - any advice is welcome.

Lastly, Google says that the existing CSE code will continue to be supported for now (although there's no way to get it from them any more, they are now only supplying the updated code) - but that this won't last forever.   So sooner or later, you will need to update any custom-search(es) on your blog.

Read more > Custom Search Engine improvements

Toyota Etios

Depois do Etios Connection, evento da Toyota que passou por várias cidades brasileiras e iniciou a pré-venda do Etios, hoje se fez seu lançamento oficial. Este carro foi lançado primeiro na Índia, mas seu objetivo é difundir a marca pelos mercados emergentes. A Toyota quer aumentar suas vendas mundiais através destes países, então sua estreia entre eles precisa ser boa: o projeto moderno quer agradá-los com baixo custo e a promessa de em breve também formar sua família de modelos. Será que ele cai no nosso gosto?

Oferecer carros mais baratos em países de poder aquisitivo reduzido parece um caminho de sucesso sempre certo. O problema, porém, é que já existem muitas marcas explorando essa aparente mina de ouro. Só no Brasil já passam de vinte concorrentes, com casos de dois ou três de uma mesma marca. As vendas continuam expressivas, mas agora o nível requerido é muito maior do que cinco ou dez anos atrás. Fartura de pontos de assistência e manutenção barata há tempos não se podem mais esquecer, de forma que a regra agora é aliar tudo isso a desenho bem-resolvido, cabine cada vez mais equipada e até alguns itens de luxo, como câmbio automático ou automatizado. O caso da linha Etios começa sem tanta dedicação ao requinte, mas principalmente ao berço: desde quando Corolla e Hilux vinham de fora do Mercosul a Toyota vem angariando fama cada vez melhor quanto à qualidade de seus produtos, pelo menos aqui. Então eles esperam que esse grande trunfo ajude sua primeira linha de populares a obter êxito parecido pelo menos ao das marcas em condição similar, como Kia, Nissan e, futuramente, Honda e Hyundai.

O maior tropeço do Etios está mesmo no desenho. É difícil aceitar que a Toyota não tenha usado a experiência que ganhou com carros como Camry e Corolla para dar ao Etios um toque de elegância. Os farois são pequenos demais e a grade muito grande e bruta, em especial quando sua faixa superior vem cromada. O conjunto que formam parece querer saltar, e não encontra resposta alguma nas linhas discretas do parachoque. Mas as diferenças começam nas laterais. Porque por mais que as do hatch lembrem muito o Nissan March, ele parece ser uma evolução: o Etios tem mais personalidade, com caimento de teto bem menos arredondado que o daquele e certa sensação de imponência vinda dos vincos fortes. Quem fica difícil de perdoar é o sedã. Seu entre-eixos é maior que o do hatch, e isso explica as portas traseiras diferentes. Então, se isso prova que ele foi projetado junto com o hatch, por que parece tanto com uma adaptação das que se fazem anos depois e economizando peças? A vigia atrás das portas faz falta, mas o maior problema é a traseira: as linhas retas lhe fazem parecer longa enquanto a dianteira tem um corte que lhe deixa bem mais curta: fica claro que o único objetivo ali foi maximizar o porta-malas, mesmo às custas das proporções de estilo.

Entrando no carro, a impressão é de que a Toyota estava desesperada para fazer o Etios parecer diferente. O painel assimétrico sempre vai ganhar pontos por lembrar os compactos europeus, que ali deixam o custo em segundo plano e privilegiam a jovialidade. O painel central por muito tempo vai dar a agradável sensação de novidade a quem dirige, mas resta saber se deslocar as saídas de ar centrais não irá dificultar o cumprimento de sua função. Já era esperável que os materiais tivessem qualidade inferior à de um Corolla, mas a marca informa que ficaram melhores que os do modelo indiano. O ponto forte está mesmo no espaço interno, tanto na cabine de cinco lugares como no porta-malas: o hatch leva 263 litros enquanto o sedã comporta 562, o que lhe dá empate técnico na liderança do segmento com o Chevrolet Cobalt. Os motores são 1.3 e 1.5, ambos multiválvulas e flexíveis, mas com o sedã usando apenas o maior. O primeiro gera potência de 84 e 90 cv e torque de 11,93 e 12,74 kgfm, e o segundo fica em 92 e 96 cv e 13,5 e 13,8 kgfm – com gasolina e álcool. Os modelos terão garantia de três anos.

Atualização 17/09/2012: No evento de lançamento oficial da linha Etios, foi dada a notícia de que o modelo já passou pelos testes do instituto LatinNCAP e obteve quatro estrelas, nota surpreendente em sua categoria. O hatch começa com uma versão própria para o marketing, em que seus R$ 29.990 são conseguidos ao oferecer apenas airbag duplo e parachoques na cor do veículo. A versão X já se oferece para os dois, e soma coluna de direção regulável, direção elétrica e freios com ABS e EBD por R$ 33.490 para o hatch 1.3 e R$ 36.190 para o sedã 1.5; com ar-condicionado se somam R$ 2.700 para cada. A versão XS traz o ar de série e também soma conta-giros(!), detalhes externos na cor do veículo, sistema de som multimídia e travas e vidros elétricos nas quatro portas, passando a R$ 38.790 para o hatch e R$ 41.490 para o sedã. Já a XLS é a única a usar 1.5 também no hatch, somando abertura elétrica do porta-malas, alarme, farois de neblina, rodas de liga leve aro 15”, travas com controle remoto e a tal moldura cromada da grade dianteira, itens que passam o hatch a R$ 42.790 e o sedã a R$ 44.690. A julgar pelos modelos exibidos no Etios Connection, a Toyota deve entrar na tendência da personalização que se inaugurou entre os populares com o Fiat Uno, oferecendo adesivos e acessórios de fábrica.

Read more > Toyota Etios

5 Reasons why SEO is irrelevant for your blog

This article explains what search engine optimization (SEO)) is and why it is sometimes not relevant for  bloggers, ie why many of us should ignore all the "essentials SEO for your blog" advice and focus on writing good-quality original posts.


It also has a simple guideline for deciding if a particular piece of SEO-advice is relevant for your blog.

What is "SEO" anyway?

Very simply, SEO is a bunch of things that you can do that make it more likely that your site will be high in the results-list and then clicked-on when someone searches for "topics like yours" on Google, Bing-etc.

There zillions of websites / books / blogs etc with the latest "amazing SEO strategies" that you "absolutely" need to implement on your blog.

But very few of them stop to ask whether SEO is relevant or not, meaning that lots of people waste time doing "enhancements" that really aren't relevant for their blog and audience.

Read on to find out whether you need to take any SEO-notice or not.

Why SEO doesn't matter for lots of bloggers

1 Your blog is just for you

Do you keep a blog to record your thoughts, photos, journeys?

If it's private, so only you can read it, then SEO is totally irrelevant for you, because search-engines cannot see your blog, much less point anyone else to it.

2 Restricted readership

This is very similar to point 1:  If your blog is for your friends and family, who you have personally invited, and if you have stopped all other readers (or so you think), then Google is never going to list it. And you don't even want search engines to know it exists. SEO isn't something you need to think about.

3 You get your customers through other methods

You might be sceptical, but let me explain with a story.  When I started Blogger-HAT, I wasn't looking for readers. I just wanted a place to keep my own notes about how I'd fixed problems with Blogger, so that I could find the information again if I needed.  (My very first post was about how to put AdSense ads right inside posts - and it's still popular today.)

Then I noticed that in the old Blogger-help-foroum, people with a reputation for helping others were more likely to get help themselves. (Karma or whatever). Answering a few questions each day seemed like a good insurance policy against the day that I got stuck.  But it was tedious typing the same answer over and over, so I started making articles about common topics, and linking to them instead.

At this stage, SEO still didn't matter: I was writing for me, and then I was writing for people who I'd identified outside of the blog, and not fussed about advertising revenue.  So it didn't matter that I wasn't doing key-word research or density analysis, or even write compelling headlines or labelling pictures.  I just wrote up the solutions to problems for the people who came to my blog from the help-forum. And this was fine because I wasn't aiming for more readers, or advertising revenue.

Of course times change:  the move to the groups-based Blogger-Product-Forum has seen a lot more people searching for answers instead of asking in the forum, and I've become more aware of the benefits of owning a blog with a higher page-rank.  So these days I do worry about SEO a little, because it's now relevant to me, now.

4  Your blog is for a business with a local customer base business

If you're a hairdresser or cafe-owner, and your business makes money by cutting hair or sellng coffee, then on-line visitors from all over the world aren't going to contribute directly to your bottom line. And if pay for file-hosting, they may cost you and give no return.

What you need are warm bodies walking through your door, and telling their local friends good things about you.   But unless there are no other cafes or hairdressers in your area, there's almost no chances that you can get a high place in the search-results for "cafes in mytown" because the directory sites and local media (who have lots more time, energy, SEO skill - and access to a wider range of business information) will beat you every time.

That's not to say you shouldn't have a website to share information about your business, and on-line tools to get customers - but focus on social networks like Facebook fans, directory listings, Twitter conversations, Pinterest-displays, forum-posting, etc instead wasting time on an "seo-quest" that you're bound to lose.

4 It's a tool for delivering an on-line newsletter

Some people use a blog purely so they can use the follow-by-email gadget as a very simple newsletter subscription management tool. It's not the best tool out. But it is free, and it means that your previous newsletters stay on-line in case people ever need to refer to them.

Unless you want newsletter subscribers to find you by search, instead of by off-line relationships, then SEO doesn't matter for you, either.

5  You just don't want "customers" or visitors.

Or maybe you just hate the thought of being famous or mainstream!    Or whatever other reasons you have for not wanting too many people to find your blog by searching for it.

What if none of this applies?

If these points don't apply to your blog, then probably you do care about attracting visitors from search-engines,

So you should spend some time thinking about things you can do on your blog to make it more likely that search-engines will:

• List your your pages in the search results shown to people who are in your target audience, and
• Do it in a way that makes it more-likely that these people will click through to your blog.

Unfortunately there are no simple answer to what you should actually do.   It all depends on your blog, how your template works, what sort of people are in your audience and what they do on-line.  So really, you need to read all the advice and weigh up:

1. How much time/effort it would make to do what they suggest
2. Whether the suggestions "fit" with the audience and purpose of your blog
3. Your instincts about what changes are most likely to help your current and future readers find you more easily

You need to keep coming back to this point every time your read another expert's advice:   does this suggest helpe me achieve what I want to achieve, given what I know about them.    If any possible change doesn't get a "yes" answer, then it's a good think not to do.

Also remember that you don't have to do everything all at once:  SEO is a like delicate game of cat-and-mouse that's been going on since the internet was invented.   The only rule is that the rules changes very often.   So you will never be "finished", and a  website will never by "totally SEO'd"


That said, I am interested in hearing what changes you've made for "SEO" reasons, and how well they have worked for you.

---

Related Articles:

Restricting blog-readership isn't as secure as you think

Advertising and blogger, some things to consider

Follow-by-email:   turn your blog into a subscription management system

Picasa - a very basic introduction

Linking Blogger and the social networks

Read more > 5 Reasons why SEO is irrelevant for your blog

Ford Fusion and Mondeo

The North-American website has already received the price list of the new Fusion, which denotes its sales are going to start soon. This car reflects a change at Ford’s strategy when promoting a new vehicle because, as what was made at Brazil with the new EcoSport, they’re starting to show it through different media several months before it really starts to appear at the dealers. Until now it’s hard to define if this procedure is good or bad, but the fact is that you will read about the best phase of these cars ever.

We can say that, as well as Escape, the second-generation Fusion will be the first strong example of the latest visual identity changes Ford is starting to apply at its cars. This can be explained by remembering that, when a company decides to promote a big change like that, its vehicles are divided at three moments of their current lifetime. The first one is like the current Focus, who got completely remodeled only one year ago. Even if some cases of this group don’t follow too well its brand’s new path, they’ll have to stay like that for some more time until it’s really worth to get changed again. The second group are the ones who already have that extra time at the current phase, but still not needing big investments. At this case, the better solution is a face-lift, like Fiesta has recently received, so this makes possible for them to adapt the new style to a project who is still getting good reception. And the third kind is the oldest, therefore clearly deserving an entire new generation or even a new model to replace it. Those are the better ones to work on, because the new values the company wants to express can be applied since the very start of the designing. So that’s why the cars at this article abandoned their six-year-old previous phases to get completely improved.

And by improvement, Ford means adopting the new interpretation of the Kinect style. There are more elegant shapes, with some concession of the agressive lines in order to achieve an imposing design. Fusion and Mondeo now use a long and wide hood to give bigger impression of plenty of power, while the small-sized headlights seem to compose an angry “facial expression” along with the big air intake – this one has also abandoned the thick silver pieces to a much less brutal and more elegant design. The side sections follow the latest trend, which already drops that excessively tall lower line of the windows, but brings the Kinect fluidity with strong, solid lines without too much folds. It’s easy to see that this car became much more sophisticated than the previous Fusion, and here’s where Ford starts to attach it to Mondeo. Yes, that déjà vu you must’ve had with the tail lights has its reason: the One Ford project has decided that both the North-American and the European luxury sedans would converge into the same car at this new generation. This win-win strategy helps Ford to cut production costs and allows the customers to have a much better car, designed to satisfy the two most demanding markets of the world.

Obviously, the interior has become an excellent definition of both European and North-American quality. There’s a lot of equipments regarding comfort and security, but the technology is what guides this car: at least at the United States, it’s already known that Fusion will offer the Ford/Sony Sync entertainment system as a standard item. It concentrates the sound system with GPS navigator and lots of other functions to be controlled by a big touchscreen at the central console. Considering the North-American price list, Fusion starts at the S version, at US$ 22.495 with focus at company use and 2.5-liter engine. Right above it there’s SE, who starts at US$ 24.495 and adds some of the comfort and style items, besides of the modern and efficient 1.6 EcoBoost – this engine generates 181 hp and can use manual or automatic transmission, both with six speeds. There’s also the 2.0 EcoBoost with 240 hp for US$ 26.745, but this one only comes with the automatic option. There’s already a Hybrid version, with an aspirated 2.0 and the electric engine, using a CVT transmission and starting at US$ 28.000. And the top of the line is made by the Titanium version, with only the 2.0 EcoBoost and the automatic transmission, besides exclusive items such as special suspension and bigger wheels.

Going to Europe, however, reveals some more amazing surprises. Mondeo will arrive at that market already with also the station wagon and notchback versions, until now exclusive for that continent. This comes from the fact that the North-Americans usually prefer the SUVs when they have to choose a bigger model, while the Europeans have always loved these two car variations. It’s really nice to see how the wagon followed the exact idea passed by the sedan, achieving the same modern dynamism instead of giving that heavy “family car” look – named Mondeo Turnier as the previous generations, it uses the usually effective solution of sharing the tail lights with the sedan, not only to reduce costs but also to increase the overall resemblance. And about the notchback, Ford used the typical solution of only reducing the third volume, giving an “almost sedan” look; this solution saves all the money that would be used to create an entire hatchback rear section, but ends allowing the trunk lid to move along with the rear window anyway. Mondeo will be sold at Europe only at late 2013, but its engine options will be really nice. It’ll use diesel with the 1.5 and 2.0 TDCi and gasoline with the 1.6 and 2.0 EcoBoost, but also the one-liter option, which have chance to achieve excellent consumption and emissions numbers.

10/09/2012 update: It was included all the information about Ford Mondeo including the pictures, and the entire text was translated to English in order to follow the other non-Brazilian cars’ articles.

Read more > Ford Fusion and Mondeo

Renault Symbol 2013

Chegou a vez de este elegante sedã premium virar o ano. Sua única novidade é vir somente na versão de topo Privilège, com motor 1.6 16v flex de 115 cv. Não se sabe por que este modelo ainda não emplacou no país, mas fato é que qualidades não lhe faltam. É o caso da cabine: os opcionais vêm num pacote fechado pequeno, porque a lista de série é enorme. E como se não bastasse, ele vem a preço de carro pequeno: perdeu cerca de R$ 5 mil e passou à bagatela de R$ 37.390. Conheça mais em seu artigo de lançamento.

Read more > Renault Symbol 2013