focus

DETROIT--Small cars are in vogue, and Ford unveiled arguably its most important model in the category Monday, a redesigned Ford Focus scheduled to start shipping in North America and Europe early in 2011.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford said at the North American International Auto Show here that fuel efficiency is the single most important feature in the new model. The car will be available with a 1.6-liter or 2.0-liter direct-injection engine that improves fuel economy 10 percent to 20 percent over the current Focus, the company said; the 2.0-liter model has up to 20 more horsepower than … Read more

For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi has decided to not run any advertisements during the Super Bowl. Instead, the nation’s second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its "Pepsi Refresh Project," an online community that lets Pepsi fans list their public service projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read. Visitors to the site can vote to determine which projects receive money. The program will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to "refresh" communities. Last year, Pepsi spent $33 million advertising products such as Pepsi, Gatorade, and Cheetos during the Super Bowl, according to TNS Media Intelligence, $15 million of it was on Pepsi alone. Ad time last year for the NFL championship game cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average. Pepsi spokeswoman Nicole Bradley said Super Bowl ads don't work with the company's goals next year: "In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event and more about a movement." Pepsi's remarkable decision epitomizes the new paradigms of marketing: Online instead of TV; many-too-many instead of one-too-many; engagement instead of advertising; sharing instead of broadcasting; movements instead of events; communities instead of campaigns.… Read more

Cutter Joiner provides a simple way to dice or merge a song file for easier consumption. We were surprised to discover how easy both processes were and how useful this could be for music fans.

The program's interface was surprisingly simple, considering the technical work required. While we did need to visit the Help file's instructions, all the visual aids quickly helped us feel comfortable. Focus MP3 Cutter operates much like a standard MP3/media player; for example, it uses a sliding bar to adjust the time of the selected tune. Using it, we were able to listen … Read more

Ford has been working with a tactile robot arm to evaluate the feel and appearance of surfaces and controls in its vehicles in a bid to make the testing process less subjective and more scientific.

The Robotized Unit for Tactility and Haptics, or RUTH, has been used for several years at the automaker's European Research Center in Aachen, Germany, to check the interiors of the European versions of the new Focus and Fiesta, versions of which are coming to the United States in 2010.

Ford says it's the first carmaker to use a robot like RUTH, which is … Read more

When using your Macintosh the foremost window may periodically lose focus, which can be frustrating when you are typing or otherwise providing input to a window. This usually happens because another window is demanding your attention via an alert or dialogue box.… Read more

Ford Motor Co. is teaming up with "The Jay Leno Show" and providing an all-new battery electric Ford Focus that celebrities will drive as a way to promote fuel efficiency and electrified vehicles.

Ford's electric Focus will be the exclusive vehicle for "The Jay Leno Show" in a segment the host calls the "Green Car Challenge." The battery electric vehicle, specially made for the show, will be available in North America in 2011.

Leno will showcase Ford's electric Focus when the show kicks off September 14. Celebrity guests will complete against each … Read more

Imagine consumers en masse dumping their old PC clunkers for a svelte MacBook Air running the sleek, new Snow Leopard operating system. An implausible Orwellian vision but probably not that far removed from Apple's marketing aspirations.

In short, walk into any Apple Store in any tony neighborhood and the message is: relieve yourself of those old bulky PCs and flip phones and we'll give you smaller, more stylish computing with the Apple cachet.

The analogy may be a bit strained, but imagine trading in a 14 mpg Hummer H2 for a 45 mpg hybrid Ford Fusion. The point: … Read more

Update: June 1, 2009: UMPCFever has removed the blog post from its Web site.

A Chinese-language blog UMPCFever posted pictures recently that its claims are the first ever photos from a functioning next-generation iPhone. The Web site, translated through Google, displays images of iPhone OS 3.0 running some of the rumored new iPhone features we covered here, here, here, and here.

According to the report, the new iPhone contains an auto-focusing camera that uses an onscreen square that can be moved around with a combination of taps and dragging to choose the object to focus on. The rumored digital … Read more

An electric Ford is coming, but at what price? Two tricks that will make an Audi use less gas. We also tell you what 12 percent of new cars will have next year. Plus, ride in a car with the wrong name on the badge!

• CNET drives the Audi A6 3.0T Sedan

• Ford admits electric Focus will have limited appeal

• Watch automatic battery changing station in action

• OnStar uses Microsoft Virtual Earth to find where you crashed

• Comparison: Gas engine vs. Diesel (from TruckTrend.com)