RoadandTravel.com has redesigned its web page for easier reading but it didn’t abandon its Sexy Car Buyers Guide. The 15th annual survey, writes RTM editor-in-chief Courtney Caldwell, again recognizes the Mustang and Corvette (among eight top finishers) for “their super sexy status, staying power and penetrating performance.” (Really). . . . Also playing to the ladies is AutoTex Pink, “a woman-owned and created company that is among the nation’s leading global, suppliers of windshield wipers.” The company is donating 10 percent of its proceeds to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (To AWCom’s best determination, the blades are not pink.) . . .Less stereotypical is Women-Drivers.com semi-annual ranking of auto brands by female consumers who did business or browsed at an auto dealership. Mercedes came out on top in all three categories: Purchasing, Browsing and Service.
John Lamm, chief perpetrator of the 24 Hours of LeMons explained the series naming of an official charity: “Speedway Children’s Charities is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that helps sick, disadvantaged, and at-risk kids all over America. The 24 Hours of LeMons is a motley assortment of morons who race sick, disadvantaged, and at-risk $500 crapcans all over America.” The wretched Concours d’ LeMons that caused car-lovers to retch during August’s Monterey Weekend, repeats its act Sept. 18 during the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival. The excuse for their presence, apparently, is, “if they weren’t there we wouldn’t be needed.”
Noted for dissing its mainstream competitors for cosseting carmakers, The Truth About Cars, in a piece playing worldwide on the Internet, chastised Edmunds.com for its car testing competence (http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/between-the-lines-corvettemegeddon). . . . Rental car company Zipcar is challenging people to give up their car for 30 days and then write about their experience on Twitter and other social media. The idea, apparently, is to spread awareness of the advantages of not owning a car but having one available anywhere at any time through membership in ZipCar.
For Black Web 2.o, Rasheen writes in The Pulse of The Nation According to Twitter: “A group of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University have analyzed the sentiment of 300 million tweets over a period of 3 years. This is enough data to give us a pretty accurate picture of how Americans are feeling as they tweet throughout the day and week. This tweet data was then compared to the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW), which provides a set of normative emotional ratings for a large number of words in the English language.” They also mashed up that data with information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Google Maps API and more. What they ended up with is a visualization showing our nation’s moods over time. “Only according to Twitter, of course.”
Yahoo has published “The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World”. The guide deals with grammar and punctuation, site accessibility, minimizing legal risk, writing for an international audience, and improving search rank. Check styleguide.yahoo.com for more information.
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