Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Konichiwa, Chevy!

Check out this gem (Jalopnik via Dublin Saab). It's a photo of a Toyota racing trailer being pulled by... a Chevrolet.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Ethanol Vs. Beer

One of the market distortions that is being caused by the government mandate for ethanol in transportation fuel is the rising cost of all kinds of food, including one of my favorites: beer.

According to the WSJ in a fascinating article from October 5th, 2007, small beer brewers are getting squeezed by dramatically higher prices of barley and hops.

Consumers could pay 50 cents to $1 per six pack more in the coming months for many small-batch "craft beers," as brewers pass on rising hops and barley costs from an unpalatable brew of poor harvests, the weak dollar and farmers' shift to more profitable crops. Other makers of craft beers, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. brewing industry, say they may eat the higher ingredient costs, which will pare their profits.

...

Craft beer makers have faced escalating costs over the past year. Prices for malting barley, which accounts for a beer's color and sweetness, have jumped as farmers increasingly shifted to planting corn, which has been bringing higher prices because of high demand from makers of biofuels, like ethanol. The weak dollar also has made it more expensive for U.S. brewers to buy commodities from Europe.
The price of malting barley has increased by a whopping 75% in the last several months, from around $4/bushel to about $7/bushel. As a result, the price of small-batch beer is expected to increase, and some small beer makers are actually in danger of folding.

Wouldn't it be better to allow importation of Brazilian sugar beet based ethanol, tariff free, and leave more of our agricultural capacity for the tasty stuff?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Addicted.

I'm addicted to this free "tower defense" type game. It's really good.

http://onslaught.playr.co.uk/

Friday, October 12, 2007

Automotive Groups & WebRing Member Drive

I guess you can call this a member drive, we run a few automotive communities which require membership to become a part of. The only reason that we require membership approval is to avoid spam & spammers. It seems to work well, but it also limits how fast we can grow.

Automotive Related Communities...
(all are looking for new membership):

Autos & Automotive - A Google Group
An automotive and motorsports group for discussing all things automotive related. Topics may include autos, automotive mechanics, auto shows, automobile racing, automotive parts, salvage, classic cars, collector cars & more. Pickup trucks, tractor trailer trucks and motorcycling are also allowed.

AutomotiveParts - A Google Group
Hunt for or offer automotive parts. Offer parts (new/used). Salvage yard auto parts search pools and automotive industry opportunites for new aftermarket automotive and high performance auto parts sellers from drop shippers and wholesalers.

Automotive - A WebRing
We are looking for people interested in joining our Automotive WebRing community at WebRing.com. WebRings a re great way to promote your website and help create new leads and business associations. If you have an automotive or motorsports related webpage, website, directory or blog, please join as a member of the Automotive WebRing.


Join Up!
All of the above groups and rings are great ways to increase your visibility, establish a comradery with other automotive enthusiasts and professionals, establish your expertise, help someone out, give something back and perhaps even create a new friend or even drum up business in the long run. The best part about such communities is that they can be fun. We try to keep them that way by eliminating the spam.

Of course, if you have cool parts to help others restore or upgrade their vehicles, like the front grille of the 1948 to 1952 Chevy pickup in good condition, or the Deluxe instrument panel for 1980 Chevy/GMC pickup trucks, we do want to see these types of posts in the AutomotiveParts group. That's actually why we created it. I have a 1980 Chevrolet C109 I am working on. The boss has a restored 1950 Chevrolet pickup. A friend and coworker of mine is working on a 1973 GMC pickup he is restoring. The shop is thinking about making the Chevy Gravel Dump Truck shown on this page a shop restoration project vehicle.

We would love to hear about any old Autocars, Maxwell automobiles, Graham Brothers Trucks, or Henderson (Excelsior-Henderson) motorcycles out there that might be hidden in your barn looking to be restored. Heck, I am looking for an old car, pickup or motorcycle for my new restoration project, myself. Post any such finds in either the Autos & Automotive or AutomotiveParts Google Groups, or in the Automotive WebRing's forum.

If nothing else, it will be fun discussing our dream rides and hot rods. Heck, what do you have hidden away in your garage or barn? What are you working on? Join us just to brag about it a little. ;) Join in just to discuss automotive mechanics or tell us what your car/truck can do. We'd be glad to have anyone who won't spam us with unrelated advertising.

By the way, please be patient when you do apply for membership. I approve membership requests every business day I am here, Monday through Friday, but not on weekends or holidays, and I usually take at least one or two days off each week (but, not always) to devote to running my own businesses. But I will get to it! ;)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

iAuto Vehicle Classifieds Software Version 4.0 Released

We've finally released our new version of iAuto. I'll simply post an ad that we're promoting it with, and if you are looking for additional details and specifics of the new version, you're always welcome to visit our website:

iAuto is a cutting edge PHP vehicle classifieds script. It is a perfect solution for websites that sell any vehicles for land, air, or water. It comes bundled with a fresh car make/model database.

Key features of iAuto include an innovative search engine that allows visitors to search and sort by any field. A ZIP/postal code and radius search capability is provided based on the US ZIP code database. Import of postal codes for other countries is also possible with the existing import utility.

Our new version features a fully editable template-based look and feel. The ability to present listing data is limited only by your HTML coding skills.

One important addition of iAuto is the ability to list multiple listing types (advertise cars, boats, and airplanes on one site) and to create common or custom fields for each type.

iAuto also features user groups that can segregate users between individuals or corporate clients, with custom menus and profiles for each group.

New version offers a multitude of ways to make money with iAuto. You can choose between a pay-per-ad or subscription plans and further add pay-per-feature packages to charge for extra features such as pictures or videos.

Three payment gateways are built into iAuto: 2Checkout, Paypal (with card payment processing capabilities) and Authorize.NET merchant account gateway.

Two iAuto packages are currently offered starting from as low as $219, with FREE TRIAL and online DEMO.

Free lifetime upgrades and frequent functionality improvements make it a worthwhile purchase, giving you the ability to upgrade your website to respond to emerging market trends!

We'll be discussing other details related to the new software functionality and the ways you can use it for your business needs.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

New Automotive & Motorsports Directory

The webmaster at Syd's Eastside Auto Parts has been working pretty hard to establish a new automotive & motorsports related dedicated directory for the past few weeks. Its finally ready! The Automotive SEARCH Directory not only functions as a means of submitting your automotive and/or motorsports related websites, blogs and directories as a static directory listing advertising your business, but also functions as a means for the public to submit any auto/motorsport related URL as a resource candidate for the Automotive SEARCH Network volunteer editors to consider as an authorized link resource for our URL pool of automotive/motorsports from which our search engine draws its results.

Although the directory only represents a smaller part of the Automotive SEARCH Network, it is a significant one because it will allow any user to suggest an automotive or motorsport related web resource. Previously, the only way to submit such a web resource to use in the search results was to become an authorized editor for the Automotive SEARCH Network. Now, automotive enthusiasts and businesses from all over can submit their website and if accepted, can enjoy the targeted traffic that the Automotive SEARCH Network was designed to provide.

Although we are still accepting requests for becoming a volunteer editor, the Automotive SEARCH Network Directory allows us to expand our resource pool of automotive & motorsports URLs without requiring site owners and webmasters to take on any significant obligations as a volunteer editor.

In fact, the Automotive SEARCH Directory now provides a high profile directory platform from which to provide targeted advertising to the automotive industry, auto entusiasts, car clubs and motorsports professionals. Listings are very reasonably priced although a free reciprocal link exchange is also available.

However, the directory does allow visitors to submit listings into multiple categories, as long as the submitted resource is relevant to that category. The directory software and its administration also takes significant steps to avoid spam submissions.

We expect great things for and from the Automotive SEARCH Network in the future. Keep your eyes open on this domain by bookmarking the website once you get there! Be sure to submit your automotive/motorsport/motorcycle/truck web resource(s) while you are there, too.

The Automotive SEARCH Directory is brought to you as a joint sponsorship cooperative between Syd's Eastside Auto Parts and Diesel Rebuild Parts.com.