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Fleet management systems have been around a while and have become so complex that it has evolved into Field Resource Management. This article explores 5 reasons why all fleets need at least a basic Field Resource Management system.
Gas prices are having a huge impact on families and businesses. Thousands of drivers will be hitting the road this weekend for Spring Break and Easter festivities. Many drivers will be carpooling, and some drivers are deciding to skip any long distance road trips altogether.
The national average on Friday April 22, 2011, for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is nearly $3.84 a gallon — up 99 cents from exactly a year ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. One year ago gas prices were averaging $2.85. That’s a 35% increase in the past 12 months. There are six states and 27 major US cities where gas has already topped $4 a gallon.
Gas prices have been soaring and there is no end in sight. Last night I took this photo when I went to fill up my tank in downtown San Diego. I paid almost $4.50 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. It cost over $60 to fill up my gas tank.
Most analysts and experts predict that 2011 prices will break the gas price records set in July of 2008. The US average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas is $3.84, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. Gas prices have increased 30 cents in the last 30 days. One month ago, gas was averaging $3.54 per gallon.
Gas prices are averaging over $4 per gallon in several cities across the US. According to GasBuddy.com, gas price averages have topped $4 per gallon of regular gas in 27 cities.
This week Garmin launched an all-new touchscreen navigation GPS watch and heart rate monitor, the Forerunner 610. This GPS navigation device is the first of its kind. Designed mainly for runners, the Garmin Forerunner 610 will bring GPS to the masses in a way like never before.
The Garmin navigation device uses GPS and an integrated heartbeat monitor to record every aspect of your run, including pace, distance, heart rate and calories burned. Once your workout is finished, the device can upload your info to Garmin’s Connect website for further analysis and training program optimization.
Often times, it’s Murphy’s Law, that when you really need your GPS navigation, you realize you left it at home or your cel phone GPS tracking system isn’t getting reception. But with the Garmin Forerunner 610, since it is a watch, it will be with you all the time. It has a rechargeable battery that will last up to eight hours in training mode.
GPS tracking without a warrant, law enforcement and 4th Amendment rights: The legal system has been quite divided over whether law enforcement must obtain a warrant before placing a GPS vehicle tracking device on a suspect’s car. In some cases, if someone is caught doing something illegal, and 1) the GPS tracking system information was used to convict him or her and 2) the GPS tracking system was placed by law enforcement without a warrant, convictions are not possible or overturned. But in other cases, courts have upheld the use of evidence obtained by placing a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s car without a warrant.
This week the US Justice Department entered the legal debate over GPS tracking, law enforcement and 4th Amendment rights. The Justice Dept is appealing a lower court ruling that reversed a criminal conviction because the police did not obtain a warrant for the GPS tracking device they secretly installed on a man’s car during a D.C. drug-trafficking investigation.
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the life sentence of a Washington area man named Antoine Jones, saying the government violated Jones’ privacy rights in clandestinely tracking his movement for a month in a drug trafficking investigation. The initial ruling last summer says police can’t use GPS tracking technology to track a suspect’s car without getting a warrant. The full court, in a 5-4 decision last fall, refused to reconsider the decision. Now, the Justice Department, in a last-ditch effort, wants the Supreme Court to review the decision, arguing that it has broad implications for law enforcement across the country.
Gas prices have climbed for 27 consecutive days. Many experts and analysts see no immediate relief anytime soon.
The current average for a gallon of regular gas in the US is $3.83, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. This is up six cents from a week ago, 29 cents from a month ago and 96 cents from a year ago. The average price for a gallon of regular gas has topped $4 per gallon in 6 states and Washington DC.
Due to bearish market influences, crude oil settled down $2.54 at $107.12 at the close of formal trading on Monday, April 18, 2011. This marks the first time in more than a month that we have seen a week-over-week decrease in crude oil prices to begin a week. All this comes after oil prices set a multi-year high on Friday, April 8, only to tumble nearly six percent to begin last week.
Despite the slight drop in oil prices, gas prices have continued to rise. As the change from winter-blend to summer-blend gasoline is taking place in many parts of the country, most drivers have continued to see the price of filling their gas tank climb higher.
Asthma is a very common illness. Worldwide, over 300 million people suffer from the inflammatory condition. Each year, is is estimated that over 250,000 people die from asthma attacks.
Asthma attacks are triggered by different things in different people. For example, my nephew always starts wheezing whenever he is near a grassy area such as a park or field. But his mother, my sister, only has asthma attacks whenever she is near second-hand smoke from cigarettes or cigars.
Because asthma attacks are triggered by different things in different people, doctors usually ask patients to track when and where their asthma attacks occur. Based on this concept, epidemiologist and medical anthropologist David Van Sickle has come up with a GPS add-on for asthma inhalers. Van Sickle’s company, Asthmapolis, created Spiroscout, a GPS based asthma inhaler, so doctors and asthmatics patients can identify the triggers of their asthma attacks.
When you have an attack and reach for your inhaler, the GPS tracking device will record the time and location of the attack; it can then either store or send the data to a remote server. It’s hoped that then a patient or doctor will be able to see patterns in when an attack happens, and what caused it–be it pollen or a chemical substance.
No one likes wasting time and money sitting in traffic. Did you know that due to traffic congestion in the US, most people waste an average of a week’s worth of time, 28 gallons of gas and $808 over the course of a year? With IBM’s new Smarter Traveler Research Initiative, wasting time and gas sitting in traffic may become a thing of the past.
Yesterday IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a joint initiative with the California Department of Transportation and the California Center for Innovative Transportation, to develop an intelligent transportation solution that will help commuters avoid congestion and enable transportation agencies to better understand, predict and manage traffic flow.
Even with advances in GPS system navigation, real-time traffic alerts and mapping, daily commute times are often unreliable, and relevant updates on how to avoid congestion often reach drivers when they are already stuck in traffic and it is too late to change course. This problem is what led IBM researchers to develop their new project, called Smarter Traveler. The Smarter Traveler system is going to collect and analyze traffic data from over 1,000 sensors already embedded in the cement at toll booths, bridges, roads and intersections in the San Francisco Bay area.
Gas prices have increased for the past 24 consecutive days and no one knows exactly how high they will go this year. Gas prices have risen 81 cents since the beginning of this year. Several experts are predicting that gas prices will break the highest ever recorded prices, set in 2008.
According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, the highest ever recorded average price in the US for gallon of unleaded regular gas is $4.11. For diesel gas, the record high is $4.84 per gallon. Both records were set on July 17, 2008.
In some areas, gas prices have already surpassed those levels. According to Gasbuddy.com, the highest prices are in Honolulu, where the average is $4.38. San Francisco is averaging $4.23. In Los Angeles, gas is averaging $4.20 a gallon. In Chicago and San Diego, it’s averaging $4.17. In Gary, IN and Long Island, NY, gas prices are averaging $4.01. In Miami, gas is at $3.87. The lowest gas prices are in Tucson, where gas is averaging $3.50.
Recently the FBI caught two building inspectors in Los Angeles County taking bribes in exchange for signing off on construction work. Now LA County says they want to start using GPS tracking devices to monitor all of their building inspectors.
According to FBI documents filed last week, the FBI bust involved an undercover informant and two building inspectors caught on videotape taking bribes in exchange for the approval of construction work. In some instances inspections were not even conducted. The informant paid over 40 bribes to the shady building inspectors. Bribes included cash, free building materials, free labor and, a free vacation.
Building and Safety spokesman David Lara told the LA Times that his department sent a series of recommendations to LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, including a move to use GPS tracking devices for all building inspectors in the future. “For us, it’s mostly about making sure our inspectors are where they’re supposed to be,” Lara said. “With the latest turn of events, it’s too bad that we’ve had to take that type of measure. But we feel in the long run it would provide better control for our supervisors.”
