Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Do Car Insurance Companies Take Advantage of Good Drivers?

The subject of car insurance companies and the payment of premiums continue to draw out debates on how companies benefit at the expense of their clients. Have you asked yourself this question; what happens when you buy car insurance coverage and you don't cause an accident in the entire lifetime? The answer to this question is as perturbing as to the lack of knowledge as to when you will cause or be involved in an accident.

A client remains in suspense of knowing when an accident will strike next. Although it is not within the desire of motorists to be involved in accidents, it is sometimes a bother to the insured when they pay insurance coverage only to remain uncompensated for injuries or damage to a vehicle due to good driving ethics.


Whether it's a good luck or simply an act of observing good driving ethics, the implication is that car insurance companies benefit at the expense of the insured when they do not cause accidents. Often the insurance companies have used the driving history as one of the main determinants of the insurance premium rates determinants.


Bad driving ethics characterized by subsequent accidents usually hike the premium rates and the insured bears the burden of bad driving practices. But then, what happens when an insured does not cause or is not involved in any way in accidents that warrant compensations?


As an appreciation of good driving ethics, insurance companies impose reduced rate of premiums to the insurance buyers. However, the company keeps attached to the assumption that the driver will at one time be involved in an accident thus has to keep on remitting their premiums. Nonetheless, the drivers keep on observing good driving behaviors and do not cause accidents that warrant compensations to be made. In this case the car insurance company benefits from these remittances and in fact there are no refunds that are made.


Insurance companies operate on a notion that, even if an insurance buyer is not compensated for any injuries or car damages, others are paid for the same. The success of the insurance company is based on the fact that only few drivers will cause accidents and claim for compensations. This is where the whole issue of car insurance payment becomes complex and often regarded as unfavorable for the drivers who observe an accident-free driving.


In fact some drivers have attempted to cause accidents so as to place a claim for compensation because they perceive that their good ethical driving practices as a benefit to the insurance company. Whether this is a justifiable act or not, the issue is that insurance companies should consider revising the way good drivers are rewarded for their good performance.


It is worthwhile mentioning that, car insurance companies and governments should get back to the drawing board and bring out a concise and clear answer to this heated debate. To grab the bull by its horns, insurance buyers feel betrayed by the insurance companies especially when they do not indulge in accidents that prompt the companies to reimburse compensations. The government must analyze this aspect and bring out a more customer oriented car insurance policy.


Auto insurance buyers who in most of their life time do not assume compensations of any nature during their driving history are dissatisfied by the way insurance companies use their premium contributions for their sole benefits. Aptly, there is a burning issue that needs to be resolved and this is; should insurance buyers receive a considerable amount of refund if they do not cause accidents or are not in any way compensated for personal body injuries or car damages within their driving experience?


Little Known Bitcoins Gain Value by Over A Million Times ...Peaked At $1,250 in November 2013

Since its introduction in the market in 2009, bitcoin has risen in value by over a million times. Crypto currencies are little known by many people and recently one of these types of virtual currencies has hit the virtual financial market in a storm. Introduced in 2009, Bitcoins have grown in leaps and bounds, and today the crypto-currency is trading way above $1000 dollars mark. 
Bitcoin 
A few years, if you were to buy a bit coin, you would get close to 1,000 bitcoins in every $1 US dollar. Today, a couple of years down the line, things have turned upside down and buying a single bitcoin will cost you more than $1000 dollars. The shift to using crypto currencies is creating a strong market for these kinds of virtual currencies.


The rise of Bitcoin has marked the widespread use and application of virtual currencies in the real financial market. Bitcoins are competing with government issued fiat currencies as merchants begin to accept this virtual currency. There is an historic change taking a toll in financial markets and whether consumers like it or not, virtual currencies may influence the way, online trading is done.

And, as the head of currency research Bank of America Merrill Lynch  said, bitcoins, the unregulated virtual currency might emerge as a serious competitor to the fiat or traditional money transfer providers.

Technology is behind the development of virtual currencies and one remarkable example is that of bitcoins. Bitcoins are today being used in trading foreign exchange and buying products online, and the popularity of this crypto currency is picking up so quickly yet strongly. More and more businesses and individuals are now becoming aware of the benefits of using the crypto currency over traditional currencies.


Although the value of bitcoins is constantly changing, it is heading on the higher scale, and as of November 2013, the virtual currency traded at close to $1300. This is an amazing growth considering that in just a few years, about $1000 bitcoins where trading for $1. There are more than $1.5 billion worth of the bitcoins in the market. Millions of transactions occur daily and there is no fixed price for the virtual currency. It depends on the rate at which the currency is trading in the market.


One difference between bitcoins and the traditional currencies is that this virtual currency is not printed by any centralized bank and no government or bank sets its value. The value of bitcoin fluctuates based on supply and demand. To get started using this type of virtual currency, you need to get a Bitcoin wallet. This is the first step in using the bitcoins.


There are different applications through which you can create your bitcoin wallet. A bitcoin wallet is like an app, which you can download and install in your computer or phone using a software wallet on the internet. Bitcoins can be obtained in different ways such as selling goods and accepting payment in form of bitcoins. More merchants are now doing this as they begin to realize the value and benefit of bitcoins.


You can also purchase and sell the bitcoins through virtual currency exchanges or Bitcoins exchanges. This is the common method used by people to obtain bitcoins. You have to be very careful when you trade online with bitcoins, as the frauds are ripe. You can also trade bitcoins with traditional currencies like US dollars.


Friday, January 03, 2014

How to Borrow a Suitable Car Loan and Safeguard Your Collateral

Collateral can be defined as the security assets that are placed against a loan by the borrower. Not all loans require collateral. Auto loan attracts collateral depending on the risk that is associated with the borrower in paying the loan. A client who has a bad credit score will attract higher interest rate on the loan granted. 

Similarly, a bad credit score implies that there is a need for the borrower to provide security against the loan. Consequently a loan recipient who has a high credit score and less debts proves the ability to pay for loan thus may not be required to place collateral against the loan borrowed.


In order to safeguard your assets against possible repossession by a financial company, you should consider various factors which include borrowing depending on your pay back ability. A client with a sustainable stream of income and sizable monthly returns can go for short period high interest auto loans.


These are described as the unsecured auto loans. These are clients with high and stable incomes. The recession has virtually affected most clients despite their financial status and thus acquiring an unsecured loan means that you do not pose a risk on your assets.


Consequently depending on your income levels and the sustainability, you may opt to go for the secured loans due to the low interest rate associated with.  However, you need to maintain a strict repayment program so that you do not result to delinquencies and possibly be unable to pay the loan leading to loose of your collateral.


If you have a low income but a sustainable, one you should consider the secured loan. In this case, your limited income can be able to pay the loan for a relatively long period on low interest rate. The recession has seen constraint in incomes and reduced business returns and most of the loans are attracting security. There is uncertainty in paying of the loans.


Moreover, those with well thriving incomes can still go for the unsecured auto loans. These attract high interest rates but the assets placed against the loan are not in a risk compared to the unsecured ones.  Financial institutions are calling for open discussion in regard to auto loaning so that the borrower is aware of the implications resulting to the failure to meet the auto lenders loan terms and conditions


All the mentioned aspects are considered by borrowers in order to acquire a car loan that will place the clients in the best possible position to repay. Through these factors a client can measure the level of uncertainty associated with borrowing that may subject the collateral to risk of repossession by an auto finance company. The borrower can then acquire a car loan or forfeit it altogether.


How Businesses Can Reduce Computer and Internet Network Vulnerability

In defining what is computer network security, it is imperative to mention that it is the application of security techniques to reduce network vulnerabilities. These security techniques help in protecting the usability, integrity, reliability and safety of computer networks and data. A network security protects your computers from threats such as viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware and adware. It also prevents zero-day attacks, hacking attacks and denial of service-DoS attacks.

Moreover, these computer security systems also protect identity theft such as stealing of your names, addresses, phone numbers and your personal information.  Network security systems include anti spyware, anti-virus, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems-IPS and virtual private networks-VPNs.


Loss of company information is one of the aspects, which place the survival of many businesses at stake and with breach of internet network security; businesses can lose data which cost them a penny. It is therefore essential for businesses to protect their data and information through computer network system protection.


Company data is not only threatened by physical intruders but also by internet and cyber war uncertainties. According to Forrester Research Incl., businesses in the world are losing close to about $221 billion in a year through data loss with the American businesses parting with about $54 billion due to loss of their company data.


At the same time, according to the ABI Research, businesses in the world are spending more than $6 billion a year in network and data-security technology and this figure is expected to rise to $ 10 billion by the year 2016. What this means is that businesses need to invest in data protection. The threat in cyber warfare is so real that every week there are news reports of companies and organizations from small businesses to the defense departments claiming to have lost their data.


The potential damage that is caused by such data loss goes far more than just lost or damaged data. For instance, information that is stolen amounts to lost intellectuality as well as jobs from the businesses since new product information can be stolen and shortly copies of that new product are found in other markets at very off the cuff prices.


One of the ways in which businesses can protect their computer network is through setting up a network breach prevention program. There is a need for businesses to define their computer and internet network security peripherals and put in place the best protection practices possible. There is a need to seek for internet services providers to establish, which IP addresses a business uses and also obtain proper permissions.


The IP addresses also need to be monitored so that the business can know when unused IP addresses suddenly come to use. All external network access points need to be managed through encrypted virtual private networks- VPNs and use of firewall. Two- factor authentication solutions help in providing secure remote access of networks. These authentications strictly control the access into your business network with authentication devices, passwords and account log in details.


The use of static passwords does not provide adequate security for your computer network. Gaining an unauthorized access to networks can be both simple and complex. In a simple way, ill-intended people can steal passwords to gain access to your network. On the other hand, they can use complex ways such as launching a Trojan or even a phishing attack.


The use of traditional static passwords is outdated and archaic and cannot effectively deter those using complex phishing and hacking techniques to penetrate internet network security systems and harvest confidential data. Statistics show that a shocking 43% of businesses who lose electronic data never reopen and that about 29% will close their businesses within two years, according to Researchers McGladrey and Pullen.


This shows the magnitude of the impacts of data loss in companies. Businesses can also protect their computer network through segmentation, which insulates the business from the risks. They can use firewalls to control the inbound and outbound traffic to their networks.


There should be internal network segmentation between different offices to help prevent breach of computer and internet network security. Businesses also need to use very strong encryption for their networks such as SSL. Last but not least, businesses should have a backup for their data through remote data backups. This can help in data recovery and retrieval when disasters strike and data is lost or damaged.


Great Tips on How to Get the Most out of a Trade Show

Despite the fact that trade show displays marketing strategy has a high cost of lead generation and qualification, when it is carried out appropriately, it has showed outstanding resilience in promotional activities. It has proved to be a great opportunity for meeting face-to-face with business partners and clients, something that lacks in internet promotional activities. In order to make your trade show a success, there are things that need to be observed by the trade show promotional team, which help in engaging, qualifying and disengaging the prospects.

The main goal for a trade show is to meet and qualify as many leads as possible, which can later be converted into sales. What this means is that the promotional team should focus on capturing as many leads as they can. The engagement time needs to be minimal and something close to 5 minutes may be regarded as an appropriate time that needs to be allocated for each engagement.


By waiting to convert leads after a trade fair helps in maximizing the number of booth visitors who are able to be qualified. It also helps to slowly nurture the lead prospects that have longer sales cycle time. The quality of leads that is generated from trade show displays continues to be one of the strongest and ranks among the most qualified.


When using trade show signage, you need not fill your booth with words. This is because, a trade fair booth is more of a billboard rather than a datasheet meaning that the booth should provide a selling environment. You should not wait for the visitors in your booth to stop by and start reading your signage as it is the role of the sales team to approach the visitors and to put across the message and product features.


A more aggressive face-to-face engagement is required to help qualify the leads. Moreover, the trade show signage should not be put below the table height as it may not be noticed or easily seen by visitors. The literature graphics as well as the booth appearance should match the look and message of your company website.


In addition, when on the trade show floor, the promotional team should not focus heavily on giving out the literature to unqualified leads since most of the literature that is collected from the shows never make its way to homes or offices. The trade show displays team can focus on obtaining emails and contacts of the prospects and promise that the literature will be send to them and therefore, they do not have to carry it.


One of the reasons why it is recommended not to close a sale with the qualified leads right on the trade show floor is that in general, trade shows convert only about 1-5% of the total number of visitors of a trade show booth. Attempting to close the sales during the show time can limit the team from qualifying a large number of visitors.


There is also need to use marketing automation strategies to help in nurturing the prospects to become sales. There are software programs, which can be used to generate tailored emails for those customers interested in your products and services but they are not able to make a buying decision right away at the trade show displays.


Using the software programs ensures that sales persons are readily involved when a lead is nurtured to a ready-to-buy status. This helps reduce the time which is wasted chasing after leads that are in the early stages of the sales cycle thus improving efficiency in lead qualification and conversion.


R4 Cards: Enhancing Memory Capacity of Your Console Device

Console games are increasingly becoming essential entertainment platforms and this is because they provide amusement experience to the users. However, due to limitation of storage capacity, they may not hold a huge number of games that allows users to get different choices of entertainment. This is one area where the use of R4 card features in. These games can be used by kids and adult meaning that depending on the target users, you can get suitable consoles for all ages.

The R4 cards are simply useful in enhancing the memory capacity of your console. This means that users are able to store more games and in addition, they can add more items into the storage space. This eliminates the traditional use of the consoles as just media games playing devices. If you install a memory storage card, it means that you can store music videos such as mp3. You can also store movies and other information that you may want to access when you are playing your games.


This makes the cards to be multimedia consoles giving the users an opportunity to enjoy other forms of entertainment like music and movie videos. These cards also allow users to get different games without having to switch the content through their computers. In order to provide optimal enjoyment for your kids and other people using the console, you can use the cards to accommodate more different games.


This creates a continuous entertainment without being distracted to change the content from your PC. Moreover, if you use the cards to store music, it means that you can enjoy different forms of entertainment when you so wish. It is not all the time you would want to watch the console games. At times you need a change on the kind of entertainment that you want to watch.


This means that you do not need to operate another device like a music player in order to listen to your music. You only need to switch the content you want to play from your console device. This increases the user -experience you get from these games devices. Since you can get a card that has a storage capacity of 32 GB, compared to the non SDHC variety of these cards, which allow about 2GB capacity, it means that you have a greater amount of extra storage media.


Although you can store some movies and music on the 2GB card, this does not give you great scalability. Only a few videos can fit in this 2GB memory card and with availability of cards with more enhanced storage capacity, this limitation on the amount of content you can store is alleviated.


In essence, the r4 cards have changed the way in which consoles are used. They have changed from their main use as only games playing devices to multimedia devices that can hold different contents, which the user would like to access. This increases the adaptability of the device as it can be used to store different contents, meaning they are now more convenient to use.


Structural Glass Solutions...Transforming Buildings with Glass Architecture

The structural glass solutions applied in building structures define the strength of the glass windows and doors to environmental and mechanical effects. When providing structural building and contractions services, contractors mainly focus on providing structures that are energy efficient, reduce the effects of environmental factors such as heat and rain as well as improve comfort and enhance the beauty of the structure. They also define the energy efficiency as well as the aesthetic beauty of your building. 

Similarly, the stability of the building glass structures such as sliding doors is determined by the materials and technological advancements applied. One of the best structural glass solutions you can use in buildings is structural glazing. There are different structural glazing methods used such as unitized, semi unitized and fully unitized. 

Spider glazing for instance, enhances aesthetic beauty and this can be incorporated with frameless glazing using spider fittings. The structural glazing designs are made from materials such as aluminum, silicon sealants and glass.

Glass glazing consists of glass sheets, which are held together with use of strong sealants. These are designed into specifications and they are easy to install and allow for low maintenance. The frameless structural glass solutions such as those done on door assemblies may require toughened fins that help reduce deflection that is created by load.


In addition, glass fin stabilizers are also used to support glass facades as backup structures. This also allows for maximum vision area. The glass fin stabilizers can be connected to the glass facades using spider fittings and this allows for transfer of the wind load from the facades through to the fins and then to the surrounding structure.


Curtain walling is a non-load bearing system that is used in the glazing solutions. This system is hanged on a building structure and this is where the name curtain is derived from. Nonetheless, the system can also be dead loaded. When carrying out curtain walling, there are certain things that need to be considered in the design work. These are such as air permeability, water tightness and wind resistant. 


Other factors are ventilation, acoustic requirements, solar shading, and thermal performance. The basic characteristics of curtain walling are usually square or rectangular grids of transoms and mullions though the designs can also be enhanced by incorporating sloped roofs, curves and facets as well as tilts and turns. One of the benefits of curtain wall facades structural glass solutions is the aesthetic beauty they display.

In order to ensure that stability, durability, and resistance to weather effects are attained on the curtain walling structures, they are glazed with state-of-the-art technological advancements. Structural glass solutions like the glazing designs offer efficient protection against noise. They also improve thermal insulation for enhanced energy saving.