Category Archives: Technical

The Caravan Club: new app to help surfers surf happy

08 Saturday Nov 2014

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TCCsitesurf will be an essential tool for surfers who are looking to make the most of the waves!

With UK weather being as changeable as it is, when conditions are right for surfing, staying close-by with great facilities enables pros, hobbyists and families, to make the most of the conditions while they can. To assist with this The Caravan Club has developed the TCCsitesurf app.

Last week The Caravan Club announced it is to support one of the UK’s highest profile national surfing events during the weekend 8 and 9 November at Fistral Beach, Cornwall and they have followed up this announcement with the launch of an app.

The Club is well-placed to offer the UKs estimated 500,000 surfers access to its UK sites network of around 3000 locations, many within striking distance of some of the UKs most popular surfing beaches. Upon launch, to coincide with the 2014 POSCA British National Surf Championships, the TCCsitesurf app will enable surfers to quickly and easily locate Club sites near to their desired surfing location.

Caravans, motorhomes and trailer-tents are becoming increasingly popular and provide flexible and affordable home-away-from-homes, holidays and breaks for those who like to get out into the countryside, whether it’s cycling, trekking surfing or simply relaxing – The Club shares your passion for the great outdoors.

The Club’s main site network, many of which include dedicated camping areas and nearly all with electric hook-up and shower facilities are the perfect place to stay to make sure surfers are warm, fresh and ready for the next day’s action. They also offer a place for drying laundry, which means no more damp wet suits the day after!

Tony Hall, Marketing Director for The Caravan Club, says, “Whether you are a caravanner, VW campervanner or tent camper our sites provide safe, flexible and affordable accommodation so that you can stay up close to the action and surf happy. Many of our fantastic coastal sites are located near to some of the UK’s most popular surfing beaches. So, if you enjoy the outdoors or enjoy an outdoors interest then caravanning or camping makes sense.”

Hall continues, “This app is the perfect tool for surfers, allowing them to match up their favourite beaches to great Caravan Club sites that can offer them a wonderful place to stay.”

NOTE FROM CM: I popped into the Google Play Store and found TCCsitesurf immediately, downloaded it and it works fine. Whilst its fundamental role is to link surfing locations to Caravan Club sites – which it does very well – it does much more than that and as it gets populated over time with even more information I can see it being essential visiting by the surfing community. (Google equals Android but in due course it will be available in the Apple App store for IOS devices such as iPads and iPhones.)

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

The Mosel Valley

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by in Places, Technical, Travel

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I lived in the Midlands for over twenty years and during that time became absorbed with the UK canal system and narrowboats in general. They were but one of the driving forces behind the industrial revolution and after years of pain and neglect are now an important part of our tourist and leisure industries. I lived near the Hatton Locks flight in Warwick and today one of my long list of favourite CLs is in Leighton Buzzard next to a narrowboat marina – and an excellent pub.

Here on the Mosel, locks and barges are an altogether bigger proposition with some fantastic design and engineering deployed.

I guess my next step up is to visit the Suez and Panama canals!

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Britons spend longer on mobile gadgets and TV than sleeping

08 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by in Technical, This and That

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A man uses his mobile phone next to a rail of clothes for sale in central London.

CREDIT: REUTERS/LUKE MACGREGOR
http://www.reuters.com

Britons now spend more time using smartphones and tablets, watching television and listening to the radio than they do sleeping, thanks to the availability of broadband in the home and on the move, regulator Ofcom said on Thursday.

Consuming media and communicating takes 11 hours and 7 minutes out of an average Briton’s day, a jump of more than two hours since 2010, from 8 hours and 48 minutes, it said.

Smartphones, which are now used by 61 percent of people, and tablet computers were behind the rise, Ofcom said, as they allow people to stay connected while on the move.

New technology was also behind work encroaching more and more into people’s personal time, with six in 10 people doing work tasks outside working hours and 10 percent reading and sending work related emails and texts in bed, the survey found.

On the flip side, Britons use email at work for personal reasons and one in five shop online in the office.

Many people made telephone calls and surf the web at the same time as they watch television or listen to the radio, so the total volume of 11 hours 7 minutes is squeezed into 8 hours 41 minutes, or 20 minutes longer than they sleep, Ofcom said.

Watching television remained the most popular individual activity, consuming nearly three hours of the average adult’s day, the 2014 Communications Market Report said.

Ofcom’s research also showed that the most tech-savvy people are teenagers.

People reach a peak of digital understanding at 14-15 years, while children at age six show the same knowledge of new technology as the average 45-year-old, said Ofcom, which surveyed nearly 2,000 adults and 800 children.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Google cars running Android Auto to hit showrooms later this year.

26 Thursday Jun 2014

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Google Inc says the first cars running Android Auto will hit showrooms later this year, after the Internet search giant signed on 40 auto-industry partners for its car-software development alliance.

Executives demonstrated to developers how Android Auto acts like an extension of its popular mobile phone software and will be completely voice-enabled, allowing drivers to navigate maps and send messages while behind the wheel.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Chris Reese)
Source http://www.reuters.com

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Caravan Club to install Wi-Fi on 66 sites by August

18 Friday Apr 2014

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Tablets, laptops, WiFi enabled smartphones and caravan holidays go hand in hand these days

Tom Walsh http://www.caravantimes.co.uk

The Caravan Club is set to install Wi-Fi on 66 of its sites in the next four months. Officials announced that it recently received all completed site surveys which allowed work to commence during April.

Meathop Fell Caravan Club Site is the first to receive an upgrade but many more are planned for the coming months.

The Club expects the work to be finished by mid-August but has urged patience as working in an outdoor environment can be continually unpredictable and there could be setbacks along the way.

Visitors are being warned that the affected sites will experience some outages of the Wi-Fi service but the Club is aiming to keep these problems to a minimum.

Some sites are expected to take much longer than others, with Meathop Fell being the largest job of the entire project.

Members can access the full list of sites on the Caravan Club’s website where the scheduled dates are also ready to view.
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

The Caravan Club moves to Cloud to support growth plan.

11 Friday Apr 2014

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The Caravan Club is in the process of moving to a private cloud after outsourcing parts of its IT to T-Systems to support ambitious plans to broaden its business into new areas of the travel and leisure industry.

The club, which has about one million members through 360,000 families, has leisure sites across the UK and offers insurance and other travel services.

The Caravan Club IT head Simon Hill says “The club has 39 permanent IT staff and uses about 20 contractors. It has 1,500 staff using IT in sites across the country. To support this we are moving to dedicated servers in T-Systems’ datacentres.”

The project started when a property lease on the server warehouse was due to expire and this gave Hill the opportunity to rethink the IT infrastructure. This challenge, coupled with The Caravan Club’s plan to expand into more areas of the travel and leisure sector, drove Hill to look at the outsourcing opportunities.

“The leadership wanted to become more agile and get into new markets. I needed to support this, but we did not have the resources to go to the next level,” he said.

Because of expected business expansion, Hill went to market to see what hosted services were available. “We looked at various hosting and as-a-service offerings,” said Hill.

During its 15-month search for a suitable supplier, The Caravan Club looked at large tier one suppliers as well as niche players. It narrowed a large field down to four, and then two, before choosing T-Systems.

Hill said the large enterprise class services combined with the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) focus of T-Systems was attractive. The Caravan Club is now migrating to a private cloud hosted by the supplier. It will begin moving in May, and expects to complete the process by September. Then nearly everything will be run in the T-Systems datacentre.

The benefits, according to Hill, include a level of disaster recovery provision that would normally be impossible for a company of its size. Hill, who has worked for Accenture and the Met Police, said: “We are getting a tier one service on an SME contract.”

Although reducing costs was not the aim of the project, The Caravan Club has made savings on hardware. In 2009, when the company moved to SAP it acquired lots of servers, which were coming up for refresh. The cost of the project to move to T-Systems was about 20% less than the cost of the IT refresh would have been.

Hill said there are no IT job cuts following the outsourcing, but staff who previously supported the IT at the back end can work on the customer-facing operation, such as ensuring “SAP and other applications are working for the customer”.

He said the company also plans to become “more digital”.

But perhaps the biggest advantage is the ability for The Caravan Club to deploy its IT resources to projects that will generate more business rather than just keeping IT running.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Caravans not to face MOT-type testing.

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

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The Caravan Club led the charge on lobbying against caravan MOTs and, following meetings with EU officials, The Club is pleased to see that yesterday’s vote at the European Parliament in Strasbourg confirmed previous indications that caravans (and other light trailers) will not be subject to MOT-type testing.

After a series of meetings of EU officials in Brussels, during November and December, it was clear that Club lobbying efforts had been effective and that it was highly likely that caravans, and other light trailers, would be removed from the scope of proposed testing. The European Parliament Transport Committee voted on 21 January 2014 to accept this, as did the full Parliament on 11 March 2014. Technically, a final confirmation vote by the European Council is expected later in March before we can be completely sure, but contacts in both Brussels and Westminster are confident of a positive outcome.

Tony Hall, Director of Marketing for The Caravan Club, says, “The Club was delighted to have led the way in lobbying against this vital issue and we believe that our efforts were instrumental in achieving this decision, although a final confirmation vote is due to take place at the end of March. This demonstrates The Club’s ongoing commitment to its members who can continue to enjoy their leisure time without unnecessary financial and administrative burdens.“

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

Alde heating smartphone app unveiled.

22 Saturday Feb 2014

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We keep hearing there is an app for everything. This time it turns out it might be true. Fresh from the NCC Caravan and Camping show, the Alde Start-App is the new feature you can download on your smartphone which controls the heating in your caravan or motorhome, fitted with the company’s heating system.

“Alde Start-App liberates you by allowing you to operate your heating while you’re out and about, enjoying your holiday,” said Leigh Marsden, Development Director at Alde International. “When you get back to your vehicle, it can be nice and warm already, with a hot shower waiting.”

That does sound tempting and the app works on essentially any smartphone, as the Alde Start-App system is compatible with all GSM compatible devices and allows the user to receive live updates from their fitted, heating system.

We should add that the app is made to work exclusively with later Alde 3010 boilers and all 3020 boilers. The Alde Start-App is free and can be downloaded for iOS and Android from app stores this April.

What will they think of next?

Source: Damien Sharkov of Caravan Times

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

TRACKER links with Garmin.

24 Friday Jan 2014

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Tracker is well known to motorhome owners for its tracking devices.

Now, Tracker and Garmin have hooked up together in the fleet business.

TRACKER, the fleet telematics and stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) expert, has formed an exclusive partnership with Garmin, the world’s leading mobile navigation technology company, to bring to market a superior fleet management solution – TRACKER Vision. The collaborative partnership combines TRACKER’s award-winning fleet telematics technology and back-office expertise with Garmin’s satellite navigation units. Under the new agreement, TRACKER wins ‘Garmin Authorised Partner’ status, demonstrating the value of its technological expertise.

TRACKER Vision harnesses the Garmin Nüvi 2508LT-D UK to enhance the market leading fleet tracking product, TRACKER Fleet. The system combines fleet tracking with job allocation, navigation, reporting and driver communication provided through a customisable, secure user website.

Garmin takes the lead in the development of automotive sat navs and produces a range of products for cars, vans and HGV – designed with, and for, the relevant end-users. It’s Nüvi range of sat navs includes models that offer Garmin’s new digital traffic alerts, speed limit and safety camera information and wide range of advanced navigation functions such as Active Lane Guidance through junctions, photoReal Junction View and even Real Directions using landmarks to guide drivers, for example “turn left at the traffic lights”.

Over time, TRACKER will roll out versions of TRACKER Vision utilising a variety of Garmin sat navs for its fleet tracking solutions, giving businesses a flexible, scalable and affordable fleet management solution.

Garmin’s Director of Fleet Management & Commercial Business for EMEA and APAC, Clive Taylor, comments: “We’re delighted TRACKER has chosen to partner with Garmin for its fleet solutions. Our aim is to work with TRACKER to provide premium navigation and traffic information for TRACKER’s customers as well as improved communications and management for fleets, no matter what the size.

“This includes two-way messaging, task management information direct to the driver’s screen, job scheduling and ETA to the fleet manager. We look forward to working together TRACKER to provide an excellent service to their customers and with the specific aim to bring real benefits to their business.”

Stephen Doran, Managing Director for TRACKER says, “This partnership sees the mutual coming together of two leaders in their respective fields and the creation of TRACKER Vision, the first of a suite of tools designed to deliver a new level of control to fleet operators managing cars and commercial vehicles. It is a strategic union; TRACKER becomes the chosen fleet management provider for Garmin, as it becomes our chosen mobile navigation technology partner and the future will see us make significant technology strides together.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews

100 years of the Ford moving production line.

05 Saturday Oct 2013

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Motorhome owners and caravan owners depend on developments in the automotive industry for the continued enjoyment of this “lifestyle” activity which we all love so much. It is therefore perhaps worth noting that on Monday October 7th we mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of Henry Ford’s moving assembly line for producing the Model T. This innovative production system allowed Ford to double worker pay while cutting the price of his cars in half, making it possible, for the first time, for auto workers to buy the cars they built.

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews