We’ve witnessed several launches of foldable smartphones in the past couple of years, including Moto Razr 5G, Microsoft Surface Duo, and the most recent one is Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G. The foldable smartphones are new-age toys, and every smartphone manufacturing company wants at least one such smartphone in their purse.
Oppo was left little behind in this segment, but with Oppo Find N, the company is now ready to launch its first foldable smartphone in the market. Oppo Chief Product Officer Pete Lau recently revealed a glimpse of the new foldable smartphone on which the company has spent about 4-years to finish the research and development work.
The upcoming foldable smartphone from Oppo is teased with a tagline, “a small enough, big enough folding screen phone,” and is expected to offer a proprietary software experience to deliver a distinctive user experience. The phone’s layout is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3, and the design is claimed to be simple, practical, and easy to use.
The teaser video shows the inward folding design of the Oppo Find N and appears to have a hole-punch design, at least for its foldable display. The smartphone has the main folding screen on the inside and another smaller one on the outside, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold series. The video also hints that the foldable smartphone would come with a USB Type-C port and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
In his letter, Lau further claimed, “With the Find N, we have solved the main pain points in previous foldable smartphones, such as the crease in the display and overall durability of the device, by inventing perhaps the best hinge and display designs available today.” The first foldable smartphone from the house of Oppo, the Find N, is set to be launched on December 15, 2021.
One of the top smartphone manufacturers in the world, Apple, has been hooked due to a supply chain crisis and forced to halt the production of its iPhone lineup. According to a Nikkei report, who always digs deeper into the index calculation, Foxconn, Pegatron, and other Apple suppliers halted the production for the first time in more than 10 years, and that too ahead of the Christmas festive season.
Fortunately, the production ramped down only for a few days, mostly due to supply chain constraints and, of course, due to China’s ongoing power restriction. The company was planning to add additional work hours to meet global demand for the holiday shopping season, but workers are getting time off instead of overtime. The unwanted happenings made Apple miss their latest iPhone 13 lineup targets.
The Nikkei report further mentioned that Apple halted iPhone and iPad production for several days in September and October, which shocked the world. The Cupertino-California headquartered company’s initial goal was to manufacture 95 million iPhone 13 models in 2021, but due to the shortage of components and chips, the company made changes in its plans and decided to go with at least 83-85 million units.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said the supply chain issues are expected to continue till December, which would cost the company more than $7 billion of loss. At the same time, the company is pressuring its suppliers to reaccelerate their production development of the iPhone for December and January. Along with China’s ongoing power restriction, Malaysian and Vietnamese lockdown measures are also the leading components to halt the production.
Being an Indian, we all know Honda mainly because of their joint venture with Hero MotoCorp Limited, which started in 1984 as Hero Honda Motors Limited and was terminated by December 2010. Though the Minato, Tokyo, headquartered Japanese company separated itself from Hero MotoCorp Limited, it successfully maintained its business in the country by launching different automobiles and motorcycles.
How Does Honda Begin its Journey?
The engineer and automobile fanatic Soichiro Honda took over an old factory that mainly couched in ruins from wartime bombings in 1946 and founded Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan. In a tiny space of 170 sq ft. and with only 12 employees, he built small, efficient internal combustion engines and sold customised bicycles with attached motors. Since childhood, Soichiro was a dreamer and interested in automobiles, and to fulfill his passion, he started working as a mechanic during his youth at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars and entered them into races using his friend’s garage.
The Honda Technical Research Institute was incorporated as Honda Motor Company in 1948 and commenced producing motorcycles in 1949. Soon, the newly founded Honda hired a marketing specialist Takeo Fujisawa, who provided requisite business and marketing expertise to complement Soichiro Honda’s technical propensity. Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa co-founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd, where Soichiro controlled the engineering and product development while Takeo managed the financial side of the company. The hardworking duo took the company from a small manufacturer of bicycle engines to a worldwide car manufacturer.
How Does Honda Shot to Fame in the World?
Honda shot to fame within a decade of its establishment and became the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. Thanks to the Honda C-100, a small-engine motorcycle introduced in 1953, and by 1959, it was the largest-selling motorcycle in the world. Since its foundation, the company has manufactured over 400 million motorcycles and has produced more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year, earning the position of the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume. The company began manufacturing automobiles in 1963, and the first automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck.
The Concept of a “People’s Car”
A four-seater with a top speed of 100 km/h and an affordable price was the summary of the concept of building people’s car in the early ’60s. Honda followed the outline and unveiled the Honda S360 sports car, on June 5, 1962, during the 11th National Honda Meeting General Assembly held at Suzuka Circuit. Later on, the company launched its first production car and first passenger automobile, the Honda S500 sports car, which entered production in October 1963.
Further growth in the Automobile world
Honda Motor Company established a United States subsidiary, the American Honda Motor Company, for manufacturing motorcycles and automobiles in the United States. In 2001, Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer after Toyota, a major car manufacturing company that bought Soichiro Honda’s highly automated product in 1941 to utilise unskilled workers to produce high-quality piston rings. According to the OICA report, in 2017, Honda was the 7th largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
Honda in India
Outside the Japanese boundaries, Honda is known for its joint ventures, especially in India, where it partnered with Hero Group and started its operations in 1984 by forming the joint venture Hero Honda Motors Limited. Hero Honda launched a four-stroke bike with a popular advertising campaign based on the tag line- “Fill it, Shut it, Forget it”. The campaign did a miracle for the new joint venture, and the newly formed brand took the market by storm.
The Hero Honda Splendor and Hero Honda Passion were two of the best-selling motorcycles from the brand, which worked brilliantly in Indian conditions and were best suited for the Indian psyche. In 2001, the joint venture became the second largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and globally but unfortunately, in December 2010, the board of directors of Hero Honda Motors Limited had decided to terminate the joint venture due to rising differences between the two partners.
After termination, both the companies started operating differently and soon became rivals. Hero Group renamed the company from Hero Honda Motors Limited to Hero MotoCorp Limited on 29 July 2011 and began exporting their motorcycles to Latin America, Africa and West Asia. Currently, Hero MotoCorp Limited is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and even globally, but during the joint venture times, Hero Group mainly relied on their Japanese counterpart Honda for the technology in their bikes.
Besides motorcycles, Honda also has a division of Automobiles in India, Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), which was established in 1995 as a joint venture called Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI). The automobile division’s first manufacturing plant in Greater Noida started operations in 1997 and manufactures about 100,000 units annually. The second plant in India is at Tapukara in the Alwar District of Rajasthan, spread over 450 acres of land. The Japanese carmaker has 371 dealership outlets across 121 cities in 20 states and 3 Union Territories in India. The current models are Honda City, Honda Jazz, Honda Amaze and Honda WR-V, while the discontinued models are Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Brio, Honda Mobilio and Honda BR-V.
Honda Marketing Strategies
Every good company focuses on its marketing strategies as it helps the brand create products and services with the best chances for making a profit, and over the several decades, Honda had some fantastic marketing and advertising campaigns, be it a Honda Accord campaign with a tagline, “Isn’t it nice when things just… work?” or a humour-based commercial where a casual-looking man knocks on a TV screen and says, “I’m Mr. Opportunity, and I’m knockin,” Honda had done it all. Besides strategic marketing and advertising of their major products, Honda sells genuine accessories through a separate retail chain called Honda Access for their motorcycle, scooter, and automobile products, which helps the company gain more profits.
3 Unique Things About Honda Cars
Resale Value
Indian buyers usually examine the fuel efficiency & resale value while purchasing a new car, and Honda has a lot to offer in these two sections. Honda cars have a tremendous resale market due to their high reliability, and a well-maintained Honda car can make up to 60-70% of the original value, or at least 50% as a minimum.
Features & Safety
Japanese and German automobile technology is always a step ahead of the world. Being a Japanese automobile manufacturer, Honda never disappoints us with advanced tech and always provides reliable features at an affordable price. About safety, it is one of the essential factors and cannot be ignored. Honda cars pay full attention and effort to make every car safe, and most of their cars have a 4-5 star NCAP test rating.
VTEC Engines
VTEC is a system developed and introduced by Honda back in 1989 to improve the volumetric efficiency of a four-stroke internal combustion engine. It stands for Variable Timing & Lift Electronic Control and provides outstanding driving dynamics that helps the car to dance at the user’s fingertips. The Indian Honda’s get i-VTEC, which offers more fuel efficiency, allows users to endure the world of rising fuel prices.
Leaving Blue Skies for Our Children
Honda is committed to proactive environmental conservation activities and had set a target in 2011 to slice CO2 emissions from its global products by 30 per cent by the end of 2020, and they’ve achieved it successfully. The Slogan’ Blue Skies for Our Children’ expresses the company’s proactive commitment to improving the environment worldwide. Driven by the rallying cry of “blue skies for our children,” Honda engineers created a groundbreaking CVCC engine that made the Honda Civic the first vehicle to meet the strict emissions standards of the new United States Clean Air Act without using a catalytic converter.
Truly wireless earbuds and neckbands have taken over the decade-old style of wired earphones and headphones, which are way cheaper than these newbies, but the newbies are making headlines in the rising world of the audio industry because of one freshly risen feature, ANC or Active Noise Cancellation. The hyped feature was once limited to high-end audio products but is now making its way to the budget section.
You may have heard some of your friends or colleagues discussing the benefits and advantages of active noise-cancelling headphones, and due to fear of moving out, you might have added a pair of active noise-cancelling headphones to your wish list, but have you ever considered spending a few minutes to check what are they actually? Are they worth a shot? And whether you genuinely need them or not?
What is Active Noise Cancellation & How it Works?
The ANC or Active Noise Cancellation concept was first developed in late 1930s, and after a couple of decades, it eventually landed in commercial airline headsets. Active Noise Cancellation is a technology that combines hardware and firmware to reduce unwanted ambient sounds by using active noise control as part of the listening experience.
In short, it keeps ambient noise away by adding a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. The term Noise Cancellation does not commit to removing the sound altogether, it only diminishes the surrounding noise significantly, giving the illusion that the noise is cancelled, but when you add Active before the Noise cancellation, it works differently and actively looks for the noise to counterpoise it.
A number of earbuds or headphones features an inbuilt noise cancelling technique that works through ear tips or ear cuffs and reduce the outside noise by some amount, but ANC loaded devices have specific earbuds that help them make a significant difference in your listening experience and the technology used to create them is far more complex than the usual passive noise cancellation.
ANC uses electronics to prevent undesirable or excessive volume, such as the hum of jet engines on aeroplanes and traffic, from reaching someone’s eardrums. Sound travels in waves through the air, and when two identical waves with the same frequency but the opposite amplitude meet each other, they are called out of phase as they cancel each other out, and this method helps you hear absolute pure music, which comes from your headphones.
The ANC technology works best when you’re around a massive noise source, such as the hums of aeroplanes, which is easier to recognize than people talking or regular day-to-day noises. In some cases, listeners have reported dizziness and headaches while using noise-cancelling headphones, which may be prompted due to extremely low-frequency vibrations towards our hearing hair cells, but this can be solved by decreasing the ANC intensity. The solution is right there, but are they worth taking a risk?
Do You Really Need ANC Support on Your Earbuds?
Clarifying certain things always benefits us in the long run, and when it comes to active noise cancellation, it does provide quality music and podcasts by removing distractions, but it doesn’t improve the sound quality of your headphones. The ANC technology blocks or filters high-frequency sound waves using passive or active responses, respectively, and now it’s time to know about the benefits of Active Noise Cancellation technology.
It helps you to block annoying noises
Active Noise Cancellation earbuds or headphones are handy for commuters who travel long-distance, mainly via planes or trains or even buses, as it aids you to get some quality sleep, even when you’re not listening to the music. The ANC technology reduces the impact of annoying loud sounds such as constant honking, people chattering, disturbing construction noises and audio distractions to help you stay focused.
It allows you to have better conversations
Apart from listening to music in a chaotic environment, the ANC technology helps you avoid “excuse me” or “I’m sorry, could you please repeat that?” during the calls. The noise-cancellation system blocks virtually all of the background noise you hear around you and allows you to have the smoothest conversations of your life.
It cares for you and protects your ears
Anything above 75 decibels is counted as unsafe noise, and when you continuously deal with the audio above 80-85 decibels, you risk losing your hearing ability. You can avoid such risks by wearing proper fit, active noise cancellation headphones as these devices can reduce sound levels by up to 80 dB, almost defeating the massive sound of aeroplane engines which hits 130 decibels regularly.
It helps you reduce stress
When you’re constantly exposed to noise above 80-85 decibels, it automatically creates concerns. After a while, repeated exposures can create annoyance in your brain and lead you to a stressful and hectic life, but if you’re having a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones, you can have peace of mind, which leads to a healthier life.
It helps you in increasing concentration
How does someone lose concentration? Of course, due to surrounding noise inputs, which leads to less productivity and dissatisfaction. The pandemic days makes us realise how a little bit of annoying noise can distract us from our work or study. So, it’s better to have some device that will kill all the distractive sound and help you concentrate fully, and what’s better than ANC backed headphones? The ANC technology not only allows you to block the outside noise but also sends a text to your colleagues that you’re trying to concentrate.
When it comes to the disadvantages of ANC-backed headphones, we would like to highlight a few things. First of all, they are expensive, they make you unaware of your surroundings, they can be a medium of ear infections and last but not least, they have short battery life. So, the answer to the question “do you really need ANC backed headphones or not?” lies within your lifestyle.
Netflix’s dark, heavily dramatic, anti-hero lead show YOU recently returned for a third season with a bang, and like the previous two seasons, the third season quickly became one of the most discussed shows on Netflix. The show’s first two seasons featured the relentlessly creepy-stalker Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and were packed with all the right ingredients required for a psychological thriller, but season 3 brings a new setting to the show.
Yes, season 3 of YOU takes us to an entirely new place called Madre Linda, a fictional town in the California suburb as Joe and his equally bloodthirsty wife Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) decide to escape the hustle and bustle of New York and Los Angeles to deliver a better future to their newborn. However, in a nosy suburb, it gets hard for Joe and Love to stay unnoticed by the people, which puts the season’s suspense on the top tier.
In season three, Joe is not operating alone as he used to in the last two seasons. Now, he has a companion to help him with the aftermath of the killing, which shifts the fundamental geometry of how the show works. The stalker-narrated murder drama shows Love to be even more erratic than Joe, keeping up the thrill of the show. The third season features the continuation of Joe’s fraught relationship with Love and, of course, a lot of slayings in the neighbourhood.
The bizarre third season of the show manages to pull us into Joe and Love’s world of hatred, revenge and power politics by crafting an ironic take on a suburban murder mystery. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season as Joe is not satisfied with the love of his life and is going to look for ‘the one’ in the next one. So, until Mr Joe Goldberg shows up again with a new twisted murder story, watch these 5 breathtaking shows to feed your thrilling hunger.
Bates Motel
Platform – Peacock
Seasons – 5
In YOU, Joe Goldberg has created almost the same level of magic as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) but with multiple twists, misleads and surprises. The show depicts Joe having a tough life growing up but didn’t converge more on why he turned up as into a psychopath. Meanwhile, Bates Motel, which is based on the storyline of the iconic horror film Psycho, shows how Norman Bates grew up to become a serial killer. The show has a similar theme to YOU, and fans will see shades of Joe’s relationship with his mother in Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Norma’s (Vera Farmiga) connection, where Norman is dealing with constant manipulation that leaves him wanting independence and turns him into a serial killer.
Mindhunter
Platform – Netflix
Seasons – 2
David Fincher is a modern-day master filmmaker of dark, moody and disturbing films. He debuted on an OTT platform with a hit show, House of Cards, the first TV show produced by a studio for Netflix. Later on, he produced and directed a few episodes of a masterpiece called Mindhunter, a show based on a non-fiction crime book titled Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Fans of YOU will enjoy the dark theme, unsettling characters and gripping suspense of Mindhunter that stars Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the lead. The show is set in the 70’s/80’s and revolves around two special agents of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit who try to get into and understand the brains of notorious serial killers, including Ed Kemper, Charles Manson, and the Son of Sam.
Dexter
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 8
Dexter, one of the oldest crime thriller TV shows, is set to hit screens with a new season, Dexter: New Blood. The celebrated TV series’s titular character, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), acts and functions similar to YOU’s charming and brilliant Joe Goldberg. Like Joe, Dexter, too, believes in strategies and planning that always help him stay 10 steps ahead to protect himself and predict the worst. Dexter, who plays the role of a forensic technician by day and serial killer by night in the show, is very much senior to Joe. He has survived eight seasons dodging the law, defending his actions, and even successfully raising a family while still being a murderer. If you love YOU, you’re going to see a massive bit of Joe in every move of Dexter.
Hannibal
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 3
The Silence of the Lambs is probably one of the best psychological horror films made in Hollywood, and its lead character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter, is the scariest character we’ve ever witnessed in Hollywood movies. Hannibal is an American psychological horror-thriller television series that runs on NBC, and its lead, Dr Hannibal Lecter, has an ability to fool everyone around him, very relevant to Joe Goldberg. The NBC series focuses on the complex but emotional relationship between the brilliant psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the FBI criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). Together they trace complex serial killers by thinking like a serial killer, but Hannibal has something mysterious that Will is unaware of.
Killing Eve
Platform – Hulu
Seasons – 3
We have seen women playing the role of a psychopath in very few Hollywood films, but when they did, they did it with full passion. Kathy Bates and Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress by playing the roles of a psychopath in Misery (1990) and Monster (2003), respectively. The Emmy award-winning spy series, Killing Eve, is one such show that depicts similarities with Joe Goldberg’s YOU. The British spy thriller follows a wild game of cat and mouse between psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and badass British intelligence investigating officer Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh). The 3-season Hulu series is binge-worthy and will remind Joe’s obsessive love-hate relationship throughout YOU.
Two-screen or dual-screen gadgets are becoming a trivial trend, but keeping aside the audience’s interests, several top-notch companies are investing in the idea and developing two-screen devices. We have witnessed the launch of two-screen products such as Galaxy Fold 3, Galaxy Flip 3, Asus ZenBook Duo 14, and Lenovo ThinkBook Plus in the past few months.
Amongst all of these gadgets, we’ve reviewed some and sent them back to the places. However, to our luck, we got a chance to keep the Asus ZenBook Duo 14 for a bit longer, and that’s why we decided to come up with a long-term review where we can assist you to understand the complete details of the 14-inch Asus ZenBook Duo 14.
Design & Build Quality
Asus is known for offering the world’s best motherboards and innovative gadgets such as high-quality personal computers, graphics cards, and other technology solutions. The company’s latest addition, the uniquely designed Asus ZenBook Duo 14, is an update to last year’s Zenbook Duo 14, and it arrives with a massive slab of a second screen.
On the outside, the ZenBook Duo 14 features a concentric circle pattern etched on top, and it looks elegant. The glossy silver Asus logo stands apart and strikes a laptop with a classy look. On the inside, it features two screens, as mentioned in the name, and it is as wide as the main screen, but it makes the laptop sacrifice its ergonomics.
Along with a head-turning design, the Asus ZenBook Duo 14 endures a well-built form. The full-HD laptop features sturdy and robust screens, tough enough to take a hard punch. The Duo 14 is not a lap-friendly laptop, and most of the credit goes to its raised bottom panel and the second screen, as it doesn’t sit flush and changes the conventional wrist-rest space.
Display
The ZenBook Duo 14 features two stylish, seamless and steady displays, which are unquestionably beneficial if you prefer working on a laptop while commuting in a car. The laptop features a primary display of 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) and an additional compact display of 12.65-inch (1920 x 515), dubbed as the ScreenPad Plus. The Zenbook Duo 14 offers an immersive viewing experience with a four-sided frameless NanoEdge display and its second screen automatically tilts up to an angle of 7° which reduces glare and reflections for improved readability.
The dual display is best for journalists, writers or students who like to open/switch various windows/tabs at a time. They can use the ScreenPad Plus to track the latest news/articles and use the primary one to write their own. The Duo 14 is the best option for users who want more than one display. The laptop also features a handy button above the touchpad that immediately swaps the contents of your primary and secondary screen. The ScreenPad Plus is beneficial for gaming, especially when you like to play games and run video references side by side.
Ergonomics & Ports
One of the flaws of the Zenbook Duo 14 is its keyboard and mousepad. The company has done a decent job adjusting both of these essential aspects in a tiny space, but somewhere deep down, we all know we’re not satisfied with it. The secondary screen, ScreenPad Plus, leaves extremely little room for the touchpad, which forces Asus to create a vertical mousepad.
Also, as mentioned earlier, one can not rest their palms while typing; it’s a bit of a task in itself and a hard one to follow. Along with the mousepad, the keyboard also looks cramped and compromised for the second screen. Centre-aligned mousepads and empty keyboard decks are comfortable for every individual, whether right-handed or left-handed.
One aspect that doesn’t suffer due to the secondary screen is the ports. The Zenbook Duo 14 features a range of ports, including USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, a full-size HDMI 1.4, an HDMI connection, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio port. The dynamic laptop also emphasises support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth.
Performance
Performance and endurance are two departments that one should not worry about if you’re planning to buy the Asus Zenbook Duo 14. The performance is in line with the competition, and with an 11th gen Core i7 processor lying inside, paired with 2GB Nvidia MX450 GPU, 16GB DDR4x RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD, the ZenBook Duo 14 is assuredly more than enough to handle a number of heavy tasks.
The Duo 14 is equipped with the new ScreenXpert 2 software and offers a plethora of built-in apps, including a new Control Panel app, which comes with customisable commands and shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro and After Effects. The base model arrives with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. The 1.6 kg laptop scores 5,330 points on n Geekbench 5.3.
Battery Life
The Asus Zenbook Duo’s battery life is surprisingly decent, and it can pull enough juice from its 70Whr battery to provide you with a solid six hours of working time. Naturally, laptops in this category tend to last a long time but in the case of Zenbook Duo, the second display is a vital culprit on battery drain. The bundled USB-C charger takes about an hour and 20 minutes to fully charge the Duo 14. After fully recharging the laptop and putting it in power saver mode, it offers over 10 hours of standby time. The fans only fired up during gaming, but you can turn them down by visiting Asus’ control centre. Overall, throughout the use, the Zenbook Duo 14 stays cool and provides wholesome enjoyment.
Verdict
Finally, we’ve arrived at the question, is the Asus ZenBook Duo really worth your time and money? Well, Yes. The Asus ZenBook Duo 14 is a pretty unique ultrabook that provides a number of innovative features, including audio equipment certified by Harman Kardon but surrenders ergonomics for a big second screen. With the price starting from ₹99,990 and going up to ₹1,34,990, it’s a decent choice and durable enough even with its dubious hinge. The Asus ZenBook Duo 14 continues to redefine what a laptop should build like, but at the end of the day, it ultimately depends on the user’s preference and whether it adds value to the user’s life or not?
Honda established itself as one of the topmost manufacturers of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment globally. The Japanese company also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft, power generators, robots and mountain bikes. Let’s take a look at the top 5 Honda divisions.
Honda Motorcycles
Honda has come a long way from manufacturing noisy scooters to making the finest cars on the planet, but people will always remember the company for its motorcycle division. Since 1955, Honda has been the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and one of the topmost motorcycle manufacturers globally. Honda started venturing outside the Japanese motorcycle market in the ’60s and began exporting their motorcycles to the United States.
Along with Robert Emmenegger, creative director, Grey Advertising, the company created an innovative 12-year-long advertising campaign, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda”, and it became hugely successful, helping the company to sell over 90,000 motorcycles. The campaign marked the inception of the decay of domestic and British motorcycle brands in the US market and helped Honda to rise as a top motorcycle manufacturer.
Honda Automobiles
After Honda Motorcycles, a large sum of the company’s annual sales came from Honda Automobiles, which the company began manufacturing in 1963. The first car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which had chain-driven rear wheels. Over the next few decades, the company expanded their range of vehicles and exported its automobiles to the United States and other parts of the world.
In 1986, the company ventured into the luxury car segment and became the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand- Acura. Soon, the company released the wildly successful Acura brand to the American market to gain ground in the luxury vehicle market. Since its inception, Honda has produced several prosperous cars, including the Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and Honda City.
Honda Engines
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is the world’s largest engine manufacturer that sets the standard for reliable and hard-working engines. When it comes to making engines, Honda focuses on better fuel efficiency, higher power output, superior and quieter performance. Honda engines are built with high-quality elements designed for optimum performance in the harshest environments. Honda engines are renowned for being easy to start but, despite being known as an engine company, Honda has never built a V8 for passenger vehicles. Honda engines powered the entire 33-car starting field of the 94th Indianapolis 500, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, in 2010.
Honda Robots
Being a motorcycle and automobile manufacturing expert, Honda has always shown interest in Robotics. Since 1986, the company has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research. The Japanese company developed its first humanoid robot in 1986 and named it the Honda E series. The E series was a collection of experimental humanoid robots made by Honda between 1986 and 1993.
The series later evolved into the Honda P series and helped Honda gather the knowledge and expertise necessary to create Honda’s advanced humanoid robot: ASIMO, which the company released in 2000. ASIMO was the world’s most advanced humanoid robot of its time, and even today, it is the world’s only humanoid robot able to ascend and descend stairs independently.
Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturing company founded as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company in August 2006. The aircraft division of Honda has pioneered new technology in its HA-420 HondaJet and is responsible for producing the HondaJet family of aircraft. Honda Aircraft Company builds aircraft with the latest innovations in aviation to change the way we travel.
The company has introduced several innovations and cutting edge technology in general aviation aircraft, including an over-wing engine mount, carbon composite fuselage and natural laminar flow wings. In late 2003, an experimental HondaJet equipped with Honda HF118 engines completed its initial flight test, and in 2005, the aircraft division made its world debut for the public. Since 2017, the HondaJet has been the most delivered aircraft in its class, earning the accomplishment for the fourth consecutive year.
Did You Know?
As of October 2021, Honda’s market capitalization was valued at over $52 billion.
The Honda Accord was the first foreign vehicle manufactured in the United States.
Honda has its airport.
The Honda Gold Wing motorcycle has been in production for over 40 years.
The Honda Civic was Honda’s answer to the ’70s Fuel Crisis; the car is still one of the best value and fuel-efficient options on the market.
Honda made the first four-wheel-drive car, the 1987 Honda Prelude.
Honda’s logo is the most conservative one as it has remained unchanged in its entire history.
Every Honda CR-V manufactured from 1997 to 2006 had a picnic table under the cargo area.
What do people usually wish to have after they become a billionaire? A luxury car, a luxurious villa at a prime location- possibly with a helipad, tickets to outer space, private planes, private islands, luxurious superyachts, and the list goes on, but a vast majority of people definitely want to own a luxury car. However, if you look at the list of top billionaires of the world, most of these moguls prefer affordable cars over luxury cars, a strange choice isn’t it?
Being an Indian, the majority of times, we assume a person’s status or their richness on the basis of what car they drive? We have a very straightforward and lame way of thinking on this one. A person driving or travelling in a Lamborghini or Mercedes car can’t be an ordinary fellow, and a person driving or travelling in a Honda or Ford car can’t be a billionaire. However, the reality is way too different from your predictions, and we’re here to disclose the reality.
Jeff Bezos
The Amazon founder, chairman, and CEO, Jeff Bezos has no less status than a celebrity, but when we talk about celebrities, we usually assume either they’re travelling in luxury cars or flying from one place to another by their private jets and choppers, but in the case of Jeff Bezos the results are contradictory. You’ll not believe it, but the man who’s currently on the list of top 5 richest persons in the world surprisingly drives the Honda Accord, which is one of the decent but affordable cars in the market.
Jeff Bezos used to work at Wall Street before he founded the largest online retailer in the world. Before you give it a second thought that he’s driving a newly launched Honda Accord, then hold your horses, it’s not a recent one. He’s been driving the Honda Accord, which he bought in the year 1999, which gives us clarity that Amazon only spends money on things that matter to the customer. Also, in one of his interviews, when asked about the reason behind this unobvious choice of ride, the man who has a wealth of close to $200 billion smiled and answered, “it’s quite a good ride”.
Mark Zuckerberg
The second billionaire who prefers an affordable car over a luxury car is quite an obvious name to guess, and everyone knows why? The next person on the list is the man behind the glorious success of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and if you don’t know why it is an obvious name, have you ever noticed the Facebook founder and CEO in a different outfit than his regular plain grey Hanes t-shirt and blue jeans? Obviously not! Now think, if a man who owns several top social media platforms prefers simple outfits for his everyday outing, then why would he invest a hell of a lot more money for a regular ride?
The millennial software mogul was often spotted driving a black Acura TSX (approx. priced at 25 lacs) and Honda Fit, which is marketed as Jazz in India. Along with these two cars, he was even spotted driving an Italian-made car, Pagani Huayra, on some occasions. When asked why he prefers Acura TSX, he said, “it’s safe, comfortable and not ostentatious.” About Mark Zuckerberg, the millennial software mogul, almost everyone knows he prefers to live below his means, and he never misses to show it to the world.
Alice Walton
Alice Walton is not a very common name when it comes to billionaires, but you can always guess about someone’s family background by taking a look at their last name. The co-heir to the fortunes of Wal-Mart and daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, is the second wealthiest woman in the world, after L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. Alice, the current board member of Amon Carter Museum, owns over US$13 billion in Walmart shares, but when it comes to spending some, she’s a pretty economical person.
Alice drives a newer but still considerably older 2006 Ford F-150 King Ranch, but her reason for driving the car is a bit more sentimental. Her father, Sam Walton, used to drive a 1979 Ford F-150 before his passing, and that’s why she has an emotional attachment with the Ford F-150 cars. Another angle behind preferring the Ford F-150 might be her involvement in multiple automobile accidents. In one of them, she lost control of a rented Jeep during 1983, shattering her leg, and in the later years, she once overspeeded and killed 50-year-old Oleta Hardin, and in 1998, she hit a gas meter while driving under the influence of alcohol.
Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet is an American business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist who likes steaks, Coco cola and candies from See’s that Berkshire owns. Mr Buffet serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and is famous for making billions on Wall Street with some serious investments. Warren Buffet is known for spending a minimal amount on almost everything; for example, he never spends more than $3.17 on breakfast, and he lives in the same house he bought for $31,500 in 1958.
Warren Buffet is not the guy who will waste a dollar on materialistic items, and he proved it by driving domestic cars. He drove a 2006 Cadillac DTS for nearly a decade, and recently he purchased, a new 2014 Cadillac XTS when his daughter convinced him it was embarrassing. When it comes to the share market Warren Buffet has a keen eye for when and when not to spend cash, but about cars, he’s not much interested in having luxury models. When asked for the justification, he said, “I only drive about 3,500 miles a year so I will buy a new car very infrequently.”
Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He served as the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, and just like several other billionaire Microsoft executives, he prefers to drive a cheap car. The American business tycoon and investor is a loyal Ford customer and has proudly driven Ford cars for most of his life because his father was a manager at Ford Motor Company. In 2009, Ford CEO at the time, Alan Mulally, personally delivered a new Ford Fusion Hybrid car in celebration of their one-millionth vehicle equipped with SYNC, an in-vehicle communications and entertainment system.
Larry Page & Sergey Brin
Larry Page and Sergey Brin together founded Google in 1998 and Alphabet in 2015. Since their Stanford University days, these two have been working together and have achieved massive success in their profession. Larry Page and Sergey Brin have a net worth of over $50 billion each, but their similarities don’t end there, as they both opt to drive Toyota Prius for a while now. Speaking about individuality, Larry Page is the 8th richest person in the world and only takes an annual salary of $1, and he’s very unconcerned about the low pay while Sergey Brin, the president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet and the brother-in-law of Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, shares his partner’s fondness for the eco-friendly hybrid vehicle.
Dustin Moskovitz
If you’ve seen David Fincher’s 2010 release movie, The Social Network, closely, then you might have an idea of who’s Dustin Moskovitz. He is one of the young wizards associated with founding the world’s biggest social media site, Facebook. After his exit from Facebook in 2008, he cofounded Asana, a web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in history, and he only holds a 2.34% share in Facebook. Despite having a net worth of over $25 billion, Dustin Moskovitz prefers to live like an ordinary guy and drives a Volkswagen R32.
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 11T 5G, the rebranded version of the regular Redmi Note 11 5G and successor to last year’s Redmi Note 10T 5G, on a live-streamed YouTube event. The 5G enabled handset features a 6.6-inch display with a 90Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate. The model sports a hole-punch display design and supports Dual Split Fast Charge technology which helps the handset to charge faster than usual.
The smartphone is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 810 6nm octa-core chipset coupled with 6/8GB RAM and 64/128GB storage, and it will be the first Redmi phone to come with a 6nm SoC. The smartphone is available in three colours: Aquamarine Blue, Matte Black, Stardust White and three variants, 6GB+64GB priced at ₹16,9999, 6GB+128GB priced at ₹17,999 and 8GB+128GB priced at ₹19,999.
The handset arrives with a dual rear camera setup, which means you only get a 50-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.8 lens and 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens around the back. While for selfies and video chats, the smartphone has a 16-megapixel camera in the front. Along with this, the Redmi Note 11T 5G features a 3.5 headphone jack, stereo speakers and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Redmi always offers the best to its consumers and that too without burning a hole in the pocket. The Note 11T 5G smartphone is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass and is IP53 rated. The model also includes sensors such as an accelerometer, ambient light, gyroscope, magnetometer, and proximity sensor. On the battery front, the smartphone is packed with a 5000 mAh two-day battery that supports 33W Pro fast charging via USB-C.
The budget smartphone comes with Android 11 out of the box, and still, it has all the features you could ask for from a high-end smartphone. The Chinese electronics giant has also partnered with Reliance Jio for conducting 5G trials in the country on their Redmi Note 11T 5G smartphone. The smartphone will go live for sale on 7th December at noon via Xiaomi India’s website, Mi Home stores, Amazon India and partnering retailers.
We often lose our phones within our homes/offices and forget where we kept them exactly, but in such situations, we have an option to make a call and track down our phones. However, when we misplace phones at unknown places or when our phones get stolen, during such instances, we can not track down our lost phone that easily, and we will surely need more help to get back our lost phone.
Previously, people used to file a police complaint and used to wait for days, sometimes weeks, even months, to get back their lost phones, and in a large number of cases, in the end, all they got was frustration and lifelong disappointment. Fortunately, in the past few years, we have entered a more secure tech world, and we can now easily track down and locate our lost phones, lock them, and even wipe all data remotely.
Life without a smartphone is unimaginable, and life with a lost smartphone is almost a tragedy as it contains so much personal data, login credentials and other vital details. In this article, we are going to guide you on how to find your lost Android smartphone and wipe data remotely, but the following steps only work if you have enabled or turned on a few necessary features/options before losing your Android smartphone.
Step 1: Head to android.com/find or head over to Google’s Find My Device website on a separate phone or a laptop and sign in to your Google account with proper login credentials.
Step 2: Once logged in, the website will search for your last used device linked to the account. The page will show you details regarding battery life and the last online status.
Step 3: Click on the refresh button on the right side of the lost phone image, and the page will send a notification to your lost smartphone.
Step 4: As soon as the phone receives a notification, you will be able to see its last known location (approximate), if available.
Step 5: If the shown location is nearby, you can go to the given location and select the Play Sound option to make your phone ring for continuous five minutes. The phone will ring non-stop even if it is set on silent.
Step 6: If the shown location is unknown to you, please try to get help from law enforcement instead of risking visiting by yourself.
Step 7: If you wish to lock the screen, select the Secure Device feature, which will let you lock the device, and sign out of your Google account. The feature will also show a message and your phone number on the lock screen for the finder to get in touch with you.
Step 8: After trying two of these options, if you’re still not sure of getting your smartphone back, then tap on the Erase Device option, located under the device name and details. The option will erase all your data permanently, and after wiping data, the Find My Device feature will stop working for the device.
