Removing Bumper Stickers, Pinstripes, and Window Tint

One of two things just happened here. Either you found an amazing deal on a used car that happens to be covered in a combination of bumper stickers, pinstripes, and/or window tinting or you’re trying to cover up your former glory days that involved lots of concerts and rebelling against authority. Whatever the case, it’s time to remove all the bumper stickers and see your vehicle in all its beauty as the manufacturer intended.Bumper stickers are relatively easy to remove. Try to pick a warm, sunny day for the project and slowly and gently peel them off. If a summer day is too much to hope for, use a hairdryer or heat gun to simulate sunny conditions. The older the bumper sticker is the more slowly you will need to peel it. In some cases it can be useful to pull the sticker flat and gently lift it that way. You are less likely to rip it. If all of your attempts have proven to less than fruitful, the next step would be to try a solvent. Citrus-based cleaners work best as they are not as likely to damage the underlying paint. Goo Gone is a natural first choice. Let the product soak in and try to remove the bumper sticker again. Still no luck? Cover the sticker and product with a plastic bag and try again. If things are still sticky, looking into a stronger solvent may be the answer.Pinstripes are a little different. They come in two types, tape and painted. The tape variety can usually be removed using the same methods as for bumper stickers. Scraping the offending pinstripes with a credit card is an option as well. Who said credit cards were bad things? Any glue still stuck to the paint can be removed with a solvent. Don’t worry; the Goo Gone people are going to love you. The only way to get rid of painted pinstripes is to have the pinstriped panels completely repainted. Either that or decide you like the zebra look. With the window tinting on your car noon looks like midnight. Obviously not the look you were going for. Let’s start with the side windows since the process is simpler. Just use a single razor blade and scrape the damaged window tint off. The back window will likely involve more work and planning. The last thing you want to do is damage the rear defroster grid and scraping it with a razor blade is sure to do it. This trick may save the day though. Spray the back window with water and measure a plastic bag to fit about 1 inch smaller than the window. Add some regular household ammonia to the water in your sprayer and spray the window, adhering the plastic to the tinting film. Let the plastic and ammonia solution sit on the tinting for about 30 minutes and peel the plastic bag, and hopefully, the window tint off. If some of the window tint is still on the window be sure to rub the length of the grids, not against them. A soft cloth, more ammonia, or Goo Gone should remove any stubborn tint that is still hanging on. At this point with any luck, the sun will be shining through clear, clean windows.Everyone likes to personalize their belongings, but if you want your car to stand out a little less, these tips should do the trick.

Tuner Car Parts: The Tools of Car Modification

Everyone loves tuner cars. The business of car modification is a big one, and the business of turning out tuner car parts is growing along with it. Every week a new barrage of products hits the market, all of them promising better, faster, cleaner performance using the latest in automotive technology. For every stock car rolling out of factories all over the world, there are tuner parts available to enhance that vehicle’s driving experience. A “tuner” car part used to be a reference to engine parts specifically, but now the term also extends to the aesthetic aspect of modification. To most modders (someone who loves tuner cars and car modification), enhancing the looks and performance of a car is more than a pastime or something they engage in on weekends and holidays. It’s a way of life. They live, work and breathe for their cars, saving every spare penny for that magic part that’ll give their vehicles the edge on the street. Contrary to what many people believe, car modification is not just for the young and flighty who don’t know what to do with their money – it’s a lifestyle that transcends all kinds of barriers. Have a look around at the next car show. Everyone turns out to check out what’s hot in modification trends, from the children with the tricked-out cars on their walls right through to their grandparents who enjoy tinkering with their project cars in the backyard. Essentially, it’s all about crafting something unique from a standard base. Of course tastes and styles vary, but the aim is the same: to create a signature piece of machinery reflecting the personality of its owner, whether it’s a brash explosion of color or a demure creeper with a bank of power hidden under the hood. Like shoes or a handbag would do for a stylist, the end result of a modification project will tell you pretty much all there is to know about its driver. Modification is often superficial, meaning that the outside appearance of the car is changed, usually with spray-paint, decals or bolt-on kits, wings and fins. As far as these extras go, there is an ever-expanding range of tuner car parts to help modders create exactly the effect they want. For almost every car, there’s a body kit, a set of rims – whatever you want – and if there isn’t, the parts you need can be manufactured from scratch. There’s nothing to stop you from achieving the look you envision. It’s the same for the business in the engine bay. Whether you want a slight power increase or an all-out overhaul, it’s easier than ever to put together a dream engine. Every modification project starts with a standard base and a vision. Coupled with a budget and some help from the professionals, the right car tuner parts are the tools to realize that vision.

V- NET BISNIS PULSA YANG MENJAJIKAN DAN TERUJI

Vnet Club adalah Trend Baru isi pulsa yang merupakan perpaduan harmonis antara Gaya Hidup dan Bisnis. Vnet club memberikan kemudahan bagi para anggotanya dalam melayani kebutuhan pulsa HP, menyediakan fasilitas-fasilitas komunikasi canggih, serta menawarkan peluang bisnis yang sangat luar biasa.
Sebelumnya yang ada dalam benak kita, memakai HP menimbulkan pengeluaran biaya, tapi dengan adanya Inovasi System Marketing Modern telah merubah paradigma “Belanja pulsa adalah pengeluaran biaya” menjadi “Belanja pulsa berpeluang menjadi kaya.”
Kesuksesan kita dalam memanfaatkan peluang bisnisnya tergantung dari “KOMITMEN” bagaimana kita membangun dan membina mitra bisnis kita.
Untuk meraih kesuksesan pasti ada harga/ pengorbanan yang harus dibayar karena kesuksesan tidak datang dengan sendirinya.
Sebatang lidi tidak dapat digunakan untuk menyapu, tapi dengan bersatunya batangan-batangan lidi dapat menjadi sapu yang dapat menjadi alat untuk meraih KESUKSESAN yang ditawarkanV-net Club.
Kesuksesan bukan sekadar target kepuasan pribadi kita semata, tapi dengan kesuksesan kita dapat membahagiakan orang-orang yang kita cintai.

Salah satu cara yang telah teruji ampuh untuk sukses di bisnis Vnet adalah dengan menjadi Distributor Member-Kit. Banyak keuntungan dan benefit lebih yang akan anda dapatkan dengan memposisikan diri sebagai distributor memberkit di kota anda.

UNTUK KETERANGAN LEBIH LANJUT MENJADI MEMBER DAN DISTRIBUTOR V-NET

E-MAIL KE : fresmade@gmail.com

Industri Telekomunikasi di Indonesia Melambat pada Tahun 2009

Industri telekomunikasi di dalam negeri pada tahun 2009 diperkirakan akan melambat, karena tekana krisis keuangan global pada awal tahun depan akan makin menguat.
Krisis keuangan global akan menghambat para vendor telekomunikasi meningkatkan perannya di pasar domestic sehingga pertumbuhan industri telekomunikasi pada tahun 2009 cenderung melambat, kata Presiden Direktur PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL) Hasnul Suhaimi di Bukit Tinggi, Padang, Sumatera Barat, akhir pecan lalu.
Ia mengatakan, pasar Industri telekomunikasi didalam negeri sebenarnya masih besar mencapai 140juta nasabah, karena itu XL berusaha membuat jaringan distribusi baru untuk dapat menarik nasabah lebih banyak.
Kami berusaha mencari nasabah lebih besar pada tahun ini untuk mengantisipasi melambatnya industri telekomunikasi tahun depan, “katanya.
Nasabh XL baru mencapai 25 juta orang, jadi pasar yang harus direbut itu masih besar, meski ada kekhawatiran dengan krisis keuangan global yang terjadi akhir-akhir ini.
Penambahan jaringan distribusi baru yang akan dibangun kemungkinan tidak akan segencar apa yang telah dilaksanakan XL, namun penambahan pelanggan harus dilaksanakan lebih baik, katanya.
Industri Telekomunikasi didalam negeri sejak beberapa tahun lalu tumbuh dengan pesat, karena para vendor telekomunikasi aktif mengembangkan usahanya.
Pertumbuhan industri telekomunikasi pada tahun ini diperkirakan mencapai 40 persen namun pada tahun depan diperkirakan akan turun menjadi 20 persen, kata Hasnul.
Meski demikian industri telekomunikasi di dalam negeri masih menjanjikan. Jumlah penduduk Indonesia yang mencapai 240 juta orang merupakan pasar potensial bagi perkembangan industri telekomunikasi apalagi industri ini merupakan kebutuhan yang sangat mendasar.
“ Kami tetap optimis pasar masih tumbuh sekalipun gejolak krisis keuangan global menghambat pertumbuhan tersebut, “ Ucapnya.


Sumber : Harian Analisa, 18 nov 2008

Women want to be loved, respected, admired, etc.

It was Freud who asked, after 30 years of research into the feminine soul, "What does a woman want?"
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Charlize: All my life I've been told how beautiful I am. Yet I'm 55 and single, again. I hardly dated in high school or college and blamed it on my 10 pounds of excess weight.
But all the other girls had dates, and they were far from really pretty. Cute, maybe.
Every time I dated a nerd, he would stare at me and tell me how beautiful I was. I've been married twice to men who (on a scale of 1 to 10) are less than 5 in the looks department and less than 2 in the personality department. Now I'm single again.
I feel like the men who are the right ones for me -- intelligent, warm, caring, funny, average-to-good looking, financially independent -- find me threatening because I'm also intelligent, warm, caring, funny and financially independent. They have nothing to offer someone who can rip them apart in an intellectual conversation or afford her own house.
I have it all, so they avoid me and go for the less attractive women with nonvibrant personalities, the Plain Janes, while I spend my weekends at home or with my girlfriends or my handsome gay male friends who have no reason to be intimidated by me.
Sometimes I just want to put a bag over my head, gain 20 pounds and drool. Maybe then I'd find a date.
Daisy: I'm a 33-year-old independent woman with an advanced degree who loves the outdoors, sports, traveling, laughter, kind deeds and a person who rarely gets angry. I've learned to walk in my own two shoes, and I don't think that supporting someone either mentally or emotionally is fun. I've worked hard at being able to be strong and positive and start my days with a smile.
When a man showers me with gifts right off the bat, he's waving a red flag saying, "You will surely like me if I do this! When he says, "I love you" after only a few weeks or a month of knowing me, I want to run. He doesn't know me well enough to know if it's love.
I've been in a few of those relationships, and they drain me. They take so much energy that I find myself worn out at the end of the day.
I believe these were nice guys who were treating me this way, but I still can't emotionally support them. A relationship needs to be a team. I work hard to be able to get up and put on my two shoes every day, even though there are days I'd rather not. Don't get me wrong; I'm human!

However if the guy can't do the same, he's definitely not someone I need to be with.
I would rather be single than try to cheer someone up who's always sulking or pouting.
Women, what do you want? Men, what do you think women want? Send your tale, along with your name, address and day and evening telephone numbers, to P.O. Box 828, Detroit 48231. CHERYL LAVIN is a syndicated columnist. Look for her reports on the dating wars each Sunday.

from : http://www.freep.com/article
by: CHERYL LAVIN

Buyers Guide to Internet Software: Choosing the best Web browsers, e-mail clients, instant messengers

Internet Software
Listening to some so-called experts talking on television, you'd suspect the Internet was a floating vapour that somehow allowed people to communicate - a little like telepathy crossed with ectoplasm. The reality is that the Internet is nothing more than lots of computers connected together. And because these are computers, they need software.
A Web browser is nothing more than a program that receives graphics, text and multimedia from other computers. An e-mail program is nothing more than software which connects to another computer to get text messages. Yup, text. Even those crappy 'humorous' attachments you get in your in-box are converted to text for the transfer process.

How to find the best Internet applications, e-mail clients, Web browsers
In other words, the Internet as most of us know it is software. And whenever you so much as whisper the word 'software', Microsoft pops up with a fistful of programs, ready to help out.
Want to browse the Web? You need Internet Explorer. For e-mail you should use Outlook Express, which also lets you access USENET newsgroups. For instant messaging you need MSN Instant Messenger and for video conferencing you need Net Meeting. In true Microsoft fashion, all of these things are also entirely free - when everybody who owns a PC buys your operating system without realising it, you can afford this kind of generosity.

But the Microsoft monopoly completely ignores a very active marketplace. Netscape Communicator and Opera are just two examples of very capable alternative browsers. Eudora, Pegasus, and Phoenix are just three examples of mail clients. FreeAgent is a cracking little USENET reader whilst ICQ does instant messaging far more effectively than MSN Messenger.
There are also programs that fill-in holes Microsoft haven't got around to occupying: GetRight and GoZilla! are two examples of programs that can resume downloads if they get broken - say when you accidentally lose your connection to your ISP.

Other tools in the Internet software category include e-commerce applications that help Web site developers build online shops quickly and easily, plus various communications tools such as software modems and encryption tools.

Make Money Online (Without Spending a Dime)

Even with no product and no Web site, you can get paid for what and who you know
By Scott Allen, About.com

Making money online used to pretty much require you to have your own Web site, products to sell and some marketing savvy. But a new generation of dot-coms have arisen that will pay you for what you know and who you know without you having to be a web designer or a marketing genius.
But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various infoproducts, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"
So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:
Pay cash, not just points towards rewards or a chance to win money
Don't require you to have your own Web domain or your own products
Don't involve any hard-selling
Aren't just promoting more Internet marketing
Give a good return on your time investmentIn the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided any other consideration for their presence here. These are legitimate companies with business models that allow you to get paid for a wide range of activities.
Help friends find better jobs.
Sites like ReferEarns, Zyoin, Who Do You Know For Dough?, Bohire and WiseStepp connect employers with prospective employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from $50 on up to several thousand dollars - not chump change. If you know a lot of job-seekers (and who doesn't these days?), this is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.
Connect suppliers with buyers.
Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites because there was no way to track them. Sites like Salesconx, InnerSell and uRefer now provide that. Vendors set the referral fees they're willing to pay (and for what), and when the transaction happens, you get paid. uRefer also allows merchants to set up referral programs for introductions and meetings, as well as transactions.
Write.
A growing number of sites will pay for your articles or blog posts. Associated Content and Helium will "pay for performance" based on page views for just about anything you want to write about. Articles on specific topics they're looking for can earn direct payments up to about $200. The rates are probably low for established writers, but if you're trying to break into the field and have time on your hands, they're a great way to start. Also, a lot of companies are looking for part-time bloggers. They may pay per post or on a steady contract. Our Weblogs Guide posts blogging jobs weekly in the forum.
Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Related: Monetizing Your Blog
Create topical resource hubs.
Are you an expert on a particular niche topic? Can you put together an overview of the topic and assemble some of the best resources on the topic from around the web? Then you can create topical hubs and get paid through sites like Squidoo, HugPages and Google Knol. Payments are based on a combination of ad revenue and affiliate fees. You'll get higher rates doing it on your own, but these sites have a built-in supply of traffic and tools to make content creation easier.
Advertise other people's products.
If you already have a Web site or a blog, look for vendors that offer related but non-competing products and see if they have an affiliate program. Stick to familiar products and brands - they're easier to sell. To promote those products:
Place simple text or graphical ads in appropriate places on your site
Include links to purchase products you review or recommend in a blog, discussion forum or mailing list you control
Create a dedicated sales page or Web site to promote a particular productThey all work - it just depends on how much time you have to spend on it and your level of expertise with Web design and marketing.
Related: How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site
Microstock photography.
You don't have to be a professional photographer to sell your photos for money. People are constantly in need of stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on, and are willing to pay for the right image. People generally search for images on stock photography sites by keywords, not by photographer, so you have the same chance as anyone else of having your image picked. Just be careful that you don't have images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or people's faces that are readily identifiable (unless you have a model release), but just about anything else is fair game, and I promise - you'd be amazed what people need pictures of, so don't make any assumptions. If it's a decent photo, upload it. Some sites to get you started include Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime and iStockphoto. The great thing about this is that it's truly "set it and forget it".
The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.

Pertumbuhan Periwisata Dunia Diperkirakan Menurun

Badan PBB untuk pariwisata (UN-WTO/ United Nations World Tourism Organization ) memperkirakan pertunbuhan pariwisata global akan menurun.
“ Karena krisis keuangan global diperkirakan akan berlanjut sampai 2009, UN-WTO memperkirakan persentase laju pertumbuhan kunjungan periwisata global akan berada dikisaran 0-2 persen. “ kata staff ahli Menbudpar ( Menteri Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata ) Thamrin B Bachri melalui pesan singkat dari China.
Thamrin berpartisipasi mewakili Indonesia pada International Conference on Revitalization of Tourism and Confronting Crisis di Chengdu Propinsi Sichuan, Cina yang diprakarsai oleh UN-WTO dan CNTA (China National Tourism Administration) dari 15 November – 19 November 2008.
Mengutip UN- WTO, Thamrin mengatakan padahal persentase pertumbuhan kunjungan pariwisata global pada empat bulan pertama tahun 2008 sudah mencapai rata-rata 5,7 persen.
“ Bahkan pada bulan mei 2008 terjadi peningkatan permintaan mencapai 7 percen. Namun mulai Juni, Juli, Agustus 2008 pertumbuhan menurun 2 percen sehingga untuk 8 bulan pertama 2008 rata-rata petumbuhan dunia 3,7 percen, “katanya.
UN-WTO memperkirakan pertumbuhan pariwisata dunia akan terus melambat sekitar 2 – 3 persen sampai dengan Desember 2008.
Dalam konferensi International tersebut, kata Thamrin, ada hasil-hasil penting yang perlu ditindaklanjuti oleh Indonesia yaitu bahwa pembangunan pariwisata hendaknya dilihat secara seimbang dari dua sisi yaitu optimalisasi dampak positif pariwisata dengan peningkatan jumlah kunjunagan wisatawan asing dan wisatawan domestic, serta meminimalisir bahkan mereduksi dampak positif periwisata misalnya menyiapkan program antisipasi dampak pemanasan global dari sector pariwisata.
“Dalam kondisi krisis yang bagaimana pun yang menerpa pariwisata, kepentingan dan pelibatan masyarakat tetap prioritas, “katanya.
Kendatipun pariwisata dunia diperkirakan akan mengalami krisis debagai akibat berlanjut krisis keuangan dunia, lanjut Thamrin, namun agenda-agenda yang terkait dengan global warming dan pembangunan pariwisata yang berbasis pelibatan masyarakat harus tetap dilaksanakan.
“ Ini himbauwan UN-WTO kepada Negara-negara angotanya, “katanya.
Selain itu, Data-data yang menjadi dasar bagi penetapan kebijakan di sector pariwisata harus sangat akurat termasuk data kunjungan asing maupun domestic, jumlah tenaga kerja dan devisa yang dihasilkan.
Thamrin peran serta nya akan membawakan makalah berjudul Managing Tourism During Crisis, Case of Indonesia.

Sumber : Harian Analisa, 18 nov 2008

GSM and CDMA

GSM
In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990. Commercial service was started in mid­1991, and by 1993 there were 36 GSM networks in 22 countries, with 25 additional countries having already selected or considering GSM In addition to Europe, South Africa, Australia, and many Middle and Far East countries have chosen to adopt GSM. By the beginning of 1994, there were 1.3 million subscribers worldwide. The acronym GSM now (aptly) stands for Global System for Mobile telecommunications.
From the beginning, the planners of GSM wanted ISDN compatibility in services offered and control signaling used. The radio link imposed some limitations, however, since the standard ISDN bit rate of 64 Kbps could not be practically achieved.
The digital nature of GSM allows data, both synchronous and asynchronous data, to be transported as a bearer service to or from an ISDN terminal. The data rates supported by GSM are 300 bps, 600 bps, 1200 bps, 2400 bps, and 9600 bps.
The most basic teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. A unique feature of GSM compared to older analog systems is the Short Message Service (SMS). Supplementary services are provided on top of teleservices or bearer services, and include features such as international roaming, caller identification, call forwarding, call waiting, multi­party conversations, and barring of outgoing (international) calls, among others.

CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a digital air interface standard, claiming eight to fifteen times the capacity of traditional analog cellular systems. It employs a commercial adaptation of a military spread-spectrum technology. Based on spread spectrum theory, it gives essentially the same services and qualities as wireline service. The primary difference is that access to the local exchange carrier (LEC) is provided via a wireless phone.
Though CDMA’s application in cellular telephony is relatively new, it is not a new technology. CDMA has been used in many military applications, such as:
Anti-jamming (because of the spread signal, it is difficult to jam or interfere with a CDMA signal).
Ranging (measuring the distance of the transmission to know when it will be received).
Secure communications (the spread spectrum signal is very hard to detect).
CDMA is a spread spectrum technology, which means that it spreads the information contained in a particular signal of interest over a much greater bandwidth than the original signal. With CDMA, unique digital codes, rather than separate RF frequencies or channels, are used to differentiate subscribers. The codes are shared by both the mobile station (cellular phone) and the base station, and are called pseudo-random code sequences. Since each user is separated by a unique code, all users can share the same frequency band (range of radio spectrum). This gives many unique advantages to the CDMA technique over other RF techniques in cellular communication.
CDMA is a digital multiple access technique and this cellular aspect of the protocol is specified by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) as IS-95. In CDMA, the BSSAP is divided into the DTAP and BSMAP (which corresponds to BSSMAP in GSM).

Cellular Networks and Access to Public Networks

Cellular networks consist of cellular base stations, mobile telephone switching offices (MTSO), and mobile communication devices. Each base station contains a radio transceiver and controller and provides radio communication to the mobile units located in its cell. The cells are arranged in a honeycomb pattern in order to provide local, regional, or national cellular coverage. The MTSO links calls together using traditional copper, fiber optic, or microwave technology and acts as a central office excha nge allowing users to place a call on the local and long distance public telephone systems. It also allows mobile communication devices in the cell to dial out and alerts devices in the cell of incoming calls. The MTSO continuously monitors the quality of the communications signal and transfers the call to another base station which is better suited to provide communication to the mobile device.
The mobile communication devices consist of hand held phones, car phones, notebook computers, personal digital assistants, pen-based computers, palm-top computers, and portable data collection devices. Since only two percent of the cellular traffic is d ata, the most popular mobile units are cellular telephones (Gareiss, 1995). When these mobile units communicate to the network, they must register with the system by subscribing to a carrier service. Most carrier services have arrangements with other pr oviders allowing users to roam. Roaming occurs when the mobile unit is outside the coverage of their cellular service provider and an alternative cellular provider places the call.
Cellular technology extends the bounds of a corporation's existing telecommunications infrastructure by connecting mobile units to the public network operated by the local exchange or long distance carriers. The cellular users have special features an d functions specific to cellular customers but they can also use the features and functions of the public phone systems. This allows cellular technology to be flexible enough to take advantage of features and functions of almost any public or private net work.

from :http://scis.nova.edu/~raciti/cellular.html

Bentley Azure T, the world's most elegant convertible

from: http://reviews.cnet.com/

by :Antuan Goodwin

Bentley has taken its Azure luxury convertible and upgraded, well, everything. The result is the Azure T, what Bentley is calling the world's most elegant convertible. Talk about lofty ambitions.
The "T" is a performance designation that Bentley has been using since 1996 to discern what are essentially hot-rod versions of what it deems as flagship vehicles. Of course, when you're talking about Bentley, the term "hot-rod" is relative. Extensive use of real wood, metal, and leather--as opposed to plastics--all but ensure that there will never be a superlight, high performance Bentley. No, settling into one of Bentley's yachts-on-wheels is as much about arriving in style than arriving quickly.
But what good are luxury accouterments if you're bored for the whole drive? The Bentley Azure T driver can entertain himself with either the 500 horsepower under his right foot or with the 1100-watt audio system at his finger tips.

For what is essentially a huge and heavy convertible, the Azure T has a fairly good 0-60 time.(Credit: Bentley Motors)

Bentley's craftsmen have taken the standard Azure's 6.7-liter V-8 and twin-turbocharged it, boosting output to 500hp and 737 pound-feet of torque, for a top speed of 179mph and a 0-60mph time of just 5.2 seconds. That's pretty quick for a heavy, convertible luxo-barge. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed ZF automatic transmission with three modes (Drive, Sport, and Manual).
To deal with the extra power, the suspension has been updated and now features coil springs with computer-controlled, adaptive, electro-hydraulic dampers and automatic ride-height control with auto-load compensation. Buyers can option carbon/silicon carbide, cross-drilled, brake-ventilated discs. Measuring 420mm by 40mm (front) and 356mm x 28mm (rear), these discs are the largest fitted to any production car currently on sale. Bentley sure loves its superlatives. Finishing out the suspension system are five-spoke, two-piece, 20-inch alloy wheels and Pirelli P Zero tires. Traction control, ESP, and ABS keep things from getting out of hand if the vehicle is driven in anything less than a dignified fashion.
For your listening pleasure, the Azure T can be equipped with an optional Naim for Bentley premium audio system featuring 10 speakers, a dual channel sub-woofer and an 1100 Watt amplifier, plus eight individual Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that Bentley says reproduces "true emotions and a 'live' concert-like experience." Regardless of audio options, the Azure T system features a standard iPod/USB interface and SD card slot.
Beyond the aforementioned 20-inch wheels, the Azure T distinguishes itself from the standard model with dark mesh grills, fender vents just aft of the front wheels, and a distinct dual exhaust. Inside, the leather seats are diamond-quilted and instrument faces are finished in black rather than the standard parchment.