Hot Shot Auto Glass & Calibration, a minority, woman-owned auto glass business, opened at 3883 E. University Ave., Ste. 1177, Georgetown, on July 30. The business specializes in windshield repair and replacement as well as Advanced Driver Assistance System calibration. 512-240-5944. www.hotshotglasspro.com
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum is the latest addition to the brand’s CordZero range of some of the best vacuum cleaners(opens in new tab) that are cordless stick-style vacuums, which come with various attachments for cleaning carpets, hard floors and upholstery, with some models also able to mop floors. In 2021, LG announced that the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor stick vacuum was getting an upgraded docking station called the Aio tower. This doesn’t just charge the vacuum – it also efficiently stores its accessories and provides a hands-free, self-emptying feature, with the contents of the dust bin automatically deposited into a HEPA-filtered dust bag.
Beyond the addition of the Aio tower, the Sand Beige LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty doesn’t seem to be much of an upgrade over previous models. Like those, it’s a wireless vacuum with Kompressor technology and Wi-Fi capabilities. Plus, it’s the first LG stick vacuum cleaner to come with five different attachments. The main difference between the LG CordZero All in One and previous versions is that the new tower charges the battery 30 minutes faster than the old one. It also comes with five different attachments, while other versions only included three tools.
It’s a versatile cleaner that can be used on a variety of different floor types, or handheld for cleaning higher up – during our testing we used it to clean everything from dust under our couch to cobwebs on our 10ft ceiling. For the price, we thought the vacuum and mop heads would have better performance – or at the least be able to do both things at the same time, as is the case with models like the Tineco Floor One S5. The floorhead doesn’t suck up dust and dirt evenly across its footprint, with some dirt left uncollected towards the edges, and the mop head moves more dirt around, rather than cleaning it up.
On the plus side, the upgraded docking station reduces the amount of maintenance required, and keeps the various accessories neatly stowed and organized. It’s a great addition, but we’d hope that LG’s next upgrade will include improvements to the stick cleaner itself.
(Image credit: Future)
Price and availability
List price: from $999 US / $1,919 AUD
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum is the most expensive model in LG’s CordZero stick vacuum range. It’s essentially the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor Stick Vacuum with Power Mop(opens in new tab) - a vacuum cleaner which is already in the LG Stick vacuum line-up - with the addition of a docking station that provides storage for tools and automatically empties the dust bin. Other than the docking station, one of the most notable differences between the two stick vacuums is that the LG CordZero All in One includes five tools versus three tools that are provided with the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor. It also takes four hours to charge a battery for the LG CordZero A9, compared to 3.5 hours for the LG CordZero All in One.
In terms of the price difference, the LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum, or LG CordZero Handheld Vacuum with All-In-One Tower(opens in new tab) as it's known in Australia, costs about $200 / AU $700 more than the A9. We’re not entirely convinced that the new docking station, or its capability to charge the battery half an hour quicker, merits this premium, but as we’ve mentioned it does bring with it some useful features.
In the US, the CordZero All in One Auto Empty can be bought directly from LG or via BestBuy, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Abt, and The Home Depot. It’s available from several stores in Australia, at least online, including Domayne(opens in new tab), Harvey Norman(opens in new tab) and Joyce Mayne(opens in new tab).
Price and availability score: 4/5
Design
33.8oz / 1-liter dust bin; 1.6 gal / 6-liter dust bag in AIO Tower
Five attachable tools – a vacuum head, mop head, crevice tool, combination tool, and power mini nozzle
Can use as a stick vacuum or small handheld vacuum
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum has essentially the same design as the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor Stick Vacuum. The only difference is in the design of the Aio Tower docking station. Both the vacuum and Aio Tower and finished in pale cream color which LG calls Sand Beige.
Let’s start with the LG CordZero All in One itself. At 6lbs / 2.7kg, this lightweight vacuum is easy to maneuver around your home. It’s 36 inches / 91.5cm long, but extends to about 44 inches / 112cm when the telescopic wand is extended (the mechanism to extend it is on the back of the wand which may be a tad confusing at first). The grip is comfortable, and the vacuum and mop head twists easily when you’re cleaning beneath furniture.
On the handle is a battery life indicator and three buttons – the power button, Wi-Fi button, and Turbo button. On the side of the 33.8oz / 1-liter dust bin is a Kompressor handle, which you can use to compress the dust and dirt in the bin so that you don’t have to empty it as frequently.
The Aio tower is a standing rectangular cube, with hidden side doors that holds the dust bag and various attachments – a Power Mini Nozzle, Crevice Tool, Combination Tool, Mop head, and vacuum head. Unfortunately, the mop head attachment doesn’t fit inside the side doors and must be hung on the side of the tower. The stick vacuum sits in the center of the tower to charge and it automatically preset to self-empty into the hidden dust bag.
(Image credit: Future)
The Aio tower is as slim as it can be, but even so, it’s still somewhat bulky and will be noticeable in any space. It’s designed to be plugged into a power outlet, and since most outlets aren’t placed in closets, you’ll likely have to place it in the corner of your kitchen or laundry room. Those with small kitchens may find that the Aio tower takes up too much space, and while it can be stored away, it’s fairly heavy, so you’ll need to take care when moving it.
Setting up the Aio tower and the stick vacuum itself is quite simple. The tower arrives mostly assembled – you’ll just need to set it on its base), and assembling the vacuum only requires you to attach the telescopic wand and the required head to the handheld unit. Most of the set-up process will involve learning the vacuum’s various functions and connecting it to the app.
(Image credit: Future)
Design score: 5/5
Performance
Twisting floorhead and extending wand makes it easy to vacuum and mop hard-to-reach places
The main vacuum attachment doesn’t suction well in reverse or along the edges of the head in any power mode
Mop head does a poor job in removing heavy stains or thick grime
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum is easy to use. Simply remove it from the charging tower, hit the power button, and it’s ready to go.
We tested the vacuum on hardwood floors, vinyl floors, and thick (carpet-like) rugs, using the floorhead, crevice tool, combination tool, and mop head. The power mini nozzle is designed for picking up pet hair, but since this reviewer doesn’t have pets, we used it to remove hair from furniture and to clean out the floor of a car, both of which it did effectively.
To vacuum hard floors, we extended the telescopic wand to a comfortable height. The floorhead is articulated, which makes it easy to reach under couches and other furniture with low clearance.
Even on normal mode, the vacuum’s suction power was fairly good on our vinyl and hardwood floors, as well as the rugs. However, we were surprised by this vacuum’s poor edge cleaning at any power setting – it had difficulty suctioning dirt and dust towards the sides of the main head attachment. It also didn’t seem to catch dust, dirt, and debris when we rolled the vacuum backwards, which meant it was often only able to suction up debris and dirt when we rolled it forwards, and with the center of the head directly over the debris.
We often had to maneuver the vacuum head two or three times to pick up visible debris, which quickly became frustrating. Power and Turbo mode seemed to help slightly with this, but not significantly so. The vacuum head didn’t do a very good job of picking up the small dead leaves that fall from our indoor tree.
(Image credit: Future)
We cleaned our floorboards and window ledges with the combination tool. The soft bristles prevented any markings to our walls and boards, and we also appreciated that the wand’s light weight made it easy to reach to the top of our 10-foot ceilings to remove stray spider webs or dust with the crevice tool or the combination tool.
(Image credit: Future)
At 84dB – around the same level as heavy traffic or a powered lawn mower – the CordZero All in One’s noise rating in normal mode is at the higher end of scale for vacuum cleaners, and it’s even louder when set on the power or turbo modes.
When we were done cleaning, we docked the vacuum to the Aio Tower, which automatically sucked the dust and dirt from the dust bin into the tower’s dust bag. We didn’t need to use the Kompressor feature when vacuuming our house, but if you have larger areas to clean you’ll likely appreciate it.
Using the mop head is a rather more involved process. To start, we had to fill up the water compartment before reinserting it on the mop head (note that you can’t use any kind of cleaning product with the LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty, which could have been helpful in certain areas of our home). There are two mop pads, which you need to wet and then wring out before sticking them to the bottom of the mop head with Velcro pads. After attaching the mop head to the stick, we set the water output by pressing the manual button on the mop head. There are only two water output settings. They’re labeled as water droplets: a single droplet indicating a mild water output and two droplets for a higher water output.
When you press the power button, the mop pads spin as water is gently released. We used the lower water output on the hardwood floors, and the higher output on vinyl floors. In rooms like the living room and bedroom where there weren’t really any heavy stains or dirt, the mop head seemingly worked well, though we can’t be sure as it isn’t equipped with a dirt sensor. We particularly like that the mop head has a headlight, which made it easy to see where we missed dust and dirt in dark corners – it would have been nice to have a headlamp on the vacuum head too.
(Image credit: Future)
However, in our kitchen, bathroom, and near the back door (where we track in mud), the mop head had a tougher time cutting through stains, especially more glutinous ones. The pressure of the rotating mop pads isn’t enough to clean certain stains away even if you go over them multiple times.
Another issue is that the CordZero All in One can’t suction up liquids, and it also lacks the capability to vacuum and mop at the same time. Overall we weren’t particularly impressed with the mop head. It’s designed in such a way that the pads will pick up some dirt, but for the most part we felt like we were just moving dirt around the floors rather than picking it up.
When we’d finished using the mop, we had to remove the water tank and the pads. We emptied the water and let the tank dry out completely before putting it back on the mop head. The instruction book tells users to clean the pads by hand under the sink and then let them air-dry away from the sun. Hand-washing them isn’t easy, however, and we found it difficult to clean off all the dirt and grime with just water (again, LG recommends that you don’t use any cleaning agents).
(Image credit: Future)
When the Aio Tower’s dust bag fills up, we will have to remove the dust bag and replace it with a new one. When the dust bag in the Aio Tower is full, that app will notify you that it’s time to replace it. While we didn’t do this during our testing time, based on the instructions it doesn’t seem like a difficult task. It’s also recommended that you clean the tower’s filter at least once a month. To do this you simply remove it from the vacuum and clean it under running water (and/or with a brush) before letting it dry away from the sun. Replacement filters, dust bags, and mop pads are included with the CordZero All in One.
Performance score: 5/5
App
LG ThinQ app works with Alexa and Google Assistant
You can view weekly, monthly, and yearly cleaning history
Smart diagnosis of faults
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum and Aio Tower can be connected to the LG ThinQ app, which can also be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant. Set-up isn’t difficult and, upon pairing the LG CordZero with the app, the vacuum appears on the app home page.
When you click on the CordZero’s screen, you’ll see that the stick is on standby. Here, you can see your cleaning history including how many times you’ve used the vacuum cleaner over past weeks, months, and years. It also tracks how long you use the stick for during each use, and which modes (normal, power, or turbo) you used. How useful this information is, and how many users will bother to access it, is a matter for debate; however, it’s there if you need it.
When the vacuum is placed on the Aio tower, the app will notify you that the battery is charging, and again when charging is complete.
At the top-right of the home page is the familiar three-dot settings icon. Tap this to access the app settings (which only lets you edit the nickname and location), a filter cleaning guide, and the Smart Diagnosis page. The Smart Diagnosis feature can be used to diagnose issues with the stick vacuum and catch problems early. The app ‘examines’ the stick, and informs you on how to troubleshoot any problems.
App score: 5/5
Battery life
The LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty comes with two lithium-ion batteries. When the vacuum is docked to the Aio Tower the battery inside starts charging automatically. The back-up battery is placed in the top of the docking station, where it stays charged and ready to use.
Charging time for one battery is about 3.5 hours. Both the LG app and the vacuum itself monitor the battery life and battery charge time, so you’ll be alerted if you’re in danger of running out of juice.
That said, you would have to work pretty hard to run down the battery of the LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty. During our testing, we never came close to exhausting even one battery when vacuuming and mopping our 1,600-square-foot home.
In addition to how long you use the vacuum for, battery life is also determined by whether you use the vacuum in handheld or stick mode, and on which power setting – Normal, Power, or Turbo. In handheld mode, one battery will last approximately 120 minutes in Normal mode, 60 minutes in Power mode, and 14 minutes in Turbo mode. In stick mode, one battery will see you through 80 minutes in Normal mode, 40 minutes in Power mode, and 12 minutes in Turbo mode. In our experience, though, there’s really no reason to use Turbo mode, and even if you do, you could probably vacuum and mop your whole house in 24 minutes (which is how long you’d get with both batteries in stick mode).
Battery life score: 5/5
LG CordZero All in One Auto Empty Cordless Stick Vacuum
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Price & availability
The price reflects LG’s first and only all-in-one docking station, and yet, for the price, you’d think that the vacuum would have better edge and reversal cleaning and the capability to suction up liquids or mop and vacuum at the same time.
4/5
Design
This sleek and modern vacuum sits in a charging station with a self-emptying dust bin and hidden compartments and hooks to hold all the accessories.
5/5
Performance
The versatile stick can vacuum and mop in hard-to-reach spaces thanks to various attachments, and yet, we experienced some drawbacks in the mop design and the vacuum head’s suction capabilities.
4/5
App
The LG ThinQ app tracks a consumer’s usage of the stick over days, months, and years, as well as offers battery and filter change notifications and Smart Diagnosis.
5/5
Battery
One battery lasts long enough to clean your home, and with a back-up battery, you could even clean your car, furniture, and baseboards right after, too.
Whether you want to free up your budget or take advantage of lower interest rates, you may be wondering, “Can I refinance my mortgage and auto loan at the same time?” It’s entirely possible to refinance your mortgage and car loan together, but you’ll want to carefully consider your options before doing so.
Drivers who don’t do their homework could end up paying much more for their vehicles if they roll car loan debt into a home mortgage. We at the Home Media reviews team have compared thebest auto refinance rateson the market to help drivers learn how to responsibly pay off their auto and home loans.
How To Refinance Mortgages and Auto Loans at the Same Time
The main way to refinance a mortgage and an auto loan at the same time is to opt forcash-out refinancingand to use the equity in your home to pay off the auto loan. In this case, you would start a new loan that covers the rest of your home mortgage plus the auto loan balance.
Combining Mortgages and Auto Loans: Pros and Cons
While it may be tempting to combine your auto loan and home mortgage, this comes with some serious downsides. Below, we’ll explain some of the pros and cons of combining home and auto loans using cash-out refinancing.
Paying for auto loan debt through your new mortgage expands the car’s payoff period to as long as 30 years. That means you’ll be paying interest on your refinanced auto loan for a much longer term unless you make extra payments.
You can avoid this additional interest by making extra monthly payments on top of your mortgage for the amount of your auto loan. If your overall goal is to have a lower monthly payment, though, that defeats the purpose of combining these two loans.
Should I Refinance My Mortgage and Auto Loan Together or Separately?
It’s true that stretching an auto loan over 25 years makes each payment more affordable. In the example above, though, you’d pay over $14,000 in interest on a $20,000 loan amount. Evenbad credit car loanshave loan-to-interest ratios that are better than that.
How To Save Money Refinancing a Mortgage and Auto Loan Together
There is one way to refinance a mortgage and auto loan at the same time and still save money. You’ll need to make extra payments each month to cover the auto loan debt within your mortgage. Here’s what that scenario looks like compared to a standard auto loan:
In the example above, you could pay off your car’s original loan with your mortgage in five years and save almost $1,000 in interest. However, you’d have to pay $375.59 each month on top of your mortgage payment to make this happen.
Are You Eligible To Refinance Your Home Mortgage?
Consider the factors below to learn whether you could be eligible for refinancing your mortgage.
Credit score: As with any loan application, the potential lender will look at your credit report and the state of your personal finances. A positive credit history and financial situation could help you secure lower rates on a combined mortgage and auto loan.
Equity: You need enough equity in your home to pay for the auto loan and to maintain at least 15 to 20% equity after that. If you end up with less equity, you’ll have to pay for private mortgage insurance and may not even qualify for refinancing.
Debt-to-income (DTI) ratio: Lenders usually prefer that your debt payments not exceed 40% of your overall income, as this could signal that you’ll struggle with debt repayment.
Loan-to-value (LTV) ratio: When refinancing, the new lender will usually require an LTV of less than 125%. That means your loan can’t make up more than 125% of the home or car’s actual value. If you have bad credit, the lender might require an LTV of 90% or less to reduce the likelihood of going upside down on the loan.
Be sure to check your existing loans for prepayment penalties, as 36 states and the District of Columbia allow your current lender to charge penalties if you cancel a loan of shorter than 60 months.
How To Refinance a Mortgage and Auto Loan Separately
Nothing stops drivers fromrefinancing an auto loanand a mortgage at the same time but separately. By doing so, you could avoid paying decades of interest on your current auto loan and won’t be using your home’s equity to pay off debts.
Generally speaking, refinancing home and car loans separately makes more sense than combining them. You just need to think aboutwhen to refinance your carand home based on your financial goals and credit history.
When To Refinance Your Mortgage First
In many cases, it’s smart to refinance your mortgage before your auto loan. Since hard credit inquiries can damage your credit score and are required for both applications, it’s a good idea to refinance your larger loan first. It takes between 30 and 60 days to close on a mortgage refinance, so you’ll need to wait that long before you can start refinancing a car.
When To Refinance Your Auto Loan First
You may want to begin with an auto loan refinance if your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio currently disqualifies you from refinancing your mortgage loan. Even though your credit score will take a hit, refinancing your auto loan can lower your payments and potentially improve your DTI ratio. This could increase your odds of qualifying for mortgage refinancing in the future.
Our Recommendations for Auto Loan Refinancing
While you can refinance your mortgage and auto loan at the same time, it’s usually advantageous to take care of them separately. We recommend comparing auto refinancing terms and starting annual percentage rates (APR) from various providers and credit unions as a responsible way to begin the process of paying off your car loan.
Auto Approve: Top Choice for Refinancing
Starting APR: 2.25% Loan amounts: $5,000 to $85,000 Loan terms: 12 to 84 months
Auto Approve works with a network of lenders to offer refinanced loans for various types of vehicles. To qualify, your car needs to be less than 10 years old and have fewer than 150,000 miles on the odometer. Auto Approve works with borrowers who have fair credit and above. The company has anA+ ratingand accreditation from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
You can use myAutoloan to shop around and compare multiple refinancing lenders at once. Borrowers with excellent credit can find loan offers with rates as low as 1.99%. MyAutoloan has been in business since 2003 and maintains both anA+ ratingand accreditation from the BBB.
Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best auto loan companies. We collected data on dozens of loan providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the companies that scored the most points topping the list.
Here are the factors our ratings take into account:
Reputation (25% of total score): Our research team considered ratings from industry experts and each lender’s years in business when giving this score.
Rates (25% of total score): Auto loan providers with low APRs and high loan amounts scored highest in this category.
Availability (25% of total score): Companies that cover a variety of circumstances are more likely to meet consumer needs.
Customer Experience (25% of total score): This score is based on customer satisfaction ratings and transparency. We also considered the responsiveness and helpfulness of each lender’s customer service team.
Irish FinTech company FixxFi has launched an embedded finance solution for the auto and home repair industries, the company announced in a news release Monday (Aug. 29).
The firm stated that “current financial products are lacking and burdened with outdated, inflexible options. As a result, repair businesses are often forced to take up the slack with discounts or sub-par fixes.”
The FixxFi solution offers funding for unexpected repairs, and users can access the funds via a quick approval process through the FixxFi app at the point of service. Both on-chain and off-chain technology is used in this process, according to the release.
Businesses that choose to partner with FixxFi will have a dedicated customer base that prefers to use companies that accept the line of credit, per the release. The startup said its customer retention system is enhanced by the app, which allows users to locate and schedule repairs with an approved partner.
FixxFi is positioning the credit solution as an accessible and flexible alternative to paying for repairs with a credit card. In the release, the company said that the strong independent repair sectors in the U.K. and Italy make these areas the target markets with the greatest demand.
It added that FixxFi has carried out market research using the Ibis World Vehicle Repair and Maintenance reports for Italy and the U.K. and found that in 2021, the independent repair market’s total available market (TAM) was €57.5 billion ($57.45 billion).
FixxFi even has its own cryptocurrency that will help power payments on the app: the FIXX token. The company has also stated its intention to issue a native corporate stablecoin backed with fiat.
The FIXX token is issued on the Elrond network, a blockchain network designed to help speed payment rails. Earlier this year, the company behind the Elrond network announced that it was acquiring the Romanian payments firm Twispay.
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Securitization leveraged to further strengthen credit union through reduced interest rate risk to balance sheet, increased liquidity and net worth
TYSONS, Va., Aug. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PenFed Credit Union, the nation's second-largest federal credit union, today announced the closing of their inaugural prime auto loan securitization offering PenFed Auto Receivables Owner Trust 2022-A (PAROT 2022-A). The transaction issued $460,292,000 of fixed-rate, amortizing asset-backed notes backed by prime auto loans.
"PenFed is proud to announce our first auto loan securitization," said PenFed Credit Union President/CEO and PenFed Foundation CEO James Schenck. "Entering the securitization market will reduce interest rate risk, increase liquidity and strengthen net worth."
The securitization is a private placement offering, which in the United States is offered only to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A. The asset-backed notes were offered in four senior and three subordinate tranches of notes and rated by S&P and Fitch.
"PenFed is pleased that the auto loan securitization offering was very well received by the market," PenFed Credit Union CFO and EVP, Jill Streit. "We plan to leverage securitization as a tool to further diversify liquidity and funding options, adding additional protections for PenFed members."
PenFed has the second-largest consumer loan portfolio among all credit unions across auto, personal, student, consumer loans and credit cards. PenFed also possesses one of the largest auto loan portfolios among federal credit unions, with originations across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as the structuring lead manager of the transaction and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, acted as joint lead manager.
About PenFed Credit Union Established in 1935, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is America's second-largest federal credit union, serving over 2.8 million members worldwide with $36.6 billion in assets as of June 30, 2022. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading certificates, checking, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and a wide range of other financial services. Our mission is to empower members of our community to achieve their financial well-being. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on LinkedIn. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.
PALO ALTO -- Police in Palo Alto were able to arrest two auto burglary suspects last week after they fled from officers, leading authorities on a destructive chase.
A call early Thursday evening at around 6:30 p.m. from an alert witness led police to swarm a downtown parking lot in search of the two armed auto burglary suspects. The witness noted the suspicious behavior in city parking lot "H" at 530 Cowper Street, reporting a black Audi A-8 sedan circling the lot while an occupant would get out and peer into vehicles.
Palo Alto auto-burglary suspects Tommy Walter Miller (left) and Nino Joseph Fiapoto (right).Palo Alto Police Department
Officers surrounded the lot, trapping the suspect vehicle and its two occupants. When an officer went to stop the suspect vehicle, the Audi accelerated and drove at the occupied patrol car, striking it twice as it passed by before immediately colliding with a second occupied patrol car.
The impact from that collision caused the suspect vehicle to strike three parked and unoccupied vehicles. The suspect vehicle continued driving and proceeded to collide with two more parked and unoccupied vehicles before finally coming to a stop. Officers were then able to take both suspects safely into custody without incident.
A search of the suspect vehicle turned up two loaded firearms -- a 9mm Glock handgun that had been illegally modified to be a fully automatic weapon with a fully-loaded 30-round extended magazine and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic handgun equipped with a fully-loaded 17-round magazine. The search also uncovered property from three auto burglaries that had just occurred that afternoon or evening in downtown Palo Alto.
In each case, windows had been smashed on unoccupied, parked and locked vehicles, with bags containing laptop computers and other personal property stolen from inside. Police recovered all of the stolen property and returned it to the victims.
Police said the license plate on the suspect vehicle belonged to a Toyota registered out of Pacifica, but neither the suspect vehicle nor the license plate on it had been reported stolen to police. The 2013 Audi's registration had been transferred to an auto dealership out of Oakley but had not yet been registered to any individual.
Police booked the two suspects, 25-year-old South San Francisco resident Tommy Walter Miller and 25-year-old San Francisco resident Nino Joseph Fiapoto, at the Santa Clara County Main Jail for a variety of charges. Both suspects face three felony counts of auto burglary, conspiracy, carrying a loaded firearm with the intent to commit a felony, possession of a large-capacity magazine and carrying a concealed firearm.
Police additionally booked Miller, who was driving the vehicle, for felony assault with a deadly weapon for sideswiping the occupied police vehicle, possession of a machine gun, and carrying a loaded weapon when not the registered owner of it. Fiapoto was also charged for being a convicted felon in possession a loaded firearm and ammunition. He is on probation out of San Mateo County for a prior conviction of felon in possession of a firearm, and also had an outstanding felony warrant for the same offense out of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.
Both officers who were inside the patrol vehicles that were struck complained of pain from those collisions but declined medical attention. The driver of the suspect vehicle complained of pain to his head. Paramedics from the Palo Alto Fire Department evaluated him and released him at the scene. Both patrol vehicles sustained minor damage but were able to be driven from the scene. The suspect vehicle sustained moderate damage and was towed by police as evidence. Of the five parked and unoccupied vehicles struck by the suspect vehicle, four sustained minor damage and one sustained major damage.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call The Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
The Kia Carnival replaced the Sedona as the automaker’s minivan. This seven- to eight-passenger vehicle comes with attractive styling and impressive features in five different trim levels. The 2023 Kia Carnival boasts interior updates over the previous model. In the market, it competes with the Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey, and Toyota Sienna. Here’s more about the 2023 Kia Carnival and whether it has Android Auto as a standard feature.
An overview of the 2023 Kia Carnival
2023 Kia Carnival | Kia America
The 2023 Kia Carnival is available in five trim levels: EX, SX, SX Prestige, LX, and LX Seat Package. According to Kia, the LX comes at a starting price of $32,900, the LX Seat Package at $34,900, the EX at $38,400, the SX at $41,600, and the SX Prestige at $46,000.
The Kia Carnival adopts a different approach as a minivan; it’s billed as a multipurpose vehicle (MPV) inspired by the very successful Kia Telluride SUV. The Carnival includes crossover-like dimensions, premium design elements, large wheels, and an enhanced interior. For the 2023 model, the vehicle adds a few new features across its five trims.
Does the 2023 Kia Carnival have Android Auto?
Yes, the 2023 Kia Carnival has Android Auto. Kia is among the first automakers to recognize and use utility apps in its vehicles. The 2023 Kia Carnival is fully compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It also features a standard 8.0-inch touchscreen display that integrates wirelessly with your Android Auto or Apple CarPlay systems.
Each of the five trims has a 3.0-inch navigation display and a 3.0-inch complete digital instrument cluster. Drivers also have access to wireless smartphone charging and multi-Bluetooth connectivity.
Android Auto is Google’s in-car assistance designed to work with various apps such as Waze, Google Maps, and Google Voice Assistant to make it safer to use your phone while driving. With this, Android Auto can play music, navigate, make calls, send and receive voice text messages and listen to audiobooks as you fully concentrate on the road without distractions.
Standard Android Auto works with your phone via a USB connection, while Android Auto Wireless works without a cable. With the latter, you don’t have to keep connecting and reconnecting the cable to your car’s infotainment system.
Android Auto Wireless has been around since 2020 and is compatible with a smartphone with Android 11 or earlier and only phones with 5GHz Wi-Fi. If you lack such as phone, you’ll be stuck using a cable until you upgrade.
In some vehicles, the system will query if you’d want to use a wireless connection in the future when you plug in your USB cable. If you say yes, your phone will connect to the system automatically with Android Auto. The system uses Wi-Fi Direct for data and music instead of Bluetooth for wireless Android Auto, while phone calls go over Bluetooth.
Useful tech and infotainment features in the Carnival
The 2023 Kia Carnival comes with some helpful tech and infotainment features. For instance, the LX trim features an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, while the other trims have a 12.3-inch touchscreen display. The SX Prestige is the only trim with a 12.3-inch instrumentation panel.
Other impressive tech and infotainment features in the 2023 Kia Carnival include Bluetooth pairing for two devices, HD radio, voice recognition, SiriusXM satellite radio, and navigation capability.
According to Edmunds, the 2023 Kia Carnival has a multitude of parking cameras and USB ports. It also has three sound systems: the six-speaker system with Bluetooth capability, the eight-speaker system, and the spectacular 12-speaker Bose system with a subwoofer, external amp, integrated roof antenna, and Bluetooth capacity.
Other standard entertainment equipment in each trim level includes voice-activated radio programming, a Wi-Fi hotspot, steering wheel infotainment system controls, and six USB ports.
On paper, wireless Android Auto is like a dream come true. You hop in the car, rev ‘er up, and your phone’s apps and services magically appear on your infotainment system. Within seconds, you’re listening to your music, receiving turn-by-turn navigation instructions, and delivering voice commands for texting, phone calls, and more. It’s like we’re living in the future!
Of course, that’s only on paper. In the real world, using Android Auto wirelessly can be such a hassle that you might want to jump back to using it wired — or even drop it altogether.
I recently got a new-to-me car — a 2019 Subaru Crosstrek — which comes with Android Auto as standard. It only supports wired connections natively, but I was able to obtain a Motorola MA1 dongle that brings wireless support to any Android Auto vehicle. After using this setup for a few weeks now, I am seriously questioning whether or not Google fully thought out its rollout of wireless support. It simply doesn’t feel ready for primetime.
Wireless Android Auto simply doesn't feel ready for primetime.
To illustrate the problems I’ve faced, I’m going to focus a lot on one of Google’s own services: Maps. Surely, if anything should work well with a wireless Auto system, it would be Maps, right?
As any Android Auto user will know, you can’t use the phone version of Google Maps while you are using the Android Auto version. Whether you’re using it wired or wirelessly, Maps becomes exclusively accessible via your car’s display once you’re connected. If you try to open Maps on your phone while engaged with Auto, the app simply doesn’t open.
The Auto version of Maps, however, is incredibly watered down when compared to the full phone app. Searching for restaurant menus is impossible, for example, and doing granular searches for specific places isn’t easy either. “Malls that are within 25 miles of me and open at 6:00 PM,” for instance, would be difficult to navigate on your car’s display. Since you can’t use your phone to figure this stuff out, you just…can’t?
Google Maps functionality is severely limited while connected to Android Auto.
It’s obvious why Google limits the phone version of Maps in this way. The whole point of Android Auto is to force you to leave your phone alone and focus on the road. However, there are very common situations that Google doesn’t seem to take into account with this limitation. One is obvious: what if you are parked? Using the phone version of Maps while parked is completely safe, but Maps still won’t work on your phone while you’re connected. And it’s not like Android Auto doesn’t know you’re parked. It must know because it turns Android Auto’s keyboard on or off depending on whether or not the car is in motion.
One way past this is to turn your car off. In the case of my Crosstrek, however, you don’t disconnect wirelessly from Auto by turning off the car alone. Because the car assumes you’ll still want to listen to music or whatnot while parked, Android Auto stays engaged until you open the driver-side door and take the key out of the ignition.
To regain full Maps control, I need to park, turn off the vehicle, open the door, take out my key, close the door, and then wait.
So, in other words, to use the phone version of Maps while in the car and connected to wireless Android Auto, I need to park, turn off the vehicle, open the door, take out my key, close the door, and then wait for Auto to fully disengage. Then I figure out what I need from Maps, restart the car, wait for my phone to reconnect, and then go on my way. How convenient!
However, if I used Android Auto with a cable, this would not be as significant of a problem. I could just unplug and use Maps on my phone to my heart’s content. I could even do that while driving! I wouldn’t, of course, but that brings us to another huge issue that comes up when using Auto wirelessly.
Hey, Google: Sometimes there are two people in the car
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
The Crosstrek is a shared vehicle between my partner and me. I am the driver most times, but there are plenty of times she drives it instead. It’s only logical that she would also connect her own phone wirelessly to Android Auto.
This creates an explosion of even more problems. The first is huge; there’s no way to control who gets priority for wireless Android Auto. Theoretically, when there are two phones present, Auto should prioritize connecting to whichever phone was most recently connected. However, we have seen this fail numerous times.
I have heard that some systems allow you to set a priority list for the car’s Bluetooth connections and Auto defaults to this list. For example, if Phone A appears at the top of the BT list, Auto will always go for this phone first. If it’s not there, then it goes for Phone B and so on. This doesn’t appear to be the case with the Crosstrek, and if it is it certainly isn’t consistent. I couldn’t find any documentation online from Google to say if this should work this way or not.
It's clear that wireless Android Auto is not designed for multiple phones.
Even if we could control the priority, that wouldn’t change the fact that there is no direct way to change who’s connected after the fact. If I’m driving and want access to my phone but her phone auto-connects first, there is no way to tell Android Auto to drop that connection and move over to mine. Instead, she would need to terminate her own connection and then wait for my phone to connect. This workaround is terribly inconvenient, first off, but also woefully slow. Once Auto realizes she’s “gone,” it can take multiple minutes for it to then auto-connect to my phone. Sometimes it doesn’t connect at all! When that happens, we actually need to turn the car off, open the car door, close it, restart the car, and wait for Auto to connect to my phone. How is this OK, Google?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Let’s go back to Maps for a second. With another person in the car, the problems I described in the previous section would seem to be solved, right? My partner can use her phone’s Maps to find that mall within 25 miles and open at 6:00 PM for us and then I can use Auto to navigate there. Unfortunately, this also is a clunky experience. There’s no way for her to send me the information, for example. She can share a location or route with me from within Maps, but that share goes to email, which is inaccessible through Auto. She can’t even text me a link because Android Auto doesn’t acknowledge URLs in messages.
The only workaround for this is to pick up the phone and find the link, whether it’s in an email or a text. When she’s in the car, this is fine, since she can do it safely from the passenger’s seat. You can guess how I would need to do this if she wasn’t in the car (hint: by breaking the law).
Want to share directions to Android Auto? Nope, you'd have to pick up your phone.
Of course, Google doesn’t want us to do this at all. I’m sure it would say she or I should just tell Android Auto to navigate to the mall using a voice command. That sounds nice, but what if we need a specific route? What if we have multiple stops? What if Maps has trouble finding the specific mall to which we want to go? It would be so much easier to set all this up in Maps ahead of time and then send it to Android Auto.
Crazily enough, even a wired connection wouldn’t help us here. Let’s say we were connected with a cable. My partner could disconnect my phone and then use the full version of Maps to create a specific route to the mall with multiple stops. However, when she plugs it back in, that would all disappear because Android Auto’s version of the app is its own thing. Once again, how is this even remotely OK, Google?
Wireless Android Auto and Google Maps: Just use Waze
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
I spent a bunch of time chatting with folks and lurking in various subreddits trying to figure out how best to approach these problems. Time and time again, I saw the same advice: just use Waze. Using Waze on your car’s display frees up Maps from dominance by Android Auto. If you’re using Waze — which, to be clear, is also owned by Google — you (or your passenger) can still use Maps on your connected phone. In this situation, I can park and leave the car running while I use Maps to figure out where to go. Once I figure it out, I can have Waze do the navigation. I still can’t send multiple stops or custom routes, but at least I can get things done faster and more efficiently.
Of course, this doesn’t fix the other wireless Android Auto problems, such as not being able to control who is connected. However, it’s the best alternative we’ve figured out so far.
Isn’t that something? The least-terrible way to use the navigation within wireless Auto is to not use Google Maps, one of the company’s star products.
Regardless, my partner and I are starting to think that going back to a wired connection for Android Auto will be better. We will have direct control over who’s connected and, if we use Waze, we won’t face as many issues with Google Maps. We can only hope that Google actually figures this stuff out soon so we can experience Android Auto the way Google thinks it can provide.
