Keep your New Year's Resolutions!

It's about that time when the New Year's Resolutions for shedding pounds and getting in shape are starting to slip away. The gym is getting less crowded, the January pressure is waning and your starting to lose sight of your goals. Well, here's an app that can help you hold on to them.

Swole.me is an online application used to help you manage your calories and food intake. But that's not all - this site will actually plan your meals for you based on your calorie goal. So you can choose how many meals you want to have every day and how many calories you want to take in, and it will give you planned out meals for the day. That's still not all - if you want to make it more personalized and have more of a say in your meals, all you have to do is put in what foods you want to eat and again, it'll plan everything for you. Still not all - you can also format it to eliminate certain foods if you have an allergy or intolerance and you can have it focus on a specific diet plan such as Atkins or Paleo.

Talk about effortless dieting. Well, dieting is never effortless. But I would say I think this is about as effortless as dieting can possibly be. It does all the calculating and planning for you, and all you have to do is follow it (which is of course the hard part, but hey, at least they're helping).

Check it out at Swole.me, and did I mention that it's free? You also don't need a username to use it. Effortless!

Photo and information via Lifehacker.com

Hyundai Superbowl Ad Revealed!

Hyundai has revealed the commercials that they'll be airing during this year's Superbowl. The featured commercial, which will play before the kickoff will be a Rocky-themed ad. Hyundai will also be showing the 2012 Elantra's "victory lap" for its recent 2012 North American Car of the Year award.

Check out the commercial below, and stay tuned during Superbowl XLVI.

Click here to see other Hyundai commercials that have been featured during the Superbowl.

Eat Your World

Going on vacation this winter or spring? Want to make sure you try the locals' specialties? Eat Your World is a "global guide to local food," which features the prime cuisine and local favorites of individual places all over the world.

Just pick your destination and Eat Your World will supply you with the "local grub, typical fare and indigenous eats." Check out the video for their minute-long introduction.

This is great! Being a foodie myself, I always love to try new things in new places. It's also typically difficult to find somewhere good to eat when you're traveling in unfamiliar territory - especially when you're traveling in a big city, or in a country with the good old language barrier.

Check out the website here even if you're not going anywhere soon, it's a great idea and a fun read. And maybe it will help your stomach guide you to your next destination spot.

All information, including the photo - courtesy of eatyourworld.com

How sitting all day damages your body; and what to do about it

I just found this article from Lifehacker that refers to the damage that is done to our bodies from sitting around all day. Whether it's in an office or at home, sitting for prolonged amounts of time is really, really bad for your health. Besides the obvious weight gain and muscle tension - sitting all day every day for ten years can actually decrease your life span by seven whole years.

But don't fret quite yet - the Lifehacker article also poses solutions, such as getting up and taking a 5-10 minute walk throughout the day. They also suggest parking farther away in the parking lot, making sure you're getting at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The article also gives you the links to a few computer programs you can set up to give you reminders for when to stand up and walk around.

For a detailed description of how sitting can hurt your health - and how to prevent it from doing so, check out the full article on Lifehacker here.

Hyundai Superbowl XLVI Strategy

"Hungry but humble" is Hyundai's strategy for the 2012 Superbowl XLVI. Hyundai snagged one of the three spots for a commercial debuting before the kickoff. According to the article in brandchannel, "Hyundai [is] among the most robust foreign-owned brands in the world's largest auto market," referring to its leading sales in China.

What will the commercial be? Your guess is as good as ours, but I'm excited to see the debut. Hyundai is already having quite the year, pulling off the North American Car of the Year with the Elantra, and expanding its brand name to include luxury vehicles such as the Hyundai Genesis and Hyundai Equus.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the commercial, which will air before kickoff on Feb. 5 - and of course let's enjoy this nostalgic mash up between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.

Check out the full article on brandchannel here.

Hyundai Elantra wins Car of the Year

Both the Hyundai Elantra and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque won Car (and truck) of the Year at the 2012 North American International Auto Show. The panel of judges was comprised of a group of 50 independent automotive journalists.

This is Hyundai's second Car of the Year award, and well deserved after Hyundai sold more that 200,000 Elantras since the new model was introduced. President and CEO of Hyundai North America said "the award will help to cement Hyundai's reputation for quality and improvement the company has made since it entered North America 1986."

Congrats Hyundai and the Elantra! It's amazing to get such an award, but also not too surprising for the Elantra, which gets 40 MPGs on the highway and sells for a very reasonable price. If you're interested in checking out a Hyundai, please give us a call at (802) 448-3890 or visit our website to browse our selection of new and used Elantras.

Click here to read the full article on USA Today.

Do it yourself heating pad

It's very simple - but in these cold months - very handy too! Just put dried beans or rice into a clean sock or pillowcase, microwave for 1 to 2 minutes and voila! Ten minutes worth of heat in your new "heating pad".

Heating pads are great for anything that's going on with your body. Whether it's a headache, stomach ache, or you're just feeling chilly in general; heating pads are the way to go to give you a temporary soothing fix. Heating pads generally run for about $10-$60 depending on the quality, but if you have rice in the house why not make your own?

Check out the full article here at Lifehacker.

Burlington uses art to benefit COTS

Burlington will once again use arts to benefit others. I'm sure everyone remembers when the 38 painted cows were displayed around the city; well this time, they're doing bears. "Burlington Bears its Art" will be the same idea, only with bears replacing the cows. They will be presented on Church Street, alongside other locations from May 10 to Oct. 11, followed by an auction to sell them - where all of the benefits will go to Burlington's Committee On Temporary Shelter (COTS).

"The event, called Burlington Bears its Art, is a combination of business, art and community. It's designed to recognize local artists while encouraging tourism and generating revenue for businesses," says the article in the Burlington Free Press.

The cows that were displayed around town last year raised $10,000 for the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

This is one of the many reasons why Burlington is such a great place to live and be. Burlington has always painted the portrait (so to speak) of its own persona by using art and creativity to benefit others. So keep watch for the bears on May 10! And if you're an artist interested in joining, or a business who's willing to sponsor - check out the application at www.vermont.org/bears

For more information, click here to check out the full article at the Burlington Free Press.

All information courtesy of the Burlington Free Press.

"Five DJs turn the tables on the history of music"

Hyundai USA is in production of a project called Re:Generation, "a documentary that follows five of the world's biggest DJs... as they set out to put a different spin on the history of music." There's no exact description of what the film will entail, other than five major DJs alongside a huge group of music artists, fusing their styles together to create a documentary taglined to "turn the tables on the history of music."

Re:Generation features the young and the old, the past and the present; including music such as jazz and funk, orchestra and R&B, Motown and rap, rock and dubstep, country and electronic, and hip hop with instrumental. The five DJs turning the tables in this film are Pretty Lights, The Crystal Method, Mark Ronson, DJ Premier and the first ever Grammy-nominated electronic artist Skrillex.

This project is amazing. It will show the ways that all music of any kind can be fused together, and that artists from several eras can still create unimaginable art. This is probably one of the coolest ideas for a documentary I've ever seen. It may not be the most educational or historical one - but if you love music, Re:Generation will educate you on the historical aspect of just that. I'm betting this project will be an outstanding blend of full-blown musical talent, and it will be a real eye opener to the pure variety of music at its finest. Kudos to Hyundai USA and the artists involved for coming up with this idea.

Re:Generation will be playing in select theaters on Feb. 16 and Feb. 23, unfortunately it's not scheduled to play in Burlington (yet), but if you go to the website (linked right below) you can request a local showing by clicking the large blue button at the bottom of the home page.

Click here to go straight to the Re: Generation site.

New rival of the GTI, Civic SI and Cooper S

Speedlux.com just released an article on the 2013 Veloster Turbo, which was shown for the first time yesterday at the North American International Auto Show.

According to Speedlux, "the Veloster Turbo threatens to be an archrival for the Golf GTI, Honda Civic SI and Mini Cooper S, and has a better power-to-weight ratio than all of them. This model has two doors, three rear seats, and two front seats (driver and passenger)."

Not only does this car look amazing, but it has a best in class fuel economy of 38 MPG, leather seats, a seven-inch touch screen and projection headlights with LED accents - among many other things. If those things don't sound great, the price will. Its estimated cost is $25,000, and don't worry - it'll be available during the second half of this year.

For more information, check out the rest of the article at Speedlux.com.

Information including photo for the post, courtesy of www.speedlux.com

Best ways to clean your gadgets

Lifehacker just posted a great article on how to clean the gadgets around your house without ruining them. From your phone to your TV, this post will show you the quick and effective way to get the electronics you love sparkling.

This post is great because it shows you how to not completely scratch the living daylights out of your electronics, and it's so easy. There's no special sauce cleaner for each product you're cleaning and there are no real nitty-gritty ways to clean them. Just ease and simplicity, and most of the "cleaners" you use are probably lying around your house anyways!

For the instructions, click here to see How to Properly Clean All Your Gadgets Without Ruining Them.