Monday 23 April 2012

Converting ebooks to ePub(Ipad) format

http://www.touchmyapps.com/2010/04/21/ipad-tutorial-how-to-read-your-old-non-epub-ebooks-using-ibooks/


April 21, 2010 | | Comments 15

iPad Tutorial: How to read your old (non-ePub) ebooks using iBooks


Update: Our latest tutorial on how to use Dropbox and Calibre to store and remotely transfer ebooks to your iDevices is now up. You can check it out here.
Early adopters of the iPad already know that the device is not only great for surfing the web, playing “HD” games or watching movies on the gorgeous 9.7-inch IPS screen, but also for reading ebooks. Apple’s own e-reader app, iBooks, has been well received and its overall design makes it easy and enjoyable to read books on the iPad. It even allows you to upload non-iBookstore and DRM-free ePub documents/ebooks onto the app via iTunes. Unfortunately, iBooks only accepts the “industry standard” ePub format, meaning those with a collection of ebooks in various formats (LIT, MOBI, PDB, HTML, RTF etc) are out of luck.
While Stanza (my personal favorite) and other e-reader apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch do accept other ebook formats, there are currently none with dedicated iPad versions (meaning you won’t be able to enjoy them in full screen mode without the text becoming pixelated). As such, we’ll be taking a look at how to convert and transfer your existing non-epub ebooks/documents onto the free and very likeable iBooks app.

Calibre main interface
First and foremost, your ebook files need to be converted into the ePub format. Granted, there are quite a few ways to do this, but one of the best methods is by using Calibre, a free and open source e-book library management application. Much like iTunes, Calibre enables you to manage your entire eBooks collection (rate, tag, sort, download metadata and covers etc.) and it accepts a wide range of formats for conversion. Best of all (aside from the fact that it’s free), Calibre runs on Windows, Mac OS X AND Linux. Now that we’ve introduced the software, let’s get down to business.
1. Download and install Calibre for your Desktop/Laptop.
2. During the Installation process, select Apple –> iPad in the “choose your book reader” window to ensure the output is optimized for your iPad after file conversion.
3. Populate your library with the “Add Books” button located top-left of Calibre. You can import books individually or via an entire directory.
4. If your ebooks are missing any metadata (publisher, tags, summary) or covers, you can have Calibre automatically fill in the info. Highlight the titles and under the “Edit Meta Information” menu (or simply right click to bring up) and select the “Download Metadata and Covers” option.
5. Once you’re happy with sorting and organizing your ebooks, it’s time to convert them into the ePub format. You can do so individually or in bulk, both of which are done through the “Convert Ebooks” button. In the conversion window (above), the only thing that really needs to be done is to make sure that the Output option (top right of screen) has “EPUB” selected. I’ve kept all the other settings untouched and haven’t had any issues with the files. If you’re of the adventurous type, you can check out the user manual for more info and perform desired tweaks.
6. Next, we have to transfer your newly minted epub books into iTunes. Locate your .epub files and drag them into the Library section of iTunes (see above). If you didn’t have any ebooks in iTunes to begin with, a new Books folder will be created for you. Note: Please ensure that you drag your epub files into the Library section and not directly into your iPad (under Devices). Doing so will cause iTunes to throw an error message and crash.
Update: With the more recent version of iOS (tested on iOS 5.0.1 and iTunes 10.5.1, you can directly drop epubs into your iPhone/iPad (Devices), just like you can with music and other supported media files.
You can also refer to our more recent post on how to transfer ebooks to your iDevice with the Dropbox app.

7. All that’s left to do is sync your books onto your iPad. This process isn’t any different than syncing music, apps, movies etc.
8. Open iBooks and enjoy your old new library!
While we’re at it, it’s worth noting that Calibre can also download news from the net and convert them into ebook form. Some of the supported news sites include:
  • The New York Times
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • The Economist
  • Time
  • Wired Magazine
  • Newsweek
  • ESPN
Once downloaded, these “ebooks” actually include the full articles, and not just the summaries you find on some rss feeds. What this means is that you’ll now be able to read full blown versions of your favorite news sites (if supported) right from the confines of iBooks and without the need for internet connection. Needless to say, this will be great for times when you’re traveling and out of Wi-Fi range.
The video below by Kovid Goyal, creator of Calibre, will give you a run down of some of the features of this versatile and powerful eBook management software.
Happy reading!
Also check out our tutorial on how to transfer ebooks to Stanza on the iPad here.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Very good view on Bersih

http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/195618 ULASAN Islam adalah agama Allah yang ajaran-Nya berasas fitrah yang Dia ciptakan kepada manusia. Maka Islam adalah agama fitrah (natural religion), sesuatu yang bercanggah dengan fitrah manusiawi ditolak oleh agama ini. Islam yang sebenar selaras dengan sifat penciptaan manusia yang telah Allah jadikan. Maka, Islam menolak homoseksual, lesbian dan segala yang menyanggah fitrah asal insan itu. Demikian Islam menolak kezaliman, penindasan, ketidakadilan, kebodohan dan seterusnya kerana ia bercanggah dengan fitrah manusia. Mereka yang menolak homoseksual ataupun lesbian tetapi membiarkan atau akur dengan ketidakadilan tidak memenuhi elemen fitrah yang Allah ciptakan. Demikian juga mereka yang menentang ketidakadilan tetapi menerima amalan songsang, ia bercanggah dengan roh Islam ini. Firman Allah: "Maka hadapkanlah wajahmu ke arah agama yang hanif (yang menyembah Allah Yang Esa) itu agama Allah yang fitrah yang Dia ciptakan manusia di atasnya. Tiada sebarang perubahan pada ciptaan Allah itu; itulah agama yang lurus, tetapi kebanyakan manusia tidak mengetahui" (Surah ar-Rum, 30). Allah telah ciptakan manusia atas fitrah yang menjadikan naluri manusia yang benar mempunyai persamaan sekalipun berbeza keturunan, tempat, zaman dan agama. Kezaliman umpamanya, ditolak dan dibenci oleh fitrah manusia tanpa mengira keturunan, tempat, waktu dan agama. Justeru itu, dalam semua cerita, drama dan filem yang diterbit oleh sesiapa sahaja di dunia ini sama ada oleh Hollywood, ataupun Bollywood mestilah mengakhirinya dengan kemenangan ataupun sokongan moral berada di pihak yang baik dan kekalahan di pihak yang jahat. Jika ia love story seperti Titanic yang heronya mati pun, perasaan dan support moral filem tetap berada di pihak yang ditindas. Jika ada filem yang menyimpulkan watak jahat menang dan dimuliakan, sementara watak baik tewas dan dihina oleh kesimpulan filem, tentu ia tidak mendapat sambutan. Ia terkeluar dari naluri yang dibekalkan dalam jiwa insan. Padahal para penonton itu mempunyai latar keturunan, tempat dan agama yang pelbagai. Namun mereka berkongsi satu perkara yang sama dalam hal itu, iaitu fitrah insan menolak ketidakadilan dan kezaliman. Penindasan golongan lemah Apa-apa ajaran yang mengiyakan kezaliman dan penindasan, ataupun ketidakadilan, ia terkeluar dari fitrah, dan sudah pasti ia bukan ajaran Tuhan yang menciptakan manusia manusia atas fitrah. Apa sahaja fatwa agama, ataupun tindakan keagamaan yang menyanggahi fitrah, ia tersasar dari kebenaran. Perasaan insan yang betul fitrahnya sensitif dengan kezaliman dan ketidakadilan. Inilah yang Nabi SAW didik para sahabah baginda. Kata sahabah Nabi SAW yang bernama Jabir: Apabila pulang dari penghijrahan ke Habshah (Abyssinia), kami kembali kepada Rasulullah SAW, lalu baginda berkata: "Tidak mahukah kamu semua ceritakan kepadaku perkara paling menakjubkan yang kamu lihat di Habshah?" Seorang pemuda berkata: "Wahai Rasulullah! Ketika kami duduk, seorang wanita mereka melintas, dia membawa atas kepalanya suatu bekas air. Dia melintas di hadapan seorang pemuda mereka, lantas pemuda itu meletakkan satu tangannya atas bahu wanita tua itu dan menolaknya sehingga jatuh melutut. "Terpecahlah bekas airnya. Apabila dia bangun, dia menoleh ke arah pemuda tersebut lalu berkata: 'Wahai pengkhianat! Apabila Allah meletakkan kerusi-Nya, Dia menghimpunkan makhluk yang awal dan akhir, apabila tangan dan kaki boleh berbicara mengenai perbuatan yang telah mereka lakukan, kelak nanti kau akan tahu keadaanku dan keadaan kau'." Rasulullah SAW bersabda: "Wanita itu benar! Sesungguhnya wanita itu benar! bagaimanakah Allah akan memuliakan satu kaum yang tidak mengambil tindakan atas penindasan golongan yang kuat terhadap yang lemah?!" (Riwayat Abu Ya'la, Ibn Hibban dalam sahihnya dan Ibn Majah, hadis hasan). Lihat pemuda ini, dalam banyak pemandangan yang dia saksikan sepanjang perjalanan yang jauh, isu kezaliman juga yang menarik perhatiannya. Ulasan Nabi SAW menegaskan betapa satu kaum tidak akan mulia jika membiarkan golongan yang kuat menindas yang lemah. Apakah akan mulia suatu negara jika kekayaannya dibolot oleh satu pihak secara yang tidak adil, sementara yang lemah merintih di sana sini mencari kehidupan. Apakah akan mulia jika ada penguasa yang mempunyai ratusan juta tanpa jalan yang sah, sedangkan rakyat marhaen bawahan bertarung dengan kehidupan yang payah? Berpakat lawan kezaliman Sebelum Nabi SAW muncul sebagai rasulullah, suatu perjanjian menentang kezaliman yang dikenali dengan Half Fudul ataupun ‘Sumpah Setia Fudul' pernah dibuat di Mekah. Ia dibuat di rumah Abdullah bin Jad'an. Isi kandungannya untuk membela dan mengembalikan hak sesiapa yang dizalimi dalam kalangan penduduk Mekah, ataupun sesiapa yang memasuki Mekah. Ini kerana ada kalangan bangsawan Mekah yang sering menindas pihak yang lemah. Beberapa kabilah Quraish seperti Bani Hashim, Bani ‘Abd al-Muttalib dan lain-lain turut terlibat dengan Sumpah Fudul itu. Al-Tahawi (meninggal 321H) meriwayatkan hal ini dalam Mushkil al-Athar, juga al-Baihaqi (meninggal 458H) dalam as-Sunan al-Kubra di mana Nabi SAW bersabda: "Sesungguhnya aku telah menyaksikan satu sumpah setia di rumah Abdullah bin Jad'an yang membabitkan Bani Hashim, Zahrah, Taiyyim dan aku juga dalam kalangan mereka. Aku sukakan perjanjian itu melebihi unta merah. Jika aku diajak kepadanya semasa Islam pun, aku akan sertai. Aku tidak suka untuk tertinggal dari menyertainya sekalipun diberikan kepadaku unta merah." Unta merah adalah lambang kemewahan kenderaan Arab ketika itu. Nabi SAW menegaskan bahawa jika perjanjian seperti itu dibuat lagi, sekalipun setelah baginda menjadi rasul, baginda tetap akan menyertainya. Lihatlah, Islam mengiktiraf perjanjian yang dibuat oleh pihak lain, sekalipun di zaman sebelum Islam kerana isi kandungan menepati maksud ajaran Islam yang menentang kezaliman dan penindasan. Malanglah, jika ada orang Muslim yang tidak merasa terpanggil dalam isu-isu tempatan dan antarabangsa yang membabitkan soal sokongan kita ke atas pihak yang ditindas. Menanglah p'raya dengan adil Ada orang bertanya saya, apakah saya menyokong BERSIH? Saya kata saya masih di UK, tapi saya sokong keadilan dan pemberian hak secara yang wajar. Saya tidak kisah siapa pun menang dalam pilihan raya, tetapi menanglah dengan cara yang adil dan saksama. Setelah keadilan dibuat, lalu rakyat membuat pilihan memilih parti tertentu, itu adalah hak mereka. Kita mesti akur dengan kerajaan pilihan rakyat secara adil dan saksama. Saya ada ramai kawan dalam BN, juga ramai kawan dalam Pakatan Rakyat. Saya tidak bersetuju perkara-perkara tertentu dalam di pihak BN, juga di pihak Pakatan. Tapi, saya inginkan agar apabila pilihan raya berlaku, ia berlaku dengan seadilnya, supaya saya tahu apa yang menjadi hak rakyat diberikan secara yang wajar. Saya tidak mahu bahas soal pendaftaran undi dan seumpamanya, ambil soal media sahaja. Saya rasa tidak semua rakyat suka untuk hadir ke tempat ceramah politik. Ia bercampur positif dan negatifnya. Namun, rakyat perlu tahu apakah idea parti-parti yang bertanding. Jika TV dan media kerajaan hanya dikuasai sepenuhnya oleh satu pihak sahaja, di manakah peluang rakyat mendengar secara saksama? Jika di Barat, bahkan di banyak negara demokrasi yang lain, ada saluran-saluran swasta yang membolehkan setiap pihak menyatakan pendapat dan pandangan mereka untuk didengari oleh rakyat, ruang itu tiada dalam negara kita. Setelah rakyat dengar dan nilai, biarlah mereka membuat keputusan mereka. Seperti mana bukan semua hujah kerajaan itu munasabah, demikian juga bukan semua hujah pembangkang itu boleh diterima. Agama mengajar kita menjadi golongan ulul albab, iaitu mereka yang mempunyai akal yang matang, yang membuat pertimbangan setelah mendengar pelbagai hujah. Firman Allah: (maksudnya) "...oleh itu gembirakanlah hamba-hambaKu . (Iaitu) mereka yang berusaha mendengar perkataan (yang sampaikan) lalu mereka menurut yang terbaik; mereka itulah orang-orang yang diberi hidayah petunjuk oleh Allah dan mereka itulah Ulul Albab" (al-Zumar: 17-18). Seseorang yang menuntut keadilan perjalanan sistem kerajaan, bukan semestinya dia penyokong pembangkang, tetapi itu tuntutan naluri insani yang inginkan sesuatu berjalan dengan cara yang betul. Jika kita pergi menonton bola sepak, lalu dibuat peraturan yang berat sebelah, lebih baik kita tidak menonton. Ataupun, kita cadang berikan kemenangan percuma sahaja. Sekalipun kita mungkin tidak sokong pihak yang dianayai, tetapi tidak juga tidak boleh sokong ketidakadilan. Ini fitrah manusia normal. Melainkan kita ini songsang fitrah. Justeru, menjadi hak rakyat untuk menyatakan perasaan mereka. Alangkah baik jika BERSIH itu tidak dijadikan acara parti politik, tetapi acara yang rentas parti politik. Hadir bukan tanda menyokong pembangkang, tapi menyokong pembaikian sistem. Namun, saya menasihati mereka yang ingin hadir agar membetulkan niat. Sayangkan negara anda. Bagi yang Muslim, berakhlaklah dengan akhlak Islam. Bagi yang bukan Muslim berpegang dengan nilai-nilai baik yang anda yakini. Jangan rosakkan harta negara, jangan memaki hamun orang lain, jangan mencerca tetapi laungkan slogan keadilan dan hak yang anda inginkan. Berhimpun dengan penuh sopan dan adab, tetapi dengan penuh semangat. Semoga Allah merahmati anda dan negara kita!

Thursday 19 April 2012

Why violent people not arrested? Only peaceful ones are arrested!

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/50731

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur Occupy camp ambushed by thugs

Thursday, April 19, 2012
Occupy Dataran Merdeka camp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: selangorku.com
At 2.36am, in the early hours of April 19, the student and Occupy Dataran encampment in Kuala Lumpur was violently ambushed by a big group of men. After the ambush, everyone sat down, and victims of violence started to tell stories of what happened. Here is a brief summary of the stories.
Everything started at 2.36am. A group of people on motorbikes rode in and parked. They walked towards the field and started shouting. From the fountain, another group of people came and started pulling and breaking tents, which were occupied by people fast asleep. There were about 60 people from this aggressive group. There were around 40-50 people who were part of the encampment, both students and non-students.
In one incident, a woman in one of the tents was violently attacked — her head was kicked while she was still in the tent. They also shouted while hitting her tent.
They kicked a few tents and shouted at people to get out. A few people (non-students) were dragged from the edge of the camp to the field and beaten up. One guy was held in a chokehold and made to surrender his camera. He was dragged away.
One woman was holding a camera, and they pulled her bag, took her camera and smashed it onto the ground.
Another woman who was walking back to the camp from the direction of the fountain took out her camera and started filming. Around 15 people surrounded her and one man snatched her camera. They shouted and pushed her to the ground until she let go of her camera. After she got up, another man pulled her bag and pushed her around.
One man followed behind the police and started filming. His camera was snatched and stamped on.
One man was in a tent, opened it, heard people shouting and managed to get out of the tent before they pulled the tent down. He sat at the mats with a few people and the attackers started provoking them to get a reaction. They dragged another man off the mat and beat him up.
The attackers threw food around, destroyed all the tents and took the donation boxes.
One man was dragged to the street and beaten up by five people because he had a camera in his bag.
One woman was picked on and called a lesbian.
About 5 police cars came — but they did nothing.
One man wearing a kopiah was slapped twice. When he asked what was happening, he was beaten, called pukimak and was taunted that he would never get into heaven.
One guy tried to take a photo with his iPad, and they hit him and tried to take his iPad.
A few people saw a man in plainclothes carrying a revolver. We could not ascertain whether he was a Special Branch officer.
A man identified one of the individuals in the attacking group as a member of United Malays National Organisation Youth [which is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition that rules Malaysia].
After the ambush, campers cleaned up the place. We collectively decided that we would not be intimidated by the violence and that we would sit peacefully to defend Dataran Merdeka as the people’s square, and our right to occupy it peacefully.
[Republished from Loyarburok.com. Send messages of solidarity to Occupy Dataran on Twitter and Facebook.]

I don't know how to do it!

A student ask me how to connect the pins of a microcontroller. My anwer was, "I don't know". Another one ask me if I know how to connect to a power supply, to that, the answer was also "I don't know". This is actually an honest anwer.

Students will be surprised with that answer and feel helpless, especially the weaker students. That is why they are weak in their studies. They rely on their memory too much and expect others to tell them what to do.

I used to show students how to connect these items after finding out how to do them but this time, I won't. Probably this time there are very few students. It is not what you know that matters, but how you find out how to do them. I have done the connections a few times in the past, but after a few months, I forget almost completely.

That is why I am really surprised to see students coming to class without any notes and expect to accomplish anything at all. They expect their lecturers to tell them everything. It is now so easy to find out. In my time, we all have to go to a library in order to find out.

So how do you find out. Read books and notes of course but it takes too much time. Actually if you know how to read, you can read very quickly and find the relevant ones that you need to accomplish your task. Unfortunately there is no rule on how to do this. You just have to learn by yourself by doing it. The first time is always the hardest but later on, it becomes quicker and quicker. The more you read the notes, the faster you read them and find the required items.

Actually I don't read manuals a lot. An post graduate student used to boast that an Engineer does not need a manual, which is true in a way, but you cannot do it without any reading at all. You must read the labels and colours at least. Then you must use your test gears. In fact, you must test everything to make sure they are correct.

What happens if you don't have the right test gear? This is in fact very common indeed. You don't just stand idle in this situation. What do you think you must do in order to accomplish your goal? Doing nothing means that you will NEVER complete your assignment. So you must do something. No test gear, make your own test gear lah!

How to make test gears? I don't have any component at all!!! You have a very good test gear that you carry along with you. Yourself is filled with test gears. In fact many professionals don't use test gears at all, despite them being available. One expert in making yogurt advised me how to measure a good temperature. The required temperature is exactly 35 degree celsius(I can't remember the exact number). Just use your finger to hold the container and note the time that you can stand the heat. One professor even told me that they do it to factory boilers, despite all the safety issues.

So if you don't know, it is not that you are stupid, you are just too lazy. Or too stupid to find out. Or the system allows you not to find out yourself, relying on friends. Plagiarsm is a scourge of our local learning institutions. Another is spoon feeding. Lecturers are expected to tell students everything they need to know to complete a task. EAC is very particular about this. They point out that our laboratory sheets are too guided and not challenging the students.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Facebooks helps students find jobs

http://thedailycougar.com/2012/04/10/smartphones-are-no-longer-a-useless-luxury/

Smartphones are no longer a useless luxury

By Cougar Editorial Board
Modified on: Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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Students without smartphones are disadvantaged in today’s technological society. The more often a student can check their inbox, social media and other online necessities, the better off they are in landing an internship or job. Students without such devices are sadly the water buffalos with the bad legs.
A smartphone is not a pittance of course, but with Nokia’s $100 Lumia 900, average Joes can get into the game. Previous to the Lumia 900, the market contained $50-$100 piece-of-crap plastic knockoffs that break on use, $500 Android phones for watching videos and $600 iPhones for wasting time on games and apps.
There is a downside to the frugal nature of the $100 smartphone, the specs. The Lumia 900 uses a basic processor, has mediocre memory of 16 gigs and doesn’t have thousands of (ambiguously useless) apps. It runs Windows Phone 7 which is as simple as an OS can get, although the Lumia 900 is the best of the worst in this respect. And on the bright side, critics say the battery life is good.
Lumia’s multitasking is about as satisfactory as and iPhone or Android, which is to say: Very bad. If you want to open a program, prepare to sit behind a Java powered virtual machine that will clunk and crawl it’s way to progress. The Lumia 900 also is void of removable storage — no slots for flash drives or micro SD cards. Those would have come in handy, especially for students.
This can be a blessing as well though because checking email and keeping up with contacts doesn’t require all the bells and whistles of a child’s plaything. Students with money (or students with parents with money) will be happy with an overpriced fancy looking iPhone. They will no doubt use it to send enraged avians flying, doodle anything and maybe at the end of the day they’ll use it to check on resumes and job offers.
As long as the average student can stomach the two-year agreement with AT&T, the Lumia 900 is the relatively frugal way to stay up-to-date in the rat race.

no loyalty to Hybrid Cars

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/one-is-enough-study-finds-that-most-hybrid-buyers-dont-purchase-another/

ne is enough: study finds that most hybrid buyers don’t purchase another

Study-Most-hybrid-buyers-don't-purchase-another
A recent study conducted by Polk has found that most people buying hybrid vehicles don't choose to buy another.
While many hybrid owners may consider themselves an eco-conscious bunch, apparently they’re not a very loyal bunch when it comes to those gas-sipping cars of theirs – at least not according to a recent study by automotive analysis firm, Polk.
Apart from Toyota Prius owners, the study conducted by Polk — focusing on hybrid loyalty analysis for 2011 — found that that only 35 percent of people who purchased a hybrid car purchased another one last year — leaving a relatively large percentage of people to seek, ahem, “greener pastures.”
On the other hand, the study found that previous owners of the popular Toyota Prius — and Toyota owners in general – to be the most loyal. Toyota managed to retain sixty percent of previous hybrid owners, with customers that didn’t opt for another hybrid model still sticking with the brand. Polk also found that 41 percent of Toyota hybrid owners bought another hybrid (regardless of brand).
However, it’s not just Toyota doing a solid job of creating a culture of brand-loyal customers. Another popular Japanese automaker, Honda, also enjoyed a decent repurchase rate among consumers. According to the study, 52 percent of previous Honda hybrid owners bought another Honda, with roughly 20 percent purchasing another hybrid (again, regardless of brand).
As retired Danish soccer manager Ebbe Skovdahl once pointed out “statistics are just like mini-skirts, they give you good ideas but hide the most important thing.” Those humorous words of wisdom apply just as much to the automotive world as they do the world of sports. And while the figures may cast hybrid vehicles in an unfavorable light, they also show the importance hybrid cars play in attracting new customers and retaining old ones. As director of Polk’s Loyalty Management Practice, Brad Smith noted, “Having a hybrid in the product lineup can certainly give a brand a competitive edge when it comes to attracting new customers.”
Still, according to Polk’s study, hybrid vehicles represent just 2.4 percent of the overall new vehicle market in the United States, which according to figures from Polk is down from a high of 2.9 percent in 2008.
While hybrid vehicles may attract consumers to a particular automaker, the study also found that the increasing price of gasoline has “had little impact on hybrid segment loyalty,” which is mainly due to the rapidly increasing fuel economy of cheaper conventionally powered vehicles — opposed to more expensive hybrids.
A very real problem General Motors has dealt with, much to the detriment of the Chevy Volt, has seen consumers more inclined to purchase the Volt’s cheaper cousin, Chevrolet’s Cruze, which carries an MSPR that tops out at around $23,882 — nearly half that of the Volt’s $40,000 sticker price — and gets nearly the same fuel economy (37 mpg highway to the Volts 40 mpg).
Interestingly, Polk also found that when repurchase rates for the Toyota Prius isn’t factored in, hybrid loyalty drops to under 25 percent. Although, that figure is somewhat misleading given that Toyota builds and sells the majority of hybrids in the U.S.