In addition to hundreds of aftermarket automotive products and vehicles on display, the ProPickup Truck Expo will provide educational seminars called SmartSessions headlined by industry leaders and experts in the automotive aftermarket. “Our SmartSessions will cover a wide range of topics, from how to increase fuel mileage, to setting up the mobile office, to spec’ing out their next new pickup,” says Bruce Smith, editor of ProPickup.

For more information, contact Rhianna Richey, rrichey@randallreilly.com; (205) 248-1524.

Dial-A-Plow

Your phone can get you to snow-cleared streets in the Motor City these days.

Wayne County, Michigan (a.k.a. Detroit), has released its Compass web portal providing real-time vehicle, traffic and video information to residents. Compass combines information from a variety of sources, from the city and from the Web, to provide a single integrated live view of what is happening on the streets of Wayne County. So, on your smart phone or laptop you can see where the snow plows and salt trucks have been and haven’t been.

De-Stressing Inner-City Parking

Seattle is looking into letting parkers use their cellphones to pay instead of clumsily shoveling change into meters in the rain. Simply download a free app and use it to punch in the code the city assigns to you when you end up curbside. No app? Okay, use the keypad and dial a phone number. Not quite as cool as the app, but you stay dry.

New York City is following San Francisco’s example and testing a system of sensors that indicate open spaces that you can find on your laptop or smart phone. San Francisco has already gone to work on the pay-by-cellphone route, too.

Other cities are testing both forms of finding/paying as they try to help frustrated drivers in crowded inner cities avoid one of the great headaches of urban driving and maybe some ugly scenes.

Le Rental

Our recent surveys of readers have shown that renting equipment is becoming increasingly popular for contractors and, surprisingly, gaining quickly among agencies. So, why not go to Paris and find out more about how it might work for you?

Okay, that’s reaching.

But April’s giant Intermat trade show (officially the International exhibition for equipment and techniques for construction and materials industries) in Paris, April 16-21, has added a new wrinkle: rental.

And, remember, at the main event, there is always the North American pavilion sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. This monster show is already 30-percent bigger than its last version in 2009, so it’s not a reach to say there is something for everyone in our business.

Two days of the show (April 17- 18) will be dedicated to rental sector global issues, with two special roundtables presented by European rental companies, contractors and equipment manufacturers. There is also the chance to visit two rental companies near the show.