July 3, 2009 Advantages and disadvantages of permanent life insurance Description: Is permanent life insurance right for you? If you’re not sure or you don’t understand the advantages and... AccuQuote blog is brought to you by AccuQuote.com, a leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. This blog is dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance.
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AccuQuote
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New AccuQuote Podcast!
3 Jul 2009 | 10:30 am -
Have a safe and happy 4th of July from your friends at AccuQuote!
3 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amWe just wanted to take a moment to wish you a safe and happy Independence Day. To ensure that you and your loved ones have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend, follow the tips below: When lighting... AccuQuote blog is brought to you by AccuQuote.com, a leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. This blog is dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance. -
Term life insurance…comparing value vs. price
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amI’m passionate about helping consumers like you find the best term life insurance policy out there. In order to do that, I want you to understand the difference between value and price when shopping... AccuQuote blog is brought to you by AccuQuote.com, a leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. This blog is dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance. -
How to choose the right life insurance company…
1 Jul 2009 | 11:46 amWhen it comes to buying life insurance, there are several things to consider first when choosing a life insurance company. Before making a financial commitment, you’ll want to know the ins and outs... AccuQuote blog is brought to you by AccuQuote.com, a leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. This blog is dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance. -
New AccuQuote Podcast!
30 Jun 2009 | 1:00 pmJune 29, 2009 Don’t lose your life insurance and other benefits if you lose your job Description: If you lose your job, you may lose your insurance benefits too. So what should you do? Byron... AccuQuote blog is brought to you by AccuQuote.com, a leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. This blog is dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance.
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Amazon
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The Cloud as a Platform for Platforms
2 Jul 2009 | 9:48 amOf the many things I love about AWS, I will mention three of my favorites in this blog post: AWS does not force developers to use any particular programming model, language, or operating system. AWS does not force developers to use the entire suite of services - they can use any of our infrastructure services individually or in any combination. AWS does not limit developers to a pre-set amount of storage, bandwidth, or computing resources they can consume - they can use as much or as little as they wish, and only pay for what they use. Our customers love this flexibility. Today, a… -
Scaling to the Stars
27 Jun 2009 | 10:39 amRecently I blogged about The Server Labs, a consultancy that specializes in high-performance computing – including on Amazon Web Services. Here’s another story that I found fascinating: nominally it is about how The Server Labs uses Amazon Web Services as a scale-out solution that also implements Oracle databases; however it’s really about space exploration (or should I say “nebula computing”). It began with an email asking whether there would be a problem running up to 1,000 Amazon EC2 High-CPU Extra-Large instances. The Server Labs is a software development/consulting group based… -
Webinar: How to Create Secure Test and Dev Environments on the Cloud
24 Jun 2009 | 10:09 am -
AWS Management Console Support for CloudFront
23 Jun 2009 | 5:05 pmThe AWS Management Console has a brand new tab: This new tab contains full support for Amazon CloudFront. You can start distributing your content in minutes. You don't need to make a long term commitment and you don't need to download a client application. It is now even easier to access CloudFront in pay-as-you-go fashion. After selecting the tab you will see a list of all of your CloudFront distributions: You can select any distribution to see detailed information about it. You can also create a new distribution by clicking the Create Distribution button and filling in the resulting dialog:… -
Gowalla - Location-based iPhone 3G Application
23 Jun 2009 | 1:49 pmGowalla is a location-based iPhone game. Currently focused on Austin, Boston, New York, and San Francisco, the application runs on any iPhone 3G with the location-based services turned on. You use Gowalla to collect "virtual souvenirs" by visiting specified locations in each city, neatly combining the virtual and the real worlds. A product of Alamofire, Gowalla runs on EC2 and makes extensive use of S3, SQS, and SimpleDB. To learn more, you can watch Alamofire founder Scott Raymond's presentation at the Scotland on Rails conference. In the video, Scott talks about the pros and cons of using…
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American Express
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A Recovery or Not - What to do Now?
3 Jul 2009 | 8:00 amThis seems to be the topic that is on everyone’s mind these days: Are we in the early stages of an economic recovery and what will happen now? Take a simple test: What do YOU think? The answer, I’ll bet was “I’m not sure.” And if that’s right, then you are representative of the majority of America (and maybe a lot of other countries). What do you do when you are uncertain? You are cautious, right? You watch your spending and keep it to the basics — the needs and wants that are modest, etc. Well, there is your answer. This recovery… -
8 Simple Rules for Practicing Frugality while Traveling for Your Business
2 Jul 2009 | 8:19 amWhenever I have the opportunity to take business trips, I’m often stunned at the endless opportunities to rack up expenses. Tickets. Meals. Cab fare. Hotels. Entertainment. Pretty much anything in an airport. Sure, most of these expenses are tax deductible, but they still eat directly into the bottom line of a small business. After one particularly painful business trip in 2007, when I found myself spending a shocking amount on food, drink, lodging, and transportation fees, I resolved to never fall into that trap again. I sat down, took a serious look at my business… -
Business in the 2010s: Proceed with caution, but proceed
2 Jul 2009 | 7:44 amPlanning for growth in the post meltdown economic climate: Growth should generally be a key focus for business but the current strained economic conditions mean that for many businesses simply keeping above water is a major challenge. Also, some recent examples of irresponsible behavior by corporate leaders have led to great concern among customers and a desire for signs that businesses are practicing *responsible growth* and long term, *sustainable* corporate architectures. Responsible practices and long term growth have been great basic business principles for some time, but have become… -
How Is the Economy Looking for Women Starting Up Businesses?
2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amLet’s jump right to the question that every woman entrepreneur who’s thinking about starting up a business in today’s economy wants the answer to: “Should I start up now or wait six months?” On one hand, you might be thinking that starting up your business in this economy would be a risk. On the other, you might be hearing buzz that the U.S. is beginning to come out of the recession, which would mean that starting up now would put you on the leading edge of post-recession confidence. How do you decide what to do? Regardless of when you start up your business - in… -
Three Sacred Cows That Deserve to Become Hamburger
1 Jul 2009 | 10:16 am2009 is a year that will repeatedly leave our collective jaws dropped. Recently, we heard that the FDIC, the organization built to insure our money is guaranteed in the US banking system, is in jeopardy. What? Is there no safe ground? I say no, there isn’t, and that means you are hereby granted license to try some business decisions that might not have been considered best practices until this year. Look over at that pasture. It’s not so green any more. You’re not sustaining, or you’re okay today, but tomorrow looks like the grass might get brown and brittle. Time to consider a few…
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American Red Cross
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Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up
2 Jul 2009 | 6:08 amWelcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you… [The place names link to maps so that you can get a quick idea of the region.] PAKISTAN: The IFRC and Pakistan Red Crescent Society have launched a fundraising appeal to extend aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people who are staying with host families in cramped conditions, often lacking clean water and sufficient food. NORWAY: Experts from around the world met at the invitation of the ICRC and the Norwegian Red Cross to… -
Chef Fabio Viviani is Cooking for Italian Earthquake Relief
1 Jul 2009 | 11:44 amCheck out Bravotv.com/redcross for all of Chef Fabio’s recipes. Here’s a sneak peek: -
Reflections on My First Anniversary
1 Jul 2009 | 8:22 amIt was just over a year ago that I became the President and CEO of the American Red Cross, and I was recently asked what this first year has been like. It’s a blessing to be a part of the American Red Cross, and frankly, it’s been a time filled with pleasant surprises. Many of the issues that I thought would be problematic turned out not to be. The talent here is extraordinary. You can cut the organization both down and across and you’ll find that the talent is deep in every direction. You often hear that nonprofits have people with big hearts but lack the business acumen to run an… -
Clarification on Situation in Iran
29 Jun 2009 | 10:34 amToday, online activists are asking people to raise awareness of the political situation in Iran following the country’s recent general election. Although you may have read otherwise, the American Red Cross is not accepting designated funds or blood from the public for activities in Iran. The Iranian Red Crescent has not requested international assistance and has indicated that the government’s Emergency Center of the Ministry of Health is the lead responder during civil unrest. Per the Ministry of Health’s request, the Iranian Red Crescent has supplied ambulances, but they are not being… -
A Fisherman’s Journey
29 Jun 2009 | 6:05 amI’m currently traveling in Asia to a few of the countries affected by the December 2004 tsunami to document how the Red Cross is helping communities recover and rebuild. My first stop was Indonesia. The northern coast of Sumatra is one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever traveled. If it was in the United States the stretch of coast from Banda Aceh to Calang would be nothing but five star resorts and million dollar homes, but these beaches are mostly undeveloped. While traveling from community to community, I’ve heard many sad stories as people talk about how the tsunami personally…
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Analog Devices
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Measuring Noise of Low-Fixed-Gain Differential Amplifiers
24 Jun 2009 | 12:40 pmMeasuring noise of low-gain differential amplifiers presents a challenge, as their integrated feedback and gain resistors preclude high-gain configurations, and a differential-to-single-ended conversion is needed to match the spectrum analyzer. A second amplifier stage can provide gain and the differential-to-SE conversion, neatly solving both of these problems. -
Detecting Human Falls with a 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer
24 Jun 2009 | 12:39 pmElderly individuals can suffer accidental falls due to weakness or dizziness. The initial injury can be further aggravated if treatment is not obtained within a short time. MEMS-based fall detectors can sense changes in body position by tracking acceleration, determine when an individual is falling, and issue an alert for assistance. This article describes the use of an ADXL345 three-axis digital accelerometer as a fall detector. -
What shall we do with an unused op-amp?
24 Jun 2009 | 12:30 pmRarely Asked Questions -- Strange but true stories from the call logs of Analog Devices. View current and archived Rarely Asked Questions at http://www.analog.com/raq -
Designing with Switching Regulators in High-Speed A/D Converter
24 Jun 2009 | 12:26 pmWebinar Series -- View this webinar, recently archived webinars, or webinars by category at www.analog.com/webinars -
Automated Calibration Technique Reduces DAC Offset to Less than 1 mV
11 Jun 2009 | 11:34 amThe AD5360 16-bit, 16-channel DAC is factory trimmed, but an offset of several millivolts can still exist. This idea shows how a simple software algorithm can reduce an unknown offset to less than 1 mV. This technique can be used for factory calibration, or for offset correction at any point in the DAC’s life cycle.
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Avaya
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Central Intelligence
1 Jul 2009 | 8:04 amThere's been an ongoing grudge match between centralization and distribution, two important but opposing ways of designing computer and communications systems. A swinging of paradigms in enterprise voice communications will soon return dial plan intelligence back under central control. Who doesn't have the urge to centralize? It's just a natural way to manage everything from hub-and-spoke communication networks, computers (client-server architectures), to even transportation routes. Centralized systems simply involve less overhead. It is much easier to update, say, a single software… -
Social Network based Call Center Routing
16 Jun 2009 | 7:31 amOk, let’s say you are searching the web for a new fishing rod. You find the right website but you are having trouble locating the right rod and reel combination. Frustrated you consider giving up but give it one last shot and decide to call the 800 number on the site. And instead of getting the usual IVR tree – you are prompted for your Facebook id. What’s going on here you think? Reluctantly you give them your Facebook id and behind the scenes there is technology at work that matches you up with the best Call Center agent based on your profile information: Age, Sex, Hometown, Current… -
Is Twitter the Next Channel for Contact Centers?
4 Jun 2009 | 2:42 pmIf you have never seen this web page http://twitter.zappos.com/ - you should! With legions of Twitter-ers on staff - 432 to be exact - Zappos make customer service look: easy, decentralized, and inexpensive. But that begs the question - what impact will Twitter have on today’s customer contact centers? History would tell us that just like the days when ATM’s were first being rolled out and people were declaring that the bank teller was soon to be extinct, that this never really materialized fully. In fact quite the opposite was true – banks ended up building more physical locations and… -
Being knowledgeable on communications solutions is a competitive advantage for SMEs
3 Jun 2009 | 2:28 pmA recent survey we conducted happens to confirm my last blog introduction statement “While Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are affected by the recession, most of them keep investing in their business and on the top of their investment list is IT”. In this challenging economical situation, SMEs can only afford to spend on business critical assets and for 75% of the small businesses surveyed, that includes their communications system. Unlike larger companies which had more resources and purchased extra capacity on communications system in preparation for future growth, small businesses… -
The Times they are a-Changing. And so is the Contact Centre.
12 May 2009 | 3:05 amIt’s only when you get to engage directly with customers that you get to see first hand the effects that the current global economic situation is having on their businesses. A couple of weeks ago I met with the contact centre senior management team of a large financial services company. With financial services businesses hit hard in the last year I was interested in hearing how business had change and particularly how that had effected their contact centre operations. Changing call mix It turns out that this multimedia contact centre had experienced large changes in type of contact and the…
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Avis
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Best Of British: Top 5 Seasides
3 Jul 2009 | 9:09 amBelow is our top 5 British seasides. Do you agree? Do you a recommendation of your own? Let us know your thoughts! 1. Northumberland Coast “Miles of open, empty beaches, beautiful, clean sand, dunes to explore, views out to the Farne Island bird sanctuaries and nearby attraction of Bamburgh Castle. In the summer, when the sky is blue and the sun is shining you can relax on your own acre of beach with no-one to kick sand in your sandwiches or drop ice-cream on your tummy. When it’s cloudy and the wind is blowing you can lose yourself with a spot of kite flying, take the dog for a… -
Introducing Best of British
3 Jul 2009 | 9:08 amDuring these times of economic difficulties, more and more people are looking to cut down the cost of their holiday by staying a little closer to home. Personally, I think this a real opportunity to rediscover just how amazing our country is. There is much heritage, so many areas of natural beauty and, quite frankly, there is much to do that you don’t really need to venture outside of Britain. Even the weather is looking good this year! But after so many years hitting the continent on our low-cost airfares, you might be wondering just where do you venture out to in Great Britain. Well I… -
Avis takes on 24hr cycling relay challenge
30 Jun 2009 | 3:01 amLast weekend, the crew at Avis took on it’s second gruelling test of endurance within a month, this time competing in the Ride24 challenge. The challenge takes place in the form of a Le Mans style race with teams of 4 taking it in turns to cycle round the Dunsfold Park Track in Surrey (aka the Top Gear test track) over a period of 24 hours. Effectively, whoever completes the most laps over that period wins. Of course people like me don’t just enter things like this for the fun of it and it was all for a good cause, raising money for Action Medical Research. We weren’t… -
Awesome Road Trips - Utah and Arizona, USA - Part 5
23 Jun 2009 | 3:18 pmThe final part of my road trip around Utah and Arizona carries on from Bryce Canyon… Day 9 - Bryce Canyon National Park to Las Vegas Today will mark your final leg of the road trip as you venture into Zion National Park. The drive down Highways 89 and 9 to reach Zion the provides the kind of red-rock views that have become increasingly familiar but never less interesting. Zion itself is very different to any national park you’ve visited so far. Most have been typically vast in scale, the star features generously spaced out with fairly barren areas in between. Zion packs a lot more… -
The Jaguar XKR joins the Avis Prestige fleet
21 Jun 2009 | 2:02 pmI’ve just been advised by my colleague in the Avis Prestige team that they have recently introduced the Jaguar XKR to their fleet (available as a 5.0 coupe and a 5.0 cabriolet). While I have never had the chance to drive one myself, there is no doubting that it is a gorgeous car to look at. And the overwhelmingly positive reviews I’ve read about it is testament to the success the product development team at Jaguar have enjoyed over the past few years. I’ve posted some snippets of these reviews below. As always let us know what you think about the Jaguar XKR and feel free to…
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Best Buy
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Back to School TV Rough Cuts
29 Jun 2009 | 3:20 amSince we launched our “True Stories” communication platform in November, it has become my custom to post the “rough cut” TV execution options prior to us making the final decision. In prior posts, we have gotten excellent feedback – comments that have made our messaging clearer as well as input in helping us choose the [...] -
User Generated Content
27 Jun 2009 | 8:41 amAs you all know, the internet continues to profoundly change how people connect and engage with the world. Recent years have seen the rise of many types of “personal” user-generated content, from videos (YouTube) to photos (Flickr) to status updates (Facebook and Twitter). At the same time, these innovations are causing profound disruption [...] -
New Places and Spaces – Used Games Launch
23 Jun 2009 | 4:41 amAs we continue to explore new ways to make our customers happy, Best Buy is moving into the used games market. This week, several of our Dallas and Austin stores will test a kiosk-based model that allows customers to insert their used games into a kiosk that will scan it for functionality, and immediately [...] -
1stQ Numbers Suggest Our Strategy Is On Track
16 Jun 2009 | 12:51 pmToday Best Buy reported its first quarter earnings. Despite the general softness in demand that our industry is seeing, we have achieved very strong results that every Best Buy employee can be proud of. It’s especially exciting to see that we continued to grow our market share. In fact, we had a gain of [...] -
Bringing Dream Support To Life In The Customer Experience
15 Jun 2009 | 7:53 amBrand marketers can feel like fish out of water in Retail. I came from the Packaged Goods world and I can attest very well to this feeling. Positioning a Brand whose “product” is based upon people, experience and price is very different than Gatorade where I cut my teeth. When I first got to [...]
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Best Western
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Hotel swimming pools: Free family entertainment
1 Jul 2009 | 7:37 pmWhen we arrived at the Best Western Midway Hotel in Dubuque, Iowa, my kids could hardly contain themselves when they saw the swimming pool. It was housed in a light, airy atrium filled with lush, green foliage. To my kids it looked like a tropical paradise."Mommy, the pool looks like it's inside but it's outside," my daughter squealed. "Can we please go in? Please? Please!" She was literally shaking with excitement.My kids had no interest in going into town, checking out the riverfront. Dinner? Who cares about eating when there's a swimming pool. And I have found this is true all along our… -
World's best soft serve
1 Jul 2009 | 7:31 pmHow do you cool off on a hot day in Moline, Ill.? You could jump into the Mississippi River, or even better you could enjoy a soft serve cone from Country Style. This delicious treat is made with real milk and cream, and it's richer and thicker than your typical soft serve.We order a cone of vanilla to share--this is what a family of four on a budget of $150 a day can afford--and of course we're all fighting over it. Right when my daughter is trying to grab the cone from her brother's hands, the owner, Kent Kindelsperger, steps out to say hello. "I have kids. They do the same thing," he… -
Mississippi Road Trip Day 7: Dubuque to Davenport
1 Jul 2009 | 7:18 pmThe RundownHigh point of the day: The Smithsonian Institute runs the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, and it's world-class. All of the bits and pieces we have learned about the river along our river road trip are pulled together under one roof with exhibits on river otters, snapping turtles, barges, flooding, locks and dams. My husband enjoys watching a film on the history of the river narrated by Garrison Keillor, my kids like turning a paddle boat wheel, and I'm delighted to flirt with Mark Twain (pictured above). Sound bite of the day: Helen Bolf, a… -
Detour: Field of Dreams
29 Jun 2009 | 9:19 pmI learn that we're near the Field of Dreams movie site in a tractor store. On our drive from Prairie Du Chien, Wisc., to Dubuque, Iowa, my son spots a row of John Deeres from the road and begs me to stop. We play around on the tractors and end up inside the shop for a potty break. That's where we see a few miniature toy tractors sitting on a shelf, and one of them is emblazoned with the words "Field of Dreams." "Are we near the Field of Dreams?" I ask a salesclerk. "Oh yeah, only about 20 minutes or so." He shows me a map and how to get to Dyersville, the closest town to the site of the 1989… -
Mississippi Road Trip Day 6: Prairie Du Chien to Dubuque
29 Jun 2009 | 4:38 amThe Rundown Low point of the day: Lost in Wisconsin! We end up 40 miles off track, which is particularly frustrating when you're on a budget of $150 a day (every little bit counts). Luckily, the scenery is gorgeous. We drive through lush green corn fields under a deep purple sky, and there are cows everywhere. Quote of the day: "Mommy, I just saw a cow wearing earrings," says my 4-year-old son, who spots a milk cow with tags in his ears grazing in a pasture.Sound bite of the day: We hop on the Cassville Car Ferry (pictured above), which has been transporting cars and people across the…
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Bigelow Tea
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Bigelow Tea Declares its Salute to the July 4th Holiday!
3 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amAs the July 4th Holiday is upon us, Bigelow Tea takes pride in reminding us of the important role that Tea played in the history of our country, even sparking outrage that eventually led to American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Image courtesy of Wikipedia That “nice cup of tea” sure packed a wallop throughout history! Of course we all know the story of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, a revolt against “taxation without representation” in Boston. It’s one of the many historic events that we have explored in the Bigelow Tea Blog in… -
Join Cindi Bigelow on a Video Tour of the Charleston Tea Plantation!
2 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amA little Southern hospitality goes a long way in South Carolina’s Wadmalaw Island, home of America’s only tea garden, the Charleston Tea Plantation. Cindi Bigelow gives a fun and informative video tour of the idyllic plantation, purchased by the Bigelow family in 2003. The plantation receives over 30,000 visitors each year, many of whom are curious to see a real, unique tea garden - in all its 127-acre splendor - and perhaps want to plan their weddings/special events on the grounds or to explore the rich history of Charleston or to simply just enjoy a lovely a cup of the… -
Just the TEA facts, please!
1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amAs the most widely consumed beverage in the world other than water, tea can still be a mystery to some people. Tea is steeped in many traditions and legends, and the history of tea is quite fascinating - but the Western World may still be playing catch up with the east on many things tea. For instance, it wasn’t until 1905 that the tea plant received its official Latin name, Camellia sinensisMany western scientists at the time were not aware that Black, Green, Oolong and White tea production all came from this singletea plant. Image courtesy of plantoftheweek.org One of the biggest… -
A Bigelow Tea Visit to Red Sox Nation: A True Homerun!
30 Jun 2009 | 3:00 amOn a beautiful, sunny spring day in May, Bigelow Tea hosted a special event filled with a truly memorable day of fun and learning at Fenway: the oldest baseball park in our country. The day’s events included tea education along with a Bigelow Tea tasting followed by a once in a lifetime talk with Terry Francona and concluding with a moving tour of Fenway Park. Carrie Hammond, Marketing Manager, Terry Francona, Red Sox Manager, Sherri Luba, Marketing Administrative Assistant, Scott Ricci, Marketing Director Red Sox Manager, Terry Francona, was a true gentleman; taking time to chat with… -
A Bigelow heads to Appalachia
29 Jun 2009 | 3:00 amYou all might recall that every year I head down to West Virginia for the Appalachian mountains to help work on homes for a week with about 150 people. This is a program for youths, of which I am a crew advisor. This year we have 163 people heading down, more than any other year! I have to say, I am really looking forward to it. It is always challenging to finish up everything in the office and my home before I go, but if there is a week worth preparing for, this is it. Anyway, I can’t wait to go and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! So this week will be a tad…
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Boeing
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Feels like the first time
2 Jul 2009 | 12:17 pmWe’ve mentioned that testing and production is continuing on the flight test Dreamliners and other airplanes in assembly. Wednesday, on the flight line in Everett we saw (and heard) evidence of that as we completed engine runs for ZA002, the second flight test 787. Engine runs underway on ZA002. For the sights - and sounds - of ZA002's first engine runs, click above to view a short video. Yesterday’s tests began at around 9 a.m. with two dry runs - the first one without fuel and the second with fuel. After an inspection, early in the afternoon the engines were powered up for real. A… -
Le sourire de la Joconde
30 Jun 2009 | 5:30 pmIt's been a challenging couple of weeks, as you can imagine. But I wanted to make sure - before we get too far removed from Le Bourget - to share some final sights, sounds and thoughts from the Paris Air Show. A French colleague of mine observed that assessing the results from Paris is a little like trying to interpret le sourire de la Joconde, the smile of "La Joconde" (the Mona Lisa). That sounds just about right. Crowds gaze upon La Joconde - the Mona Lisa - in all her glory at the Louvre in Paris during air show week. She is beguiling and yet mysterious as ever. Much like this year's air… -
Come together
29 Jun 2009 | 12:58 pmWe've joined the wing to the fuselage for the first 747-8 Freighter. In the final assembly bay in Everett, our team has attached the 40-foot (12 meter) center fuselage section to the wing. This first 747-8 is now more than 60% complete, and the entire fuselage is in final assembly. Next step is to prepare the wing and center section for final body join, connecting these assemblies to the forward and aft fuselage sections. As the photos show, momentum is continuing on the 747-8 Freighter as we move forward toward first flight later this year. It's a new, high-capacity 747 offering the lowest… -
First flight - postponed
23 Jun 2009 | 4:21 pmBy now, you’ve seen the news about the postponement of the 787 first flight due to the need to reinforce a limited area of the airplane’s structure. I can tell you that here in Renton where I work, as well as in Everett and across Boeing, there’s a sense of disappointment. That’s understandable. As 787 Program chief Scott Fancher told employees today, it's especially difficult given we were so close to getting the airplane in the air. But is this a devastating piece of news? Not from my perspective. Our test program is designed to do just what it has done - find issues. Commercial… -
Crystal blue persuasion
18 Jun 2009 | 2:36 pmLE BOURGET, FRANCE - As is the case when any new concept or innovation is introduced, getting the world on board the notion of sustainable biofuels for aviation could require some further "green" persuasion. I totally get that. But we now have some good, solid research to back up the commitment of Boeing and the industry to finding new renewable energy sources for use in airplanes and airline operations. My colleague, Bill Glover, managing director of Environmental Strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, led a media briefing here at the Paris Air Show this week. Bill Glover makes a point…
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BreakingPoint Labs
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Taking A Look at OWAMP
29 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmThe One-Way Active Measurement Protocol or OWAMP was developed by the IP Performance Metrics Working Group (IPPM) as a part of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IPPM Working Group, which I am involved with, develops metrics and processes for measuring IP performance in networks; OWAMP is one of those protocols. Specified in RFC 4656, OWAMP creates a process by which one-way measurements such as latency and packet loss may be made. In reality, OWAMP is the umbrella specification for two underlying protocols: OWAMP-Control (OWAMP-C) and OWAMP-Test (OWAMP-T). OWAMP-C runs over TCP… -
Resiliency Testing Critical to U.S. Cyber Infrastructure
24 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pmIt appears that talk about the United State’s plans for beefing up our country’s cyber infrastructure is finally turning into action with new details emerging about government plans to create U.S. Cyber Command. Just this week, Defense Secretary Gates approved the creation of U.S. Cyber Command (or "Cybercom). Jaikumar Vijayan wrote the story for Computerworld and explained: The proposal to create the new command has been expected for some time and is part of an effort to address growing threats to Defense Department and Pentagon networks from foreign and domestic threats. Those of you in… -
Constantly Hacking Ruby Constants
22 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pmHere at BreakingPoint, we write all of our application simulation code in Ruby. Lately, I've been working on adding a slew of new behaviors to our IMAPv4 implementation so users can fine-tune their IMAP Application Simulator and Client Simulator flows. At first, this seemed like it would mean a whole lot of typing to wire up twelve new actions. Instead of copying and pasting all over the place (and dreading the possibility of fixing the same bug in fifteen zillion places), I needed to come up with a code reuse technique that takes advantage of the existing codebase written using standardized… -
End Pointless Testing; Realistic and Blended App Traffic Is A True Test
17 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pmI’m Mike Hamilton, BreakingPoint’s Director of Product Management. My first blog post centers around a familiar topic, the importance of testing with realistic application traffic. BreakingPoint supports more than 75 application protocols, and we constantly add additional protocols to help our customers build better, faster, and more reliable products. Understanding these protocols is important as you look to test more realistically. Today I am introducing a new series of resources, one page documents describing each of the 75+ application protocols we support natively, starting with… -
Server Load Balancer Testing Methodology Published
15 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pmThis morning we published our latest methodology for realistic testing of server load balancers. Server load balancers are such an integral piece of networking equipment and the adoption of virtualization and cloud computing, as well as the overall increase of network load, have made them an even hotter topic. As with our firewall testing and IPS testing methodologies, the server load balancer testing methodology demonstrates, in great detail including screenshots, how to configure a load balancer and set up the testing tools. Some highlights from the methodology: Testing the number…
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Chrysler
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Yamaha Riders Handle HEMI Challenger
2 Jul 2009 | 3:51 pmMotoGP Fiat Yamaha Team riders former World Champion Valentino Rossi (right) and Jorge Lorenzo (left) switched gears to the 425-horsepower 6.1-liter HEMI engine of the Dodge Challenger SRT8 as they prepare for the MotoGP Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix races in Laguna Seca, California. While it’s not as nimble as their MotoGP bikes, the modern version of this iconic American muscle car sets its own performance standards whether on the street or on the track with a top speed of 170 mph. Rossi is only the second rider in MotoGP history to reach the milestone of 100 Grand Prix victories. -
Recycling to Save Money and Help Environment
1 Jul 2009 | 1:12 pmEmployees at Chrysler are pitching in, helping the company's recycling efforts and saving a lot of money in the process. -
Ram Ranked as Best Truck Ever (No Exaggeration)
29 Jun 2009 | 2:50 pmThe "best ever" - it's a trite phrase. But owners spoke up, and what they said indicates that Chrysler Group LLC is headed in the right direction. The Dodge Ram scored the highest scored the highest Total Quality score ever for a truck in the 15-year history of Strategic Vision Inc.’s study. The Total Quality Index (TQI) surveys owners to rate all aspects of the ownership experience from buying and owning to performance and driving. According to Strategic Vision; “Customers specifically noted that the Ram has the best added storage capability along with the best… -
Restart Day
29 Jun 2009 | 1:39 pmFor the first time since the beginning of May, vehicles were rolling down the assembly lines at 7 Chrysler plants. For a look at the first day back at Warren (Mich) Truck Assembly, one of two plants where the Dodge Ram piokup is built, please watch this video. -
Under the Pentastar: June 26, 2009
26 Jun 2009 | 10:49 amThis week's Under the Pentastar includes Eyes on Design, Cruise Nights at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, quality improvments, and organizational changes.
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Cisco
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Cisco Live Blogger Meetup
2 Jul 2009 | 3:32 pmBlogger meetups and tweetups are becoming acceptable forums for people with common interests to come together, share ideas and build meaningful relationships. With this year’s Cisco Live! User Conference located in San Francisco and the massive blogger community based in the Bay Area, we decided to get into the meetup and tweetup mix. We hosted our first blogger meetup at the W Hotel in San Francisco last night. Aside from the exchange of business cards (and occasional cocktail), it was great to witness the exchange of good conversations and ideas about technology and the power of the… -
Husk Power Systems Wins Cisco-DFJ Global Business Plan Competition
2 Jul 2009 | 2:20 pmCisco and leading global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) announced Husk Power Systems as the winner of our first co-sponsored Global Business Plan Competition for university students this week. Husk Power Systems designs and operates miniature power plants that convert rice husks into electricity, serving off-grid rural Indian villages. The team, whose members are University of Virginia, Darden School of Business 2009 graduates, will receive a $250,000 investment from DFJ and Cisco to help take the company to their next stage. -
From CiscoLive! 2009 in San Francisco
2 Jul 2009 | 1:32 pmGoing into CiscoLive! in San Francisco, we asked our Cisco Twitter-ers (@CiscoSystems, @padmasree to name a few) to gather questions for Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers to answer from the show. This was our first Twitter Q&A and we loved hearing what was on your mind. Thanks to all of our followers for the great questions and feedback. -
Cisco Twitter Follower THROWDOWN!!
1 Jul 2009 | 10:01 amFirst, there was Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) versus CNN (@cnnbrk) to see who would be the first twitter account to have 1,000,000 followers…now the next gauntlet has been thrown down. In his introduction today of Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior (@Padmasree on twitter), the executive host of CiscoLive!Cisco SVP Carlos Dominguez (@carlosdominguez) challenged her to the NEXT, BIG TWITTER FOLLOWER COMPETITION!!! -
John Chambers @ CiscoLive: “The Future is about speed, scale and flexibility.”
30 Jun 2009 | 11:42 amI’ve just finished watching the CiscoLive keynote webcast of Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers from San Francisco. All this talk of video, collaboration and virtualization makes much sense to me as I’m a whopping 45 miles away in San Jose and still getting much the same experience. The following are notes I jotted down while watching the webcast. SVP Carlos Dominguez (@carlosdominguez on twitter) was funny in his intro and welcome…said this was his 17th year at Cisco and the great executive perks that he gets are limited to having a better executive…
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Clorox
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Orange Spots on Green Items
2 Jul 2009 | 5:40 amQ. We are having a problem with our dark to light green towels and bed sheets getting orange spots and blotches in the wash. Can you advise what may be causing this to happen to our towels and sheets? We use a whole house filter and do not have any problems with “rust” or other spotting on any other colors we wash. We use Tide and only on occasion will we use Clorox bleach, and then always on whites ONLY, diluted with the wash water before adding whites. A. This a tough one without seeing the specific items. A couple of possibilities after you ruled out the mineral/rust… -
Is Clorox2® Non-Chlorine Bleach?
30 Jun 2009 | 12:49 pmQ. Is Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster safe to use on garments with washing instructions that read “use only non-chlorine bleach”? A. The short answer to your question is YES! Our Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster has hydrogen peroxide as it’s active ingredient and is in the class of oxygen, color-safe (or non-chlorine) bleach. Compare this to our Clorox® Regular-Bleach, which uses sodium hypochlorite as it’s active ingredient and is in the class of chlorine bleach. Usually garment manufacturers place the “Use only non-chlorine bleach” washing… -
Whitening Antique Scarves
25 Jun 2009 | 6:38 amQ. I have several sets of old dresser scarves that are gray and dingy. I would like to whiten them but am not sure what mixture of Clorox and/or soap to use. A few of them were hand embroidered by my grandmother and I would hate to ruin that in some way. Is it safe to soak these in a solution of liquid Tide, water and Clorox? What proportions should I use? A. I am always cautious attempting to restore family heirlooms. You didn’t indicate if they are all white or if the embroidery has any light colored stitching. First, I probably would try an extended presoak with Clorox2® Stain… -
Yellowing From Bleach
23 Jun 2009 | 2:38 pmQ. I put bleach on a pair of shorts - now they are yellow. How can I get them back to white? A. Afraid I may not have good news for you. I assume that you placed concentrated bleach directly on the shorts and after washing you have a yellow spot. First, I NEVER recommend using Clorox® Regular-Bleach full-strength on any item or surface. Soaking is OK, but normally I recommend 1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach/gallon of cool water and only 5-10 minutes of soaking. It should always be diluted because it is so strong and concentrated. Used like this, it can actually cause yellowing by either… -
How Much Bleach Is Too Much?
18 Jun 2009 | 9:08 amQ. I would like to ask if you can use too much bleach in a wash load? Let me explain: My husband is a chef. His chef coats are 100% cotton. He will soak them over night in up to 3 cups of bleach, hot water, dish detergent and laundry soap (liquid right now). His chef coats have been turning yellow. Admittedly,we have extremely hard water. Please let me know if there is a way to get the yellow out and what is the maximum amount of bleach he should be using. A. A couple of concerns with your laundry approach. First, the amount of bleach and the second is the hard water. The yellowing may be…
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Coca-Cola
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Dispatches From Denver - Coca-Cola Trivia
2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmFor the past ten years, Randy Schaeffer and Bill Bateman have presented one of the favorite events at the Coca-Cola Collectors Club Annual Meeting - Coca-Cola Jeopardy. This year in Denver was no exception. As the game goes on for almost an hour, I only video taped the portion of the program where they introduce the categories, but I think you will enjoy both the humor and the audience participation. -
Dispatches from Denver - Small Collectibles
2 Jul 2009 | 7:47 amRoger Robinson and Dale Wohlgemuth gave a fascinating presentation about small collectibles. I always enjoying learning something new from collectors who specialize in an area and love what they collect. In this case, we all learned about the wide variety of pencils, pens, openers and buttons. We took a few minutes after the presentation to speak with Roger about his favorite pencils. -
Dispatches from the Coca-Cola Collectors Club Meeting
2 Jul 2009 | 7:40 amMy next few post will all be done from Denver where I am attending the 35th Coca-Cola Collectors Club Annual Meeting. I will be posting photos and videos of interesting artifacts, collectors or stories I see here. I hope you enjoy this first video which features the Coca-Cola Trayders, Randy Schaeffer and Bill Bateman, two college professors who bring their thirst for knowledge to the collecting field. Bill and Randy do a presentation where they select a few Coca-Cola artifacts and give a detailed overview of the item and its historical context. We shot the videos with a… -
Coca-Cola Inspired Fashion
1 Jul 2009 | 1:13 pmI recently received a comment in the blog mailbox from Doris Treptow, Professor of Fashion at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), bringing the work of one of her students to our attention. We reached out to the student, Hannah Long to see if she would let us showcase her design. Hannah agreed and gave the following information about her project: "I am thrilled that you chose my InspriRED dress for a blog feature. Below are some more details about the dress. I was inspired to make the dress out of Coke cans because of the bold, red logo of Coca-Cola Classic. The dress… -
Coca-Cola Archives In The Digital World
1 Jul 2009 | 11:08 amI wanted to make you aware of some other ways that you can connect to learn more in the digital world about the heritage of The Coca-Cola Company and its brands. We have now launched a facebook page and Twitter feed which will feature different content that you might find interesting. If you are a facebook member, search and become a fan of Coca-Cola Archives. If you are on Twitter, you can follow us @Coke_Archives.
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comScore
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A Day in Boston at the Internet Retailer Conference
29 Jun 2009 | 8:45 amLast week, I spoke at the fifth annual Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston. In spite of the continued uncertainty of the economy and the retail market, the conference, which ended Thursday, attracted more than 5,000 attendees and 368... -
The Physics of Online Advertising
16 Jun 2009 | 2:52 pmcomScore’s paper “Whither the Click”, which reveals the significant positive impact of display ads even when there’s no click, is being published in this month's issue of the Journal of Advertising Research. The results have also been cited in a... -
Thoughts on the Media Metrix 360 Announcement at the Conversational Media Summit
8 Jun 2009 | 11:35 amLast Monday I spoke to a packed room at Federated Media’s Conversational Marketing Summit in New York, where I announced comScore’s new digital audience measurement initiative, Media Metrix 360. I’ve known John Battelle for many years and was delighted to... -
Huffington Post Defies Expectations, Reaches New Heights Post-Election
4 Jun 2009 | 1:55 pmIn the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, mainstream America first became acquainted with Huffington Post (aka Huff Post), the popular news aggregator and commentary site. The site featured a swirl of real-time news and analysis that fed the addiction... -
Keeping Score with Social Media Marketing and Measurement: Three Things to Consider Before Getting Started
28 May 2009 | 10:02 amI was a member of the measurement panel at the IAB Social Media Conference recently, and we talked a lot about the social media ‘scorecard.’ There were a variety of perspectives represented as Bryan Wiener, CEO of 360i, moderated the...
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Daimler
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Spirit of Social Responsibility drives Daimler Financial Services in Detroit
1 Jul 2009 | 6:17 amMy name is Jack Ferry and I’m working at Daimler Financial Services in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where we wave the flag of Social Responsibility in the Metro Detroit community. On certain days, entire departments go out and work on housing projects, fixing up schools, building new parks and playgrounds. It’s easy to spot us in our gold t-shirts, blue jeans and of course, work gloves. In June, we got the chance to make a positive contribution to the lives of Metro Detroiters in need. It took a coordinated effort by many in the Daimler family of companies and vendor partners. Daimler… -
Daimler zwitschert jetzt auch offline
30 Jun 2009 | 2:03 amIch bin Diplomandin im Bereich Business Innovation und twittere sowohl beruflich unter Daimler_BI als auch privat unter JulianeMuehling. Per Twitter erhalte ich interessante Informationen – relevant für mein Studium und für die tägliche Arbeit. „Wir könnten uns doch mit anderen twitternden Daimler-Mitarbeitern zum Mittagessen treffen! Schließlich fühlen wir uns sowieso schon irgendwie verbunden und ein persönliches Kennenlernen verspricht neue Einblicke und Kontakte.“ Diesen Gedanken hatten meine Kollegen und ich an einem Freitagabend kurz bevor wir… -
Wem gehört das Auto der Zukunft?
25 Jun 2009 | 12:07 amAls Mitglied von Business Innovation werde ich nächste Woche Mittwoch/Donnerstag bei einem internationalen Strategieworkshop von Daimler mit dabei sein. Dieser wird sich aufgrund der dramatisch veränderten Rahmenbedingungen sicherlich in Vielem von den Workshops der Vergangenheit unterscheiden - nicht zuletzt durch die veränderte Anzahl der Teilnehmer. Ein Teil der Strategiekollegen, die rund um den Globus verteilt sind, werden diesmal lediglich „elektronisch“ per Videokonferenz an unserem Workshop teilnehmen. Einer der Punkte, die uns sicherlich beschäftigen werden,… -
Twitter, Twittagessen und Twitter-Lounge-Night
23 Jun 2009 | 1:28 am3:00 Uhr Nachts. Nachrichten im Radio. Erste Meldung: Twitter verschiebt geplante Wartungsarbeiten auf Bitten der US-Regierung, da der Kurznachrichtendienst für die Opposition im Iran ein wichtiges Kommunikationsmittel ist. Das heute-journal im ZDF hatte auch darüber berichtet. Twitter ist angekommen, mitten im Leben, auch hier, in Deutschland. Daimler verfolgt das Thema im Moment auf einer spannenden Spur; sowohl intern, als auch extern sind Events rund um Twitter in Planung. So ist für Freitag, 26. Juni das erste Twittagessen in der Kantine von Untertürkheim geplant. -
Meine Erfolgsgeschichte: Reaktionen und ungeahnte Auswirkungen
17 Jun 2009 | 11:45 pmEs ist jetzt schon eine Weile her seit ich, „Meine Erfolgsgeschichte beim Daimler“ erzählt habe. Nun möchte ich über die Auswirkungen, die dieser Beitrag ausgelöst hat berichten. Angefangen von den unzähligen positiven Kommentaren der Leser auf meinen Beitrag. Das freute mich sehr und zugleich bestätigte es, dass meine Geschichte wieder Erwarten auf ein großes Interesse gestoßen ist. Einige Kollegen haben mich auch schon mal am Aufzug oder in der Kantine darauf angesprochen, ob ich nicht “der vom Daimler-Blog” sei? Was mich auch sehr…
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Dell
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Share Your Opinion For A Chance to Win $500 From Dell
2 Jul 2009 | 2:10 pmThere's any number of studies that show that consumers trust product opinions from friends, family members and other customers more than they trust what a company says about its own products.. Since 2006, we've added the Ratings and Reviews functionality in multiple countries and added the ability to share them in other social media sites. Many customers have told us that these reviews are helpful during the shopping process. Since the early days, we've amassed thousands of reviews written by people around the world, sharing thoughts about what was great, what wasn't ideal and… -
Why You're Waiting on Your Alienware M17x
2 Jul 2009 | 8:40 amLast week I had the pleasure of emceeing three contests on Twitter for two Alienware M17x laptops and other prizes. I was simply amazed by the sheer number of responses I received. The M17x is a very popular item judging from the responses, and with good reason. It is an amazing machine, simply put. While conducting the contest I received a personal message on twitter from co-optimus.com owner bapenguin, letting me know he had ordered an M17x to review for his site, and his order had been delayed for several weeks. A quick perusal of the internet showed others are experiencing similar… -
Dell Driver Download Manager
1 Jul 2009 | 8:00 amI would like to share some details on an important update for the Drivers & Downloads application on Support.Dell.com. Recently, we completed the launch of the new Dell Driver Download Manager. This new functionality, which is available globally across all of Support.Dell.com, has been created to improve your experience when downloading files from Dell. The big change you will see when using the new Driver Download Manager is an improvement in download speed. The time taken to download files using the Driver Download Manager is a lot shorter, up to a 30-40% reduction, depending on… -
GPS and Wi-Fi Positioning Coming to the Mini 10
30 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amWith the recent buzz around the forthcoming TomTom navigation app for the iPhone and recent report that demand for GPS devices is expected to grow steadily over the next few years, there's no question that there's a lot of interest in the technology. We're betting that location services will be a hit in netbooks as well. Starting next week in the United States, we're offering the Dell Wireless 700 location solution for our Mini 10 netbook that is a combination of hardware and software. The hardware part is an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi… -
Vostro 1220: no-compromise ultraportable laptop
30 Jun 2009 | 9:00 amYou’ve heard a lot in the past few weeks about Dell’s new enterprise solutions for small and medium businesses. At the other end of the spectrum, we’re also helping redefine the way small businesses think about mobile computing. Business is no longer restricted to the office environment, and entrepreneurs need the flexibility to work wherever and however business requires – especially in today’s tough economy. For most small businesses across the globe, laptops continue to be the most critical tools that keep day-to-day business going and growing. That’s…
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Delta
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75 Years of Delta Air Mail Service
2 Jul 2009 | 11:35 amThis July 4th is a special one Delta! We celebrate 75 years of carrying the mail by air. On July 4, 1934, 7-passenger Stinson T planes took off to fly Air Mail Route 24, between Fort Worth, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina. Here is the one piece of commemorative mail from that day, now housed in the Delta Archives: Winning an air mail contract made possible Delta’s real transition from crop duster to passenger-carrying airline. With the revenue from the mail, we soon started up passenger service again, which had been suspended since 1930, and grew into a national… -
Happy Fourth of July!
1 Jul 2009 | 2:03 pmHappy Fourth of July! Nothing quite like the Fourth of July in the nation’s capital. We’re in Washington playing a three game series against the Nationals this weekend and will be on the road all the way through the All Star Break (July 13-15). We’ll go to Chicago and Denver before we come home for a couple weeks. I’m sure many of you have great plans for Independence Day – unfortunately, I’ll be missing the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. This is the 40th year of the race, held every year on the Fourth of July. 55,000 runners will start at Lenox Square in Buckhead and finish in… -
The Latest Wings With Wi-Fi (Part XIII)
26 Jun 2009 | 1:18 pmHello from Delta WHQ in Atlanta…where it’s a hot and humid 94 degrees. It’s time for another Wi-Fi update…here goes: Our first widebody with Wi-Fi – ship 139 – will be the 767-300 prototype. Installation is scheduled to be complete on July 9 with the test flight scheduled for July 13. On the narrowbody side, the 737-700 prototype is scheduled for early September. 737-800 production is expected to start on July 26. On the pre-merger Northwest fleet, engineering teams have been establishing the scope of work for the 757-200 fleet. The A319/A320 final design review is… -
Photo of the Week: Early Red Coats
26 Jun 2009 | 9:24 amIt’s good to see the Red Coats back and celebrating almost 50 years of special airport service for Delta customers. We first introduced these special Passenger Service Agents in the early 1960s, and they were quickly nicknamed “Red Coats” for their bright uniform jackets (shown here in this 1970s photo). I’ve heard though, that the signature red jacket was not always red. One of our early agents told me that Delta first tested yellow jackets–yellow being the favorite color of C. E. Woolman, Delta’s principal founder and first CEO. After a… -
Fasten Your Seatbelts New York and Minneapolis – Delta’s Party in the Sky is Taking Off Sunday!
25 Jun 2009 | 3:34 pmHappy Pride everyone! This weekend marks Delta’s continuing presence at Pride events held throughout the U.S. Hundreds of Delta employees will participate in New York City’s Heritage of Pride celebration and the Twin Cities Pride celebration in Minneapolis. And we haven’t forgotten our hometown…Pride events in Atlanta have moved to Halloween weekend this year and Delta will again be an official sponsor. So, what do we have planned for the big weekend? Delta’s Marketing team, working with several of our agency partners, will ensure the rainbow colors are flying high –…
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EMC
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links for 2009-07-03
3 Jul 2009 | 11:07 amMain Page - WikiEducator E-Learning Curve Blog: Learning Professionals’ Skills 2.0 – Learning Circuits Big Question July 2009 not sure why he doesn't think any of this is "sexy" (tags: learning2.0 skills) Clive on Learning: Big Question: What new skills and knowledge are required for learning professionals? (tags: learning2.0 skills) Engaging young people in STEM is a community job - Mass High Tech Business News Authored by gminks. Hosted by Edublogs. -
July’s Big Question: New Skills for Learning Professionals
3 Jul 2009 | 7:45 amJuly’s big question is very timely for me! Here is the question: In a Learning 2.0 world, where learning and performance solutions take on a wider variety of forms and where churn happens at a much more rapid pace, what new skills and knowledge are required for learning professionals? This week my Web 2.0 Learning and Performance started. I’m keeping a blog for the course, as are most other people. Someone is already asking about what are the most important things to know as educators about Web 2.0. The Technology I think there are some basic technology tools that need to be… -
A Canadian CAN make it to the medal podium!
2 Jul 2009 | 4:41 pmThank you all who voted – the tally is in, and I’m very honored to be held in this company in the #3 spot! http://vsphere-land.com/news/and-the-winners-of-the-vmware-top-blog-are.html To Duncan, Scott, Eric, Mike, Rich, Jason, Gabe, and MikeD – congratulations also, I do indeed look at you as my friends and colleagues. To all who voted, thank you! It’s a labor of love, and I love the dialog – please continue, and if there are things you want to see discussed, please let me know! -
Hou-chan One Million
2 Jul 2009 | 12:16 pmI'm a big believer in if you throw enough money at a problem you can make it go away. Now usually that's not the case, but in this case I'm right. Looky. Dear Fellow APJ Employees, I am writing to make you aware of a support group that has been established to help raise funds for the life-saving surgery of Houku Katagiri (Hou-chan), the 2-year old son of Katagiri-san, a fellow EMC employee in Japan. Late last year, Hou-chan was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy which is an incurable heart disease that takes the lives of 50 percent of those afflicted within one year. Heart… -
links for 2009-07-02
2 Jul 2009 | 11:07 amPerformanceXpress (tags: hpt web2.0) New skills for learning professionals — Informal Learning Blog (tags: web2.0 learning professional) Customizing your edublog with widgets and themes (tags: edublogs slideshare) Authored by gminks. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Improving Sharing Through Control, Simplicity and Connection
1 Jul 2009 | 11:11 amThe power to share is the cornerstone of Facebook. Privacy and the tools for tailoring what information is shared with whom are at the heart of trust. Over the past five years, Facebook has learned that effective privacy is grounded in three basic principles: Control. When people can easily control the audience for their information and content, they share more and they're able to better connect with the people who matter in their lives.Simplicity. When tools are simple, people are more likely to use them and understand them.Connection. With effective tools, people can successfully balance… -
Connecting and Sharing the Army Way
30 Jun 2009 | 11:22 amLieutenant Colonel (LTC) Kevin Arata is the Director of the Online and Social Media Division of the U.S. Army. Since January 2009, he's worked on developing different social media platforms as methods of communication for the Army. We've asked him to share some of the ways that soldiers are using Facebook to connect with each other and their families. Some people are shocked when they see a Facebook status update or message coming from a deployed soldier. At the U.S. Army, we see it as another positive move that allows our soldiers to feel connected to friends and family at home, even when… -
Savoring Summertime with the Arts on Facebook
25 Jun 2009 | 6:00 pmThe following is part of our series on different ways you can use Facebook to connect with public figures and organizations around the world. Read the previous blog post in this series here. Summer Solstice has just passed, and around this time I take my annual stock of summertime plays, operas and ballets offered in my area and in places I hope to visit in the coming months. I always collect an endless wish list of events that are tailored to relaxing summer afternoons and long, sky-lit evenings. Yet despite my best efforts to keep track of seasonal offerings, the litany of websites I visit… -
More Ways to Share in the Publisher
24 Jun 2009 | 11:13 amUPDATE on June 24: We've received some questions in the comments about default privacy settings for this beta. Nothing has changed with your default privacy settings. The beta is only open to people who already chose to set their profile and status privacy to "Everyone." For those people, the default for sharing from the Publisher will be the same. If you have your default privacy set to anything else—such as "Friends and Networks" or "Friends Only"—you are not part of this beta. Today, we're launching a beta version of an improved Publisher—the main place to add content such as photos,… -
What’s in a Name?
22 Jun 2009 | 3:35 pmEveryone has a name, but some people are known by more than one. I am one of them. I grew up in Taiwan and all of my friends in Taiwan recognize me by my Chinese name, while the friends I've made after I moved abroad know me by my English name. Both are part of my real identity, but until now I could only show one name in my Facebook account. This made it difficult for all of my friends to connect with me. I've even received messages from old friends asking who I was before they would approve my friend request because they didn't recognize my name, even though the profile photo looked…
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FedEx: Citizenship Blog
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Memories of Patriotic Service and Special Deliveries
2 Jul 2009 | 7:56 amAs the United States is preparing to celebrate its 233rd birthday, I'm reminded of all the great reasons that make this country great. Baseball, Apple Pie and Cracker Jacks come to mind, but also all the men and women who have served and are serving our country at the local, state and national level. I'm also reminded of a great event that took place a little less than a year ago in Austin, Texas. The Texas Military Forces Museum needed a special delivery of some historical World War II artifacts.read more -
A Discussion on the RLA and UPS Campaign
24 Jun 2009 | 6:06 amThere is a campaign in Washington that threatens the ability of FedEx and its team members to serve our customers. For the past few months, FedEx Express has been the target of an extensive special-interest lobbying campaign by UPS to have Congress pass legislation to change our status under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). read more -
FedEx Donates "Key to Life" to Salvation Army
8 Jun 2009 | 3:09 pmMajor Steve Morris is Area Commander for the Salvation Army-National Capital Area Command in D.C. On May 28, FedEx donated a brand new Disaster Response Unit (DRU) canteen truck to the Command. At the DRU dedication event, Major Morris took the ignition key to the vehicle, held it up high in view of the crowd, and said "This is not just a key - it represents life." Joe Gibbs, former coach of the Washington Redskins, added excitement to the special occasion, as did professional NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, also on hand for the event.read more -
Intelligent Access
3 Jun 2009 | 8:21 amAccess is how we all plug into the world. Whether you’re collaborating across continents or making a purchase from your cell phone, Access makes these exchanges possible. Access and the connections it enables are essential resources. The good news is Access is not only a renewable resource, but an ever-expanding one as well. As Access expands it must be matched by smarter Access — or “Intelligent Access” as we’ve come to call it. read more -
Safety: Top Down and All The Way Home
2 Jun 2009 | 8:10 amWhen you think of “safety”, what jumps to mind? Is it wearing safety shoes or using defensive driving techniques or stretching before lifting properly? At FedEx, safety is as simple and as complicated as this: it’s the bedrock of our company and the heart of our People-Service-Profit philosophy. read more
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Fandango
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Fanboy Fix: 'Predators', 'Thor' and 'The A-Team'
2 Jul 2009 | 1:14 pmRobert Rodriguez is already hard at work producing a new installment in the Predator franchise, titled Predators, and while rumors with regards to who'll be directing the film have been floating around these past few weeks, AICN has finally confirmed (via Rodriguez himself) that Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored) has been chosen to helm the new Predators update. Speaking to AICN about the decision to hire Antal, Rodriguez said this about the upcoming movie (which will be shot entirely in Austin at Rodriguez's own Troublemaker Studios): "I can't go too much into the story right… -
Who Will Win the Weekend? 07/03 – 07/05
2 Jul 2009 | 12:27 pmLast week was a no-brainer, and all of us watched as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen absolutely demolished the competition with just over $200 million for its five-day opening. But with some iffy buzz, can the giant robot flick still defeat a new Johnny Depp/Christian Bale movie and a highly-anticipated animated sequel? Let's see what we've got here: Public EnemiesWhat's the Scoop: In this Michael Mann-directed film, Johnny Depp stars as real-life gangster John Dillinger, while Christian Bale plays the FBI agent assigned to track him down once and for all.Why It Might Win the… -
Quick Hits: 'Potter', 'Avatar', 'Iron Man 2' and More!
1 Jul 2009 | 4:53 pmDon't feel like surfing through multiple sites to get caught up on today's movie news? Fear not, my friends – welcome to Quick Hits, where you'll surely be able to devour the latest news way faster than it takes me to figure out just what exactly this Avatar film is all about.Here Comes Harry – In anticipation of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, new clips from the film have popped up on Moviefone and iTunes. Additionally, British actor Bill Nighy was cast in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in an unspecified role. [The Independent]New… -
Trailer Watch: 'Couples Retreat', 'Chipmunks' Sequel and 'The Informant'
1 Jul 2009 | 4:25 pmThree trailers for three very different movies arrived online within the past 24 hours, and I guarantee there's something here for everyone. Let's take a look…Couples Retreat [Watch Trailer]What's the Scoop: Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau reunite for this romantic comedy about a group of dysfunctional husbands and wives who travel to a beautiful resort destination as part of a package that includes couples therapy, but little did they realize how intensive the therapy was actually going to be. Hilarity (and shots of a crystal clear blue ocean) ensues. Who's In It: Vince… -
Michael Jackson Music Video Road Trip
1 Jul 2009 | 3:35 pmWith the passing of Michael Jackson, we started to think of all of his great music videos and where exactly they were shot. Since everyone is camping out at either Neverland, his rented mansion in Holmby Hills or his parents estate in Encino, we thought we'd take fans on a road trip of some of the locations used in Michael Jackson's greatest videos. What are some of those great music videos, you ask? We've put together a small sampling of five of his best to check out here. Although he certainly didn't invent the medium of the music video, Jackson probably did as much as…
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Fiskars
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I’m Off!
2 Jul 2009 | 9:30 pmThe car is almost packed and then we are off to Cape Cod for a week of sand castles, crab catching, kite flying, bike riding and just plain beach bummin’. We won’t have internet access so I’m going to miss all my Fisk-a-Friends. This is the first time that I will be away since I joined in Dec. 2006. I am plaining on taking lots of pictures that will keep me scrappin for quite some time. Emily is already talking about the mini-album that we are going to make together. Very exciting! So here’s a challenge for You. I love red, white and blue pages and I love… -
A Year Filled with Fisk-a-Friendships. Thank You.
2 Jul 2009 | 2:47 pmTHE FISKATEER WAY I, (your name), accept the duties that come with being a Fiskateer. I promise to encourage other crafters I meet along my journey and pass on the techniques, knowledge and love that have been shared with me. I will always be upfront and transparent about my membership in the Fiskateers. I am here because I choose to be here and reserve the right to freely express my views to Fiskars and the ambassador community in an honest, respectful manner at all times. Above all, I vow to have fun fellowshipping with my fellow crafters and, if the opportunity presents itself, as… -
Coming Soon to a Store Near You
2 Jul 2009 | 9:20 amIt’s our favorite part of the summer- Fiskars has released sneak peeks of the new products they have in production for this season. In other words, it’s CHA sneak peek time! Here are some images that will give you a hint about what we have to look forward to (and if you’re like us and love taking Fiskars’ design surveys, you’ll recognize a lot of the designs you helped Fiskars choose to put in their new production line-up)… So tell us, what do you think? See any future favorites? -
Gardening at the Daniels House
1 Jul 2009 | 8:10 amLast month, we Lead Fiskateers had an opportunity to sit with Brent McHenry from Fiskars Garden and learn about gardening tools. It was pretty interesting for a non-gardener like me. Sometimes I approach a hobby from the “it has cool tools” angle so I can see getting into gardening if I had all the right tools for the job. Funny thing is, I was most excited about Fiskars new rain barrel- and I live in the high desert (check out the rain barrel and, my favorite, the animated rain here: http://www.rain-barrel.com/). Anyway, we do garden a little bit at the Daniels house. … -
Crafting in the Morning
1 Jul 2009 | 8:07 amEmily and Ben are very good sleepers, normally sleeping until at least 8:00 am. But these past few weeks they have been up at 7:00 on the dot! So this morning when I woke up at 6:00, I figured that I might as well get up. And guess what? They Both decided to sleep until 8:30! Oh well. At least I got some crafting done. Priorities, right? I finally finished this layout. I have had these photos printed and the basic design was set, but I hadn’t found the time to get the finishing touches on it. So this morning I went to work and I love it! I used the Upper Crest border…
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Garmin Blog
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Peg’s Posts: Team Garmin fans tuning in
3 Jul 2009 | 2:19 pmWhile Jake’s getting a sideline view of the action as Team Garmin prepares for 3 weeks of racing around France, we stateside fans are prepping in our own way. When the party gets started tomorrow, we’ll be tuning in for instantaneous updates from Jake on Twitter, behind-the-scenes pics on Flickr and of course daily coverage on Versus. It’s the one time of the year I actually sit still long enough to watch a little TV (not counting once every four years for the Olympic marathon and track event coverage). I think my son might follow the TdF action even closer than I do. No surprise, since… -
Garmin + BMW Motorrad = Navigator IV GPS
3 Jul 2009 | 8:00 amBMW motorcycle owners are about to have a new BMW-customized navigator at their fingertips. Today we joined with BMW to announce the next generation BMW Motorrad Navigator, the Navigator IV. This portable GPS device is based on Garmin's zumo 660, but it has customized features specific to the BMW such as a customized four-button mount, unique Bluetooth capabilities and preloaded BMW dealers. This is the fourth generation BMW Motorrad Navigator product, and the previous version, the Navigator III, was based on the StreetPilot 2820. The BMW Motorrad Navigator IV is a top-of-the-line Garmin… -
Ask Garmin: Updating your nüvi, zūmo or GPSMAP software
2 Jul 2009 | 1:19 pmSome customers have asked us to follow-up about last week's mandatory software update decree, and they've specifically asked if all the new software has been released. The answer is a resounding YES! We have free software updates available for the nüvi 7x5 series, nüvi 800 series, nüvi 8x5 series, zūmo 660, GPSMAP 620 and GPSMAP 640. Offering free software is something we regularly do and we've always recommend you update your GPS when new free software is available. However, last week was atypical because the software update was mandatory. If you own one of the GPS devices listed above… -
Garmin Garage: Fun for the Fourth!
2 Jul 2009 | 9:55 amGetting ready to load up the Family Truckster and make your way to friends and family this holiday season? If so, we’ve got two new vehicle icons to help you celebrate in style. Stop by the Garmin Garage today before you hit the road. We've spent the last week getting Topper and Ol' Glory ready to go! They'll look great guiding you from picnic to party to fireworks show and back home again. So if you're traveling near or far, your nüvi will be packed with patriotic pride. Of course, Topper and Ol' Glory aren't the only vehicles you'll find. We've got many more - including last year's… -
Jake's Journal du jour: Stars come out in Monaco
2 Jul 2009 | 7:58 amNeither jet lag nor lost luggage could dampen my mood right now. Plopped down on a lobby couch, looking at Team Garmin physiologist Allen Lim's Forerunner 405CX data and chatting with Kozo Shimano (yes, that Shimano), I was in mid-sentence when a figure strolled up decked out in orange and blue argyle from his smiling face to his lightning-quick feet. You'd never think that someone could bounce back so quickly from fracturing five vertebrae, yet here stood Team Garmin leader Christian Vande Velde looking like he could conquer the world. First stop, Monaco. Even though bicycling's biggest race…
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General Electric
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GE technology a “guardian angel” in the hospital room
23 Jun 2009 | 6:04 amAs you know, the majority of the hospitals today face tough challenges in the delivery of care. Emergency Room waiting times can be excessive. Patient stays in the hospital are often long. And with the expected demand increase due to baby boomers and continued staff shortages and constrained budgets, hospitals are looking for innovative ways [...] -
Waste heat recovery – the hidden source of energy
9 Jun 2009 | 8:48 amI’m Thomas Frey, research scientist at the Alternative Energy Lab of the GE Global Research Center Europe in Garching near Munich, Germany. I’m leader of a project that works on enabling the use of a hidden source of energy. You don’t believe me that there is such a thing? Let me tell you, there is [...] -
Welcome to the Global Research clean room
28 May 2009 | 12:27 pmMy name is Ron Olson and I am the manager of the GE Global Research, Micro and Nano FAB Operations. We have a really incredible space here in Niskayuna, NY and I’ve wanted to contribute to the blog and discuss some of the different capabilities of the clean room for a while. Check out this [...] -
New batteries: from the lab to the marketplace
12 May 2009 | 1:22 pmToday GE announced that we will be building a facility in New York’s Capital Region to manufacturing our sodium metal halide battery. You can find more information about the announcement at any of the following links…. GE Reports: New York Powers Up With New GE Battery Plant Wall Street Journal: GE To Build $100 Million Battery Plant [...] -
GE Brain connects us to our machines
8 May 2009 | 8:38 am“Neo: Is that… Cypher: The Matrix? Yeah. Neo: Do you always look at it encoded? Cypher: Well you have to. The image translators work for the construct program. But there’s way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I…I don’t even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head. Hey, you [...]
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General Motors
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Webchat: Andrew Farah Answers Your Volt Questions
25 Jun 2009 | 10:50 amChevrolet Volt vehicle chief engineer Andrew Farah took the first pre-production Volt for a spin this week and will be on FastLane to chat live with you about it at 4 p.m. EDT today. -
First Pre-production Chevrolet Volt Charges Ahead … of Schedule
24 Jun 2009 | 1:40 pmBy Andrew Farah Chevrolet Volt Vehicle Chief Engineer Nearly two years ago, we put plans in motion to begin building the first pre-production Chevrolet Volts in May 2009. Back in February of this year, I hung a countdown clock on my office wall. It read 99 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes. The countdown had begun to the start of the first Chevrolet Volt pre-production vehicle - May 27, 2009. At the same time, I set a personal goal to be driving in one of these vehicles by the Fourth of July. Yesterday, I drove the first Volt pre-production vehicle - more than a week ahead of schedule, and due in… -
GM = Green Motors?
23 Jun 2009 | 11:40 amBy Beth Lowery GM Vice President, Environment, Energy & Safety Policy Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of environmental professionals who were in Detroit to attend the Air and Waste Management Association’s annual conference and exhibition. I gave a formal speech, but the best part of the morning for me was the question and answer session that followed. I’d like to share some of the questions that were posed, along with my answers, and invite you to ask questions of your own about GM’s efforts to reinvent ourselves as a greener company. Electric… -
What Quality Gap?
22 Jun 2009 | 12:37 pmBy Rick Spina North American Vice President, Quality Today’s quality announcement by J.D. Power and Associates suggest it’s time for perception to sling-shot its way into reality when people think about General Motors — especially when it comes to quality. When I hear or read disparaging remarks about GM vehicle quality, I get rattled because more often than not, the comments are not true. For all the naysayers out there … get this … in the J.D. Power & Associates 2009 Initial Quality Study, Cadillac, our flagship brand, improved by 19 percent since last… -
Webchat: Let’s Talk About GM Quality
19 Jun 2009 | 3:07 pmPlease join Vice President of Quality for GM North America Rick Spina on Monday, June 22 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a one-hour live chat to discuss quality and GM’s results in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2009 Initial Quality Study. Looking forward to hearing from you. - Janine Fruehan, Communications Manager, Product Quality & Safety (Note: While we can’t address specific customer concerns in this chat, resolving them is very important to us. If you have any questions or concerns about a specific GM vehicle you can reach us 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, by calling the…
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Goodwill
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Happy 4th Of July!
3 Jul 2009 | 7:07 amFrom our Goodwill Family to yours, we wish you a safe and happy Independence Day. In honor of the holiday, many Goodwill Retail Stores will have shorter hours so that our employees can also enjoy the holiday. Please check with your local store to see their exact hours.That's the original Star Spangled Banner at right; we're so fortunate here in DC to have a treasure trove of history at our fingertips!Guest Bloggers will return next Friday, with a fresh round of fabulous fashionistas. Know anyone (including you) who should be featured on a Friday? Hit us up at fashion@dcgoodwill.orgFinally,… -
Icon
2 Jul 2009 | 6:00 amWhen I heard about the death of Michael Jackson, initially I didn’t feel much of anything. I had somewhat ambiguous feelings about him like the rest of the world. But when I started listening to his songs, watching his videos and seeing TV coverage of the Jackson Five, I became overcome with grief. I was surprised at my emotional reaction to his death and sought out the cause of my strong feelings.As I looked back, I realized that Michael Jackson was a huge part of my childhood and teenage years. It’s no surprise, considering that so many people grew up listening to his music. You… -
Here's What It Is!
1 Jul 2009 | 2:00 pmIt's a sword case!!Goodwill’s fashion blog provides detailed knowledge and insight on vintage and contemporary clothing and accessories that are valuable to fashion shoppers. The facts and opinions shared present readers with entertaining, exciting and value based information on vintage and contemporary fashion and shopping trends. -
What Is It?!
1 Jul 2009 | 7:42 amDear readers, what is it?!!Goodwill’s fashion blog provides detailed knowledge and insight on vintage and contemporary clothing and accessories that are valuable to fashion shoppers. The facts and opinions shared present readers with entertaining, exciting and value based information on vintage and contemporary fashion and shopping trends. -
It’s Johnson. Betsey Johnson.
30 Jun 2009 | 6:15 amI remember a friend of mine saying this to me with a deep seriousness when I complimented her on a dress she was wearing. Betsey Johnson was her favorite designer, and she was quite pleased with herself for picking up an authentic Johnson.You, too, can pick up an authentic Betsey Johnson for a deep discount on this week’s Goodwill Good Buy of the Week. We have a rose floral print spaghetti strap dress in a size 4 that is in excellent condition. It is a deep rose/burgundy background with large multicolored flowers, and it has panel insets in a light pink floral pattern that compliments the…
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New Blog Search tools: Feeds, Hot Queries and Latest Posts
2 Jul 2009 | 11:50 amEver since the new Google Blog Search homepage launched, we've been fielding requests for a myriad of different features. Today we're happy to announce the launch of our most requested feature: RSS and Atom feeds. Simply click on the links under "Subscribe" in the left-hand column of the Blog Search front page to subscribe to any topic or story in any feed reader, like Google Reader.If you don't use a feed reader, we're also offering an iGoogle gadget that lets you embed the Blog Search front page right inside of your iGoogle page or any other page where iGoogle gadgets are accepted. You can… -
The evolution of Gmail labels
1 Jul 2009 | 12:03 pmI love labels in Gmail. Most email programs use folders, which only let me put mail in one place at a time. With labels, I can organize mail in multiple ways. Combined with filters to automatically label incoming messages, Gmail offers powerful ways to organize email.When I joined the Gmail team, I was surprised to learn that only 29% of Gmail users had created any labels. At first, I thought perhaps conversation threading and search made the need to organize our mail less important. But when we talked to people who use Gmail, we got a different story. People often asked us to add folders to… -
What we've learned about spam
1 Jul 2009 | 9:15 amBlended threats. Payload viruses. Spam. If you're one of the more than 15 million people whose work email is protected by Postini's email security products, we hope you don't spend a lot of time thinking about these things. And if we're doing our job right, they certainly shouldn't be showing up in your inboxes. But we process more than 3 billion business emails per day for our customers, culling the spam, viruses, and other threats out, so we do think about this stuff. A lot.On occasion, we like to share some of what we've learned, so that those of you who are interested can see what… -
Toolbar, now with advanced translation
30 Jun 2009 | 6:06 pmIf you saw this text on a webpage, how would you figure out what it means?Если вы читаете этот текст, вы, вероятно, уже говорите по-русски. Однако миллионы людей не знают русского и не могут прочитать миллионы русскоязычных веб-страниц.*You would likely need to translate manually via our language tools or in Toolbar. Today we're excited to announce that translations will be even easier with the newest release of Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. We have been… -
Celebrating Gay Pride 2009
30 Jun 2009 | 11:36 amAll around Google, we're proud of our work, our culture and, most importantly, our people. In the spirit of celebration, this spring and summer Googlers have participated in Pride celebrations in Tel Aviv, New York, Zürich, San Francisco and many other cities around the world. Pride is a time for the LGBT* community along with families, friends and supporters to stand up for equality, and to honor those who paved the way for us to express sexual orientation and gender identity openly.In the U.S., this year's celebration is historically important: it's the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall…
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Graco
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Celebrating Graco’s 100th Nod!
2 Jul 2009 | 12:24 pmAs many of our readers know, we do something here on the Graco blog called “Monthly Nods.” It’s a little program that allows all of the Graco contributors to choose a favorite post they discovered over the last month and share it with our readers. We think it’s fun, our readers seem to enjoy when we showcase a blog/blogger they haven’t read before and of course, our Nod winners like it too! They get a small prize which they enjoy but I think it’s more the recognition that we all like to get. We launched the monthly nods in February of 2008 and by golly… -
Wondrous Wednesday #79
1 Jul 2009 | 6:14 amMeet my adorable nephew “Little Whip”! He was born yesterday afternoon weighing in at 8lbs. 8oz. and 21 inches long. Mom and Dad say he made his debut with a full head of perfectly styled hair, I guess they put that cute little hat on him so the other babies wouldn’t be jealous Mommy and Baby are happy and healthy! Proud Daddy says based on some of Little Whip’s early expressions it seems he is already in deep thought planning a future business review. Congratulations to all!! Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing a photo showing off a little bit of wonder in the… -
My Last Pregnancy???
30 Jun 2009 | 11:45 amAs my pregnancy is coming to an end (6 more weeks to go!), it has been making me wonder if this is the last time that I will ever experience all of this: the baby kicking, moving, flipping… My pregnancy with PP was complicated. There were concerns about placenta previa, low amniotic fluid and finally (and the thing that caused me to have an induction), poor fetal growth. Needless to say, every doctor appointment I went to was followed by a trip to the hospital for another ultrasound. (I think this is why PP loves having her picture taken!) With this pregnancy, everything has been… -
Graco’s in Atlanta! Today is move-in day.
29 Jun 2009 | 12:30 pmYou may recall our announcement several months ago that we would be taking another step in our 52 year journey. Well, we have taken that step. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter- our first day in Atlanta, Georgia, our new headquarters for Graco and Baby & Parenting Essentials. Already we have been welcomed with a Home & Family Breakfast this morning by our sister company, Calphalon, and later today an Ice Cream Social hosted by another sister company, Goody. Many of us can’t lose sight of the many boxes awaiting our return at home and a small part of us hopes some will… -
What do you think of Graco’s Social Media Program? Take Our Survey!
26 Jun 2009 | 1:41 pmYeah! A survey! I’m sure that was your reaction when you saw this blog post title but hey, every once in a while we have to check in on things. Our social media program is built on relationships with you, our consumer. This survey is intended to better understand who you are and see what you think about what we’ve done so far — all with the intention of building a better social media program and a deeper relationship with you. Sooo…that brings me to this survey– Click here to take the survey We would love for you to take 4.25 minutes to take this survey…
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Guardian
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Gay rights: National pride
3 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmTrawling hard for support in unrewarding times, Labour has made a determined pitch to gay and lesbian voters in the run-up to today's Gay Pride march in London. Gordon Brown's poetic comment on Thursday that "you can't legislate love" was part of an insistent government message that Labour has stood up for gay people through the years, while the Conservatives cannot be trusted with equality.Other ministers went further. The Tory heart remains homophobic, charged Harriet Harman, pointing to the opposition's alliance with anti-gay parties in Europe and its fence-sitting on gay adoption, and… -
PR and prejudice: why rape story erred
3 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmThere is nothing like science for giving that objective, white-coat flavoured legitimacy to your prejudices, so it must have been a great day for Telegraph readers when they came across the headline: "Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists." Ah, scientists. "Women who drink alcohol, wear short skirts and are outgoing are more likely to be raped, claim scientists at the University of Leicester." Well there you go.Oddly, though, the title of the press release for the same research was: "Promiscuous men more likely to rape." Normally we berate journalists for… -
In praise of ... Fred Perry
3 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmSo, the 75-year reign of Fred Perry over British tennis extends for another 12 months. This in spite of the fact that Perry was something of an outsider to the English imagination when he claimed his three Wimbledon singles crowns. Together with the gloriously named Bunny Austin, Perry secured four Davis Cup wins for his country, and yet the state-school-educated son of a Labour MP did not fit in at the All-England Club. The colonels who controlled tennis then were the type to believe that it was un-English to run on the battlefield; on the tennis court they took exception to Perry's urgent… -
Reith lectures: Of markets and morality
3 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pm"The public gets what the public wants," sang the Jam, and then lines later, "the public wants what the public gets." In the age when political platforms are based on a handful of individuals passing round animal shapes in a Travelodge, the distinction is a slight one. Focus-group consumerism reduces public life to the managerial task of servicing wants. Over the last month, Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University has used the Reith lectures - the last of which is being repeated at 10.15pm on Radio 4 tonight - to make the case for richer political debate.It is fitting that the lectures… -
Is there pensions apartheid? Well, if you're a nurse there is
3 Jul 2009 | 2:00 pmFalse Tory outrage at fat-cat pubic sector benefits is a crude sleight of hand to divert voters' attention from the real wealth gapIndignation at "gold-plated" public sector pensions is the latest wave in the Conservative campaign to create a groundswell of support for spending cuts and shrinking the size of the state. Rightwing thinktanks, encouraged by David Cameron and even by the sainted Vince Cable in the Mail on Sunday, have just produced a series of reports attacking public-sector pensions. It is a deft diversion from the real fat-cat pensions of Fred Goodwin (now reduced to £342,500…
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Hewlett-Packard
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WJA: HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 has Launched, 10.1 updated as well
3 Jul 2009 | 3:25 pmHP Web Jetadmin 10.2 (10.2.58560) has launched. There are a lot of really great new features that have been added with a couple altered or removed all-together. Give yourself some time to absorb the new features and treat this like a major upgrade. While the release notes show the detailed "What's New" information, here are some of the highlights I'm mainly appreciative of ......(read more) -
Free Webinar: HP Operations Manager i Software Deep Dive Presentation
2 Jul 2009 | 4:34 pmMy colleague and consolidated event management expert Jon Haworth is the guest speaker at an upcoming Vivit webinar on Tuesday July 21 . Vivit is the independent HP Software users community. Jon will talk about using an operations bridge effectively and how the latest advanced correlation and visualization technology can help you reduce downtime. His presentation will address:• What are the major differences between HP Operations Manager and HP Operations Manager i software?• How does Topology Based Event Correlation (TBEC) work?• How does HP OMi fit into… -
Blog wars and cat fights - do you care?
2 Jul 2009 | 11:07 amBy Calvin Zito Alex McDonald, who I think is a competitive analyst over at NetApp, has been trying his best to make our HP LeftHand solutions look bad compared to his products. It's gone back and forth with lots of comments and posts on both this blog and Alex's. This has me thinking about the value of these public cat fights and whether or not they are helping our customers to better sort fact from fiction. I'm watching my metrics on "page views" on our blog and clearly, a lot of you like to read these type of blog posts. Every… -
Interconnect technologies: InfiniBand, 1G Ethernet, 10G Ethernet
2 Jul 2009 | 9:40 amInterconnect is an integral part of any scale-out solutions. The question often asked is something like "which interconnect should I use for my next scale-out project?" Well, a simple answer is "it depends". For many applications in the high performance computing (HPC) area, their performance highly depends on the latency and bandwidth of the interconnect fabric -- majority of MPI-based parallel applications are in this category. InfiniBand has been proven to be the best choice for these applications. In the latest released… -
Building an eco-system information backbone
2 Jul 2009 | 5:19 amA couple posts ago, I discussed the role of IT in manufacturing outsourcing . I'd like to come back to this topic, and discuss more in details the need for a cross-enterprise backbone allowing the companies members of the eco-system to share information in an easy and transparent manner. Obviously, the same backbone may serve the collaboration requirements highlighted in my last post, titled " eco-system collaboration, from tools to an integrated approach. " Today most companies are...(read more)
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Hitachi Data Systems
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AMS - Not Your Mother’s Modular Storage!
29 Jun 2009 | 5:08 amNote: This post was updated on 6/30/09. This morning Hitachi Data Systems announced some new enhancements to the AMS 2000 modular storage platform. These new enhancements include Dynamic Provisioning, Dense Expansion Trays, AMS 2500DC for NEBS compliance, 8Gbs FC storage ports, and security enhancements. Since we began shipping the AMS 2000 platform in October of last year we have shipped over 60PB on this platform, making this one of our more successful storage products in the modular storage market. To understand why this product is has garnered such acceptance we must first understand the… -
How do you thin provision and who needs to know?
23 Jun 2009 | 8:23 amUSP V users are finding it easy to free up 30% to 40 % of existing storage capacity with Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning. The best part is that they can convert their current “fat”, over allocated, volumes to thin provisioned volumes with, no down time to do migration, no rezoning of the SAN, and little or no impact to applications. While the applications are running, we can create a Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning (HDP) pool of storage by using spare capacity or by adding internal or external storage to the USP V/VM. Once the HDP pool is created, we can use the Hitachi Tiered Storage… -
Free Assessment, Free Capacity License, Risk Free Services
17 Jun 2009 | 5:44 amToday, Hitachi Data Systems announced a new service offering called Storage Reclamation Services to help users reclaim allocated but unused space. This service uses a feature of our Dynamic Provisioning product called, Zero Page Reclaim. Zero Page Reclaim is used after a migration or restore of a normal volume into a Dynamic Provisioning pool where the volume is mapped into 42 MB page stripes. The microcode examines the pages, and when pages are found to be full of formatting zeros, that page is released back into the pool, leaving behind the pages in the volume that actually contain data. -
Selling less storage is not bad
11 Jun 2009 | 10:30 amBeth Pariseau posted a comment about IDC’s recent report on the drop off in external storage revenue in the 1st quarter of 2009. IDC reported that 1st quarter revenues for external storage declined by $5.6 B, or 18.2 %. It was noted by Beth that all but two of the top five major vendors, Dell and Hitachi, reported double digit declines. While Hitachi did report a loss, HDS realized a 1% gain year over year when measured in constant currency.The drop in revenues was contrasted with a 14.8% growth in capacity. “These contrasting results are due to a combination of currency implications,… -
President Obama and digital data
3 Jun 2009 | 9:07 pmLast night I watched the NBC special ” Inside the Obama White House” . If you didn’t see it click on the link above and checkout some of the videos from that program. The first segment introduces you to the staff, with young twenty type staffers, and everyone on Blackberrys. When I see that I think of the presidential archives that President Bush transferred to the National Archives on January 20th when he left office. There was reported to be about 100 TB which was 50 times more that the amount of digital data that was archived for the Clinton presidency. President Bush…
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Indium Corporation
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Answers to “Evaluating Someone for DOE etc”
26 Jun 2009 | 11:21 amFolks, I posted this a while back. The solutions are in red. Suppose you need to select a consultant or verify the qualifications of some of your staff to perform designed experiments (DOE), statistical process control (span... -
The End of the Professor's Second Visit to ACME
10 Jun 2009 | 9:37 amFolks, the adventures of The Professor continue…...... So far the meeting with The Professor had proven very valuable John thought. He was anxious to hear the other suggestions that The Professor had. The Professor began to speak. “Change-overs are what really hurts ACME’s uptime and hence productivity,” The... -
The Free Lunch
30 May 2009 | 3:19 pmFolks, The continuation of The Professor’s second visit to ACME...... "Well what should we do Professor?" John said weakly. "Clearly, not shut the line down over the lunch hour," The Professor responded quickly. "We can’t," said John, "the operators are all friends and they count on having lunch together." "How... -
The Professor Returns to ACME
27 May 2009 | 3:03 pmFolks, Two weeks passed quickly and The Professor returned to ACME. Patty met him at the door. “Professor, it’s great to see you,” Patty said with enthusiasm. “We collected the uptime data in real time on a laptop, no one has seen that results yet. We wanted it to be... -
Beyond The Theory of Constraints
25 May 2009 | 8:39 amFolks, Business was good at ACME. Even in these challenging times, the company’s three assembly lines could not keep up with demand. John, the manger of the assembly lines, decided to request the funds for an additional assembly line. A member of his team, Patty, suggested he might want...
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Intel
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Friday Night Fights - Intel Style!!!
2 Jul 2009 | 2:09 pm$80,000 in prizes are up for grabs. When gamers get together - great things happen! I’m going to give this site a shot and try my best to frag some of the finest in gaming… that’s right, I’m going to be online - hoping to get some frags!!! Destructoid has brought back Friday Night Fights! The games are ON, and the competition starts Friday July 3rd (here in the US) I’ve never tried Quake Live - so this should be fun! Although, I’m not doing very well on the “Cosmic Cannon” game… (no laughs please!) You can find more data on Friday Night… -
Your Personal Wi-Fi Is Ready To Go
1 Jul 2009 | 8:23 amIntel® My WiFi Technology creates a Wi-Fi hotspot around your laptop that lets you print, share, sync and show wirelessly at home or on the go. This not your normal wireless connection. With your Intel® My WiFi Personal Area Network (PAN), you can connect Wi-Fi enabled devices (printers, digital cameras, personal media players, and speakers) directly to the laptop without cables or a wireless access point. And as you wirelessly move your digital content between your laptop and devices, your laptop can simultaneously be connected to the Internet via your home or any Wi-Fi network. If you… -
Acer Timeline Laptop Makes Me Want to Get Back to School
29 Jun 2009 | 10:09 pmAfter uploading this video earlier today, it really got me thinking how much I’d love to be back in college. No, I wouldn’t trade anything to travel back in time — I like movin’ ahead! — but I get the feeling today’s students are very inspired by all of the industry transformations and problems that need solving. The video is about Acer Aspire Timeline with Intel Inside, but it also shows scenes of a student using her laptop from sun up to sun down. I bet more people every day turn their laptop on as soon as they get out of bed and keep it running until… -
Did You See It? Intel Featured on the Tonight Show!
26 Jun 2009 | 10:03 amDid you see it?! I stayed up way past my bedtime last night to watch The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Why? Because as part of a new sponsorship deal, Intel and the "Sponsors of Tomorrow" campaign will be woven into on-air and online components of Conan's new show! To kick off the sponsorship, Conan showed up in Reno NV to film at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. I was lucky enough to be in Reno and check out the filming live! Conan spent hours wading through the enormous show floor interviewing students and learning more about their projects:There were moments… -
E3 Madness and Bustin' Ghosts
23 Jun 2009 | 6:32 pmThe Electronic Entertainment Expo has now come and gone - but the show has definitely returned to its former glory. I daresay it's even better than before, as the show floor was less like a can of sardines and the line waits were quite reasonable. It's really hard to figure out where to start when talking about E3; I saw so many games that it can be difficult to remember all of the awesome titles that were shown. I'll do my best to capture all the ones that I'm the most excited about here though. Tales of Monkey Island and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special EditionI was super…
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Intuit
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Summer Child Care Questions
29 Jun 2009 | 10:14 amDuring the school year, depending on their age, your children are in after-day care at the local center or spend a couple of hours at home alone in the afternoon. You keep the monthly child care center’s bills in your tax files for the child care tax credit on your next year’s tax return. Now it is summer and you can’t leave the kids home alone all day while you work. It’s a mixed calendar. The first few weeks the kids are attending the local summer camp, for a couple of weeks they’ll be at the overnight camp a few hours away from home, and then the rest of the summer, your… -
First-Time Homebuyer's Credit: Check Out These Surprising, Little-Known Facts
29 Jun 2009 | 9:59 amYou've probably heard of the First-Time Homebuyer's Credit, a popular tax break that's part of the 2009 economic stimulus paln. If you buy a home between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009 -- and you qualify -- the government will give you up to $8,000. And you don't have to repay it, as long as you live in the home for at least three years. This tax credit has some interesting twists that just might help you qualify: First off, you don't necessarily have to be a first-time homebuyer. The home you purchase doesn’t have to be a house. Someone else, such as a… -
Need To File an Extension?
9 Apr 2009 | 3:32 pmThe tax deadline is less than a week away. Instead of using a bunch of clichés about lights at ends of tunnels and finish lines, I'll jump right to the point (after all, we need as much time as possible to finish our taxes).There are millions of Americans each year that are not able to finish and file their taxes by April 15th. Because of this, the IRS offers the option of filing an extension (Form 4868), which extends your filing date to October 15th. Good news, right? It is, and yes, TurboTax can help. But first, there are a few things you need to know.The most important… -
What if I Can’t Pay My Taxes?
1 Apr 2009 | 5:08 pmThere are several steps you can take. But this should be the first one: File your tax return on time, even if you can’t pay all the taxes you owe. Why file if you can’t pay? Because the IRS can impose a penalty of 5% of the tax you owe for each month you don’t file a return, up to a maximum of 25% of the tax you owe. So if you’re already unable to pay your debt, you don’t want to pile penalties on top of it. What the IRS advises (believe it or not) is that you not panic. Instead, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to discuss payment options. The agency could give you a short-term… -
When Your Investment Losses Really Aren’t (at Least in the Eyes of the IRS)
30 Mar 2009 | 3:16 pmYour investments tanked in 2008. So does that mean you get a tax deduction? Not necessarily. There’s nothing to report on your tax return if your investment lives -- like most everyone’s does -- in a 401(k) or an IRA. These are special no-taxes zones, where you can buy and sell securities and mutual funds without having to report the capital gains and losses on your tax return. When you eventually take your money out, however, you’ll have to pay income taxes on some or all of it (unless it’s coming from a Roth IRA.) But what about the investments you own…
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Johnson & Johnson
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On the health channel: living with cancer
2 Jul 2009 | 11:46 amThis week, a new video is featured on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube about living with cancer. The first video in the three-part series tells the story of a social worker and oncologist who found themselves in the roles of patient and caretaker. I thought it provided a unique insight into what it is like to receive a diagnosis of cancer as a professional in the health care field who works with cancer patients every day. In the videos, Dr. Val Jones (founder of the blog Better Health) talks with a woman named Hester who spent about 15 years as a social worker at a Boston… -
A Case for Comparative Effectiveness Research
2 Jul 2009 | 9:18 amFrom Pat Molino, Vice President, Public Affairs & Corporate Citizenship, Johnson & Johnson How can doctors and patients know which therapies or procedures are the best ways to treat different medical conditions? Comparative effectiveness research, which compares therapeutic approaches, has been posited as a key way to get answers to these questions, and it’s become part of the ongoing health care reform debate in the U.S. In an editorial in this morning’s Washington Post, Johnson & Johnson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Weldon shared his perspective on the topic. -
What You Need to Know About Acetaminophen
30 Jun 2009 | 8:17 pmThe following post is from Dr. Ed Kuffner, Sr. Director, McNeil Consumer Healthcare Recently, there have been reports about acetaminophen, the medicine in TYLENOL® and the potential for liver damage if the medicine is misused or taken in overdose amounts. The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a public meeting yesterday and today to discuss this very issue. As the makers of Tylenol, we share the FDA’s goal of helping to ensure that over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medicines are used safely and properly. As a physician, I can tell you that my medical colleagues and I have… -
A Ripple Effect…
30 Jun 2009 | 8:56 amA few colleagues and I just completed a trip to Central America where we visited several NGOs with whom we partner on micro-financing projects. You may be asking, so what in the world is micro-financing? Essentially, micro-financing (also known as micro-enterprising or micro-credit) focuses on providing small start-up loans (usually $100 - $500 each) to individuals in resource-poor settings that enable them to create small, community-based businesses to improve their livelihood. This is a growing phenomenon over the past several years; thousands of organizations are doing a wide range of… -
Testifying on the Health Reform Bill
24 Jun 2009 | 5:44 pmEarlier today, Kathy Buto, Vice President for Health Policy here at Johnson & Johnson, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives about the draft Tri-Committee Health Reform Bill . In her formal remarks, Kathy described how reform represents an opportunity to enhance access to healthcare and to improve the affordability of medicines and medical treatments and how the company is convinced that wellness and prevention will improve the healthcare system. Overall, Kathy emphasized how the company believes that the best healthcare system is one that serves as many people as possible.
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Kaiser Permanente
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Early Season Peach Salsa
22 Jun 2009 | 9:45 pmThe Lone Oak Ranch from Reedley, CA has offered year around seasonal fruit, almonds, cherries, grapes, and raisins at our hosptial farmers market now for over 6 years. It is always a special treat when their peaches and nectarines first show up. I had a yellow and white peach from the most recent market which became the foundation for an excellent salsa modified from a recipe I saw in the San Francisco Chronicle. It tasted great over some leftover roasted chicken on a bed of garden lettuces dressed with a little lemon vinaigrette. Early Season Peach Salsa 2 peaches, not too ripe, diced 1/2… -
Spectacular Corn, Tomato, and Cilantro Salad v1.3 with a Magic Trick
17 Jun 2009 | 10:13 pmThis recipe keeps coming to mind when the first fresh corn of the season becomes available. Remembering how much I loved this recipe before, I got excited and forgot to cook the corn at all. Turns out the fresh young kernels were crunchy sweet and were perfect raw. And now for the best part --- my son showed me a new trick last week that makes halving cherry tomatoes a breeze. Invert a couple of round plastic container lids that are about 6 inches in diameter. Cover the inverted bottom lid with the cherry tomatoes. Place the other inverted lid on top of the tomatoes. Press down the top lid… -
Burgers Made with Spinach, Lemon Zest and Garlic
12 Jun 2009 | 9:39 pmOne of the versions of turkey burgers I’ve offered in the past are a decadent version made with blue cheese (usually from Point Reyes Station here in West Marin ---- search for them on this site if you haven’t yet tried them and add about 1/3 cup of minced fresh cilantro). Trying to get more veggies into our diets is always a goal so I was happy to find a way to incorporate spinach into a summer staple. These can be made with ground turkey or lean grass fed beef. By the time you add the spinach and other ingredients, a half cup measuring cup makes four burgers per pound of ground meat. -
Asparagus Soup Live
8 Jun 2009 | 9:34 amA few weeks ago I posted a great recipe for asparagus soup. This link is for a brief segment on KGO 7's View From the Bay highlighting the soup. It's actually green when you make it ---- just looks orange on TV. http://media.abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=view_from_the_bay/food_wine&id=6850978 -
Unbelievably Good Chicken Stew with Meyer Lemon and Fennel
7 Jun 2009 | 9:48 pmIf you are fortunate enough to be good friends with folks who have a Meyer lemon tree in their backyard, you really have to try this recipe I modified from an offering in January 2005. While looking through the archives of the blog to find recipes to print for a KP member, I realized that there have been many dishes I only tried once or twice because I usually try to come up with something new each week. But since I doubt that very many people ever browse through the archives, I am going to offer a series of “golden oldies”. Unbelievably Good Chicken Stew with Meyer Lemon and Fennel…
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Kodak
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Fourth of July photos and photographing fireworks tips
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmSince tomorrow is the Fourth of July, I thought I would share some past Picture of the Day winners from July 4th. July 4, 2003 - Eric AmistaniJuly 4, 2004 - Nicole de BrabantJuly 4, 2005 - Bobbie DavisJuly 4, 2006 - William DonnellyJuly 4, 2007 - Michelle Lee JenkinsJuly 4, 2008 - Tawna CallahanAs you make your Fourth of July plans for tomorrow, here are some tips for taking great fireworks photos. -
Surprising inspiration in S. Dakota
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmI was required to travel to South Dakota to oversee a photo shoot at a printer customer facility for Kodak's B2B ad campaign. I mentioned this trip to our CMO, Jeff Hayzlett, who is from S. Dakota, and he insisted that I visit Crazy Horse. I, of course, said "sure", not truly knowing a thing about Crazy Horse. I just know that I want to see Mt. Rushmore.Our travel commences, and we get out to Rapid City and head straight to our sightseeing mission: Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Mt. Rushmore is quite a sight; we take pictures from the every vantage point… -
Mysterious Machu Picchu
30 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmPhotographer: Martin VoetCountry: United States"The photo was taken at Machu Picchu high in the Peruvian mountains in the summer of 2006. The llama, an area local, happened to wander into the frame and was the perfect accent to the awesome scene."This photo is from today's Kodak Picture of the Day. -
Kodak Employee Putting Challenge
29 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmThis post is about recent activities within the OCTO (Office of the Chief Technology Officer) organization of Kodak to recognize and promote the Kodak Challenge. The organization is made up of several hundred employees that work at various locations within Rochester, NY as well other locations around the world. This post focuses on the Rochester employees.The golf tournament planning team earlier this year decided to align with the Kodak Challenge and add more fun and excitement for employees. The showing of a golf film earlier in the year kicked off the season and announced… -
The New Kodak Facebook Fan Page
28 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmIf you are a fan on the Kodak Facebook Page, you may have noticed some changes the past few days. It has been transformed into a place that celebrates relationships and provides tips, videos and discussions on how to strengthen and deepen yours. One of the first things posted is this study on the state of relationships. For instance, did you know although Facebook members report an average of 136 friends, they only count 6 people they trust enough to share their innermost feelings with. You can read more from the study here...There are also some fun things like photo challenges - this week…
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Kryptonite
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Cruisin'
26 Jun 2009 | 11:12 amFirst it was slow food and now its slow ride...Its really fun to see the explosion in interest in all things cruiser bikes! Our good friends at Kickstand Magazine have had tremendous response to their inaugural issue and are reporting numbers as much as 500-600 riders at cruiser rides they're holding across the country this summer. What a sight it must be to see! To get a hint of the good stuff you'll find in the magazine (look for it at a bike shop near you) check out www.kickstandmag.com or www.cruiserride.com. Also watch this space for more information about their ride calendar, should you… -
Watch Out For That Bike Lock
24 Jun 2009 | 1:40 pmHere at Kryptonite we've been picking up on an unsettling trend lately. Be aware and beware! It seems that in some cities enterprising bike thieves have been targeting bikes that can be easily broken, putting their own lock on the bike and leaving for later pick up. When they return what does the passerby see? Nothing out of the ordinary - a guy unlocking a bike with a key and riding away. Don't get me wrong, even a lightweight, flimsy lock can serve a good purpose, but when you need to make sure your bike isn't stolen, don't risk becoming a target like this. Make sure your lock is strong… -
Where Have We Been ??
24 Jun 2009 | 1:20 pmYes, it has been so long since our last post that an univited guest moved in.... Lesson learned about talking to our Kryptonite lock friends...it can be hard work to come up with pearls of wisdom each day. Sorry if you've been disappointed when you haven't found anything new here, but thanks for being patient until we got back on track. If you are like us, you are really happy that we've had so much wonderful rain this season, but enough is enough already. The weather has certainly put a damper on cycling activities in many parts of the country, but not so in New York. Eric, our National… -
See New York City For Free!
19 May 2009 | 10:16 amSound too good to be true? Yeah, I thought so, as well, until finding something very cool on the Wend Magzine blog about a FREE bike rental program being offered by the Downtown Alliance in an effort to get more people on the city streets out of cars and onto bikes. Check out the full article here. http://www.wendmag.com/blog/2009/05/19/new-york-city-offers-free-bike-rentals/ -
Bike To Work Week
7 May 2009 | 2:07 pmJust a reminder that next week is Bike to Work Week! Kryptonite hears from a number of cities and towns at this time of year that are hosting great events to get more people out on their bikes and we applaud every one. Whether your bike is old, new or somewhere inbetween, dust it off, pump up the tires, put your helmet on and join the fun. Fewer cars, fewer fumes, less traffic, more happy people in the office. What's not to love? Well, maybe the BenGay smell from the people that haven't ridden in a while, but other than that?? :-)
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Lenovo
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Lenovo netbook evolution
2 Jul 2009 | 10:13 amThe S10-2 and the S12, two of Lenovo’s newest netbooks are now available for sale, and while there are plenty of reviews and detailed discussion about the systems already circulating, I thought it might be interesting to talk to someone who has been involved in Lenovo’s netbook program. This week, I caught up with fellow Lenovo blogger, Brandon Hoe. Brandon shares a bit about himself and the various projects that he’s involved with, the S10 evolution, and his thoughts on some of the trends he’s seeing for netbooks in the future. I hope Brandon… -
Mystery of the missing screw
12 Jun 2009 | 8:13 pmYou just received that much anticipated ThinkPad T series and you are eagerly unpacking it. Upon removing it from the plastic bag, you are busy installing the battery and familiarizing yourself with the various ports. You turn it over and note the various screw holes on the bottom, all filled with screws as they should be. Many have little icons next to them of a memory chip, or a keyboard, which indicate which screws would need to be removed to get inside the unit to add memory in the future. You also note the two keyboard drain holes that have no screws in them, and a small… -
Recent visit with an IdeaPad Y450
31 May 2009 | 7:04 pmby Cleo Lee Today, I would like to share with you this awesome 14-inch IdeaPad Y450 which recently arrived at Lenovo’s eSupport office where I work. As a team member of World Wide eSupport organization, we publish a lot of technical tips and specifications, drivers, and updates for Lenovo’s products, but we don’t always have the the opportunity to interact with all of the systems, especially the newest ones, in a hands-on manner. Luckily for me, I was able to secure the loan of the recently launched ideapad Y450 from the Asia Pacific (AP) Marketing Team! Despite the… -
共有は思いやりーマレーシアのブロッガーイベント
4 May 2009 | 4:49 amby Lisa Adnan 423 Lowyat.net Y450,Y650, S10A600 PC -
Sharing is caring - Lenovo Malaysian Bloggers Meet-up
27 Apr 2009 | 2:49 pmby Cleo Lee Blogger meet-up events are becoming more and more mainstream. Last year, Lenovo held two such meet up events to connect with influential bloggers in Singapore. April 23, 2009, the place to be was the Metropol Gourmet Bar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Lenovo extended blogger hospitality to new members of the ASEAN community. What made this one special? This was the first such meet up I’ve been able to personally attend, and while I frequently interact with many of our customers in forums, the relaxed ambiance and face to face…
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Dreams do come true despite the layoff notice!
25 Jun 2009 | 2:58 pm[Ed. note: This is a guest blog post from Ron LaPedis, Principal at Seacliff Partners and describes his journey from being laid off to becoming an entrepreneur with some help from his LinkedIn network] I am an entrepreneur who was always afraid to quit my day job. I sold rock concert T-shirts in college and even after I began work in the Silicon Valley, I started selling high-end fountain pens from Realpens.com and writing articles for industry magazines. These were little more than hobbies until my first pink slip showed up, after I’d spent nearly 29 years in the industry. After… -
New LinkedIn CEO: Jeff Weiner has updated his profile
24 Jun 2009 | 11:00 amJeff Weiner has updated his profile from President to CEO of LinkedIn. Six months ago, Jeff started at LinkedIn running our day-to-day operations as President of the company. During that time we’ve achieved record operating and financial results. Prior to LinkedIn, Jeff was an Executive in Residence at Accel Partners and Greylock Partners. Previously, he spent over seven years in key leadership roles at Yahoo!, managing businesses and products that reached over half a billion consumers worldwide. Jeff’s experience building multiple products on a global scale is highly relevant to… -
How to overcome the financial challenge of professional networking
23 Jun 2009 | 6:34 am[Ed. note: This is a guest post by Dawn Jordan, former operations vice president at Bank of America, whose job was eliminated last year. Also, check out Dawn's blog series on the Wall Street Journal where she describes her quest for a job in the midst of these trying economic times] On any given day, it seems I could attend an event and meet the individual who will be key to landing my next job. This is because my email inbox is constantly loaded with invitations and announcements for upcoming professional networking events. My challenge isn’t a lack of time, interest or need to attend… -
Translating LinkedIn into many languages
19 Jun 2009 | 7:09 pmHi everyone. My name is Nico Posner, and I am the product manager responsible for our international sites here at LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a global network of over 42 million professionals from every country around the world, with approximately half of our member base outside the United States. Our mission at LinkedIn is to connect the world’s professionals, and we would like to do this in as many languages as possible. A frequent request from our members is to offer the LinkedIn website in their native language. Today, the LinkedIn website is available in four languages: English, Spanish,… -
Gain quick market awareness by participating in Groups and Discussions
18 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amAustin Arensberg is the Business Development Manager for Prime Energy Investments, a private renewable energy investment fund. My primary responsibilities are to identify and screen potential investment opportunities across multiple countries in Southeast Asia and China. LinkedIn is one of my favorite tools to gain market knowledge and meet key industry contacts that lead to actionable investment opportunities. I particularly enjoy participating in discussions within groups, where I have learned about country-specific regulations, new promising implementations of clean energy technologies,…
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Lulu.com
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Lulu Lens: Would You Use A Customer Service Portal?
3 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amThose of you who follow our blog know that we are trying to improve our customer service, and that we are making a concentrated effort to get your feedback on some of our upcoming initiatives. With both of these things in mind, this week’s Lulu Lens is focused on the idea of a Customer Service Portal (CSP). Our goal is straightforward - provide an on-demand window into the live status of your support cases. Using the CSP, you would have easy access to your support cases and the notes our customer service team has added to them. We would also work to build a knowledge base of Lulu… -
Lulu’s July 4th Sale - $17 off orders of $76 or more
2 Jul 2009 | 10:01 pmTo celebrate our independence back in 1776, this July 4th weekend only, Lulu is offering $17 off all U.S.$ orders of $76 or more. Just enter promo code: ‘1776‘ during checkout. From all of us a Lulu, have a safe and fun July 4th weekend. -Adam -
Lulu Lens: What Would You Like To Be Able To Do On Lulu With Your Online Photos?
26 Jun 2009 | 10:45 amWe’ve been soliciting your feedback via the forums, and now using the Lulu Lens on the blog, post for a couple of weeks now, and we want to keep hearing what you have to say. This week, we’re focusing on online photos. At this point, most of us have digital photos up on sites like Facebook, Flickr, Imageshack, and Photobucket, but often they just sit on those sites. Our friends can see them, but it’s harder to show them off offline. Lulu wants to help you do more with your online photos, and we want your feedback on how you would like us to help you do that. We already have… -
Magical Mini Books - Create Your Own To Win A Prize!
24 Jun 2009 | 11:57 amWe’ve got big news… Mini Books are here! If you haven’t seen one, imagine the cutest little thing you can think of and then add pages to it. They really are that cute! Mini Books come in two sizes, Compact (5.25″ x 3.5″) and Wallet (3.75″ x 2.5″). Just imagine the possibilities with books this small. Vacationing somewhere but don’t want to appear as a tourist? Not a problem when your travel guide is a Compact Mini Book! Need a day planner to keep track of your appointments? The Wallet size mini book is perfect! Need to send Grandma photos from your Summer Vacation? Mini Book… -
Lulu Lens: What Trim Size Do You Want To See?
19 Jun 2009 | 3:00 amLast week we decided to try something new, and actively talk to our users about what we’re discussing internally. To get your feedback I posted to the forums and asked, “What would you like to see more of in the Lulu Community?” We’ve received some great responses so far, and I encourage everyone to continue participating. This gave us the great idea of having a weekly post called the Lulu Lens which asks you for your opinion on a specific topic. Of course, we won’t be able to do everything, but we will be listening to you more and taking your feedback into…
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Marriott
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Now Is a Great Time to Visit Our Marriott Hotels in Mexico
1 Jul 2009 | 12:08 pmWe all remember the media attention about the H1N1 flu strain earlier in the spring. Of course, much of the early attention was on Mexico, which had the first reported cases. The safety and health of our guests and associates is our number one priority at all times and we take great care to follow the appropriate hygiene and cleaning procedures. We were pleased that similar precautions allowed authorities to bring the situation rapidly under control in Mexico and elsewhere around the world.However, the number of people traveling to Mexico dropped off significantly. In fact, we have lost over… -
Embracing Marriott's Extended Family
25 Jun 2009 | 12:26 pmI was recently in Orlando, Florida, for a conference with owners and franchisees of our select service and extended stay brands. Those brands are Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites. It's a great event where we build and strengthen relationships, align ourselves on company initiatives and share good business practices.We also take the opportunity to recognize our top owner and franchise performers. We handed out over 60 awards and presented 11 owners and franchisees with the Partnership Circle Award, our highest honor given for hospitality… -
A Proud Dad This Father's Day
19 Jun 2009 | 11:19 amThis Father's Day, Donna and I want to express our joy in the many accomplishments of our children. We have four kids - a girl and three boys. Our daughter Debbie is the oldest. At age five, she underwent open heart surgery and has survived to raise five beautiful children. She is a very nurturing mother, and is also senior vice president of government affairs at Marriott and doing a wonderful job in her new calling. Her only daughter Kim will be married in November, so Debbie is very busy planning the wedding.Our second oldest child is Stephen. He is one of the most courageous people I know… -
The Face of Travel
17 Jun 2009 | 12:14 pmBack in March, the U.S. Travel Association launched a contest to find the face of the travel industry. They were looking for someone who embodied the character and hard working spirit of our industry. I'm proud to announce that this extremely prestigious honor went to one of our Ritz-Carlton associates, Paco Saldana.Paco grew up in Mexico and came to the United States 13 years ago and has become an American citizen. After arriving in the U.S.A., he got a job at our Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island in Florida, where he worked his way up to become a Guest Services Manager.His wife also worked at… -
Welcoming Ritz-Carlton President Simon Cooper to the World of Twitter
15 Jun 2009 | 12:50 pmWhen I started blogging more than two years ago, I got a lot of "high-fives" from other bloggers for embracing this era of technology and trying out a new form of communication. Since then, there have been many advancements and I've learned about Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. There are probably more but it's tough to keep up with them all!While I may not exactly be up to speed on the latest trends, I do understand and appreciate the value of social media and so does our company. And now I'd like to welcome Simon Cooper, who heads our Ritz-Carlton brand, to social media. He has started his own…
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Masi Bicycle
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Good to relax
29 Jun 2009 | 10:45 pmThis weekend should've been more productive, after such a crazy week last week. I was bound and determined to get a bunch of work done that I wasn't able to finish during the week. We're in the midst of several major projects with overlapping deadlines, so there is no shortage of things that can lead you to have a minor aneurysm all day, every day. I left the office just shy of 9:00PM on Friday and still had plenty of work to do over the weekend- like finishing writing the catalog copy for the new catalogs that are due to be completed any second. It wasn't like I wanted to spend the weekend… -
Oh... the prettiness is too much!
25 Jun 2009 | 6:32 amI posted this picture collage over on the company site and the Masi Twitter feed yesterday...I know I'm a terrible hack with Paint (how else can I make photo collages on a PC- suggestions appreciated), but you get an idea of how sexy the new bikes will be. There are SO many good looking bikes coming out over the next several months.As always, I'm really, really, REALLY excited about the new bikes. I would be here being my usual exuberant and gushy self, but as of late I've just been struggling- with only a little success- to just keep my head above water. We're beyond busy with numerous… -
Coming up for a quick breath of air...
24 Jun 2009 | 6:14 amIn case you don't follow my Twitterstream and didn't see the news elsewhere, we recorded a new episode of the Spokesmen last night with a new special guest... so check it out.Still running around busier than a one-armed cotton picker, but I've been managing to ride my bike here and there and have not completely regressed to tubbiness. Got through the filming of our video last week and have been running through other major projects this week... and now have to focus my attention on getting the next edition of the catalog written. We've done all the studio product shots and the new bikes look… -
Video day
18 Jun 2009 | 7:39 amToday is the start of filming- fresh shave... bringing the pretty... sorta... -
Bikes Rock at Bicycle Film Festival
17 Jun 2009 | 11:06 amIf you're in New York, you MUST check this out! Masiguy commands you to! BIKES ROCK MEDIA ALERT***MEDIA ALERT***MEDIA ALERT Jon Spencer Blues Explosion perform at Bikes Rock hosted by 42BELOW to kick off the Bicycle Film Festival WHO: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion plus special guest kick off the 9th annual Bicycle Film Festival with an explosive free concert at South Street Seaport. Originating in New York City, the Bicycle Film Festival is celebrating its 9th year and is held in over 39 cities worldwide with over 250,000 people expected to attend this year. Signing on as the title sponsor…
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Mayo Clinic
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Mayo Clinic Proceedings Reviews Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Psychiatric Diseases
29 Jun 2009 | 6:55 amJournalists: For links to web-video and audio files, see the bottom of this post. Pioneering therapeutic trials to investigate the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in hard-to-treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s syndrome are underway at multiple medical centers around the world, according to a review in the June 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic [...] -
Celiac Disease Prevalence and Mortality
29 Jun 2009 | 5:15 amCeliac disease, an immune system reaction to gluten in the diet, is at least four times as common today as it was 50 years ago, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study published this month in the journal Gastroenterology. The study also found that subjects who unknowingly had celiac disease were nearly four times as [...] -
Alzheimer’s and Aging Subject of MPR Midmorning
25 Jun 2009 | 5:15 amDr. Ron Petersen, Director of the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Dr. Claudia Kawas, Neurologist at the University of California, Irvine, recently appeared on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorninng program. Here is a link to the program: The 90+ study, Alzheimer’s and aging. -
Mayo Clinic to Host Transform Health Care Innovation Symposium
24 Jun 2009 | 7:51 amThe Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation will host Transform, a collaborative symposium on innovations in health care experience and delivery, Sept. 13–15, 2009. It will feature nationally recognized speakers on topics focused on innovation methodology and innovations in health care delivery models, including Web-based tools. The center’s work builds on a century of Mayo Clinic’s [...] -
JAMA Editorial: Mayo Researchers Comment on Study Regarding Being Overweight or Obese and the Risk for Pancreatic Cancer
24 Jun 2009 | 6:05 amRobert McWilliams, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist and Gloria Petersen, PhD, a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist, published an editorial in the June 24 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The editorial commented on a study published in the same issue conducted by Donghui Li, PhD, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer [...]
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Microsoft
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The most unwanted song ever
3 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amA follow-up to why ABBA songs are so catchy: Vitaly Komar, Alex Melamid, and David Soldier developed a song scientifically engineered to be the most unwanted song ever: By their calculations, "fewer than 200 individuals of the world's total population would enjoy this piece." Ah, opera rap. Also check out The Most Wanted Paintings. America's Most Wanted Painting contains "an autumnal landscape with wild animals, a family enjoying the outdoors, the color blue, and George Washington." -
Why does my screen go black when an emergency hibernation is in progress?
3 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amSometime last year a customer wanted to know why the screen goes black when the system automatically hibernates due to critically low battery power. Shouldn't there be some sort of feedback to tell the user, "Hey, like, I'm hibernating, don't worry"? The power management folks explained that they turn off the screen for a reason: They're trying to save your data while they still can. When the system gets the "Oh no, the battery is about to die!" notification from the hardware, there's no time to lose, and even less power to waste. Keeping the screen lit takes a lot of power, so turning it off… -
Foreign languages can be used to impede communication
2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amOne of the reasons people give for studying a foreign language is to increase the number of people one can communicate with. But what people don't mention is that foreign languages can also be used to impede communications, and that can be just as useful. (Be careful, though, because it can backfire.) During my visit to Sweden some years ago, I was walking back to my hotel room from the Göteborg train station. I had spent the afternoon visiting the nearby city of Alingsås, whose claim to fame is that they are the birthplace of the man who introduced potatoes to Sweden, although he… -
You can use a Coke slogan as your password, but not a Pepsi one
2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amWhen Larry Osterman mentioned News Flash: Spaces are legal characters in both filenames and passwords, I was reminded of my own little experiment with passwords and spaces. Over a decade ago, I tried using spaces in my password, and they were accepted, but I ran into a different problem: Brand name bias. The password system accepted "Coke adds life" as my password, but it rejected "Pepsi the choice of a new generation". Why did the password system accept a Coke slogan but not a Pepsi one? Hint. -
The New York Times says I'm doing it all wrong, but maybe that's for the better
1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amSome time ago, The New York Times ran a story titled In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop, which mentions that "those on the lower rungs of the business can earn as little as $10 a post." Dude, if that's what people on the lower rungs earn, then I'm below ground level! (Nevermind that just the previous month, an article in The New York Times wrote about the business of blogging: Don't expect to get rich.) Then again, I probably shouldn't complain, seeing as what most people took away from the article was that blogging kills. Slate's Timothy Noah noted in his article Death…
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Molson
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Canada Day Message from Molson’s New CEO and President, Dave Perkins
30 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amThrilled to have Molson’s new CEO and President write for the Molson blog! Thanks Dave, and welcome back to Canada. Cheers, Tonia I’ve spent the past 8 years outside Canada with Molson Coors, looking after my US and International responsibilities. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the extensive global business travel where I’ve been fortunate to meet thousands of beer drinkers, customers, and partners in dozens of countries. I feel constant pride in being part of a business that builds beer brands around the world that are at the heart of people getting together to enjoy time with… -
This Summer and all Year Long “Here’s To Responsible Choices”
28 Jun 2009 | 12:46 pmAs the summer gets into full swing we want to pay tribute to those who make responsible choices. Let’s all encourage our family, friends, acquaintances and others to make responsible choices this summer. With summer comes a lot of new activities whether at the cottage, on vacation, travelling Canadian roads, venturing out on new discoveries or just enjoying your own back yard, town, city, farm or retreat. At Molson we say “Here’s To Responsible Choices” and are proud that Jennifer Botterill from the Women’s hockey team as joined with us to help spread the word. -
Molson supports Canadian Women’s Hockey League
25 Jun 2009 | 1:35 pmMolson Hockey Cup players and CWHL players – Sami Jo Small and Sarah Love Happy to report that in ongoing support of our commitment to athletes, teams and sports associations over the years, Molson’s Fund a Champion Campaign has also been extended to include the Canadian Women’s Hockey League! (CWHL) Molson is supporting the association with a $20,000 donation. At our Olympic Day BBQ in Toronto on Tuesday, Team Canada Olympians Jennifer Botterill and Sami Jo Small dropped in to chat with employees and take some pics. And in true hockey spirit, we had a road hockey… -
2010 Molson Olympic Pins
24 Jun 2009 | 1:02 pmIn addition to internal fundraising efforts, Molson is providing an opportunity for consumers to help fund champions with a commemorative Olympic pin where with a donation of $20.10 to the athletes, Molson will send you TWO pins – one to keep and one to share/trade. We’re very proud to partner with The Canadian Olympic Foundation and VANOC to provide Canadians with this opportunity to support our team’s success. Only 2010 pins available!! To donate: Molson Olympic Pins Cheers, @MolsonTonia -
Molson Celebrates International Olympic Day in Toronto
24 Jun 2009 | 6:22 amJennifer Botterill’s (Team Canada – Women’s Hockey) Olympic medals Wooooow! Yesterday was awesome. In celebration of International Olympic Day, Molson held BBQ’s across the country and invited Olympic and Paralympic athletes from our Fund a Champion Program to join us. In Toronto, Jeff Batchelor (Snowboard), Billy Bridges (Sledge Hockey) and Jennifer Botterill (Team Canada – Women’s Hockey) dropped in to chat, take photos, sign autographs and play some ‘Olympic’ games with our employees. We even had a road hockey tournament in our parking…
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Nestle Purina Petcare
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New Vaccine for Canine Flu
1 Jul 2009 | 9:11 amSome of you may have never heard of canine influenza. It is a relatively new disease having been identified just a few years ago in 2005. You may recall some mysterious deaths of Greyhounds at a Florida race track back in 2004. It was a real mystery for a while with over thirty dogs dying of a strange new respiratory disease. It turns out that this virus mutated from the Equine influenza virus that has been a problem in horses for decades. The mutation allowed this virus to be able to cause disease in dogs. It is mainly a problem in closely confined dogs like those at the race track. It is… -
Why Does My Dog Shed so Much?
30 Jun 2009 | 9:21 amIf there is one thing that irritates dog owners more than anything else, it's probably shedding. Finding clumps of dog hair in the corners with the dust bunnies or stuck all over the couch, car, carpet or bed is a constant source of complaint. Even short-haired dogs seem to shed enormous amounts of hair. Comet, my sister-in-law Kari's Pug, sheds like a champ. The bad news is that all dogs shed. Some shed more than others but only the American Hairless Terrier or the Chinese Crested don't shed. The good news is that there are many things you can do to keep the unwanted hair around the… -
Our Pampered Pets
29 Jun 2009 | 1:00 pmMy wife, Chris, and I are on our way north to rendezvous with some Montana friends in Glacier National Park. We spent a nigh on the Navajo reservation in Chinle Arizona outside of Canyon De Chelly National Monument. It's a weird place, part ancient history of the Southwest, part dismal life on a contemporary reservation. We were struck by the contrast and dismayed by the condition of all the dogs and cats we saw. We just aren't used to seeing pets in these conditions. We are used to dealing with excess in most places in the US. If I see a really skinny dog, I immediately think: disease. A… -
Adoption Time at the local Humane Society
27 Jun 2009 | 6:28 amHere in Rochester, NY our local Humane Society is called "Lollypop Farm." I have to investigate to find out the history behind that name, but for now, I wanted to mention that this month (June) at Lollypop Farm - for local readers - the organization is celebrating its annual Adopt-a-Cat event. And, to be really friendly about it, they're offering lots of goodies to go along with the adoptions. For instance - until June 30th, if you adopt a cat at the Lollypop Farm facility, or at The Mall at GreeceRidge, or at PetSmart in Henrietta, here's what you get with your new kitty: Spaying or… -
Talking Dogs
24 Jun 2009 | 9:27 amWe just saw the movie "UP" by Disney/ Pixar, in 3D. Great movie for families! In the movie, an "adventurer" goes off in pursuit of a giant bird, and is followed by an old man with a dream. To make the movie really fun, a young boy, a wilderness explorer (think Boy Scout) hitches a ride with the old man. I'm sure you've seen the trailor where the old man sets his house afloat into the ozone with hundreds of helium filled balloons. Well, when the old man and the boy get to the mysterious land the old adventurer talked about years before, they encounter not only the mysterious big bird (don't…
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Nike
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He Shoots. You Lose.
25 Jun 2009 | 8:31 amIt starts with the legacy. And it ends there, too. It’s how Stephen Curry’s game is defined - and he’s reminded every time he shoots. Because it starts with the stroke. A lighting rod jumper honed in the driveway, handed down from a father who started this whole hoops family thing. Dell Curry’s basketball odyssey began when he broke his wrist as a child, forcing him to learn the correct way to shoot. One little kid’s broken bone served as the birthplace of his son’s near-perfect shooting form. Dell used that smooth stroke to make maximum impact every time he stepped on the floor,… -
Meet Ricky Rubio
23 Jun 2009 | 12:03 pmLong-awaited Spanish point guard phenom Ricky Rubio is bringing his game to the United States. The 18 year-old, 6’ 4”, 180 lb. point guard with the Beatles hair from Spain's Joventut Badalona will be up for the taking in Thursday night's NBA Draft. You’ll probably remember the Spanish Sensation, as he’s known overseas, for his strong off the bench performance in the gold medal game against Team USA during the 2008 Summer Games. Before then the only other way we could see him play was by searching for videos online. And any quick search of his name will uncover exactly why his style of… -
Most Valuable Condo
22 Jun 2009 | 2:22 pmMVPuppets showed us how they lived during the playoffs this year. Take a tour of the condo while Puppet Kobe and LeBron are away. Not even Lil’ Dez is around. There is a steak on the grill and a closet full of kicks. Be sure to also check out the wallpapers of your favorite MVPs. MVPuppets Condo -
Kobe Bryant 2009 Finals MVP
14 Jun 2009 | 8:19 pmWith his 4th NBA Title and his first Finals MVP Award, Kobe Bryant’s 2009 dream season is complete. Some might say his road to the Larry O’Brien Trophy started in Beijing, but it began the day after the Lakers lost in the Finals last year to Boston. From that moment on Kobe made his game truly unstoppable. He dedicating himself to defense, sustained intensity and teamwork. He dedicated his game to being smarter and quicker than the competition. His lead by example efforts helped spur Team USA to a gold finish in Beijing but that was only a glimpse of what was to come from The… -
Congratulations Lakers
14 Jun 2009 | 8:14 pmIt was during the 2nd quarter when a 16-0 run turned a 9 point deficit in to a 12 point lead for the Lakers that you could tell they had no intention of letting that lead go—and they didn’t. Each player wearing the purple and gold stepped their game up as they sought their franchises 15th NBA Championship Trophy. Clutch 3-pointers by Trevor Ariza (15 pts) and Lamar Odom (17 pts), all over rebounding by Pau Gasol (14 pts, 15 rbd) in the paint, excellent defense by Derek Fisher (13 pts) and of course Kobe's (30 pts, 5 ast, 4 blks, 2 stl, 6 rbds) team leadership and unstoppable drive…
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OpenSkies
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Something to celebrate. One year flying.
25 Jun 2009 | 11:16 amIt’s been a while since my last update, but I’m back in the swing of it. And the good news is I’ve got some great news to share. We’re marking our one-year anniversary! As those of you who’ve been following the blog know, a lot of hard work went into making our first year such a success. We launched OpenSkies in record time, partnered with L’Avion to strengthen our offerings, and added the first all-business class Amsterdam-NYC route. When other airlines increased their costs and reduced their capacity, we increased our capacity and reduced costs. Over the year, our market share… -
100% business class, 100% of the time.
31 Mar 2009 | 1:32 pmSpring’s finally arrived. And what a busy spring it’s already been. As you can see from the photo above, we’ve already wheeled one of the two L’Avion 757s into the hangar and made it part of the OpenSkies family by repainting it with the updated OpenSkies livery that mixes in tones of L’Avion’s signature purple. Flatbed seats are being added over the next couple months and we’re also installing the Archos inflight entertainment system. That means over 50 hours of movies, TV, music and games. What else are we up to? As part of our integration with L’Avion, we’re… -
Facts about our future.
2 Mar 2009 | 8:39 amAs you may know, our first two aircraft—our beloved 757s—have come from British Airways’ distinguished fleet. And the merger with L’Avion now lands us at a total of four 757 aircraft. With the economy as it is, we plan to hold steady right there—so no new additions to the fleet and no new routes for now. Not for a lack of wanting to add aircraft and destinations, but we believe it’s only the smart thing to do in this tough financial climate. Recently, British Airways announced a sale of its remaining 757s. Since OpenSkies is built around the 757 configuration, it’s natural to… -
Combine, refine, making one airline.
17 Feb 2009 | 9:27 amSuccessful relationships build on the strengths of each partner. That’s the whole point of two companies (or two people, for that matter) coming together—to combine the best of both. And that’s what we’re out to do by integrating L’Avion with OpenSkies. And we’re well on the way. Right now, we’re unifying the two selling systems and should be complete by the end of March. What does that mean? That OpenSkies and L’Avion will have just one booking code (which means no confusion with your ticket!). We’re also combining our reservation systems and consolidating our call… -
Go Ahead, Ask Away Part 3
6 Feb 2009 | 10:59 amThere are some great questions you’ve posted. So let’s get to answering them. Deatra and Connor posed some questions (and a couple suggestions) about adding new routes. We’ve no plans as of right now for new routes. The economic conditions are a big reason why we’re not expanding routes in the near term. We’re keeping our focus on what we’ve got, doing the most with our current routes, and completing the integration of L’Avion. But we always have an eye toward the future and closely consider expansion opportunities when they come up. The flight range of our Boeing 757s also…
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Oracle
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Comparisons of E-Business Suite Release 12 Rapid Install Techstacks
3 Jul 2009 | 2:09 pmA reader recently asked where she could find a summary of the E-Business Suite Release 12 technology stack components for different R12 releases. As it turns out, there's a long answer to this deceptively-simple question. This level of information is spread in a variety of release-specific Notes, making it tricky to compare which components were delivered as part of each Apps 12 Rapid Install. Here's a high-level architectural diagram showing an overview of the major techstack components in R12: It's possible to add on additional database options not shown above, including… -
ASM Hands-On Training, Lab 4, Install, Configure and Run ORION
3 Jul 2009 | 12:56 pmOracle Input Output Numbers, ORION, provides a simple way to check storage performance before the Oracle Database is created, that gives us a clean storage performance report that can be compared with the awr IO statistics once the database is running. When performance problems related to poor performance at the storage level are detected in a late implementation stage the number of variables may make the task to detect the bottleneck difficult, and the time to find a solution scarce. Orion can simulate the type of IO's an OLTP or DSS system does and provide detailed response times in terms… -
ASM Hands-On Training, Lab 3, Creating The ASM Instance And Managing ASM Disk Groups
3 Jul 2009 | 12:31 pmOn this Lab we create the ASM instance on a single instance environment, and create ASM diskgroups in several different ways using different kind of devices. Note that these exercises provide some degree of confidence on managing devices but are valid only for training. On a production environment we will use mostly a high end SAN or NAS storage, usually connected by fiber channel, and we will provision LUN's for ASM. The lab can be accessed here : Lab3-Create-ASM-Instance-and-Managing-Diskgroups.pdf Lab Index Create The ASM Instance Create the Cluster Synchronization Services Daemon… -
ASM Hands-On Training, Lab 2, Install and Configure ASMLib
3 Jul 2009 | 7:41 amASMLib provide an easy way to present storage to ASM on Linux, it takes care of device labeling and improves the performance of open-close calls to the devices. Is Oracle Best Practice for managing disks on Linux. Lab2-Install-and-Configure-ASMLib.pdf The following points are covered on this lab: Install The ASMLib: Cheking The Kernel Version Downloading the Drivers for ASMLib Installing the ASMLib Drivers Configure ASMLib : Create ASM Disks ASMLib Directory Structures ASM Directories ASM files on /opt directory Map ASMLib Disks to Physical Devices File /etc/sysconfig/oracleasm ASM init file… -
Oracle DB 10gR2 Certified with IBM PowerVM Live Partition Mobility on AIX
3 Jul 2009 | 6:46 amOracle announce certification of the Oracle DB 10gR2 with IBM PowerVM Live Partition Mobility (LPM) on AIX 5.3 and AIX 6.1. Details are posted on the Oracle Technology Network Certify web site (Follow this path: View Certifications by Platform > IBM AIX POWER Systems > Database/Server >Oracle Database- Enterprise Edition.) IBM is the first vendor to get Live Partition Mobility certified for use with Oracle. With this announcement, IBM’s customers that run Oracle Database in a Single Instance Mode can take advantage of this key PowerVM feature. At the time of the publication, IBM and Oracle…
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Patagonia
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Invoking Summer with The Dirtbag Diaries
2 Jul 2009 | 3:31 pmDo you have a ritual or a tradition for welcoming in summer? Dirtbag Diaries host Fitz Cahall shares his on today's podcast. Here's Fitz:Up in the Northwest, we say that summer doesn’t actually start until July 4th. Right now, we’re experiencing our annual June gloom. So I thought it was time to invoke blue skies and warmer temps. A season’s worth of summits, single track and lounging on the riverbank is just around the corner. It’s time for me to do my part in the changing of the seasons. Listen to The Shorts -- Summer Invocation (mp3 - 7:00 - right-click to download)In between… -
Dear & Yonder – Daring Stories of Ladies United by the Sea
2 Jul 2009 | 1:56 pmComing off two premiere screenings in Florida and Texas, a new all-female surf film, Dear & Yonder, will make its Southern California debut tonight at the La Paloma Theater in Encinitas -- site of The Present premiere not long ago. Directed by Tiffany Campbell and Andria Lessler, the film features a dynamic cast of ladies – including Patagonia ambassadors Belinda Peterson-Baggs and Liz Clark – who are connected by a spirit of adventure and love for the ocean. The hope is that the depth and beauty of the film will inspire viewers to bring something positive back to their respective… -
Yoga in the Park + Fitness World = Sushi
1 Jul 2009 | 6:19 pmIf you are visiting Squamish this summer and you enjoy a refreshing session of conscious-breathing and tension-releasing exercises, then go to The Yoga Studio on 2nd Ave any day of the week. But if you are here only for a Sunday, then you gotta check out “yoga in the park.” My girlfriend Lydia taught yesterday's class and there will be a different teacher there each week, as there have been different teachers in weeks prior. The fee is by donation only, so whatever you can afford. But imagine this...…unfolding your mat onto a perfectly cut lawn of green grass and three-leaf clovers at… -
Freedom to Roam: A Rancher and an Environmentalist Search for Common Ground on Wolves (Part 1)
30 Jun 2009 | 5:21 pmThe presidential election last fall gave many environmentalists new hope, but the Obama administration has since outraged many gray wolf advocates by upholding a Bush-era decision to take them off the endangered species list in over half a dozen states. After being nearly wiped out in most of the country, recovery efforts in the last two decades have helped the wolf population in the Northern Rockies rebound to what is now an estimated 1,645 wolves or more. Federal officials – and many ranchers and politicians who have long complained about the impact of wolves on livestock and big game… -
Patagonia Athletes Score Big Over the Weekend
29 Jun 2009 | 6:15 pmTwo big contests took place over the weekend and Patagonia athletes shone brightly on both the trail and the ocean. On Saturday, the Western States Endurance Run offered ultrarunners the challenge of 100 brutal miles stretching from Squaw Valley, California to Auburn, California. Patagonia ultrarunning team member Hal Koerner was the overall winner with a time of 16:24:55 and Patagonia ambassador Krissy Moehl took second place in the women's category (13th overall) with a time of 19:26:02. Other Patagonia ultrarunning team members in the race: Jasper Halekas (4th place overall – 16:56:26)…
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Petro-Canada
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What about diesel?
30 Jun 2009 | 11:57 amFrom time to time I get a few questions about diesel pump prices. I haven't talked about diesel prices in a while, so before you VW drivers storm my office (a Jetta Vendetta?), let me share with you a good article by Tyler Hamilton of the Toronto Star. As much as I like his last name, there is no known relation. Photo Credit: futurowoman -
Your biggest driving cost? It doesn't rhyme with vasoline.
8 Jun 2009 | 6:15 amThe Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has released it's latest Driving Costs brochure to help you understand how much it costs to operate a vehicle every year. While we often focus on the most direct costs - fuel and maintenance, it's interesting to see the total cost break down per kilometre for other things such as insurance, license fees and depereciation. Not surprisingly, the total cost of driving a car, according to CAA research, has almost doubled in the last 23 years from 20.1 cents per kilometre driven in 1985 to 38.5 cents per kilometre in… -
Gas Pump Calibration Coincidental Email Chain
26 May 2009 | 12:39 pmThis is a true story, so read it carefully... That sentence looks kind of goofy as I write it, but it seems to have magic powers when attached to an email. The latest one making the rounds has to do with gas pump accuracy/inaccuracy. By the time it got to me, it had already landed in hundreds of email boxes, so I'd like to offer a response. If you haven't already recieved it, let me bring you up to speed. The email tells the story of a guy who filled up his truck in Chatham, Ontario (or Ridgetown, Ontario depending on the email) and… -
Gas Prices: Up at little? Yes, but compared to what?
18 May 2009 | 7:13 pmI heard some of the usual radio bits about the gas prices going up because of the Victoria Day weekend. First off, I hope everyone had a safe and happy long weekend. Second, now that the fireworks are over, let's pause for a little context. Crude oil and wholesale gasoline prices have been on an upward tick on the commodity markets the last few weeks, taking the price at the pump up a few cents per litre. So, compared to a few days ago, gas prices are up. But take a look at the chart above that maps out Canadian average… -
Higher commodity prices take gas grices to highest level in 2009
10 May 2009 | 8:43 pmSo why have pump prices gone up in the last week or so? As I've said before, if you watch the commodity markets and follow what happens to crude oil and wholesale gasoline, you'll get a good sense of where the price of gasoline is going to go. The signs clearly pointed up this week. On Friday, crude oil finished an uphill climb by hitting it's highest level since last November. You can find more here as well. Wholesale gasoline prices also went up, with many citing positive economic news as the reason for the uptick in both. As a…
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Pitney Bowes
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REFLECTIONS ON GRADUATIONS AND FATHERS’ DAY
21 Jun 2009 | 3:15 pmOn Friday, June 19, our younger son graduated from high school. As I listened to the various speakers and the roll call, I thought back to my own high school graduation in 1966 from a Catholic high school in Rochester, New York. Many thoughts came to me during our son’s two-hour ceremony. I was angry and disappointed that I was not selected as valedictorian. The school had consistently manipulated and changed grading rules to give the advantage to my rival, who actually was a lifelong friend of mine. They did so because he had gone well beyond any other student, including me, in… -
WHY HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE HARD TO REDUCE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM
20 Jun 2009 | 6:28 amIn the Saturday-Sunday Wall Street Journal, for June 20, there is a lengthy article entitled “The Myth of Prevention,” by Dr. Abraham Verghese of Stanford University. It is a very thoughtful article with many good insights, but one comment captured in two separate sentences is worth a great deal more commentary: “…a dollar spent on medical care is a dollar of income for someone. ..It may be the single most important fact about health care in America that you or I need to know.” I experienced this when I was advocating postal reform. Everyone understands… -
HOW BUSINESS EXECUTIVES MUST ENGAGE WITH GOVERNMENT
19 Jun 2009 | 11:48 amAt a time when businesses are trying to reduce costs to continue to be profitable when revenues are either declining or flat, it is tempting to reduce spending on government advocacy, especially if a business believes that it is adequately represented by trade associations or coalitions. Nothing could be riskier. Let me illustrate my point by discussing the evolution of health care legislation. Contrary to what is sometimes reported in the popular media, large, self-insured employers want to continue to control and manage their own health plans for their employees, and are unenthusiastic… -
THE CAUSES OF OVEREATING AND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM
16 Jun 2009 | 3:11 pmI recently read the wonderful new book by Dr. David Kessler, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. This book, along with Mindless Eating, by Dr. Brian Wansink, and Stuffed, by Hank Cardello , puts together a wonderful diagnosis and set of recommendations for addressing the obesity crisis. These books, taken together, yield the most sensible diagnoses and solutions to the obesity crisis. They are consistent in making the following observations: Successfully combating obesity is simply a matter of controlling calorie consumption relative to… -
WHY EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE IS INSUFFICIENT TO DRIVE LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS
30 May 2009 | 8:53 amAt a recent workshop hosted by the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Elliott Fisher of the Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice demonstrated that a sizable percentage of decisions made by health care professionals are discretionary and are within the range of what is popularly called “evidence-based medicine.” His fundamental argument is that we cannot contain health care costs significantly by making health care practices conform to “evidence-based medicine.” Instead, we will need to create systems in which the health care community selects…
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PR Newswire
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Hiring Line: Assistant Editor - ProfNet
30 Jun 2009 | 10:51 amProfNet, a service of PR Newswire that connects journalists with expert sources, has an immediate opening for an assistant editor based in our Jersey City, N.J., bureau. As an assistant editor, you will proofread queries from journalists looking for expert sources, and alerts from members offering expert sources to journalists. A strong grasp of grammar and punctuation is essential for your success. Your razor-sharp attention to detail will be a necessity as you edit, format and properly code queries into our system for immediate distribution. Your ability to think on your feet and prioritize… -
FCPRA Social Media Breakfasts July 14 and 20 in Stamford, Conn.
30 Jun 2009 | 9:27 amThe Fairfield County Public Relations Association is hosting two Social Media Breakfasts July 14 and 20, part of its continuing best practices series of meetings. You’ll learn what works for the most successful online marketers, individuals, and companies that are cultivating audiences and having their messages repeated via “word of mouse.” Whether you are building your personal brand, the reputation of a small business or reaching out to millions on behalf of a multinational corporation, you will not want to miss this July breakfast series. July 14: “Marketing Begins… -
PR Newswire Free Webinar July 22
30 Jun 2009 | 9:16 amPR Newswire is hosting a free webinar, “Stay Attuned to the Social Media Landscape with PR Newswire’s Social Media Metrics,” Wednesday, July 22, at 1 p.m. EDT. The webinar will last approximately 45 minutes. The rise of social media has given the general public unprecedented influence in building a brand or destroying a reputation. Blogs, social networks, online video — these media forums can have as much (or more) of an impact on a company or organization as an article in a newspaper or a segment on TV. Join us for this free webinar and learn how PR Newswire’s… -
Media Hit: Computerworld
29 Jun 2009 | 10:20 amFrom Kunal Johar, president of vOfficeware: I was a bit hesitant about [ProfNet], as I have never written a book and felt few would listen to my advice/comments without any formal point of reference. Either way, I felt it was a worthwhile investment into promoting myself and my company. I was in disbelief when, within the first 24 hours of receiving [queries], I had been published in Computerworld. I simply responded with some logical advice a journalist was seeking. It turns out the Computerworld article was syndicated, and the increased exposure to my Web site increased tenfold as the… -
PR Newswire Free Webinar July 15
26 Jun 2009 | 8:49 amPR Newswire is hosting a free webinar, “The Convergence of Marketing & Public Relations: How to Effectively Craft an Integrated Communications Strategy,” Wednesday, July 15, at 1 p.m. EDT. When it comes to launching a communications campaign or delivering key messages to one’s target audience, marketing and public relations practitioners have moved well beyond their traditional approaches. As the line blurs between these two specialties, an integrated communications strategy has become essential. Join PR Newswire for this free webinar and learn how to maximize your…
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Proctor & Gamble
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PUR Reactor, CARE in Clinics, and a Reunion with Jemima Odo
26 Jun 2009 | 7:31 amI’m in rural western Kenya to check on several of our activities in the area. This is the area where we’ve been providing PUR for the longest amount of time, since September 03, and there’s lot going on in the... -
Putting PUR into action in south Sudan
5 Jun 2009 | 6:37 amI’m eager to get out into the field after several days of planning with PSI Sudan on the strategy for providing PUR. We’ve met with quite a few potential partners including UNICEF, Save the Children, USAID, and the Ministry of... -
Launching PUR in south Sudan
29 May 2009 | 6:02 amToday we’re visiting with communities that drink from the Nile River in south Sudan to conduct focus groups. Our first attempts left us a little puzzled about whether there’s still a perceived need for PUR but instead of trying to... -
Too Late for PUR in south Sudan?
22 May 2009 | 7:25 amIt’s been about a year since I visited south Sudan. A lot has changed in the year since I visited Juba, the capital of south Sudan. The oppressive heat and omnipresent dust are the same, but there has been a... -
Students of the World Visit Kenya to Document CSDW
15 May 2009 | 7:44 amA team of five University of Michigan students visited Kenya in 2008 to document the efforts of our Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program as part of the efforts of Students of the World. The team consisted of Mike Burke, Mike...
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Progress Software
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SaaS, PaaS... why not SOAaaS (SOA as a Service)?
26 Jun 2009 | 12:49 pmA busy day in the rapidly converging SOA and Cloud worlds. Oracle talks about plans for the cloud, retracting from the skepticism expressed some months back. Intuit announces a PaaS platform. Another SOA infrastructure vendor dabbles with SOA on the cloud - striking dichotomy here. On one hand we are still trying to figure out how exactly to make SOA projects successful. And on the other, we are talking about SOA in the Cloud and PaaS platforms for SOA. Even so, I find it a natural progression. PaaS, and therefrom the SOA impact, follows the success of SaaS. Which itself was the best thing to… -
The ACORD Information Model
26 Jun 2009 | 8:19 amCongratulations are in order for our hard working data services and engineering teams. Progress was recently awarded two ACORD Accomplishment Awards for our work with the insurance standards organization, ACORD. We won an Innovative Implementation Award for the Progress DataXtend Browsers for ACORD, in P&C and Life flavors. These browsers will enable ACORD members to more easily use and understand the existing ACORD standards for P&C and Life. We also won an Early Adopter Award for our work supporting the unambiguous mappings between the existing ACORD XML standards and… -
The power of proactivity
17 Jun 2009 | 11:44 amEarlier this week (last Friday evening to be exact), I took off on a business trip to Australia. I was scheduled to go from Boston to San Francisco, and from there to Sydney. When I arrived at the airport, I checked in, cleared security, and meandered towards my gate.When I got to the gate, the gate agent was calling out my name. United's not my regular airline so I didn't have any special status that would get me upgraded automatically or anything like that. So, when the gate agent calls your name in this situation, you usually think "uh oh". I went up to the gate to find out what… -
Now That's What We Mean By Performance!
16 Jun 2009 | 3:32 pmWas visiting a customer in Switzerland last week and a funny thing happened. They presented us with where they are in their deployment... they've deployed their first "major" application early last year (Inventory Management), and this year are planning two more applications in the suite to be deployed in 2010 (E-Ticketing & Centralized Checking-in). They're using a very old version of Actional (v6x), and I was hoping to help them understand why it was important to upgrade to the current release (v8.0). The Inventory Management application contains about 300 applications (including TIBCO… -
Patently Confusing!
16 Jun 2009 | 7:12 amWell, if you track our "space," you'd have seen that Forum has been awarded a patent on XML security appliances. Apparently, it's patent number 7,516,333.As it turns out, Actional has a patent in the area of web service security too - Patent 7,480,799. It seems that Forum's patent focuses on appliance devices (hardware) that incorporates acceleration, though doesn't limit itself to web services. To help compare the difference between the two patents, you might look at the top level claims.Forum's states that their patent is...A method for applying security policies to data in a network, said…
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Progressive Insurance
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How Much Home Insurance Is Right?
12 Jun 2009 | 5:00 amOne of the largest investments you'll most likely ever make is your home, and naturally, you'll want to insure it adequately. But how do you determine the right amount of homeowners insurance coverage to have? -
Buying a Bike, Boat, or RV?
23 Apr 2009 | 5:00 amWith the right amount of planning, buying your own motorcycle, boat, or RV, can be an easy and enjoyable feat. If you remember things like insurance, accessories, and operating costs, you can enjoy your toys for many balmy seasons ahead. -
Safe Driving Around 18-Wheelers
23 Mar 2009 | 5:00 amIt's important to remember that the mechanics of an 18-wheeler are quite different than the mechanics of a sedan. With this in mind, here are a few things you can do to drive safely as you share the road with 18-wheelers and other large trucks. -
How to Be a Money-Savvy Pet Parent
18 Mar 2009 | 5:00 amIn these tough economic times, turning to a furry friend for unconditional love and support can be the best kind of therapy, but when you're trying to trim everyday costs, how does an existing or new pet fit into the household budget? -
Auto Insurance Discounts
6 Feb 2009 | 4:00 amWhy do companies offer different auto insurance discounts, and what discounts does Progressive offer?
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Rubbermaid
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Junk Drawers - The Finished Project
2 Jul 2009 | 11:18 amI finally took some time this weekend to organize my version of a junk drawer. I filmed the results so you could see what I did! Now I just have to get in the habit so keeping these containers organized! -
Junk drawers finished project [Flickr]
Rubbermaid Products posted a video: -
Sock Drawer Organization
2 Jul 2009 | 4:44 amEvery Monday through Friday I continue to have the same problem. I have a hard time finding socks. I'll admit a few of the issues. I never match up socks when I put them away after washing I have too many socks. Even socks that I don't have matches for I don't have enough light in the morning to see really well. So, the question is.... how do I get my socks organized? I'm looking to you for suggestions. Thanks in advance. -
A Year Ago on Adventures In Organization - July 2008
1 Jul 2009 | 7:05 amThe year is zipping past quickly. I can't believe it's July already. It seems like just yesterday we were easing into 2009. Anyway, the 1st of the month we do our 'Year Ago on Adventures in Organization' blog post. This month we're looking back at July 2008 to see what we were talking about last year.Browsing through the July archive it quickly became clear I was very busy last July. From the start of the month through the end of the month I was working on my garage makeover project. Steps 2/5 through 5/5 all took place this month. Below are the posts associated with this project. Part #2:… -
The Consumer Queen's Garage - The Professional Organizer's View
30 Jun 2009 | 5:42 amAs I have mentioned before, professional organizer Melissa Smallwood of Organized Life by Design volunteered her services to help the Consumer Queen organize her garage. Now that the Consumer Queen's garage is decluttered, she was able to send Melissa her garage dimensions and a better idea of what needed to go in the space. Melissa was then able to start to put together a detailed organizational plan for the garage. As she started this process, I was able to ask her a few questions to get a better idea of what professional organizers do and how they tackle a customer's organizational…
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SAP
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BusinessObjects Enterprise and client side SNC Part 2 of 2
3 Jul 2009 | 10:15 am -
BusinessObjects Enterprise and client side SNC Part 1 of 2
3 Jul 2009 | 10:06 amIn this 2 part blog series I am showing the steps on how you can use SNC for client authentication in combination with BusinessObjects Enterprise. -
an ABAPer's journey to Netweaver CE
3 Jul 2009 | 9:39 amAn ABAP/SAP web development consultant writes about experiences on the path towards SAP Composition Environment (CE) -
Object Oriented Design Principles (OODP): Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)
3 Jul 2009 | 7:45 amThis weblog is the fourth of the series on Object Oriented Design Principles (OODP). This blog explains the Single Responsiblity Principle (SRP). -
SAP PI XML Mappings using groovy
3 Jul 2009 | 6:12 amUsing Groovy as java mappings for transformation of XML documents in the SAP PI or XI.
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Sony Electronics
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Making a Statement with VAIO
29 Jun 2009 | 11:10 amIf you're looking for a PC that sets you apart from the masses, you've come to the right place. Sony's recently announced Signature Collection includes unique models with lots of personalization like the CS series animal friendly crocodile skin, the VAIO Z Kaleidoscope design and a higher performance VAIO P. All of the models announced are only available on sonystyle.com and are limited quantity. To find out all of the details check out the latest Signature Collection blog posts on sonystyle.com and the VAIO community. We know the guys at Sony Insider like these. What about you? -
VAIO CS390 Red
29 Jun 2009 | 10:52 amVAIO CS390 Red from the VAIO Signature Collection. -
Kaleidoscope VAIO Z notebook
29 Jun 2009 | 10:48 amKaleidoscope VAIO Z notebook from the VAIO Signature Collection. -
Sony Execs Comment on Michael Jackson Death
26 Jun 2009 | 4:43 amMichael Jackson, one of the most widely beloved entertainers and profoundly influential artists of all-time, leaves an indelible imprint on popular music and culture. Five of Jackson's solo albums – "Off the Wall," "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "HIStory," all with Epic Records, a Sony Music label – are among the top-sellers of all time. Some thoughts from Sony executives who knew him and worked with him: Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO and President, Sony Corporation, said: "Michael Jackson was a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the… -
Sony Teams Up with Denzel Washington in Charity Auction. Bid for Autographed VAIO.
22 Jun 2009 | 6:43 amMarcy Cohen here from the Sony Electronics Communications team. For those of you who are either die-hard Denzel Washington or VAIO fans (both are cool operators) you may be interested to know that we are auctioning off a VAIO notebook autographed by Denzel which was used in the latest Sony Pictures film, The Taking of Pelham 123. The fully functioning VAIO SZ650N is dressed with decals on the cover and inside panel. I just saw this action packed movie over the weekend and loved the plot but was also very excited to see all of the VAIO product placement. Proceeds from the auction will benefit…
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Southwest Airlines
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What Is on Your Fourth of July Playlist?
3 Jul 2009 | 7:22 amGrowing up an Air Force brat and the proud son of a Vietnam Vet, Independence Day was always a big deal. Granted, when you lived on a military base, every day was like a mini Fourth of July. Every morning at dawn, the honor guard raised the large American flag up the large flagpole in the middle of base. And, every evening, the flag was taken down as the "Star Spangled Banner" played on loudspeakers that could be heard several miles away. It didn’t matter if we had a mean game of football or basketball going, we all stopped what we were doing, put hand to heart (cars even stopped… -
Say Hello to Uncle Sam!
2 Jul 2009 | 10:48 amWe work hard at Southwest Airlines, making sure our Customers are entertained and continue to come back to Southwest for all of their traveling needs. We want to make sure that our Customers are continually impressed by the lengths we go to make them feel appreciated and LUVed. With that being said, I would like it to be known to the entire blogosphere that the one and only Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty flew on our Red Bellied Beauties in celebration of Independence Day. It was no easy task, making sure that our flights would fit into the busy schedules of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. But… -
A Different Kind of Freedom
2 Jul 2009 | 4:53 amLast weekend I saw Freedom in its most natural form at the Dog Park on Montrose Beach. My husband and I recently moved to Chicago with our mutt Charlie and were told about the dog park along the shore of Lake Michigan. Since summer is clearly here we decided to give it a try and see how our Lab/Golden Retriever mix would take to the experience. Let me just say that he LUVed it! What I witnessed put a smile on my face as I saw Yorkies, Great Danes, Bulldogs, Terriers and even a Chihuahua enjoy the freedom of the Montrose Dog Beach. All the various breeds were off their leash and able to swim… -
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s…Is that Southwest Airlines?!
1 Jul 2009 | 1:35 pmAn exciting and important event took place this weekend: Southwest Airlines flew to LaGuardia Airport (LGA), beginning our service to the “city that never sleeps”. No longer will the clouds over New York City be deprived of our Red Bellied Beauties! Having the opportunity to take the LGA ferry flight—the direct flight from Dallas to New York—was an exciting experience. While safety remains our number one priority, you could say the flight itself was treated more as an event. Bottles of champagne were popped, food was served, and FUN was had. As our flight began its descent, the… -
In True Southwest Fashion
1 Jul 2009 | 8:50 amThis wasn’t my first time in New York City, nor was it my second. But it was definitely my first time to experience a Southwest city opening, and my first time to head up a Share the Spirit volunteer effort in a city we’ve so quickly grown to LUV. With applause still ringing in the air as we “rapped” up the press conference Sunday morning--officially kicking off service at LaGuardia Airport (LGA)--several Employee volunteers loaded into a bus and headed to New York City’s Flushing Meadows Park for a little “hands on” action. As with every Southwest city that we serve,…
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Stormhoek
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Alpine, Texas - Home Away from Home
7 Jun 2009 | 8:45 pmOur YouTube Channel has nearly 40 new videos that were filmed in and around town. We’ll be chronicling the exploits of Hugh as he canvasses the Texas Desert Building our brand and hopefully making Stormhoek the biggest selling South Africa[/youtube]Our YouTube Channel has nearly 40 new videos that were filmed in and around town. We’ll be chronicling the exploits of Hugh as he canvasses the Texas Desert Building our brand and hopefully making Stormhoek the biggest selling South African wine in all of West Texas. We’ve already got half a dozen placements around town, and Hugh… -
Our New Friend Guido- Living the Dream
3 May 2009 | 4:03 pmClick here to view the embedded video. Guido is what you’d call a big Macher around Alpine. As he says, he is living The Dream. -
Hard Work Continues
27 Apr 2009 | 4:13 pmWith the desert pretty well staked out, Hugh moves back into town. Canvassing, and bill posting, searching the highest traffic locations to post our fabulous “Dream Big Alpine” signs. People are starting to notice. We just know it. -
Talent Like Nowhere Else
26 Apr 2009 | 4:50 pmWe all need a bit entertainment with our beer wine, and Harry is kind enough to supply it. The thing about Alpine is that music is really big, and there are some extraordinary talents around town. One of our favorite people is Jeffro. Jeffro plays the Ukulele, has the stage presence of David Lee Roth and the voice of Bob Dylan, he make any tune sound amazing- He ain’t no Tiny Tim. We’re trying to save up to sponsor Jeffro to go on tour, and we’re thinking about putting up a Paypay button for you guys to help us get him on the road sooner. Carnegie Hall awaits. Hail… -
Big Dreams, Bigger Challenges
23 Apr 2009 | 4:46 pmHarry’s is ground zero in Alpine. It’s the local watering hole. Alpine has crazy licensing laws, so they can only sell wine and beer, and that means like 99.99% beer. According to Harry, we’re “kinda” crazy for introducing our wine in Alpine and “there are better places around”, but hey, WTF, it’s been a long haul and turning back now just isn’t an option. As Harry says, he’s living his “Big Dream” - hopefully he’ll help us live ours.
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Sun Microsystems
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Latest Nvidia and other things
3 Jul 2009 | 4:03 pmHi All, So it's been a couple of weeks, I've been working on trying to get a promotion, let me tell you without a lot of help from some great Sun colleges my documents would not be as good as they are. I found it difficult to write about me, a lot easier to do product presentations. I've been playing with the Nvidia driver settings on the Acer C90S, with the separate X server on the LCD and external monitor, with Compiz and 4 desktops each, I'm getting about 5000 frames per second running /usr/X11/demo/glxgears. Rotating the cube is really smooth. The external 500Gb 2.5" USB hard… -
Campus Ambassadors Land In San Francisco
3 Jul 2009 | 3:11 pmAt the JavaOne show last month in San Francisco, I had the pleasure of meeting some of Sun's very talented Campus Ambassadors - student interns who promote Sun's open source software on university campuses around the world. I was sincerely impressed by each and every Campus Ambassador I met. Not only do these students have their regular academic activities to focus on - but they also are adept at using Sun software and lead OSUM clubs on-campus and in their communities. And, as you might expect, they are very proficient in just about every cool new communications tool… -
Changing the VDI3 login GUI
3 Jul 2009 | 2:01 pmDisclaimer: everything written below is put here just to share my ideas and findings about how to change the UI of the VDI client used in a VDI3 environment. Since the client is packaged with all of its components in a jar file and there are no configurable ways of changing the UI at this moment, this involves updating components directly within in the jar file. I am in no way encouraging to do this with the way described here, especially not in a production environment because doing so will give you an unsupported environment. Applying a patch in the future might overwrite the changes made… -
A tale of two components (JSF2)
3 Jul 2009 | 1:44 pmIn this blog, I'll examine two different ways to create a poll component with JSF 2, and in doing so, we'll look briefly at the two different ways that you specify id's in the two JSF 2 Ajax APIs. -
Testing TwitterFeed
3 Jul 2009 | 12:44 pmThese social networks are getting out of control. read more »
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SunGard
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Stratford University President Receives Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award
26 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amCongratulations to Dr. Richard R. Shurtz II, president of Stratford University, for receiving the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award in the Government/Education Services category in Greater Washington. According to Ernst & Young LLP, the award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Stratford University, with campuses in Falls Church and Woodbridge, VA, recently licensed the PowerCAMPUS Unified Digital Campus from SunGard Higher Education to help improve the education experience for its internal and external… -
Texas Customers Report on 14th Annual Meeting
17 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amNearly 300 members of the Texas Connection Consortium recently met in San Antonio for the group’s 14th annual meeting. Participation from the 40 institutional members was at the highest level ever, showing the value they see in their group collaboration. The TCC association comprises 40 Texas state universities, colleges, and community college districts sharing the resources of a single solution center that customizes products released from SunGard Higher Education. Two days of meetings and discussion focused on enhancing higher education offerings in the state of Texas while also… -
Ivy Tech CC Celebrates Banner Teamwork
17 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amIvy Tech Community College took time to celebrate and thank the teams that worked so diligently on the Banner UDC implementation. A recent article quotes Anthony Harte, Chief Information Officer for Ivy Tech Community College saying, "We are truly one college, and these technology investments will better serve our students consistently across the state of Indiana. ‘Due to the dedication, knowledge, and sheer determination of Ivy Tech’s technical staff, along with our partners at SunGard Higher Education, this project has been highly successful." -
USD’s Wessells Named IT Exec of the Year
17 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amCongratulations to SunGard Higher Education customer Chris Wessells for being named IT Executive of the Year in Education by the San Diego Business Journal. Chris is vice provost and CIO of the University of San Diego. Under his leadership, the University was an early adopter of SunGard Higher Education’s Banner Enrollment Management solutions. Also, the University has made extensive use of the Banner Document Management Suite to help make student information readily accessible from desktops and to support the institution’s sustainability initiatives. Approximately 76 four-drawer file… -
SC4 Wins League Innovation of the Year Award
1 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amCongratulations to St. Clair County Community College (SC4) on being honored with a 2009 Innovation of the Year Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College. SC4 and its technology partner, SunGard Higher Education, were honored for developing a time-saving electronic report for its nursing admission process. The college’s nursing program is highly competitive, drawing applicants from neighboring states as well as Michigan. To help with the admissions process, a report was developed that calculates a student’s course credits, grade points, and other information. The…
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Telstra
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Blogging buckets
3 Jul 2009 | 3:15 amMikko takes issue with NEWS Limited chief executive John Hartigan's scathing attack this week on bloggers, when he said: "....it could be said that the blogosphere is all eyeballs and no insight." -
First look at the Apple iPhone 3GS
26 Jun 2009 | 6:15 amThe wait is over. The new iPhone 3GS is here. Has it been worth the wait or is this just a clever marketing ploy by Apple to capture more market share? -
The Internet and News Media
25 Jun 2009 | 5:30 amBroadcasting, 140 characters at a time? Subscribing to "freemium" services? Yes, the internet is radically changing how tradititional news media outlets operate. -
Powerpoint: The tool of tools
25 Jun 2009 | 5:15 amAlan Pentland runs us through how to appear more productive through using PowerPoint -
Autism SA
22 Jun 2009 | 6:45 amIn October 2008 Autism SA kicked off a three year iModelling Social Groups program, thanks to a $224,000 grant from Telstra's philanthropic fund, the Telstra Foundation. Read more...
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The New York Times
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July 2: Latest Updates on Iran's Post-Election Turmoil
2 Jul 2009 | 5:41 amTo supplement reporting by New York Times journalists inside Iran on Thursday, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election. -
July 1: Latest Updates on Iran's Post-Election Turmoil
1 Jul 2009 | 6:07 amTo supplement reporting by New York Times journalists inside Iran on Wednesday, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election. -
June 30: Latest Updates on Iran's Post-Election Turmoil
30 Jun 2009 | 5:31 amTo supplement reporting by New York Times journalists inside Iran on Tuesday, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election. -
June 29: Latest Updates on Iran's Post-Election Turmoil
29 Jun 2009 | 5:35 amTo supplement reporting by New York Times journalists inside Iran on Monday, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election. -
Rights, Self-Defense, Guns and a Prayer
28 Jun 2009 | 3:25 pmPeople who attended a gun event at a Louisville church, their firearms tucked to their sides, see themselves as modern-day pioneers.
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The Wall Street Journal
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How Credit Card Companies Are Changing the Fine Print
2 Jul 2009 | 9:26 amEverett A Master Charge ad from the 1970s. The sweeping credit-card industry reforms don’t take effect until February 2010. But card issuers are wasting no time adjusting the fine print. This week, Bankrate released its inaugural Credit Card Study, which looks at the details of 20 cards–one rewards card and one platinum card–from the top 10 issuers. They include a company-by-company breakdown of each card. One key finding: Card issuers are saying one thing and doing another, says Ellen Cannon, Bankrate’s managing editor. The horror! She cites the use of the term… -
You’ve Got Blackmail: The AOL Account That Wouldn’t Die
2 Jul 2009 | 8:16 amJason Zweig writes the Intelligent Investor column that runs in Saturday’s Journal. Today, he takes on customer service. Back in 2000, I worked at a magazine published by Time Inc., a division of Time Warner. When Time Warner merged with AOL, all employees got a petite perk: a free AOL email account. I gave mine to my wife, who used it until last year, when she finally upgraded to Gmail and I left Time Inc. to join The Wall Street Journal. About a month ago, we started getting bizarre phone calls from a collections agency in India. They called five times, “concerning unpaid charges of… -
Loose Change: 7/2/09
2 Jul 2009 | 6:04 amblog.makezine.com A wine rack made from FedEx boxes Personal Finance: -There may be some tax breaks for those who financially bailed out their loved ones. [WSJ] -As if college students needed another reason not to put their tuition payments on credit cards, colleges are slapping on their own fees for swiping plastic. [USAToday] -More financial planners are playing counselor. [WSJ] Investing: -Is our financial system better or worse than the one we started out with? [NakedCapitalism] -Taking a look at Bill Miller’s flagship Legg Mason Value Trust, which is up 15% so far this year. [WSJ]… -
Dejà Vu: Chase Raises Minimum Payments Again
1 Jul 2009 | 6:49 amJournal reporter Jane J. Kim writes: In recent weeks, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Card Services began notifying many customers that their minimum monthly payments would jump from 2% to 5% of their balances, effective August 2009. Getty Images Chase credit card Chase spokeswoman Stephanie Jacobson—who declined to comment on the number of card holders affected—said customers will not be able to opt out of the changes since the move doesn’t affect their interest rates. Anyone, however, who faces “challenges in making payments” should call the company, she said. For Chase,… -
Loose Change: 7/1/09
1 Jul 2009 | 6:47 amPersonal Finance: -TARP-fund recipient Citi has raised rates on 13 million to 15 million credit cards. (Hat tip to Dave.) [Reuters] -Ways to reduce your car insurance bill. [DoughRoller] -How the new home appraisal rules impact consumers. [WiseBread] -A nifty calculator shows how much you can save by using the public library. [ConsumerismCommentary] Investing: -In today’s WSJ is the big, fat quarterly markets review. The Dow is up 11%! [WSJ] -The repo market, demystified with stick figures and AC/DC references. [Marketplace] The ‘repo’ market from Marketplace on Vimeo. Other…
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Turkey Hill
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SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS AND THE BEST ICE CREAM PHOTO WE’VE SEEN ALL WEEK
3 Jul 2009 | 8:10 amJust a couple announcements on this Independence Day eve, with a delicious photo at the end. First, we’d like to give a hearty welcome to all of our new readers who have visited and commented in the first few days of our National Ice Cream Month celebration. We hope many of you decide to stick around and become a part of our rapidly growing Ice Cream Journal family! Second, we wanted to let you know that Turkey Hill is on Twitter. For those not familiar with Twitter (www.twitter.com), it’s sort of like a blog, but the entries are much shorter (no more than 140 characters) and more… -
ASK ERNIE: CAN A PERSON LIVE ON ICE CREAM ALONE?
2 Jul 2009 | 6:31 amJackson A. of New Bloomfield, PA: “Can a person live on nothing but ice cream?” Good question. I once knew a guy who insisted that there were enough vitamins and nutrients in Guinness beer to live on it for a week. His friends dared him to do it and he did! He made it through the week, but I can’t say that he was in very good shape when those seven days were over. As for ice cream, perhaps a few of our readers would be willing to test the scenario with a little real life ice cream diet? Actually, there’s no need for that, because I think I have the answer without having to binge on… -
HAPPY NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH!!!
1 Jul 2009 | 5:55 amLet the party begin! I’d first like to welcome all of our new readers. You regulars might notice some new names popping up in the comments this month. As always, I’m sure we’ll make them feel like a part of the Ice Cream Journal family. July 1 marks the beginning of National Ice Cream Month, a month-long celebration of ice cream that was decreed by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984 (he also designated the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day). We at Turkey Hill like National Ice Cream Month because we make ice cream for a living, but also because it gives us a chance to do… -
ONE MORE WAY TO SAY “THANK YOU”
30 Jun 2009 | 12:14 pmIndependence Day is just around the corner, but while we’re planning that backyard barbeque or watching that baseball game, we should take a moment to think about the brave men and women in our Armed Forces who are deployed overseas in harm’s way. The Pennsylvania National Guard is represented by about 6,000 men and women that are currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these brave soldiers have strong ties to those of that work here; they are our coworkers, our friends, relatives, and our neighbors. In support of those individuals, Turkey Hill Dairy and Turkey Hill Minit… -
CUSTOM MADE ICE CREAM? YOU BET!
29 Jun 2009 | 8:04 amHave you ever had a craving for Cotton Candy Habanero ice cream with cheddar cheese bits? How ‘bout Saffron Stout ice cream with a caramel swirl? Maybe not, but with the e-Creamery, you can make those flavors and many other custom concoctions and have them sent directly to your home! We should tell you right from the get go that custom made ice cream isn’t cheap. A half gallon (shipped in four pint-sized containers) costs $49.99 plus $30 shipping and handling. At that price, you’re probably better off with some Turkey Hill at the grocery store, but e-Creamery does let you name your…
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Tyson
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Why we donate to Feeding America food banks
1 Jul 2009 | 1:56 amBy Ed Nicholson At Tyson Foods, we’re frequently asked why so many of our in-kind donations go to Feeding America food banks. After all, there any number of very worthy recipients of our products, at both the local and national levels, who could channel everything we donate to people in need. Here are some of the reasons we choose to support Feeding America with our in-kind donations: The Feeding America network of food banks covers every county in the United States. It is a well-designed, well-run food distribution network, that specifically… -
From Share Our Strength--Numbers everyone should know
27 Jun 2009 | 3:15 amHere's a powerful, very short video produced for Share Our Strength by iStrategyLabs. There are 12.4 million children at risk of hunger in America. Learn how you can help at http://strength.org/numbers Art direction/design/story: Zach Goodwin. Animation: Brock Boyts. Music: Project ULTRA (Richard Thies & Nick Ross). -
Is ending hunger vital to the future of the globe?
17 Jun 2009 | 4:45 amLast December, some of us at Tyson had the distinct pleasure of hearing a message from Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, founder of Millennium Promise and the author of The End of Poverty. Dr. Sachs's work has taken him across the globe, into some of the most impoverished, politically and economically unstable countries in the world. As I'm watching the developments in Iraq unfold, and listening to news about North Korea, Pakistan, and other politically unstable parts of the world, I'm reminded that our conversations about hunger in the U.S., as critical as they are, need to be placed in the… -
What is a food bank?
15 Jun 2009 | 5:58 amBy Ed Nicholson At Tyson, we get frequent requests for food donations from organizations claiming to be "food banks." Upon further query it often turns out that many of the groups--as worthy as their efforts are--are not food banks. There exists some confusion over the use of the term that needs to be cleared up. A food bank is a non-profit organization that warehouses and distributes food to a network of local agencies, who in turn distribute to individuals in need. Food banks receive food and other resources from a number of different sources,… -
Could an open-source donation work?
9 Jun 2009 | 7:38 amBy Ed Nicholson So I've got this idea. I've been reading Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, and he's describing how Linus Torvalds envisioned Linux as a a community-developed operating system, using an open-source model. A collaboration of bright minds and refined skills. Obviously, it was a great vision. And I'm thinking: Wonder if we could do an "open-source" food donation. Commit a certain amount of food and let the community decide how it should be donated. Here's what I'm thinking. Tell me if you think it would work: Tyson Foods would…
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Vanity Fair
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Beach, Please!
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmIn its 26-year modern history, Vanity Fair has photographed some of the world’s most recognizable bodies (Gisele, Angelina, Brad … Borat?) on beaches from Malibu to Amagansett. Unfold the umbrella, slap on some sunscreen, and enjoy the view. -
August 2009: Editor’s Letter
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmBehind the Miracle -
Michael Wolff on Politico
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmFour old-media veterans may have solved the future of news with the Politico Web site, whose audience of six million obsessives and insiders consumes–and feeds–a real-time download of power data. The twist? Politico’s print version is what’s helped make it profitable. -
August 2009: Todd S. Purdum on Sarah Palin
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmDespite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska’s charismatic governor wants the public to know about herself doesn’t always jibe with reality. As John McCain’s top campaign officials talk more candidly than ever before about the meltdown of his vice-presidential pick, the author tracks the signs—political and personal—that Palin was big trouble, and checks the forecast for her future. -
Behind the Scenes at the “Ain’t We Got Style?” Shoots
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmFor “Ain’t We Got Style?,” a portfolio in the August issue, photographers Michael Roberts, Norman Jean Roy, Mark Seliger, and Art Streiber teamed up with Josh Duhamel, Mila Kunis, Emile Hirsch, and other rising stars to re-enact classic Depression-era films. Take a peek at the works in progress.
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Verizon
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Thinkfinity’s Support for Kids’ Summer Learning
30 Jun 2009 | 6:31 pmFor kids, summer is usually a time for fun and friends, so it’s sometimes a challenge to keep fresh all that was learned throughout the school year. And that’s not just anecdotal. According to the National Center for Summer Learning, all young people experience learning loss when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Most students lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computation skills, and low-income students lose more than two months in reading achievement. To help address this, Verizon’s Thinkfinity.org has created a special… -
Privacy Policy Made More Customer Friendly
30 Jun 2009 | 4:10 pmThe following post was authored by, and should be attributed to, Kathy Zanowic, Chief Privacy Officer.Kathy was named Verizon’s Chief Privacy Officer in April of 2006.She is responsible for articulating and ensuring compliance with the company’s privacy principles and policies as well as responding to privacy laws, regulations, industry practices and consumer trends affecting Verizon, its employees and its customers.She has been with Verizon for over 20 years. Verizon has updated its privacy policy, replacing multiple policies across Verizon services and Web sites with one, easier to… -
Home Buyers Want Fiber Connections
29 Jun 2009 | 5:14 pmIf there was any doubt that the role of broadband in American life is at a tipping point, consider this:Home buyers are more interested in whether a home has an all-fiber-optic Internet hookup than whether there’s a community pool. Or a daycare center.Or a nearby convenience store. In new surveys just reported, even people who have never had a fiber link rank an ultra-fast connection tops out of five key options. This news tells us two things: First, Internet hookups really matter inside the American home. It’s no longer about checking e-mail or buying a book or a shirt.Functionally, the… -
MiFi’s Wireless "Tethering" Invites All to VZ's 3G
25 Jun 2009 | 1:58 pmLonging to join your device to the Verizon Wireless 3G Party? Now you can! You can’t throw a sheep on-line these days without hitting someone who hasn’t read or written about the hand-wringing over tethering, the unreliability of others’ 3G networks, or the desire to get other devices on the Verizon network. Those frustrations are each mollified with on very cool innovation – Verizon wireless’ MiFi. The MiFi is the size of a very thin wallet or thick credit card; it’s basically a battery powered intelligent WiFi hot-spot for our wireless broadband with a 30ft range. Tethering? -
Ivan Seidenberg’s Vision and Views
23 Jun 2009 | 6:37 pmIvan Seidenberg had a wide ranging discussion on the Charlie Rose Show recently about Verizon, his vision for the company, and his views on everything from the role broadband and wireless networks play in societal change to policy issues like net neutrality. I am biased I admit but I believe Ivan covers most of the major issues in our industry and provides a view of the future as he sees it for the communications industry. I am not surprised by the vision and understanding Ivan exhibits regarding the technologies, the markets and the issues. The interview goes on for fifty minutes and I…
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WalMart
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Microsoft Windows 7 Pre-Sale & Upgrade Promotion
26 Jun 2009 | 11:02 amA few weeks ago I blogged about Microsoft Windows 7, its release data and it's features.Today I want to let everyone know you can pre-order Windows 7 on Walmart.com and save over 50% off the regular price.Get windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for a special Pre-Order price of $49.92 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.92. This offer began today and will end on July 11, 2009. After that date the price will go up to $119.92 for Home Premium Upgrade and $199.92 for Professional Upgrade.Pre-Order Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade here. Pre-Order Windows 7 Professional Upgrade here. Product… -
Fathers Day
17 Jun 2009 | 12:53 pmI wanted to everyone a little insight into our video game offers for Fathers Day. First up is a special offer for the Wii Console. During 6/14/09 - 6-20/09 anyone purchasing a Wii console will receive a $20.00 Wal-Mart gift card free. Dad gets a Wii, and hey that's really an investment for the whole family, so we threw in the $20 Gift card that will take care of an accessory. I would suggest one of these 3 accessories, the new Wii Motion plus, Wii Nunchuk or Classic Controller (All of which sell at Wal-Mart for $19.96 each). Also for Fathers Day is the PS3 bundle… -
Norma Kamali for Walmart Cardigan Featured on NBC Today's Style Segment
17 Jun 2009 | 12:30 pmI can’t believe it’s already June and I still haven’t moved my boots and coats to the back of the closet to make room for warmer weather gear. Having just booked my travel plans for a much needed quick weekend getaway I realized that a few cute pieces to refresh my existing summer wardrobe were a must. I was in luck. This week's Today Show fashion segment touting the best affordable weekend get-away looks http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/31369799#31386169 couldn’t have come at a better time. As part of the segment they featured our… -
The next generation in surround sound...
16 Jun 2009 | 1:42 amAnyone else get annoyed by all the wires and set up of a normal surround sound system? It's especially annoying when you want to hide all the wires, which would require you to get a little more handy than I would claim to be. If this is the case, and you're in the need for what I call "sound enhancement", a sound bar may be just what you need. The good news is that Walmart has started carrying a couple in select stores, as well as a few more on walmart.com. Prices have also come down significantly over the past year, making this not only convenient but… -
Microsoft Windows 7 Release Date is......
5 Jun 2009 | 6:51 amA lot is happening in the news, and on the technology side it’s seems to be all on E3 and the gaming world this week. However we had a quick headline yesterday that I want to share:Windows 7 general availability: In stores starting October 22nd! Walmart will be selling Win 7 in stores as well as online on that 10/22 date. With New PCs in store and a expanded assortment online that can be up to 100+ Laptops & 40+Desktops.If you haven’t heard or seen it yet, check out this video.I saw a demo of the product back in Jan @ CES. I was impressed, it wasn’t till a few months…
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Wells Fargo
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The 4th of July
3 Jul 2009 | 11:00 amHip hip HOORAY! For America! -
National Bank Notes and Wells Fargo's Charter Number
1 Jul 2009 | 3:30 pmRyan Baum is Senior Vice President of Finance in Wells Fargo's Asset Management Group. He joined Wells Fargo in 1992, fresh from graduate school, and participated in Wells Fargo's mergers with First Interstate, Norwest, and now Wachovia. Ryan is also a Supply Corps Reserve Officer in the US Navy, deployed to Kuwait in 2006-07. He is a member of the Wells Fargo Military Veterans Resource Group. Ryan has collected coins since he was five years old and is a life member of both the American Numismatic Association and the Carson City Coin Collectors of America. His fascination with… -
Tamara Is Pride
29 Jun 2009 | 4:00 pmGuided By History continues its series of reflections as Pride month continues. Today, we welcome Tamara Peterson. Tamara is Senior Counsel for Wells Fargo and works in the Minneapolis offices of the Law Department. She joined the Wells Fargo team in June of 2003, and became active in various diversity initiatives within a few months. (CR) Pride month seems like a great time to consider both the joy and struggle of being a member of the LGBT community in America in 2009. I must say it is nice to have the President of the United States acknowledge Pride month — the fact that this… -
Casey Is Pride
24 Jun 2009 | 12:50 pmGuided By History continues its series of reflections as Pride month continues. Today, we welcome Casey Gill. Casey is Curator at our Wells Fargo History Museum in San Diego. Last fall, as you remember, Casey also re-created the first overland stagecoach journey from St. Louis to San Francisco. The trip was a huge success, and Casey doubly impressed us by surviving a hurricane in the process! Casey's also a local legend, of sorts, whose Museum tours are a "must see" for schools and history buffs from around the globe. (CR) In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 the patrons of the… -
Tim Is Pride
22 Jun 2009 | 5:20 pmAs we have done with many other diversity Months — Black History,Women's History, Hispanic Heritage, Asian Pacific heritage — Guided By History is presenting a series of posts celebrating Pride month. This year is especially important, as it marks the 40th anniversary of Stonewall and the beginning of LGBT awareness. Tim Collins is Wells Fargo's Experiential Marketing Chief. He oversees several Marketing operations, including the History Team. Recently, I asked him about his experiences since Stonewall. Tim's life is a terrific historical marker for the progress of this movement:…
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Whole Foods
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For the Love of Beer
3 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amSeveral years ago I was sitting in a café in Paris, France and after a long day of sightseeing was in the mood for a crisp, refreshing beer. I wanted something distinctly European and so I ordered a Leffe, which I was not so familiar with at the time. The waiter arrived with the signature chalice-shaped glass and I could hardly wait to grab the golden honeyed brew with slight frothy head from his tray. This lightly spiced Belgian ale was ever so sweet with a subtle caramel and clove aroma and wonderful creamy mouth feel - it totally “hit the spot”. After a week of travel filled… -
Great Recipes for a Great 4th Celebration
2 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amHappy July 4th! Round up some friends, roll out the grill and celebrate summer with some fantastic food. Whether you want to stick with a classic grilling menu or try some new flavors, we’ve got you covered with great recipe ideas. Burgers for All Beef and Bulgur Burgers Gorgonzola and Sun-Dried Tomato Buffalo Burgers Grilled Pork Burgers Lakeside Turkey Burgers Perfect Burgers Portobello and Pineapple Veggie Burgers 27 More Burger Recipes Summer on a Stick Grilled Caprese Salad Grilled Chicken Kabobs Grilled Tuna Kabobs with Peach and Mango Salsa Kielbasa Apple Kabobs Salmon Kabobs… -
Summer = Grilling = Wine
1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 amAfter a long winter (well, not so long in Austin, TX) there is nothing like the first time you fire up the grill and invite friends and family over to enjoy great food and wine. From sparkling wine and crisp aperitif-style whites that pair so well with appetizers and salads to well-balanced and hearty reds that complement a variety of grilled foods, our Summer Top 10 has something for every palate and pocketbook. Here are some of my favorites to uncork your summer! V-Solo Verdelho Are you craving a refreshing, aromatic and citrus-inspired wine (think Sauvignon Blanc) to sip on those long, hot… -
Make it Natural: Healthier Zucchini Bread
30 Jun 2009 | 3:00 amSummer zucchini season inspired Jill, one of our Whole Story readers, to request a healthier version of her mom’s zucchini bread recipe, since mom’s version used loads of vegetable oil. Thanks for the opportunity to play around with this! We love zucchini bread too - one of summer’s best treats and an excellent way to use up an abundance of summer squash. Typical recipes do call for a lot of oil (a cup of oil in batter? Yuck!), so we cut back on that and made a few other improvements as well. Check out our Healthier Zucchini Bread recipe. Here’s a rundown on how we… -
Get a Blueberry Boost
29 Jun 2009 | 3:00 amI’m a blueberry lover and every spring my love affair gets a little more serious! Luckily, blueberries are packed with nutrition and I don’t have to moderate my affection for them. These colorful fruits top the charts with antioxidants and have been shown to help with brain, eye and vascular health. Antioxidants are compounds that protect cells from free radical damage. Free radicals are highly reactive particles - induced by such things as cigarette smoking, sunlight and excessive exercise - that damage cells throughout the body by triggering oxidative reactions. Not only are…
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Xerox
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It's not easy making green products
After discovering the great news that Xerox was now considered the top "green" outsourcer (all domains included), I wanted to figure out how we were doing on our legacy market: electronics. The latest Greenpeace "Guide to Greener Electronics", published yesterday, nails down companies like HP, Dell and Lenovo, but Xerox does not appear. HP dropped significantly in this quarterly report, from being "middle of the pack" one year ago, to being 14th out of 17th (although for all of its electronics divisions). Unfortunately, this ranking seems to be mostly about PCs, not so much about… -
State of Play impressions
Last week I attended the State of Play 09 conference, organized by the NY Law School. There were several excellent speakers and panels, and I met lots of great people, and had many interesting discussions about virtual worlds and their applications. In the next couple of posts I'll try to summarize some of the ideas and discussions that arose during the conference. For more details, and better reporting on what was actually said, see the list of blog post collected by keynote speaker Raph Koster, or go back and look at the discussion that took place via twitter during the event. Raph Koster… -
Enterprise Security
Security is something we hear about daily.From home security to homeland security, and now cyber security, there is a lot to be concerned about.President Obama is even creating a “cyber czar” who will be tasked to develop strategy to protect the nation’s government and private run networks.Security breaches or attacks are almost a common occurrence now for our businesses, and the common opinion in most studies I have read is that more security breaches are caused by insiders, than from external sources.The manufacturers we are working with are taking this seriously, and are looking at… -
Financial Services Firms and the Sustainability Factor
I joined Xerox Global Services in the Q4 2008 to look after our financial services clients. Now with about nine months under my belt, I am reviving the financial services blog which was created by my predecessor, Julian Troake. After 20 years working for financial services firms I don't feel like I have left the financial services industry in this role at all. My entire focus, and the focus of my colleagues, is all on financial services. I must admit that the way I now look at the overall picture has expanded, and that would please many of the people in Operations and Technology roles… -
Information Overload Syndrome is REAL!
·Each year the amount of information createdin the enterprise, paper and digital combined, grows faster than 65%. ·Non-productive information work, such as reformatting documents or reentering documents into computers, consumed more than $1.5 trillion in U.S. salaries last year. ·Survey respondents spend as much as 26% of their time trying to manage information overload. ·Respondents split their time evenly between dealing with paper and digital information, but 71% prefer to deal with digital information. ·The amount of time U.S. information workers spent last year managing paper-driven…
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Yahoo!
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Remembering Michael Jackson
26 Jun 2009 | 5:41 pmYahoo! Search logs gave a revealing picture of what the King of Pop evokes for people as they mourned his passing today. Starting last night, searches for his legendary music surged. “Thriller,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Billie Jean” were among the top lyrics, songs, and videos that people looked for on Yahoo! Search. As details of Jackson’s death emerge, searchers are looking for details on prescription drugs including Demerol, the hospital Jackson was taken to after he collapsed (UCLA Medical Center), and other lingering questions (”why did… -
VoCampers Converge at Yahoo! Headquarters in Sunnyvale
25 Jun 2009 | 8:00 amAn enthusiastic group of data geeks and Semantic Web enthusiasts met last week at our Sunnyvale headquarters where we hosted the latest edition of VoCamp. VoCamps are a series of informal events that provide a small setting where the Semantic Web community can discuss issues related to semantic interoperability and creating, managing, and publishing vocabularies. The format of VoCamp was conceived by Talis’ Tom Heath and Yahoo!’s Peter Mika, with the first installment organized in Oxford, England, in September, 2008. Since then, VoCamps have grown into a real movement, with events… -
SearchMonkey Updates: New Enhanced Results and Support of Google Base Formatting
18 Jun 2009 | 9:00 amToday, we are announcing two updates that make it easier for site owners and developers to share and use structured data within Yahoo! Search: new enhanced results and the support of Google Base formatting for structured data feeds. Let’s take a look at these two updates. New Enhanced Results - Products, Events, News and More Back in March 2009, we announced a simple way for site owners to embed video, games, and documents in Yahoo! Search results. Starting today, we are expanding this capability by giving site owners the power to display enhanced results for product pages, local… -
Check Out The New Yahoo! Toolbar
17 Jun 2009 | 8:36 amThe new Yahoo! Toolbar, already available on Internet Explorer, is now available on Firefox (beta) to make it easier for you to keep on top of your online world. You can get helpful suggestions in the search box in the Yahoo! Toolbar and jump right to search results on sites like Flickr, Wikipedia, and more. You can also preview sites and customize the toolbar with cool apps. To get started using the Yahoo! Toolbar, download it at toolbar.yahoo.com. Check out today’s post on Yodel Anecdotal to see more details. Yahoo! Search -
New Common Tag Format
11 Jun 2009 | 11:01 amToday we are announcing our support of Common Tag, a new semantic tagging format for Web pages. Developed jointly by a group of Web companies including Zemanta, Metaweb, and Yahoo!, the Common Tag format adds semantic meaning to tags, making Web content more discoverable and enabling the community to create more useful applications for aggregating, searching, and browsing the Web. At Yahoo! Search, we’re proponents of open formats that accelerate the structuring of the Web and that improve the community’s overall ability to understand the Web. You can read more about this new format,…
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Zappos
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Day 794
3 Jul 2009 | 7:07 amHolidays... Are made for us to Celebrate. With our friends, our families and co-workers. It is our time to relish what really matters in our life, when the clock is stopped with regard to our daily routines and tasks. So let's all celebrate, as we are meant to do on this rare Saturday holiday commemorating the day of our Independence. Independence Day represents more than we all could hope for, in more ways than one. Yours in "Celebration" - Coach -
US Trivia
2 Jul 2009 | 3:44 pmAmerica's Independence Day is Saturday, and us at the Blog Team at Zappos.com thought it would be a grand idea to walk around the office asking random US Trivia questions (nothing too hard, just the basics) to see how many people could get them right. Happy 4th of July! -
Quicksilver at the Rideshop Expo
2 Jul 2009 | 3:24 pmQuicksilver made their way to the Zappos.com Rideshop Expo to show off their new line of 2009 Summer kicks. -
Workout Tip of the Week: Say Goodbye to Your Inner Commitment-Phobe
2 Jul 2009 | 10:48 amGetting into the exercise habit is one of the biggest challenges of modern living. After all, how many of us can make time for regular workouts when we're juggling family schedules, keeping up with work deadlines and squeezing in just enough hours of R&R each week to enjoy it all? The reality is that your workout won't really be effective until you keep up with some sort of schedule. And, scheduling = commitment, a scary word for some who would rather avoid the responsibility. So how do you get over this personal challenge? Here are some easy ways to say goodbye to your inner… -
Outdoor Summer Activities for Kids: Crab Soccer
2 Jul 2009 | 10:30 amSummer sports and outdoor activities are a great way to keep the kids busy during the summer. Crab soccer is a fun twist to a popular sport. Not only is it a great workout, but it's a versatile sport and activity. Parents may choose to use crab soccer as a tournament event between family and friends. It also can be used as a birthday party game or even a way to entertain the kids during barbecues, family reunions, or other events. Some schools use this in gyms instead of on traditional soccer fields. Crab soccer follows all the rules of traditional soccer, but there's a few exceptions. First,…
