For many of us winter has arrived…and it’s here to stay until next spring. The question is are you ready? Have you taken steps to winterize your home so you can live more comfortably and save money... 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.
Corporate Blogs
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AccuQuote
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Saving you money for life tip: Winterizing your home
18 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am -
New AccuQuote Podcast!
17 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amDecember 17, 2009 Options for lowering life insurance premiums during hard times Description: According to a survey from the nonprofit LIFE Foundation, more than a quarter of adult Americans say... 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. -
Turn in your life insurance application before your half birthday
16 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amDid you know that your estimated term life insurance premium may increase six months before your birthday? It’s true! While some life insurance companies base their rates on your actual age, many... 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. -
AIG reduces debt by $25 billion
15 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amAIG is making huge strides to reduce its debt. According to CNNMoney.com, the major life insurer announced a completed deal that wiped out $25 billion of its debt to taxpayers. Read the full article... 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. -
We’re hiring!
14 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amDo you have what it takes to join one of AccuQuote’s talented teams? Are you looking for a fast-paced role in an exciting environment…where you can wear jeans to work? We’re currently hiring for the... 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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AWS Management Console Now Supports Elastic Load Balancing
18 Dec 2009 | 9:48 amThe AWS Management Console now supports Amazon EC2's Elastic Load Balancing feature. Here's a tour, starting with the navigation pane: Clicking on Load Balancers displays all of your Elastic Load Balancers. If you don't have any, you see the Create button instead: When you click on the Create button you'll see the four-step wizard: In the first step you give your Elastic Load Balancer a name and specify the protocols, Load Balancer ports, and EC2 Instance ports. You can choose common web and application servers from a handy menu: Next, you specify some configuration options,… -
Hello, world!
16 Dec 2009 | 11:16 amGood day, everyone. I'm Steve Riley. In July 2009 I joined the AWS evangelism team. I spent my first few months absorbing information about all our offerings and am now getting back on the road again, speaking at various events and user groups and meeting with customers. I came from Microsoft, where I was in the telecommunications consulting practice for three years and in the Trustworthy Computing group for seven. I was a global security evangelist there and also worked closely with our chief security officer and enterprise security architect communities. I'm continuing that work… -
Fotopedia and AWS
16 Dec 2009 | 8:20 amHi there, this is Simone Brunozzi, Technology Evangelist for AWS in Europe. I'll steal the keyboard from Jeff Barr for a few minutes to share something really interesting with you: in fact, It is always fascinating to see how our customers are using the Amazon Web Services to power their businesses.Olivier Gutknecht, Director of Server Software at French-based Fotonauts Inc., spent some time with me to describe how they use AWS to power Fotopedia, a collaborative photo encyclopedia. We have been very lucky with our development timeframe: we developed this project while Amazon was building… -
New job positions in Europe for Amazon Web Services
16 Dec 2009 | 8:00 amWe have a number of open positions within Amazon Web Services in Europe. Most of these are based in Luxembourg. Here are the links to the positions: Technology Evangelist, Amazon Web Services Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services (UK-based) Marketing Manager, Amazon Web Services Business Development Manager, EU Solution Provider Program, AWS Regional Sales Manager, Germany and Nordic Region, AWS Technical Sales Representative, Amazon Web Services If you're interested and want to join our fast-growing AWS family, apply online using the link at the top of the position description.I wish… -
Amazon CloudFront Now Supports Streaming Media Content
15 Dec 2009 | 10:41 pmAmazon CloudFront now supports streaming of media files stored in Amazon S3. You can now use CloudFront to improve access to your static content (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and so forth) as well as your streaming content. We are using version 3.5.2 of the Adobe Flash Media Server (FMS) and we support the RTMP, RTMPT (HTTP tunneled), RTMPE (encrypted), and RTMPTE (tunneled and encrypted) flavors of RTMP. You can easily create a CloudFront Streaming Distribution using the AWS Management Console for CloudFront, the CloudFront APIs or a number of third-party management tools. Because CloudFront and…
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American Express
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How to Build a Kingdom (and Change the World)
18 Dec 2009 | 1:09 pmFrom Guy Kawasaki: Michael Moritz is a Partner at Sequoia Capital where he has worked since 1986. Sequoia Capital provided the original and early capital for companies such as Apple, Cisco, Yahoo!, Google, PayPal, YouTube, LinkedIn and Admob. In other words, it may be the most successful venture capital firm in the history of mankind. Prior to Sequoia, Mike had a real job as a journalist for Time. Approximately thirty years ago, he documented the inside story of Apple in a book called The Little Kingdom. He recently updated and shipped an updated version called Return to the Little Kingdom:… -
Small Business Quandary: Is Renters Insurance Worth It?
18 Dec 2009 | 12:08 pmFrom Brian O'Connell: Entrepreneurs are used to the age-old question; “How you gonna pay the rent?” But all too often small business owners ignore a related question: “Should you pay the rent insurance”? The truth is, in many cases it’s an easy question to answer. The data shows that small business owners who forego renters insurance are leaving themselves vulnerable to theft, natural disasters, and ultimately – the loss of everything in the building. According to data from Boston-based Homesite insurance group, renters are more prone to losing valuables… -
What's Your Foodprint?
18 Dec 2009 | 12:02 pmFrom Jen van der Meer: Take a look at your meal. I’m looking at mushroom ravioli, parsley, olive oil, Italian bread, and parmesan cheese. But I can’t accurately tell you where these tasty food items come from, how far or wide reaching their impact. I do not know my meal’s “foodprint,” a concept discussed at last weekend’s NYC Food and Climate Summit. What is a foodprint? A foodprint is our food system’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change, according to Jacquie Berger, Executive Director of Just Food, one of the… -
5 Mac Apps to Boost Your Productivity
18 Dec 2009 | 10:41 amFrom Christina Warren: More and more individuals are making the switch from PC to Mac. Even in the business world, more employees are requesting the option to work on a Mac, and plenty of businesses are full-Mac shops. For small businesses especially, the ease of use, ability to run Windows if you need it, and added security (spyware, malware and viruses just don’t exist on the Mac the same way they do on Windows-based PCs) can make a compelling argument for running Mac OS X. And while the Mac might be best associated with creative work, there are plenty of great business and… -
4 Actually Useful Books Every Small Business Should Read
18 Dec 2009 | 10:30 amFrom Rohit Bhargava: As an author, one of the things that I have learned in the process of writing my book is that there are only four types of books that any businessperson ever buys: 1. “Should Buys” – These are the books that are usually on some kind of best seller list that seem like responsible choices other businesspeople are reading, so you should too. They are bought often to keep you from appearing uninformed and because of an industry based kind of peer pressure. 2. “Shelf Warmers” – Usually with…
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American Red Cross
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Floods in Louisiana
18 Dec 2009 | 7:25 amWe’ve been keeping an eye on the great work being done at the Southeast Louisiana Chapter, where they are busy providing shelter and other necessities to local families who’ve been driven out of their homes because of flooding. The team there found some time to blog about what they’ve been doing: So far on DR718-10 FLD I’ve done a night shift running a shelter in Raceland, Louisiana and tonight I’m picking up, delivering, and feeding dinner at the same shelter. During that first shift, I had the opportunity to meet and talk to many of the 23 residents who are doing their… -
Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up
17 Dec 2009 | 5:33 amWelcome to another special edition of 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. This week the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark is coming to a close. World leaders are gathered to discuss climate change, and the Red Cross has representatives in attendance. So this week’s Wrap-Up will, again, focus on how we’ve contributed to the conference as well as ways Red Cross and Red Crescent societies are adapting to climate change worldwide…… -
Red Cross Local
16 Dec 2009 | 9:43 amHere’s the Twitter-sized news from Red Cross chapters around the country today: RedCrossCTC: Red Cross Tiffany Circle members deliver more than 100 gifts to families in Fort Hood today!!! Go Red Cross!! ARCAGCC: Prepare a family to be strong when a U.S. military member is deployed. For info go to www.RedCross.org/gifts. #HolidayGiving redcrossokc: Winter is here! For #RedCross winter safety tips visit http://tinyurl.com/yekkn5v. RedCrossPDX: RT @Federation Today, follow #Tsunami to read the timeline of events as they happened on Dec 26, 2004 redcrossny: Responded to VACATE @ 248-10 Hook… -
ICRC makes first visit to Afghan detainees in Taliban custody
15 Dec 2009 | 7:56 amToday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it carried out two visits to three members of the Afghan security forces detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan last month. This is the first time since the current conflict began that the ICRC has visited people detained by the armed opposition. “We plan to conduct and repeat visits in other regions, and hope to visit people held by other armed opposition groups, with the aim of ensuring that everyone detained in relation to the armed conflict is treated humanely,” said Reto Stocker, ICRC head of delegation in… -
Surviving the Tsunami
15 Dec 2009 | 6:04 amWe will soon mark the 5th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. We teamed up with Reuters to introduce you to 4 people whose lives were forever changed by the events on December 26, 2004. One person featured, Dina Astita, volunteered for the American Red Cross after losing her three sons in the tsunami. She helped children and their parents overcome the emotional trauma caused by so much death and devastation. Today, she works for the Indonesian Red Cross in Calang and has started her family again with the birth of a new son. >> Learn more about the tsunami and how the Red Cross has…
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Analog Devices
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Adjustable-Gain Difference Amplifier Circuit Measures Hundreds of Volts, Rejects Large Common-Mode Signals
1 Dec 2009 | 7:51 amA diff-amp in a feedback loop with an inverting op amp is useful for measuring differential signals up to 500 V. This circuit also rejects large common-mode voltages, and allows the differential gain to be set by a ratio of resistors, enabling the user to select the level of attenuation. -
Designing High-Performance Phase-Locked Loops with High-Voltage VCOs
1 Dec 2009 | 7:50 amPhase-locked loops are used to provide the local-oscillator function in radio receivers and transmitters; for clock distribution and noise reduction, and as the clock source for high-sampling-rate analog-to-digital converters. This article considers the basics of PLLs, examines the current state-of-the-art in PLL design, discusses pros and cons of typical architectures, and introduces some alternatives to high-voltage VCOs. -
Using Isolated RS-485 in DMX512 Lighting Applications
3 Nov 2009 | 10:41 amTheatrical lighting applications have evolved from lanterns in open-air theatres into the more complex systems available today. Modern lighting equipment includes dimmers, flashing lights, moving lights, colored lights, and gobos. These lighting systems are often controlled over long distances—up to 4000 feet—using the DMX512 communications protocol. -
Synchronizing Device Clocks Using IEEE 1588 & Blackfin Embedded Processors
3 Nov 2009 | 10:40 amIEEE 1588 defines a protocol to synchronize distributed clocks on a network. The preferred clock synchronization method for many applications, it is cost-effective, supports heterogeneous systems, and provides nanosecond-level synchronization. The ADSP-BF518 Blackfin® processor includes dedicated hardware support for IEEE 1588. This article shows clock synchronization performance obtained using this solution. -
Automobile Tail Lamp and Brake Lamp Controller
6 Oct 2009 | 11:53 amLight emitting diodes (LEDs) are recently finding uses in automobiles, where they provide signaling, daytime running lights, and interior lighting. As this technology hits the road, manufacturers continue to investigate new ways to apply it, taking advantage of the styling possibilities afforded by LED headlights and taillights.
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Avaya
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Acquisition Accomplished!
18 Dec 2009 | 11:23 amIt's official: Avaya has acquired Nortel Enterprise Solutions (NES). There's just too much to cover in a short blog post. So I urge customers, partners, suppliers, and developers to check out the Avaya Nortel Information Center. We've got answers to frequently asked questions, critical contact information, and great background material. And on January 19 (1PM EST), join Kevin Kennedy, Dr. Alan Baratz, Joel Hackney, Chris Formant, and other executives at a virtual event that'll cover our new integrated portfolio. -
An Avaya One-X® Communicator Demo You’ve Got to See
15 Dec 2009 | 7:01 amThe Avaya one-X® Communicator is a desktop application that lets non-tech savvy business users initiate video calls. You can see this for yourself in the following YouTube video that was posted back in September. Tony Klechner, Avaya Unified Communication Solution Manager, shows us that video collaboration is no more complicated than a standard voice conference call. -
The Communication Revolution - Part 2, Social Communication Behavior Impacts
14 Dec 2009 | 9:56 amThis post is part 2 of a series of posts on the Communication Revolution and Deep Impact it has on us. Part 1 of the series discussed how the Communication Revolution has brought on information overload and communication management issues. This post focuses on the impact that new technology and communication modes have had on our social communication behavior and preferences. Ultimately the series will end with recommendations and examples of what Unified Communication solutions can do to help us better cope with the less positive side effects of this revolution. The Communication Revolution… -
The Communication Revolution - Part 1 Information Overload
9 Dec 2009 | 8:00 amWith the Communication Revolution going on today many of us suffer information overload or management issues from time to time. Information overload and/or inefficient management of communication carries a cost. This post is part 1 of a series described here. If you haven't read that it may help to go do so to set the stage and context for the follow-on posts. This series of posts is regarding the communication revolution and where new Unified Communication solutions that are needed as a result. What is information overload? This link gives good background on the problem. Using myself as an… -
Voice 2.0 and the Contact Center
9 Dec 2009 | 7:46 amDid you catch Dr. Alan Baratz's keynote at VoiceCon? There were many facets to his presentation— leveraging email-like control over real-time communications, new chameleon devices, and new approaches to enterprise collaboration. Baratz masterfully wove them together in spelling out Avaya's vision of a Voice 2.0 enterprise. Afterwards, I realized that many Voice 2.0 features are already available. You'll find them in the contact center! The main idea underlying Voice 2.0 is to take the real-time communications that employees find comfortable in their role as consumers—IM, SMS, social…
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Avis
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British Airways cabin crew strike cancelled.
18 Dec 2009 | 4:26 amWe are pleased to announce that the planned strike by British Airways cabin crew has been cancelled. The High Court yesterday ruled that the 12 day strike, originally due to take place over the Christmas period was in fact illegal. It is now expected that all British Airways flights will operate as normal over the festive period. However you might be travelling, Avis would like to wish everyone that’s travelling over the Christmas and New Year period a safe and stress-free journey. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Bookmark It -
Avis giving you the choice on how we offset carbon emissions.
17 Dec 2009 | 2:32 amAvis are pleased to announce that we now offer our customers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions from their car rental in the UK when they collect there keys. The cost to offset the rental is £1, this has been calculated based on average vehicle emissions, length of rentals, mileage and age of vehicles. The money raised will be allocated by our partner, The CarbonNeutral Company. To celebrate the launch for every customer who chooses to offset the carbon on their rental in December 2009 and January 2010, Avis will match the total amount collected. We would also like our customers… -
British Airways cabin crew to strike over Christmas.
14 Dec 2009 | 9:02 amYou might have heard by now that British Airways has announced a 12 day strike between the 22nd December and the 2nd January. This is expected to affect around a million people. If you were planning to fly on an internal flight with British Airways within the UK over this period you may want to consider renting a car to get to your final destination. We strongly advise you to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment, since the car rental industry tends to sell out of cars over the Christmas and New Year period. Avis still has availability at most key airports at the time of writing,… -
European Ski Trips
11 Dec 2009 | 8:50 amI’ve spent a fair bit of time in the mountains since starting to snowboard in 1995, and to be honest I’ve tried most methods of getting out into Europe. 15 hour road trips in the back of unheated windowless Sprinter vans potentially being the highlight. I’ve found over the years, flying into Geneva or Lyon and then self driving through Avis is an excellent way of tackling the transfer and still retaining independence while in the mountains. I love to explore, and having a hire car allows me that pleasure. This road trip takes you from Lyon Airport all the way to the highest city in… -
Most Dangerous Roads in the World
1 Dec 2009 | 7:45 amFollowing my recent post on Top Gear’s review of arguably the world’s greatest driving roads, i-Motor magazine this month looks at the other end of the spectrum and identifies some of the most dangerous roads on the planet. Below is my pick from their selection - Eyre Highway, Australia – Has stretches of highway up to 300 miles without settlements is not an ideal place to break down! Also known for being the straightest, flattest road in the world, it’s ‘road trains’ are a familiar, yet dangerous, sight. - Arc De Triomphe, France – One of the most recognisable monuments in…
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Best Buy
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Business Week Article on Best Buy Strategy
12 Dec 2009 | 1:19 pmBusiness Week just posted an article on Best Buy’s business strategy. I am interested in hearing comments on what people think about Business Week’s take on the article. The article is posted at the following link, http://tinyurl.com/yaokons. I have also posted it below. Why Tech Bows to Best Buy As the last major electronics retailer standing, the [...] -
Communicating “Buyer Be Happy” This Holiday Part 3 – Give a Gift That Gives a Gift
10 Dec 2009 | 8:48 amIf you’ve visited a Best Buy store in the past few weeks, you may have noticed a logo next to certain items designating them as an @15 Gift. I’ve mentioned @15 before, but am particularly proud of how Best Buy’s philanthropic platform is inviting our customers to partner with us, benefiting teens in our communities [...] -
Communicating “Buyer Be Happy,” This Holiday Part 2
8 Dec 2009 | 9:47 amOur plan this Holiday focuses on executing very well our “Price Plus,” strategy. ” Price Plus” is shorthand for great prices plus providing the best help before and during the shopping process and then after you buy something via all our touch points in our stores, web sites and call centers. We know that [...] -
Holiday Greetings Messaging
30 Nov 2009 | 12:50 pmYou may be aware that the reference to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Ahda in our 11/22 Best Buy Sunday newspaper insert (for U.S. Best Buy stores) has spurred a number of conversations in the blogosphere and on Best Buy’s Facebook site. We’ve also seen an increase in the volume of calls and e-mails to [...] -
Communicating “Buyer Be Happy” This Holiday – Part 1
22 Nov 2009 | 11:24 amIts been a while since I posted but I am finally back. Writing a blog gives you new found respect for journalists who do this for a living. Its hard work! I am going to try to post weekly through the New Year. We’ll see how that goes. Anyway, I’m very excited about what we are [...]
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Best Western
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TSA offers tips for holiday travelers hopping on planes
18 Dec 2009 | 7:04 amWe're in the midst of the busiest travel time of the year when people who rarely fly, or have never flown, take to the skies, and airport security signs get painfully long. The TSA—the Transportation Security Administrationwants to provide some clarification and tips for travelers to help speed up those lines.Here’s some guidance related to the most common questions the TSA has been hearing lately. Please remember that each time the officers have to search a bag or a person, the line slows down.The 4-1-1 on 3-1-1 (Liquids, Gels & Aerosols): If you’re checking a bag, make it easy on… -
A travel book that's certain to make you laugh
18 Dec 2009 | 6:48 amAuthor Tim Brookes, honored by the New York Times and Booklist as one of the best travel writers in America, is back.Already internationally known as a longtime NPR commentator and the author of the hitchhiking classic A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow, Brookes’s latest travel epic is Thirty Percent Chance of Enlightenment.Often hilarious, ultimately profound, Thirty Percent Chance of Enlightenment begins when Tim Brookes receives a phone call from his editor at National Geographic asking if he’d like to write an article on weather forecasting—an assignment that doesn’t go as… -
High peaks at low prices
17 Dec 2009 | 10:59 pmLast week, the New York Times published a guide to affordable ski areas throughout the country--and the paper reports that resorts are skiers with "special deals, cheaper flights and other enticements to lure skiers back." They claim that last year in the midst of the recession, everyone skied mountains in their own backyard--i.e., close to home. But this year things are looking "sunnier" and people are bound to travel again, especially with so many deals.The paper reports on affordable skiing at Alta, Utah; Aspen, Colo.; Jackson Hole, Wyo., Jay Peak, Vt.; Revelstoke, B.C.; South Lake Tahoe,… -
Sometimes it pays to check the bags
13 Dec 2009 | 8:56 pmI was so excited when I saw the bottles of Tupelo honey for sale at a store in Savannah, Ga.Some say Tupelo Honey, produced in the South, is the "gold standard" by which all other honey are measured. My husband was doing some work in Florida a few years ago and picked up a jar. For weeks hee spread it on his toast every morning for breakfast.I immediately bought a bottle--I had found a Christmas gift for a man who is nearly impossible to shop for. Eureka!Back at the hotel, I stuffed the honey into my suitcase. I couldn't wait to wrap it at home and put it under the tree.Well, the honey never… -
Okefenoke Swamp, Waycross, Ga.
13 Dec 2009 | 9:02 amOne of my favorite books as a child was the National Geographic title, Explore a Spooky Swamp. It told the story of Willie and Isabella who go on a boat tour of the Okefenoke Swamp with a guide named Johnny.Johnny shows the children tiny frogs, a snapping turtle, and a mother alligator defending her nest. They float under a canopy of trees laden with Spanish moss.My father read me the book again and again, and I always dreamed of visiting the swamp. But I never knew exactly where this mysterious place was until I was looking for a place to stay overnight between Charleston and Jacksonville,…
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Bigelow Tea
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Have a Festive (and Sustainable) Holiday Season!
18 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amWith the holiday season is in full swing, it’s time to unleash the creative wizard within us. Yes, we ALL have the ability to be creative! No need to be a Picasso, just have fun! And, if you add sustainability to your palette, you’ll feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that your festive creation also contributed to the place we all call Home – our planet. Bigelow Tea has been practicing Sustainabili-TEA for as long as we can remember and we are delighted to share some festive (and sustainable) tips for the holidays. Let’s talk solar. Become an environmental leader in your… -
Boosting Your Immune System with Bigelow Tea
16 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amA single neutrophil (yellow), engulfing anthrax bacteria (orange) Tea may not be the only answer to a stronger immune system, but studies say it can be a significant factor in helping your body ward off sickness. Illness is not caused by a virus or bacteria; it’s when your body’s immune system is too weak to prevent the actual disease. Without the use of antibiotics, this battle that wages between your body and the outside world can actually strengthen your immune system to fight off future attacks. Here are a few immune system boosters and busters when it comes to your health: Boosters… -
Spread Some Holiday Cheer, Bigelow Tea-Style and Shop Online for Festive Gifts from Bigelow Tea
15 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amShopping for the holidays is easy and fun at Bigelow Tea (www.bigelowtea.com) with a wonderful offering of festive treats from our 2009 Holiday Gift Collection. “Our holiday gifts have been tastefully chosen and packaged with our customers in mind,” says Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea. “We wanted to provide adults and children alike with a fabulous selection of teas and treats to choose from and I think we’ve succeeded!” Royal Drum Tower There’s something for everyone at Bigelow Tea! Try out the Royal Drum Tower, with its festive drums and treats, including our… -
Jose and Susan Feliciano Visit Bigelow Tea!
14 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amWhat an amazing week we had here at Bigelow Tea! As I already told you, Wayne Gretzky visited us but I didn’t get to tell you that Jose Feliciano and his wife Susan visited us later in the week. I can’t even begin to tell you how great it was to meet Jose and Susan. They are such an incredible kind, genuine, couple. We shot a video with Jose discussing his life story: he was born blind and grew up in Puerto Rico with eleven brothers. His love for music began at the age of 3 and he is now one of the greatest guitarists and vocalists of all time! David C. and Eunice Bigelow, Jose Feliciano,… -
Our Blog Reader Alice Tells her Tea Story, from Virginia to Scotland!
11 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amAs a child, my mother gave me tea to soothe sore throats. I never really enjoyed it much—it was a grown up thing– and that’s what I liked best about it. When I went to college, my mother let me take a big mug with me. I used it once and found it three months later: filled with mold on a top shelf next to my bunk bed. Gross! Obviously tea wasn’t quite my thing, however, until I studied abroad in Scotland. In Scotland, I drank tea every day. Multiple cups of tea in fact– with milk, without milk, but never lemon in Scotland. I met friends out for cups or tea, or had friends…
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Boeing
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Journey
17 Dec 2009 | 12:15 pmI’ve had the privilege of being around for a number of first flights of new airplanes. Back in the 1980s I got to see the 757 and 767 fly for the very first time. And then we had the 777 in the '90s. But the 787 first flight was something different for me, as it was for many others here at Boeing. ZA001 touches down at Boeing Field at the conclusion of first flight. On this airplane program, I had the opportunity of being there from the beginning – to see us change our focus from the Sonic Cruiser to the 7E7 (as we then called the Dreamliner). It was not too long after that decision that… -
Volare
16 Dec 2009 | 3:57 pmA number of you have asked to see a photo of the Dreamliner in flight with the gear up. Here's a great one. In addition, take a look at the highlights video (below) we've put together of the 787's first flight - from takeoff at chilly Paine Field to landing at rainy Boeing Field. Click on the image to view the 787 Dreamliner First Flight video. -
Fly me away
15 Dec 2009 | 6:18 pmThree hours in the air = aviation history. ZA001 flew over the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 787 Chief Pilot Mike Carriker and Captain Randy Neville took the 787 to 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) and an air speed of 180 knots, or about 207 mph (333 kph). I was lucky enough to be at Paine Field in Everett Tuesday morning to experience this moment in time. At 10:27 a.m. PST we saw history made. I say “we” because it was me and more than 12,000 employees and our guests on the ground, and hundreds of thousands around the world watching on the Web. A shot I managed to get with my own… -
Up!
15 Dec 2009 | 11:13 amThe 787 Dreamliner is in the air! Follow the progress of first flight live online at the 787 Dreamliner First Flight Web site. We'll post up some more photos later today. -
This is it
14 Dec 2009 | 10:27 amWe've launched our Web site dedicated to providing news and updates about the 787 first flight. Click on the banner above to go to the 787 Dreamliner First Flight site. Check the site frequently for updates on timing and for information on how to watch a live Webcast of the flight. As the title says, this is it. We are ready for first flight - which is scheduled for 10 a.m. December 15 - Seattle time. Of course, and this is a big condition, the flight is dependent on acceptable weather conditions.
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BreakingPoint Labs
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Hardening Security Devices Against Evasions
18 Dec 2009 | 7:47 amThis week we hosted another in our series of webcasts, this time looking at evasions. It was a very informative session thanks to our experts Dennis Cox, Todd Manning and Dustin D. Trammell. If you were not able to attend you can still watch the webcast in it's entirety. The recorded webcast includes all the slides, the full audio and the live video feed. We have also provided the slides themselves below. Harden Security Devices Against Increasingly Sophisticated Evasions View more presentations from BreakingPoint Systems. -
Cyberweapon Proliferation Treaty? No, Not Really.
15 Dec 2009 | 5:15 amWhen I was in school, many years ago, I remember running through drills to prepare us for an attack from the Soviet Union. Sitting in the basement (ahem, shelter) of my school we wondered why these drills were even necessary. If you simply watched the news during those years, or had gone to the theater to see WarGames, the evidence was mounting that no basement would really protect us from the seemingly thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at us. Year after year the United States and the Soviets simply kept building up the enormous arsenal of weapons and the term "nuclear proliferation"… -
Webcast: Hardening Security Devices Against Increasingly Sophisticated Evasions
3 Dec 2009 | 7:28 amLast month our Webcast Wednesday series focused on preparing you to defend against and test for DDoS and botnet attacks. During our next Webcast on December 16th, "Hardening Security Devices Against Increasingly Sophisticated Evasions", BreakingPoint security researchers will be giving a comprehensive briefing on strike evasions, detailing the latest techniques being used, proper ways to test for evasion resistance and five keys for protecting your network. We have a fantastic group prepared to share their expertise on evasions including BreakingPoint CTO Dennis Cox and BreakingPoint security… -
TCP Portals: The Handshake's a Lie!
10 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pmWhenever I interview someone for an Application Engineer or Security Research position, my favorite introductory question is, "Can you describe for me the TCP three-way handshake?". It is a fine baseline question to understand a candidate's knowledge of modern networking. Answers range from "SYN, SYN/ACK, ACK,", to a full description of ARP, to initial sequence number generation. It's a good springboard question, because then you can start talking about spoofing addresses, port scanning, the significance of IPIDs, and more. We are hiring a lot here at BreakingPoint, which means I'm asking… -
60 Minutes on Cyber War: The True Threat of Cyber Attack
10 Nov 2009 | 5:52 amTen years ago, 60 Minutes reported on the new threat of "cyber war." At the time, the story introduced the American public to a developing danger that would come to realization in the future. According to Sunday's program, that day has arrived. The television show dived back into the topic of cyber warfare and it was evident that not only has the threat arrived, but the United States is not prepared to face the attacks. Retired Admiral Mike McConnell, the former chief of national intelligence and director of the National Security Agency, outlined the gravest threat to the U.S.'s critical…
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Cisco
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The Sheep of Silicon Valley
18 Dec 2009 | 6:30 amHave you seen them? They actually exist. Right in the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley…about a 5-iron from Cisco campus. Located just north of 237 and west of Zanker Road are: The Sheep of Silicon Valley. You can see the traffic of 237 on this video…and you can even see some of our (unnamed) competitors’ buildings…and others are nearby. -
Continuing Cisco’s 25th Anniversary Celebration
17 Dec 2009 | 2:20 pmAs you may know, Cisco turned 25 last week, and as part of the celebration Cisco employees were invited to submit videos for a global “Cisco’s Got Talent” competition. We thought we’d share a bit of our (non-technology) Cisco talent. Here’s a clip of some of the submissions we received. -
Jewel Attends COP15 via Cisco TelePresence
17 Dec 2009 | 8:20 amFans of singer, songwriter, actress and environmental supporter Jewel might be surprised to hear that she “attended” the climate change events occuring in Copenhagen, Denmark … without leaving her home state of Texas. How did she manage this feat? Jewel and dozens of members of The Nature Conservancy used Cisco’s virtual meeting technology to connect “live” to participants attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference happening this week in Copenhagen. The objective of ‘COP 15’ is to set a global agreement between all… -
VIDEO: Cisco Chief Demo Guy Shows Newest Collaboration Tools
14 Dec 2009 | 12:25 pmOur Chief Demonstration Officer, Jim Grubb, has been demonstrating technology on stage with our Chairman and CEO John Chambers for years. Not everyone gets to see these demos so we thought we’d capture this one and share it a bit more broadly. This demonstration is from our Financial Analyst Conference that took place last week in San Jose, CA. In this demo, Jim shows our newest IP phone (9971), our Enterprise Collaboration Platform (ECP), and searchable video via our “Show and Share” collaboration tool. All of these were introduced as a part of our… -
Bohemian Video? The Muppets Take On Video Communications
14 Dec 2009 | 4:00 am“Me? In love with a pig? Wait ‘til I tell the guys in marketing.” - Kermit the Frog, The Muppets take Manhattan When the rock band Queen released “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1975, they accompanied the single with a groundbreaking promotional video—one of the first music videos ever. With over 120 vocal tracks, the song was difficult to perform live and, essentially, the video helped Queen avoid a live appearance on Top of the Pops, the legendary British music chart television program. Fortuitously, the Bohemian Rhapsody video became revolutionary: it served to…
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Clorox
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Removing Body Soil from Sheets
17 Dec 2009 | 9:39 amQ. My husband sweats at night and has ruined many sheets and pillow cases and even pillows with protectors. The sheets are stained with a yellowness that I just can’t get out. Of course these sheets are white with a taupe pattern and metallic gold stripe, so cleaning them is difficult at best. The stain is not little- it encompasses almost the whole fitted sheet and every pillow case is entirely discolored- mine are just like new and show the contrast. Is there any way to get these stains out? A. Body soil is something I have written about several times in the past on my blog. If you do… -
Removing Yellowing From Shirts
15 Dec 2009 | 6:41 amQ. I have a few white cotton shirts which turned very pale yellowish in color. I soaked them in bleach and water for several hours. It made a little bit of difference, but did not completely solve the problem. What can I do to make them white again? A. I’m not clear whether the yellowing was from storage or the soaking practice you described. First, I NEVER recommend using Clorox® Regular-Bleach full-strength, or in very concentrated amounts on any item or surface as very concentrated bleach can damage them. Soaking is OK, but normally I recommend 1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach per… -
Pre-Treatment Product Usage
10 Dec 2009 | 7:25 amQ. When I use Wisk directly on stains and let it sit for a while before going into the laundry, often it bleaches my colors where I put the Wisk. What is the cause of this? A. I suspect that a couple of things may have happened here. A common mistake that consumers make when pre-treating is to leave the product on until it dries. Then the original problem can be made worse in two ways: the original stain is dissolved and now spreads out, and/or the detergent contains brighteners that are now concentrated in that spot you just pretreated. This may appear to lighten the color. Unfortunately,… -
Locating Chlorine Free Clorox Bleach®
8 Dec 2009 | 7:09 amQ. I live a small town and have been looking for Chlorine Free Clorox Bleach® and I cannot find any in liquid form. I only have located ONE box of powder. I guess my question is, do you still manufacture chlorine free or is it advertised in a different way? A. You should be able to find our Liquid Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster, as it has very broad distribution. I have a search tool for where the product would be available in your area if you provide me your city and zipcode. -
Removing Clay Stains
3 Dec 2009 | 9:34 amQ. My son has nylon white baseball pants with red and blue stripes on the legs – NOTHING gets the Texas clay stains out. What can I do? A. Baseball pants always seem to get those ground-in stains from sliding and just wiping the hands between swings. Key to possible success here is to get started quickly, especially if they are muddy, and use the right product/process. It’s the very fine dirt/clay particles that get ground into the pant fibers that are the problem. Brush/shake/scrape away as much as possible before starting the process; the more removed here means less to be removed…
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Coca-Cola
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Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola - The Sundblom Coca-Cola Santa Wall
18 Dec 2009 | 7:57 amLast year, I told you about the artist behind the Coca-Cola Santa, Haddon Sundblom. You may know that his Coca-Cola Santa creation transformed what was to be a simple campaign into a holiday tradition that has charmed the public for more than 75 years, but did you know that you can get a close up glimpse of his original Coca-Cola Santa paintings at the World of Coca-Cola? In the Pop Culture Gallery, there is a complete wall display of eleven Sundbloom paintings, including the two seen here. Our entire collection of original Sundblom paintings of Santa Claus consists of more than 40 in all. -
Another Bottle Radio
14 Dec 2009 | 11:44 amYou may have seen my post last week about the 1933 Crosley contour bottle radio at the World of Coke. That was the first, but certainly not the last bottle radio we produced. Over the years, we've made different versions of contour bottle radios with updated technology as time progressed. I thought you'd like to see an example of a contour bottle radio from the year 1999 in our collection. This is a mini Hi-Fi contour bottle radio with doors that open to reveal a compact disc player and stereo, complete with remote control. This was made by Akura Electronics. Some of you may have a… -
Spotlight on the World of Coca-Cola: Crosley Bottle Radio
11 Dec 2009 | 2:01 pmThe first bottle radio to be distributed as a promotional item was the bottle radio manufactured by the Crosley Radio Corporation in 1933. The radio, composed of hard plastic, stood 23 inches high and weighed almost 15 pounds. These radios were given to customers in the hope that they would be displayed prominently in the retail outlet, creating an additional advertising opportunity. The radios originally were sold to the bottlers for $18.75 each, a significant sum in the 1930s. Only high volume retail outlets were beneficiaries of this promotional item.Today, these radios are highly… -
The Six Keys
10 Dec 2009 | 1:33 pmIn 1927, The Company ran the Six Keys to the popularity of Coke campaign. This was the first promotional contest of its kind ever attempted - with a $30,000 cash prize for "simply looking for and noticing Coca-Cola advertising." Contestants were required to search for the six keys to Coke’s popularity, or the six reasons why people like Coca-Cola – and to write in one paragraph which key appealed most to them and why it was a good reason for the popularity of Coke. This promotion ran in major magazines of the time, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Life. The Six Keys… -
Cooking with Coca-Cola - Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake
8 Dec 2009 | 8:23 amWhat better way to finish our Cooking with Coca-Cola video series than with a classic Southern desert, Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake. Chef Linton Hopkins demonstrates this recipe that he serves at Holeman & Finch. Having been there the day it was filmed, I can tell you it was delicious. Download Coca-Cola Cake Recipe, Download Coca-Cola Cake Icing recipe.I would like to thank Chef Hopkins and Greg Best of Holeman & Finch for donating their time and expertise for these videos. Chef Hopkins is a former Iron Chef America contestant and has been nominated for James Beard Award and Greg…
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comScore
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comScore Celebrates a Decade of Innovation
16 Dec 2009 | 9:28 amAs this decade winds down to its conclusion, comScore would like to take a moment to reflect on what a decade it’s been. Founded in 1999 by our CEO Magid Abraham and Chairman Gian Fulgoni in the heyday of the dotcom bubble, comScore was one of only a few young Internet companies to survive the dotcom bubble burst in 2001-02. Here the company stands today, a full decade after its founding stronger than ever, as the leading global provider of digital market intelligence. From its humble beginnings, comScore now serves more than 1,200 clients and employs 500 talented individuals in offices… -
Facebook Surpasses 100 Million U.S. Visitors in November!
15 Dec 2009 | 11:20 amcomScore just released its November 2009 Media Metrix data, which shows an important milestone being reached by a very popular social networking site. For the first time in its history, Facebook.com surpassed 100 million monthly U.S. visitors joining a very select list of web properties reaching such a threshold (the others are Google Sites, Yahoo! Sites and Microsoft Sites). Facebook also ascended one position in our monthly Top 50 web property rankings to become the 4th largest property this month, the highest position it has ever reached. -
No Time to Lose for Online Retailers
7 Dec 2009 | 12:45 pmOne of the fascinating things that’s become clear this holiday shopping season is that many retailers launched their marketing programs earlier this year, with a strong emphasis on price discounts and other financial incentives such as free shipping. I think retailers entered the season knowing that consumers were cash strapped and so offered a wide array of attractive promotions well ahead of Cyber Monday - and even Black Friday - in an effort to get consumers to open their wallets and spend earlier in the season. -
Zhu Zhu Pets: The Season's Hot Holiday Toy
2 Dec 2009 | 11:00 amThis past Thanksgiving weekend was an interesting one for me. I got the opportunity to spend time with my adorable nieces, ages 3 & 5, and since I don’t yet have children of my own, I am constantly learning new... -
Thanksgiving Weekend Continues Strong Momentum for Online Holiday Shopping
1 Dec 2009 | 11:50 amWe just tabulated the holiday spending totals for the Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend (Nov. 28-29) and saw continued growth in online consumer spending after the double-digit gains of Thanksgiving Day (+10% vs. year ago to $318 million) and Black Friday (+11% vs. year ago to $595 million). Saturday and Sunday combined to show a growth rate of 5% tracking above the 3% growth rate for the holiday season to date.
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Daimler
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Väter gegen Kindesmissbrauch
16 Dec 2009 | 11:03 pmHinsehen, nicht wegschauen! Bereits seit April 1987 arbeite ich bei Daimler in Esslingen/Mettingen. Angefangen habe ich in der Graugussgießerei als Kernmacher. Privat und beruflich ist in der Zwischenzeit einiges passiert. Die Gießerei wurde fast komplett automatisiert und ich wurde zum Maschinen- bzw. Anlagenführer. Im Februar 2004 startete ein Pilotprojekt: Einführung „Ganzheitliche Anlagenbetreuung“ in der Gießerei, welches ich seitdem als Produktionsmitarbeiter begleite. Derzeit bin ich für die gesamte Produktion Eisenguss zuständig. Es war für… -
INTERVIEW: “Unsere Stärke sind unsere Mitarbeiter”
15 Dec 2009 | 7:18 amPersonalvorstand Wilfried Porth (links) und Gesamtbetriebsratsvorsitzender Erich Klemm (rechts) äußern sich im Kurzinterview – das zeitgleich in der Mitarbeiterzeitung “inside” erscheint - im Sinne einer Zwischenbilanz zu den Auswirkungen des Maßnahmenpaketes zur Senkung der Arbeitskosten. Sie geben einen Ausblick für 2010 hinsichtlich Kurzarbeit und Arbeitszeitverkürzung. Auch auf die Stärken von Daimler gehen sie ein. Welche Wirkung hat das seit Mai 2009 geltende Maßnahmenpaket zur Senkung der Arbeitskosten bisher gehabt? Wilfried… -
Green Car Vision Award: B-Klasse F-CELL im Finale
14 Dec 2009 | 12:59 amDie Mercedes-Benz B-Klasse F-CELL hat es ins Finale für den „Green Car Vision Award 2010“ geschafft! Der Sieger wird Ende Januar auf der Auto Show in Washington bekannt gegeben. Unter den fünf Finalisten ist es das einzige Brennstoffzellen-Fahrzeug. Die B-Klasse F-CELL hat diesen Preis meiner Einschätzung nach wirklich verdient und meine Kollegen und ich hier am Standort Nabern, wo wir die Brennstoffzelle entwickeln, haben unsere Stimmen bereits abgegeben. Tun Sie es auch! Hier geht’s zur Abstimmung: Spätestens Ende Januar werden wir wissen, ob es geklappt hat. Ich… -
Produktionsverlagerung und Grundeinkommen
9 Dec 2009 | 8:01 amProduktionsverlagerung Das aktuelle Thema C-Klasseverlagerung in die USA wird ja in der betriebsinternen Öffentlichkeit sehr stark diskutiert. Höhepunkt war wohl der vergangene Freitag, als ca. 15.000 Kollegen der Frühschicht in die Sindelfinger Innenstadt vor das Sterncenter zogen. Mehr als 200 Mitarbeiter fuhren von Untertürkheim mit dem Auto nach Sindelfingen, da so schnell keine Busse aufzutreiben waren. Das Thema trifft den aktuellen Zeitgeist, den wir viel zu lange verdrängt haben. Im Kern geht es einmal um ökonomischen Gründe. Kein Land der Welt wird… -
Renntransporter – Trucks you can trust
6 Dec 2009 | 11:49 pmWer schon einmal den aktuellen Formel 1- bzw. DTM-Actros gesehen hat, wird zustimmen, dass es sich um ein äußerst beeindruckendes Fahrzeug handelt, auch von innen. Vorn im Hals des Aufliegers öffnet sich hinter einer Glastür eine ganz andere Welt: Hier ist der Aufenthalts- und Rückzugsraum für die Rennfahrer. Im aufgeräumten Spind ist oben Platz für den Helm, unten stehen die Rennfahrerschuhe, dazwischen hängt die Rennmontur. Eine gemütliche Rundsitzgruppe lädt zum Entspannen ein, im Kühlschrank warten temperierte Getränke.
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Dell
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Dell Order Delays
17 Dec 2009 | 2:35 pmWe’re seeing some online activity in blogs, forums and from customers on Twitter like @kevincully and @dstxus reacting to order delays. Especially at this time of year, we are sorry for the frustration. The reality is that we are seeing increased demand for many of the products consumers want to buy and it has affected our ability to fulfill the orders. In addition, there are also some industry-wide constraints on some components (like memory and larger-capacity hard drives) that are delaying the manufacturing of certain products for customers. We’re addressing these issues and… -
Latitude ON | FLASH—Latitude ON's Little Brother
16 Dec 2009 | 10:30 pmBack in September of 2009 we started shipping Latitude ON. The original version is an OMAP-based add-in card that delivers instant access and all day battery life for business users of the Dell E4200, E4300 and most recently the Latitude Z. Recently we rolled out Latitude ON | FLASH. This new addition to the Latitude ON family runs on a special flash memory module that snaps into an internal mini-card slot on supported systems. It fits in the middle of the Latitude ON options, in between the Latitude ON Reader and the full OMAP version that I blogged about in this earlier post. By running on… -
A High School Student's Perspective on COP15
16 Dec 2009 | 10:10 amNote from Lionel: Following up on Mark Newton's overview of COP15, I thought this might be interesting to some of our readers. The following blog post is a guest post from Becca A., who is a high school student that spent some time at UNICEF Children's Climate Forum. Thanks to her for taking part and for sharing her perspective. After a hectic journey, we easily settled in to work at the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum. On the first day I chose a workshop on Climate Justice. At the workshop, we discussed the disparity between the major polluters and those who… -
High Fashion Goes High Tech: A Suit That Fits Wins Global Dell Small Business Excellence Award
15 Dec 2009 | 10:01 pmEarlier this fall, our President of Dell Small and Medium Business Steve Felice sat on a panel of small business experts to choose the global Dell Small Business Excellence Award winner – an annual award that recognizes small businesses for their innovative use of IT to improve the customer experience. In the two years that this program has been international, a UK company has won again. A Suit That Fits.com, a UK-based small business that designs and sews high-fashion custom-tailored suits at affordable prices, is this year’s global winner earning them: Consulting time with… -
Dell and the COP15 in Copenhagen
15 Dec 2009 | 12:15 pmLast week, in a chilly Copenhagen, The United Nations kicked off its 15th Climate Change Conference – COP 15. As you’ll probably already know due to the scope of coverage surrounding this event, the summit is an opportunity for government officials, NGO's and industry organizations to work together in reaching an agreement on climate change following the Kyoto agreement. For Dell, it’s a unique opportunity to reinforce our climate policy and to tell our story about IT as a solution. As Dell’s lead environmental sustainability strategist, I’m delighted to be a…
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Delta
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Top Trips with Delta Vacations
17 Dec 2009 | 2:00 pmBeing apart of the travel industry, I constantly have people asking me where is the best place to go, what are the best deals around, and of course, can I help them book it. It does not end there, we frequently have fans on facebook asking us the same questions and of course people calling our reservations for the same information. When you think of our 224 destinations and thousands of hotels and many great specials, it could be a little overwhelming for someone to narrow down where they would like to go on vacation. While we have great destination information and deals on the site for… -
The Latest Wings With Wi-Fi (One Year Anniversary Edition)
17 Dec 2009 | 9:52 amThis is it…the one year anniversary of Delta’s first commercial flight with Wi-Fi on Dec. 16, 2008. Fast forward…one year later and we now have inflight Internet available on 325 planes and more than 1,200 flights a day. And that accounts for just 60% of the fleet that will ultimately be equipped. Here are the latest stats: Installed Aircraft: MD88 All (117) MD90 All (16) 757-200 (115) All pre-merger Delta EXCEPT 654, 6801-6802, 6804, 6806, 6809, 6812 and 6903 757-300 (1) Awaiting STC 5801 767-300 (7) 125-129 and 137-138 737-700 (3) 3601, 3606, 3608 737-800 (63) All except… -
Tricks of the Trade for the Holiday Traveler
16 Dec 2009 | 2:48 pmOh, the weather outside may be frightful. But try out these helpful holiday travel tips from our frequent flyers and employees to ensure your upcoming trip is delightful. Beeline from Booking to Boarding: • If you book a one- or multi-stop trip, make sure you allow time to make your connection, especially at major hubs. If you travel through LaGuardia with Delta Shuttle, remember that you will need to make a connection in a different terminal. • Check in online at delta.com up to 24 hours before departure or from your cell phone/PDA at select cities. Checking in with your iPhone? Snap a… -
Looking Back: Flying Colonel & Flying Orchid Programs
11 Dec 2009 | 10:51 amIn its heyday, the invitation-only Flying Colonel was one of air transportation’s coveted citations. The first ”Flying Colonels of the Delta Fleet” were frequent flyers, supporters of Delta and the air transport industry in 1953, but the program has an earlier history. Delta inherited the Flying Colonels in our merger with Chicago and Southern (C&S) Air Lines in 1953. The program was the brain child of George E. Bounds in 1940, then C&S Director-Public Relations and Advertising, who wanted a way to recognize those contributing to the airlines’ success… -
The Latest Wings With Wi-Fi (The ‘300′ Edition)
8 Dec 2009 | 8:52 amAfter an incredibly successful promotion last week, in which all Delta customers received complimentary Wi-Fi courtesy of eBay, we reached a key milestone this week as Delta and Aircell technicians installed Gogo Inflight Internet on the 300th Delta aircraft. As readers of this blog know, Delta has more Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft than any other airline on the planet and the latest 737-800 installation was an important moment in the development of this program. Through the remainder of 2009, we’ll install Wi-Fi on roughly 40 additional aircraft. We expect to finish the pre-merger Delta domestic…
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EMC
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Merry Christmas!
18 Dec 2009 | 10:35 amYes, I know…It’s not Christmas (yet)…but, I did just get this really cool FlipHD video camera and wanted to give it a shot. -
SQL Express database stuck in RECOVERING status after SQL Dumper Error
18 Dec 2009 | 5:04 amProblem SQL express database after attaching to SQL server management studio 2008, produces SQL Dumper to appear on screen and ends up in a status of Recovering. Cause This is because when you attach an mdf file in SQL management studio for a sql express database, it sets the Auto Close property to True by default. Solution Change the Auto close property to False, after attaching. -
I came, I saw, I reduced storage utilization.
17 Dec 2009 | 7:18 pmVeni, vidi...errrmmm verygoodforstorageadmins? People say to me via the written communication (Don't think too hard about that one) that is email "Zilla you charismatic stallion of man, can I use the CIFS compressed file attribute in conjunction with Celerra Data Deduplication to space reduce structured data? DB files and the like?" And in my ruggedly masculine way I respond to them by saying "Why yes. Yes you can." -
VMware Backup with Avamar and vSphere Part 2
17 Dec 2009 | 10:53 amOn the previous post I had a chance to review the major backup and recovery options for VMware. I put the discussion in terms of Avamar, but a lot of that is just for convenience. If you want, you can substitute your favorite backup application in place of Avamar, and you will get more or less the same result (minus the deduplication), albeit perhaps with greater operational pain and expense. In any event, now that I have covered off the mechanics of the three major options, it is time to take a look at the why and the how of it all. Why would I want to choose one option over the other? How… -
A team Happy Holidays shout-out from the VMware-focused Team at EMC
17 Dec 2009 | 7:47 amThis was a internal team gag too funny not to share :-) Chris – this is fantastic, and to my team – I’m blessed to work with all of you! To all my readers – happy holidays!
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Celebrating Anniversaries on Facebook
16 Dec 2009 | 3:38 pmAs much as I enjoy celebrating my birthday every year with my friends, I often regard the anniversary of my relationship with my significant other to be even more important. At Facebook, we're always looking to make it easier to share and recognize such milestones. That's why we recently added the ability for you to include the date of your relationship anniversary on your Facebook profile. The new "Anniversary" field appears on profiles under the Relationship section of the Info tab. Once added, your anniversary date will be reflected on your profile and the profile of your significant… -
The Award Goes to...Translators
15 Dec 2009 | 2:52 pmSince launching our Translations application two years ago, more than 300,000 people have answered the call to contribute translations and make Facebook available in more than 70 different languages. These translators are helping more people connect in the languages that feel most comfortable to them, no matter how big or small of a community speaks a language or dialect. For all of their efforts, we think that translators deserve some extra recognition. Today, we're launching an award system for translators where they'll receive special icons as they reach various milestones in the… -
Updates on Your New Privacy Tools
9 Dec 2009 | 3:19 pmUPDATE on Thursday, Dec. 10: In response to your feedback, we've improved the Friend List visibility option described below. Now when you uncheck the "Show my friends on my profile" option in the Friends box on your profile, your Friend List won't appear on your profile regardless of whether people are viewing it while logged into Facebook or logged out. This information is still publicly available, however, and can be accessed by applications. Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. We've also posted a third tutorial about the new privacy controls here. This video explains how to use… -
Facebook Connect: Celebrating Year One
9 Dec 2009 | 2:25 pmOver the past year, Facebook Connect has brought an end to lengthy registration processes on many websites, provided a new way to interact with your News Feed on sites like Yahoo!, MSN and iGoogle, and empowered you to take your Facebook identity and friends to technologies such as Nintendo DSi, Xbox and iPhone apps. Today, we are celebrating the first anniversary of Facebook Connect from the LeWeb conference in France. Facebook Connect is now available on more than 80,000 websites, and more than 60 million people are using the service to connect with their friends everywhere. To start using… -
New Tools to Control Your Experience
9 Dec 2009 | 7:04 amUPDATE on Thursday, Dec. 10: We've been providing updates about our new privacy controls and answering your most common questions here on the blog. In addition to the video explaining the transition process for privacy settings, we've posted tutorials about using the new Privacy Settings page here and the Publisher privacy controls here. Today, we're launching new tools to give you even greater control over the information you share. Mark Zuckerberg, our founder and CEO, talked about these changes in his post last week. They include a simpler privacy settings page and a tool to control the…
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FedEx: Citizenship Blog
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Fred Smith Confident of Global Economy
17 Dec 2009 | 12:52 pmFedEx Chairman Fred Smith appeared on CNNMoney.com after the company announced its Q2FY10 earnings report. The following video is being presented with permission from CNNMoney.com read more -
Closing the Education Gap in Latin America
16 Dec 2009 | 1:40 pmThis week, hundreds of Latin American high school students journeyed to Buenos Aires for the first Junior Achievement Company of the Year Competition in the Americas. Cargosas won the inaugural FedEx Global Access Award by successfully marketing a reusable tote bag made from recycled materials. This team from Ecuador best incorporated concepts related to international trade, environmental sustainability and global market expansion.read more -
Pittsburgh Steelers Help Score Toys for Children
16 Dec 2009 | 9:23 amHow far would you go to meet your favorite celebrities or professional athletes? Would you wait in line for an entire day for an autograph? If you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you might be nodding your head ‘yes.’read more -
Take some time off and head Out of Office
15 Dec 2009 | 7:59 amThis week FedEx expanded its blogging presence with the launch of Out of Office – a blog from the creative minds at FedEx Office, designed to help our readers with their creative projects. We wanted to share our excitement about the new site here, because FedEx Office team members around the country have helped design and develop this blog from beginning to end. And it is the creativity of our company that will keep it updated well into the future with interesting and intriguing ideas for use at home and work!read more -
Pack, Ship and Win
14 Dec 2009 | 9:18 amLast week, FedEx Office had some extra holiday help. And no, it’s not what you think - Santa’s elves are still working hard at the North Pole. Instead, NFL players practiced their off-field skills of packing and shipping for customers in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. This event kicked off a national sweepstakes that offers customers a chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl XLIV, the 2010 Pro Bowl and other great prizes.read more
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Fandango
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DVD of the Week GIVEAWAY: ‘Inglourious Basterds'
17 Dec 2009 | 12:26 pmEarlier this week I announced the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi-hunting drama-thriller starring Brad Pitt as the leader of a band of renegade soldiers (“the Basterds”) who relentlessly stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France with help from a famous German actress (an excellent Diane Kruger). Meantime, a young German woman posing as a Gentile whose family was killed by Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) years before plots her own brand of revenge against the Third Reich. Violent, over-the-top and compelling, Inglourious is a must-see. The pic has been topping… -
The Five: Reasons to See 'Avatar' This Weekend
17 Dec 2009 | 11:24 amSo the time has finally come for the rest of the world (beyond the critics and press) to feast on James Cameron's Avatar. We've spent the past week reading what all the critics had to say, with some very positive reaction (the effects are awesome!) and some very negative reaction (the story is way lame!). But now it's your turn to see the film, and discuss it at length with your friends, family and all of us here at Fandango – and to help you decide whether to fork over those hard-earned dollars or not, here are five reasons why you should see Avatar this weekend. The Visuals… -
Watch K-Stew and Dakota Fanning Rock Out in 'Runaways' Trailer
17 Dec 2009 | 11:11 amOnly a couple of days ago we brought you the first official image of Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie in The Runaways, which is a biopic about the iconic all-girl teenage rock band that thrashed the stage and took the world by storm back in the '70s. The film will enjoy its world premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival before arriving in theaters this March. Those itching to see more should be stoked to learn that MTV just debuted the first teaser trailer for the film (watch it below). I say teaser because there's really not a whole lot of… -
'Iron Man 2' Trailer Will Rock Your Socks Off!
17 Dec 2009 | 11:06 amAfter patiently waiting for what seems like forever, Paramount has finally released the long-awaited trailer for Iron Man 2…and it's freakin' awesome! What I really like about Iron Man is that here we have one of the only costumed superhero franchises where everyone knows who's in the costume. That's obviously a main selling point in this trailer, as it shows how Tony Stark (aka Iron Man, aka Robert Downey Jr.) is really going to town with the whole Iron Man celebrity image. Of course there's a flipside to the whole celebrity angle, and since people know you're the one inside… -
Quickhits: '300' Sequel, 'Pirates 4', 'Inception' Poster and More!
16 Dec 2009 | 3:46 pmWelcome to Quickhits – your chance to catch up on some of this week's hottest stories in less than 60 seconds. Ready? Go! Frank Miller Discusses '300' Sequel (or is it Prequel?) While most of Hollywood quietly forgets that Frank Miller ever made The Spirit, fanboys across the globe are still very interested to see where he can potentially take this 300 franchise. The first movie directed by Zack Snyder made a killing, and now Miller is working on a follow-up graphic novel that, according to him, will be named Xerxes and will take place 10 years prior to the events in 300.
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Fiskars
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On the 7th day of Fisk-mas…
18 Dec 2009 | 11:37 amPlease help me welcome Fisk-a-Elf #4635. She is another Fiskateer who is always encouraging, fun and ready to jump in on a good challenge. With all the beautiful singing that has been shared for Fisk-mas so far, you’ll see why I most identify with Fisk-a-Elf #4635’s video- it’s exactly what I would have done although for a different reason. Fisk-a-Elf #4635 will be reading through your comments and choosing a Fisk-a-teer to win the item Fisk-a-Claus just whipped up at the North Pole. Comment by tomorrow morning and Fisk-a-Elf #4635 will use Random.org to choose a… -
I’m Interrupting Fiskmas…
18 Dec 2009 | 6:56 amfor this special announcement! The fabulous Erin Manning is back!! That’s right, photography expert and TV personality Erin Manning will be doing a video chat with us on UStream! For those of you that don’t know Erin, she is an amazing professional photographer that has her own photography show called The Whole Picture, she’s the author of Portait and Candid Photography, and she is a fantastic teacher to boot! If you were lucky enough to be in on Erin’s last chat, you know what I mean! For this chat, she’s going to show us how to “Capture The… -
Tona’s Christmas Spider
17 Dec 2009 | 4:10 pmI shared how Tona sent me a beautiful bejeweled Christmas spider along with The Legend of the Christmas Spider. So many of You asked for a tutorial, and Tona was happy (and quick) to oblige. So here’s Tona’s gift to You. Christmas Spider Tutorial Project list: 28 gauge wire, (this comes in a variety of colors) Seed beads Bugle beads, (get the shorter length) wire cutters needle nose pliers yard stick Step 1 Cut wire 40″ long, (I give it about 3 more inches because I like to have more to work with) Gently fold it in half *From here on I will refer to the seed beads as… -
In Need of Last Minute Easy Gifts?
17 Dec 2009 | 11:57 amI don’t know about you but for me . . . Christmas sneaks up on me. As much as I try and try to plan . . . there are holiday work parties, family parties, school programs, projects and gifts to finish and so much more. All good but just busy. I try to do less during the season to ‘make it count’ but there are needs too that tend to be brought to light especially during this season and I want to try and help meet some of those needs for others. All this takes time so easy but meaningful gifts are in order. So I thought I’d compile a few gift ideas here. … -
On the 6th day of Fisk-mas…
17 Dec 2009 | 7:46 amPlease help me welcome Fisk-a-Elf #6558. Not only does she have a lovely singing voice, she quilted the background for the video herself! She is a very talented seamstress and she shares many beautiful projects in her gallery. Fisk-a-Elf #6558 will be reading through your comments and choosing a Fisk-a-teer to win the item Fisk-a-Claus just whipped up at the North Pole. Comment by tomorrow morning and Fisk-a-Elf #6558 will use Random.org to choose a winner by tomorrow morning. You can learn more about Fisk-a-Elf #6558 by visiting her home at: …
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Garmin Blog
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Give-a-Garmin, everybody's doing it
18 Dec 2009 | 11:40 amThe big day is exactly one week away. Is your shopping done? If not, we recommend that you take a cue from those who are ahead of the game and already have their presents wrapped and under the tree. Recent reports show that "of the top 20 most sought after consumer electronics products online this holiday season, 20 percent are Garmin GPS navigation systems." The nüvi 255W, 265WT, 765T and 755T top the researcher's list, but there are plenty of other Garmin devices to choose from if one of these don't suit your fancy. If you need help in choosing a product, check out our online gift guide… -
Garmin zūmo: A must-have for riders and tourers
17 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amWhen it's barely 20-degrees in Kansas City (Garmin's HQ), riding a motorcycle sounds unbearably cold. However, Allstate Rider News is much braver than us when it comes to cold weather because they recently spent some time with the zūmo 660. You won't want to miss reading their full review, but to sum it up, they said, "The unit functionality is quick and easy to grasp right out of the box. The zūmo 660 had definitely earned the 'must-have tool' billing for both recreational riders and dedicated long-distance tourers." One of the many reasons the zūmo is so easy to use is because it was… -
Victor's Vectors: See the aera. Everywhera.
16 Dec 2009 | 12:11 pmChristmas is right around the corner and this year, just like every year before, I haven’t even started shopping for gifts. Procrastination has to be some kind of incurable disease. If you’re in the same boat I am, I understand the stress you’re going through and maybe I can help. Garmin’s aera is just the gift for the pilot in your family. I also understand that you'll want to see the unit in action before making the purchase. Well, the internet is a wonderful thing and I have compiled a handful of online aera reviews from our dealers and the media: AeroNews Network, Aircraft… -
Wish List Wednesday: Unwrap excitement with outdoor adventures
16 Dec 2009 | 8:31 amWelcome to another Wish List Wednesday -- when we help you find the perfect Garmin gift for that special someone. Previous WLW posts have covered gift ideas for pilots, boaters, fitness fanatics and savvy travelers, and today's focus is on getting the most out of the great outdoors. Our rugged line of intuitive touchscreen devices includes the budget-friendly Dakota series and powerfully versatile Oregon family.Leading the way are the Oregon 550 and Oregon 550t, which feature a built-in 3.2 megapixel digital camera that automatically geotags the location of each photo so that you can relive… -
Christian Vande Velde to meet fans at Garmin's Chicago store on Dec. 29
15 Dec 2009 | 12:46 pmAs one of the top cyclists in the world, Team Garmin's Christian Vande Velde doesn't get to spend much time in his hometown of Chicago. But while he's home for the holidays, he wanted to meet his Windy City supporters at the Garmin store at 663 N. Michigan Avenue. Fans who have tracked Christian's progress from Lemont, Illinois, to the European peloton to Beijing's summer games to consecutive top-8 finishes in France will get the chance to meet Garmin's team leader and ask him a few questions during a cozy meet-and-greet at the only retail store in the world showcasing every one of Garmin's…
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General Electric
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A new sleigh for Santa…courtesy of GE technology
16 Dec 2009 | 5:05 amGE Global Research has made it a tradition each year to showcase our latest and greatest technology developments during the holiday season. Last year, we had a lot of fun showcasing the first-ever OLED Christmas tree using GE’s flexible OLED panels. As this year’s season approached we started wondering how we could ever top last [...] -
New applications for tissue mapping
14 Dec 2009 | 6:58 amWelcome to the blog of Dr. Michael Gerdes. I am a cancer cell biologist working in the Biosciences organization of GE’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. I joined the team here over 4 years ago after completing my research training in experimental carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute, and prior, my doctoral work in [...] -
DARPA Network Challenge
4 Dec 2009 | 11:51 amHi All, I recently learned about the DARPA Network Challenge and definitely thought that the whole concept was very interesting. A brief summary of the challenge is that 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons will be placed in random locations throughout the U.S. on Saturday. The first person to track down the exact locations of all [...] -
Batteries spotlighted in American Renewal digital campaign
3 Dec 2009 | 1:06 pmLast month I was asked to represent our Advanced Battery project in one of GE’s latest internet commercials. It was a really interesting experience and I really love the way the final product turned out. The film crew met us early in the morning and we shot take after take of me performing various daily [...] -
Significant Progress on HIV/AIDS, But Still a Long Way to Go
1 Dec 2009 | 11:19 amToday, December 1st 2009, we at GE Global Research join millions of people from around the globe in recognizing World AIDS Day. The theme for 2009 is Universal Access and Human Rights. UNAIDS, which is a coalition of several international organizations, including the UN, began recognizing December 1st as World AIDS Day in [...]
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General Motors
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Introducing the New FastLane
18 Dec 2009 | 9:02 amYou’re probably noticing something different about FastLane today. If there’s one truism in the online/social world, it’s that technologies and capabilities change quickly – so staying relevant means keeping up with the changes. So as FastLane approaches its fifth birthday (coming up in January), we thought it would be a good time for a new look and new features for you, our readers. As befits the new GM, the new site design is streamlined and more interactive. The new FastLane has these cool new features: FastLane visitors will be able to create their own profile pages FastLane… -
Photo of the Day: 1953 Cadillac Eldorado
18 Dec 2009 | 7:48 amToday’s photo comes from sjb4photos. Be sure to look at all of sjb4photos’ photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.” -
Photo of the Day: Chevy Corvette
15 Dec 2009 | 7:35 amToday’s photo comes from Jeff B. Be sure to look at all of Jeff B.’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.” -
Photo of the Day: Chevy Corvettes Go Camping
14 Dec 2009 | 11:32 amToday’s photo comes from cedarkayak. Be sure to look at all of cedarkayak’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.” -
Webchat: Susan Docherty Takes Your Questions
11 Dec 2009 | 12:24 pmPlease join us for a live Webchat with Susan E. Docherty, GM VP Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing from 11:00 – noon ET. Live webchat with Susan Docherty
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Goodwill
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Guest Blogger: Food as Fashion
18 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amFair trade products often conjure images of hemp bracelets and "hippy-fied" macabre purses made from artisans in remote villages in South America or Africa. However, that was yesterday. Today, buyers are creating a market for artisans using recycled materials from metals to plant seeds fashioned into modern accessories and apparel.Catalina Lemaitre, founder of Calamarie, has returned to her native Colombia to promote eight artisans whose designs evolve from all things organic.For instance, dried orange peels, watermelon seeds, silk cocoon, ground coffee beans, and Bombona and tagua seeds -… -
You Be the Judge
17 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amFirst I would like to send out a thank you for all of you that came out to the Goodwill Holiday Trunk Show at Caramel last Friday! When you look at your super cute holiday dresses just know that your purchase helped create jobs and job opportunities for people with disabilities and disadvantages. Without your support we wouldn’t be able to make such a measurable impact in the greater Washington, DC area.Boy do I have a treat for you today! At the trunk show we decided to have a contest to see who could create the best outfit/look using clothes and accessories from Goodwill and Caramel. We… -
Here's What It Is!
16 Dec 2009 | 2:00 pmGoodwill’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??
16 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amWhat in the world 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. -
Goodwill Good Buy of the Week
15 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amHoliday Parties! Hanukah, Christmas, New Years, Kwanzaa... you name it, we have your outfit here.This gorgeous bustier by Shoshanna will make you the Belle of the Ball at your work or social holiday party for sure. It's a size 10 and measures approx. 36" at the bust. There is no fabric tag, but the lace overlay (I'm using the term "lace" loosely because this is not your typical lace, it is much more interesting) feels like cotton. It is lined with black fabric, probably cotton as well.I have styled it with a simple black pencil skirt by Zara. It is a Zara size 6, which is really more like a…
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This week in search 12/18/09
18 Dec 2009 | 1:22 pmThis is part of a regular series of posts on search experience updates that runs on Fridays. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. - Ed.For Google, the quality of search has always been about getting you the exact, most relevant answer you were looking for in the shortest amount of time -- what we call "time-to-result." These notions of relevance and speed have been baked into our product development and are always a top priority for us. Every day we work through design, observations, and analytics to make sure that the Google you use today is better than the… -
Tips and tricks for deploying Google Apps
18 Dec 2009 | 9:51 amHas your company, school or organization decided to "go Google" — but not yet fully "gone?" Perhaps you'd like more guidance on the technical, marketing or training details? Or maybe you could use some resources to help you deploy? Making the decision to go Google can be the easiest part, but we realize that it sometimes takes a little boost to finish the process, which is where we come in.Our Google Apps Deployment team has assisted hundreds of organizations — large and small — make the switch to Google Apps. To ensure that your implementation is a success, we've developed step-by-step… -
Carbon offsets at Google
17 Dec 2009 | 6:38 pmAs leaders from around the world meet in Copenhagen to address global climate change this month, we thought it was a good time to reflect on our own carbon footprint. In 2007, we committed to become a carbon neutral company. We know that it isn't possible to write a check and eliminate the environmental impact of our operations. So what does “carbon neutrality” mean to us?First, we aggressively pursue reductions in our energy consumption through energy efficiency, innovative infrastructure design and operations and on-site renewable energy. Our Google designed data centers use half the… -
Go thataway: Google Maps India learns to navigate like a local
17 Dec 2009 | 5:05 pmHave you ever been lost? Perhaps you missed a turn because a street sign was poorly labeled, hard to see in the dark, or just not where it should have been? These are problems we've all faced, but they're especially complicated in India, where street names are not commonly known and the typical wayfinding strategy is to ask someone on the street. Without road names, it's difficult to produce a set of directions that makes sense. Just take a look at this screenshot of Google Maps directions in India in 2008 and you'll get the picture:To solve this problem, this week we launched an improvement… -
Translate Google Sites with one click
17 Dec 2009 | 2:51 pmGoogle brought translation features to many of our products in 2009, including Google Docs and Gmail and we're happy to add one more before the New Year. To make it easier for people around the globe to read the site you created with Google Sites, we've integrated with the Google Translate Element. Now, whenever someone visits a Google Site in another language, they will be given the option to translate the content into the language of their choice. All they have to do is click on the translate link at the bottom right-hand side of the page. Now, the content on your site can be translated…
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Graco
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Feathering My Nest - Graco Get One Give One #8
18 Dec 2009 | 7:47 amI have to start by saying that this post is long overdue!As soon as we found out that Itsy Bitsy Parker was on the way, I began dreaming of transforming our current workout room into a cozy baby paradise.My nesting instinct definitely set in early, but I’m somewhat of a “nester”, pregnant or not, so I wasn’t surprised. I was looking forward to having an excuse for another room makeover.Since my husband and I moved into our home three and a half years ago, I have slowly (and successfully) “redone” each room in the house, except for this one.I love decorating and bringing a space… -
Five Tricks to Survive Shopping with Your Toddler, and Graco Get One Give One #7
17 Dec 2009 | 7:19 amIt’s 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon and I’m sitting with KK in the middle of Cumberland Mall, sharing a smoothie and celebrating a job well done. We’ve just wrapped up Christmas shopping for Dad and the grandparents, and while this may sound like no big deal (it’s still two plus weeks until Christmas), it truly is a triumph of modern parenting to complete a multi-store, multi-hour shopping spree in a packed mall with a three year old without temper tantrums, misplaced purses, losing your child, or losing your mind. How does one manage this, you might ask? We all know… -
Wondrous Wednesday #102 & Graco Get One Give One #6
16 Dec 2009 | 9:11 am‘Tis the season to be jolly… How can this family not be jolly when celebrating FOUR generations together this year? Happy Holidays to fellow blogger, Donna and her family. Thank you for sharing your special family moment. Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing a photo showing off a little bit of wonder in the lives of our extended Graco family of customers, employees and friends. Today’s Get One, Give One is a Graco Lovin’ Hug Plug-in SwingThis innovative plug-in swing has an ergonomic design that mimics the curve of your arms, helping your baby feel secure. It comes with a… -
Graco Get One, Give One #5!
15 Dec 2009 | 10:13 amToday’s Graco Get One, Give One is a Blossom 4-in-1 Seating System This “seating system” (it’s not just a highchair!) is designed to adjust to your growing child’s needs. It transforms from a highchair to an infant feeding booster to a toddler booster, and then finally, to a youth chair. For more information on the Blossom, check out our previous blog post or our YouTube video below. Comment below on who you would donate the Blossom to, and you could win one for you and for them! For more info on the Graco Get One Give One program, click here Today’s contest… -
What Do You Wish Your Child’s Grandparents Just KNEW?? - Graco Get One Give One #4
14 Dec 2009 | 8:00 amThe Quest to be American Idol Grandparent Did you ever wish you could just give your child’s Grandparents a list of Dos and Don’ts and avoid all those frustrations, conflicts and potential hurt feelings? If you could just give it to them straight, what would your most important rule be? I’m now 13 weeks into my career as “Nonna” and I want to do it right. But, figuring out this grandparenting gig is a little tougher than I anticipated and I know there are things DD wants me to know, but doesn’t say. Our little Love Bird SO belongs to me, yet she doesn’t…
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Guardian
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Birthday Greetings | Michael Tomasky
18 Dec 2009 | 1:29 pmSaturday is Keef's birthday. And don't you forget it. Sixty-six. Pretty damn impressive.The Rolling StonesMichael Tomaskyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds -
Bravo Imhotepa | Michael Tomasky
18 Dec 2009 | 1:25 pmCongrats and confetti to Imhotepa, winner of this week's grammar quiz. S/he wrote:1. B and D are right B is two full sentences with subject, verb and object, thus time for a comma. D is lacking a second subject, therefore no comma. 2. He was a snappish, surly fellow. The comma does replace an "and". 3. ... while it's just standing there.....As stated previously, I disapprove of that period outside the quotation mark, but I guess that will just have to hang as one of our insuperable cultural barriers, like kidney pie, blancmange and Robbie Williams. I was going to quit the quiz, but this… -
The two big mistakes | Michael Tomasky
18 Dec 2009 | 1:24 pmI do think there are two tactical errors the White House made with regard to healthcare. There may be more. But these are the two that matter. And these are beyond doing it this year, which I've said many times I was against. First -- I've said this too, come to think of it -- not enough emphasis was placed on the moral case for changing the status quo. Obama placed emphasis on cost savings. One understands why, I guess, given the state of the economy right now (although this circles back to my main argument that they should have waited until the economy was better). But the problem with the… -
Bovines 1, Jokers 0 | Mark Lawson
18 Dec 2009 | 1:00 pmMilton Keynes is up for the World Cup – and the concrete cows are over the moonThe possibility that World Cup football matches may be played in Milton Keynes – following its inclusion among the putative venues in England's bid to host the 2018 tournament – is another twist in the curious history of the most prominent representative of a mid-20th century political and architectural idea: the new town.Whereas the other chosen venues – in, among others, north London, Plymouth, Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham – have been associated with professional football for at least a century,… -
The X Factor overlord is set to make Jedwards of us all | Marina Hyde
18 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pmIf Cowell's idea succeeds, the UK will be one vast reality show with leaders too weak to resist his nightmarish referendumsA "political X Factor", in which hot topics are voted on by members of the public in instant referendums? A red phone in the middle of a shiny floor studio, just daring No 10 to call and explain its position on the death penalty, or why lethal force is not always the right response to the theft of a DVD player? Once again, our thanks are due to Simon Cowell, the first post-sentient human – not for simply showing us the people we could be, but for planning a…
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Hewlett-Packard
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My Top 10 from the Gartner Group Data Center Conference
18 Dec 2009 | 12:15 pmGreetings and Happy Holidays! I thought I would send out 2009 with a quick recap from the very 'informative' Gartner Group Data Center Conference held in Las Vegas earlier this month. I always enjoy this event, but given the crazy year, I was concerned that there might be a heightened sense of "Fear & Loathing". However, I was pleasantly surprised by the immense amount of positive energy and optimism. Much was learned as we exit the year. My "Top 10" insights from the event: 1. Thank goodness 2009 is over - many see an unpredictable business climate for… -
Five SOA Wishes for the New Year
18 Dec 2009 | 11:04 amThis is a re-post of my comment on the eBizQ SOA Forum that I thought timely as we go into the Holiday week... Picking up the theme of "wish list" for SOA, I'm sharing my five top wishes for 2010 in hopes that in 2011 we can summarize them as the SOA trends of 2010... 5. Governance gets real -- Companies committed to building out shared services actually invest in pragmatic Application and SOA governance programs and see on-going maintenance costs and defects found in production go down 4. We make headway on the gap between Apps and Ops -- Applications and Operations stop… -
FREE Trial of Shunra's WAN emulation within HP LoadRunner
18 Dec 2009 | 8:41 amWho said good things don't come for free? Recently I've spent much more time with our partners at Shunra Software...and I've learned more about networking and performance than I've ever imagined. In celebration of HP Software Universe 2009 in Hamburg, Germany this week, they have posted a special FREE trial of the VE Desktop for HP Software. WOW! This is the integration that we introduced in version 9.5 of LoadRunner and Performance Center which has become extremely popular. Here's...(read more) -
Happy Holidays!
18 Dec 2009 | 8:20 amWe are in the midst of the holiday season this year. HP, at least in the US, is shutting down for a 2 week break, and as tradition has it, the last day before the holiday break is a half day. In fact, my last conference calls and meetings of the year are complete, and I've got a just a couple of things to finish before my break starts. For me, the break means two weeks that I get to spend with my wife (a teacher who is also off for two weeks), family, and friends, a San Jose Sharks game, and an afternoon of wine tasting. If I get bored, some Christmas shopping and catching up… -
Workstations in this Technology Refresh Cycle
18 Dec 2009 | 8:18 amWorkstations are frequently considered by businesses as a "specialty technology" that is outside of the usual technology refresh cycles. This blog entry will discuss the realities and myths about this perception. Up front let me remind that this blog and its content are mine, and mine alone, and does not represent that of my employer. Workstations are not desktops, no matter how you configure them. Of course, as a user you could add more disk, memory and graphics cards and improve the look and feel of the desktop , but at the end of the day- it is still a desktop. What…
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Hitachi Data Systems
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Differences between DMX and VMax
15 Dec 2009 | 5:16 pmIf you saw the comments by EMC’s Barry Burke to my last blog post, Barry give his explanation of how VMAX works. “V-Max scales out using the Virtual Matrix. V-Max engines are not “loosely” coupled with RapidIO - RapidIO plays the same inter-process(or) communications role as does the Direct Matrix in DMX. The one ASIC in the V-Max manages the interface to the RapidIO fabric, as well as providing numerous data manipulation services to the local nodes.” “The simplest way to explain it, since you seem to have a better grasp on the DMX architecture is this: V-Max… -
How fast is FAST?
10 Dec 2009 | 6:40 amEMC announced FAST version 1 this week and one of the more insightful articles was by Beth Pariseau of SearchStorage.com. I am fairly certain EMC briefed Beth on this announcement and that she had access to their references, so it’s safe to say her information is pretty accurate here are my thoughts on what I read in the PR and from Beth’s article: Is EMC behind the competition? – Hitachi has had policy based file and LUN level tiering for some time. HDS announced a non disruptive tiering feature called “Dynamic Optimizer” over 10 years ago in the Freedom 7700 product, which later… -
Is the role of the storage admin going away?
7 Dec 2009 | 10:19 amJohn Webster posted on the changing role of the IT Storage pro based on a conversation he had with the CIO of a large technology company. This CIO was speculating that the role of the storage administrator within IT operations is going away. This CIO believes that the segregation of IT operational departments along technological boundaries, server, network, and storage, is disappearing due to virtualization and the convergence of Fibre Channel and Ethernet within the data center. There is no doubt that these forces will have a dramatic impact on the traditional roles of servers, networks,… -
Hitachi Data Replicator and Much More
17 Nov 2009 | 4:15 amThis morning Hitachi Data Systems announced the addition of the Hitachi Data Replicator to our portfolio of replication and data protection software. This product is the result of a partnership with InMage Systems which was founded by our good friend Kumar Malavalli, founder and CTO for Brocade Communications and Rajeev Atluri from Gadoox. The Hitachi Data Replicator is a software replication solution that is targeted at the midrange market where a simple, cost effective, disaster recovery solution is required for a heterogeneous server and storage environments. An installation of HDR will… -
Is the future of storage scale up or scale out?
9 Nov 2009 | 10:20 amWhat do we mean by scale up versus scale out? If you go to Wikipedia you will find a section under the definition for scalability for “Scale vertically vs. horizontally”. Here is what it says: Scale vertically (scale up)To scale vertically (or scale up) means to add resources to a single node in a system, typically involving the addition of CPUs or memory to a single computer. Such vertical scaling of existing systems also enables them to leverage virtualization technology more effectively, as it provides more resources for the hosted set of Operating Systems and Application modules to…
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Intel
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Team EG's "chance" says Quake or Bust!
18 Dec 2009 | 10:58 amposted for : Chance “Chance” Lacina (Quake Live - 3rd Place) BTW - you can find TeamEG on Facebook too! America’s best players battled rigorously through weeks of online matches and headed north into -41.8 degree Fahrenheit weather to compete in a vicious battle for glory and qualification to the world finals in Germany. Ha, it’s funny I can say that and though it’s all true, it sounds really cheesy in this way. I’m happy. I both finished 3rd and performed well enough to justify it. More importantly I proved to myself the strength of my game theory. Though… -
PCs Outrank Peach & Happiness on 2009 Holiday Wish Lists
17 Dec 2009 | 6:13 pmAccording to PC Magazine computers topped peace, happiness and clothes as the top item on adult’s holiday wish lists this year. Sometimes, though, buying a PC can disturb the peace and happiness of any family, as you try to figure out what is the best computer to meet everyone’s different needs. Some want screaming graphics…or an affordable and portable tool….or you have an audiophile addict. Intel Insider, iJustine, takes a humourous look at the challenges with buying a PC for the family. Take a look at this humorous video she recently made, and be eligible to win a… -
Intel Singers: It's that Tech Time of Year
17 Dec 2009 | 5:51 pmMost people correctly assume that if you work at Intel, you love technology and gadgets. What many people do not know, though, is that we also have lots of music lovers. Intel has its own choir that performs at both Intel and community events in Oregon. This year, the Intel Singers combined their love of technology and music to create a unique rendition of the “12 Days of Christmas,” focused on the “12 Days of Technology.” Wishing you all gadgets galore and a happy holiday season! -
Holiday Gift Ideas Beyond Gizmos
16 Dec 2009 | 6:38 pmThis is a guest post by Intel Insider Erin Kane, who blogs at Simply State on Real Simple Somewhere on your holiday lists this year--either your personal wish list or the list of gifts you've yet to buy--is bound to be some kind of tech. Maybe it's an iPhone for your spouse or a gaming system for the kids. Perhaps it's a sassy new netbook for your mother or a Keurig coffee maker for the dorm-living college student in your life. No matter the gadget or device, one thing's for sure: tech is a lot more expensive than, say, a nice hardcover book or a cozy pair of slippers. If the… -
Team EG's "fRoD" livin large at the Intel Extreme Masters Championships!
16 Dec 2009 | 11:38 amposted for Danny “fRoD” Montaner (Counter-Strike, 1st Place) After all the trips recently, I think we have earned ourselves a nice break which is something I really am excited for. It’s been a really rough year as far as not only losing some heartbreaking tournaments, but mainly it’s been a learning process for us as a team and individuals. After doing a nice job at Arbalet and beating some really world class teams, we wanted to finish the year off really strong and claim our dominance of the North American scene. We pride ourselves on being a team that can compete…
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Johnson & Johnson
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To give or to take?
18 Dec 2009 | 10:49 amNote from Marc Monseau: The following is the third — and final — post from my colleague Angela Chiu based on the time she spent volunteering in Africa earlier this year. As 2009 winds down, and as my family and I gear up to celebrate the holiday season, I thought Angela’s words provided a poignant take on what we can all gain by giving to others. From Angela Chiu, Interactive Marketing Manager, Vistakon, Hong Kong Some clips from the work conducted earlier this year: 29 July 2009, Kampala King’s School, outreach activities and distributing gifts 1 Aug 2009, Cherish… -
The Role of Business at COP15
15 Dec 2009 | 7:32 amThe United Nations Climate Change Conference (called COP15) is well underway in Copenhagen. We are a member of three leading climate partner groups attending COP15: World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers, The Climate Group and the United States Climate Action Program (USCAP) and are engaged with them in conversations at the conference. Cécile Astuguevieille from our EU-based Government Affairs and Policy group shares her impressions of the business summit: The great engagement of the business into climate change policies highlighted the first day of meetings attended by Johnson & Johnson… -
Preventing HIV Transmission to Babies
14 Dec 2009 | 5:43 amWhile we are making strides against HIV/AIDS, there is so much more than can be done to save lives around the world. In developed countries we’ve been able to nearly eliminate the chance of babies being infected with HIV, but this isn’t the case for all babies born in many countries in Africa. Anu Gupta, Director Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson, spoke to Pat Farnack at WCBS 880 about what can be done to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in African countries. Anu says that more than 1,000 babies are born with HIV every day, and many of those babies… -
Safe Kids Tips for the Holiday Season
10 Dec 2009 | 6:58 amIt turns out that this year’s hottest holiday toy is safe after all. After the recent media coverage around toy safety, many parents are left wondering if other toys on their children’s wish lists are safe, too. I thought it would be helpful to share some tips for making sure children’s toys are safe during this holiday season, courtesy of Safe Kids New Jersey: Before shopping for toys, consider the child’s age, interest and skill level.A fun, but inappropriate toy for a particular child can be dangerous. Make sure toys intended for older children are stored… -
How Art Can Heal
4 Dec 2009 | 5:47 amIt can be hard to imagine how one person can make a significant difference against something as devastating as HIV/AIDS. As part of an event to commemorate World AIDS Day at our corporate headquarters, I saw a few clips from the documentary A Ripple in the Water: Healing Through Art. I was moved by the story of Kim Berman, an artist and activist who founded the Artist Proof Studio in post-apartheid South Africa to encourage artists and printmakers to develop their artistic skills while also promoting leadership and social change. Through the Artist Proof Studio, Kim has developed programs to…
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Kaiser Permanente
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Linguine with Shellfish Sauce
13 Dec 2009 | 8:59 pmThis pasta recipe is one of my favorites. It can be tailored to fit any budget. Fresh squid is an excellent source of protein, is reasonably easy to clean once you learn how and costs about $2.50 per pound. Cooked with a couple pounds of mussels, you can have dinner at home for four for under $15. I think the secret for this sauce is all the simmering to let the flavors concentrate. You can use any combination of mussels, clams, squid, shrimp, rockfish chunks, etc. Many fish markets now label their product with green, yellow, or red signs to tell you whether or not the fish you… -
Smoky Vegetable Soup
27 Nov 2009 | 5:48 pmA few weeks ago I posted a recipe for Stone Stock using any leftover vegetable parts that accumulate while cooking. I made another batch of stock using the veggies from a stuffed 2 gallon freezer bag. Made in a big stock pot, I got 11 cups of a rich brown stock even after reducing it for a while. This was the base for a light, somewhat spicy and smoky flavored vegetable soup great with a salad for a light dinner. Smoky Vegetable Soup Serves four 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 red onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano 2 carrots, sliced 8 ounces green beans,… -
Charred Red Salsa
21 Nov 2009 | 11:07 amOne thing led to another and my wife and I made the best salsa we’ve ever had using it in a version of huevos rancheros we had for breakfast today. Earlier in the week, I had cooked up a big clay pot of red Appaloosa beans from New Mexico. They were first used in a bean, corn, and kabocha squash stew (excellent). Thinking about what to do for breakfast using some more of the beans led to a bean book, a huevos recipe, and then a recipe for the salsa to go with the huevos. I’ve roasted tomatoes before for salsa but never roasted the other ingredients and not the tomatoes. … -
Lost Then Found Roasted Poblanos with Cranberries, Pecans, and Quinoa
18 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pmMy son made this one up a couple years ago when my family and I were trying to create some vegetarian options for Thanksgiving. This recipe can be excellent as the main course if you are eating a lot less meat these days. I posted it then but somehow it disappeared from my website. A hard copy had been saved so now it is “found” and I can share it with you. Roasted Poblanos Stuffed with Cranberries, Pecans, and Quinoa Serves 8 8 poblano peppers 3 cups cooked quinoa (not three cups quinoa, cooked) 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/2 red onion,… -
Tense Pizza Crust
10 Nov 2009 | 5:28 pmA trusted colleague told me that my pizza crusts are too uptight and retract back into small pizzas despite her best attempts to make a 12″ or 14″ pizza. I know what she means and have worked it out in a couple of ways. First, pizza dough, like many of us at the end of a day, needs to relax. After the first rise, divide the dough into appropriate portions, dust the dough ball liberally with flour, cover with a kitchen towel (dry one), and let rest for 20 minutes or so while you prepare the toppings. You MAY be able to flatten it well enough on a liberally floured work…
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Kodak
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Kodak on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
17 Dec 2009 | 10:00 pmDid you catch The Tonight Show last night with Kodak and Conan O'Brien? Conan got a job at Best Buy selling Kodak S730 Digital Frames! If you liked the Kodak S730 Digital Frame you saw on the show you have a chance to win one on Facebook today! Just become a fan of the Kodak Facebook page and when a post about The Tonight Show and the Digital Frame Contest is added to the Kodak wall, leave a comment between 1 and 4 pm ET about why you would love the frame and we will randomly draw a winner for the frame from the comment entries. -
Kodak on The Tonight Show... tonight!
16 Dec 2009 | 10:00 pmTonight, once again, Kodak will be on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! So far he has romped on the beach with sharks and spent some time with Wing Pang. What will he do next? Tune in to The Tonight Show tonight on NBC at 11:35 ET/PT, 10:35 CST and see! -
Ice Fishing
15 Dec 2009 | 10:00 pmPhotographer - Joy Cobb"On 2-6-09, my daughter and I walked out onto frozen Lake Erie at Conneaut, OH, to talk to the ice fishermen. The next day, the weather warmed and the ice broke off at the western side of the lake, stranding about a hundred ice fishermen.".......................................................You can enter your own Kodak Picture of the Day. -
Paris is International during Real Time LeWeb'09!
14 Dec 2009 | 10:00 pmThis year's topic was "Real-Time Web", one of the 5 biggest, most cutting edge Web trends to come out of 2009. Real-Time Web approach is being implemented in social networking, search, and news sites, which makes those experiences more like instant messaging. The most successful examples of "Real-Time Web" are Facebook's newsfeed and Twitter. Loic Le Meur, producer of this great event made this bold, often criticized move of inviting "the Americans" over to Paris and this way attracting 2,200 visitors from 46 countries, all continents but especially Europe!The event took place at le 104, in… -
Changes
13 Dec 2009 | 10:00 pmNessie's last day at Kodak, Eastman Business Park (following her going away party!)It's been a crazy past few months, dog-wise, around here. Nessie returned in a whirlwind on 22 September to Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Even though I had her for the same length of time I had Paxton, and had the same advance notification of her In For Training test date, it caught me by surprise. I left Paxton at home with a friend and drove to the GEB Training School to drop off Regina, another dog from our region, and then travelled to the Canine Development Center with Nessie as she was…
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Lenovo
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Lenovo warranty upgrades revisited
18 Dec 2009 | 12:02 pm- Mark Hopkins Several months ago Lenovo enabled a new way for individual customers in the US and Canada to check their warranty status, view relevant upgrades, and even purchase the warranty upgrades via the web. Previously, warranty upgrades were either configured along with new system purchases on the web, or purchased via phone or through a Lenovo business partner. When I last blogged about how we were making these Lenovo warranty upgrades easier, one of the things I heard from customers was that we should expand and offer this capability in other countries. Frequent… -
Keep your cool – fan and heat sink check up
17 Dec 2009 | 7:59 amMost computers including notebooks and netbooks run cool over their life, but some occasionally begin to run increasingly warm and may exhibit unpredictable behaviors such as shutting down, locking up, or going to sleep (suspend). Often in laptops, these symptoms may be caused by dust and lint build up clogging the heat sink and loading up the fan blades, adding drag and reducing airflow. Systems operated in especially dusty environments may need more frequent cleaning, and as some systems draw air in from the bottom, if they are often operated on a bed or other fabric surface,… -
Lenovo ThinkVantage Toolbox goes live
23 Nov 2009 | 1:05 pmBegining today, customers in the US who have Lenovo Message Center Plus installed and active on their systems will receive notification that the new Lenovo ThinkVantage Toolbox is available for installation. In coming weeks, these notifications will roll out in other languages and other countries. We listened to a lot of feedback from customers and have made some updates to ensure that message prompts won’t occur if a user is in presentation mode, or if a number of other “politeness check” conditions are not met. An additional change ensures that no matter how… -
Windows 7 impressions from Akihabara
29 Oct 2009 | 6:37 amLiza Adnan Browsing online earlier this week, I found a few links around the web related to Lenovo’s Windows 7 Touch and Try event I thought I would to share with our readers… 1. Exclusive video of Windows 7 booting demo at Linux Cafe. 2. Preload Windows 7 model which is attached with Lenovo Windows 7 Enhanced Experience logo. 3. Windows 7 Launch discussion was been shared in ThinkPad Club Forum. 4. Demo and chances “Touch and Try” multi touch T400s and built-in CULV function S12. Joining us again is Mr. Masaru Kamikura who shares his thoughts and a few… -
秋葉原でWindows 7の印象
29 Oct 2009 | 6:37 am今週中にいくつかのLenovo Windows 7 Touch & Tryイベントのポストが出られました。共有することにしてお楽しみにしてください。 1. Linux CafeでWindows 7上の起動ビデオ. 2. Lenovo Windows 7 Enhanced Experienceが貼っているロゴ。 3. ThinkPad Clubフォーラムで共有するWindows 7 Launch。 4. マルチタッチT400sとCULV搭載S12の”Touch and Try“機会。 今度も上倉賢さんはレノボ．ジャパンが秋葉原にてCafé Solare (Linux Café)で開催されたLenovo Windows 7 Touch &…
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Find people faster with LinkedIn’s new faceted search
14 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amHere at LinkedIn, we believe that people search is one of the most valuable new areas of search technology. Late last year, we announced the launch of the new people search platform, rebuilt from the ground up. Since that launch, I’m happy to report that the enhancements have resulted in nearly doubling overall search activity on LinkedIn. Thanks for tons of great feedback you provided since we launched that has helped spur these numerous improvements. Today, I am excited to announce the release of another huge improvement to LinkedIn’s People Search experience: “Faceted Search”. -
User Post: How to use LinkedIn for Biotech Projects
11 Dec 2009 | 5:41 pmEd. note: Nearly 54 million professionals across different industries use LinkedIn to their competitive advantage. Starting this month, we’d like to focus on how professionals from different verticals are finding value on LinkedIn. Thanks to Don Low – Biotech Project Lead at Baxter Biosciences, for sharing LinkedIn tips for biotech professionals. It’s human nature to mark the passage of milestones, and people often place special significance on those that have round numbers attached to them. Two round milestones with global significance happened in 2009 – 150 years… -
A new way to navigate LinkedIn
9 Dec 2009 | 7:40 pmA few weeks ago we announced we were doing limited testing of a new navigation design for LinkedIn. Thanks to all of you who have sent us feedback. We are now in the process of rolling out the new design to all of our users. If you don’t see the change yet, you will sometime in the next week. The first thing you’ll notice in the new design is that there is no persistent left-hand navigation. All global navigation is in the top navigation bar. We did this in order to free up space for page content – information about you and your professional network. Another thing you’ll notice is… -
Sharing in the enterprise is easier with Box.net and LinkedIn
8 Dec 2009 | 6:00 amEd. note: This belongs to a series of posts on how web sites and services are integrating LinkedIn functionality using the recently launched LinkedIn API. Thanks to Jeremy Glassenberg, Platform Manager at Box.net, for this week’s post. Business today is complex. Not only do we need to share content with co-workers around the globe, we also need to connect and collaborate with clients, partners, and other key business contacts. Box.net’s latest initiative with LinkedIn is going to make sharing with all these parties much easier. We recently debuted a new OpenBox action, making it… -
LinkedIn Developer Meetup at Le Web on Dec 9
4 Dec 2009 | 5:18 pmWant to learn more about how to develop or integrate with the LinkedIn platform? Then plan on attending the LinkedIn Developer Meetup at Kube Hotel, Paris (December 9th at 5:30pm CET / 17:30 hrs) that we’re holding on the sidelines of the Le Web Conference this year. A big thanks to Dave McClure and Loic Le Meur for helping with the developer meetup! At the meetup, we’ll show you how you can use our Developer Portal to quickly get up and running. You’ll also get to hear from other developers who’ve already built integrations with our APIs. We’ll have ample time…
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Lulu.com
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Top 5 Tips for Making a Great Ebook Stand Out.
15 Dec 2009 | 8:46 amTop 5 Tips for Making a Great Ebook Stand Out. Analysts estimate Amazon’s Kindle selling about 1.5 million units by the end of 2009, while Barnes and Noble’s Nook is already sold out for the holidays. More e-readers are popping onto the market, and publishers are beginning to rethink their approach to digital media, like Time Inc.’s recent demo of a digital version of Sports Illustrated. The immediacy and convenience of ebooks and digital content has definitely had an impact on how people today read. Authors are beginning to realize that they can publish freely and digitally… -
Create A Customized Calendar
11 Dec 2009 | 11:48 amIt may be a little late in the holiday season, but there’s still time to create a personalized gift on Lulu. One of my favorites are our calendars. With our Flickr, Facebook, Sugmug and Photobucket photo integration you can easily find and add 12 photos your friend or family member will love. Add some custom dates like birthdays, anniversaries and the like, and you’re ready to go! Select one of our faster shipping options and you can probably get in time for the holidays. If not, then you can always use them as a belated gift. This year, I imported a bunch of photos from Flickr to… -
Create a Lasting Impression
9 Dec 2009 | 12:58 pmAs I looked over my holiday gift list last week, it came to me that the best gift to give is one that will stay with the person for many years. If you’re anything like me, you adore special books like first editions and signed copies. When I decided to buy some wonderful Children’s books for my nieces and nephew, I was delighted that the author, Ursula Vernon, agreed to sign them for me. It then dawned on me the very first time I encountered a book that was personalized by the author. When I was a child, my family visited my father’s boss on Christmas day. At the time, my… -
Lulu pays your shipping on 10 paperback books
4 Dec 2009 | 3:47 pmHey everyone. I just wanted to shout out an offer that Lulu is running this weekend only. This Saturday and Sunday only, order 10 paperback books and Lulu has setup a coupon that will discount you the equivalent of your shipping cost up to $15.24 (for about 99% of orders of 10 paperbacks, that should cover the full cost of shipping). Now, since the discount is subtracted from the cost of your books, we can’t “technically” call it free shipping, but it’s pretty much the same thing. To take advantage of this discount just use coupon code MAILSHIP10 at checkout.Again… -
Holiday Shipping Deadlines
2 Dec 2009 | 9:24 amThis holiday season Lulu is providing a list of key dates to ensure orders arrive in time for the holidays. Order with the following constraints: Orders from North and South America and for Publisher Grade Books must be placed before 6 p.m. EST (21:00 UTC) Orders from Europe, Middle East, and Africa must be placed before 6 p.m. GMT Orders from Australia, New Zealand and Oceania must be placed by 6 p.m. GMT + 10 Orders must be 25 or less to meet the Holiday deadlines listed below Some items may not be available for certain shipping options in your region. Double check your items in the…
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Marriott
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Discussing Climate Change in Copenhagen
15 Dec 2009 | 1:32 pmThe United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP-15, opened in Copenhagen on December 7th. Fifteen thousand delegates are expected to attend, including 110 heads of state and government from 192 countries. Their objective is to establish a binding global climate agreement, to include as many countries as possible, to commit to a reduction in man-made greenhouse gases which have a negative effect on our climate. Our Copenhagen Marriott is hosting hundreds of delegates and we're . . . -
Tripling Our Presence in Mexico with Fairfield Inn & Suites
9 Dec 2009 | 12:57 pmToday, we celebrated a momentous occasion at our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. We were joined by the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, and representatives from the Pulso Hotelero ownership group in Mexico for the signing of a monumental development deal for our Fairfield Inn & Suites brand.Fairfield Inn & Suites is a well known, moderately-priced brand in the United States, and is now beginning to expand internationally. The development deal signed today was for 36 Fairfield Inn & Suites hotels throughout Mexico over the next 10 years. This is the largest… -
Experiencing the Design Difference at SpringHill Suites
30 Nov 2009 | 12:46 pmGone are the days of the benign and boring beige box hotels. It's no longer enough to be consistent, convenient and affordable in our business. Customers are looking for something special, even in our moderately priced brands, and we aim to please.I recently had a chance to check out our newest SpringHill Suites in the Arts and Health District of Miami. It's very close to where the old Orange Bowl was, right on the freeway and . . . -
Remembering a Dear Friend and Personal Hero
19 Nov 2009 | 1:47 pmOn Sunday, November 8, my dear friend Harry Vincent passed away at the age of 90. I first met Harry in the 1960's when he was the Washington vice president of the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton. He was doing work for our company and subsequently joined our Board of Directors and served faithfully for over 34 years.When we split our company, he moved over to the Host Hotel Board of Directors. Host was the company that retained the ownership of the Marriott Hotels we owned before the split and is now . . . -
Renovating Our Digital Front Door, Marriott.com
14 Nov 2009 | 4:12 pmWhen I started in the hotel business 52 years ago, the first impression customers had of our hotels was the lobby when they walked through the front doors. But in this digital age, often the first impression comes when they visit Marriott.com. It's our digital front door.Today, when you visit the site, you'll notice the front door looks very different. We have rolled out the first stage of our complete overhaul of Marriott.com.The site is already a huge success story. Last year, Marriott.com generated more than six billion dollars in gross revenue for Marriott. We've done . . .
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Masi Bicycle
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Riding the train
9 Dec 2009 | 4:08 pmSitting on the high speed rail train now heading to the airport in Taoyuan (Taipei). The past few days in Taiwan have been great- the Taichung Bike Week "show" was very productive and I am really excited about a few finds and how thebikes for 2011 are shaping up. It was also great to have some time at hone with my wife inthe condo she owns. She's staying until the 21st before returning to the US. I'mon the train to the airport so that I can go to Tokyo until the 14th before heading home.This short 45min ride to the airport is always something I enjoy actually because I get… -
Random pics from Seoul
3 Dec 2009 | 3:53 pmHere are few random pics from my first day and half in Seoul;Speciale Fixed LTD on the streets of Seoul! I spotted this kid and his friend riding and doing trackstands and wheelies on this pedestrian island in front of the hotel my first night. I was in such shock that I barely got the camera out in time to snap this terrible picture.I told them I am Timothy- they didn't seem to care.One of the amazingly beautifl greenways in the city- tons of great open space in such a huge city. This little river trail was amazing. There was a carp in the river that had to be as long as my arm. I was… -
Jesus was a 6 day racer
28 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm -
FISH ON!!
27 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pmIt has been at least 2 years since I've stood in the water and done some fly fishing. Tonight, taking advantage of my temporary bachelor status, I headed out to the San Diego Bay to get some saltwater fly fishing action.The first spot proved totally unproductive so I headed towards a regularly good spot and then the hits started coming and I had a string of four fish on four casts. Once that spot stopped producing, I moved a little further down the beach and ended up with another four fish before finally calling it a night when my back and shoulder began to complain.In the end, a night of 8… -
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
26 Nov 2009 | 7:49 amToday is Thanksgiving here in the US, which means it is time for the cliched and time honored ritual of making lists or emotional statements of all the things we are thankful for- or at least should be.Why fight against tradition...Like I am every day, I am thankful for my wife and daughter and their good health. Both of them enrich me more than I can express. I won't wax too poetic here- this time- but I would be nothing without the two women in my life.I am thankful for the relationship I have with my ex-wife as well- she is a great mother and a valuable partner in raising our daughter.I am…
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Mayo Clinic
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New Mayo Clinic President and CEO Addresses Rochester Media
18 Dec 2009 | 2:15 pmFriday, December 18, 2009 Rochester, Minn. ― John Noseworthy, M.D., who moved into the president & CEO role at Mayo Clinic in November, conducted his first briefing with local media today. Mayo Clinic began a planned leadership transition last May when its Board of Trustees elected Dr. Noseworthy to succeed Denis Cortese, M.D., as president and CEO [...] -
Mayo Clinic Led Study May Change Treatment For Some Breast Cancer Patients
8 Dec 2009 | 1:08 pmJournalists: For links to web-video and audio files, see the bottom of this post. Using Herceptin with chemotherapy, instead of after, clearly improves treatment of women with HER2+ breast cancer, and should be the new standard of care, says a Mayo Clinic researcher who led what is regarded to be a key clinical trial determining the [...] -
Mayo Clinic Researchers Prove Key Cancer Theory
2 Dec 2009 | 1:22 pmJournalists: For links to web-video and audio files, see the bottom of this post. Mayo Clinic researchers have proven the long-standing theory that changes in the number of whole chromosomes — called aneuploidy — can cause cancer by eliminating tumor suppressor genes. Their findings, which appear in the current issue of the journal Cancer Cell along [...] -
Vitamin D Associated with Survival in Lymphoma Patients
2 Dec 2009 | 5:58 amJournalists: For links to web-video and audio files, see the bottom of this post. A new study has found that the amount of vitamin D in patients being treated for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was strongly associated with cancer progression and overall survival. The results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society [...] -
Study Finds Constipation May Be Associated with Increased Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
1 Dec 2009 | 10:07 amA Mayo Clinic study published in the November issue of Neurology found that constipation occurring as early as 20 years before the onset of motor symptoms is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. “This study is another piece of evidence suggesting that Parkinson’s disease has a very long preclinical period,” says Walter Rocca, M.D., [...]
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Microsoft
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The economic inefficiency of gift-giving
18 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amEconomist Joel Waldfogel explains why gift-giving is bad for the economy, and why a charity gift card is the best luxury gift of all. He goes into more detail in his new book, Scroogenomics, which you can buy somebody for Christmas just to tell Waldfogel where he can stick it. ("In the bank!" he'll say as he heads out with his royalty check.) Related: Economist Tim Harford writes an advice column called Dear Economist for the Financial Times. But instead of applying economic theory to economic problems, he applies economic theory to personal problems. How much information about myself should… -
I got an array with plenty of nuthin'
18 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amA customer reported a memory leak in the function PropVariantClear: We found the following memory leak in the function PropVariantClear. Please fix it immediately because it causes our program to run out of memory. If the PROPVARIANT's type is VT_ARRAY, then the corresponding SAFEARRAY is leaked and not cleaned up. SAFEARRAY* psa = SafeArrayCreateVector(VT_UNKNOWN, 0, 1); PROPVARIANT v; v.vt = VT_ARRAY; v.parray = psa; PropVariantClear(&v); // The psa is leaked Right now, we are temporarily working around this in our program by inserting code before all calls to PropVariantClear to free the… -
Surprising things injected into Mozart cadenzas
17 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amThis review of a Seattle Symphony concert from 2007 mentioned that back in 1998, soloist Jon Kimura Parker inserted the theme from The X-Files into one of his cadenzas. Cadenzas were originally points in a concerto at which soloists could improvise and show off their technical skills, but over the years, the contents of cadenzas have become more and more rehearsed, with most composers having switched over to fully-written-out cadenzas over a hundred years ago. That's why it's so exciting when an improvised cadenza reappears on the scene. All of a sudden, anything can happen. Reading the… -
What was the ShowCursor function intended to be used for?
17 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amBack in the days when Windows was introduced, a mouse was a fancy newfangled gadget which not everybody had on their machine. Windows acknowledged this and supported systems without a mouse by having keyboard accelerators for everything (or at least that was the intent). But if the design stopped there, you'd have a dead cursor in the middle of your screen all the time, which you could move around if you had a mouse, which you didn't. Enter the ShowCursor function. The ShowCursor function takes a parameter that indicates whether you want to show or hide the cursor. (It would perhaps be more… -
Just like in real life, you can hire someone to do your programming taxes for you
16 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amCommenter denis bider considers accessiblity an altruistic endeavor and suggests that it would be more efficient to outsource accessibility to another company. Sure, why not. Just like in real life, you can hire someone to do your programming taxes for you. If you would rather hire another company to come in and add accessibility support to your application, then more power to you. Yes, accessibility is one of those altruistic things, but so too is not consuming 100% of the CPU all the time, or being usable at high DPI or color schemes different from the Windows default. Sure, you can write…
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Molson
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Hey Toronto, Your Fare’s On Us New Years Eve!
18 Dec 2009 | 11:18 amPhoto L-R: Nick Di Donato, President Liberty Entertainment, Adam Giambrone, TTC Chair, Ferg Devins, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Molson Coors Canada Ferg, Tonia and I were up and at’em early to announce that Molson Coors Canada will help Torontonians get home safetly on New Year’s Eve once again this year. Molson Coors will support the TTC’s free New Year’s Eve transit service, celebrating Toronto residents who choose to make the responsible choice and arrive home safely after ringing in the New Year. The service will be offered from 12:01 a.m. (January 1, 2010)… -
Action Nouvelle Vie fait une grande différence pour les Fêtes!
17 Dec 2009 | 5:15 amAction Nouvelle Vie, un organisme qui vient en aide aux familles défavorisées de la Montérégie, a procédé à la remise de ses paniers de Noël et de ses cadeaux aux enfants défavorisés de la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Les employés-es de Molson Coors ont participé activement à cette remise, que ce soit par l’achat de cadeaux pour les enfants avec une équipe de douze (12) employés-es de Molson sur place en qualité de bénévoles, parrainée par un de nos représentants, Sébastien Laramée. Nul doute que tout ce beau monde était très heureux d’aider à la réalisation… -
Here’s To Responsible Choices
16 Dec 2009 | 9:12 amAt this time of year there is raised awareness about the need for people to think about making responsible choices. Even Santa, who we’ve got to assume is much older than the required legal drinking age, can spread the good message about responsible choices. I think there is greater awareness given the amount of festive joy, hospitality, visiting and travel that takes place around the holiday season. People have a chance to reflect upon the year over a glass of beer with family, friends and neighbours. Although Molson Coors tends to promote responsible choices throughout the year, we… -
Collecte de cadeaux pour Action Nouvelle Vie
16 Dec 2009 | 7:48 amCarole Reeves et Michel David se sont occupés de recueillir des jouets pour l’organisme Action Nouvelle Vie auprès des employés situés au 1320 rue Notre-Dame Est ainsi qu’au Centre de distribution sur la rue Dickson. Ces cadeaux seront distribués aux enfants vivant en milieu défavorisé lors de leur grande Fête de Noël qui aura lieu aujourd’hui le 16 décembre. Au nom des employés du 1320 et du CDM, je tiens à remercier Carole et Michel pour cette belle initiative qui permettra de donner un sourire à un enfant dans le besoin, mais également à nous les employés… -
Résultat de la campagne Centraide du Grand Montréal
15 Dec 2009 | 12:44 pmAujourd’hui, j’ai assisté en compagnie de Marjolaine Deslauriers et Marie-Pierre Aubé au dévoilement des résultats de la campagne Centraide du Grand Montréal. Malgré une période d’incertitude économique, c’est avec grande surprise que Centraide du Grand Montréal a divulgué une récolte de 54 287 884 $, par rapport à un objectif de 54 M$. Les meilleures campagnes à Montréal étaient affichées sur un écran géant et Molson Coors faisait partie du nombre. Bravo et merci à tous pour vos généreux dons. J’aimerais également remercier tous…
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Nestle Purina Petcare
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Want to Get Healthy? Get a Dog.
17 Dec 2009 | 2:31 pmThere's an interesting report on some research from my Alma Mater on the NYT''s site this week. It confirms what a lot of us dog owners already know. It's more difficult for us to disappoint our dogs than our human associates. Actually that's not exactly what the research says, but it's close. Seems that humans that choose to walk with dogs for exercise and fun are more consistent in those pursuits and more likely to be fit than those that choose to walk with another human. I'm not at all surprised. Think about it. When you walk with another human you have to deal with all their baggage. -
Contests and Giving to Pets
16 Dec 2009 | 7:23 amThe net is alive with fun, this holiday season. If you're not aware of it - you're not following us here or on Scratchings and Sniffings. We love to talk about the fun things pet bloggers do, along with the many, many fun things Purina does to engage pet owners. For instance, over at Petcentric there's a great Christmas contest. The question is: "What if dogs and cats ruled the holidays? Would ugly sweaters be buried in the snow? Would carolers sound like whirring can openers? Describe the perfect holiday season from your pet's point of view, and you could win big!" Hop over and see all the… -
Jingle Bell Blues: Don't Let Your Pet Get'em
15 Dec 2009 | 8:18 amWe're all concerned about the coming holiday festivities and how they'll affect our pets. PurinaCare® isn't the only pet company reminding pet owners that certain things are off limits. But, I like the way Dr. Bill discusses this issue, and I also think repeated reminders are necessary for all of us. Because we want to avoid those potential disastors - and each report has a little different spin, I think. Here's what Dr. Bill says, "A routine and familiar environment is important to most dogs and cats. During the holidays pets may suffer from the constant changes taking place in their… -
What About Noisy Cats?
14 Dec 2009 | 1:08 pmDogs aren't the only ones that sometimes make too much noise. Cats can vocalize excessively for a number of reasons too and their persistent meowing can get on your nerves. There are medical reasons for excessive vocalization in cats and some of these are similar to those in dogs. Cats suffer from separation anxiety, inter-cat aggression and social distress, chronic pain and cognitive dysfunction and these problems can lead to a certain amount of yowling in some cats. Primary medical conditions like hyperthyroidism and cardiovascular disease can result in vocalization too. Intact females… -
Managing That Barking Dog
11 Dec 2009 | 9:29 amIn our last post on excessive vocalization in dogs we discussed some of the typical situations encountered by dog owners and some of the reasons why dogs bark excessively. That's important to understand because when it comes to treatment or management there is no one size fits all cure. In some cases there may be no cure at all. First and foremost you have to rule out any medical cause. If there is a medical problem causing chronic pain for instance, the treatment is much different and aimed at what is causing the pain. Older dogs with cognitive dysfunction may be helped by certain…
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Nike
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The Collection 3.0: Zoom Kobe IV
18 Dec 2009 | 2:59 amOn Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant hit yet another buzzer-beater, leading the Lakers over Milwaukee 107-106 in overtime. The Black Mamba finished with 39 points, despite a broken right index finger. Check out the Zoom Kobe IV that were on Kobe's feet as he scored the games final seven points of the game. -
The Collection 3.0: Air Max LeBron VII Black/Black-Gold
17 Dec 2009 | 8:51 amLeBron James started the 2009-2010 season in the Black/Black-Gold version of the Air Max LeBron VII on October 27 against Boston. Learn more about the shoe from its designer Jason Petrie, and check out the photographs. Want a pair of your own? The shoe is available right here on nikebasketball.com. What do you think about this version of the Air Max LeBron VII? -
MVPuppets: Mystery of the Missing VII, Part 2
16 Dec 2009 | 12:29 pmThe Mystery of the Missing VII has been solved. Although Puppet Kobe seems to believe there is a new mystery to be solved. -
School Days: Kevin Durant
16 Dec 2009 | 2:30 amFirst-Team All-America: USA Today; Parade Magazine. Co-MVP: McDonald's All-American Game. Member: Nike Hoop Summit and Jordan All-American Classic teams. And it all started in the streets of Washington, D.C. "It was a constant grind, just to make the teams in high school - just to be considered one of the better players in the area was a great accomplishment. It was a tough brand of basketball. Everybody tried to come at you really hard and nobody was ever going to give in." That toughness is a big key in what makes DC hoops so strong. "There's always good basketball players coming out every… -
The Collection 3.0: KD2 Creamsicles
15 Dec 2009 | 7:50 pmAs a 19-year old rookie, Kevin Durant 20.3 points and 4.4 rebounds, on his way to winning Rookie of the Year. 23 games into his third season in the league, Kevin has increased his scoring output to 28.5 points per game, and is crashing the boards for 7.3 rebounds per game. His continued improvement is one of the reasons why the Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a 12-11 start. On Wednesday night, when the Thunder take on the Dallas Mavericks on ESPN, Kevin and some of his Thunder teammates will debut the KD2 Creamsicles. Check out the photos, and make sure to follow Nike Basketball on Twitter…
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Oracle
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Oracle Certification Practice Exams
18 Dec 2009 | 11:26 amAccess, use, and get the most benefit out of Oracle Certification practice exams. In this interview, we explore Self Test Software's practice exam library with John Shapiro - VP of Kaplan IT Learning. We also briefly discuss which exams are available, how to make the best use of these practice exams, and some good insights into braindumps. (note: for larger YouTube version, click video image) QUICK LINKS: Self Test Software: Website Oracle Certification Program: Website -
Learning and predicting for short and long term events
18 Dec 2009 | 11:19 amIn many RTD deployments we see that the business wants to optimize decisions based on the long term effect of the decision. For example, selecting a retention offer to display to a customer in the web site should not be driven by the likelihood that the customer will click on the offer, but by the likelihood the customer will have been retained, say after 3 month.Another simpler example is the decision by a bank to offer a credit card to a customer. The events in this situation may be:Offer ExtendedClickedApplied for cardUsed cardThe goal of the bank is to have the customer use the card. The… -
Avery Labels
18 Dec 2009 | 11:12 amI have seen various postings on being able to use BIP with Avery label templates. Im not limited to Avery here, there are other templates out there too. I have recently been working with John and colleagues over in Oklahoma City who were desperate; desperate might be too strong a word but they needed, at least, to get BIP generating their address labels. Problem was, existing solutions, my efforts so far have fallen into this category, would work for a page or even a couple but after that things started to slip down the page and you started to get addresses spanning labels and it degenerated… -
Upgrade Workshops in Germany and Spain
18 Dec 2009 | 10:31 amWe'd like to invite you to our full-1-day upgrade workshops "Upgrade to Oracle Database 11g Release 2 - The Whole Story" in: Frankfurt/Germany - 18-Jan-2010 Hamburg/Germany - 19-Jan-2010 Barcelona/Spain - 26-Jan-2010 Madrid/Spain - 27-Jan-2010 And they are still for free!!! :-) Workshops in St.Petersburg/Russia (1-Feb-2010) and Moscow/Russia (4-Feb-2010) as well as in Luxembourg (11-Feb-2010) are already scheduled - registration will be announced here as well and start soon. -
Cloud Computing Officially In Mainstream
18 Dec 2009 | 9:28 amLast night while discussing with my wife (who is my anti-geek to my geek) ways her library patrons might be able to save files they work on in the library's computer lab besides floppy disks - I started talking about services like Dropbox. Her answer was "you mean like storing these files in the cloud?". Posted via email from Virtual Identity Dialogue
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Patagonia
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Yosemite Dispatches with Ron Kauk: The Next Hold
17 Dec 2009 | 6:03 pmAt the age of 14, Patagonia ambassador Ron Kauk left for a 20-day backpacking trip through the Sierra with a high school group and the hook that would tie him to large, expansive spaces was set. After that trip, he didn't want to ride bikes with the other teenagers. He wanted to rappel. He traveled to Yosemite in 1972, signed up for a rock climbing class and has been living there ever since. Ron has been pushing the limits of free climbing worldwide for three decades: from the first ascent of Astroman and Midnight Lightning in the late '70s to the first 5.14 in the Valley in the '90s. Focused… -
Tear Gas For Breakfast
16 Dec 2009 | 5:53 pmEditor's note: You met them first on the Obama Express. Now, Santa Barbara Independent reporter Ethan Stewart and freelance photographer Kodiak Greenwood are in Copenhagen to cover the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change. This morning the boys -- who've dubbed themselves "Operation Copenhagen" -- awoke to violence in the street and tear gas in the air. All words and captions by Ethan Stewart. Before we even had a chance to find our morning cups of coffee, Kodiak and I were breathing tear gas for breakfast at the COP15. An organized march called the "Push for Climate Change"… -
Just Visiting
15 Dec 2009 | 4:00 pmWe don’t keep a formal visitor log here at Patagonia headquarters in Ventura; we don’t keep a formal anything. But we do see a steady stream of students interested in sustainable business practices, journalists who come to cover various aspects of the company, environmentalists promoting their issues, and athletes visiting friends and giving their input on our technical clothing and gear designs.In recent months, we’ve also seen visitors from Wal-Mart intent on greening their company. We got a drive by from Tesla Motors, complete with test rides in their new fully electric roadster. And… -
Backyard Corridors: What obstructs animal movement in your neighborhood?
14 Dec 2009 | 6:51 pmWhen we talk about Freedom to Roam it's impossible to make an argument for wildlife corridors without mentioning the obstacles that block an animal's ability to go where it has to go in order to survive. The obstructions we often cite include housing sprawl, energy and resource extraction, population growth, expanding urban areas, and highways and freeways – pretty large scale stuff. On the Backyard Corridor level however there are a myriad of smaller obstacles that must be taken into account as well. Hence, this week's question: What obstructs animal movement in your neighborhood? Please… -
Out in the Woods
10 Dec 2009 | 6:19 pmIt's easy to think the life of a sponsored athlete is one full of jet-set luxury and hedonistic indulgence. But we try to do things a little differently here, and our athletes are no exception. There's a reason we call them "ambassadors," after all. Yes, we look to them for insights on how to improve our designs, but we're also interested in working with committed environmental advocates with a passion that's inspired - not limited - by their chosen sport. There's no doubt Patagonia Skiing Ambassador Lorenzo Worster was feeling fired up about his job while on location for the latest video…
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Petro-Canada
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Friendly Winter Safety Reminders
16 Dec 2009 | 11:37 amNow I’m not trying to hurry-up winter. And I’m definitely not wishing for more snow. But as we move into the holiday season, I think it’s a perfect time to re-focus, and look for ways to keep safe. Safety is a core value for our company, and as I read some the helpful hints sent to employees, I realize that they translate well into most workplaces or even at home. So in the spirit of sharing – I offer you some helpful reminders on staying safe this season. Lead by example and never cut corners in terms of working safely. Watch out for others and don’t be afraid… -
Slowly, but surely...
27 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amAs Jason mentioned in his last post – we’ve had quite a busy and interesting summer. We have successfully merged into a new company, and are now getting back into the daily swing of things. Because of the merger process and with getting our new team up to speed, the blog was put on the back burner. Over the last few months, we have received several comments and questions. We are currently sorting through them, and committed to answering as many as possible. In the next while, we will take your questions and create a top ten-like Q&A post that should bring… -
Let's continue the conversation…
16 Nov 2009 | 7:54 amAt the mall the other day, I saw a sign that read "Please excuse our dust - we are renovating to serve you better." I immediately thought of Pumptalk. It has certainly been a busy stretch for our company, and as Jon pointed out in his 'good-bye' post, a time of tremendous change. The merger of Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada has consumed us over the past few months. However, through it all, we remained committed to keeping Pumptalk alive and well. As you will see in the coming weeks, we will be shaking up the format of Pumptalk a bit. We will be… -
Thanks. It's been a gas.
2 Nov 2009 | 2:44 pmHow do you say goodbye to a blog? As you can see by the date of my last post, it's taken some time for me to figure that out. I started writing my last post a few times, but scrapped them all as they just didn't seem to work. Why? Well, because even as an author, I'm just a participant in the discussion. If I was leaving a group discussion at a party, I wouldn't go around hugging everyone while tearfully saying goodbye. It would seem a little odd. So let me just say a few thanks and let you keep… -
You have questions? We have answers.
6 Jul 2009 | 1:02 pmWe've noticed a lot of new traffic to PumpTalk since the little stickers went on gas pumps across the country a few weeks ago. First off - thanks for dropping by. This blog was started almost 2 years ago to help answer the many questions you and pretty much every other driver has about gas prices. When we launched, I thought we might just be talking to ourselves and a few family members, but the number of visitors continues to grow. We've had some really interesting (and sometimes heated) discussions and they are…
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Pitney Bowes
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The Mammograms Controversy
17 Dec 2009 | 12:09 amRecently, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force was the subject of a great deal of criticism for issuing revised guidelines that recommended that, except for women who have specific elevated risk factors, such as a family history of breast cancer, women not receive regular mammograms until age 50. These revised guidelines were roundly attacked. As Blogger Helen Searles wrote in a December 1 posting: “Within hours of announcing its findings, the Task Force faced a barrage of attacks from women, doctors, journalists and politicians across the U.S. The onslaught was swift, harsh, and… -
CELEBRATING ADVANCES IN HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELL BEING
26 Nov 2009 | 8:09 pmIn the Monday, November 23, Wall Street Journal , reporter Melinda Beck recounts a number of our successes in improving public health in an article entitled “20 Advances to be Thankful For.” Among the advances she highlights are: The fact that we had the same number of traffic fatalities in 2008 as we had in 1961, which is remarkable considering the significant increase in the driving population, the number of cars on the road, and the number of miles driven; The 50% decline in trans fats in packaged foods since 2006; The fact that 71% of our population lives under either a state or local… -
VOLUNTEERISM VERSUS PAID LABOR FOR COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES AND SERVICES
21 Nov 2009 | 7:59 pmIn the SaturdayNovember 21 New York Post, reporter Michelle Malkin writes a scathing op-ed piece on the Service Employees International Union, entitled “The Union That Hates the Boy Scouts.“. The major point of her piece is that the SEIU strongly opposes volunteer work in many communities, because they believe that volunteer work takes paid work away from union members. Her description of certain union positions rings true to me because I recall that the Stamford Youth Foundation (Stamford, Connecticut) could not staff the variety and volume of after-school activities that… -
FLAWS IN HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM
21 Nov 2009 | 5:41 pmOne of the fundamental issues with health insurance reform, and the reason it has been so difficult to get done is that health insurance differs fundamentally from other risks. One of the basic principles of insurance is that an insurer creates a mechanism to protect against a defined risk event, with a defined financial payout, by collecting an amount in advance from each policyholder that, along with investment returns, allows for the insurance company to make an adequate profit. This plays out very well in insurance products like life insurance, auto insurance, and property and casualty… -
WHY “GATEKEEPERS” NEED TO BE KEPT HONEST
7 Nov 2009 | 9:20 amThis has been a most interesting week for me, especially the first two days I spent in Los Angeles with my older son in meetings relating to three investments in performing arts projects: a small commercial independent film called Fog Warning, (a trailer is viewable on YouTube), a reality TV production company called LongStoryShort Productions, and a film script on which my son Mike and I are working together. From these meetings on all three investments, as well as other conversations I have had with many people in the performing arts business, I have learned about the challenges artists…
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PR Newswire
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PRSA-GA Luncheon Jan. 21 in Atlanta
15 Dec 2009 | 8:20 amThe Georgia chapter of the PRSA is hosting a luncheon, “H1N1 and the Inside Communications Story,” Thursday, Jan. 21, at Maggiano’s Cumberland, 1601 Cumberland Mall SE, in Atlanta. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by the luncheon and program and noon. Panelists from CDC; Gwinnett County, Ga.’s largest school district; and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta will outline their best communications practices for this year’s flu epidemic. To register, or for more information, contact Denise Grant at (770) 440-6369 or visit www.prsageorgia.org. -
Bulldog Reporter’s PR University Audio Conference Dec. 16
15 Dec 2009 | 8:17 amBulldog Reporter’s PR University is hosting an audio conference, “Pitching Top Worldwide Blogs: Editorial Insiders at Widest Reaching Blogs Share Best PR Pitches and Practices,” Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 1 p.m. EDT. Look no further than the FTC’s recent Endorsement Guides for proof that blogs are no longer fringe media. In fact, most traditional media outlets now feature wide-reaching bloggers in the editorial mix. What’s more, many blogs far outstrip their mainstream media counterparts in reach and influence, with many leading blogs single-handedly able to make or break a launch… -
DMA Free Networking Event Jan. 25 in New York
9 Dec 2009 | 10:54 amThe Direct Marketing Association is hosting a free networking event, “DMA: Careers. Connections,” Monday, Jan. 25, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., at the DMA Seminar Center, 1120 Avenue of the Americas, 13th floor, in New York. DMA is harnessing the power of community for direct marketers in the tri-state area who are in between jobs and conducting employment searches. We are opening up our seminar center for a free networking session to give direct marketers a chance to share information and network with others who are also seeking employment. Heidi Cohen, ClickZ columnist, NYU faculty member,… -
Call for Entries: Most Innovative Company at RSA Conference 2010
2 Dec 2009 | 10:43 amRSA Conference, the world’s leading information security conferences and expositions, has opened its call for submissions for the “Most Innovative Company at RSA Conference 2010” contest. Taking place Monday, March 1, in conjunction with Innovation Sandbox, the contest showcases innovation as a core driver in the research and development of new information security products and services. Criteria: • The product has been in market for less than one year (launched after March 2009); • The company must be privately held with less than $5 million revenue in 2009; • The product has the… -
Promo Opp: Stylish and Innovative Mom, Baby and Children Items for Celebrity ‘Bump,’ Baby and Birthday Gift Bags
2 Dec 2009 | 9:59 amGot a stylish and innovative product you would love to celebrities to have? Jewels and Pinstripes is the leader in celebrity gifting and we are seeking amazing products for next year’s celebrity gift bags. We are especially looking for pregnancy pampering/new technology items, clothing, amazing diaper bags, baby carriers, gourmet treats, personalized accessories, baby time-savers and children’s toys. as well as other items. All items need to be approved and some categories are sold out. There are fees for participating companies. Make Jewels and Pinstripes celebrity gifting part…
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Proctor & Gamble
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Getting Ready for Summit on Summit: Kilimanjaro and seeing that Water is a Woman’s Issue
18 Dec 2009 | 6:54 amIt’s my last day in Tanzania this trip. I’ll return in early January for Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro. Last night I went for a run in Arusha as part of my training for the hike, and the altitude made it pretty tough to breathe. Right afterwards, Mt Kilimanjaro peaked out of the clouds. It was the first time that I’d seen Kili during the week that I was in Arusha and it was only visible for a few minutes before dark. I used my Flip video camera to record a short video about my initial impressions of seeing the big mountain. As you can tell, in this hand-held amateur… -
Meeting "God's blessing" and wondering about random connections
11 Dec 2009 | 8:52 amDo you sometimes wonder how random events and connections seem to lead you to the place that you’re supposed to go? Well they seem to happen all the time to me in my job leading the Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program. I’m learning to go with the flow. That’s the subject of this blog and my current visit to two groups in Arusha, Tanzania. So, if you don’t want to hear about this, just skip this blog and come back for the next one. I’ll understand. On the one hand, as the founder and director of the CSDW, I set the strategy and lead our small team in the… -
From Despair to Hope among the Maasai
3 Dec 2009 | 11:39 amI’m back with the Maasai prior to the Summit on the Summit Kilimanjaro. Our work here will continue long after the climb of Mt Kilimanjaro has come and gone, but it will be great to help put a focus on the global water crisis and the practical and cost-effective solutions to address the crisis by bringing Jessica Biel, Kenna, Alexandra Cousteau, Isabel Lucas, Kick Kennedy, and the other climbers to this village. Today starts with the very harsh reminders of the lack of adequate fresh water on the earth. It’s the end of the dry season in Tanzania and it’s been a particularly long… -
The Maasai of Tanzania
25 Nov 2009 | 6:14 amI’m in Tanzania visiting several new programs in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I'll be returning to Tanzania with Jessica Biel, Kenna, Alexandra Cousteau, Isabel Lucas, Kick Kennedy and the rest of the Summit on the Summit climbers in January. I’m traveling with Kara Tureski and Remini Nyungula of the Academy for Educational Development (AED). Kara is leading the efforts to provide PUR to people living with AIDS in Tanzania based on a large grant provided to AED by USAID. In addition, P&G’s Live, Learn, and Thrive Initiative awarded funds to AED to… -
CSDW Honored with 2009 Humanitarian Award by Action Against Hunger.
23 Nov 2009 | 6:55 amThe P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water program was honored with the 2009 Humanitarian Award from Action Against Hunger. You may have heard of this well-known humanitarian group by their French name, Action contre la Faim, or ACF. I attended their annual gala in New York City to accept the award. Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman of the Wall Street Journal also were honored with the humanitarian award for their book about ending world hunger called "Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in a World of Plenty". The previous award winners of the Action Against…
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Progress Software
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Now That's a Real Forklift Upgrade
11 Dec 2009 | 8:17 amI have to admit... I don’t really know how our customers use OpenEdge. I do know there are a ton of customers - over 65,000. And, if that weren’t enough, there are over 1,500 partners too. What's more, many of them are in-production with SaaS offerings. Damn, that’s a lot. (If any analysts are reading... just think about the opportunity of selling Actional into that installed base even if we never got another “new logo” sale.) This week’s press release follows on from several months of a beta period where about 20 or 30 OpenEdge customers tested the newly released Actional… -
Open Source Software Powers the Biggest Physics Project in History
8 Dec 2009 | 11:10 amToday Progress Software announced that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN*) is using Progress® FUSE™, to run its operational grid activities of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) re-launch which happened this month. FUSE is an open source product line based on several Apache projects for which IONA (acquired by Progress in June 2008) provided leadership and Progress today continues to be a significant contributor. There are many skeptics that believe open source software isn’t meant for large-scale projects but CERN has proven that wrong. Not only has FUSE will underpin… -
Meet Progress Software On The Road Next Week
2 Dec 2009 | 8:22 amBefore we jump into the swing of holiday shopping, celebrations and announcing year end numbers, we're hitting the road. If you are attending Gartner AADI in Las Vegas or Management World Americas in Orlando, make sure to take time visit us. Here's where Progress Software will be: 7 - 9 December 2009Las Vegas, NVGartner Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit This is the year's MUST ATTEND conference on Cloud Computing, SOA and Applications. Regardless of your challenge, you'll find answers that fit your needs in today's changed environment. And the best part... -
Semantic Web and the Enterprise Integration solutions
30 Nov 2009 | 2:12 pmA few weeks back I was at the National (Indian) Software Products' conclave at Bangalore. There were a lot of startups that were present. The buzz was amazing (in no small measure due to the presence of Guy Kawasaki and Naeem Zafar). I was able to interact with a lot of startups (good opportunity enabled via the Startups Track that I was co-organizing at the conclave). Among many others, there were two startups that were particularly interesting and both were looking at RDF (the Web3.0 Semantic Web markup standard) use cases in Enterprise solutions - particularly for knowledge management and… -
Holy Cloud! Thousands of Customers & Hundreds of Partners
30 Nov 2009 | 1:38 pmAt parties, I do everything I can to avoid talking about work. But, when forced, people eventually ask where I work. When I tell them Progress Software, it's usually followed by "No, we're actually a big public company that does more than databases."I bet you didn't know we had thousands of SaaS customers in production using our products... Well we do! And, by the way, it makes a great opportunity for each of those to use Actional for both cloud governance and inter-mediation for customer-specific policy and really flexible standards-based application layer security. If we never sold a new…
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Rubbermaid
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Pantry Sorrows - Part One
18 Dec 2009 | 8:01 amI really like where I live. The only thing that consistently drives me crazy is - THE PANTRY!My roommates and I have a small kitchen but the pantry is actually a pretty good size. There's just some things that need to change.1. The shelving is ridiculous! Things keep falling through the wires and falling over. Oh why contractors do you put wire shelving in a pantry? This is a picture of bottles falling through the wires!2. There's a pipe that sticks out in the pantry. The means in the middle of one shelf (my shelf to be exact) the shelving is cut out and you can't use a good portion of the… -
Tweet of the Week - Dec. 17th
17 Dec 2009 | 7:24 amIt's time for our favorite tweets of the week. This week Jim (@Rubbermaid), Lauren (@RubbermaidTwo) and I (@eGentry) have each choosen our favorite. Jim's favorite is from professional organizer Jane (@cluttercoach) reminding us all not to give gifts that create clutter! Lauren's favorite is from professional organizer Sue (@sueorganizesyou). Sue tells us how being unorganized is not always about the organizational tools but the stuff and how we hold onto it and put it away. My favorite is from blogger Carolina Mama (@CarolinaMama). I had just done this when I saw her tweet and it… -
You don't have to shovel sunshine!
16 Dec 2009 | 7:49 amWell, I was hoping that the Ohio weather would hold off until Christmas, give a slight dusting, and then melt away to nothing. A girl can dream, right? With going to class at night, I have found that I really need to make sure I have a Winter Survival Kit in my car. There have been a few scary nights in a barely lit, unbelievably icy parking lot that I thought I was going to have to camp out in my car. And then, I thought, how would I make it through the night? I drove home, or more like skated home in my car, and decided that I needed some basics stored in my car for the Ohio winter… -
2nd Annual New Years Day Closet Makeover
15 Dec 2009 | 6:55 amYou may remember that last year, I did a series on helping my friend Randi get her crazy closet under control. I am happy to report that it still continues to be organized and tidy thanks to help from all of you in setting it up for continued organization!Randi's Closet Makeover Series - Part 1: The problem Part 2: The makeover process Part 3: The end So, in continuing the tradition of helping a friend get organized every New Years Day, this year, my annual project goes to my friend Ryan's house. Unlike most makeovers I have helped with in the past of improving organization, this one… -
Laundry "Room" Makeover – The Plan
14 Dec 2009 | 7:45 amOur first house we lived in had a proper laundry room. We bought our very first washer and dryer from Sears, BARELY missing the innovation, style and space efficiency of front loading machines. These machines always worked great, especially in the space we had them in.. til we moved. Our current house is in the city and is a lot smaller space than our previous house. We don't have a Laundry Room, we have a Laundry Closet. I've been living with the mess and general craziness of having a Laundry Closet for a few years now and am looking to make a change.I always figured I would just purchase a…
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SAP
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Collecting performance statistics for Voyager workspaces
18 Dec 2009 | 12:46 pmDo you have a Voyager workspace that is taking a long time to load? This article gives instructions for collecting some performance statistics which could identify a bottleneck. -
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah 2009
18 Dec 2009 | 11:54 amLet's enjoy this holidays... -
SAP Influencer Summit 09: Report Card
18 Dec 2009 | 11:07 amMy own report card on how SAP did with the 2009 Influencer Summit. Just in time for final exams and the holiday break... -
Podcast: “Accelerating Time to Value with BOC” - Interview with Partner PGS on How They Use the SAP BusinessObjects Community to Increase Client ROI
18 Dec 2009 | 10:44 amDon't miss this interview with Freddie Guerrero of PGS to learn how you too can leverage the SAP BusinessObjects community to improve your knowledge base, increase client wins and develop industry visibility. http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/elearn?rid -
How to Perform Systematic Duet 1.5 Troubleshooting -- Part 2
18 Dec 2009 | 10:19 amIssues getting Duet running? Check out the second blog of a Duet troubleshooting series to find out how to narrow down an issue on Duet server side.
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Sony Electronics
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SONY CAMERAS BRING "AVATAR" TO LIFE IN 3D
18 Dec 2009 | 12:40 amIt’s probably not going to happen, but Sony could have received at least co-star billing on theater marquees when “Avatar” opens today. As they say in L.A., we’re 3D players. From content creation and authoring, to providing the cinematic community with the technology it needs to bring its stories to life, Sony is present is every aspect of the emerging format. Taking audiences from their theater seats to the mythical land of Pandora in “Avatar” are Sony high-definition digital cinematography cameras. Cinematographer Vince Pace used the cameras to combine… -
Auto Tune Your Facebook Status with Sony
15 Dec 2009 | 3:57 amHave you heard of the YouTube phenomenon called Auto Tune the News? Brothers Michael and Andrew Gregory use Auto Tune voice technology to create funny spoofs of popular news and world events. The Gregory Brothers have now put their magic auto tune spin on Sony’s Panel of Experts ads too. To take the fun a step further we've created a Facebook application that lets anyone "auto tune" their status update. Check out the Auto Tune tab on the Sony Electronics Facebook page and give it a try... -
Spread Music All Around Your Home With Sony Altus
11 Dec 2009 | 9:28 amI've always loved homes that have speakers in each room powered by a central audio system so the songs you hear are uninterrupted. Wiring your house can be expensive and a task. With Sony Altus Multi-room Wireless Music Systems you can add Sony quality speakers to your home entertainment system with no wires and you can add speakers to various rooms without having to worry about the cost and work of wiring your home. Whether you listen to your music with a home audio system or a portable device like the ipod, the Altus Music System has customizable solutions like an iPod/iPhone Doc, Socket… -
Personlize the Sony Gifts You Give: Sharing Home Videos
8 Dec 2009 | 9:01 amAs part of our series on how to personalize the Sony gifts you give this season I got some insight into how easy it is to burn a DVD so you can get the precious memories off your camcorder or computer and into the hands of your loved ones. Certain Sony Handycams let you press a button to burn your video onto a DVD by connecting the camera to your computer. Some also come with Picture Motion Browser software that helps you edit your video. For those that want a more polished presentation, it even helps you do a highlight reel which selects portions of the video and puts them together to create… -
Add a Personal Touch to the Sony Gifts You Give: Engrave It!
4 Dec 2009 | 9:16 amIn San Diego we have a manufacturing facility where products like the VAIO are assembled after they're purchased from SonyStyle.com. When you order online you can personalize that product by choosing things like hard drive size and body color and style. In addition you can take the personalization of your Sony product to the next level by engraving a personal message.
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Southwest Airlines
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Gift Wrap Boot Camp with The Container Store
18 Dec 2009 | 11:05 amJust in time for Christmas, a special blog post from our guest, Courtney Shaver of The Container Store. We just can’t contain ourselves! Today, The Container Store hosted 20 Southwest Airlines volunteers at one of our stores in Dallas to learn how to create a beautiful gift wrap presentation. Our Gift Wrap Stylists shared tips and tricks for how to create crisp corners and perfect bows in a snap in preparation for our FREE Gift Wrapping events at five airports across the country on Monday, Dec. 21st! We’ll be at Dallas Love Field, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Denver International, Saint Louis… -
Southwest proudly presents our 2009 Flickr Photos of the Year
17 Dec 2009 | 10:33 amYou know those National Geographic “Best Pictures of the Year” e-mails? You tend to get them around the holiday time, and you’re always inspired to forward them to your mom, your grandma, even your fellow coworkers. It’s one of the few viral emails that’s truly organic, and isn’t annoying like most chain emails. (I’m talking to you, “Forward and your wish will come true!!” emails…) During one of our weekly brainstorms in the “Magic Factory” room (named by Ms. Paula Berg herself), we decided the Southwest Airlines Flickr group needed its own annual awards, by golly! We… -
An Army Of Blankets
16 Dec 2009 | 8:24 pmThis week’s episode of Red Belly Radio is about the 150,000 blankets and more than 30,000 pillows we donated to the Salvation Army. You may have read Ashley Roger’s blog about it last week entitled Blankets of LUV so I won’t go into too many details except to say that I interview Ashley and Major Carl Earp of the Salvation Army. Give it a listen! -
Employees Agree: Southwest tops best places to work survey
16 Dec 2009 | 2:55 pmWe love awards here at Southwest, and lucky for us, we seem to get a lot of them! This latest one was especially meaningful as it was based upon our own Employees' opinions. Glassdoor.com, a jobs web site, collected reviews from employees from various American companies throughout 2009. Well, the results are in, and Southwest landed on top! 11,000 companies were considered, and Employees were asked about such issues as work/life balance, career opportunities, compensation, benefits, and employee morale. Congrats to all 35,000 Employees across our system for making Southwest THE best place… -
SUMMER, 2010: EVERYONE CAN PARTY!
16 Dec 2009 | 7:25 amNEWS FLASH: This morning, Summer, 2010 becomes bookable! Seats are available for booking from today all the way out until August 13, giving us 241 days of bookable inventory, which I'm pretty sure is a new record (for Southwest, anyway). Those of you that have been longtime readers of this blog will remember the absolute thrashing I got a couple of years back about not being out for sale further in advance (you can reread the post and its comments here, and the followup I posted a short time later here). I can assure you all that I certainly remember it....I'm still in therapy for…
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Sun Microsystems
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More ZFS Goodness: The OpenSolaris Build Machine
18 Dec 2009 | 1:52 pmApart from my usual LDAP'ing, I also -try to- help the opensolaris team with anything I can. Lately, I've helped build their new x64 build rig, for which I carefully selected the best components out there while trying to keep the overall box budget on a leash. It came out at about $5k. Not on the cheap side, but cheaper than most machines in most data centers. The components: 2 Intel Xeon E5220 HyperThreaded QuadCores@2.27GHz. 16 cpus in solaris 2 32GB Intel X25 SSD 2 2TB WD drives 24GB ECC DDR2 I felt compelled to follow up my previous post about making the most out your SSD because… -
Oracle y Sun: La UE y la bolsa se muestran optimistas
18 Dec 2009 | 1:51 pmLa pasada semana hubo una audiencia de la Comisaría de la Competencia de la Unión Europea sobre la investigación relativa al impacto en MySQL de la compra de Sun Microsystems por parte de Oracle. Durante dos días se escucharon los argumentos presentados por Oracle y los testimonios favorables de empresas que apoyan la operación como son el NHS, Vodafone o el BBVA y de otras que se oponen como SAP y Microsoft. Oracle concretó planes de lo que piensa hacer con MySQL y parece que el resultado de la sesión ha sido positivo a juzgar por la nota de prensa de la UE, el comunicado en el portal… -
My tyrst with Drupal 6 on Solaris 10 x86
18 Dec 2009 | 12:18 pmFinally I managed to install Drupal in Solaris 10 x86 after several attempts. Everytime, it would install, but ended with an oops! Mcrypt missing, Oops mod_rewrite not working.... Here is my install configuration -------------------------------------------- Drupal 6.15 Apache : 2.2.14 PHP : 5.3.1 MySQL :5.1.41 phpMyAdmin - 3.2.4 ------------------------------------------ Drupal 6.15. Here is the download location. Apache 2.2.14 source from apache.org Here is the location PHP 5.3.1 source from php.net. Here is the location PhpMyAdmin… -
iSCSI SAN - Part 2: The Clients
18 Dec 2009 | 12:05 pmIn part 1 of this blog I created an iSCSI storage target exposing 3 LUNs: one each intended for OpenSolaris, Linux and Windows clients. In this entry I'll set up the clients (initiators) to connect to those LUNs. For this exercise, we'll be using static discovery, which means you already know the IP address of the storage server. OpenSolaris Client Step 1: Install the iSCSI Management Utilities bleonard@os200906:~$ pfexec pkg install SUNWiscsi DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB) Completed 1/1 8/8 0.26/0.26 PHASE ACTIONS Install Phase 35/35 A reboot is necessary because of this defect (which has… -
Big 2009 Finish for OpenSolaris Installation
18 Dec 2009 | 12:03 pmAs the end of 2009 approaches, there are a bunch of recent developments in the OpenSolaris installation software that I want to highlight. All of the below will appear in OpenSolaris development build 130, due in the next few days.First up is the addition of iSCSI support to Automated Installation (or AI). You can now specify an iSCSI target for installation in the AI manifest. It'll work on both SPARC and x86, provided you have firmware that can support iSCSI boot; on SPARC you'll need a very recent OBP patch to enable this support. Official docs are in the works, but…
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Telstra
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Aussies behave badly at end of year celebrations
17 Dec 2009 | 7:17 pmIt’s the season for office Christmas parties, and while it’s a time of fun and celebration, for more than half of Australians, it has led to behavior that they’d rather forget. A recent national Telstra survey found that more than 2 in 3 Australians aged under 35 had texted or called their ex after going out and drinking too much. And after drinking, 1 in 5 Australians aged under 25 have kissed someone they shouldn’t have only to have the photo posted online. When behavior turns bad at the office Christmas party, it may not only harm your relationships, but also your reputation at… -
Don’t be over-exposed this festive season
17 Dec 2009 | 4:19 pmThis Christmas I’ve decided to see if I can save a bit of time and money by doing my gift shopping online – I’m time-poor, sorely lacking in funds, and trying to watch my spending given the scare from the GFC. Shopping online is usually cheaper, especially with the value in the Aussie dollar, quicker, and the simple truth is… I hate running in and out of shops looking for something that will only usually last a week. So – having put some thought into what to buy the loved ones – I am on the net and working the plastic. I like eBay because of the thrill of the… -
Is work that different to high school?
17 Dec 2009 | 3:29 pmWe wanted to give you an insight into how technology runs our lives. No doubt you see young people constantly on their mobiles calling, texting or browsing the internet, this has become a necessity for us and the way we keep our social lives on track. We post updates on Facebook about what we are up to at the exact moment: where we are, who we’re with or what we are doing and then our friends can comment on it and it just becomes a continuous cycle. Maybe there’s a misconception that technology makes young people less social. People think that the time we spend on Facebook somehow takes… -
Hugh Bradlow’s Kindle review
16 Dec 2009 | 6:53 pmI recently made the bold statement that I expect to see a billion eBook readers by the end of the next decade. This was based on no science whatsoever – it was simply an enthusiastic response to my receiving my first eBook reader in October this year when Amazon finally released an international version of their Kindle. Subsequent experience and the reaction of the many people who have got one has borne out my enthusiasm. This is going to be a massive disruption not only for the book publishers but also organisations such as libraries. Ok, first of all I love the device (and this has… -
World first in HSPA+ and dual carrier technology
16 Dec 2009 | 2:09 pmTelstra has become the first operator in the world to test HSPA+ Dual Carrier technology outside of vendor laboratories. I’m pleased to say, in the closed test environment we’re seeing an average of 36Mbps download speeds, bursting to 40Mbps. Right now we are carrying out these first tests of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) using Dual Carrier technology on our Next G™ closed test network, using Qualcomm’s MDM8220™ chipset. Our tests are in conjunction with our strategic partner, Ericsson, which has seen similar success in laboratory conditions in Sweden this week. HSPA+ Dual…
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The New York Times
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Leading Iranian Reformist Speaks to BBC
18 Dec 2009 | 1:02 pmDespite the threat of arrest by the authorities, one of the leaders of Iran's opposition, the reformist cleric Mehdi Karrobi, has invited a BBC television crew into his home in Tehran and repeated his claim that male and female opposition supporters were raped in captivity by government agents. -
Twitter Attacked by 'Iranian Cyber Army'
18 Dec 2009 | 6:10 amTwitter was apparently attacked on Thursday night by a group identifying itself as the "Iranian Cyber Army." -
Reading Tehran From New York
17 Dec 2009 | 3:31 pmHas the struggle for power that began in 1979 in Iran ever really ended? -
Defector Says He Helped Rig Iran's Election
17 Dec 2009 | 6:13 amBritain's Channel 4 News broadcast an interview with a man who said he helped rig Iran's June 12 presidential election, and repress the protests after it, as a member of the regime's feared Basij militia. -
2009's Most Contagious Viral Video
16 Dec 2009 | 3:35 pmYouTube revealed that the amateur video watched most often on the video-sharing site this year was a 118-second slice of an American seven-year-old's life called "David After Dentist" that has been viewed more than 37 million times. "Seven Up" it is not.
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Toyota
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Toyota Vehicles: 2011 Toyota Sienna Preliminary Product Information
18 Dec 2009 | 1:17 am -
Toyota Vehicles: Toyota Introduces All-New 2011 Toyota Sienna Minivan
18 Dec 2009 | 12:57 amDANA POINT, Calif. - -Since 1997 the Toyota Sienna has been well known as a transportation solution for moving people and cargo comfortably and efficiently. The all-new third-generation Sienna will look and drive more like a sedan, conform to new ideas about personal comfort, easily accommodate cargo, and handle big loads. The 2011 Sienna has been completely redesigned to handle these needs as it shifts to a more expressive and dynamic vehicle with a stronger profile, high shoulder character and responsive handling. With state-of the art features and rewarding driving dynamics, it is a… -
TMC, Aisin Provide Household Fuel Cells for Test Program
17 Dec 2009 | 7:44 amTokyo—TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) and AISIN SEIKI CO., LTD. (Aisin) announce they will provide a total of 30 residential, solid-oxide fuel-cell (SOFC1) cogeneration systems developed jointly by Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (Osaka Gas), Kyocera Corporation (Kyocera), TMC and Aisin to five Japanese gas companies, as part of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO’s) Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Verification Project for 2009. -
Toyota Announces Executive Retirements
16 Dec 2009 | 5:00 amToyota Motor Sales U.S.A., (TMS) Inc. today announced the following scheduled retirements ... -
Toyota Motor North America Announces Organizational Changes
15 Dec 2009 | 9:44 pmToyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMA) today announced organizational changes at its New York office, effective January 1, 2010.
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Turkey Hill
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12 DAYS OF ICE CREAM (DAY 5) – IS IT OKAY TO EAT SNOW?
18 Dec 2009 | 11:04 amThe following was posted previously on the Ice Cream Journal, but given the approaching snowy weather (up to a foot here in Lancaster County this weekend!), we thought Ernie’s advice deserved a second reading. If you’d like to ask our “Einstein of Ice Cream” a question, feel free to send him an email using the “Ask Ernie” link in the sidebar on the right. SUSAN ASKS: With all the chemicals in the air, is snow ice cream still safe to make? I made it as a girl, but that was so long ago. Good question, Susan. I won’t repeat the age-old lesson about eating a… -
12 DAYS OF ICE CREAM (DAY 4) – A GIFT FOR PINT LOVERS EVERYWHERE
17 Dec 2009 | 7:12 amAhh, the pint of ice cream. Perfect for the ice cream lover who doesn’t have time to deal with a bowl and an ice cream scoop. Just grab the pint and a spoon and dig in. Sometimes you’ll eat the whole pint (no shame in that) and sometimes you’ll have a few (or 20) bites and put it back in the freezer for another day (sometimes just a few hours later). Most of you may already know this, but Turkey Hill has a wide variety of pint-sized treats, including our Stuff’d and Venice Ice flavors, as well as our Premium, Light Recipe and All Natural lineups. Got a small freezer? Pints are… -
12 DAYS OF ICE CREAM (DAY 3) – WELCOME TO THE ICE CREAM PARTY!
16 Dec 2009 | 4:59 pmIt’s 8 pm and the party has officially begun! Hopefully everyone has a bowl of either Turkey Hill’s Limited Edition holiday flavors (Egg Nog or Ginger Snap) or another Turkey Hill flavor. If you’re here, say hello to the group by leaving a comment. Don’t forget to refresh your page often to read new comments and be on the lookout for trivia questions from members of the Turkey Hill Team. Until then, here’s a few questions to get the party started: 1. What’s your all time best ice cream memory? 2. If you could only eat one flavor of ice cream for the rest of your life, what flavor… -
12 DAYS OF ICE CREAM (DAY 3) – ICE CREAM PARTY TONIGHT!
16 Dec 2009 | 6:16 amIt’s here: Our second ever Turkey Hill online ice cream party. As far as we know it’s the only ice cream party ever held on a blog or anywhere else on the Internet! The party’s featured flavors are either of our two Limited Edition holiday flavors: Ginger Snap or Egg Nog. If you can’t find those flavors, don’t worry, just bring a bowl of whatever Turkey Hill ice cream flavor you’d like. The party starts at 8 pm tonight and ends sometime around 9 pm. Just stop by the Ice Cream Journal during that time with a bowl of ice cream and start chatting with everyone else by leaving a… -
12 DAYS OF ICE CREAM (DAY 2): GIFT IDEAS FOR ICE CREAM LOVERS
15 Dec 2009 | 7:39 amIf you’re like many of us here at Turkey Hill Dairy, you’re a little (or a lot) behind in your Christmas shopping. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. We’ve scoured the internet for five of the best gifts to get the ice cream lover in your life and listed them below. If you order in the next few days, they should be here by Christmas! SNOW CONE MACHINE - Okay, this isn’t technically an “ice cream” gift, but snow cone machines are still pretty cool and this one from Nostalgia Electrics ($59.99) would help satisfy any ice cream lover’s sweet…
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Tyson
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Where's the best online discussion of hunger
18 Dec 2009 | 6:21 amBy Ed Nicholson Shortly after we started this blog in 2007, I posed the question, "Where's the Online Discussion of Hunger?" At the time, there simply wasn't much of a discussion occurring. Pretty much the same when I asked the question again in May of 2009. I still hold firmly to the belief that among the greatest potential benefits of social networking tools are their capabilities to build community and host online discourse. And I'm now hopeful that is occurring. More and more hunger organizations, some of which… -
It's #ThankAFarmer Week
23 Nov 2009 | 3:08 amBy Ed Nicholson It's Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Actually every week should be Thanksgiving week. Though there are way, way too many hungry people in our country, there are a lot of us who are fed quite well all year long. And that simply would not be the case without millions of hardworking farmers. One doesn't go into farming because it's a glamorous business, spiked with opportunities for abundant wealth. It's hard work, more so than many of us will ever comprehend. It's fraught with risks, and at times the rewards are slim. The people who go into… -
Phyllis Haynes, E.D., Arkansas Foodbank Network
19 Nov 2009 | 4:29 amWe try to have the Flip camera available when we visit food banks. This is Phyllis Haynes, executive director of the Arkansas Foodbank Network in Little Rock. "Weve seen a 23% increase in our service area in the last year, and a lot of the people coming to our food pantries are actually working families that just are not able to make ends meet any more." -
A visit from Bishop John
18 Nov 2009 | 2:08 amJenise Huffman, Bishop John by Jenise Huffman Recently I had the opportunity to introduce a dear friend of mine from Rwanda to my friends in Arkansas, where I live. Bishop John Rucyahana is leading the reconciliation efforts in Rwanda to rebuild the tiny country that was torn apart 15 years ago by a genocide that killed a million people in 100 days. Although Bishop John is an ethnic Tutsi, which is the minority group slaughtered by the Hutus, he teaches (and personally practices) forgiveness as the only way to heal and move forward. He says that if… -
Learning from our children
11 Nov 2009 | 8:12 amBy Ed Nicholson Share Our Strength has received some tremendous support from the Food Network in the past couple of years, not the least of which is their bringing on Aaron McCargo, Jr. (also known as "Big Daddy") as a celebrity supporter of Share Our Strength programs. The great thing about Aaron McCargo, Jr. is that he's simply not a paid shill for the cause (and there are paid celebrity shills for causes). He 's lived around hungry kids. He has street cred. You can tell…
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Vanity Fair
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Darrell Hartman on Sports and Fashion
17 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmIn recent years, David Beckham, Sean Avery, and Roger Federer have helped turn the phrase “fashion-forward sports star” into something less than an oxymoron. As the N.F.L.’s Vernon Davis charges into the style spotlight, the author asks, Are athletes out to conquer Seventh Avenue? -
Bruce Handy spotlights Cemetery Junction
17 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmMichael Roberts and Bruce Handy spotlight the young stars of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s Cemetery Junction. -
Bright Young Thing
16 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmBright Young Things—Chloe Malle observes New York -
David Hajdu spotlights the Village Vanguard
15 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmEdward Sorel and David Hajdu spotlight the Village Vanguard’s 75 years of playing it cool. -
Leslie Bennetts on Meryl Streep
15 Dec 2009 | 9:00 pmSince she turned 38, Meryl Streep has been waiting for her career to crater. Instead, at 60, she is more of a box-office powerhouse than ever—and coming off her indelible performance in Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, she’s being pursued by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin this month in the romantic comedy It’s Complicated. The author talks to the (un-Botoxed) face of a Hollywood revolution, while photographer Brigitte Lacombe provides a montage of Streep throughout her reign.
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WalMart
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Still time... .
14 Dec 2009 | 9:14 amThis is it... Only 12 days (or less) left before Christmas. Still got time to buy online from walmart.com. We've made it easier for you this year to insure the item(s) your buying will/can arrive on time. Here's an example of the table you'll see while shopping.How much shopping did you do online this year?-Friday -
Holiday Gaming
11 Dec 2009 | 1:39 amOk, so I have seen a bunch of questions out in the blog world asking if Walmart is REALLY offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of XBOX360 Elite. The answer is YES. And I've heard some of your concerns about games not being restocked that are on our $40 and $50 list, and let me assure you we are working on improving that. -
Good News for Xbox fans too!
9 Dec 2009 | 5:23 amThis week's Wii offer was one way we are trying to help our customers this holiday season. The values just don't stop there...starting this Sunday you will be able to get a $50 gift card with the purchase of the Xbox 360 Elite. This offer will be valid Dec 13-19, 2009. Just one more way my team is trying to help our customers Save Monday so they can Live Better. Don't forget to check out the Rollbacks on video game software when you are in the store. -
Some Nice News for Gamers...
1 Dec 2009 | 8:00 pmEven in these economic times, we see how important it is for Santa, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends to be able to give the perfect gift. We also know that A LOT of wish lists today -- for all ages -- include a range of video games. Then there are some that have been waiting patiently on getting their Wii -- waiting on the right deal and the right time. Well, this weekend we're planning to make a little "Wii History" ...so to speak.Starting this Saturday, our stores will be offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of the $199 Nintendo Wii. -
Zhu Zhu Hamsters Top Gift Lists for Kids
25 Nov 2009 | 7:07 amI normally follow fashion but I also love being "in the know" when it comes to the hottest, must-have gifts for kids (I'm a newlywed and not a mom yet, but I adore the many munchkins in my life). This year I heard that Zhu Zhu hamsters are one of the most sought after toys this season. This info comes straight from a trusted source with a tiny tyke. With hundreds of thousands of Zhu Zhus arriving in our stores over the next few weeks, Walmart is a good place to look for them. Who knew faux fur would be in fashion this year? And at only $8.00. In…
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Wear Dated Carpet
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Spiders Create Magic Carpet Tapestry
18 Dec 2009 | 5:02 amSpider Silk Tapestry Brings Magic Carpet To LifeMadagascar Tradition Creates One-of-a-Kind Carpet Textile MarvelNo. I'm not spinning a yarn and telling tales.A spider is, though. Or rather, a million female golden orb [aka Nephila madagascariensis] spiders have, creating a museum carpet artifact that brings back to life "an indigenous tradition on the island of Madagascar."I learned about this from a 10/29/09 FastCompany.com article titled "Creepy, Crawly, Crafty: A Tapestry Woven by Eight-Legged Artists."Given how immersed I've been lately with thoughts of creativity, innovation and… -
Celebrating Carpet: UK's Fun On The Floor With Style
30 Nov 2009 | 7:40 pmFun on the Floor with Carpet.Fun on the Floor is a UK campaign sponsored by the Carpet Foundation and its member manufacturers. I first heard about it in 2008 in Is carpet about to make a comeback? A bit later, I was delighted to come across Carpet is back in style which offered delicious carpet style trends and details about Fun on the Floor.A few weeks ago, I exchanged emails with Patrick Finn from Fun on the Floor, who graciously made possible the interview below with Steve Elliott, managing director of Associated Weavers in the UK and part of the Fun on the Floor panel of home experts… -
Design Your Bathroom Around Your Rug!
29 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pmIn preparing for the 4th annual Bathroom Blogfest, I came across a tweet [i.e., a Twitter post] from @PassionForRugs with a link to an article titled Bathroom Rug Mosaic, which delighted me! It showcased a bathroom that had been redesigned around a patterned rug [pictured here].Don't you find the effect brilliant? What a marvelous way to make the 5th wall in a room the visual anchor for design!The design premise had me thinking about Thom Filicia and Designing From The Floor Up.It also reinforced what NKBA New Zealand described in summing up what it had observed from the entries to the 2009… -
Strange Carpet Store Names: What's Your Favorite?
20 Oct 2009 | 7:13 pmI recently rediscovered an article titled "Strange carpet store names can floor you - Giant Don, Big Bob, Jungle Jim -- it seems size matters" by Julia O'Malley from the 05/09/09 Anchorage Daily News that had me giggling and reminiscing.Giggling because I could picture the owners of Giant Don, Big Bob's and Jungle Jim -- and Kash's Carpet, Signs Carpet and Chubby Chicken's Cheap Cheap Carpet or Dirt's Cheap Carpet -- as they described the profound logic behind their choices of names.Now, to be fair I have spoken with Big Bob David Elyachar and, even over the phone, he comes across as bigger… -
The Latest Carpet Style Trends 2009
11 Sep 2009 | 3:16 pmChile Fashion Week grafica originally uploaded by kevinkobek.Hurray! After being on the lookout for several months, I've just come across information on the latest carpet style trends...This from the August 31/September 7, 2009 issue of Floor Covering News in an article titled "Mills roll out new products for fall, discuss trends, looks." [Subscription required for full article.]The latest news is primarily about color although Emily Morrow, Shaw's director of color, style and design states that "Hand-touched visuals are achieved in carpet through the use of striated yarns, creating the…
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Wells Fargo
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Backstage at an exhibition
16 Dec 2009 | 12:35 pmWe here at the SF History Museum are catching our breaths after having put on the final touches of our latest exhibition, Women Making Financial History. You have read previous posts about the exhibition, and many are now walking through it daily on your way to and from the office. But this post isn’t about the exhibits, but about what went on behind to scenes to create it. First, this exhibition would not be possible without our Exhibit Designer, Bill Sander, for his imaginative vision and exhibitry knowledge; and to our Historian Marianne Babal, for her indefatigable research and ideas… -
La Fanciulla del West
11 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amLa fanciulla del West ("Girl of the Golden West") is an opera by Giacomo Puccini . It will be featured in the 2010 summer season by San Francisco Opera . The opera debuted in 1910, and is a story that takes place in the California Gold Rush. The opera has a Wells Fargo Agent. Puccini is opera's greatest guy, probably, having written La Boheme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly, among many others. From these opera comes so much of music we all recognize, whether we're opera fans or not: O soave fanciulla from La Boheme, Nessun dorma from Turandot (the great Pavarotti's signature… -
Only 17 shopping days left!
8 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amThe cost of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," including that partridge in a pear tree, is up to $87,403 this year. Gold has risen sharply this past year, escalating the cost of "five golden rings" from $350 to $500. Swans , meanwhile, have come down in price with seven-a-swimming at $5,250. The employment situation being what it is, the 10 lords-a-leaping ($4,414); 11 pipers piping ($2,285) and twelve drummers drumming ($2,475) earned about the same as last year. The "Christmas Price Index" is compiled each holiday season by PNC Wealth Management. It's… -
Boy, do we read! Part II
4 Dec 2009 | 3:20 pmLast summer, our team of dedicated Historians (and me, too) gave you our "what we're reading" list, inspired as we were by Anonymous's request. It's time for another list in our irregular but ongoing series, posted whenever we finish a pile of books and everybody reports in. This is also your invitation to tell us what's on your reading list. Let us know why they're good or bad. Include books on tape and e-books , podcasts and the web. I'll consider films and trash fiction — but I reserve the right to make the haughty intellectual decision. It's my thing, you know. Alright,… -
1¢ coffee
2 Dec 2009 | 10:25 amToday, coffee shops are ubiquitous and tend to satisfy the palette of the most discerning coffee connoisseur , but there was a time when the "coffee stand" served the nobler purpose of helping those in need. After the 1830s, New Yorkers confronted poverty through the establishment of soup kitchens and one-cent coffee stands that gave food and coffee to the destitute. Jacob Riis' famous book, How the Other Half Lives (1890), documented the condition of the poor in New York, and served as a rallying cry for urban reform. But even before its publication, New Yorkers addressed…
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Whole Foods
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Time for Port Wine
18 Dec 2009 | 2:00 amHoliday time is the perfect time to enjoy a delicious port wine! Port wine is a “sipper” kind of wine – it slowly warms your spirit and soul while you mingle and enjoy time with family and friends. We brought in this delightful port wine called “The Portly Gentleman” from Buller Wines, a fourth-generation Australian winery. Made in the style of a Tawny port, this wine comes from Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet grapes. It is oak-cask aged for three to five years, which gives it a beautiful almost Burgundy pale red color. With a bouquet of liquored berry fruits and… -
Best Meals for a House Full
17 Dec 2009 | 2:00 amGot a lot of extra mouths to feed with holiday guests? We do! Here are some of our best recipes for serving a house full of hungry visitors. What are your go-to favorites for a crowd? Share your recipes in the comments below so we can try them out! From Barry: I made this Spinach and Cheese Lasagna the other night for house guests. I added pine nuts and grilled eggplant (which I grilled at home but you could also use roasted veggies from Prepared Foods). It was really easy to prepare – just simple assembly. I would suggest turning up the heat for the last 10 minutes to let the top get… -
The Value Guru Confronts the Grinch
16 Dec 2009 | 2:00 amI’m a terrible shopper. Clothes. Household goods. Gifts. Even when it comes to food, despite all my good “guru” advice, I buy more than I need, struggle to carry it all home on my bicycle, struggle again to fit it in my fridge and cabinet and then struggle to use up all the so-beautiful-I-can’t-resist fresh veggies before they’ve given up all their nutrients. Fortunately, I’m a creative cook and do manage to let very very little go to waste, but back to gifts… Maybe it’s my humble beginnings, or my grandparent’s humble beginnings or just… -
Savoring Leftover Cheeses
15 Dec 2009 | 11:00 amOne of the things I love most about the holidays is celebrating with a variety of foods – and having lots of leftovers when everyone else goes home! And, as you may have guessed, leftover cheese is my favorite. I even plan the type and quantity of cheeses I buy for a gathering to make sure I’ll have exactly what I want for dishes the next day. Here are some of the ways I like to use up those various bits of cheese. Cranberry Cheddar Definitely a seasonal favorite. Produced using milk from cows not treated with growth hormones, this cheese is creamy and has nice flavor… -
Seafood for the Holidays
15 Dec 2009 | 2:00 amChange up traditional holiday fare and celebrate with cioppino, an Italian-inspired seafood stew. The rich and flavorful tomato broth can be made ahead of time, making this a smart choice for entertaining. Explore more great tips, recipes and creative ideas for taking this holiday season to a new level of taste on our All Things Good holiday pages.
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Xerox
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The Paperless Payoff: Content Management Works for NYC Department of Finance
-- Submitted by: Melinda Stoker, Director, Marketing Communications DocuShare Tis the season for gift giving, so I thought I’d offer a tip to those in the public sector still looking for new ways to save money next year: Start with your paperwork. By taming your documentation demons and reducing or eliminating paper, you gain significant savings of time and money. More importantly, you’ll improve customer service turnaround times from days to minutes. Seem too easy? Check out how well it worked for the New York City Department of Finance in the December cover story of Integrated… -
What is the carbon footprint of (insert product name here)?
This is a question I never liked, because I didn’t know the answer. I still don’t know the answer. That’s because when it comes to carbon footprint, there is no universal definition on WHAT is being measured and HOW it must be measured. And when I’m asked for the carbon footprint, am I supposed to explain: 1) The carbon footprint for one product life cycle phase (ie. product use)? 2) All carbon or only emissions from energy use of fossil fuels? 3) The total amount of carbon & greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of the product? With all of the variables that go into… -
Xerox & PaperSpecs Webinar on A World Of Alternate Papers
Learn all about substrates made of things other than paper. Unleash your creativity! Tuesday, December 15, 2009 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (11:00 a.m. – Noon Pacific) Yeah, that's soon. Tuesday! Register for the Webinar on the PaperSpecs Registration Page. Go do it, and I'll be there learning, right next to you! virtually, anyway... Roland -
Zoho suite integrates with Google Docs
Zoho Docs, one of the leading Document cloud computing vendors (what I usually refer to as Document 3.0), is tightly integrating with Google Docs. Documents stored on Google Docs' cloud can now be used in Zoho CRM, Zoho Docs, and Zoho project, with a seamless user interface. Users can seamlessly attach Google Docs to a Zoho mail, or store on Zoho Docs. The next step might be a convergence of the underlying formats. Just like ODF for Documents 2.0 (which, at least in theory, has won the battle against OOXML... in practice the battle still rages on), having a single format for document… -
IT Professionals and “Tree Huggers” to be the new “Rock Stars” of Wall Street?
“According to a recent Accenture survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, 72 per cent of business and IT executives at major corporations believe the economic crisis has actually brought a greater acknowledgement from business unit managers of just how important IT is in supporting and developing the business.” Maybe there is a silver lining to the recent Global Economic disaster of 2008-2009? As tech savvy as we all are – it’s ironic that some of the largest and most profitable financial services organizations have some of the most outdated and mismatched technology due…
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Yahoo!
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Get More Personally Relevant Results When You Search for Local Businesses
15 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amWe just made it easier to search for local businesses. Starting today, you can see the Yahoo! local business shortcut when you search for a business, even if you don’t include your location in your query. You can also refine results by neighborhood or nearby city right on the search results page. We’ve seen in our user studies that, in many cases, users search for a local business without specifying a location but still want to see a Yahoo! Shortcut for that business. Now, they can. For example, if you are in the Palo Alto area and search for “evvia,” Yahoo! Search displays the local… -
More Tweets in Yahoo! Search Results
10 Dec 2009 | 12:42 pmWhen we launched a Yahoo! News shortcut with Twitter content integration earlier this month, we said more was coming. Starting today, you will see recent tweets directly integrated on the Web search result page when you search for buzzy topics. How is this different from what we launched earlier? You can still see relevant tweets about the most popular topics in the news in the expanded Yahoo! News shortcut with Twitter which combines news articles, images, videos, and tweets. Now you can see tweets about some of the less popular buzzing topics directly in the search results, usually at the… -
Explore TV Series and Popular Movie Actors with Yahoo! Video Search
7 Dec 2009 | 8:00 amBuilding on the great feedback we received after the launch of the Yahoo! Video Search music refiners last month, we are launching even more entertainment refiners today. These two new refiners will help you explore your favorite TV shows and movies. You can see that the left rail on our video search results page is becoming a place where you can use new ways to explore online videos. By hooking into the “Web of Things,” we have created intelligent contextual refiners to narrow down your search intent intuitively. The TV refiner that we are launching today organizes TV series queries into… -
A Chat With Yoelle Maarek, Senior Director of Yahoo! Research
3 Dec 2009 | 9:00 amEarlier this year Yahoo! welcomed Yoelle Maarek as our new senior director of Yahoo! Research. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Yoelle was the Director of Google Haifa Engineering Center, which she opened in July 2006. For more than 20 years, Yoelle has been helping dig into search problems. She talks with the Yahoo! Search Blog about new developments in search and challenges in this field. Yahoo! Search Blog: Tell us a bit about your research background – what are your main topics of interest? Yoelle Maarek: My research background is core information retrieval, the computer science discipline… -
Yahoo!’s 2009 Year in Review
1 Dec 2009 | 9:27 amIt’s the time of the year to look back on the past 12 months and reflect on events of the year. Here at Yahoo!, we’ve been analyzing billions of queries to find ways to look at the events of this year through the lens of search. Today, the Yahoo! Year in Review returns with a brand new look at what’s happened this year. We’ve expanded the list to take a look at important moments in 2009. Some somber moments this year are captured with our analysis of “Financial Hangovers” and “Market Darlings,” reminders of the tough economic times we are…
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Zappos
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Exercise Routine Do's & Don'ts: Cardio Warm-up is a Necessity
18 Dec 2009 | 10:44 amStarting any exercise plan, even for a person used to working out, may seem simple on the surface, but there are some pitfalls you need to avoid. Enter your workout each day with a plan, and always, above all else, listen to your body. It will tell you when you're overdoing it, and it will tell you if you aren't doing enough. Relying solely upon a weightlifting book or some cardio plan may not be the smartest decision. Each person is different, so give yourself some flexibility and listen closely to how your body feels and reacts. Keeping this idea in mind, check out the exercise "do" and… -
On the 8th Day of Housewares...
18 Dec 2009 | 8:23 amWhat’s the most dangerous knife in the kitchen? A dull knife! During the Holidays, whether it's doing the traditional carving of the turkey or that Christmas ham, it's great to have a nicely sharpened knife to make the job easy. Today during the "12 days of Housewares" event, Robert showed us the Chef's Choice knife sharpeners and how easy they are to use. With a sharp knife, you use very little pressure to slide the knife through food, creating a smooth cut. A dull knife can slip and cut your hand or destroy the food you are cutting. With many Chef’s Choice sharpening models to… -
Day 963
18 Dec 2009 | 7:02 amWe all fall victim... At some times in our lives. But we don't need to become one. Life is a game of numbers and we can "occasionally" fall victim of this or that. But becoming a victim is not a game of numbers, it's a game of self inflicted failure...and that's not like us and shouldn't be. Yours in "Rising Above" - Coach -
The Cheesiest Cook-off!
17 Dec 2009 | 4:49 pmAre you a fan of deliciously cheesy macaroni and cheese? Of course you are! Who isn't? (ok, I'm sure there are a small few of you who aren't, but we'll pretend that you are for the sake of this cheesy cook-off). We take food and potlucks very seriously in this office and you can find something scrumptious to snack every day. The Merch Planning Team decided to step their potluck up a notch and have a Mac & Cheese cook-off. The two brave chefs who competed in this challenge were Raven and Dave, and though only one person could be the victor, all could enjoy their cheesy creations. -
Your Favorite '80s Actors & Where They Are Today: "A Christmas Story" Star Peter Billingsley
17 Dec 2009 | 12:03 pmHe may not have a household name, but former child star Peter Billingsley was truly unforgettable in the holiday comedy A Christmas Story. Released in theaters for the 1983 holiday season, A Christmas Story was based on the nostalgic writings of comedian Jean Shepherd. Billingsley played Ralphie Parker, an earnest grade school student who would do anything to get his hands on an official Red Ryder BB Gun, but all the adults tell him "You'll shoot your eye out." Thanks to that break-out role, Billingsley enjoyed a three-year run on NBC's Real People, a weekly reality show that focused on real…
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Quicken Loans What's the DIFF?
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A Cookie a Day Keeps the Hunger Away
18 Dec 2009 | 6:55 amEarly this week Quicken Loan employees were greeted in the lobby by 4 members of Doubletree personnel with around 600 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Every Quicken Loans employee was handed a cookie in a Doubletree cookie sleeve and was handed a flyer with more information about Doubletree. The cookies were a welcoming gift to Quicken Loan, who will be Doubletrees new neighbors when they relocate to downtown Detroit in spring 2010. Thanks Doubletree for cookies and satisfying some employees morning hunger! -
Caribou Coffee Keeps it Real
17 Dec 2009 | 7:48 amReal is always better than fake. And apparently Caribou Coffee agrees. On our most recent after-lunch coffee run, we discovered that they've switched from using chocolate syrup to pieces of real chocolate instead. Now, I didn't get a chocolate drink myself this time, but my friend did and she gave it rave reviews. Caribou even took the extra step and gave a little blurb about the switch on the cup sleeves...As if the wonderful chocolatey goodness you're sipping on wasn't enough of a clue. So good job Caribou, for switching to the real stuff and making your coffee that… -
Quicken Loans Corporate Headquarters Hosts Frosty Fest 2009
16 Dec 2009 | 11:14 amMore than 1,500 Quicken Loans team members and their loved ones took to the streets of Detroit on Sunday, December 13, to participate in the companys annual Frosty Fest celebration. The event, which was previously hosted at Quicken Loans' Livonia headquarters, was moved to our future home in Detroit. Frosty Fest featured complimentary ice skating and skate rental at the Campus Martius rink, live reindeer, a dog sled team, photos with Santa Claus, a craft tent where kids created holiday gifts for their parents and a warming center inside the Compuware building that had snacks, crafts… -
Ringing of the Bells, Muppet Style
11 Dec 2009 | 2:32 pmAlright, so who doesn't love the Muppets? My favorite character was always Oscar the Grouch, who, regrettably, is not in this video. However, Beaker and Animal are in it and they are pretty cool too. The other character in the video, for those who don’t know the Muppet characters by heart is The Swedish Chef. Once I saw this video I knew that I had to share it. It brings together childhood memories and the holiday season. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! If this article spurs your interest to see who some of the other characters are in The Muppet Show, like it did me, visit this link. -
Tree House Listed for $3.6 Million
10 Dec 2009 | 8:55 amThis article was originally featured on Quicken Loans Mortgage News. According to Zillow, a Hollywood Hills home once owned by Ellen DeGeneres and after that, the late Heath Ledger, is now for sale for $3,695,000. This home is affectionately named the “Tree House” because of its private wooded area and forest-like views. Unlike other celebrity mansions, this house only measures to be 1,861 square feet. It has two bedrooms and two full baths, and boasts a Shangri-La remodel. In case you didn’t know what a Shangri-La remodel would look like, this term was first invented by James Hilton…
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DocuSign Electronic Signature
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Allied Home Mortgage Capital Increases Loan Closure Rate to More Than 90% With eSign
18 Dec 2009 | 1:52 pmAllied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation (AHMCC) also cut administrative and courier costs by more than 50% with electronic signature… how did they do that? Founded in 1991, AHMCC is the largest privately held mortgage banker/mortgage broker in the United States with 700 offices. Allied makes thousands of residential mortgage loans in the US, District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. AHMCC provides mortgage loans directly or through one of their national, regional and local lenders. The Washington-based office located in Puyallup is one of the top 25 performing offices in the AHMCC… -
And the Winners Are… [$500 Visa Gift Card Giveaway Announcement]
17 Dec 2009 | 2:28 pmWe hope this year’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego was as exciting for you as it was for us! Electronic signature was definitely part of the conversation, and we’re excited to announce the winner of the $500 Visa Gift Card Giveaway! In Case You Hadn’t Heard… DocuSign is now the official and exclusive provider of ESIGN services for NAR members under the REALTORS Benefits® Program. We are very excited about this new opportunity and how e-signatures are changing the way REALTORS® do business. If you did not get DocuSign while at the event, it’s not too late! You can… -
Real-a-Save: Going Green With Electronic Signature from DocuSign
16 Dec 2009 | 11:26 amLaunched in Colorado in 2007, Real-a-Save is an alternative to the traditional real estate business model and is dedicated to meeting the needs of the growing number of self-directed real estate buyers and sellers. By trimming inefficient processes from the traditional real estate process, Real-a-Save passes tremendous savings onto their clients without sacrificing personal service. Real-a-Save rebates 50% of its commission directly to its buyers, while its sellers pay a flat-fee of $2,500 for a full service listing. Clients receive virtual tours, color flyers, signage, showing service and… -
RE/MAX Signature Properties: Closing Deals Faster and Increasing Customer Satisfaction With DocuSign
15 Dec 2009 | 10:50 amRE/MAX Signature Properties, based in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, is also part of the RE/MAX international network of more than 120,000 real estate agents in more than 65 countries. RE/MAX Signature properties is owned and operated by Leigh Brown and Darrell Thomas, both Cabarrus County natives. With more than 97% of the business stemming from referrals and with multiple real estate designations such as accredited buyer representative, certified residential specialist, certified luxury home marketing specialist, ePro technology expert, seniors real estate specialist, EcoBroker and… -
Expedia, Inc. Accelerates Time to Market With Electronic Signature
14 Dec 2009 | 1:33 pmIn 1996, a small division within Microsoft launched Expedia.com®, which gave consumers a revolutionary new way to research and book travel. Three years later, Expedia was spun out of Microsoft and became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ. With more people booking travel online in Expedia’s global marketplace than anywhere else, Expedia: Delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel Drives demand for travel suppliers Provides advertisers opportunities to reach in-market travel consumers The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes Expedia.com, hotels. com®, Venere.com™,…
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Reckitt Benckiser
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Bart Becht: A CEO worth celebrating
There was an interesting article I read recently about RB's CEO Bart Becht, called Do we celebrate the wrong CEOs? He has been named as one of a handful of "quiet CEOs" who are getting the job done, and getting it done well. The conversation, over at Harvard Business Review, quite rightly asks the ... -
Reckitt Benckiser Supply Chain: Summer placements
Earlier this year, I spent some time working with a summer placement graduate from Leeds University. I wanted to share some thoughts on his experience, as hopefully it may motivate more aspiring managers to seek out an exciting opportunity with Reckitt Benckiser! We are always on the look out for top tier ... -
An introduction to the fragrant world of Air Care!
Hello and welcome to my first blog post since joining RB! I started the graduate scheme in Global R&D at the Hull, UK site in September and in the few months I've been here I have already become a fully integrated part of the team. I will be following in the footsteps off ... -
TGIM (Thank God it’s Monday)
Confucius once said: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. I chose to be a marketer because I love the job of a marketer. While doing my MBA I took a keen interest in all the marketing courses and was always curious about ... -
We did it! RB Spain’s Save the Children success
Hi everyone! On Saturday we celebrated a fundraising event for Save the Children in RB Spain's Logistics Centre (near Barcelona) and I just wanted to take the opportunity, as I’m blogging here, to thank everyone who helped to make it possible. The effort of all RB volunteers was extraordinary (the event was set up in only ...
