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NEW NET Weekly List for 24 Sep 2013
Below is the final list of issues for the Tuesday, 24 September 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N. Westhill Blvd., Appleton, WI, USA, near Woodman's. Ignore the chain if it's across the stairs; come on up and join the tech fun!
The Weekly Top Ten, (pre-NEW NET, based on potential or immediate impact and/or general tech interestingness)
1. HP launches self-healing computer startup software to cure malware attacks http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/17/hp-launches-self-healing-computer-start-software/ "Hewlett-Packard is introducing self-healing computing startup software that can repair itself after a malware attack. The new HP BIOSphere with SureStart technology is a new kind of startup software that runs when a personal computer is turned on…Hackers have been able to compromise OS security protections by gaining root access, or compromising the BIOS software underneath the OS. To protect against that, HP has created its own BIOS software. The system can heal itself by comparing the BIOS that loads in a computer to an image of the BIOS that is supposed to be running. If the loaded BIOS is different from the copy of the BIOS that is embedded in the hardware, the computer will load the correct version of the BIOS instead…"
2. Brazil's controversial plan to extricate the internet from US control http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/brazil-dilma-rousseff-internet-us-control "When Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff postponed her official visit to the US in protest of National Security Agency spying activities on Tuesday, it seemed like a routine bit of diplomatic posturing. But another one of her proposals could perhaps be more significant: a set of measures intended to extricate the internet in Brazil from under the influence of the US and its tech giants…Rousseff proposed a set of ambitious, and controversial, measures that include: constructing submarine cables that do not route through the US, building internet exchange points in Brazil, creating an encrypted email service through the state postal service and having Facebook, Google and other companies store data by Brazilians on servers in Brazil…"
3. BlackBerry aims to go private in $4.7bn deal with Fairfax Financial group http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/23/blackberry-sold-fairfaix-financial "BlackBerry, the once-dominant maker of smartphones…has found a suitor willing to pay $4.7bn for the troubled company. Fairfax Financial, a Canadian firm that already owns 10% of BlackBerry, has agreed to join forced with an unnamed consortium of other buyers to acquire the company for $9 a share. The move would take BlackBerry private, removing it from a public listing on Nasdaq, where stocks have fallen from a high of $148 in June 2008 and now languish at about $8 a share…The deal is not done, however. First, Fairfax will spend two months vetting the company's financial statements…BlackBerry said it could take a better offer if another buyer appears…"
4. Google makes Quickoffice for Android and iOS free for Microsoft Office editing http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/09/19/google-makes-quickoffice-for-android-and-ios-free-for-all-bringing-microsoft-office-editing-to-the-masses/ "Google…is making Quickoffice free for everyone. That means Android and iOS users can edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go without paying a dime. You can download the free versions now directly from Google Play and Apple's App Store…if you do sign in to your Google Account from either of the new apps by September 26th, Google will give you an extra 10GB of Google Drive storage for free for two years…"
5. Even supermarket chains are making cheap Android tablets http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/now-even-supermarket-chains-are-making-cheap-android-tablets/ "Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain and the world's second-most-profitable retailer behind Walmart, has announced it is launching an Android tablet. The device, named the "Hudl" (pronounced "huddle"), is an attempt to follow Amazon's model of offering an extremely cheap content portal that encourages customers to use other services. The device mostly runs stock Android 4.2.2 (including the Google Apps), but Tesco has added a small "T" to the left side of the system bar that will bring up an app for Tesco's myriad services. The Tesco app will give you access to groceries, recipes, coupons, loyalty cards, movie rentals, music, clothing, and even the Tesco credit card and Tesco bank. Tesco will actually undercut the Kindle Fire HD in the UK, selling for £119 ($191) vs. the £159 ($255) Amazon charges for the Fire HD…"
6. Valve announces SteamOS as it renews living room push http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24207129 "Video games developer and publisher Valve has announced SteamOS, a free operating system it hopes will help bring PC gaming into the living room…The company is widely anticipated to launch its own machine to run SteamOS, believed to be called the Steam Box…Valve outlined its plans for the Linux-based operating system that will be available for download "soon"…"As we've been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we've come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself...SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen…"
7. Microduino: An Arduino clone nearly as small as a quarter, for $20 http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/microduino-an-arduino-nearly-as-small-as-a-quarter-for-20/ "A typical Arduino microcontroller board is pretty small, about the size of a credit card. This makes it suitable for embedding into all sorts of electronic devices. But it's possible to go even smaller, as the makers of a new Arduino-compatible product called "Microduino" show. At 1" × 1.1", it's nearly as small as a quarter…The Microduino essentially divides the capabilities of an Arduino Uno into two boards, with one acting as the microcontroller core and a second used to communicate with a PC. Once an Arduino-compatible program is uploaded onto the core board, the secondary module for communication with the PC isn't needed. The core board can simply be placed into whatever project the user is creating…"
8. Munich to hand out Ubuntu Linux CDs to ward off upcoming Windows XPocalypse http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048897/munich-to-hand-out-ubuntu-linux-cds-to-ward-off-upcoming-windows-xpocalypse.html "…Windows XPocalypse is set to unleash hell on April 8, 2014, and in a bid to preserve the security of its citizens, the German city of Munich is turning to an unlikely savior: Ubuntu Linux. Both security experts and Microsoft itself have warned that the impending end-of-life date for Windows XP could spark a hacker holiday, as the still-popular operating system will stop receiving security patches to plug vulnerability holes. Microsoft went so far as to warn that people who continue to run Windows XP beyond April will forever suffer from zero day exploits that could harm both your PC and spread to infect your friends. Microsoft's solution, naturally, entails upgrading to a new version of Windows or picking up a newer PC…"
9. Applied Materials buys Tokyo Electron for $9.39 billion http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/applied-materials-to-merge-with-tokyo-electron/?_r=0 "Applied Materials agreed on Tuesday to merge with Tokyo Electron in an all-stock deal, creating a big new producer of semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment with an expected market value of $29 billion. The merger is as much about the continued rise of smartphones and tablets…as it is about the need for cost cutting and consolidation as sales of personal computers fall and commitments for research mount…The company will take on a new name, as yet undisclosed, and it will be incorporated in the Netherlands. It will maintain headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., and Tokyo…In 2011, Applied Materials acquired another maker of telecommunications equipment, Varian, in a deal that leapfrogged the combined companies past ASML of the Netherlands to create the biggest player in the industry. By buying Tokyo Electron, Applied Materials would consolidate that position…"
10. Smarter than you think: the internet isn't dumbing us down after all http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/12/4722526/smarter-than-you-think-clive-thompson "…Clive Thompson is used to defending the latest trends in digital technology from naysayers and skeptics. In 2008, he was one of the first to describe how sites like Twitter were about more than sharing what you had for breakfast. Now he's written his first book, Smarter Than You Think, an investigation of how technology is helping us to learn more and retain information longer…Open the weekend section in any major paper and you'll find the same hackneyed opinion pieces about how technology is making us a dumber, shallower species…I felt like, wow, everything in my life is richer and deeper thanks to new technologies. The opportunities for expression are so much greater…"
The 'net
11. Gecko Is One Small Step For The Internet Of Things http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/19/gecko-is-one-small-step-for-the-internet-of-things-one-huge-leap-for-your-smartphone/ "The Internet of Things…awaits us, a world where all of our devices are connected and communicate with each other in some sort of futuristic circle of life. But as with any major shift in technology, we're certainly not there yet…Gecko, a new Indiegogo project that's meant to "make your smartphone smarter."…the accelerometer-equipped Gecko connects to your smartphone via low energy Bluetooth to help you monitor the various things in your life, as well as bring gesture controls and triggers to your smartphone. With Gecko, the connectedness isn't built into the devices themselves but can rather be applied to objects in the home through these accelerometer- and Bluetooth-based tags. The device itself is packed with a TI CC2541 SoC, removable coin cell battery with a year's worth of juice (depending on usage), as well as a buzzer and LED light for alerts…"
12. The Internet of Things is 'fundamentally about economic value' http://www.zdnet.com/the-internet-of-things-is-fundamentally-about-economic-value-7000020907/ "Self-driving vehicles, intelligent refrigerators, stoke-detecting gadgets that everyone wears: the idea of an "Internet of Things" is all the rage in the technology industry today…The "Internet of Things," a term coined in 1999…describes a world in which everything—from a living, breathing you to the inanimate objects around you—has a digital identity, to enable computers to organize and manage them. Add to that the notion that each entity could be actively connected with a radio or modem (allowing two-way communication and real-time manipulation) and suddenly the potential for new application explodes, such as "smart" objects that use sensors to understand the environment around them and data collection for things that have never been digitized before, from your morning run to the hundreds of machines on the floor of a massive manufacturing plant…"It's fundamentally about the economic value—what it will do for business and individuals and organizations…"
Security, Privacy & Digital Controls
13. Biometric Technology Takes Off http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/opinion/biometric-technology-takes-off.html "The use of biological markers like fingerprints, faces and irises to identify people is rapidly moving from science fiction to reality. Apple's latest iPhone, which went on sale this week, can be unlocked with a fingerprint. Users of Android smartphones can unlock their devices with a glance. And the Department of Homeland Security is developing facial recognition technology that would allow it to pinpoint criminals and suspects in large crowds of people with closed-circuit cameras…biometric technology has become so commonplace that even some schools and hospitals are using it. Its adoption could make sensitive information more secure…But it also has the potential to undermine privacy…biometrics are not as safe as is often thought…such systems are "inherently fallible" because they identify people within certain degrees of certainty and because biological markers are relatively easy to copy…people leave their fingerprints on everything they touch, which makes those fingerprints available to any determined spy or law enforcement agent. Experts have shown that fingerprints and other markers can be copied, giving hackers and thieves access to private information. And once compromised, fingerprints cannot be reset…"
14. Secure your small-business network without spending a dime http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048137/secure-your-small-business-network-without-spending-a-dime.html "…In 2012, 31 percent of cyberattacks were aimed at small businesses, and that staggering number is 100 percent attributable to inadequate—or nonexistent—security measures at many of these firms, which might as well be an open invitation to hackers…what if we told you that there were security controls in the tools you already own that could vastly improve your protection if you just used them? And that you could fill any gaps in protection with free security programs that are every bit as effective as their commercial counterparts? Below are several ways to fend off cyberthreats…The quickest—and cheapest—way to beef up your defenses is to understand and employ the security measures you already have at your disposal…Stay up-to-date…The longer you go without implementing an applicable patch, the more at risk you are…Supplement with free security tools…"
15. FBI warns "Beta Bot" malware can kill your anti-virus programs, steal data http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/83858 "The FBI sent out a warning today about an uptick in the use of malware known as Beta Bot that can steal sensitive data such as log-in credentials and financial information…Beta Bot blocks computer users' access to security websites and disables anti-virus programs, leaving computers vulnerable to compromise. Cyber criminals aiming Beta Bot at financial institutions, e-commerce sites, online payment platforms, and social networking…Beta Bot infection vectors include an illegitimate but official looking Microsoft Windows message box named "User Account Control" that requests a user's permission to allow the "Windows Command Processor" to modify the user's computer settings. If the user complies with the request, the hackers are able to infiltrate data from the computer. Beta Bot is also spread…via Skype, where it redirects the user to compromised websites…"
16. Senator asks if FBI can get iPhone 5S fingerprint data via Patriot Act http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/senator-asks-if-fbi-can-get-iphone-5s-fingerprint-data-via-patriot-act/ "Since Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) arrived in the United States Senate, he's become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. He's made it his mission to raise questions about tech issues that he feels are improper, unjust, or just downright questionable. The debut of the new iPhones 5S, replete with a fingerprint reader, has now also gotten Franken's attention. On Thursday, the Minnesota senator published a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, raising questions about the logic in making fingerprint readers more mainstream. "Passwords are secret and dynamic; fingerprints are public and permanent," wrote Sen. Franken. "If you don't tell anyone your password, no one will know what it is. If someone hacks your password, you can change it—as many times as you want. You can't change your fingerprints…"
Mobile Computing & Communicating
17. BlackBerry announces $1B loss, 4,500 layoffs, and shifts away from consumers http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/blackberry-bombs-announces-1b-loss-4500-layoffs-cutting-operating-costs-by-50-shifting-away-from-consumer-market/ "…BlackBerry…expects an operating loss between $950 million and $995 million in the second quarter, it's laying off 4,500 employees, and it's refocusing on enterprise and "prosumer" customers rather than mainstream consumers…As part of its move away from the consumer market, the company says it will reduce its smartphone portfolio from six phones to four…Now that the iPhone and Android are dominating mainstream smartphone buyers, BlackBerry's only hope is to appeal to the businesses that need its secure services and its few remaining hardcore fans. The company plans to offer two high-end smartphones and two entry-level phones, with each group containing an all-touchscreen device and physical keyboard model…"
18. Open source Android fork Cyanogen becomes $7m company http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/18/cyanogen_gains_funding/ "Independent Android firmware project CyanogenMod has become a company…The new company, Cyanogen, will be based in Seattle…Steve Kondik, who founded the Cyanogenmod project and from whose forum handle the names of both the project and the company are derived, will act as chief technology officer…The first thing Cyanogen has to show is a new, graphical installer that makes it easier to load a stock Android device with a custom CyanogenMod firmware. According to Kondik, that installer will be available in the Google Play store "in the coming weeks…"
19. Android users can now lock their lost devices remotely http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57604339-94/android-users-can-now-lock-their-lost-devices-remotely/ "Worried about data from your lost Android phone or tablet getting into the wrong hands? You can now lock down your device remotely…Google's Android Device Manager is a handy service that allows you to see the location of a lost or stolen Android device. You can also remotely tell the device to ring as well as erase all of its data…The latest update to Android Device Manager enables remote password locking. If you want to prevent others from accessing your missing device, you can send a new password to secure it…"
20. Microsoft Unveils the Surface 2 http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/microsoft-unveils-surface-2-130924.htm "Microsoft has unveiled the Surface 2, which sports a lighter and thinner design along with a full HD screen…Because there's a Tegra 4 chip under the hood, you get 72 cores of graphics performance for games like "Halo: Spartan Assault," even while running other apps side by side…The camera on the Surface 2 is 5X sharper, but Microsoft is touting the enhanced front camera more for Skype calls. A new third-inch sensor with a unique lens helps you make video calls in very dim lighting…The new Surface 2 also promises to deliver 25 percent longer battery life. Other enhancements include double the bus speed for Wi-Fi and memory. The Surface 2 also moves from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0…Surface 2 runs Windows 8.1…"
21. Nursing students embracing mobile technology http://media-relations.www.clemson.edu/5081/nursing-students-embracing-mobile-technology/ "…Lanham, a former clinical nurse specialist at Greenville Health System, is teaching Clemson nursing students how to integrate mobile technology into health-care management. Using iPads, Kindles and other devices, students are learning how to capture medical records and access the latest patient health information. "In health care, the use of mobile technology is skyrocketing and nurses are expected to be technologically savvy," Lanham said…In earlier days if a patient asked a question that a nurse couldn't immediately answer, he or she would have to leave the room and look up the answer in a textbook that might be several years old…"With mobile technology, the latest information is always there and nurses can immediately convey it to patients."… "When a patient wants to know more about his or her upcoming cardiac catheterization, for example, the nurse can pull up a photo of a heart at the bedside and the patient can know exactly what is going to happen…"
22. Nix Is A Smartphone Colour Sensor http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/nix/ "The army of Bluetooth-powered auxiliary hardware being built by hardware startups to extend the native capabilities of smartphones shows no signs of slowing its march. Meet Nix: a colour sensor that lets you scan an object and get its exact colour data signature sent to the corresponding app on your phone so you can maintain a palette of preferred shades — and even track down an exact tin of paint. The sensor's…creators say their device is much more accurate than using your phone's on board camera to grab colour data, firstly because it's purpose-built for accurate colour scanning and is "calibrated to return exact/specific colour values". And secondly because it blocks out all ambient light — meaning the true shade can be captured…"
23. FDA lays out rules for some smartphone health apps http://www.telegram.com/article/20130923/NEWS/130929943/1002/business "Food and Drug Administration…will begin regulating a new wave of applications and gadgets that work with smartphones to help users monitor their health…there are already more than 17,000 medical applications available, ranging from calorie counters to high-tech heart monitors. The FDA said Monday that the vast majority of these health care apps don't pose much of a risk to consumers and will not be federally regulated…the agency will focus on a handful of apps that turn smartphones into devices, like a heart monitor, or medical attachments that plug into smartphones, like arm cuffs that measure blood pressure…"
24. Google+ Brings Snapseed to Online Photo Editing via Chrome http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/09/18/google-brings-snapseed-to-online-photo-editing-via-chrome/ "Google recently bought Snapseed, one of our favorite photo editors, and this week added the features from Snapseed into their Google+ online photo editing interface…Google+ users who access the site using the Chrome browser…can now click on Photos and choose an image. Click on Edit in the upper middle of the screen…Along the right the user will find all the familiar Snapseed tools along with the Google+ "Auto Enhance" button, which does a decent job of automatically improving photos by itself. If Auto Enhance doesn't produce desired results, then use the "Customize" button to do manual edits or click on one of the many Snapseed icons…"
25. 10 Questions to Ask When Using Google Analytics http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228493 "…Google Analytics…automatically collects helpful data for you, so you can better understand, serve and build your online audience -- and your customers…Here are 10 essential questions to ask when using Google Analytics to track and improve your company's website: 1. Why is it important to gauge my website metrics in the first place?...2. How can I connect Google Analytics to my website?...3. What are Google Analytics 'Goals' and why should I use them?...4. How can I find out how people discover my website and keep them coming back?...5. Can I track my Google Adsense campaigns with Google Analytics?...7. How can I track and improve e-commerce sales?...8. How can I see which browsers and devices people view my website on?...9. How can I know what is sending my website visitors away?...10. How can I share key Google Analytics data with my clients, colleagues and stakeholders?…"
General Technology
26. Apple Refreshes iMac With Haswell, Next-Gen Wi-Fi http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424768,00.asp "…iMac…new 21.5- and 27-inch desktops get fourth-generation Intel quad-core processors, new graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and faster PCIe flash storage options…Fusion Drive is a combination of Flash Storage and a regular hard drive, which promises shorter boot times and faster access to apps and files. Apple provides the option of an iMac with a 1TB or 3TB Fusion Drive, and all-flash storage options are now available in configurations up to 1TB…The iMac comes standard with 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive…expandable up to 32GB of memory and up to a 3TB hard drive…The entry-level 21.5-inch iMac will run a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor - with the option for Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz - and Iris Pro graphics for $1,299. A 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and Nvidia GeForce GT 750M will set you back $1,499. The 27-inch iMacs…with a 3.4GHz Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 775M is $1,999. Those who need something even more powerful can upgrade to quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.5GHz and Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M series graphics with up to 4GB of video memory…"
27. Code for America, MindMixer want your ideas for Ideation Nation http://www.siliconprairienews.com/2013/09/code-for-america-mindmixer-want-your-ideas-for-ideation-nation "Code for America co-executive director Abhi Nemani believes the country is ready to embrace the civic technology movement. Alongside…online community engagement platform MindMixer, the nonprofit helping government work better through technology will instill that belief into Ideation Nation, a five-week rally that asks Americans, "How would you improve your community using technology?" Using MindMixer's platform, the contest will gather responses online to be presented in front of a panel of judges, who will select 25 finalists. From there, the Ideation Nation community will vote on the ideas and provide feedback for the judges to make a top pick. The top entry will win a $5,000 grant…"
28. Flour made from insects wins $1M for McGill team http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/flour-made-from-insects-wins-1m-for-mcgill-team-1.1866685 "A team of McGill University MBA students has won the $1 million Hult Prize for a project that aims to improve the availability of nutritious food to slum dwellers around the world by providing them with flour made from insects…The money will help them grow Aspire Food Group, an organization that will produce nutritious insect-based food products that will be accessible year-round to some of the world's poorest city dwellers. "We are farming insects and we're grinding them into a fine powder and then we're mixing it with locally appropriate flour to create what we call power flour,"…Protein and iron, the students noted, are nutrients in short supply in the diets of many people in developing nations, but found in high amounts in insects. For example, they note, crickets have a higher protein content per weight than beef…"
Leisure & Entertainment
29. A new crop of literary novels explores our internet dystopia http://io9.com/dave-eggers-thomas-pynchon-and-isabel-allende-expose-o-1351440125 "…there's a new wave of beloved authors tackling our bewilderment with the internet-dominated world we live in. The literary wave may have started with Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, with its ubiquitous social media ranking everybody's social status…There's the new Thomas Pynchon novel, Bleeding Edge, which takes place in 2001 and deals with the world of dotcom entrepreneurs and internet whiz-kids…while exploring the notion of the Deep Web, a part of the internet that hasn't been crawled by search engines…Then there's The Circle, the new book by the prolific Dave Eggers, who already tackled globalization and our discontents with technology in A Hologram for the King. In The Circle, Eggers follows Mae Holland, who goes to work at an internet company in the near future…The Circle is…a mashup of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and PayPal…founded by shadowy futurists whose vision of complete, global knowledge-sharing carries ominous consequences for democracy…perhaps most surprisingly, there's Ripper by Isabel Allende…she's doing a thriller that sounds as though she's commenting on the relationship between the virtual and "real" worlds in a very different fashion than Eggers and Pynchon…"
30. Tips for making the most of Google Chromecast http://www.gizmag.com/5-ways-to-get-more-out-of-google-chromecast/29125/ "Google's Chromecast currently doesn't have a whole lot of options other than its four officially supported apps: YouTube, Netflix, Google Music and Google Video…here's some user tips on how to get a little more out of the device…you can stream your local videos to the Chromecast if the Chrome browser on your computer supports the file type. In my tests, I've been able to stream the most common file types like mp4, m4v, avi and mpeg…The obvious extension of this is that you can stream a webpage to your HDTV via Chromecast…you can…send your entire desktop to the big screen…Adjust streaming quality to improve video playback…Make video always play full screen…"
Entrepreneurism and Technology
31. Bad news for Isis: Capital One pulls out http://gigaom.com/2013/09/18/bad-news-for-isis-capital-one-pulls-out-of-mobile-payments-trial/ "Capital One is dropping out of Isis's mobile payments pilot project…casting a pall over the carrier-driven initiative to turn the mobile phone into a universal digital wallet…its departure could mean that the banks are losing faith that Isis can really succeed with its nationwide launch of a near-field communications-powered mobile payments network…Capital One was just one of the four financial institutions…others are American Express, Chase and BarkleyCard…"
32. Grove, Sequoia Capital's New Startup Events And How-To Content Hub http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/20/meet-grove-sequoia-capitals-new-startup-events-and-how-to-content-hub/ "VCs are starting to get into content. First Round debuted its own version of Harvard Business Review…Sequoia…is debuting Grove, its new portal for how-to content, videos and events…one of the key pieces of feedback that portfolio founders had begun to share with the firm over the past year was that they wished there were a centralized place where they could find advice and how-to's on important topics like hiring, fundraising and other business advice…this content is public for any founder or startup to see…each VC firm is thinking carefully about how to create a hub for marketing content that is actually helpful to the startup ecosystem. First Round has taken a more intensive approach with its Harvard Business Review-esque site. Google Ventures Startup Lab has started publishing some of its videos and tutorials…"
33. Intuit updates QuickBooks, integrates Square "…Intuit announced a completely new version of its QuickBooks accounting software, and to kick it off, it's also announcing a new, and rather groundbreaking, partnership…with mobile payments juggernaut Square…small businesses that use the mobile payment service can automatically feed data from those transactions into their books…The service will be U.S. only for now, although with QuickBooks' large global footprint it will be interesting to see if Square uses that in any way in the future…This is something of a sea change for the two companies. Intuit has itself created its own point of sale product called Go Payment, complete with a dongle that links up with a mobile device…"
Design / DEMO
34. Prosthetic 'wearable art' line designed by Alleles Design Studio http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/prosthetic-wearable-art-line-designed-by-canadian-pair-1.1861584 "A Canadian couple quit their jobs, sold their cars, moved across the country and hunkered down for months to turn their pet project of affordable, designer prosthetic covers for amputees into reality, creating a product to fill a void in an industry dominated by medically oriented prosthetists. The founders of the Alleles Design Studio…first dreamed of designing high-fashion prosthetic covers years ago. Wanner developed the idea for the…business during her industrial design studies, when she realized amputees had few affordable options for creative cosmetic covers. A friend of the couple, John-Paul Austring, has been bothered by the lack of prosthetic options since doctors amputated his left leg when he was a 15-year-old battling bone cancer…"
35. Finnish design can no longer afford to be complacent http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/19/dan-hill-opinion-finnish-design/ "…I can only really guess at the deeper resonance of Vitra buying legendary Finnish furniture brand Artek, following hot on the heels of Microsoft buying legendary Finnish cellphone brand Nokia…Although this small country of five million people has also produced Iitala, Marimekko, Kone, Fiskars and others, these two firms bookend a first era of Finnish design, with Artek founded by the Aaltos and co. in 1935 and Nokia's dominance of the global mobile phone sector six decades later. Where do these "exits" leave Finnish design?...the wider culture around Nokia over the last decade had…betrayed a lack of understanding of the value of design. The software suffered badly and although intriguing handsets occasionally emerged, one felt that design was generally no more than an indulged child amidst what was really a masterful engineering and logistics machine…Once Apple, and then Google, had deployed a richer, strategic approach to design in order to seamlessly orchestrate people, apps, media, devices and the interfaces between them, Nokia had no answer…this week of deals actually poses the question: what does Finnish product design do now? There are…obvious trajectories…The first is in a new form of interactive object, as active partners of people, socially and culturally, via Internet of Things technologies, absorbing the essence of Varnelis's "new modernity"…Despite a culture borne of survival, Finland has an incredibly high standard of living…Yet in places, that success bred complacency, and by "places" I mean the pre-iPhone era Nokia and some of its other heritage brands. These last weeks suggest that Finnish design can no longer afford to be complacent…"
36. The rise of the micro-manufacturers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24203938 "Thanks to state-of-the-art design software and the latest computer-controlled laser cutters, 3D printers and other manufacturing hardware, designers and inventors are turning their ideas into reality and getting them to market far more quickly and cheaply…Digital designs sent online to micro-factories situated locally or abroad are reducing costs, waste and supply chains…TechShop, a pioneer in the "make-it-yourself" movement…has six centres in the US, each with around 1,000 members…Mr Hatch rattles off a number of…TechShop success stories, including Type A Machines, a 3D printer manufacturer; Clustered Systems, which makes lower-energy cooling systems for data centres; and Lightning Motorcycles, creator of the world's fastest electric motorbike…Prof Neil Gershenfeld…is developing a similar concept with his Fab Labs - local digital fabrication centres aimed at stimulating invention and entrepreneurship…There are about 150 Fab Labs dotted around the world in what the Fab Foundation describes as "a distributed laboratory for research and invention"…"In the past you had to go and convince a manufacturer to make your prototype, then convince a retailer to stock your product…Now digital manufacturing and the internet have made it so much easier for you to create, make and sell your products…New technology allows an individual like me to become independent and create a micro-business…Digital technology is lowering design and manufacturing costs by factors of 10 and 20 times…"
37. Design Can (and Will) Transform Lives http://www.manufacturing.net/blogs/2013/09/design-can-and-will-transform-lives "…the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Annual Conference…is…the perfect location to bring together more than 600 industrial designers to talk about the importance design plays not only in product development, but in world of social entrepreneurship. IDSA is…filled with conversations about how design can transform lives…Byron Bloch, an expert in car safety who has dedicated his life to making sure that design flaws on vehicles don't happen…has testified in front of congress on multiple occasions regarding car company oversights on design defects…Bloch stood in front of the crowd and demanded that, as designers, we must put our foot down and take the side of the consumer. He stated that no matter what, it's on the shoulders of the designers to take care of the passengers…Following Bloch was Dean Kamen…He came to talk about the program he began more than 20 years ago, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)…It is truly one of the most inspiring stories of dedication to the future engineers and scientist of the world…"There are over 350,000 student participants annually with over 130,000 volunteers," Kamen said. "Over 28,000 robots that have been built over the past 20 years…"
DHMN Technology
38. Ultimaker Debuts Ultimaker 2 3D Printer http://hothardware.com/News/Ultimaker-Debuts-Ultimaker-2-3D-Printer-With-Open-Source-Cura-Software-and-YouMagine-Website/ "Ultimaker 2…is more accurate, more efficient, and it's even quieter at 49dB…the Ultimaker 2 has a new CNC-milled case (that's all white with glowing sidewalls) with an OLED display, and its glass and aluminum build platform is designed to cool quickly so you can peel completed projects off more easily. The Ultimaker 2 can print with multiple materials, including PLA, ABS, and PVA, and it's WiFi-compatible so you can print from a mobile device or computer…The machine itself is rather compact at 14.1 x 13.3 x 15.3 inches, and it can print objects within a 8.9 x 8.9 x 8.1 space. Ultimaker is also launching its Cura open source software, which the company claims can pre-process 3D files some 60 times faster than other open source applications…to foster a community of makers around its 3D printers and software, Ultimaker developed the YouMagine.com website where you can upload and share files…"
39. Supermodder Ben Heck builds a quadcopter http://www.cnet.com.au/supermodder-ben-heck-builds-a-quadcopter-339345283.htm "King of the modders Ben Heck is building a quadcopter from scratch for his YouTube show…At the behest of his fans, super-modder Ben Heck is building a quadcopter from scratch for his Ben Heck Show on YouTube channel element14…In part one of the two-part video, Heck started building the quadcopter from scratch — the first time he has attempted building one — using model aeroplanes cannibalised for their propellers, controllers, motors and wires. Part of what he wanted to do was cut down on the wire tangle that's usually found in home-made quadcopters…"
40. 3D Robotics announces GPS-guided quadcopter for the masses http://www.gizmag.com/3d-robotics-iris-gps-guided-quadcopter-drone/28818/ "…a lot of the GPS-guided quadrotors on the market are a bit too complicated for the average consumer to control. 3D Robotics is aiming to inject a little more simplicity into the equation with its recently unveiled Iris…the Iris supports simple GPS controls through any computer, tablet, or smartphone…the main body is designed to be aerodynamic, durable, and lightweight, while still providing enough lift to carry a payload…On a full charge, the battery provides enough energy for around 9-14 minutes of flight time…3D Robotics spent more than four years and enlisted the help of over 40,000 volunteers to program and fine-tune the open source software that guides the Iris. The drone can be controlled on any device running Windows, OS X, Linux, or Android at the moment, with an iOS app planned…Users can set up to 127 waypoints or, in the case of the mobile app, just draw a route on the screen to have the UAV follow a flight path using GPS coordinates. At any point during a flight, the Iris can be commanded to automatically take off, land, or return to its starting position…Pilots will also have the option of setting up a virtual fence that will keep the Iris from wandering outside a pre-set boundary, regardless of what it's commanded to do…3D Robotics is currently offering pre-orders of the Iris drone through its website, with the most basic package costing US$659.99. Customers can also customize their order with different add-ons, including a pre-programmed transmitter, extra battery, replacement parts, or a GoPro camera…"
41. CodeBender Makes it Easy to Program Your Arduino from a Browser http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/12/codebender-cc-makes-it-crazy-easy-to-program-your-arduino-board-from-your-browser/ "The official Arduino IDE is a dour piece of software designed for uploading code to the ubiquitous and super-cool micro controller. It is a standalone, non-networked app…But what if you want to share code and upload programs right from your browser? That's where CodeBender.cc comes in. CodeBender is a browser-based IDE that supports uploading to nearly any Arduino board. You can use the program to copy sample code, browse code uploaded by other users, and even store private snippets. Because it is collaborative you can clone bits of code and use it in your own projects and there is even a curated list of cool snippets…"
Open Source Hardware
42. 3D-printed, open source robot Jimmy http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/21/intel-researcher-debuts-3d-printed-open-source-robot-jimmy/ "Meet Jimmy the 21st Century Robot. The artificial intelligence, or brains, of the robot is open source. So is the design and the technical description for printing him out as a 3D object…Jimmy is the creation of Intel researcher Brian David Johnson, a futurist who has been toying with the idea of the future's robots for more than a decade. He is debuting Jimmy at the Maker Faire do-it-yourself tech expo in New York this weekend. These robots are going to be…very personal for each creator. "We can come to see these robots as an extension of ourselves, and that these are platforms to create as many of them as we can…Our motto is that every robot has a name…"
43. This field-ready wireless platform is bringing open-source connectivity to the farm http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/field-ready-wireless-platform-brings-open-source-farm.html "After putting together a better greenhouse monitor…Louis Thiery…wanted to integrate field-ready sensors with a dedicated server that could control and monitor them all. The result of his work is Apitronics, an open source wireless platform with a small dedicated Linux computer serving as the brain. The Apitronics platform uses "Bees", which are low-power, Arduino-compatible sensor or actuator devices, and a "Hive", a small Linux box which networks the Bees together and gathers and displays data from them, or sends control signals downstream to the Bees…the basic Bees can be attached to "plugs" including humidity sensors and a weather station, but additional plugs are being developed…that can serve as door sensors…or water level sensors, or even controllers and sensors for field irrigation or aquaponic systems. Because the system uses open source hardware and software…anyone with Arduino/C++ experience can develop additional sensors or "hack the Hive itself." And it's not just for farms, either, as the system could also be applied to other environmental monitoring needs…"
Open Source
44. Mexico sees its first open-source village cellphone network http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/16/mexico-sees-its-first-village-cellphone-network/2821643/ "The communications revolution that swept the globe missed the Zapotec village of Talea de Castro high in the mountains of southern Mexico, where making any sort of call meant trudging to a community telephone line and paying what could be a day's wages for a crackly five-minute conversation. All that has changed, thanks to…simple radio receivers, a laptop and relatively inexpensive Internet technologies, the people of the village have leapfrogged into the 21st century by setting up what amounts to their own mini-telecom company — one capable of handling 11 cellphone calls at a time…Before it was set up, Talea's 2,500 residents would make their calls from the "caseta," a house or shop that has a land line and charges a per-minute fee. There was little privacy, and international calls cost more than a dollar a minute. It was even worse for incoming calls, which required a runner to answer and tell townsfolk when someone was looking for them…In just six months, more than 720 residents have signed up to use the new system. Local calls made on off-the-shelf cellphones are free, and phoning relatives in Los Angeles costs just 20 centavos (1.5 cents) a minute. What's more, every subscriber has a distinct mobile number…"
45. Coursefork: a new way to collaborate on open education http://opensource.com/education/13/9/coursefork-education-tool "What if teachers could fork educational materials just like software developers fork code?...Coursefork, is…not a MOOC, it's not Moodle, and it's not edX. It's a GitHub for course creation. It's about building a community. Coursefork is a platform for open-sourcing and collaborating on educational material. We've built a way to upload course material, allow others to create copies, modify them for their own use, and share their improvements both back "upstream" and to the community at large…"
46. NotePad++ offers portable notepad features for programmers http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048848/notepad-offers-portable-notepad-features-for-programmers.html "Notepad++ is a portable notepad that users like computer programmers will find enormously useful, because it offers something the regular Notepad doesn't: numbered lines…If you're testing a program in a language such as Javascript, you'll get obscure error messages like "operand missing on line 346". So, it helps if you know which line the bug is on, and how to quickly locate that line. If the lines are not numbered, like in the regular Notepad, you would be sitting there till doomsday, trying to locate that one elusive little bug…Other smart features include zooming in and out (handy if you have bad eyesight), macro recording and playback, and tabbed notes, so you can have multiple notes open in the same window and click back and forth between them. It also offers colour syntax coding, which makes reading through programs easier. Notepad++ is also smaller than Notepad…"
Civilian Aerospace
47. Software problem delays cargo ship arrival at space station http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/22/us-space-station-idINBRE98A00420130922 "A software glitch will delay Orbital Sciences' trial cargo ship from reaching the International Space Station until Tuesday…The company's Cygnus capsule…had been scheduled to reach the station on Sunday…six hours before the capsule was due to dock, a computer software problem caused Cygnus to reject navigation data radioed from the station…Orbital Sciences said it had found the cause of the data discrepancy and was developing a software fix. The next opportunity for the capsule to rendezvous and dock with the station will be on Tuesday…"
48. Students at USC attempt to launch rocket into space http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-usc-rocket-lab-space-20130920,0,2123551.story "…student engineers from the University of Southern California's Rocket Lab in Los Angeles say they are trying to make history Friday evening by sending a student-built rocket into space. By the time the rocket motor burns out in about 13 seconds, it will have gone from zero to six times the speed of sound, or 4,500 miles per hour. If they succeed in getting the aptly named "Traveler" to reach the 62-mile mark, these young engineers will be the first group of students to successfully launch a rocket into space, representing the culmination of several years of work since USC alum Ian Whittinghill dreamed up the idea as a freshman in 2003. Over nearly a decade, several generations of students have devoted countless hours to the goal, sometimes 40 or 50 per week, outside of their classwork…Whittinghill, the son of the founder of Whittinghill Aerospace LLC, spent much of his youth immersed in rocket science. When he came to USC, he began to see how all the classes were teaching key bits of information that could be used to design and build such a craft on campus…Whittinghill persuaded some professors, including Dan Erwin, now chairman of the department of astronautical engineering, to submit a proposal for funding and space. "I was asking for what I thought were outlandish things," Whittinghill said. To his surprise, his fledgling Rocket Lab got $160,000 in initial funding and some dedicated workspace…"
Supercomputing & GPUs
49. Graphics acceleration can bring 10X speedup to Java http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/22/graphics-acceleration-can-bring-10x-speedup-to-java/ "An IBM executive said today that graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration is coming to the Java programming environment. That could improve processing performance as much as 10-fold for Java-related computing…Java and GPUs will open up a world of opportunities for faster web performance…Speedups vary greatly when Java programmers take advantage of existing GPU compute libraries, based on Nvidia's CUDA programming environment. Those speedups range from 2X to 48X faster…IBM will enable IBM runtimes for server-based GPU accelerators and explore acceleration in ordinary workloads under existing applications programming interfaces…this will allow millions of Java developers to accelerate a broad range of applications using GPU accelerators – and achieve speedups that will dramatically improve the capabilities of the applications. Plus, the acceleration will fuel a new generation of Java-based enterprise applications that would not have been possible without GPUs…"
50. HP, Nvidia team up for GPU Centre of Excellence http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/09/23/hp-nvidia-gpu/1 "HP and Nvidia have officially opened a joint GPU Technical Centre of Excellence in Grenoble, France, as part of a joint initiative aimed at further boosting the acceptance of GPU-based high-performance computing (HPC) systems. For many workloads, graphics processing units (GPUs) offer considerable advantages to traditional central processing units…GPU-accelerated systems have been taking over the TOP500 list of supercomputers in recent years, but it's something HP and Nvidia believe could go still further…The goal of this collaborative GPU Technical Centre of Excellence is to enable perennial solution improvements and facilitate the adoption of HP systems based on Nvidia Tesla GPUs for HPC. The facility provides researchers with remote access to an HP cluster platform comprised of 10 ProLiant SL250s, SL270s and ML350p Gen 8 servers, each of which includes integrated Nvidia Tesla GPU accelerator boards along with a smaller number of Nvidia Grid GPU boards for GPU virtualisation experiments…"
Trends & Emerging Tech
51. Top Ten Trends from Boomer Technology Circles Summit http://www.accountingweb.com/article/top-ten-trends-boomer-technology-circles-summit/222393 "…Boomer Consulting identified the following…trends from the BTC Summit that accounting firm leaders should consider: 1. Remote workers…several firms are reducing office space requirements to less than 200 square feet per employee due to the remote workforce and staff working outside the office…2. Electronic signatures…3. Growth in advisory services…4. Talent development…6. Mobile devices…8. Desktop video conferencing…"
52. A Digital Future: K-12 Technology by 2018 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/a-digital-future-k-12-tec_b_3930632.html "…The… New Media Consortium Horizon Report details six up-and-coming technologies in the next five years for K-12 classrooms…Mobile learning. Tablets and smartphones in the classroom are no longer a matter of "if," but "when, and how quickly?"…Cloud computing. When it comes to greater educational collaboration, cloud computing has unlimited potential…Learning analytics…Learning analytics is the education industry's response to "big data"…Open content: The rise of MOOCs, or massive open online courses, in terms of college learning is having a trickle-down effect on K-12 education…3D printing…will allow K-12 students to create tangible models for their ideas…Virtual laboratories: These Web applications give students the chance to perform physical science experiments over and over, from anywhere with Internet access…"


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May 17, 2015
Taylor Swift's Action-Packed, Star-Studded 'Bad Blood' Kicks (and Kicks Hard) Off the Billboard Music Awards!
Taylor Swift and some of her costars were on hand at tonight's Billboard Music Awards to kick off the show with the world premiere of the booty-kicking video for Taylor's "Bad Blood."
Rocking the red carpet in a slinky white dress with side cut-outs, Taylor posed with her fellow action heroes from the clip, Zendaya, Lily Aldridge, Martha Hunt, and Hailee Steinfeld (who's starring in this weekend's #1 film, "Pitch Perfect 2").
Directed by Joseph Kahn, the elaborate video is a big-budget, cinematic romp starring Taylor as "Catastrophe" and Selena Gomez as arch nemesis "Arsyn," and with appearances by just about every woman on IMDb: Jessica Alba, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lena Dunham, Ellie Goulding, Gigi Hadid, Mariska Hargitay, Karlie Kloss, Kendrick Lamar, Ellen Pompeo, and more.
It's been said "Bad Blood" is about Taylor's feud with Katy Perry. If so, she definitely isn't holding back!
Taylor also collected Top Billboard 200 Album for her smash record "1989," enthusiastically thanking all of her fans for "embracing change."
"Extra's" Renee Bargh was in Las Vegas for the Billboard Music Awards catching up with the big stars of the night on the red carpet, including Jennifer Lopez, Iggy Azalea, Ed Sheeran, and Zendaya.
Check out our interviews!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Qty : 1
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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post7967537906908143925..comments2023-11-17T03:16:46.444-07:00Comments on David Powers King: Seasons In Time and Space: An Update Before Docking The Cosmic Laire For An Undetermined DurationDavid P. Kinghttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-68136358530741759932016-08-18T08:52:05.063-06:002016-08-18T08:52:05.063-06:00Wishing you all the luck in the world. You are an ...Wishing you all the luck in the world. You are an incredible writer and I understand the call to adult. I had to put my writing to only a thought for ten years while I took care of children and fully vested myself in being a stay-at-home mom. When it was time to start again and pursue, I just knew, and it worked. I applaud you for doing what you know needs to be done with faith in your talents that when it's right to return it will happen and we'll all be here ready to welcome you back:)Anonymoushttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-70878905348391953622016-08-01T04:28:48.610-06:002016-08-01T04:28:48.610-06:00Aw. Best of luck to you and really hoping to see y...Aw. Best of luck to you and really hoping to see you back writing here. But take your sweet time! We'll be here waiting for your awesome comeback. :)Lux G.https://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-40653010669676822202016-07-24T11:30:42.165-06:002016-07-24T11:30:42.165-06:00DPK.. I think I stumbled across your blog back in ...DPK.. I think I stumbled across your blog back in 2011 or so after being wowed by your submissions to some small writing prompt competitions I'd found.. you've given tons of time, and tons of yourself. It's good to take some time to become centered and refocus. I all but stopped writing completely while I was on the East Coast.. and now I'm back, recharged.. with my passion renewed. You'll be back, of that I'm certain. Plus.. now that I'm back in Utah (Spanish Fork), I'm sure I'll see you around.Skippy Bo Bippyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-27289164177500840812016-07-06T18:58:47.825-06:002016-07-06T18:58:47.825-06:00Hi, David, Family is very important. You have lit...Hi, David,

Family is very important. You have little ones counting on you. Remember you have accomplished so much in your short life... I mean you haven't even hit middle age yet... There is time for your writing...

I starte writing in my very late 40's and I am still unpublished, but that is fine. I drift in and out of this world too because I have to support myself. But some day, maybe, I will have the success you had with WOVEN... Be proud... BE HAPPY... It's wonderful that your new journey is taking you to a place that you enjoy. You will be helping others and that is very noble and WONDERFUL... Enjoy this new journey with no guilt for leaving... it is only temporary. And, as I have found out, this community will be here to welcome you back with open arms...

Stay well Sir Knight....Michael Di Gesuhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-27790161310311016782016-07-04T10:08:29.529-06:002016-07-04T10:08:29.529-06:00Thanks for letting us know. We have to make tough ...Thanks for letting us know. We have to make tough choices in life. Know that we are with you and okay with your decision. :)Sheena-kay Grahamhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-56161371088290069942016-06-30T16:36:30.187-06:002016-06-30T16:36:30.187-06:00Hey David, I know this was a tough decision for yo...Hey David, I know this was a tough decision for you to make, but you're doing the right thing, and I wish you the best. The writing will always be there, but family and jobs have to come first. Good luck with everything. I'll see you around! ;)Kristin Smithhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-41484623501045050462016-06-28T21:09:00.786-06:002016-06-28T21:09:00.786-06:00I am so glad to know that you have found jobs that...I am so glad to know that you have found jobs that you like and I am sure that has eased some of the stress you had a few months back when you were worried about finding a job. It sounds like you have some adulting to do- and I hope it goes well. You sound like you are on a path that will be good for you and I am sure the time away from social media will allow you to work on the things you need to focus on. Good luck and see you when you are around. :)
~JessDMShttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-71592472550678665792016-06-28T10:31:14.100-06:002016-06-28T10:31:14.100-06:00Good luck, David. It amazes me you balance so much...Good luck, David. It amazes me you balance so much on your plate.Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-36669976063325225502016-06-27T10:33:05.518-06:002016-06-27T10:33:05.518-06:00Believe me we all understand...and we'll be wa...Believe me we all understand...and we'll be waiting for you when you pop up again:)Markhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-34640350427375483402016-06-23T10:20:38.642-06:002016-06-23T10:20:38.642-06:00David, being an adult indeed sucks sometimes--but ...David, being an adult indeed sucks sometimes--but it sounds like you are loving what you do. I hope you keep loving it--you deserve to be happy!JoLynne Lyonhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-38172495404983660312016-06-23T09:52:13.893-06:002016-06-23T09:52:13.893-06:00Life is a harsh mistress who won't take NO for...Life is a harsh mistress who won't take NO for an answer. Each experience you undergo in these next months will further enrich your sense of the world so that your next tales will be the better for it. Best of luck, RolandRoland D. Yeomanshttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-38730357481144651572016-06-23T08:01:46.063-06:002016-06-23T08:01:46.063-06:00Good luck! Do what you need to do. Good luck! Do what you need to do. Tiana Smithhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-69765397076786309822016-06-22T21:13:48.048-06:002016-06-22T21:13:48.048-06:00Best of luck to you! May your journey lead you on ...Best of luck to you! May your journey lead you on new adventures. Let light guide you!Truedessahttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-80275680721469982312016-06-22T20:50:13.983-06:002016-06-22T20:50:13.983-06:00David, I wish you the best of luck in all your end...David, I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors and a swift road back to writing. Congratulations on your reception in Brazil!Dianne K. Salernihttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-25804452810918467162016-06-22T20:11:02.903-06:002016-06-22T20:11:02.903-06:00Life happens, and family comes first. I hope every...Life happens, and family comes first. I hope everything goes well for you. One thing I've found is that trying to push myself to write when life is full of 'opportunities' only results in more stress and a lack of not only writing but reading, too. I had to step back and give myself some room. So, it's better to take it slow then kill your love of writing. Trust me.
S.P. Bowershttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-78342412122488447672016-06-22T20:04:39.608-06:002016-06-22T20:04:39.608-06:00Ah well. For everything there is a season. This is...Ah well. For everything there is a season. This is not the writing season for you. Luck with all your endeavors, and may it be easy to get back into the writing when the time comes.Liz A.https://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-48053927434306889142016-06-22T16:25:49.263-06:002016-06-22T16:25:49.263-06:00Ditto to what Alex said. I know you will get back ...Ditto to what Alex said. I know you will get back to writing one day, just not as soon as you originally thought. Good luck with the adulting.Johttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-62942103489232890322016-06-22T16:06:48.202-06:002016-06-22T16:06:48.202-06:00Yes, we all have to be adults sometime. And that&#...Yes, we all have to be adults sometime. And that's okay too. Sounds like you have some great opportunities to explore and your family is important too. I have a job where I'm paid to write and it takes all my writing energy. I'm choosing to maintain my blog instead of writing creatively because it helps so many people. Hope you have time to stay in touch.Natalie Aguirrehttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-66736034472489392262016-06-22T14:24:59.698-06:002016-06-22T14:24:59.698-06:00Good luck! Establish the home front first, then y...Good luck! Establish the home front first, then you can spread your wings!messymimihttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-36994809178245359522016-06-22T14:17:17.029-06:002016-06-22T14:17:17.029-06:00Sorry to hear about you having to cut back on your...Sorry to hear about you having to cut back on your writing, but being an adult (usually) takes priority. Good luck and hope you can get back to your writing sooner than you expect.Chemist Kenhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-33739657957383388992016-06-22T14:07:02.317-06:002016-06-22T14:07:02.317-06:00Of course social media has to take a back seat to ...Of course social media has to take a back seat to all the important things. And it sounds like you're doing good work! We'll still miss you, though :)J E Oneilhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-73480219741339619782016-06-22T13:10:36.234-06:002016-06-22T13:10:36.234-06:00That's wonderful your book is doing so well in...That's wonderful your book is doing so well in Brazil.

My publishing company is my focus right now. I'm still working on my next book, but it has to come second.L. Diane Wolfehttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-52082614332506466512016-06-22T13:00:42.634-06:002016-06-22T13:00:42.634-06:00I'm sorry to hear that but I know you've b...I'm sorry to hear that but I know you've been through a ton in the last year or so. I'm glad you'll be keeping your hand in and like Alex says, you might be even more productive without the networking pressure. Look forward to updates every now and then!Nick Wilfordhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-1135194497307080856.post-21646105162286443742016-06-22T10:19:35.521-06:002016-06-22T10:19:35.521-06:00Being adult sucks, but sometimes you have to behav...Being adult sucks, but sometimes you have to behave responsible. You've just taken the pressure off yourself to produce in the writing area. You'll probably have more fun with it now!Alex J. Cavanaughhttps://email@example.com


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When tinted to the 1000+ paint colors specified for PPG Timeless Interior Paints
Ensure the paint color you choose is the color that stays.
PPG Timeless Interior Paint is formulated to resist common household stains.
This sheen is excellent for hiding imperfections and ideal for touch-ups. This is the go-to sheen for dining rooms, bedrooms and ceilings.
This sheen is ideal for medium-traffic areas like dining and living rooms, bedrooms and hallways.
This sheen is easy to clean and ideal for family rooms, kids' bedrooms, hallways and foyers.
This scrubbable sheen is ideal for high traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, trims, molding hallways and doors.
Surface must be dry and clean.
Normally dries to touch in 60 minutes at 77°F and 50% relative humidity.
Allow 4 hours before recoating.
Approximately 400 sq ft per gallon.
Clean tools with warm, soapy water.
Contact your local environmental agency for guidance on disposal of unused paint.
|Product Depth (in.)
|1.772 in
|Product Height (in.)
|13.78 in
|Product Length (in.)
|1.772 in
|Product Width (in.)
|6.496 in
|Apron & Mitt Features
|Heat Resistant
|Apron & Mitt Material
|Cotton, Plastic
|Color Family
|Grilling Tools & Utensils Features
|No Additional Features
|Outdoor Living Product Type
|Cooking Accessory
|Manufacturer Warranty
|30 Day
Typical questions asked about products:


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Appreciation Messages for Good Work: It is always good to appreciate someone for a job well done. When one does a job very well or has seen it to completion, always appreciate that person. This will boost his/her morale.
Wondering how to appreciate someone for good work? Today we are going to look at appreciation words for good work that you can tell or send to your employee, subordinates, friends, colleagues, students, or those who are close to you.
These Job Well Done Quotes, wishes, and messages will congratulate them for an amazing well-done job.
Appreciation Messages for Good Work
Uplift the spirit of your employee, subordinates, friends, students, or colleagues with these jobs' well-done messages and thank you notes. When there are words of appreciation for good work done there is competence. This post will enable you to find your own unique appreciation messages for good work.
Thank you for this wonderful job. The client was really happy.
Opportunity comes to those who are focused and work towards their dreams. Congratulations on a well-done job.
You always give everything your best, and what comes out of it is spectacular. I really appreciate your work.
We are very grateful and appreciate your willingness to tackle any assignment given to you. You have never disappointed and you always complete on time. Thank you for a well-done job.
I was confident you would deliver with short notice. Congratulations on a job well done! Great job team!
We truly enjoy working with you, you are an amazing worker. Thank you for your encouragement and inspiration. All best in whatever you do!
You are very intelligent, hard-working, and smart. May you rise to the top of your career! Well done my friend.
I know you have faced many challenges and obstacles on the way to complete this project. But the end result is just awesome. Good job!
Your good work is visible, even to the one who doesn't want to see it. Job well done and May you be rewarded handsomely!
You are so organized, efficient, and result-oriented. Congratulations on a well-done job!
You succeeded because you always take every project as if it were your last. Congratulations!
Read: Appreciation Message to Team
Appreciation for Good Work Messages
Find sample appreciation words for good work that will enable you to come up with an appreciation message for good work.
This is a perfectly well-done job. Thank you so much.
Your works speak louder about what you can do. You are a deliverer, Job well done my friend.
Good leadership is when you help others to do their best. Thank you for a well-done job. We greatly appreciate your work.
Your hard work has finally paid off, Congratulations, and well done!
You have made our department shine. Thanks for your great effort!
I always knew you can deliver. You have what it takes. Thanks for a great job.
Beautiful work! Congratulations on a great job.
You really deserved the promotion. Thank you for your good work.
Job Well Done, you are a man of perfection. Keep up the good work!
Read: Thank You Messages for Employees
Appreciation Words for Good Work
You have already set the bar high. This is perfection. Congratulations and Good work!
Your effort is not worthless. You will be rewarded for your hard work. Good work my friend.
Perfect Job!
Thank you for a job well done, this is precisely what I was looking for.
Magnificent! Good work.
Thank you!
I appreciate your effort in this project. Your effort cannot go unnoticed
You consistently bring your all. I greatly appreciate your hard work and effort.
Outstanding work!
Good work!
Thank you for pulling this on such short notice. Good work!
Thank you for your help. I could not have made it if it was not for your help.
Brilliant job!
You have done everything that needs to be done and exceeded expectations. I need to give you a congratulatory pat. Well done.
This is an amazing team, well done for exemplary work.
Well done mate, keep on doing the great work.
Find: Sweet Appreciation Messages for Her
Words of Appreciation for Good Work Done
We are always confident of your performance, and today you proved that you are always capable of handling any project. Congratulation on the job well done!
Well done, my friend! You are always determined and hardworking.
We are very proud of you. The presentation was on point. Congratulations on a job well done!
The client was so happy when he saw the project. Congratulations on a job well done.
Your work speaks for itself; you have the potential to be successful. Good job!
I wish you the best in everything that you touch. Congratulations on a well-done job.
Never let anyone bring your spirits down. You know your strengths; always strive to achieve the best. Thank you for this nice piece of work.
Well Done Messages
Many people have tried to accomplish what you have done but have not managed. Thank you for a well-done job.
I can't find the right words to appreciate your effort. I am glad to work with someone like you. Well done to my hardworking colleague.
We are very glad to have you on our team. Congratulations on your success!
This is the beginning of great things to come! Congratulation on the job well done!
You always amaze us with how you do it, you always get jobs well done. Congratulations.
Congratulations on a well-done job!
You are truly talented. This is the work of a genius! Well done.
This is awesome work. Keep doing the good work. Well done.
Well done [name], you totally deserved a promotion, you have done a great job in taking this company to the next level.
Job well done, you are the perfect person for this job.
We have to give credit where it's due, well done my friend. You did an amazing job.
You are a CEO in the making, well done on your amazing presentation. I look forward to seeing you managing your own projects.
Well done team! We would not be this far if it was not for the effort of each one of us.
Even if it has been a tough year, you have done us proud. Well done. Wish you good luck
If you find these Messages, Wishes & Quotes useful and lovely, kindly share them with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Thank You for Doing so.


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Monastic WalesThe religious houses of medieval Wales have long been overshadowed by their more numerous, generally more prosperous, and normally better documented neighbours east of Offa's Dyke. Yet their history is inseparable from the religious, cultural, economic, political, literary and urban history of Wales during the period between the arrival of the Normans in the late eleventh century and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth.
The Monastic Wales projectIn an attempt to identify more firmly Wales's place on the monastic map of Europe, this large-scale project seeks to establish a comprehensive monastic history of medieval Wales and to make those findings available to scholars and students, as well as the wider public, both electronically and in print. At present it comprises houses of monks, canons, religious women, and friars, which were active in Wales for some or all of the period from the late eleventh century until the Suppression of the religious houses in the sixteenth century. Future plans include extending the database to include early medieval monasteries in Wales.
The first phase of the project was the creation of a database and website which can be used as both a research and a teaching tool. The website was officially launched in 2009. It is regularly updated and expanded; the interactive element in the design enables external participation. It comprises a full bibliography of primary sources and secondary literature, links to relevant web-published material and research tools, and reports on related work in progress.
The Project seeks also to encourage new research into aspects of Welsh monastic history and to provide a platform for unpublished material and new work. Essays and articles will be available to users on the website. The directors of the project, Professor Janet Burton, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, and Dr Karen Stober, formerly of Aberystwyth University and now of University of Lleida (Catalunya), have published two books: an edited collection of essays, Monastic Wales: New Approaches (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2013), and Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2016), and numerous articles and papers relating to the project. They have lectured on Monastic Wales at international conferences, and Monastic Wales sponsors sessions each year at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. You can follow our activites through our newsletters..
The main database currently contains:
© All material on this website is copyright Monastic Wales unless otherwise noted.


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Just in time before the end of January! Well we had such a busy time before the end of 2018 that I didn't have time to up-date the news section. We ended the year sharing lots of Tango with our groups across the UK.
We continued to be resident teachers at Tango Warwick, visited Tango Cotswolds as usual every month and enjoyed a Christmas Milonga with them. We played 78's at the Tango Baires Milonga in Warwick, visited Leicester – teaching and performing and went back to visit Henley twice before the end of the year – phew!
We want to say thank you to all our students and everyone who has invited us into their communities to teach and perform, opening their hearts to our love of the Music. Here's to another year!


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Help remove marine debris and microplastics off the beach during GTM Beach Cleanup on the fourth Saturday of the month — 9:30am-11:30am.
Meet at the Visitor Center. That's where you'll pick up gloves and trash bags, then be directed to a specific beach for cleanup.
No need to sign up ahead of time. Open to the public. Just show up to lend a hand. Don't forget to bring your sunscreen, hat, insect repellent, and water!
Image used is from GTM event.


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- Research
- Experts
- Events
- Education
- About
- Support
A nation must think before it acts.
Steve Salisbury is an FPRI Associate Scholar and freelance journalist and private consultant based in Bogota and an FPRI associate scholar. He has contributed articles to Jane's Intelligence Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times and other publications, and worked as a TV field producer on programs for the Discovery/Travel Channel, the History Channel and FOX News.
Philadelphia, PA 19102 USA


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With the release today of the vSphere 5.1 virtualization platform VMware shows that it remains the pacesetter in data center virtualization. One year after the release of version 5.0, vSphere 5.1 is outfitted with new features that significantly improve how the product will work in small- to medium-sized IT shops while continuing to provide industry-leading enhancements for capabilities that are used by enterprises of all sizes.
You can read my full review here.
VMware also changed how it charges for the platform. As announced at VMworld last month, the vRAM pricing model that was introduced just one year ago with version 5.0, has been scraped and the product is now sold on a per CPU socket model. There are a wide range of vSphere editions. Representative price points range from the Standard license that lists for $995, Enterprise at $2,875, and Enterprise plus at $3,495. vSphere is also available as part of the new vCloud Suite. The suite list prices range from $4,995 to $11,495. A direct comparison to competitor products (basically Windows Server with Hyper-V plus a variety of Microsoft System Center products) puts VMware's class-leading platform at to the premium end of the virtualization scale.
A new web-based client, automatic deployment features, and replication capabilities that don't require a shared storage array all bolster vSphere 5.1 when compared to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V. Increased virtual machine CPU and memory limits, an enhanced virtual switch, and significant improvements in virtual machine tools—along with a host of other features should be welcome additions for large data center operators.
There are competitive alternatives that IT managers should compare when looking at a virtualization platform. Based on my work with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and with the release candidate version of Server 2012, which was finalized and shipped last week, IT shops still likely have enough reason to consider the VMware competitors. For shops that already use Windows Server and Microsoft System Center tools, Hyper-V is still initially easier to turn on and slipstream into use when compared to a full-blown VMware installation. I looked at Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 earlier this year and found that it was worthy of consideration, and not just for its lower licensing cost.


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Public opinions towards artificial intelligence
These days, artificial intelligence (A.I.) is driving many of the gadgets that we use without thinking. Smartphones, smart thermostats and voice-activated virtual assistants are making use of machine learning to bring modern conveniences to our everyday lives. A very impressive progression for the future, but should we feel anxious about the change which A.I represents? Are these learning-capable machines doing too much of the thinking for us?
At Vox Pops, curiosity got the better of us, so we hit the streets of Epsom to discuss how the public is adapting to new technologies and their thoughts on A.I.
Many of the public seemed daunted at the idea of a robot which could act on conclusions derived through machine learning. A large number of respondents thought we may be in "dangerous waters" and that "it's going too far", with the 'Terminator' film on their minds. The development of artificial intelligence is a frightening concept.
"Artificial intelligence will take over anyway, whether we like it or not. Its just a matter of time"
Some respondents went as far as suggesting that it's inevitable that machines will take over the world. Artificial intelligence has already embedded itself in commonplace household devices such as Apple's Siri, Google's Home and Amazon's Alexa. Many of the older demographic interviewed by Vox Pops were worried about the implications this may have on the younger generation.
"For children its quite dangerous, they are not using the resources in their brain – it's encouraging them to be a bit more lazy"
On the contrary, some respondents did acknowledge the positives A.I can bring to modern life. For example, that information can be accessed quicker, making learning easier. "Just ask Siri".
One lady also argued that we should be developing computers because "they're probably better at it than people". Computer science is already being applied to increase efficiency in many industries, as one respondent was aware…
"One of our companies in Japan is already talking about going fully robotic and replacing the workforce. It's cheaper labour, 24/7, no lunch breaks"
Another respondent pointed out the limitations of replacing human intelligence with machine learning. His company has been using an automated response system to give customers advice, but "it doesn't take into account that person's long-term plans, feelings about things, economical outlook, political bias". Suggesting that although machines may be able to offer consistency regarding tedious or dangerous tasks; they are unable to be empathetic. On top of this, the idea of replacing a human workforce with machines inevitably causes concern for people losing their jobs.
"You don't want to train them too quickly, otherwise people will be out of jobs"
The idea of people losing their jobs to machines was the biggest cause for concern amongst the participants we interviewed. Nonetheless, a few did think it was possible that a positive relationship with technology could develop, and that we should "just accept these things, don't try and fight them. There's other things to fight about."
Interviewing the public to bring insight to life
Vox Pops videos like the one above are typically filmed intercept interviews used to bring a customer, brand message, insight or research data to life. Interviews with the public help develop customer understanding and present market research data in an engaging and memorable manner – helping employees visualize the end consumer. Vox Pops International combine market research and video production expertise to create high quality insight videos.


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These rack cards describe some ongoing projects we are working on:
- ManTalk began in 2011 as a group for male-identified individuals who have experienced sexual abuse.
- Hey Men began in 2015 as a partnership with local universities to help men who show problematic sexual behaviour.
- Male Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence started as a series of meetings to discuss the issue in a way that honours services for women.
- The Peoples' Counselling Clinic is always looking for ways to partner with allied agencies to help serve marginalized people.
- ManTalk 2.0 was funded by the Federal Department of Justice and is one of our services offered to victims of sexualized violence and human trafficking.
- Inside Out was funded by the Federal Department of Justice and is offered to prevent family or other violence.


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Online Medical Records
This service automatically retrieves and electronically duplicates enrolled horses medical records from your Practice Management Software (PMS) system and uploads the data to EquiHealth.com
- Customize the clients view to only include medical records and/or notes allowed by the Doctor.
- Automated and compatible with :
Practice Benefits:
- Improves health schedule compliance and customer loyalty.
- Reduces overall time and cost associated with calling, faxing, mailing or emailing medical records.
- Keeps information up-to-date by emailing your practice when clients change their contact information, horses picture or other information. These updates can then be entered into your practices PMS system.
- Increases profit through improved health schedule compliance and/or charging an annual fee to enrolled clients.
- Patients records can be viewed by the Doctor while away from the office or during a natural disaster.
Horse Owner Benefits:
- Ability to manage health schedules, view upcoming appointments, or follow up on healthcare recommendations.
- 24/7 access to the required medical records needed for traveling, enrolling in classes, or in an emergency.
- Email alert reminders can be setup for product or medication doses. Alerts helps you manage the number of doses remaining and the days between doses. View Alerts sample
- Request appointments, refill medications, or ask general questions. My Practice is available 24/7, which makes communication with your practice convenient and easy. View My Practice sample
Enrolling owners and managing EquiHealth within your PMS system is easy. Clients are enrolled by simply entering their email address into your practices PMS system. Once a client is enrolled they will receive an email encouraging them to register and informing them of the benefits of using EquiHealth. Records are safe, secure, and can only be viewed with an email address and private password.Back to Top
These services help your practice save time and money by automating daily, weekly, and monthly marketing tasks.
Reminders: Health reminders are sent to all clients enrolled in EquiHealth or who have an email address in a practices PMS system (clients can unsubscribe if they do not wish to receive email reminders). Reminders can be emailed twice up to 30 days prior to upcoming health schedules and again at 30, 60 and 90 days overdue. Emails are branded with a practices email address, name, phone number, and are personalized with the horse's name. Using Reminders is a cost effective way to increase health schedule compliance.View Reminders sample
View Text (SMS) sample
Appointments: Appointment reminders are sent 2 days prior to upcoming appointments to all clients enrolled in EquiHealth, or who have an email address in a practices management software. These reminders can now be sent via automated Email or Text (SMS) message. Clients can easily confirm Email and Text message appointments with one-click confirmation and your practice will be notified via email.View Email sample
View Text (SMS) sample
Surveys: Improve client satisfaction and increase referrals by allowing customers to provide important feedback about a recent visit. Choose from our standard survey questions or create your own customized survey. Clients will automatically receive an email survey 2 days after a service has been invoiced and the results will be emailed to your practice. Clients can choose to submit surveys anonymously or request a follow-up email or call.View Survey sample
Newsletters: Newsletters are a cost effective and efficient method of communication for your entire practice or a small target group. Emails can be personalized using the clients first name, last name, or horses name. Use Newsletters to introduce new products or services (i.e. EquiHealth), share health news & tips, inform clients about new practice information, offer promotions, etc.View Newsletters sample
Coupon Builder: Provide personalized, professional promotions and discounts through Coupon Builder! Create custom coupons with your practice logo and apply them to Marketing materials. The coupons include a custom message, can be set to expire and you can decide to which Marketing files youd like them applied. Whether youre running a wellness campaign or a seasonal special, coupons are a great way to attract your clients attention and increase visits.View Coupon sample
Postal Reminders Cards
Bring more clients through your doors - and exert less energy doing so, with EquiHealth Postal Reminder Cards!
- 4"x6" full color cards
- Choose the reminder schedule and messages
- Include a custom marketing message on each card
- Multi-horse cards save money and organize health service reminders onto one postcard
- Select reminder codes from your practice management software to include or exclude
- Choose to not send postal reminders to clients with email addresses
Cards include your hospitals return address and practice information, as well as client mailing address.View Postal Reminder Cards sample Back to Top
Home Delivery
VetSource is reshaping the way you deliver medicine. This exciting service allows you to provide both traditional and proactive home delivery services. Owners will be able to either browse your website for products or be automatically enrolled for monthly shipments before leaving the practice. VetSources Remind Me program allows you to recapture lost revenues from non-veterinary online pharmacies while boosting client compliance. Owners will also be able to manage and track their horses medication and food shipments from within the EquiHealth portal. To learn more about our home delivery option, please visit vetsource.com or ask your Patterson representative for more details.
View Home Delivery sample
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Equine Health Articles
Offer your clients 24 hour access to a library of health articles for timely information on important topics. Our database of articles are illustrated and can be easily searched. Articles can also be printed for later review.View Horse Health Articles sample Back to Top
Equine Health Videos
These videos include high definition footage and incredible animations to better explain common health issues and more complex conditions. Owners can watch these programs at their leisure and they are a great way to reinforce topics that were discussed at the practice. Each video is professionally narrated, fully reviewed by our veterinary team and runs four to six minutes. Please see below for a list of titles:
- Dental Health
- Equine Health
- Exploratory Celiotomy
- External Parasites
- GI Tract (Normal)
- Guttural Pouch Lavage
- Hoof (Normal)
- Hoof Abscesses
- Hoof Care
- Internal Parasites
- Joint Health
- Joint Injection
- Lameness
- Laminitis Progression
- Laryngeal Tieback Procedure
- Nutrition and Digestive Health
- Right Dorsal Displacement (Colic)
- Teeth Floating
Interactive Horse
An interactive horse can be opened to explore body systems and learn how different areas of anatomy can effect an horses health. Laminitis, colic, corneal ulcers and dental issues are just some of the topics that can be explored. All of these fascinating features can be integrated directly into your website or accessed at EquiHealth.com!
View Interactive Horse sample Back to Top
Online Coggins
EquiHealth has teamed with GlobalVetLink, a well-known provider of electronic laboratory forms, to provide your clients with 24/7 access to EIA/Coggins tests. Horse owners will be able to open and print completed tests through the medical record page of their EquiHealth portal.
Coggins' USDA-approved electronic forms prepare you for domestic and international movement of horses with no more carbon-copy forms. The service is integrated with several practice management software systems and allows users to report data in real time, eliminating the time wasted through traditional form submission.
In addition to real-time data reporting, digital photos improve identification and make hand-drawn markings a thing of the past. The photos are stored in the database and new photos are needed only if the horse changes in appearance.
View Coggins sample


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Most of the reports that you will create in Microsoft Access will be used for common data printing requirements.
However there are times when entirely different kinds of printouts are required, such as when you need to create mailing labels.
Mailing labels are created in Microsoft Access by using a report. The basic label can be created by starting with a blank form, or you can use the label wizard. The Wizard is much easier to use and can save you a great deal of time.
Usually, in a large enough company, labels will be created for mailing purposes; addressing packages or envelopes. However, it is just as easy to create product labels, name tags or any other type of label. Rather than having to create the report from scratch, or use the standard Access Report Wizard, you will find that the Label Wizard will save a lot of time and will create exactly the kind of result that you need to print labels.
We can create a report, to print mailing labels by using the Mailing Label Report Wizard:
We can change the record source of the report, if for example, the report design suits a different table or query. For instance, if we have a table that holds Customer Names and Addresses and another table that holds similar Supplier information.
An efficient way of producing mailing labels in Microsoft Access, for both sets of data would be to change the record source in the reports properties dialog box.
Mail Merge for Microsoft Access
The easy solution to create Microsoft Word, Excel, Email or PDF documents from data in your MS Access database. Documents of any level of complexity can be created easily (contracts, invoices, reports). Supports email mail merge, labels and envelopes, directory reports and listings. Free Trial Version available to download.


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To say Social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a must can be called extremely 2012. Social media is now a Blitzkrieg all kinds of catalyst changes expected in the world. The social verse has an opinion and argument for everything said and done by the brand.
Like they say, anything communicated by you can and will be used against you.
The infamous Maggi ban is a classic case in Social CRM 101. While the brand managed to reply in an almost timely fashion, their tone and language didn't seem to go down well with hardcore loyalists who expected the brand to say something more reassuring than – our product does not contain lead.
Maggi was a one off battle; telecom players such as Vodafone and Airtel fight a daily CRM battle with vexed consumers raining woes every second.
To take brand communication to a Martian level, brands need to rework every axiom they have learnt or implemented about Social CRM. To begin this un-conditioning process take the first step by ignoring the cardinal Social CRM sins that even the biggest of brands succumb to.
Template based responses
How many of you seriously revert to texts that begin with – Dear Customer? It is the era of data, we know a lot more than then their name, yet brands go by template responses that appear extremely impersonal.
At a recent conference an industry person called this era of 'Tinderisation' of brands; consumers will swipe left if they don't find loyalty. Template responses hold the validity of a WhatsApp broadcast; you wouldn't really respond to it.
Gigantic disconnect
This sin isn't particularly restricted to Social CRM. How often do you call a brand's helpline to get a certain problem sorted? A lot of times it boils down to nothing compelling you to take up to social media and once you post or tweet your case starts from scratch again. There is absolutely no inter-platform integration or communication.
Here, in fact, lies the opportunity for brands to be pre-active. Anticipate the potential petitioner and provide them social media assistance beforehand or at least be prepared for it.
No lead generation
The idea that social CRM is mere means to customer-brand connect is not only sin but also a myth. Social media can give you as precise information as who read the blog shared by you, where do they stay, and what is their profession? It is practically a lead generation gold mine if you know how to cater to their needs with your products and services.
No PR-CRM synergy
A social media crisis leaves no party untouched; right from the CEO to the employees all are impacted. Taking in account the virality factor, within 30 minutes of the crisis the top management of the firm has been questioned on social media, and they more or less have no clue of what to revert with.
The PR team then starts functioning and after tons of approvals comes the quotes from officials but by then the situation has escalated immensely.
A PR-Social CRM synergy can avoid a lot of crisis and create an efficient goodwill for the brand and the management.
No learning from previous mistakes
Most brands have been in the Social CRM backlash boat at least once, still, a lot of them fail to learn from the mistakes. Brands are seen getting into spats, deleting comments, and practicing other such deeds landing into trouble over and over.
Social CRM is a rooted concept now; to sin in it can and will lead to fatal consequences. Create a dedicated Social CRM team; if you already have one get them to use tools.
This article is brought to you by Konnect Insights. Take a look at the above video and gain in-depth insights on how Social CRM works through this tool.