UK Payments Council foresees mobile eclipsing plastic

The Payments Council, an organization representing the interests of the U.K. payment industry, has released a new report on the way Britons pay for things. According to the group, the trends are pointing towards a future when plastic is eclipsed by the mobile device.

According to the new report, called "The Way We Pay," paying for goods and services has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, with the use of checks dropping by half every five years.

Cash use has also dropped considerably. Since 2001, retail purchases made with cash have dropped from 43 percent to 30 percent. The difference is due to the rise of debit cards. Spending on debit cards has increased almost fourfold since 2001, the council said.

Additionally, the U.K. Payment Council said contactless payment technology is starting to become more familiar. The organization said that while most of those payments are made with cards enabled with the technology, it's possible to see more mobile devices do the job.

"We scarcely notice the steady changes in the way we pay, yet someone in their thirties today will see more change in their lifetime than in the entire history of money," said Adrian Kamellard,My experience of your company has been excellent and I would happily buy mosaic tiles. chief executive of the Payments Council.

"Even recent innovations such as payment via a mobile phone, which ten years ago some felt to be science fiction, will soon be commonplace."

Kamellard said the 2000s were the decade of the debit card but the 2010s are likely to be the decade of the mobile phone.

"Just as we can’t imagine how we ever did without the Internet, many people will soon wonder how we used to be so dependent on cash and check.Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps. Twenty years from now even cards may seem archaic," Kamellard said.Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. "The wallet could become a historical curiosity."

HERE’S something on the automated teller machine (ATM) scam that has already victimized many depositors of three big banks. As could be gleaned from the complaints that have filtered into the banking community, the global syndicate behind the scam used “sophisticated methods” to clean out cash from unsuspecting ATM holders.

This is how they did it, according to information we received. Small spy cameras were surreptitiously placed by the scammers at the back of the ATM machines of the targeted banks, enabling them to get the personal identification number (PIN) of the persons withdrawing the money. The white-collar criminals then clone the ATM cards—the contents of the magnetic strip at the back—through the use of sophisticated machines.

The cloned ATMs (most are globally interconnected) are then used by the scammers’ cohorts abroad, say, the United States, to withdraw vast sums of money from the victims’ deposits here. The scam is said to have victimized “many” depositors but because of the sensitivity of the issues involved, their identities have been kept under wraps although their banks have issued new ATM cards to them so they could key in their new PINs.

It is said that the three universal banks that have been victimized have reacted but banking insiders said the reaction was not the kind they expected that could shield depositors from such ATM scams in the future. The insiders say such scams are happening not because cybercrime syndicates were smarter but because the banks issuing the ATMs are not doing their work properly.

The draft provides guidelines on how financial institutions should approach and mitigate Information Technology Risk Management.

In particular, the BSP ITRM mandates that all ATM operators are required to comply with the 3DES—usually referred to as triple-DES—standard. 3DES is a not-very-new security standard for plastic cards using a magnetic stripe to store information such as a card number and the security keys to arrive at a PIN.

The requirement is for ATMs to be 100-percent compliant with the 3DES standard starting at: 1) The ATM (specifically the ATM PIN pad and the software of the terminal); 2) The hardware and software that comprise the ATM Switch that manages the ATM network; 3) A device called a Hardware Security Module (HSM). If any component is non-compliant, it represents a weak element in the transaction chain, eliminating compliance and rendering the security of the transaction suspect. It has been discovered that despite 3DES having been required internationally for over 10 years now, many Philippine banks are still on the old, obsolete single-DES.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business.

In fact, one highly reputable consortium offering an Outsourced ATM service is not compliant with the 3DES standard. One wonders what would happen to the banks that availed themselves of this consortium’s service once January 2014 comes around. Further exacerbating the situation, because of the growth of fraud on card-based payment services, the BSP now requires compliance with the newer and stricter Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard. It is doubtful that many Philippine banks intend to comply with this, too, considering their current records.

The BSP guidelines also call for the implementation of the EuroPay MasterCard Visa standard, the highest level of security for plastic cards, in three years’ time. It would be very interesting to see how fast the financial industry could move toward higher security for their customers. Meanwhile,A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose solar lantern by Gordon. the threat of another ATM scam remains because of the lack of sophistication of the banks issuing ATMs. The BSP has a big headache, indeed.

Hands On With the HTC One

HTC's gorgeous new flagship phone, the HTC One, doesn't look like any other phone on the market. It's a solid piece of aluminum with a next-generation processor and the densest, most colorful screen I've ever seen. It turns your photos into videos. It boots into something that looks like Flipboard. It runs hundreds of thousands of apps, and it'll be available on several major U.S. carriers.

We got to spend some time with the new HTC One, and it's very impressive. The phone is a block of tough, silvery aluminum with two inlaid plastic lines on the back; apparently, it takes more than three hours to mill and tool the metal for each phone. At 5.4 by 2.7 by 0.36 inches and 5 ounces, it's similar in size to most other flagship phones nowadays.

This is one of those phones you have to hold in your hand to understand. I had the same feeling about HTC's One S. There's nothing flimsy, nothing plasticky, nothing removable. It has the same precision-tooled solidity as the latest iPhones, but feels much more durable.

The "UltraPixel" camera on the back is slightly inset to prevent scratching. On the front, a thrillingly bright 4.7-inch, 1080p Super LCD 3 comes in at 468 pixels per inch,My experience of your company has been excellent and I would happily buy mosaic tiles. the densest I've ever seen. It's bracketed by loud, dual front-facing stereo speakers on the top and bottom with built-in amplifiers, and there's also a 2.1-megapixel, wide-angle camera above the screen. Dual-membrane microphones help the phone capture loud and quiet sounds without distortion. The power button on top of the phone doubles as an IR emitter, so you can use the One as a universal remote control.A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose solar lantern by Gordon.

Inside, this is the first phone we've seen with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, a quad-core chip running at 1.7 GHz. The phone will come with either 32 or 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, and it's backed by a non-removable 2300mAh battery to support that very dense screen. There's no memory card slot and just two ports: a headphone jack and a MicroUSB that doubles as an MHL output for HDMI TVs.

At Tuesday's launch event in New York, HTC CEO Peter Chou said that "although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them." HTC plans to remedy that, it said, with a brand-new version of Sense, along with a number of new features like "BlinkFeed."

The HTC One runs Android 4.1.2 with HTC's new Sense 5, a very heavily customized skin. (Android 4.2 is coming soon,Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. but HTC said there isn't actually much difference between 4.1 and 4.2 on phones; I agree.) You know you're in Sense even at the lock screen, which has the famous HTC time-and-weather widget; your notifications shoot across the screen in stylish gray bars.

The most striking new innovation here is the BlinkFeed, which is basically Flipboard on your home screen. HTC can't say "Flipboard," because it doesn't have a deal with Flipboard, but it looks and works like Flipboard, mixing in news feeds, social media updates, and local information like calendar alerts into a shifting, scrollable set of panels. You can get rid of BlinkFeed and go back to the standard Android home screen, of course.

I don't love BlinkFeed, because I actually have things I like to put on my home screen. But HTC made a good argument that this is for people who don't think about their home screens much, and who just want a stream of default, readable content. In any case, Blink Feed won't make or break this phone—there's a lot else going on.

Dig down deeper and HTC has changed a lot of things. There are only two buttons below the screen, not three or four as on most recent Android phones: to get to the multitasking feature, you have to double-tap the home button. The app icon grid defaults to a spaced-out three by three with folders rather than the usual four by five. All of the standard PIM apps, like the dialer, contact book, and calendar, have "pivots" where you swipe left and right to see different categories of information.

But that's not all! The One also includes a "kid mode" with parental controls and a new Web-based setup and data transfer system that lets you easily customize your phone and bring data over from iPhones or other Android phones.

It's all very well-designed and elegant, a little bit understated, and with fewer odd "bloop" noises than you get on the Samsung Galaxy Phones. On the other hand, it isn't "stock Android," which will drive purists nuts.Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. Frankly, we're not seeing much of the "pure Google experience" anymore.

We'll drill down on the One's camera features in a separate story. But HTC is trying to replace megapixels with "ultrapixels," cutting down the size of photos but using much larger individual pixels to sharply reduce noise and improve low-light performance. The idea here is to give you images that look like they were taken with a real digital camera, not a cameraphone, at a resolution that you'd actually use: 4 megapixels, more than enough for a 4x6 print or Web viewing. I saw a comparison of low-light pictures from the One, the iPhone 5 , and the Samsung Galaxy S III , and the One's images were far clearer and brighter.Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps.

The phone also sets your photos in motion, with a new feature called "Zoe." Short for "zoetrope," the Zoe mode records three seconds of video every time you take a photo. You can look at the Zoes individually, or let the phone automatically sew them together into a 30-second "highlight reel" from an event or evening made up of photos, videos, and Zoes. When I saw a demo of the highlight reel, it looked compelling but still needed some tweaking; highlights from a day at a cooking class properly included shots of chopping vegetables and sizzling meat, but also threw in a couple of random shots of blank walls and floors. HTC is fine-tuning that intelligence, the company said.

Marriage Records/Slender Means Society

There’s something fantastically empowering about assuming alternate identities—all the “should I should I should I”s slough away and unseal a second skin wherein mimicry can become proficiency can become its own gloriously winged being. Case in point, Zac Pennington.Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. Leading art-pop/pop-art provocateurs Parenthetical Girls, Pennington contains multitudes—or masquerades as multitudes—the distinction is immaterial as the frontman louches through the wardrobe racks and bulbed mirrors of his own Annie Leibovitz shoot, seamlessly transforming from cardiganed K-Popper to Jude Law dandy, brooding through one setup in sepulchral Goth and vamping the next in lipstick and tussle.

In order to elevate the identity-play of Privilege (Abridged) above two-dimensional dress-up, Pennington flaunts a virtuosic grasp of spatial relationships; casting himself as a costume-swapping, ambiguously diegetic master of ceremonies, the singer commands a space both above and within the world of each song, the acutely rendered dramas of sexual revenge, indiscretion and suicide unfolding at stage left as Pennington sashays through the pain and shame of the ensnared players with an ambivalence that borders on sinister. It’s a serious fucking star turn,A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose solar lantern by Gordon. and all the more remarkable in light of how far Pennington’s come as a vocalist. 2004’s (((GRRRLS))) captured the singer still replicating rather than inhabiting, his fragile voice fluttering over nascent glockenspiel and rutted in the “Sad Pony Guerilla Girl” stylings of co-producer/Xiu Xiu mastermind Jamie Stewart. On follow-up Safe As Houses, Pennington increasingly tested the cardinal points of his vibrato, wavering between 4 Non Blondes bleat and Vanderslice wobble, scaling Yorke-ean falsettos and splintering in Mangum breaks. The band’s most recent album, the richly orchestrated song cycle Entanglements, played to the collective’s most charming anachronisms—with Pennington doffing derby and umbrella to swing from lamppost to lamppost—but while showcasing a more refined vocal approach, the multi-tracked chamber-pop was even more of a testament to the parallel artistic growth of Pennington’s longtime collaborative foil, composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist Jherek Bischoff.

Right—we’re not gabbing on about some glorified solo project here. And can we all agree that Jherek Bischoff is about as insanely talented as any musician working in indie rock today? Can we go ahead and agree on that? Tell you what, if you want to know everything you need to know about Jherek Bischoff, skip all that Amanda Palmer/Grand Theft Orchestra mess and Google up the Lincoln Center performance of his DIY symphony suite, Composed. Number after number, these full-on showboats take turns chewing the scenery—David Byrne, Zac Pennington, and a phenomenally groovy conductor (whose maroon tailcoat is, in a word, fly)—and then there’s Jherek Bischoff, blending in with the musicians in the back row, plucking away on a ukulele of all things. If you didn’t know the guy wrote the entire thing, seriously, you’d never know the guy wrote the entire thing: he just smiles and plucks and light ups while his compositions are brought to life. Sheesh. Lovely.

In case you’re wondering where Pennington/Bischoff might situate their combined songwriting aesthetic, surely there’s no better starting point than Entanglements’ super-great “A Song For Ellie Greenwich”: atop cabrioles of trumpet and violin, the lyrics tip their hat to “(They Long To Be) Close To You” and “Hand In Glove,” and the better part of Privilege (Abridged) embellishes that sweet spot between Bacharach/David and Morrissey/Marr. “Evelyn McHale” leads the album with a timeless, Ronettes backbeat and another nod to The Smiths as Pennington serenades the bride-to-be whose iconic photo was splashed across Life magazine after she leapt from the Empire State Building and landed in languorous repose atop a Cadillac Limo: “Hateful and hollow, smug and smart/Well don’t we look the part?/Sweetheart, remembered for your art/Train those charms toward the charts and we’ll be stars just the way that we are.” I know what you’re thinking: must we drop everything and focus on that little bit of lyric? Yes, we must. Allusion, alliteration, assonance, internal rhyme: purely at the line-level there’s craft enough to reward repeat listens,My experience of your company has been excellent and I would happily buy mosaic tiles. but complementing that deft writing, Pennington has mastered the most captivating qualities of his voice, luxuriating in all those assonant vowel sounds, teasing with sibilance and projecting to the balcony at will.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business.

Supposedly—supposedly—Privilege (Abridged) coheres around or sheds the white-hot light of inquiry upon its titular concept, but please, who are we kidding, these belles-lettres are less a vehicle for contemporary social commentary and more a pretext for Pennington to swagger as if he’d stepped straight from an Evelyn Waugh novel. Not that I’m pitching a fuss, mind you—“privilege” has become the most tedious polemic trump card this side of “slippery slope,” and Pennington’s positively ravishing in Brideshead. And what, asketh thou, has been “Abridged” from Privilege? Wouldn’t we all like to know. The original, limited-edition objet accommodated 21 songs across five 12” EPs and brandished an asking price somewhere in the neighborhood of Perrier-Jou?t’s Belle époque.Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps. The Vintage Rosé, thank you very much. Whatever superfluity has been excised, the 12 remaining tracks crest high upon high like a collection of singles, or a playlist of M83 after you’ve done away with all the empty calories and filler. Speaking of whom, “Young Throats” discharges a barrage of those besotted, Molly Ringwald synths for a Saturdays=Youth-type anthem that will almost certainly inspire comely strangers to clasp hands and race barefoot through the dunes. In “Careful Who You Dance With” Pennington goes wilding with the boys—and oh these boys know wilding—“reckless romantics” and “cheap meat” careening toward an ineluctable collision of forced fellatio and viscid rage, the spare Casio beat deviating into Dead Or Alive magnificence as “somebody’s bound to get his head kicked in.”

None of which, however, ought suggest Privilege (Abridged) trims itself from top to tail in ’80s accoutrements: “The Pornographer” leers to a glam Bolan stomp while “The Common Touch” reels amid the precipitous piano and slashing cello of Cursive at their most baroque. For pure kicks, the trashy hook of “A Note To Self” rips off The Strokes ripping off Tom Petty ripping off that mythical contraption misty-eyed old duffers refer to as “AM radio.” Gender-bending voice and piano number “Sympathy For Spastics” is le plus: less precious than Owen Pallett, more tawdry than Patrick Wolf, Pennington revives the epic tradition of New Wave balladry spawned by “The Power of Love,” where Frankie Goes To Hollywood either invented the genre or simply obliterated every prior iteration in a blast wave of sheer fabulousness.

So, you know, that’s it. No doubt there are bound to be those who complain of how Parenthetical Girls wear their influences on their sleeves. Yeah—that’s the point. By now, there’s no form of influence more small-minded and domineering than the schooled belief that creativity should “appear” free of influence. Regardless of medium, that line of inquiry inevitably runs aground at the same nether end: the toilet becomes the art instillation and the only innovative ingredients left to cook are cuts from the intestinal tract. Great. Go put your pisser on a pedestal. Go nibble your crispy colon confit. Privilege (Abridged) takes on immediately recognizable appearances, but Pennington doesn’t just walk through each number; he partners with them, parading the words and music in and out of dynamic perspective. It’s a song and dance that’s just my style.

Wake up and watch those credit cards

It can be the most comfortable, dazzling, accessible shopping mall of all, the Internet.

But even if you’re snug at home in your PJs, you could be the victim of a digital pickpocket, said Shelly Buller, senior vice president of Member Services at Fibre Federal Credit Union in Cowlitz County.

The best advice when using credit cards to pay online vendors, Buller said, “is to stick with familiar, established retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Macy’s.

“Online, people have a tendency to be more vulnerable. You’re looking for something, and you find it from a vendor you’re not familiar with. Maybe their security is not as strong as a big retailer.”

All kinds of vendors pass on consumers’ information for profit, Buller said. “When people shop for weight-loss products and vitamins, they may fall prey to ‘side sales’ — the vendor they order from sells their name and information to another vendor,” and that second party may sell it to a third party.

“It becomes quite a headache to stop the deductions from your account, for something you didn’t want to begin with,” she said. “With better security, there’s less risk ...

“Consumers are well protected using a credit card,” Buller said, and banks and credit unions usually cover losses when they are reported as soon as they’re noticed.

Aside from thieves who get credit card numbers by searching trash for receipts and other financial records, there’s also a risk when employees at smaller retailers or food vendors go away with a card and return in a few minutes — enough time to take a photo with a smart phone.

Echoing Federal Trade Commission guidelines, Buller said the best practice is to check your account balances and purchases regularly so you’ll notice odd charges.

The biggest risks are scammers who get people to willingly give them information or wire them money, said James Gorley of Fibre Federal Credit Union, who represents FFCU on the Anti-fraud Coalition of Cowlitz County, which includes about 70 members from law enforcement, finance institutions and retailers.

“If we band together,” Gorley said, “we can alert each other and work together to help stop fraud.”

The members hear stories all the time, he said, where common sense is thwarted by hope and a bright computer screen.

“A very common fraud is ‘phishing,’ ” Buller said, the use of email, phone, “even texting” messages that try to trick people into giving out information that can be used to access their accounts or create duplicates of their cards.

Sometimes the caller pretends to be the bank, a particularly insidious scam.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product - the most durable. The caller, concerned that your account has been compromised, needs your card number and security code to keep you safe.

On some sites, sending money before getting the product is not wise, Gorley said.

“Somebody on Craigslist says ‘Hey, we’re selling puppies’ or ‘I’m selling a 1983 Chevette from a collection in Dubai,’ ” Gorley said. The sellers then ask for airfare upfront to ship the bulldogs or vintage roadser. And people buy it.

“I know people who have taken money out of their retirement accounts” in cases like these, Gorley said.

The newest scam technique is to focus on vulnerable people, he said, “the elderly, the unemployed, people getting benefits.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. I don’t know where (the scammers) get the information. They may contact someone as many as three times,” pressuring them with a deal. Or they pretend to be a grandchild in dire straights who needs Grandpa to wire money right away.

People should never respond to these come-ons, Gorley said.

“We try to educate them, to explain the risk,” he said of consumers, but even publicized warnings do not stop some who are frightened about a loved one and want to do the right thing, or those who are desperate to believe they’ve won a windfall.

In the lottery scams, the thieves send a check that looks real and passes like a real check.

People say “ ‘Oh, I won the lottery in Europe!’ ” Gorley said. “I say, ‘Do you know foreign lotteries are illegal?’ They don’t. ‘Did you enter a lottery in Europe?’ They didn’t. ...

“If you cash that check, you will be responsible to cover it” when it bounces.Our precision manufactured lasers and laser systems deliver the highest possible laser cutter performance on a wide variety of materials. In the meantime, you’ve spent the money on bills, food or other items — and used it to wire “tax” or other “fees” to the scammer. “Now you owe it all back to the bank.”

Buller said she’s talked to “intelligent people who say, ‘I was duped. It seemed like such a great deal.’ I just got hosed.” She shook her head. “If it seems too good to be true, it (begin ital) is (end ital) too good to be true.”

One pitfall we all face is complacency, because it’s so easy to carry and use debit and credit cards.

“Cards are a negotiating instrument,” Buller said, “just like cash. You have to be cautious.

“If you give your card to a family member to go get bread and milk, and you share your PIN, you have just compromised your security.”

People who are ill or infirm and need help shopping should consider a “joint signer,” a trusted person authorized to use the card. “That individual would have their own card.”

Buller warned people never to leave credit cards, checkbooks and other pieces of identification where others can find them.

At parties (including at your own residence), bridal showers, funerals,wind turbine anywhere where a crowd gathers in a place where outsiders could slip in, there’s a risk.

“Guess what? Someone can go in that room and have a heyday,Our precision manufactured lasers and laser marker systems deliver the highest possible laser marking performance.” Buller said. “It happens all the time.”

It’s also easy to leave a debit or credit card behind when someone is distracted or in a hurry at the check-out line.

And, despite well publicized warnings, Buller said she still sees shoppers leave purses in grocery carts while they dart off to grab items. If the thief takes only your billfold, you may not even notice until you get to the checkout stand — and the varmint is long gone.

Another scam, in Vancouver and California, rigs ATM machines and gas pumps to skim data. “It doesn’t look any different, but the perpetrators install cameras. Then they create their own cards.”

Buller said it can be helpful to live in a community small enough that credit unions know their customers. “You can call up Red Canoe or Fibre Federal from England, and they will help you with your questions.”

She also reminded travelers to let their banks or credit unions know when and where they will be traveling, so a hold will not be put on their credit cards when out-of-town transactions pop up.

Gorley and the fraud coalition put on workshops to share information they glean from customers and hold an annual, public, free shredder event after tax day in April, to encourage consumers to shred old documents that have social security numbers and financial data.

Next generation research

If marketers are the architects of brand solutions, researchers are the engineers. The former can’t operate without the latter. The most imaginative designs, strategies and executions fall flat without the relevant facts, figures and insights to shape and guide them; it’s construction,Your council is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street light. and marketing, 101.

But in today’s ultra-competitive landscape, where consumers have more choice, less time and tighter wallets than ever before, research is increasingly critical.

Whether testing advertising, preparing to launch new products or testing products already in market, brands are forking out millions to get the scoop on what their consumers like and don’t like well before they lose out in market share, or bare the brunt on Facebook.

And, as the importance of research grows, so too do the scope of its objectives, data sources and collection methods.

The fragmentation of media channels over the last five years has opened up vast oceans of data which both research companies and businesses are working to translate into actionable insights.

Furthermore, the proliferation of new media, particularly social media and mobile devices, has revolutionised the way brands can find, interact with and analyse their sample audiences, making contemporary research fast, economical and far more fun for the consumers involved.

“The amount of change in the last three years has been amazing,” says Peter Harris, MD of Vision Critical. “Research has always been about making sure every ‘i’ is dotted and ‘t’ is crossed. It’s been slow and steady and accurate but the speed of decision-making in business has increased very quickly in the last three years, so now market research has to evolve to keep up.

Simplistically put, research provides brands with data and insights to help them understand consumers’ behaviour and spending patterns. It helps marketers build audience profiles and consequently target marketing efforts to relevant consumer communities.

Market research, as an industry, sprung to life in the 1960s in line with advertising’s ‘golden age’. Its mainstays were face-to-face surveys, telephone questionnaires and focus groups – the type where 20 people were lumped in a room to be observed by a brand scientist from behind a mirrored glass pane.

Then advent of the internet in the late 1990s turned the industry, like so many others, on its head. Since then, online and digital have become its linchpins both in terms of both data creation and collection.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobblehead available anywhere.

The uptake of personal devices, like mobile phones and tablets, and the advent of social media mean clients now have far more behavioural and sales data at their fingertips.

“The research function is basically moving from a ‘we need to ask some questions and conduct surveys to inform marketing management’ to ‘what are all the different sources of data and touch points we have to our target audience? And how are we going to form that into a coherent knowledge and insights program to help meet our overall business objectives?’” says James Burge, MD of Research Now.

Five years ago a brand’s annual research would consist of implementing a traditional brand tracker, running a number of usage to attitude studies and a few big segmentations during the year. The projects were fewer, slower and of much larger value.

The modern approach to research, however, is about “using existing intelligence, technology and capabilities to extract insights now rather than waiting for the perfect solution,” says MCN Multiview insights and analytics director, Murray Love.

Why? Because marketers need to be faster to market than ever before and that pressure, in turn, is passed on to their research teams.

“The speed to market is much faster than it was ten or 15 years ago,” says Kate Platter, New South Wales director of Ipsos ASI. “The speed at which you can launch a product is much faster, and the speed at which somebody can copy it is much faster, so your window of opportunity as a marketer has become much smaller. We have to match that now.”

Today too, marketing research is more and more about “integrative learning” and ongoing conversations. The typical research approach may be to ask your sample five questions, find out the answers two days later, change something in the business accordingly, measure the effects of that change, then come up with another few questions for your sample.

Surveys can be written, distributed and answered all in a matter of hours online. Brands can also create “closed communities” of consumers to whom they can refer again and again at short notice – something brands like Telstra and Nestle – two of Vision Critical’s clients, are already doing.

Nestle’s is called the Nestle Kitchen Conversation and allows the brand to conduct survey discussions and qualitative research in a dedicated online forum which replaces the traditional focus group.

While the digital shift may provide the biggest opportunities for brands, it also presents some major hurdles.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data.

In the words of Ipsos’ Platter, “The proliferation and fragmentation of media channels is one of the biggest challenge for marketers [because] brands need to integrate and push their product across all these different platforms.”

Media fragmentation, in turn, means researchers have to be broader with their data collection.

Now, instead of just looking at paid media like TV, print and radio, research needs to be across owned media – like Facebook, Twitter and branded microsites,For this reason Plastic Mould steels are of key significance, and earned media – which includes people retweeting, sharing emails and posting messages on their Facebook pages.When I first started creating broken china-mosaics.

Voices From The Farm: The Sunroom Caper

The Lamb and Wool Promotion Committee, now in its fourth year, was running like a well oiled machine. The many experienced members required less hands on participation from me. Outside of a couple strategy meetings to lay plans for the year,Your council is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street light. I stepped back and let Jeananne chair the committee. I still participated in a promotion from time to time, and remained active in the South East Minnesota Sheep Producer’s Association.

The sheep flock kept growing and demanded a lot of my time. The lambing went well, and we had an absolute deluge of ewe lambs. This proved to be fortunate, as it turned out the demand for breeding stock was very high that year. “Big Mumbo” again had quintuplets, and all survived, but three were added to the bottle lamb pen. “Big Jumbo” only delivered twins this year, however our lambing average kept growing higher each year, and now was slightly over 200%.

Luckily for me, Sean had become a valued helper around the farm, and could take over many of the heavy lifts! With his strong mechanical bent, he was good at operating machinery, which I was not! I could handle an ATV and a 4′ mower, but that was about the extent of it, and even that could be a bit “hairy” at times!

Sean was a freshmen in high school, but found time to run a Bob Cat and clean the barn… a task I used to do with a manFor some time, I had been trying to come up with a solution to that porch! It was old and drafty… true, it broke the wind a bit, but it was a very cold place. Since it was attached to the kitchen, the cold found its way in there also, and our heat bills rose. Eventually, I found some information on sun rooms and thought that might be my answer. After much research, measuring, and planning, I determined that a 16′ square, 6 window Janco Sunroom would fit perfectly on the South side of our kitchen.

Of course, when I first broached this idea to my husband, he was less than supportive – in fact, downright discouraging! However, I was determined, and I ordered the Sunroom windows from Janco, hired a building contractor to erect the walls and ceiling of the room. All plans in place, it was time to tear down the old porch.

Sean was participating in demolishing the ceiling,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobblehead available anywhere. when suddenly a brick was dislodged, fell and hit him squarely on the head! Although he was in pain for awhile, he was not seriously hurt and was soon back helping to tear down the porch. Who the ‘know nothing” was that put a brick in the space between the ceiling and the roof, and to what purpose, we will never know.

There were plenty of trials and tribulations before the sun room was completed, but eventually it was finished, and it turned out beautifully.When I first started creating broken china-mosaics. It is a step and a half down from the kitchen and has a tile floor. The 6 south facing windows have insulated shades to keep out the cold at night and on cloudy days, but on sunny days the shades are opened and the sun warms the tile floor.e fork and wheelbarrow, and which I was only too happy to relinquish. He also hauled and unloaded hay, etc., and whenever he was not in school, lent a hand at lambing time.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. In the spring and summer months he put in more hours, inter-seeding pastures, spreading manure, mowing, spraying thistles, trapping or poisoning pocket gophers (the “Minnesota Curse”), and this summer, tearing down our old South porch!

The heat from the floor radiates out into the kitchen, and gradually to the rest of the first floor,For this reason Plastic Mould steels are of key significance, and the furnace stops kicking in. The floor also has copper tubing installed in the concrete below the tile which can carry hot water from a mini boiler in the basement in a circuit which returns it to the boiler at the end of the circuit. This system is controlled by a thermostat, and we don’t usually need it unless we are having subzero weather, or a stretch of cloudy days.

As I write this, in February, 2013, I am sitting in the sun room in a comfortable patio chair, at a glass topped patio table, (which doubles as a writing table, or game table in the off months), and the sunlight is streaming in over my shoulder. The room has a coat closet, a built in bookcase, a small comfy couch, and space for lots of house plants – 21 at this time, but many will be moving outdoors, once spring is definitely here. I have never regretted adding the sun room!

December – At SEMSPA’s Annual Sheep Day that year, I resigned as Chairperson of the Promotion Committee, and handed the reins into the capable hands of Jeananne Warner, who continued to do a terrific job! After 4 years as Chairperson, and the 3 previous years as SEMSPA’s Secretary/Treasurer, at the age of 60 I needed a bit of a rest before I tackled something else!

Although there are many types of hard-surface floor coverings, the most common type found in correctional facilities is VCT, vinyl composition tile. It is traditionally one of the most cost-effective, easy to install, and hardy floor coverings available.

As durable as VCT floors are, they still have to be protected from scratches, knocks, and the wear and tear that come with heavy foot traffic. This is typically accomplished with the application of floor finish. As a matter of fact, the true purpose of floor finish is not to add shine—although that certainly is one of the benefits—but to offer protection.

Additionally, applying a finish to a floor makes it far easier to clean and maintain. Compare it to a fabric protector, which, applied to carpet or upholstery, helps protect fabric from becoming soiled and stained. The same is true with floor finish. It creates a barrier over the floor that prevents damage.

Pint-sized hoops prodigy a towering talent

The Downey Christian School varsity basketball team bursts from the locker room in single file, led by a boy 14 inches shorter than the next smallest player, four years younger than the next youngest.

His jersey straps are twisted and bound with plastic ties to prevent them from slipping down his bony four-foot-five, 70-pound frame. Tricolour socks with pastel waves cover his size-4 feet, conveying the notion that he might be a stylish student manager.

At road games, the boy, point guard Julian Newman, is asked, “Are you on the team?” Here, in the Patriots’ gymnasium, there is no doubt.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data.

The grand marshal of the player parade, Julian, an 11-year-old fifth-grader, guides his team into warmups, bouncing two balls at once. He glides into a pre-game routine that shuffles through jab steps, hesitation moves and effortless dribbles — between his pipestem legs, behind his back, rapid crossovers. The scene is incongruous enough to seem computer-animated.

Not long ago, Newman was a mere curio in the compact circle of sports programs at small Christian schools in Central Florida. But his age, his size and the wild contrast of his stature on the court with relative giants have brought global attention through Internet videos. The most watched clip of Julian has generated more than 1.27 million views on YouTube. It has prompted a visit from Inside Edition, an appearance on Steve Harvey, comments on Twitter by Baltimore Ravens players, coverage by news agencies from as far away as China and a performance at an Orlando Magic game.

ScoutsFocus of Greenville, N.C., which evaluates and ranks high school players, helped put together the viral video that was filmed by a Patriots assistant.

“He’s a very talented kid and comes from a great family,” Joe Davis, the national recruiting coordinator for ScoutsFocus, said of Julian. “He’s smaller, so that’s going to be his main obstacle, but he has a great future once he hits a growth spurt or two.”

Two nights before his NBA halftime performance, Julian said between bites of chicken tenders ordered from a children’s menu that he was working on a routine involving three basketballs. Despite his fame,Your council is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street light. he has maintained the same degree of obsession. There is little, if any, room for it to grow.

Julian fills his days by spending time in a gym or at the hoop in his front yard, where his father, Jamie Newman, the Downey Christian coach, has painted lines to approximate a college court. Julian sinks 100 free throws, 200 floaters and 200 jump shots every day. On three-point attempts, he leans into the shots slightly, as if to guide the ball telepathically.

The process, on a good day, requires three hours, not that he is in a hurry. The neighbours have complained, Jamie Newman said, that the thwonk of the ball has awakened them as late as 1 a.m.

Nor does bedtime necessarily close the book on his regimen.When I first started creating broken china-mosaics. Lying on his bed, with 13 NBA jerseys along with posters of Magic Johnson and LeBron James decorating the walls, with basketballs worn out within weeks scattered about, Julian soft-tosses a ball toward the ceiling, always perfecting his form, until nodding off.

By Julian’s reckoning, he has never taken off longer than two straight days, and then only to mend a sprained ankle. Before the Newmans go on vacations, he insists that a park or recreation centre with a rim be nearby.

His mother, Vivian Newman, was almost asked to leave a department store because Julian could not resist fetching a ball from sporting goods and dribbling it down the aisle.Learn more about the different types of laser marking machine by careel-tech.com. His wish lists for gifts are basketball-centric.

His scarce time on a computer is usually spent on the YouTube channel Superhandles. Operated by a former college player whose father exposed him at an early age to footage of Pete Maravich, as Julian was by his father, Superhandles features videos of dribbling drills and masterly moves. Julian commits them to memory, then goes to the closest court and mimics them.

The Newmans portray him as self-driven, a prodigy of sorts, eager to meet their basic requirements in order to pursue his. He earns straight A’s, they say, motivated by a policy effective enough to be every parent’s dream: homework before hoops. That explains why Julian used to knock out assignments during recess so he could start knocking down shots immediately after school.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobblehead available anywhere.

Tourist boat deaths: owners blamed

The capsizing of the tourist boat Miroshga in Hout Bay last year, which led to the deaths of two people and one of the biggest sea rescues yet off the Cape Peninsula, could have been averted had the owners and crew taken action to correct what was wrong with the vessel and the crew, an investigation by the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) has found.

Had the crew been properly trained in emergency procedures and carried them out effectively, the vessel might not have capsized and two people might not have died.

It was “highly probable” more people would have died had it not been for the NSRI and rescue divers, who got passengers trapped under the hull to safety, the report said.

Samsa has handed the report to the police and prosecuting authorities, who are to decide if anyone is to be prosecuted.

The vessel was on a whale-watching trip to Seal Island near Hout Bay on October 13 when it capsized with 39 people on board, including four children. British tourist Peter Hyett and crew member John Roberts drowned.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobblehead available anywhere.

On the day of the incident, the crew failed to execute efficiently the launching of the life raft, anchoring the boat and raising the distress alarm.

Investigators concluded that contrary to the law, crew members had not practised these emergency procedures. Had they done so, this might have resulted in the Miroshga not having capsized, or “persons being rescued more efficiently and reduction in loss of life”.

Roberts was not wearing a life jacket when the boat capsized. His body was found on the seabed the next day.

Samsa found the owners had allowed the skipper to run the tour vessel without having the correct endorsement to run passenger vessel operations. This requires 100 hours of passenger vessel experience as crew, life raft training and certification as well as first aid and firefighting training and a radio operator’s certificate.

“Had the skipper completed the passenger vessel endorsement, including the approvedlife raft training, he would have had improved insight into the requirements to respond to emergencies and been able to instruct the remaining crew in the correct use and deployment of the life raft,” the report said.

“While some of the crew had received training as tour guides, none had completed (the) approved safety induction training… required by legislation. An intervention by the owners, skipper or crew in the above case could have prevented this accident.”

When the Miroshga got into difficulties, the passengers had tried to deploy the life raft. However, they cut the rope that attaches it to the vessel, so it drifted away with no one in it.

Requirements were that the company be able to say how many passengers were on board at the time and give their names, but the company was unable to do this. This delayed rescue efforts. Passengers had been shown how to don life jackets, but had not been given essential safety information, such as how to abandon ship or deploy life rafts.

The Miroshga, a catamaran, was built in Port Elizabeth in 2002 as a whale-watching vessel and operated from Hermanus. It was sold in 2008 to the current owners and modified. The inboard engines were removed and outboard engines installed.

This affected the watertight divisions beneath the deck and allowed water to flood between the engine compartments.Your council is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street light.

Samsa found “little effort was made to ensure the watertight integrity” of the vessel. Crew said they had to pump out water every morning, and bilge pumps were always switched on when the Miroshga left harbour.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. Bilge pumps serve to pump out water after a specific incident, and are not intended to be used all the time to get rid of flooding. The correct procedure would be to fix the leaks.

Other problems the investigation found were: none of the hatches were watertight; plastic cable ties were used to secure the fuel tank; no effort was made to correct the starboard list of the Miroshga; and water leaks were not repaired.

Electrical problems included an incorrectly wired port bilge pump, an unsecured battery, exposed electrical cabling, and bilge alarms that weren’t working. There were several places where water could enter the vessel.When I first started creating broken china-mosaics.

The Miroshga had left Hout Bay partially flooded.Learn more about the different types of laser marking machine by careel-tech.com. With no functioning bilge alarms, the crew were not alerted to the water level rising beneath the deck. Flooding caused both engines to fail and the vessel began drifting into shallow water, where swells became waves, and the vessel capsized.

South Shore and Cape feel brunt of today’s snowstorm

While snow has stopped falling in the Boston area, the South Shore and Cape Cod are continuing to see flakes and howling winds that are causing slushy roads, power outages, and some cancellations.

The Cape and South Shore are expected to receive the brunt of the accumulation with 6 to 8 inches of snow by the end of today. Brewster had received 6.3 inches of snow by late afternoon, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained.

The snow at Logan International Airport measured at 5.1 inches, the highest accumulation in Boston, he said.

National Grid reports more than 3,900 customers without power, most of them on the South Shore, according to the utility’s website. NStar reports about 375 customers who lost power throughout the region.

Morning ferry services to and from Martha’s Vineyard were cancelled but resumed by mid-afternoon, according to officials with the Steamship Authority.

The 2:30 p.m. ferry leaving Martha’s Vineyard to Woods Hole was back on track. And a ferry left from Nantucket to Hyannis at noon; depending on its arrival time, it may make the trip back to Nantucket,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, according to officials with the authority.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino talked to the city’s snow team this morning and will again be meeting with them this afternoon, said John Guilfoil, a city spokesman.

“A good thing about a snow like this is you’re not getting 2 or 3 or 4 inches of snow fall an hour,” Guilfoil said. “It’s much more manageable.”

This storm is far less severe than last weekend’s historic snowfall. And unlike last Sunday, cities and towns aren’t facing the intense pressure to clear all the roads and school parking lots and sidewalks for a rush of commuters and students. Monday is a federal and state holiday and students are off this week for February vacation.

Mark Powell, an employee of a property management company, said he spent about 20 hours over two days shoveling out last week’s snowstorm. He was back on Dorchester Avenue shortly after 10 a.m. today, snow still falling, strong gusts of wind blowing, expecting about 10 hours of work.

“Even though it’s been a mild winter,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. these storms, it’s hard to keep up on them,” he said. “On a Sunday morning, this is like the last place you wanna be -- shoveling.”

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has deployed a majority of its crews and equipment to the South Shore and Cape, said Sara Lavoie, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The Massachusetts DOT has more than 1,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet?800 pieces of equipment treating and plowing highways east of Worcester, she said.

“It’s Sunday morning,” Lavoie said. “Sunday morning is wonderful. They can just stay home.”

High winds will continue to be a factor after the snow stops, with west winds 20 to 25 miles per hour and gusts up to 45 miles per hour into tonight. Monday will be sunny and breezy with highs in the low 30s, said Dunham, at the National Weather Service.

“There’s a chance of rain Tuesday and Tuesday night as a weak system moves across the area,” he said. “After that, [there will be] fair weather for the rest of the week with highs generally in the 30s.”

"Cozy but comfortable" works as an interior description. Head- and leg-room are good, width is less so -- but balance that against less exterior width for maneuverability and ease of parking. And the Outlander Sport is a compact, not midsize, crossover. At SE level, it's a bit more than plain but still honest, with a variety of synthetic materials for everything but the steering wheel rim and shift knob, which are leather. The front seats are better than expected for the modest base price, manually-adjustable and with moderate bolstering and heatable cushions. Instruments are brightly-backlit for easy visibility in all light, with a useful information display between the tach and speedometer.

The tilt- and telescope-adjustable steering wheel has cruise, auxiliary audio, and (Bluetooth) phone controls, with shift paddles behind the horizontal spokes. With the navigation system come further information systems including calendar and altimeter, accessed through a hard button and touchscreen interface that is simple to use.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Climate control (automatic in the SE) is by simple rotary knobs below the touchscreen, not some sub-submenu. Audio choices include AM, FM, and XM radio, CDs in the usual formats, and a USB port. Interior storage is limited to moderate glove and console boxes and front-door pockets with bottle holders. Rear head and leg room are good considering the Outlander Sport's size; width and a moderate central tunnel make it better for two than three people -- as is true of pretty much every car or crossover of this size. Rear passengers do get full benefit of the view out the oversize fixed glass roof if that is fitted -- and the second benefit there is LED dome lighting. A space-saver spare is found under the rear cargo area.

Perpaduan Dual-SIM GSM dan CDMA

HTC merilis seri Desire VC bagi pasar Indonesia yang rata-rata setiap penggunanya memiliki paling tidak dua buah smartphone. Uniknya, untuk penggunaan CDMA,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. RUIM-nya tidak dikunci sehingga Anda bebas untuk menggunakan kartu apapun walaupun smarphone ini di-bundling dengan operator tertentu. Kenyamanan dalam menggunakan HTC Desire VC juga menjadi salah satu faktor mengapa smartphone ini cocok untuk dimiliki.

Desain HTC Desire VC berbentuk kotak dengan bentuk rounded di setiap ujungnya. HTC Desire VC memiliki layar sebesar empat inci berdimensi 119,5 x 62,3 x 9,42 mm. Dengan ukuran tersebut, smartphone ini masih nyaman untuk digenggam maupun dimasukkan ke saku celana. Material yang digunakan untuk melapisi HTC Desire VC adalah plastik yang dilapisi dengan karet bertekstur garis-garis pada bagian belakangnya sehingga tidak terasa licin ketika digenggam. Selain itu, ukuran layar yang lebar dengan kepadatan 233 ppi cukup memanjakan mata ketika sedang digunakan untuk memainkan game, memutar video, ataupun sekedar melihat gambar. Pada sisi bawah layar terdapat tiga buah tombol touch yang masing-masing mewakili back, home, dan recent apps. Di bagian atas layar terdapat earpiece memanjang yang merupakan ciri khas HTC. Di dalamnya, terdapat lampu notifikasi, sensor proximity,You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. dan sensor cahaya.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made.

HTC Desire VC dilengkapi dengan “otak” Cortex A5 dengan kecepatan 1 GHz dengan RAM sebesar 512 MB. Dengan interface HTC Sense 4.0 yang cukup berat, spesifikasi yang diusungnya masih dirasa kurang karena masih terasa berat ketika masuk ke menu utama. Namun, GPU yang digunakan oleh HTC Desire VC, yaitu Adreno 200 masih cukup bertenaga untuk memainkan game casual yang terdapat di PlayStore.

HTC Desire VC menggunakan kamera beresolusi 5 MP dengan lampu LED pada sisi bawah kamera. Hasil kameranya cukup memuaskan untuk indoor dalam kondisi cahaya yang cukup. Sayangnya, smartphone ini tidak dilengkapi dengan kamera depan untuk melakukan video calling. Secara keseluruhan, HTC Desire VC ditujukan bagi Anda yang menginginkan sebuah smartphone berlayar besar dan memiliki nomor telepon lebih dari satu.

Windows 8 was a radical departure. The start button was gone, everything was moved, there was a new graphical user interface and it was a brand new way to use your laptop and desktop computer… in the least efficient way possible. Windows 8 is a touch-based interface and when Microsoft jammed it into keyboard and mouse environment, the experience was somewhat sub-optimal.

Of course, Windows 8 was created to take Microsoft into the Post-PC world, so it needed some Post-PC hardware. Enter “The Surface with Windows RT.” It came out at the same time as Windows 8. The Surface RT ran crippled form of Windows 8 in a tablet form factor. The hardware was mediocre and the software was lackluster. It wasn’t very good – and I’m being kind.

The Surface Pro rocks an i5 processor, which is the same chip that’s used to power most of today’s mid to high-end laptops. Unlike the lesser Surface RT tablet released in October, the Surface Pro runs the full version of Windows 8, which means it can run any program designed for Windows: Microsoft Office, Adobe CS Suite, Intuit programs like Quickbooks Pro or Quicken, just to name a few. And, by the way, Microsoft One Note is really fun with a stylus.

The display is very nice. It has a full 1080p screen that gets even bigger (up to 2,550 x 1,440) when you connect it to an external display. The Surface Pro also comes with a USB 3.0 port, and has an external memory card slot, which is almost assuredly going to be used on a daily basis given the lack of free space after formatting and the restore partition has been allotted.

One other annoyance: the battery life on the Surface Pro is only about four hours. But since the device is WiFi only, the limitation can be worked around. Microsoft has already addressed concerns about the battery life and the space issue, though, and has also hinted that future accessories could improve the battery life.

If you’re in the market for a new PC, you suddenly have a new option. Instead of buying an Ultrabook for approximately $1,000, you can buy a Surface Pro with a keyboard for approximately $1,000. Not only are you buying a computer of similar power, but you’re also getting a high-end tablet bundled in the price.

While heavy for a tablet, it’s very light for a laptop. Even with the keyboard factored in, it’s still lighter than nearly any laptop out there … and far more portable. You can stick it in your purse, briefcase or backpack and almost forget it’s there.

Taking a plane ride to Barcelona with me for Mobile World Congress? You have an entertainment machine and a work machine in one sleek package. That’s exactly what you need in today’s Post-PC world.

Do you want a tablet for web browsing, games and a little work? You can buy an iPad for about half the cost and have access to the best App Store in the world.

Do you want a computer that delivers the most bang for your buck? You can buy an Ultrabook that’s a little more powerful for a few hundred dollars less.

But if you’re in the market for a new, fully functional Windows 8 computer,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, and you like the idea of a tablet,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet? the Surface Pro was designed with you in mind. The ability to run every Windows program you have on a two-pound tablet feels like a game-changer. But, then again, we’re in the early days … a Surface Pro Mini can’t be too far off.

As downtown booms, Austin looks to improve Republic Square Park

On a sunny weekday in Republic Square Park in downtown Austin, two people chat below a tall oak tree, a woman walks a dog, and a man in a suit rushes to a nearby office building.

It’s a quiet morning, but parks advocates say they expect green spaces like Republic Square to become more popular as downtown booms with new condo, hotel and retail projects.

The city of Austin is putting the finishing touches on a plan to improve Republic Square, which is at Guadalupe and West Fourth streets. The aim is to make the park more inviting for events such as the Saturday farmers market and a summer movie series, as well as for everyday use by visitors and downtown’s 9,800 residents and 126,000 employees.

The parks department has $1.2 million set aside to write and carry out the plan. Most of that money comes from development fees paid by the federal government during construction of a new federal courthouse just west of the square.

Though Republic Square is less than 2 acres, city officials and downtown business groups say it is a crucial part of Austin’s park system because it is one of the few patches of green in the urban core.

“Especially over the last five years, with the densification of downtown Austin, it has become an important front yard and backyard for people living and working downtown,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet?” said Daniel Woodroffe, president of the Austin Parks Foundation board and owner of a landscape architecture firm.

The new federal courthouse, finished in December, has a plaza that opens onto Republic Square. Other big projects are planned for blocks nearby, including a new Travis County civil courthouse and a 24-story tower that will include luxury apartments and an upscale hotel.

The draft plan for Republic Square includes a large, open central space that is flexible enough to use for different events, a promenade and a plaza, concessions or an eatery, and restrooms.

“Downtown parks are highly coveted event spaces, but they are underutilized as daily public spaces,” said Melissa Barry, arts and parks director at the Downtown Austin Alliance, which represents downtown property owners.

The plan “has amenities that would create an environment where people want to stay and spend time in the park on a regular basis,” Barry said.

The city is paying Design Workshop, a national firm with offices in Austin, $150,000 to write the plan. The plan will go to the parks board Feb. 26 and then to the City Council for a vote.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Parks officials hope to start constructing the changes in the fall of 2014.

Republic Square is deeply rooted in the city’s history. It was one of four squares — three remain — included in the layout of Austin designed by Edwin Waller in 1839. Back then, blocks of downtown land were auctioned off beneath the square’s giant oak trees, now called the Auction Oaks.

In recent years, the parks department has planted trees and installed an irrigation system at Wooldridge Square, at Guadalupe and Ninth streets.Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, At Brush Square, at Neches and Fifth streets, the city renovated a historical home and built a new courtyard with public art.

Republic Square has gone through several incarnations. In the 1870s, it was the heart of Austin’s Mexican-American community, which celebrated events such as Diez y Seis there. It was an industrial area and then a parking lot in the 1930s to the 1950s. The city turned it into a park in the 1970s to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. But berms that sheltered the square from urban noise also closed off the space, discouraging visitors.

The nonprofit Austin Parks Foundation raised about $400,000 over the past few years and removed half of the berms, installed a lawn watering system and built a deck around the Auction Oaks to protect their roots and add seating.

The city’s plan calls for creating a large open area that could be used for performances and other events. Several paths would lead into it, and stone seating would surround it.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. On the square’s north side would be a gravel promenade with space for concessions and restrooms. There would be a plaza nearby for activities such as bocce ball and movable play equipment for kids or group gatherings,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. said Marty Stump, a project management supervisor in the parks department.

The square could also become a transit hub, with stops planned for a rapid-bus line and possibly a future urban rail line.

“What is there now has a ‘leftover’ feeling to it; it was not designed for the intense use that park sees today,” Stump said. “We want to create a space that is simple but can accommodate a variety of uses. So there are open spaces, but also pockets for seating and intimate gatherings.”

Mitchell McGovern, president of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, said the master plan is a good start, but he would also like to see better lighting and other safety features, a dedicated space for dogs, a children’s play area, public art and a performance area.

Ted Siff of the Original Austin Neighborhood Association, whose boundaries include Republic Square, said the city also needs to think more about how to pay to maintain the park in the long run.

The square “has the potential to be the heart of downtown, with activities that make people feel good, have fun and meet people,” Siff said. “The creation of a better space should be the first of a series of steps. Just as critical is how do you operate it?”

Incipio DualPro CF for iPhone 5 Review

The Incipio DualPro CF is an extra protective two-piece case. It includes a rubbery silicone inner shell that covers the back, sides, and a bit of iPhone’s face, then there’s a hard outer shell that just pops on top. The outer shell, which Incipio calls rigid plextonium, has a superb carbon fiber finish with a real nice shimmer to it.

The two layer design provides iPhone with impact resistant protection. The corners are all very well covered and Incipio did a great job protecting the screen. As if that wasn’t enough, they include a free screen protector so that the DualPro can offer all-around protection. They also include a microfiber cloth, screen protector applicator card, and a foldable stand for watching videos or facetiming on iPhone. Incipio also provides an impressive lifetime guarantee on the DualPro.

The situation has improved in the last six months and we have started seeing some decent Android phones that are also affordable. Yet, there is no one winner in this market. The slot for the best phone under Rs 20,000 is still open. And this is the slot that HTC is targeting with 8S, the company's affordable Windows Phone 8 device.

Does it succeed? Yes, but partly. HTC 8S is a very good device at its price and is a worthy choice over many Android phones that dot the market.Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet? But it is not without its compromises. Read on to know more...

Just like the 8X, the flagship Windows phone from HTC, the 8S has a smart and colourful personality. The design language is also similar. The 8S too has tapered edges, albeit a bit thicker compared to those on the more expensive phone. Interestingly, this gives the 8S a more balanced design and makes it a better fit in the hand.

Other than the difference in thickness, the 8S and the 8X differ in the quality of build material.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. The body of the 8S has a more plastic feel, though not in a cheap way. The only complain that we have in terms of design is the difficult-to-open cover on the bottom of the phone where SIM and microSD card slots are placed.

Even by its high design standards, HTC has done a splendid job with the 8S. The funky colours - in India the device is available in red and blue - go well with the bright and vibrant Windows Phone 8 user interface.

Despite its relatively small size -- something that also makes it pocketable and easy fit in hands - the 8S packs in some serious hardware. It is powered by a dual-core processor running at 1Ghz and 512MB RAM. The graphics are handled by Adreno 305, which is a very capable chip. The phone has 4GB internal storage along with support for a micro SD card of up to 32GB. The primary camera can shoot pictures in 5 mega pixels. The 4-inch screen sports a resolution of 800x480 pixels.

The combination of good hardware, a bright and accurate screen, and the fluid interface of Windows Phone 8 operating software makes HTC 8S a fast phone. This gives it an advantage compared to similarly-priced Android phones, which seem slow or suffer from lag during use.

In our use, we found HTC 8S to be a very capable phone. Call quality was clear and web browsing was smooth. The camera isn't the best we have seen in a mid-range phone but it produces decent shots that are usable on websites like Facebook and Twitter. However, videos that are shot in 720P resolution are below average in quality. The phone battery lasts around 15 hours on single charge when phone used primarily for making calls, some browsing, emails and social networking.

We have written about the operating system earlier but here is a quick summary. Windows Phone 8 is fast,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. intuitive and beautiful but it is not as functional or flexible as Android. The OS lacks a proper notification centre and proper multitasking. While some users may not mind it, people who use their smartphones to keep in touch with the real-time world through services like Twitter will find the experience lacking. Lack of apps for Windows Phone devices is another problem. It is particularly an issue if your digital life revolves around Google services like Youtube, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Talk. There are some third-party apps that access into these services but the experience is inferior compared to what Android,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, which is made by Google, offers.

The last compromise that users will have to make with HTC 8S is lack of video chat. The phone doesn't have a front camera so you can't video chat with your friends or family members with it.

If you are out in the market hunting for a smartphone for less than Rs 20,000 HTC 8S should be on your shortlist. But before you pick it make sure that you do not mind what it lacks. Apps are not as plentiful as what Android phones have, experience with Google services is poor and if you are a heavy Twitter users, this is not the device for you. Similarly, you cannot make video calls with it.

But if these limitations are not a deal-breaker for you, 8S is a good choice. It is not in the league of expensive Android phones or iPhone but it doesn't have to be. At a price of Rs 19,260 it is a solid device that is better than similarly-priced Android phones because of its fast performance, very good screen and a great design.

Remember the Palm, anyone? It's simply a brutal industry. So even if the Z10 does everything it set out to do, it might not be enough to save Research In Motion Ltd., the home of the BlackBerry. The company is changing its name to BlackBerry, but that could just be the prelude to riding the brand into the sunset once and for all.

It doesn't exactly help that the Z10 looks like every other smartphone. It's a flat black slab with a touch screen, nearly indistinguishable at 15 feet from the iPhone 5 or a bevy of Android smartphones. The screen measures 4.2 inches diagonally, a bit bigger than the iPhone but smaller than most Android phones. It will go on sale in the U.S. in March, probably for about $200 with a two-year service contract, in line with the iPhone and other rivals.

Turn it on, and the differences become more evident. Older BlackBerrys are great communications devices but are poor at multimedia and at running third-party apps. The new BlackBerry 10 software is a serious attempt at marrying these two feature sets, and after a few hours of use it looks like it succeeds.

BlackBerry 10 was delayed for about a year, and it seems as if the extra time was put to good use. The software is, for a first release, uncommonly slick and well thought out, completely unlike the PlayBook disaster of two years ago, when RIM released a tablet computer that couldn't do email.

Is there a bluebird in your backyard?

Local bird watchers of any skill level can participate online in annual citizen-science research this weekend. Participants in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) simply watch birds at any location for at least 15 minutes, tally the numbers of each species they see, and report their tallies online at www.Come January 9 and chip card driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar Pradesh.BirdCount.org. The GBBC lasts through Monday, February 18 and is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon, with Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada.

There are hundreds of bird species in the San Bernardino Mountains, including pelicans, red-shafted flickers, bald eagles, wild turkey, violet-green swallows, hawks,The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. yellow-rumped warblers, quail, chickadees, woodpeckers, warblers, lesser goldfinches and a variety of ducks.

This year, anyone visiting the GBBC website will be able to see bird observations pouring in from around the world and contribute their own tallies. Global participation will be made possible thanks toeBird, a real-time online checklist program that the Cornell Lab and Audubon are integrating into the GBBC for the first time this year. The four-day count typically receives sightings from tens of thousands of people reporting more than 600 bird species in the United States and Canada alone.

Participants will be able to view what others are seeing on interactive maps and contribute their tallies for ongoing bird research and conservation efforts. For the first time, participants will also be able to upload their counts from the field using the eBird BirdLog app for Apple or Android smartphones. To celebrate the new global reach of the count, developers of the eBird BirdLog app are offering regional versions of the app for 99 cents this weekend.

Cornell Lab director John Fitzpatrick said, “We’re looking forward to this historic snapshot of birds that that will be reported from around the world. We need as many people as possible to help build the wealth of data that scientists need to track the health of bird populations through time.”

Ralston said it also has been helpful to watch classmates teach and to learn about their teaching styles and techniques

Tankersley said the program has grown and recently became accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children after an extensive process culminating with a site visit last January.Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials.

She said accreditation had been in the works since before she began her position and that it is helpful for both the preschool students who are learning in the environment and for the university students who are able to put it on a resume.

The preschool enrolls 16 to 20 students per session and offers morning and afternoon sessions, where student teachers work to develop language,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. aesthetic, cognitive, physical, affective and social skills as they relate to reading, writing, arts, science and math, health, safety and motor development, feelings and relationships.

General Dynamics Land Systems will display the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Ocelot Light Tactical Vehicle and the Stryker and LAV Double V-Hull (DVH) vehicles at IDEX 2013.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. The proprietary DVH technology represents a new standard in armor protection on a combat-proven platform. The Foxhound is a lightweight tactical vehicle that integrates V-hull, blast-protection technology with a demountable protected crew pod that allows multiple configurations for different roles.

General Dynamic Land Systems - Force Protection is exhibiting the Ocelot, which is in‐service with the British Army in Afghanistan. Ocelot's unique modular design makes it a game changer in the protected 4x4 vehicle class. Shown for the first time is the surveillance variant with mast mounted sensor suite and RWS. This variant provides a highly survivable border security capability and is one variant in a family of mission modules that includes a C2, a load carrying, a troop patrol and a long range special ops carried on a common base platform. This unique 'rapid swap out' design provides commanders with genuine mission options as well as providing significant advantages in reduced whole life costs resulting from a genuine family of vehicles.

General Dynamics United Kingdom General Dynamics United Kingdom will be showcasing its Security and Resilience, Vehicle Integration and Communications systems expertise at the exhibition. General Dynamics United Kingdom has been responsible for helping to make the recently inaugurated Khalifa Port outside Abu Dhabi one of the most technologically advanced and most secure ports in the world by delivering its entire Port Operating System. Representatives of the company will be present at IDEX 2013 to explain its part in two nationally important programmes and its full range of capabilities including deployable infrastructures and its leading capabilities in Long Term Evolution networks for tactical command and control for armed forces and national emergency services.

IDEX is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and supported by His Highness Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

NCR comes of age

There used to be a cliché about cities in India, back when Bombay was Bombay and Calcutta was Calcutta: that Bombay had the energy, Calcutta the intellect. And then there was Delhi, a sarkari town set in the arid northern plains,Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. which supposedly had neither. That was never completely true, but now, more than two decades after liberalisation, it is slowly becoming clear how completely inaccurate that has become. True, there are scorching afternoons in the height of summer when it feels like nothing will ever move in Delhi, whether a file, an idea, or a person. But, come winter, and the blossoming of the city is evident.

Consider, for example, the space that cultural activity has staked out for itself in the past few years. In recent weekends, Delhi and its environs saw the Jaipur Literature Festival (not in Delhi,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. true, but in a place picked a short distance away, and it frequently felt like everyone from Delhi was there); the Delhi Art Fair, which took over Pragati Maidan and art galleries across the city, and even transformed the occasional private house; the International Sufi Festival at Siri Fort, of course, and the Delhi Book Fair at Pragati Maidan as well as the National School of Drama’s theatre festival just down the road; and even festivals devoted to, respectively, jazz and blues music. Two things stand out about that list. First, aside from the Book Fair and the NSD’s theatre festival, nothing in that list was in existence a bare decade ago. And second, most of those are not organised by the government, as was common in Delhi once, but by the private sector, and supported by advertising, ticket sales, or the sale of goods. And for every International Sufi Festival that is government-run, there’s a Jahan-e-Khusrau, at Nizamuddin’s tomb, which isn’t. Once, perhaps,Come January 9 and chip card driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar Pradesh. not so long ago, Delhi was a sarkari city where the main cultural activity was carefully manoeuvring yourself on the Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ invitation list, or ensuring your bureaucrat friend sent you a pass or two. Somehow it has grown past that without even noticing.

Indeed, Delhi has become the location not just of independence from the state in cultural terms, but of contestation of the state. When the anti-corruption crusaders led by Kisan Baburao Hazare began their agitation, it was in Delhi that they saw the most response; Mumbai let them down badly. Nor was that a one-off; that middle-class Delhi is willing to protest was underlined by the events of last December. And, as this newspaper reported recently, even the space of ideas is no longer monopolised easily by the government. The Brookings Institution’s high-profile move into India recently has been preceded, in fact, by several Indian think tanks essentially severing themselves from the government’s umbilical cord — reducing their dependence on state grants drastically, and making up the difference by private contracts. And the fast-growing presence of, for example, Shiv Nadar University and Jindal Global Law School on the National Capital Region’s perimeters suggests that even the academic space will no longer be monopolised by direct beneficiaries of the state.

Delhi’s slow development of the attributes of a real city is far from complete. There are still too few safe public spaces, for example, and the state needs to do a better job with security for women. Yet it is no longer contestable that Delhi has thrown off the shackles of empire and socialism, and is now as dynamic as Mumbai ever was, as bubbling with ideas as Kolkata — and probably more than both. India’s capital is now its capital in truth for the first time in hundreds of years.

At the Ministry of Science, Mrs. Roboto is playing with a hologram in her office when she receives a call from Olivia, realizes that her office might not be the best place to have this particular conversation, and explains that she will call her back once she leaves the office. Soon after, Kahl Himmler and some Brown Shirts storm into her office, question Mrs. Roboto’s loyalist secretary as to Mrs. Roboto’s whereabouts, and then hook up some sort of thingie to the office windows so as to listen to Mrs. Roboto’s phone call from the past, sure.

Mrs. Roboto meets the Fringies and Michael in Brooklyn somewhere, and informs them that she has a super secret black lab nearby that they can use. Pacey and Mrs. Roboto then have a heart-to-heart about Bishop and his intention to have Mrs. Roboto remove his brain pieces as soon as the plan is complete. Pacey is all: Don’t do it! even though he’s been though this with Bishop once before and it was really for the best, I think we can all agree. But Mrs. Roboto argues that Bishop understands that anything worth fighting for comes at a cost. Because foreshadowing.

Only problem with that: Kahl Himmler has gathered all the Ministry of Science employees for a little questioning, having correctly guessed that Mrs. Roboto had some inside assistance. Uh-oh!

And that’s why when Mrs. Roboto tries to call her minion, he can’t exactly take her call. Looks like the Fringies will just have to break into the joint and steal the thought helmet themselves. With AsteriskAstrid’s remote help (because they had to give her something to do in this episode), they bust into the warehouse and then rummage around it for a while looking for the thought helmet. Meanwhile, in a room overlooking the warehouse Kahl Himmler has decided to conduct his interviews, and just as the Fringies are getting their hands on that thought helmet, Olivia notices Kahl Himmler squishing around in Minion’s head.

Fortunately, Minion doesn’t know anything about Mrs. Roboto’s super secret black lab. Unfortunately, Mrs. Roboto can’t stay put, and tries to call the Fringies, allowing the Brown Shirts to locate her. GOOD JOB, DUMMY. WELL DONE. The Fringies “rescue” Minion, and he’s like, yeah, thanks for shooting those guys in the face to release me, by the way, they’ve tracked Mrs. Roboto, so.

Mrs. Roboto,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. having compromised her location, assures Michael that everything is totally cool, no worries.The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. In exchange, he touches her face and she is all ZOMGBBQEPIPHANEEZ. Michael then looks towards the security cameras where the Brown Shirts and Kahl Himmler are headed their way. Mrs. Roboto hides Michael, somewhere, just as Kahl Himmler and his Brown Shirts storm the joint and start tearing the place apart looking for the Fringies.

As for the rest of this episode, it was a plot-driven one, and thus there’s not much to unpack. Not to be a whiny complainer, always, but aside from Mrs. Roboto’s demise, and the always heartbreaking flashes of Bishop’s past, this episode left me a little cold. I am irritated to no end by the contrivance that Michael suddenly can no longer communicate with Olivia because ?? I understand that in terms of plot, it would be considerably less interesting to have Michael just suddenly start jotting down clues for the Fringies to follow in their pursuit of the plan, as he did in “Inner Child,” but I’m not a little irritated that they couldn’t come up with even a plausible explanation as to why he couldn’t. Did it have something to do with the different timelines? Was it because Olivia had depleted her stores of Kortexiphan? WHO KNOWS? But maybe they should have come up with something, anything, to help explain it.

Vending art

ART HK debuts this year as its flashy incarnation, Art Basel Hong Kong, the first Asian outpost of the Art Basel conglomerate and the third in a family of fairs that includes annual events in Basel and Miami Beach.

With a focus on Asian art, Art Basel’s third child is set to become the art world’s hottest new destination. And with the globe’s collectors increasingly looking east, a spot in this prestigious fair is an artist’s golden ticket to gaining a more solidified international presence.

At fairs like this, galleries generally showcase their biggest names, and solo outings by artists are the norm. So when Ivan Lam revealed that he would be sharing the limelight with not just one, but 500 other Malaysian artists, our eyebrows naturally raised towards the ceiling.

Having secured a place at the fair in May at Wei-Ling Gallery’s booth, Lam plans to use his spot to promote contemporary Malaysian art.

“This is a post-egotistical attempt by a single artist,” quips Lam, whose artwork aims to transport local art to the international art scene. For too long, he believes, our nation’s art has been overlooked and he’s looking to share his golden ticket with his contemporaries.

“It’s like an artist’s social responsibility,” notes Lam, who argues that his piece titled Coma is a gift back to the art scene. “The community has been good to me,” he says.

Lam’s artwork certainly facilitates this egalitarian form of exhibitionism. Essentially a vending machine, Coma will vend miniature 8 x 8 artworks by living local artists throughout the duration of the fair. Currently in-the-works,Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. Lam’s goal is to collect 500 pieces for inclusion.

“The artworks will be rotated daily, so the landscape of the piece will change everyday,” he explains, adding that each artwork will be housed in a perspex case with labels bearing their particulars. “It’ll be of premium quality, like a product that you buy,We sell 100% hand-painted oil paintings for sale online.” he says, placing emphasis on the term “product.”

That emphasis isn’t coincidental. Lam’s work straddles the concepts of high and lowbrow art, and it also mimics the fiscal workings of the very art fair that it’ll be exhibited in.

After all, isn’t the trade of contemporary art becoming more like purchasing an item off the shelf? And how different is the art collector from the Average Joe who buys a canned drink from a vending machine?

Well, there are definite differences, such as the price tags and the exclusivity of most artworks, but the element of consumerism isn’t a wholly different ball game. Then, there is one other notable difference as far as Coma goes: Lam’s piece functions as a single entity, so interested parties will have to take home lock, stock, and barrel — an entire compendium of Malaysian art, which is precisely what Coma stands for.

“Basically, I’m getting artists to give me their business card, their artist business card,” he says.

Lam returns to Coma’s larger purpose — to showcase contemporary local art en masse to a wider audience.

He argues that the vending machine will enable viewers to choose with immediate effect. Plus, it’ll also be a lot of fun. He has imported an ultra-modern version of the machine from Japan. Unlike traditional machines that drop the selected item,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. it features a sleek robotic arm that glides across the interior in a rather hypnotising manner.

Effectively,Are you looking for Optical frame, glasses and eye exams? Coma will serve as a moving catalogue and, like the pages of a printed book, the viewer has the autonomy to flip the page and read what he likes. The added bonus is that Ivan will be standing by the machine throughout the fair, explaining the provenance of each selected artwork to interested parties.

In one of Lam’s previous art fair outings, Art Stage Singapore, Wei-Ling Gallery featured his signature paintings, produced with household paint and coated in a glossy veneer. Coma is a big digression from this and a potential head-turner for gallery and artist, who are both stepping into Hong Kong’s largest and busiest art fair for the first time.

“Four thousand people applied for 200 spaces,” notes Lam, illustrating the level of competition behind Art Basel Hong Kong’s selection process, as well as the fair’s demand. Interestingly, he faced challenges in getting content for his vending machine. “My ego has been stepped on so many times,” he admits in frustration, explaining that many of his peers have shown reticence towards the idea.

“The whole project is not about ego, or race, age, or anything else,” he says. Could the concept of a vending machine be too far-out for our local art scene, which as a rule of thumb, remains stuck in formalist trappings and grandiose artworks? Perhaps. And financial dealings aside — an inescapable facet of any art fair or commercial art environment — Coma’s concept is a winner,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. and if one artist can be a crusader with a vending machine, then Lam is that person.