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India beat Scotland in U-19 World Cup
India survived a scare from minnows Scotland as Sarfaraz Khan eventually bailed out the defending champions to win the Group A match by five wickets in the ICC Under-19 World Cup here Monday.
Electing to bat first, Scotland could not put up against the Indian spinners and were bowled out for 88 runs in only 29.4 overs. Man of the match Kuldeep Yadav (4/28) clinched a hat-trick to set an easy target for the Indian batsman at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
However, the Indian chase suffered a huge jolt at the start when they tottered at 22/5. But Sarfaraz's unbeaten 45 and Deepak Hooda (25 not out) saw India through to the end and the Asian team won the match in 22.3 overs.
Scotland's decision to bat first did not turn out the way they wanted it with only opener Andrew Umeed (44) showing any kind of resistance. The Scottish batsman had nothing much to talk about as Gavin Main (16) was the only other batsman to reach double figures apart from Umeed.
Pacers Chama Milind (1/16) and Avesh Khan (1/14) kept their line and length to pick up a wicket apiece in five overs each. But the main job was done by the spinners Yadav and off break bowler Aamir Gani.
Left arm chinaman bowler Yadav (4/28) became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in the U-19 World Cup when he scalped Nick Farrar (0), Kyle Stirling (0) and wicketkeeper batsman Alex Baum (5). Later on, he also went on to pick up the wicket of Mark Watt (0).
Gani, on the other hand, displayed his skills to notch 4/28 in 9.4 overs, finishing off the Scottish innings.
Chasing a measly target of 89, the Indian top five perished for single digits including skipper Vijay Zol (4) as India was tottering at 22/5. But Khan and Hooda struck the all important 70-run sixth wicket partnership to take the defending champions home.
Hooda scored two fours and gave good support to Khan, who hit five boundaries and a six in his 51 ball innings.
India now sit atop Group A with four points from two wins in two matches and play their last league match against Papua New Guinea Feb 19 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
(Posted on 17-02-2014)
Information on States of India:
Andaman Nicobar | Andhra Pradesh | Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Bihar | Chandigarh | Chhattisgarh | Dadar Nagar Haveli | Daman Diu | Delhi | Goa | Gujarat | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu Kashmir | Jharkhand | Karnataka | Kerala | Lakshadweep | Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra | Manipur | Meghalaya | Mizoram | Nagaland | Orissa | Pondicherry | Punjab | Rajasthan | Sikkim | Tamil Nadu | Tripura | Uttar Pradesh | Uttaranchal | West Bengal
Andhra Pradesh Travel Map | Bihar Travel Map | Goa Travel Map | Gujarat Travel Map | Haryana Travel Map | Himachal Pradesh Map | Karnataka Travel Map | Kerala Travel Map | Maharashtra Travel Map | Punjab Travel Map | Rajasthan Travel Map | Sikkim Travel Map | Tamil Nadu Travel Map | Uttar Pradesh Travel Map | West Bengal Travel Map |
Alappuzha | Ernakulam | Idukki | Kannur | Kasaragod | Kollam | Kottayam | Kozhikode | Malappuram | Palakkad | Pathanamthitta | Thiruvananthapuram | Thrissur | Wayanad |
Airports of India | Districts of India | India Pilgrim Centers | Tourism Map of India | National Highways in India | India Railway Routes |
Ahmadabad | Bangalore | Chennai | Coimbatore | Delhi | Hyderabad/Secunderabad | Kochi | Kolkata | Mumbai | Pondicherry | Pune | Surat |


text:
Singapore Show Should Reveal State of Asia's Air Transport Sector
How robust is Asia's air transport market, given recent evidence of softening demand and financial strain in countries such as India and Malaysia? This week's Singapore Airshow might provide some answers, with a number of new orders widely anticipated, including a likely deal for regional airliners from Indonesia carrier Garuda. Already confirmed is the fact that the 2012 Singapore show (February 14-19) will be the largest yet, with the amount of covered exhibit space being 25 percent larger than for the previous 2010 event at 50,000 sq m (12.5 acres). The 100,000 sq m (25 acres) of static display is packed with more than 65 aircraft compared with just 50 in 2010. Making a big impression on its Singapore debut will be Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which is in town as part of an extended world tour. Russia's Irkut has brought a full-size cabin mock-up of its in-development MC-21 narrowbody.
"Asia is still the [air transport] hotspot," said Jimmy Lau, managing director of Singapore Airshow organizing company Experia Events. "The feedback is that even if China slows down to one digit [economic growth] then it is still huge growth in terms of passenger numbers."
The Singapore show now includes separate pavilions for 22 nations or groups, including, for the first time, China and Ukraine. China has doubled its exhibit space this year to 700 sq m, but what many visitors will want to know is the extent of reported delays to both of its main new airliner programs—Comac's C919 and Avic ARJ-21. The Chinese companies have been far from candid on these issues in the past.
"China has a statement to make [at the airshow]. They want to demonstrate that they are doing well in R&D and making headway with their own technology," commented Lau.
"The response to this year's show has been positive and we are delighted that the Singapore Airshow continues to be the event of choice for major players from across the aviation spectrum to network, exchange ideas and explore business opportunities," said Lau. "Despite current economic uncertainties, we will be putting on our biggest show yet. This is a promising sign of things to come for the industry and especially for the Asia-Pacific region," he continued.
For full news coverage of the Singapore Airshow go to AIN's special Singapore show landing page.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
112 Comments
Thank you for your blog. We have a nearly 7 month old who cannot sleep for more than 30 minutes unless she is swaddled. She was a colicky newborn who was worn, swung, rocked, etc. The day we read the Happiest Baby on the Block saved us from hours of screaming (by her and us) and the 5 S's were a lifesaver. She is now a happy wee girl who falls asleep peacefully and sleeps 12 hours a night with one feed in the middle. BUT… she has to be swaddled. She is the opposite of happy without her swaddle. She gets so angry! We use an old style cloth nappy to double swaddle her arms and then use a swaddle me over the top. In New Zealand they really push stopping the swaddle when baby starts rolling. Well, she is nearly crawling and rolls too. She has never so much as tried to roll in her swaddle. I was feeling like I was a bad mother for keeping her in her swaddle, but after reading your blog and enjoying our happy girl, I am keeping her swaddled until she decides she doesn't need it. Thanks for all the tips and reassurance.
Just wanted to share my success story thanks to Alexis. :]
My daughter will be 9 months on the 10th and I honestly thought she would be swaddled past a year. I kept trying the one arm out thing and it would normally not go past me trying to even get her to sleep before I went back and fully swaddled. But finally I committed and even though trying to get her to sleep was a bit of a struggle it didn't have a huge impact on her sleep. So I started with the one arm out deal for about three days and it went pretty smooth, and then we continued on with two. We had one pretty rough night that consisted of mom getting up to replace the pacifier because she must have felt out of place or something. But then it got better the next night. I gave that three days and then stopped wrapping her body and now we're done. Mommy's happy, baby's happy, and we're all sleeping well.
My advice if you really feel baby is ready to be out of the swaddle commit to Alexis' advice and go for it, don't turn back.
Now the pacifier battle … We'll see how we get rid of that one and when.
PS I still rock my baby girl normally as soon as she closes her eyes she's ok to be put down, it's just something I enjoy doing for her and I won't be able to do it her whole life so why not? She already fights me sometimes and would much rather lay in her crib and fall asleep on her own, it makes me kind of sad!
Any who… Thank you so much for site Alexis… You rock!!
I discovered this site in the middle of the night in the early weeks with our newborn when my husband and I didn't think we would survive the exhaustion (now I find myself rereading posts often). At that time we often only got 40 minutes of sleep between our baby waking and were delirious. We thought our daughter didn't like the swaddle but decided to try it again out of desperation around 8 weeks and finally started getting some sleep- she needed it! We implemented all of the suggestions for a newborn (white noise etc.) By three months she was occasionally sleeping through the night- yay us! We were even so brazen as to brag to family members about it, then….
She is 4 months old now and waking as often as she did when she was a newborn. She is an extremely alert and active baby, and rolled over right at 3 months and is on her way to a commando crawl. She is also an extremely restless sleeper. She loved to practice rolling in the middle of the night so we had to stop swaddling, and just use a sleep sack. Since then sleep has completely deteriorated. She has a crazy startle reflex and goes to sleep okay then her whole body jumps and she wakes herself up crying. This repeats about every 40 minutes or so all night long. We know she is exhausted, she goes right back to sleep once we settle her. She used to sleep so peacefully in the bassinet next to our bed. We have since moved in the pack n play but because of this waking we are now in a bed sharing situation out of need which happens somewhere between 2-3 am after getting up for the 8th time, (I sleep with my arm across her to keep her from startling herself awake). She is sleeping better in our bed but I am not, but we don't know what else to do! We would swaddle but know it wouldn't be safe with our restless sleeper. Oh and when she rolls on her stomach at night she cries, she can't settle in that position so between startling and flipping her back on to her back we get no sleep. Any suggestions? Or is it one of those things we have to ride out?
It sounds like she is really not ready to be done with the swaddle. I remember sleeping with my arm over my son's arms for this exact reason until I put two and two together and figured out to swaddle–ha! Could you put her in a rock-and-play or swing, something with buckle, to keep her from flipping while swaddled? If you use the Miracle Blanket or Halo sleep sacks, you can just keep her feet out so that you can buckle her in. This would prevent her from rolling and allow you to swaddle longer!
I love your website! Thanks for all of the articles and advice in your blogs. My issue is that my 2 month old son can only be swaddled if he is totally sleep otherwise he fights you tooth and nail. Then he wakes up anywhere from after a few minutes to a couple of hours and spends his time grunting and trying to break free. Should I continue swaddling him? Is it worth it? Any advice?


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Why bashing? They call me a good Ultrasone. You will not find, because there is none. There is Sounding, Sounding Sounding and again.
For the crazy sound-Friends in this world. But, that's okay.
This has as much to do with AKG as the Pope of pregnancy.
Edited by michaelxray - 10/5/13 at 11:23am


text: My Fords Story comes from a long line of only owing Fords…. in order from my first: Pinto, Mustang, Escort, Mustang, Mustang, Probe, Escort, Ranger, F150, Taurus, Taurus and Mustang. My current Taurus is turning 200,000 miles this week. Love that car! Love my Fords! Keep them coming….. what great vehicles!


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Marty Brennaman's quote in the July 31st full-page Paul Daugherty column "The Odd Couple" left me scratching my head. He said, "There is more to broadcasting that telling people about the game. As long as the stuff we talk about doesn't interfere…" Isn't that why people tune in to a broadcast in the first place?
I'm not interested in tomatoes (only maybe to throw a rotten one at Brennaman). I don't want to hear "the hall of famer" (and they say that ad naseum) talk to the production people in the booth. Don't get me started on "The Cowboy."
Daugherty says of Brennaman "He's opinated. He's not insulting your intelligence with pandering praise of the Reds when they don't deserve it." What the Reds don't deserve is the way Brennaman goes off on them when they make a mistake on the field. I don't expect "pandering praise," but I expect that Brennaman treat them (and ultimately us) with respect.
I must admit that I don't listen to the radio broadcasts anymore. I watch the TV broadcasts with the sound muted. Wasn't Thom Brennaman brought back to Cincinnati to be with Marty? Their egos wouldn't fit in the booth.
Marty Brennaman once made the statement that when Joe Nuxhall retired so would he. Too bad WLW didn't hold him to it.
My idea of the best broadcast team in baseball? Chris Welsh and Jim Day. They should be simulcast on radio, too.
Nancy Sonneman, Dillonvale
Posted in: baseball, Greater Cincinnati, National, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, Regional, Sports
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Dillonvale, Marty Brennaman


text: Yes, I've heard from them. Lucia is in Orlando and Colm is in Jackson MS trying to locate friends from the Shire of Northover. She says also that they have two friends are on Napoleon St. in New Orleans, and that supplies will be out in one week . She also says they may not have a home left, and asks if that makes them Gypsies. ;-) However, they're okay. ~ Bronwen "Quod Excogitem Sum"..."I Am What I Can Imagine" [Per pale sable and argent, an antelope statant and in chief a pearled coronet counterchanged] ~ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hillary Greenslade" <hillaryrg at yahoo.com> To: "Heralds" <heralds at ansteorra.org> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:11 PM Subject: [ANSTHRLD] just checking on Colm Dubh from New Orleans > Just checking - anyone heard from Colm Dubh or his lady? > I believe they live in New Orleans area, but were preparing for a trip > to Italy, for an > international onomastics organization - so I'm hoping they were not at > home during the storm. > > Hillary > _______________________________________________ > Heralds mailing list > Heralds at ansteorra.org > http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/heralds >


text:
→ 10 Nov 11 at 6 pm
It is way too cute for me to handle.
It is way too cute for me to handle.
it looks like an I. but it's a 1. ;)
(Source: our-mem0ries, via bornagainoutofthelionsden)
(via ohmyperry)
(Source: katynerry, via youllalways-beapearl)
(via fallenforjessiej)
Through your music, spirit, and irresistible charm, you've painted the smiles of millions of fans around the world. Your talent and soul have inspired us in unimaginable ways and give us the strength to look beyond boundaries and pursue our own dreams. You've healed our wounds, related to our lives, and allowed us to laugh again even when we thought all was lost. In essence, thank you for everything and enjoy your birthday :)!
(via dreamsincalifornia)
I wish she wore the cupcake dress in Seattle its so cute!!
(via ohmyperry)
(Source: ctlinxx, via jessiejxheartbeats)
(via pieceofperry)
(Source: jessiejiheart)
(Source: jessiejiheart)
(via slayty)
Who You Are- Jessie J
This song is just perfect
(Source: pogsonsarah, via jessiejxheartbeats)


text:
Hear the untold stories of enslaved people and learn about historical and contemporary slavery.
A beautiful building housing one of the UK's finest collections of fine and decorative art.
Uncover objects from the Titanic, find out about life at sea and learn about the port of Liverpool.
This new museum tells the story of Liverpool with diverse exhibits housed in a stunning building.
Explore a Victorian merchant's house with its period furniture and beautiful paintings.
Beautiful paintings, sculpture and decorative art from the 13th century to the present day.
Discover treasures from around the world, explore outer space and meet live creatures!
© Pete Carr
We've got snakes, super heroes and lots more FREE fun activities to keep boredom at bay this half-term!
Some of the highlights are below, or see the links on the left for full details of what's on at each venue.
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: intervals throughout the day
Museum of Liverpool
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: 11am-12.30pm
Lady Lever Art Gallery
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: 11am-4pm
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: 1-4pm, at intervals
Merseyside Maritime Museum
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: 1, 1.30, 2, 3 and 3.30pm
Date: 25 Oct 2014Time: 1-4pm
International Slavery Museum
Date: 26 Oct 2014Time: 11am and 2pm
Date: 26 Oct 2014Time: 1, 2 and 3pm
Date: 26 Oct 2014Time: 1-4pm
Date: 27 Oct 2014Time: 11am-4pm
World Museum
Date: 27 Oct 2014Time: 1-4pm, at intervals
Date: 27 Oct 2014Time: 1-4pm
Date: 27 Oct 2014Time: 1.30, 2.30 and 3.30pm
Date: 27 Oct 2014Time: 2 and 3pm
National Museums Liverpool
© Copyright 2014


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Oracle Voice Debuts on the App Store
Editor's note: I meant to blog about this today, but looks like my colleagues over at VoX have beat me to it. So, rather than try to do a better job, read do any work at all, I'll just repost it. Free content w00t!
Although I no longer carry an iOS device, I've seen Voice demoed many times in the past. Projects like Voice and Simplified UI are what drew me to Applications User Experience, and it's great to see them leak out into the World.
Oracle Extends Investment in Cloud User Experiences with Oracle Voice for Sales Cloud
By Vinay Dwivedi, and Anna Wichansky, Oracle Applications User Experience
Oracle Voice for the Oracle Sales Cloud, officially called "Fusion Voice Cloud Service for the Oracle Sales Cloud," is available now on the Apple App Store. This first release is intended for Oracle customers using the Oracle Sales Cloud, and is specifically designed for sales reps.
Unless people record new information they learn, (e.g. write it down, repeat it aloud), they forget a high proportion of it in the first 20 minutes. The Oracle Applications User Experience team has learned through its research that when sales reps leave a customer meeting with insights that can move a deal forward, it's critical to capture important details before they are forgotten. We designed Oracle Voice so that the app allows sales reps to quickly enter notes and activities on their smartphones right after meetings, no matter where they are.
Instead of relying on slow typing on a mobile device, sales reps can enter information three times faster (pdf) by speaking to the Oracle Sales Cloud through Voice. Voice takes a user through a dialog similar to a natural spoken conversation to accomplish this goal. Since key details are captured precisely and follow-ups are quicker, deals are closed faster and more efficiently.
Oracle Voice is also multi-modal, so sales reps can switch to touch-and-type interactions for situations where speech interaction is less than ideal.
Oracle sales reps tried it first, to see if we were getting it right.
We recruited a large group of sales reps in the Oracle North America organization to test an early version of Oracle Voice in 2012. All had iPhones and spoke American English; their predominant activity was field sales calls to customers. Users had minimal orientation to Oracle Voice and no training. We were able to observe their online conversion and usage patterns through automated testing and analytics at Oracle, through phone interviews, and through speech usage logs from Nuance, which is partnering with Oracle on Oracle Voice.
Users were interviewed after one week in the trial; over 80% said the product exceeded their expectations. Members of the Oracle User Experience team working on this project gained valuable insights into how and where sales reps were using Oracle Voice, which we used as requirements for features and functions.
For example, we learned that Oracle Voice needed to recognize product- and industry-specific vocabulary, such as "Exadata" and "Exalytics," and we requested a vocabulary enhancement tool from Nuance that has significantly improved the speech recognition accuracy. We also learned that connectivity needed to persist as users traveled between public and private networks, and that users needed easy volume control and alternatives to speech in public environments.
We've held subsequent trials, with more features and functions enabled, to support the 10 workflows in the product today. Many sales reps in the trials have said they are anxious to get the full version and start using it every day.
"I was surprised to find that it can understand names like PNC and Alcoa," said Marco Silva, Regional Manager, Oracle Infrastructure Sales, after participating in the September 2012 trial.
"It understands me better than Siri does," said Andrew Dunleavy, Sales Representative, Oracle Fusion Middleware, who also participated in the same trial.
This demo shows Oracle Voice in action.
What can a sales rep do with Oracle Voice?
Oracle Voice allows sales reps to efficiently retrieve and capture sales information before and after meetings. With Oracle Voice, sales reps can:
Prepare for meetings
- View relevant notes to see what happened during previous meetings.
- See important activities by viewing previous tasks and appointments.
- Brush up on opportunities and check on revenue, close date and sales stage.
Wrap up meetings
- Capture notes and activities quickly so they don't forget any key details.
- Create contacts easily so they can remember the important new people they meet.
- Update opportunities so they can make progress.
Our research showed that sales reps entered more sales information into the CRM system when they enjoyed using Oracle Voice, which makes Oracle Voice even more useful because more information is available to access when the same sales reps are on the go. With increased usage, the entire sales organization benefits from access to more current sales data, improved visibility on sales activities, and better sales decisions. Customers benefit too — from the faster response time sales reps can provide.
Oracle's ongoing investment in User Experience
Oracle gets the idea that cloud applications must be easy to use. The Oracle Applications User Experience team has developed an approach to user experience that focuses on simplicity, mobility, and extensibility, and these themes drive our investment strategy. The result is key products that refine particular user experiences, like we've delivered with Oracle Voice.
Oracle Voice is one of the most recent products to embrace our developer design philosophy for the cloud of "Glance, Scan, & Commit." Oracle Voice allows sales reps to complete many tasks at what we call glance and scan levels, which means keeping interactions lightweight, or small and quick.
Are you an Oracle Sales Cloud customer?
Oracle Voice is available now on the Apple App Store for Oracle customers using the Oracle Sales Cloud. It's the smarter sales automation solution that helps you sell more, know more, and grow more.
Will you be at Oracle OpenWorld 2014? So will we! Stay tuned to the VoX blog for when and where you can find us. And don't forget to drop by and check out Oracle Voice at the Smartphone and Nuance demo stations located at the CX@Sales Central demo area on the second floor of Moscone West.
We Have Slap Bands
As part of a secret project Noel (@noelportugal) and Raymond are cooking up, Noel ordered some AppsLab-branded slap bands.
The bands were produced by Amazing Wristbands (@AMZG_Wristbands), and Noel has nothing but good things to say about them, in case you're looking for your own slap bands.
Anyway, I'm sure we'll have some left over after the double-secret project. So, if you want one, let us know.
Find the comments.
A Smart Holster for Law Enforcement
So, back in January, Noel (@noelportugal) took a team of developers to the AT&T Developer Summit Hackathon in Las Vegas.
Although they didn't win, the built some very cool stuff, combining Google Glass, Philips Hue, Internet of Things, and possibly a kitchen sink in there somewhere, into what can only be described as a smart holster. You know, for guns.
You read that right. This project was way out of our usual wheelhouse, which is what made it so much fun, or so I'm told.
Friend of the 'Lab Martin Taylor was kind enough to produce, direct and edit the following video, in which Noel describes and demonstrates the holster's capabilities.
Did you catch the bit at 3:06? That's Raymond behind the mask.
So, a Researcher and Six Developers Join a Coding Challenge
Editor's Note: Hey, a new author! Colleague and Friend of the 'Lab, Joyce Ohgi, a principal usability researcher here at Oracle Applications User Experience, joined several of our guys and tall man, all-around good dude and Friend of the 'Lab, Rafa Belloni (@rafabelloni), to form a super-powered team last week.
This is her story, as told from the inside. Enjoy.
I earned $600 in a coding challenge without writing a single line of code.
Well, strictly speaking, $600/7 = $85.71, 7 being the number of members on our team. The challenge in question? The Oracle Applications User Experience Beacons Developer Challenge, a contest between internal Oracle teams to devise a creative solution using Estimote's beacons and Oracle Facilities data provided by Oracle Spatial.
We were given: the beacons, some sample data, icons, and images, an example app, a pack of poster gum to stick the beacons on walls, and the freedom to do whatever we could: 1) dream up and 2) execute in 48 hours.
Fast forward: Anthony Lai (@anthonslai) and I are standing in front of a room of developers and five judges about to give a presentation on our app, whose back end I still did not fully grasp. How did I get there?
My journey started two days before the official challenge start date. I ate lunch with Tony, one of the developers, and he suggested I join the team because "Why not? It'll be fun."
I had heard of the challenge but thought it wasn't for someone like me, as my now-rusty coding skills were last used for an Intro to C programming class in college; what could I contribute to a contest whose purpose is literally to generate code? But I like Tony, and he promised me it would be fun. So I decided, well, if the team will have me, I'd like to try it out. So I signed up.
One day before the challenge: the team decides to meet in order to: 1) learn each other's names and 2) come up with a list of ideas, which would be narrowed down once the contest started.
After we all introduced ourselves, the brainstorming began immediately and organically. But, to my surprise, not a single dev was taking notes. How were we going to remember all the ideas and organize ourselves?
As a researcher, one of the basic rules of my job is to always observe and always take notes.
I could be useful! I whipped out my handy iPad with keyboard case and typed away. But some of the ideas didn't make sense to me, and for the good of the team, I realized I also should be voicing my questions and opinions, not just act as the scribe.
So, I asked questions. It was scary. I was worried they would tease me for not knowing the back-end stuff they were talking about, or for speaking about ideas in terms of users' needs, instead of the system constraints or technology features.
But the team listened to me. They even agreed with me. Okay, they also disagreed with me sometimes. But they treated me with the same respect they treated each other.
Day of the challenge – final code check-in: Honestly, the whole coding challenge experience is a blur. As a researcher, I'm trained not just to always take notes, but also to take photos whenever possible to retain key details that could be otherwise forgotten.
I got so wrapped up in our project, that I didn't take a single photo of our group. I did take several pictures of our competition though.
Luckily Kathy Miedema dropped by to wish us luck and also snapped a picture.
As for the experience itself, I can only attempt to describe it by painting a picture in words.
We are all seated in the AUX Team's little Design Room. Although all the chairs are occupied, silence reigns, interrupted only by the soft clicking of keyboards, and the occasional low conversation.
Usually, the mental image of collaboration is of a group of people talking together in a group. But in this case, even though it looked like we were all doing our own separate thing, it was intensely collaborative.
Each of our parts would need to come together by the deadline, so we did constant, impromptu, little check-ins to make sure the pieces we were building would integrate quickly.
I checked-in constantly as well, seeking confirmation that, of the many research methodologies I could use, the ones I chose gave the team the data they needed, i.e. user interviews to capture wants, needs and task flows of the current processes and feedback sessions with key stakeholders.
By the way, if you are interested in learning more about research methodology, you can find more info at UX Direct.
So, back to Anthony and me, standing in front of a crowd, about to launch into our demo.
It was crazy; we didn't have time to do a run-through before; we had some weird display lags using the projector and the Samsung Gear Live smartwatch; the script was too long, and we ran out of time.
Believe me, I have a list of things that we can improve upon for the next challenge, but our idea was good.
Technically, it was solid, because of the deep expertise of the team, which aggregated probably comes close to 100 years of total development experience, and it was based on real users' needs because of my research.
Happily, we won 2nd place, and $600. Next year, we'll be gunning for 1st and the cool $1000 prize, which would net $142.86 for each of us.
All kidding aside, it's not about the prize money or the recognition. It's about people using their unique skill sets to build something better than any of them could have built on their own.
I will close with a text exchange between Anthony and me, post-challenge:
Me: Thx for letting me participate. I enjoyed seeing "your world" aka development.
Anthony: Uh oh. We are a test species to you.
Me: Don't worry. A good researcher observes to understand, not to pass judgment.
And later, when I was fretting that I cost our team the win by not contributing any code, Anthony wrote to me:
Contributing code does not mean contributing; contributing does not mean contributing code.
Editor again: Joyce thought the post needing a closing. Thanks to Joyce, Rafa and our guys, Anthony, Luis, Osvaldo, Raymond and Tony for all their hard work. Consider the post closed. Oh, and find the comments.
Taleo Interview Evaluations, Part 2
So, if you read Part 1, you're all up to speed. If not, no worries. You might be a bit lost, but if you care, you can bounce over and come back for the thrilling conclusion.
I first showed the Taleo Interview Evaluation Glass app and Android app at a Taleo and HCM Cloud customer expo in late April, and as I showed it, my story evolved.
Demos are living organisms; the more you show them, the more you morph the story to fit the reactions you get. As I showed the Taleo Glass app, the demo became more about Glass and less about the story I was hoping to tell, which was about completing the interview evaluation more quickly to move along the hiring process.
So, I began telling that story in context of allowing any user, with any device, to complete these evaluations quickly, from the heads-up hotness of Google Glass, all the way down the technology coolness scale to a boring old dumbphone with just voice and text capabilities.
I used the latter example for two reasons. First, the juxtaposition of Google Glass and a dumbphone sending texts got a positive reaction and focused the demo around how we solved the problem vs. "is that Google Glass?"
And second, I was already designing an app to allow a user with a dumbphone to complete an interview evaluation.
Noel (@noelportugal) introduced me to Twilio (@twilio) years ago when he built the epic WebCenter Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. Those robots punched based on text and voice input collected by Twilio.
Side note, Noel has long been a fan of Twilio's, and happily, they are an Oracle Partner. Ultan (@ultan) is hard at work dreaming up cool stuff we can do with Twilio, so stay tuned.
Anyway, Twilio is the perfect service to power the app I had in mind. Shortly after the customer expo ended, I asked Raymond to build out this new piece, so I could have a full complement of demos to show that fit the full story.
In about a week, Raymond was done, and we now have a holistic story to tell.
The interface is dead simple. The user simply sends text messages to a specific number, using a small set of commands. First, sending "Taleo help" returns a list of the commands. Next, the user sends "Taleo eval requests" to retrieve a list of open interview evaluations.
The user then sends a command to start one of the numbered evaluations, e.g. "Start eval 4″ and each question is sent as a separate message.
When the final question has been answered, a summary of the user's answered is sent, and the user can submit the evaluation by sending "Confirm submit."
And that's it. Elegant and simple and accessible to any manager, e.g. field managers who spend their days traveling between job sites. Coupled with the Glass app and the Android app, we've covered all the bases not already covered by Taleo's web app and mobile apps.
As always, the disclaimer applies. This is not product. It's simply a concept demo, built to show people the type of R&D we, Oracle Applications User Experience and this team, do. Not product, only research.
Find the comments.
Taleo Interview Evaluations, Part 1
Time to share a new concept demo, built earlier this Spring by Raymond and Anthony (@anthonyslai), both of whom are ex-Taleo.
Back in April, I got my first exposure to Taleo during a sales call. I was there with the AUX contingent, talking about Oracle HCM Cloud Release 8, featuring Simplified UI, our overall design philosophies and approaches, i.e. simplicity-mobility-extensibility, glance-scan-commit, and our emerging technologies work and future cool stuff.
I left that meeting with an idea for a concept demo, streamlining the interview evaluation process with a Google Glass app.
The basic pain point here is that recruiters have trouble urging the hiring managers they support through the hiring process because these managers have other job responsibilities.
It's the classic Catch-22 of hiring; you need more people to help do work, but you're so busy doing the actual work, you don't have time to do the hiring.
Anyway, Taleo Recruiting has the standard controls, approvals and gating tasks that any hiring process does. One of these gating tasks is completing the interview evaluation; after interviewing a candidate, the interviewer, typically the hiring manager and possibly others, completes an evaluation of the candidate that determines her/his future path in the process.
Good evaluation, the candidate moves on in the process. Poor evaluation, the candidate does not.
Both Taleo's web app and mobile app provide the ability to complete these evaluations, and I thought it would be cool to build a Glass app just for interview evaluations.
Having a hands-free way to complete an evaluation would be useful for a hiring manager walking between meetings on a large corporate campus or driving to a meeting. The goal here is to bring the interview evaluation closer to the actual end of the interview, while the chat is still fresh in the manager's mind.
Imagine you're the hiring manager. Rather than delaying the evaluation until later in the day (or week), walk out of an interview, command Glass to start the evaluation, have the questions read directly into your ear, dictate your responses and submit.
Since the Glass GDK dropped last Winter, Anthony has been looking for a new Glass project, and I figured he and Raymond would run with a Taleo project. They did.
The resulting concept demo is a Glass app and an accompanying Android app that can also be used as a dedicated interview evaluation app. Raymond and Anthony created a clever way to transfer data using the Bluetooth connection between Glass and its parent device.
Here's the flow, starting with the Glass app. The user can either say "OK Glass" and then say "Start Taleo Glass," or tap the home card, swipe through the cards and choose the Start Taleo Glass card.
The Glass app will then wait for its companion Android app to send the evaluation details.
Next, the user opens the Android app to see all the evaluations s/he needs to complete, and then selects the appropriate one.
Tapping Talk to Google Glass sends the first question to the Glass over the Bluetooth connection. The user sees the question in a card, and Glass also dictates the question through its speaker.
Tapping Glass' touchpad turns on the microphone so the user can dictate a response, either choosing an option for a multiple choice question or dictating an answer for an open-ended question. As each answer is received by the Android app, the evaluation updates, which is pretty cool to watch.
The Glass app goes through each question, and once the evaluation is complete, the user can review her/his answers on the Android app and submit the evaluation.
The guys built this for me to show at a Taleo and HCM Cloud customer expo, similar to the one AMIS hosted in March. After showing it there, I decided to expand the concept demo to tell a broader story. If you want to read about that, stay tuned for Part 2.
Itching to sound off on this post, find the comments.
Update: The standard disclaimer applies here. This is not product of any kind. It's simply a concept demo, built to show people the type of R&D we, Oracle Applications User Experience and this team, do. Not product, only research.
I Guess Wearables Are a Thing
For what seems like ages, the noise around wearable technology has been building, but until recently, I've been skeptical about widespread adoption.
Not anymore, wearables are a thing, even without an Apple device to lead the way.
Last week, Noel (@noelportugal) and I attended the annual conference of the Oracle HCM Users Group (@ohugupdates); the Saturday before the conference, we showed off some of our wearable demos to a small group of customers in a seminar hosted by Oracle Applications User Experience.
As usual, we saturated the Bluetooth spectrum with our various wearables.
The questions and observations of the seminar attendees showed a high level of familiarity with wearables of all types, not just fitness bands, but AR glasses and other, erm, wearable gadgets. A quick survey showed that several of them had their own wearables, too.
Later in the week, chatting up two other customers, I realized that one use case I'd thought was bogus is actually real, the employee benefits plus fitness band story.
In short, employers give out fitness bands to employees to promote healthy behaviors and sometimes competition; the value to the organization comes from an assumption that the overall benefit cost goes down for a healthier employee population. Oh, and healthy people are presumably happier, so there's that too.
At a dinner, I sat between two people, who work for two different employers, in very different verticals; they both were wearing company-provided fitness trackers, one a Garmin device, the other a FitBit. And they both said the devices motivated them.
So, not a made-up use case at all.
My final bit of anecdotal evidence from the week came during Jeremy's (@jrwashley) session. The room was pretty packed, so I decided to do some Bluetooth wardriving using the very useful Bluetooth 4.0 Scanner app, which has proven to be much more than a tool for finding my lost Misfit Shine.
From a corner of the room, I figured my scan covered about a third of the room.
That's at least six wearables, five that weren't mine. I can't tell what some of the devices are, e.g. One, and devices like Google Glass and the Pebble watch won't be detected by this method. We had about 40 or so people in the room, so even without scanning the entire room, that's a lot of people rocking wearables.
If you're not impressed by my observations, maybe some fuzzy app-related data will sway you. From a TechCrunch post:
A new report from Flurry Analytics shows that health and fitness apps are growing at a faster rate than the overall app market so far in 2014. The analytics firm looked at data from more than 6,800 apps in the category on the iPhone and iPad and found that usage (measured in sessions) is up 62% in the last six months compared to 33% growth for the entire market, an 87% faster pace.
This data comes just as Apple and Google aim to boost the ecosystem for fitness apps and wearables with HealthKit and Google Fit, both of which aim to make it easy for wearable device manufacturers to share their data and app developers to use that data to make even better apps.
Of course, if/when Apple and Google make their plays, wearables will only get more prevalent.
So, your thoughts, about wearables, your own and other people's, corporate wellness initiatives, your own observations, belong in the comments.
Fourfecta! Java, IoT, Making and Raspi
Here comes more Maker content for your reading pleasure, this time it's an OTN piece on Java and the Internet of Things:
A Perfect Match: Java and the Internet of Things
The piece features lots of Noel (@noelportugal) wisdom, on making, on IoT, on the Raspi and on Java, his own personal fourfecta. If you're scanning (shame on you), look for the User Experience and the Internet of Things section.
Here's a very Noel quote:
"Java powers the internet, our banks, and retail enterprises—it's behind the scenes everywhere," remarks Portugal. "So we can apply the same architectures, security, and communication protocols that we use on the enterprise to an embedded device. I have used Arduino, but it would be hard to start a web server with it. But with Raspberry Pi, I can run a server, or, for example, use general-purpose I/O where I can connect sensors. The point is that developers can translate their knowledge of Java from developing on the enterprise to embedded things."
For those attending Kscope14 next week, come find us for the in-person version and see IFTTPi, the fourfecta in action.
Find Us at Kscope14 Next Week in Seattle
Kscope14 (#kscope14), the annual conference of the Oracle Development Tools User Group, affectionately ODTUG (@odtug), will happen next week in beautiful Seattle, June 22 to June 26.
The good people at ODTUG have graciously invited me back as a speaker for the 2014 vintage, and Anthony (@anthonyslai) will be my wingman for our session, Oracle Cloud and the New Frontier of User Experience.
Here are the particulars:
Title: Oracle Cloud and the New Frontier of User Experience
When: Monday, June 23, 2014, Session 1, 10:45 am – 11:45 am
A wristband that can unlock and start your car based on a unique cardiac rhythm. Head-mounted displays that layer digital information over reality. Computers, robots, drones, and more controlled with a wave of the hand or a flick of the wrist. Everyday objects connected to the Internet that convey information in an ambient way. Fully functional computers on tiny sticks. Invisible fences that control the flow of data. Science fiction isn't fiction anymore, and people aren't tied to PCs and desks. Everything is a device, everything is connected, everything is smart, and everything is an experience. Come see the R&D work of Oracle's Applications User Experience team and explore new devices, trends, and platforms.
Noel (@noelportugal) will be tagging along as well, and I think we'll have a scaled-down, but still fun, version of the IFTTPi activity the guys showed at the Maker Faire last month.
So, if you want to hear about and see the emerging technologies R&D coming out of Oracle Applications User Experience (@usableapps), try out Google Glass, Leap Motion, various wearables, play with the Sphero, or just say hi, come find us in Seattle.
Maker Movement Fuels the Internet of Things
The Java Team recently released a short video compiling selected moments from last month's MakerCon and Maker Faire. If you recall, we were lucky to be invited to participate in both events, both of which were tons of fun, enlightening and inspiring.
At 0:33 you'll see the some of the guys hamming it up for the camera, and Jeremy's (@jrwashley) keynote at MakerCon is featured prominently as a voiceover.
Google Glass and First World Problems
If you have Google Glass, you've probably seen this card a few times.
After a while, you begin to expect the card when your right temple starts to get uncomfortably warm. Apparently, Anthony (@anthonyslai), our resident Glass expert and long-time Glass Explorer, has a protip to handle this problem, two cans of cold soda.
I guess Ultan (@ultan) first encountered this clever solution while Anthony was presenting at the EchoUser Wearables Design Jam a couple weeks ago.
Now I have an efficient way to solve this decidedly First World Problem.
The Qualcomm Toq
Editor's Note: Here's a post from newish 'Lab member, Tony. Enjoy, and maybe if you're nice in comments, he'll write more. Or not, we won't know until we know.
The ideas flying, crawling, walking, and slithering around us in the sunny windy San Francisco Bay setting made for an enjoyable, educational, and truly inspirational experience. O'Reilly Solid conference: Software/Hardware/Everywhere was last week and with it, the future finally materialized. Wearables, robots, new materials, new methods, and new software have arrived to change . . . everything.
This spirit was interrupted–no, augmented–for a few hours at the beginning of Solid by some hushed mumbles: O'Reilly was giving away 30 smartwatches at lunchtime!
I will spare the details of finding and analyzing the official rules, staking out and running reconnaissance around the giveaway area, listening in, photographing, and hunkering down. I created my first personal twitter account and opened 10 identical tabs on my smartphone, ready to spawn the required golden tweet. I proudly whispered this strategy to a colleague who responded: "OK, you've gone too far now." I agreed and then quietly, though not completely unabashedly, created two more tabs.
The Toq Smartwatch by Qualcomm features Qualcomm's Mirasol display technology which delivers a sizable, always on, color touch screen without consuming much power. The screen is readable even in direct sunlight. In darkness, double tap the secret spot on the upper band to toggle the happy backlight. The screen snappily responds to touch and the battery lasted a full week in my test. Given that the display stays on for so long between charges, I find it difficult to overly criticize the often washed out, blurred colors.
The watch face is so much bigger than the band that the screen overlaps my hand a bit. The watch often digs in when the wrist is bent, say when using an armrest to get up from a chair. Tightening the band to prevent the discomfort is not an option. The Toq band is cut to fit, and careful with those scissors: a battery and sensors in the band mean you cannot replace it. The design of the band does not permit an analog fit as there are a finite number of slots. If you are one of the lucky ones with a blessed wrist size then you should be able to use Toq without frequent pain. Got pain? Regularly shove the watch up to where your arm is thicker, or sell it to someone with a wrist of equal or lesser circumference to your own.
The software, both on the Toq itself and on the required Android-only device, is adequate. Devices stayed paired and notifications were timely. Range was around 30 feet. What more do you want in a smartwatch? How about using your voice to dictate a text!? Pretty cool, Toq! An SDK is also available for you to make your own Android apps which communicate with Toq. I tried downloading it and they wanted me to create an account so I didn't. I was also discouraged by the quiet, small dev forum.
I seldom wear a watch, but I am never without my smartphone. So will I use a smartwatch regularly? I really like being able to casually look down and immediately read a new email/chat/text. Quick access to stocks, weather, calendar, and basic music controls come in handy sometimes. Overall though, Toq leaves me wanting more: a true smartphone experience, always on, on my wrist. But then maybe Toq has done its job. I think I have seen the light, the conversion has been made, and I am enthusiastically on board for next time.
Bottom line: Qualcomm Toq is OK for a free gift but I want more.
The Narrative Clip
Editor's note: Here's another post from friend of the 'Lab and colleague, John Cartan. When John reached out, offering a review of the Narrative Clip (neé Memento), I jumped at the opportunity to read and publish his thoughts, and not just because I value his insights.
When Noel (@noelportugal) and I were in the Netherlands for the awesome event hosted by AMIS in March, we ran into Sten Vesterli (@stenvesterli), Ace Director and OAUX Advocate, who was sporting the very same Narrative Clip. We both quizzed Sten about it and were intrigued to explore future uses and cool demos for the little life-logging camera.
Anyway, John's review reminded me, and now we have more anecdotal usage on which to draw if/when we get to building for the Narrative Clip.
For several weeks now I've been wearing a small orange gadget clipped to my shirt – a "lifelogging" camera called the "Narrative Clip". We thought we might be able to use it for ethnographic field studies (following users around to see how they do their job), or maybe for recording whiteboards during brainstorming meetings. But I was especially curious to see how other people would react to it.
The device itself is small (about the size of a Triscuit) and easy to use: just clip it onto your shirt or collar and forget it. It takes a photo once every 30 seconds without flashing lights or any visible indication. At the end of the day you hook it to a Mac or PC with a 3-inch USB cable to both upload the day's photos and recharge the device.
The camera can be temporarily deactivated by putting it face down on a table or in a purse or pocket. In practice I found that my pocket wasn't dark enough so I made a small carrying case out a box of mints.
Once the photos are transferred (which takes only a minute or two) you can either leave them on your hard disk, upload them to a cloud server, or both. The server upload and processing takes anywhere from ten minutes to six hours or more. Once uploaded, the images are straightened, cropped, sorted to remove blurry photos, organized into groups, and made available to a free iPhone or Android browser app.
The cloud storage is effortless and requires no local storage but sometimes over-crops (it once chopped the heads off all the people in a meeting I monitored) and provides only limited access to the photos (you have to mail yourself reduced photos from the phone app one at a time).
So I think that for full control you have to enable the local storage option. This works fine, but creates more work. You can easily generate over a thousand photos a day, which all have to be sorted and rotated. The photos consume a gig or more each day, which may eventually overwhelm your local hard drive; for long-term usage I would recommend a dedicated external drive.
Photo Quality
Each raw photo is 2592 x 1944 (5 megapixels). The quality is acceptable in full light, grainy in low light (there is no flash). But because the photos are taken mindlessly while clipped to a shirt that may bounce or sag, the results are generally poor: mostly shots of the ceiling or someone's elbow. There is no way to check the images as they are taken, so if the lens is blocked by a droopy collar you may not discover this until the end of the day (as happened to me once). And the camera generally won't be pointed in the direction you are looking unless you glue it to your forehead or wear it on a hat. You can force a photo by double-tapping, but this doesn't work well.
For all these reasons the Narrative Clip is not a replacement for a normal camera. But the random nature of the photo stream does have some redeeming qualities: it notices things you do not (a passing expression on someone's face, an interesting artifact in an odd corner of someone's cube, etc.) and it creates a record of small moments during the course of a day which would otherwise be quickly forgotten. Even if most of the photos are unusable, they do tend to jog your memory about the actual sequence of events. And because the photos are un-posed they can sometimes capture more authentic moments than a more obvious camera usually would.
Possible Applications
The key to designing a great user experience for enterprise software is to first understand your user: what her job is, how she does it, what challenges she has to overcome each day, etc. One way of doing this is an "ethnographic field study" – the researcher follows the user around and documents a typical day.
Our original idea was that the Narrative Clip could enhance ethnographic field studies. Either the researcher could wear it while following a user, or you could ask the user to wear it for a day and then meet later to review the photos.
I think both of these ideas are worth trying. The Narrative Clip would not replace a normal camera; it's main value would be to jog the memory when writing up reports at the end of the day. Similarly, if the user wears the clip herself, the researcher should schedule time the next day to step through the photos together and answer questions ("What were you doing here? Who is that? It looks like you stepped briefly onto the shop floor after lunch – how often do you that?").
There are other applications as well. I set up the camera in a meeting room to take a photo of the whiteboard every 30 seconds. This could be a quick and easy way to capture drawings during the course of a brainstorming session. Placing the camera far enough back to capture the entire board meant the writing was hard to discern; it might work with good lighting and strong marking pens.
Setting the clip on a table during an interview allowed me to collect a collage of un-posed portraits which, in total, gave a more accurate reflection of the subject's personality than any single posed photo could provide.
Another possible application is using the camera to take photos from the dashboard of a moving car. For optimal results the camera needs to be placed near the windshield and high enough to avoid photographing the hood of the car. I achieved a stable mount by clipping the camera to a placard holder (from an office supply store) and placing that on a dashboard sticky pad (from an auto supply store).
Personal Reactions
As we enter the age of wearable sensors and the Internet of Things, we are starting to ask a new question during our design sessions: "is that creepy?" As technologists we are naturally excited by the new applications and the bounty of data made available. But as we think about the user experience of our customers, it is important to consider what it's like being on the other end of the camera. Wearing the Narrative Clip was a great way to explore personal reactions to this brave new world.
I found that in general people didn't notice (or were to polite to ask) about the device unless I brought it up. But once they realized it was a camera, some people were uncomfortable (at first). Most people didn't seem to mind too much once they understood how it worked, but some people were definitely shy about having their photos taken. Some changed positions so as not to be in my normal field of vision. One person requested that I destroy any photos it might take of her. It helps to explain what you're doing and ask permission first.
Here is what one acquaintance of mine confessed:
"What I think is that I value one-to-one time that is ephemeral. Not recorded. Felt in the heart. I feel threatened when recorded without permission. Sigh. I know. That sounds dumb. I mean, with cell phones everywhere, I don't even have privacy in the gym locker room. Then the flip side of my brain starts blabbing: "What are you worrying about? Who would want to see your body or record your thoughts anyway?" Am I just prejudiced? I would not want to hire someone I interviewed if they wore one. I would leave the dinner table if a date wore one."
I feel that it is very important to respect attitudes like this. If people are uncomfortable with a new technology, they will find ways to bypass or subvert it. Sensor-based enterprise applications will only succeed if we strike the right balance between convenience and privacy, are upfront about exactly what data we are collecting and how it will be used, and show respect by asking permission and letting people opt in as much as possible.
The Narrative Clip is a solid, easy to use device that could be helpful for tasks like ethnographic fieldwork, but culling through the flood of random images requires time and effort. Further experimentation is needed to determine if the trade-off would be worthwhile.
Recording entire days – and being recorded by others – was an illuminating experience. Sensor-based technologies can provide treasure troves of data, but it's always worth asking what it would be like to be on the other end of the camera. A reasonable balance can be struck if we are transparent about what we are doing and show respect by asking permission.
The Misfit Shine
Over the past 12 months, the chatter about wearables (glasses, watches, bands, clothing, material) has become too loud to ignore. It almost seems like manufacturers will force consumers to like wearables, like it or not.
There are good uses for wearables, and one of the most common is the fitness tracker.
Although I haven't worn one myself until recently, I've been around lots of people who have, e.g. my wife had an early FitBit, Noel (@noelportugal) was an early adopter of the Nike+ Fuelband and has a Jawbone UP, Ultan (@ultan) has at least a dozen different fitness trackers, etc.
I finally made the jump and bought the Misfit Wearables Shine, and after wearing it for a week, I'm impressed. I do wonder how long it will keep my attention though.
Of all the fitness bands and smartwatches (and smartphone apps) that track activity, I chose the Shine because I love the small form factor and the flexible ways to wear it. The Shine is about the diameter of a quarter, and guessing here, about the thickness of two or three quarters stacked.
So, yeah, it's small. It comes with a wristband and a magnetic clasp, and you can buy other, erm, Shine holders including necklaces, leather wristbands and even socks and t-shirts, specifically designed to hold the little guy.
Another plus for the Shine is that it takes a standard watch battery, no need to charge it or tether it for syncing, a common complaint about other fitness trackers.
The Shine uses Bluetooth 4.0 (a.k.a. Bluetooth Low Energy) to communicate with the phone. BLE uses less power than the older spec, but keeping the Bluetooth receiver on all the time runs down the battery noticeably.
Even though its design is minimalist, the Shine can tell you the time, if you learn its indicators and ensure you know which side is 12 o'clock. Easier than a binary clock, but requires some learning.
My experience so far has been pretty positive. I like the little guy, but I'm not sure how long I'll stay engaged. This isn't a Misfit problem though.
There are some noteworthy negatives.
Misfit only provides a mobile app for the Shine, no accompanying web app, which I actually don't mind, yet. This does limit the metrics and analytics a bit, which I know other people like, especially as they accumulate data over time. So, this will eventually bug me
I'm a fan of the quantified self, to a fault; I used to carry a workout journal with eight years of handwritten data in it.
I'm *that* guy.
Misfit has no publicly-available developer options, no APIs, no SDK. They have been promising an API for a while now, so I assume it's coming soon. An SDK would be nice, e.g. to allow developers to access the Shine for glanceable notifications. Not sure if that's in the cards or not.
Finally, one of the positives can be a negative. I like the different options for wearing the Shine, and I've tested out both the sports band and the magnetic clasp. The latter leads me to a con; it's easy to lose the Shine.
Case in point, I was wearing the Shine attached to my shorts. I went about my day and suddenly realized it was missing. Looking at the last time I had synced, I retraced my steps to no avail, using the Bluetooth scanning feature as a BLE dowsing rod of sorts.
As a last resort, I pinged Noel, BLE master. He pointed me to an Android app called simply Bluetooth 4.0 Scanner and within minutes, I had found it.
Huzzah for Noel! Huzzah for Bluetooth 4.0 Scanner! Reading the comments on that app shows that my use case is not unique. Perhaps the developer should rename it, Fitness Band Finder, or some such.
Anyway, that's my week or so with the Misfit Shine.
Find the comments.
Saying Wearables in Spanish
Friend of the 'Lab, Bob Rhubart (@otnarchbeat) recently recorded a segment with our own Noel (@noelportugal) and Sarahi Mireles (@sarahimireles), a UX developer from our Mexico Development Center.
The topic was wearables, but I only know this because they told me. Google Translate wasn't very helpful, unless "Manos libres y vista al frente: Con el futuro puesto" means "Handsfree and front view: With the future since."
Anyway, enjoy.
Update: Noel pointed me to an English version on the same topic.
Whereable is the Killer Wearable Translation Use Case? Glass, Word Lens and UX
Editor's note: Here comes a guest post from our old pal and colleague, Ultan O'Broin (@ultan). You can read more of his thoughts and musing at User Experience Assistance and Not Lost in Translation. Enjoy.
Whereable is the Killer Wearable Translation Use Cases? Glass, Word Lens and UX
By Ultan O'Broin
I just can't escape the Word Lens-AppsLab vortex. I blogged about the Quest Visual Word Lens augmented reality (AR) mobile translation app for Jake (@jkuramot) a while ago. I'm involved in user experience (UX) outreach with Noel (@noelportugal) or Anthony (@anthonyslai) demoing the Google Glass version of Word Lens. Blogged about that, too.
Now, Google have just announced an acquisition of Word Lens. That's good news for the Glass version. The current version "works" but hardly at the level UX aspires to. The AR translation is impacted by stuff like how often you drink in certain bars in San Francisco the Glass wearer's head moves, the fonts used in the target image, and so on. Likely this acquisition will mean Google Translate's overall UX improves, offering an upped experience in terms of optimized UIs on different devices, all pivoting around a cloud-based real-time translation of a wide range of language combinations.
Up to now these mobile translation apps (there's a ton) seem like a hammer in search of a nail. Finding a consumer nail, let alone an enterprise one, often leaves me scratching at the bottom of the toolbox. Besides the translation quality, contextual factors are forgotten. Stuff like cost of operation or the device, or the very environment you're got to work in.
Take Word Lens on Glass. Great for wearables ideation, the promise of an immersive UX, the AR potential, and people just love the awesome demos. But would you ever use it for real, right now?
Consider this: I'm a Glass Explorer and a runner. I recently did a 10 miler in Tel Aviv using Strava Run Glassware. Yeah, more of our global experiment to see if normal people would notice or care about Glass being in their faces (they didn't).
It was a great user experience, sure. But the cost of using my Glass tethered to my EU-registered Samsung Galaxy SIII for data on the move forced me back to reality: nearly 33 EUR (45 USD, today) in roaming charges. Over 3 Euros a mile.
Of course, there's also the cost of Glass itself. Effectively, with taxes and bits added, it's 1700 USD (1250 EUR). Not cheap. So, consider adding another real world problem. Running around sweating on your 1700 bucks. Nothing that some handy tape and a plastic bag can't deal with in a sort of Nerdy 2.0 duct tape eyeglasses repairy way. But, not a UX for the stylish.
I've no idea what Word Lens on Glass would cost to translate a foreign language dinner menu, billboard or sign when away on vacation. But, I'd bet if you're going to try more serious translation tasks and stay connected during it, then it'll likely be cheaper and a lot easier to just man up and try and ask someone local. Unless, the app is usable offline … and works outside in the rain.
Time will tell where Google Glass and Word Lens ends up. The message from all this is that in the enterprise, when it comes to gathering user requirements for wearable (and other) tech, it's about more than just the end user and about taking technology at face value. Context is king.
Oh, we've a course on that, too.
Raspi Shutdown Key
Noel (@noelportugal) is a clever dude. He's also passionate. If you've ever met him, you already know these things.
Although I haven't yet jumped into Raspberry Pi, despite Noel's unbridled passion about the little-computer-that-could, I have captured some metadata about it, just from being around him and his passion.
For example, I know the Raspi needs to be shutdown a certain way, or bad things happen. I recall Noel being very specific about this at the Raspi hackday he ran in January.
Since he created a Maker Faire DIY activity based around Raspi and Embedded Java, Noel needed an easy and standardized way to shutdown his Raspis without the benefit of any standard peripherals, no keyboard, no mouse, no monitor.
So, he made a key because of course he made a key. Duh.
I saw the guys use this key a few times during Maker Week, and I'm not entirely sure what's on it, e.g. scripts or magic bits, but it certainly made shutting down more than a dozen of Raspis a breeze.
I hope he'll share the magic, fingers crossed.
Update: Noel shared the secret sauce in comments, and I'll add it here for post-completeness.
So here is the secret sauce:
#Get Device Id and Vendor Id from USB Wifi adaptor.
$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter
#Create a new udev rule
$ sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules
ACTION=="remove", ENV{ID_VENDOR_ID}=="0bda", ENV{ID_MODEL_ID}=="8176″, RUN+="/sbin/shutdown -h now"
$ sudo udevadm control –reload-rules
If you want to make a shutdown key make sure you use a USB drive and not a USB wifi/bluetooth dongle. Hot-plugging a powered device will cause the raspberry pi (model b) to restart.
AppsLab at the Maker Faire
Last week was Maker Week for us, and the culmination was the Maker Faire over the weekend.
This was my first Maker Faire, and wow was it an absolute blast. I highly recommend taking in one of their events if there's one in your town. Perhaps the best attribute of the Maker Faire is that it includes not just technology, but also handicrafts, woodcraft, pretty much every kind of craft. Walking around, you can feel the passion of everyone there, and it's infectious.
Anyway, Oracle and Java were present in a big way at the Faire, and our team's role was to build the DIY activity for the Java area in the Expo Center. Noel (@noelportugal) created an activity he calls "If this, then Pi" which pays homage to one of our favorite services, IFTTT, and highlights the power of Raspberry Pi and Embedded Java.
IFTTPi takes an input:
- Twitter hashtag
- Text message
- Proximity sensor
- Light sensor
And does something:
- Tweets
- Sends a text
- Makes a call
- Takes a picture
- Turns on a fan
- Rolls a Sphero
- Moves a robot arm
- Changes the color of a Philips Hue bulb
Noel and a few of the guys (Anthony, Raymond, Tony) put all this together in less than a month with some inspiration and guidance from Hinkmond Wong. Aside from showcasing Embedded Java on the Raspi, the overall goal was to show how actions can trigger IoT events with limited human interaction.
Aside from some network hiccups, the DIY activity was a big hit. We also brought along Noel's Raspi target to entertain kids of all ages.
Noel also gave a short talk on Saturday, check it out here or on YouTube:
As he promises in the video, Noel expects to share the code he and the guys wrote for IFTTPi soon, and I'm going to nag him for a technical post on the whole shebang, sooner than later.
A nostalgic note, both Paul (@ppedrazzi) and Rich (@rmanalan) were at Maker Faire on Saturday, and they happened to come visit us at Java DIY area, creating an impromptu AppsLab reunion. Great to see those guys. They helped lay the groundwork for what we're doing today.
Update: Almost forgot my favorite story from Saturday. We were in the Expo Hall, no AC, and it was hot and stuffy. Someone asked facilities if the doors could be opened to let some breeze into our area. Facilities said they had no more doorstops, and a guy said he could print some up on his 3D printer. I don't know if he did, but the doors were eventually opened.
You wouldn't get that kind of answer at any other event. Hilarious and very typical of the Maker Faire. No problems, only solutions.
Another update: We plan to take a scaled-down version of IFTTPi on the road with us to conferences, so look for it, possibly as soon as at Kscope 14 next month.
Enjoy some shots I took around the Faire and find the comments.
Randomly Humorous Correlations
Love this so much, Tyler Vigen's Spurious Correlations, randomly compares data sets and creates correlations. Frequently, hilarity ensues.
Like The Onion, I'm sure its "findings" will be misrepresented as serious news soon.
h/t Flowing Data
Tweets from Jeremy's MakerCon Keynote
Yesterday, our fearless leader, Jeremy Ashley (@jrwashley), gave a keynote at MakerCon. Unfortunately, I had to miss it, but the guys reported a positive reaction. Noel (@noelportugal) pointed me to tweets for rapid reaction.
Here's a sample:
Yeah, I cherry-picked, but you can read the reactions yourself if you don't believe me.
The keynote was recorded, and if it becomes freely-available, I'll embed here. We also have awesome pictures on the way too.
So, stay tuned for more Maker Week content.


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MetroNews staff photo
The state Fire Marshal's Office has been called in to investigate a fatal fire in Weston.
The blaze occurred early Friday morning at a residence on Lynn Avenue. Firefighters said a man and three of his dogs died in the blaze.
Flames were showing when crews arrived on the scene. Neighbors said the man lived alone.


text: Out of all the fighters, whether UFC or not, one of my favorite to talk to is UFC featherweight Marcus "The Bama Beast" Brimage (6-2). "The Bama Beast" unfortunately ended a three fight win streak when he was knocked out by Ireland's own Conor McGregor at UFC on FUEL TV 9: Mousasi vs. Latifi. Brimage was featured on "The Ultimate Fighter" season 14 where he was on Team Bisping. Brimage lost his first fight to Bryan Carraway who recently has made a move down to 135 lbs. Brimage won on his UFC debut on the "TUF 14″ finale where he defeated Stephen Bass by unanimous decision. Brimage then went on to score decisions over stand-out wrestler Maximo Blanco and jiu-jitsu specialist Jim Hettes. Brimage suffered an Achilles tendon injury following his lost to McGregor. Brimage told Amy Barton of MMA DieHards' Punch Drunk Radio that he will be making the move down to bantamweight his next fight. Brimage's next fight will not be for quite some time as his injury will take about nine months to fully heal. Brimage is looking to make his 135 debut in 2014 most likely.


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After Gilbert had caught you in his arms after your failed attempt at suicide and you had ran away from him, you instantly headed home, your heart aching as well as every other part of your body. Not only were you discouraged at the thought that your attempt at killing yourself had been unsuccessful, but that Gilbert had actually seen you do it. He had seen you attempt to end all your problems in the easiest and simplest way possible, which also meant proving to Gilbert that all of his bullying had finally defeated you. He had seen you in your most vulnerable and private state, right when you were carrying out the most important decision in your entire life. And now that he had witnessed you trying to end your life, you figured that it wouldn't have been long before the whole school knew about your failed suicide. And you knew that if you were to kill yourself again, it only would've made them laugh even more and care even less.
You decided that it was pointless to try killing yourself again that night, since you were already terribly exhausted and didn't feel like trying to do it again. Besides, you didn't know whether or not Gilbert might've been potentially following you, and if he had seen you trying to kill yourself again and stopped you just like before, you would've been utterly humiliated.
When you had reached the front of your house, you climbed up the tree that led you back into your room you thought you were never going to see again. You thanked God that your parents had been unaware of your temporary disappearance, or else they surely would've given you a punishment that was much worse than anything else you could've dreamed of. As soon as you stepped foot into your room and closed the window behind you, you plopped face down onto your bed and buried your face into your pillow, contemplating about what you were going to do next and thinking about what happened during your attempted killing.
After Gilbert had caught you and realized that it was you who was trying to kill yourself, you had seen an expression on his face that you never witnessed him carry before. The expression was filled with shock, disbelief, and even a bit of terror. To you it seemed like he was the last person in the universe to hold even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes, but that was what he had done, and it was for something that you did. You had been so close to him...The thought of your face being only a few inches away from his sent shivers through your body, but despite your weak and vulnerable state and him being able to easily aim a quick and severe blow at you, he had done nothing. When he had spoken to you, his quiet, trembling voice had been filled with so much fear that you were barely able to believe that it belonged to the same person who bullied you so cruelly throughout the three years you were in high school. His behavior was the exact opposite than when he was usually around you at school.
Somehow, it seemed to him that your suicide hadn't been seen as a foolish weakness, but instead a disturbing terror.
But why should Gilbert have cared about the fact that you were trying to kill yourself, anyway? He had told you a few days ago that it would've been better for everyone that you died. It had seemed as if he wanted you to kill yourself, so when you actually did what he said, why did he act so horrified? Did he think that you listening to him when it came to such a complicated decision was so surprising, or was it because he had actually seen you try to kill yourself? That probably must've been it. He probably expected you to kill yourself, but he probably didn't expect to see you try to do it and then save you. Still, what difference did it make? You were killing yourself nonetheless, and killing yourself was what Gilbert had wanted you to do. Why did it seem like such a surprise to him?
You let out a groan and rolled over so that you were looking up towards the ceiling, your eyes heavy with exhaustion and depression. You decided to turn your attention away from your suicide to something else that was the subject of your concern. Now that your parents knew about what you had endured throughout your high school years, they were probably going to contact the school and let them know about what you had been through. You figured it wouldn't have been long after the staff found out that the word would've gotten around to the rest of the students, meaning Gilbert would've also known that someone called the school and reported that their child was being bullied by an unknown source. He had warned you that if you were to tell anybody about the fact that you were being bullied, he swore he would've beaten and burned you to death. But what difference did it make? It's not like you should've been afraid of dying, since you had already tried it before.
But somehow, after witnessing you trying to kill yourself and looking so horrified afterwards, you wondered whether or not Gilbert was going to live up to his promise when he found out.
Just like you had expected, your parents told you the next morning that they called the school and let them know that their daughter was being bullied. You weren't surprised at all, even though you knew you were most likely going to be in big, big trouble with Gilbert. But you didn't care. After he had seen you try to kill yourself, you stopped caring about everything. You just moved absently through your day without feeling the slightest hint of the fear and depression you experienced whenever you went to school.
After you got off the bus and walked the few blocks that were needed for you to get to the front of the school, you thought about how you had always felt fear and nervousness at this stage in your day because you knew that sooner or later, Gilbert was going to harass you. You didn't expect anything different to happen today, and since your emotions had taken a dramatic downfall and you simply stopped caring about everything after your attempted suicide, the fact that you were going to face the brutal pain you had always dealt with before didn't affect you the slightest.
As soon as you opened the doors to the school building and walked inside, you instantly were aware of the fact that a few of the kids who were walking around the front of the building turned their heads to look at you, some of them holding looks of disbelief and others carrying a smirk. You tried your best to ignore them and instead kept your gaze fixed on your feet as you walked to your locker. Still, a small part of you couldn't have helped but listen in on some of the whispers that a few of the kids were exchanging with each other.
"Hey, isn't she the one who's parents called to complain about her bullying?"
"I often see her get pushed around by this albino a lot..."
"She must be so weak if her parents have to deal with this."
"Why can't she just handle it on her own?"
You felt your face heat up at the comments and you tried to push them away. Still, you couldn't have helped the growing self-consciousness you felt inside you, and a part of you just wanted to disappear. But it's not like you should've cared, anyway. After your suicide attempt, you vowed to yourself that you would stop feeling all the emotions that overwhelmed you before, so why should you have been concerned with what others thought of you now?
You lifted your head and fixed your gaze in front of you, not even daring to drift it to either side of you to look at some of those who you just knew were talking about you.
However, even though you were in a relatively calm state for most of the time since your entry into the school that morning, you felt your heart skip a beat and your chest tighten when you were able to spot Gilbert a few yards away from you, walking in your direction.
Oh god...you thought as a slight look of panic crossed your face and you pressed your lips tightly together. You knew without a doubt that he discovered that your parents had told the school staff about your bullying, meaning that you had broken your promise about not letting anyone else know about what he had been doing to you. You had told yourself over and over not to be afraid of the moment when he walked up to you today and confronted you. But now that he was actually there and the moment had finally arrived, you felt your previous thoughts drift to the back of your head and a slight anxiety fill your body.
You lifted your head so that you were able to fully look up at Gilbert. He had his gaze fixed down on the ground, and he carried a look on his face that instantly let you know he hadn't slept well the previous night. As the distance between the both of you got closer, you felt your heart rate increase only slightly. Finally, when the both of you were only a few feet away from each other and he had detected your pretense, he lifted his gaze up and instantly allowed it to meet yours.
You gave him a single, cold stare, hiding the fear that was growing inside you. You continued walking casually, but right when you expected him to shove you against the lockers and confront you about breaking your promise, you felt a tiny bit of confusion fill your body when all he gave you was a blank stare. Your gazes were locked for only a few seconds before his dropped back down to the ground and he continued walking.
At that you stopped, turning around and watching him as he walked away from you, your mouth slightly open in confusion. Gilbert had been so close to you, and after your attempted suicide and your broken promise, why didn't he do something, anything towards you? You weren't able to detect the slightest hint of emotion in the stare he had given you, so at least you knew he didn't seem to be angry.
Why does he seem to be acting differently? Why is he acting as if I had never broken my promise?
After your lunch period ended, you walked out of the cafeteria with an exhausted sigh. Even though you weren't especially hungry, you forced yourself to eat some of the school's food. It was the only thing that served as an attempt to keep your mind away from the whispers and murmurs that the other kids in the room had exchanged about you. It seemed that ever since your parents had contacted the school, you were the new subject of rumors.
The hallways were rather empty as you walked towards your locker to gather all of your afternoon books, but that didn't stop you from being alert for any kids talking about you behind their backs. You continued to walk in silence for the next few moments, feeling a sense of peace start forming inside you, before you felt a rough, strong hand forcefully slam you against the lockers, knocking the breath out of you.
When you took sense of what had just happened, the obnoxious sound of a group of boys laughing filled your ears, and you were aware of the fact that you were being pinned to the locker by two large hands. Your mind was spinning with surprise and confusion, and once you were finally able to get your gaze to focus, you lifted it up just in time to see the face of a boy you've never met before staring down at you menacingly with a terrifying smile on his face. You were able to notice that there were 3 more boys on either side of him, giving you the same amused, evil smiles.
"So you think your parents can stop you from getting bullied, huh?" the boy pinning you to the lockers asked loudly.
You stared up at him calmly, already starting to grow sick of people talking about you. "Who said I do?"
"Oh, so you're talking back now, are you?" the boy asked, the smile on his face disappearing and replacing with an angry glare as he shoved you against the lockers once more. "Well, after we're done with you, we'll make sure you won't be able to talk for another year."
The three other boys let out loud laughs at this and you couldn't have helped the tiny bit of fear that grew inside you as you stared up at your attacker with slightly wide eyes. You swallowed nervously, though you tried not to let the majority of your uneasiness show.
The boy pinning you let out a low chuckle before he removed one hand from your shoulders and clenched it into a fist, drawing it back. "Get ready, _____," he growled. "Next time you wake up, you'll be in a hospital bed."
You watched with a slightly racing heart as the boy aimed his fist at your face while the others behind him watched intently. A tense moment of silence passed between all of you, and just when he was about to strike a blow at you, you were able to see a fist out of the corner of your eye come out of nowhere and punch the boy harshly in the side of his face, causing him to let out a surprised grunt and instantly release his grip on you.
You watched with eyes wide in surprise as he fell to the ground, and when you looked up, you were able to see Gilbert standing over him, looking down at him with eyes burning in anger.
"What..." you began, but you never got the chance to finish before Gilbert resumed punching your attacker in every place you could've imagined, which included a kick to the vitals. By the time he had finished, the boy was sprawled out on the floor, moaning as he held on to his sides, some parts of his body red, swollen, or bleeding. You continued to watch with a slightly open mouth as Gilbert turned around and punched the three other boys in the face, resulting in them quickly, clumsily running away.
After they had left, the only sound was the occasional moan of your attacker on the floor. You stared up at Gilbert as he kept his gaze fixed towards the direction the boys had run off in, the expression on his face cold and hard.
"Gilbert..." you murmured as you took a small step forward. "What was..."
A tiny moment of silence passed before he slowly turned around to look at you. His gaze met yours, and you were able to see that his carried a tiny bit of protection. "I won't let anybody ever hurt you again," he said with a voice so quiet you were barely able to hear it.
Before you had time to reply, Gilbert turned around and began heading down the hall, leaving you looking after him with that same look of surprise glued to your face.
He saved me...Gilbert just saved me!


text:
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Displaying 161-170 of 8716 results
December 2006 New Food Rollout
December's best new food products include Lucini Italia's gourmet soups and sauces; Walkers' Luxury Scottish Cookies; seasonal teas from Bigelow Tea Co.; Planters Nut Lovers Mixes; three varieties of Cognac from Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc.; and Bellagio Sipping Chocolate from Caffe D'Amore.
July 2007 New Food Rollout
This month's new product rollout features inulin-added cottage cheese from Kraft; new Chinese meals to go from General Mills; Dasani Plus from Coca-Cola; Del Monte's new energy drink Bloom; slow-melting Popsicles; and new Kettle Tortilla Chips.
New Food Rollout for August 2007
This month's new product rollout features hot deli sandwiches from Oscar Meyer; fizzy yogurt from Yoplait; veggie sides from Knorr; a protein-enhanced sports drink from Cadbury-Schweppes; enhanced OJ from Minute Maid; and microwaveable Indian-based meals.
December 2005 New Food Rollout
A look at holiday products: new beef cut; Jones' unusual soda flavors; Eagle dessert in a kit; brown sugar Splenda; Ore-Ida frozen roasted potatoes; a gift for Fido; a better butter wrapper.
November 2006 New Food Rollout
This month's best new food products include fruit parafaits from Dole Food Co. Inc; Roasted Vegetable Ritz from Kraft Foods; Crunchy Nut Sweet and Salty Granola Bars from Kellogg Co.; Hershey's Cacoa Reserve; Betty Crocker Seasoned Skillets from General Mills and Ball Park Top It!'s from Sara Lee...
New Food Rollout for June 2007
This month's new product rollout features new baby foods formulated for time of day feedings from Beech-Nut; heart-healthy OJ from Tropicana; Yoplait's yogurt for kids; grilling seasonings from Weber Grill; ethnic-inspired grilling meats from Niman Ranch; new Orbit mint flavors from Wrigley; and ...
Life Science Nutritionals
Nutri-kids have launched the first and only ready-to-drink milk product to be fortified with healthy DHA omega-3 and fiber.
Trans Fats, Glutens Still Vex Bakers
Second-generation replacements have improved functionality, and second-generation food products have improved taste.
Alexia Pizza Snacks Make Pizza Rolls Upscale
Alexia Pizza Snacks make pizza rolls upscale and all natural ... but not truly healthful. Food Processing's Consumer Understanding Editors take a closer look at this new snack product.
Decas Cranberry Products, Inc.
Decas Cranberry Products, Inc. (DCP) has introduced USDA National Organic Program (NOP)-certified and EU-certified Organic Fruit Juice Sweetened Dried Cranberries to its product line. This ingredient is for food products targeting consumers who want an organic cranberry product without added sugar.
Displaying 161-170 of 8716 results


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Theatre Auditions
On-Campus Auditions
Off-Campus/Unified Auditions
|Nov. 15, 2014
|Atlanta: Dec. 7, 2014
|Dec. 13, 2014
|Portland: TBD
|Jan. 17, 2015
|New York: Jan. 24-25, 2015 (Unified)
|Feb. 28, 2015
|Chicago: Feb. 2-5, 2015 (Unified)
|March 28, 2015
|Los Angeles: Feb. 7-8, 2015 (Unified)
|April 25, 2015 (Acting only)
Register Online Now for Your Audition or Interview
Unified Auditions/Off-Campus Audition Addresses
National Unified Auditions in Los Angeles
Westin Los Angeles Airport
5400 W. Century Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045
National Unified Auditions in New York
Pearl Studios
500 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10018
Atlanta Audition
Pebblebrook High School
991 Old Alabama Road
Mableton, GA 30126
National Unified Auditions in Chicago
Palmer House Hilton
17 E. Monroe St.
Chicago, IL 60603
SETC Convention
The Galt House
140 N. Fourth St.
Louisville, KY 40202
Learn More
- On-campus theatre audition and interview guidelines
- National Unified Auditions schedule and guidelines
- Talent and academic scholarships
Theatre degrees and concentrations offered at Point Park
Questions? Contact Us
If you have any questions, please read our frequently asked questions or contact the Conservatory of Performing Arts at 412-392-3451 or via email at email@example.com. Office hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.


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Passed Me By [EP] - Andy Stott
- Band Name: Andy Stott
- Record Label: Modern Love
- Release Date: Nov 22, 2011
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
Nov 16, 2011Anyone expecting the nocturnal looping he usually cooks up is in for a shock-Passed Me By is a jagged little tangent designed to make that warehouse seem spookier.
User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings
User score distribution:
Positive: 1 out of 1
Mixed: 0 out of 1
Negative: 0 out of 1
Mar 18, 2012Finally I found the perfect record to dance to. There is nothing special about Passed Me By, until you hear it yourself... It evokes the most erotic nightmares you may ever experience. Exceptionally dark and beautiful dance music. Do NOT miss!… Full Review »


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They were the top four teams in The Province's final Big 10 rankings. Now they're the Final Four in Subway Bowl Double A semifinals. Here's your guide of what to watch Saturday at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium. NO. 2 SOUTH DELTA … Continue reading
jeremy conn RSS
9.14.13 Saturday final: The Province's B.C. high school football report Rams-Ravens edition
Welcome to the Saturday night edition of The Province's B.C. high school football report. This is a new posting, with three game reports including the battle in Victoria between Mt. Douglas and Terry Fox, our province's top-two ranked high school … Continue reading
Subway Bowl semifinals: A rematch of 2011 Final Four has Ballenas, Mission pivots in the spotlight
VANCOUVER — If their styles aren't carbon copies of each other, you can still call Liam O'Brien and Kevin Wiens football twins, because the impact they bring to their respective teams is eerily similar. And on Saturday, at the same … Continue reading


text: upyo net upyo.net Staying away from Activation And Cancelation Fees Most remote transporters need clients to sign gets that bolt them into the supplier's administration. There are regularly overwhelming dropping charges for ending the agreement early. What's more, there are normally enactment charges for beginning another plan. At&t is no distinctive. In any case, their terms of administration assention incorporates procurements (though, in little print) that permit you to recover and stay away from these expenses.


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Wealth Management
Bruce was the smartest guy in my fraternity, but I beat him once in a game of Jeopardy. It is not surprising that he writes insightful observations on the business of life. JF
When the supply of high quality College seats is below the number of qualified students the students start bidding up the price of the limited supply. Increase the number of hi quality College seats and the price will go down because the students will not bid the price up. What I see happening is that while there may be enough College seats for all qualified students, there are some seats that are thought to be better than the others. Thus the high quality seats are being bid up. Solution, increase the quality of those seats that are not so far not considered high quality.
Are we supposed to be surprised by this? What about the role of the government taking over and massively funding student loans that most graduates will never be able to repay? We teach the consequences in basic economics classes: Families who receive student loans naturally are willing to pay higher tuition for any given quantity of coursework, so demand rises even more, which further contributes to a hither market price. It really doesn't take "experts" to figure out any of this. Any economics principles student who has learned anything could answer these questions posed to "experts."
What is driving up the costs of college is the almost unlimited supply of Federally supported dollars available to students of all kinds. These guys really do earn the title of "experts"…
- an Ex is a has been.
- a "spert" is a drip under pressure.
"Furthermore, we should encourage employers to be less fixated on academic credentials in their hiring and promotion decisions."
And that's coming from a professor!
The Experts are an exclusive group of industry and academic thought leaders on leadership who weigh in on the latest debates in The Journal Report.
Content engaging our readers now, with additional prominence accorded if the story is rapidly gaining attention. Our WSJ algorithm comprises 30% page views, 20% Facebook, 20% Twitter, 20% email shares and 10% comments.


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However, since Joomla started releasing new versions every 6 months, Virtuemart can't keep up development. It took them many months to just be joomla 1.7 ready, but by then Joomla 2.5 already came out. Once again it has been months and it is still not compatible. As a developer one can't work like this.
As for support... probably the worst ever.
Free will cost you a lot of money, or a lot of time trying to figure this out! Not worth it anymore.
Hello Milbo here.
Thanks for the flowers, but I cannot agree. Jenkinhill, BanquetTablesPro and others are very helpful. But a lot people are just barefaced. They expect that virtuemart 2 has extensions like vm1, which growed over more than 5 years. They expect that the other users have nothing todo else to help and support. The forum is meant for users who help users. When someone wants support, he must pay of course. Virtuemart is free to use. I do not understand that people thinks there is a duty to give free support for a free product.
Jenkinhill is a very kind person and I am much more rude and direct than him. So when he was rude to you, there is a reason.


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A Daily Word - June 10, 2014
June 10
For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13
A man told me he had read the Bible, and decided to show mercy to everyone, then he would be certain God would be merciful to him in judgment. But it doesn't work that way. Mercy isn't a savings account. You don't accumulate "credits" that God pays you in eternity. Mercy is a state of being that comes from Christ's indwelling presence within you. A lack of mercy would suggest Christ's character is not being formed in a person, and that he or she doesn't know Him. The mercy you may show others demonstrates Christ's influence on your life.
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16 6 / 2012
My friend Christa requested this flavor for her birthday, and she was referring to the Thai black sticky rice dessert that is usually served with fresh mango. However, the warm ice cream base tastes exactly like the Pulut Hitam dessert from my Malaysian childhood, and it was really hard not to eat it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTA!
* June 20th. I have revised this recipe. The earlier version turned out too icy/solid and not sweet enough which I later learned was directly related to the Palm Sugar.
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