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IBM Unveils $1 Billion Platform-as-a-Service Investment
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- IBM (IBM) revealed a more than $1 billion cloud platform-as-a-service (PaaS) investment on Monday, opening its middleware to the cloud for the first time and bolstering the connectivity of enterprise applications and data to the cloud.
The investment was disclosed to more than 9,000 clients, partners and developers at IBM's Feb. 23-26 cloud conference in Las Vegas, which kicked off in earnest on Monday.
The investment starts with IBM's launch of "BlueMix," codename for a new PaaS, open beta, that combines IBM's software, third-party and open technologies. BlueMix will be providing DevOps in the cloud to facilitate effective and rapid construction of enterprise applications by developers, independent firms and enterprise teams. BlueMix runs on SoftLayer's global cloud platform.
The investments also bring IBM's middleware portfolio, such as WebSphere, to the instant global cloud distribution system of SoftLayer through pre-defined "Software Patterns" that will bring existing applications to the cloud. IBM says that with more than 200 application and middleware patterns available from IBM and IBM business partners, IBM Software Patterns differentiates itself from the rest because it enables application portability across a hybrid cloud environment, thereby allowing for the flexible deployment of applications and middleware both on- and off-premise.
IBM's middleware services focuses on mobile, web apps, integration and data management, as well as application process interface (API)-based services such as those from Watson. It forms the core of the company's $26 billion software business.The third portion is composed of IBM's continued investment in and expansion of services running on SoftLayer, including DevOps, which offers users the capability to plan, develop, test, deploy and monitor applications, as well as systems management via Service Engage. IBM says its data and analytics optimization system Power Systems will soon begin running on the SoftLayer cloud infrastructure to support Watson Solutions. IBM invests more than $6 billion in R&D every year, much of it going toward the cloud. The company unveiled a $1.2 billion global launch of 15 new data-centers integrated with 13 SoftLayer and 12 existing IBM centers in mid-January, and a more than $1 billion Watson Group cloud investment in early January.
-- Written by Andrea Tse in New York Follow @atwtse >Contact by Email
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Aaron Vlek embraced Islam in the 1970's while living in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before the modern wave of religiosity had infused the American Muslim community. Her earliest friendships with Muslims were her local Iranian and Palestinian communities, where she became exposed to diverse languages, cultures and ethnic manifestations of Islam. Vlek eventually chose to follow the path of Sufism, which satisfied her both intellectually and spiritually. Four decades later she has poured her experiences into Jinn Theory, a work of fiction that is both intellectual and spiritual in the subjects it explores.
Jinn Theory follows a series of characters living in Istanbul as they go about their seemingly mundane lives. As any great mystic will tell you, however, there is magic in the mundane and this is precisely what Vlek captures by weaving her simple story through each of these characters' daily lives.
Written primarily from the perspective of an antique shop owner named Rafiq, the seemingly disparate characters in Jinn Theory include his closest friend the baker; a sophisticated but haughty academic woman; an over-zealous Sufi; and a group of fundamentalists who run the local mosque. Yet through the telling of the story, all of these lives become intertwined after an old coin inexplicably shows up in Rafiq's shoe, and otherworldly occurrences begin to penetrate his uneventful life.
Vlek's novel is a testament to her own spiritual journey. At the age of thirteen she inherited an entire library of books on mysticism when her step-grandfather passed. She then devoted many years thereafter to exploring her innate spirituality on her own terms. Vlek's journey to Islam was sparked when, as an adult, she discovered a local bookstore selling dozens of small, inexpensive books on the subject. She soon became engrossed in exploring Islam, which called to her on a visceral level. For Vlek, her religious path has revealed itself not only through academic study, but also through bona fide spiritual experience.
Contemporary fiction about the Muslim world is often dripping with tragedy and horror, relying on war or oppression as an overarching motif for their plots. So, it is a refreshing change to read a book that instead captures some of the beauty and spirituality that has inspired generations of mystics within this faith tradition. The writing in Jinn Theory is sweet, innocent and simple. It transcends modernity and offers the reader an escape into a quaint and gentle world.
Jinn Theory is a work of fiction that is as eclectic and human as American Muslims themselves. There is no social or political agenda to this book, but there is a very simple spiritual agenda: to remind us that there is much in this world we do not know and can't control—and those are the things that cause us to grow in our faith.
Jinn Theory by Aaron Vlek is available at Amazon.com; its sequel is currently in progress.

subset: commoncrawl


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Things to see and do - Douarnenez
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Hotels Douarnenez
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1 LOGIS Hôtel le Bretagne
23, rue Duguay Trouin. F - 29100 DOUARNENEZ
Prix from : 49 EUR
A comfortable hotel ideally located at the heart of Douarnenez, within easy walking distance of the ports, the beaches and the old town, with its bustling shops and restaurants. The hotel boasts a lift to all floors, a tree-lined terrace, free WiFi, ..
2 LOGIS Hôtel de France Rest. l'Insolite
4, rue Jean Jaurès. F - 29100 DOUARNENEZ
Prix from : 59 EUR
Hotel de France is located in the center of the town of Douarnenez. Formerly a coching inn, a place where our ancestors liked to get together on the occasion of a wedding or for an evening gathering, the hotel and its restaurant have followed the tre..
3 Hôtel Du Port Rhu
99, Avenue De La Gare F - 29100 Douarnenez
Prix from : 48 EUR
Halfway between the centre of Douarnenez and the Tréboul marina, Hôtel Du Port Rhu is open all year round. It features 13 en suite rooms with LCD TV and free Wi-Fi internet access. For those rooms without a hairdryer, guests can easily request one a..
4 LOGIS Hôtel le Keriolet
29, rue Croas-Talud. F - 29100 DOUARNENEZ
Prix from : 55 EUR
Our fully-renovated hotel is open all year round. We offer a family-style welcome to make your stay altogether more agreeable, whether you are travelling on business or for pleasure. A number of our rooms look out onto the bay. The vast majority of o..
5 Ty Mad
3, Rue Saint Jean F - 29100 Douarnenez
Prix from : 95 EUR
The Ty Mad hotel is located behind the Saint Jean Chapel on the Douarnenez Bay in Brittany. It offers free Wi-Fi and free on-site parking. The Ty Mad offers comfortable rooms with a sea or garden view. Each guest room has a TV and en suite bathroom ..
6 Hotel Best Western Thalasstonic & Spa
Rue Des Professeurs Curie F - 29177 Douarnenez
Prix from : 95 EUR
Set only a few steps from the beach of White Sands, the Best Western Thalasstonic features a restaurant, lounge bar with fireplace and game library. Its spacious rooms come with free Wi-Fi. Directly connected to the thalassotherapy centre, the Best ..
7 Hôtel des Sables Blancs
39 rue des Sables Blancs F - 29100 Douarnenez
Prix from : 49 EUR
8 INTER-HOTEL Les Résidences d'Armor
36 rue des sables blancs F - 29100 Douarnenez
Prix from : 62,00 EUR
The Résidence d'Armor Inter-hotel is peacefully anchored in Douarnenez's bay. On holiday or on a business trip, you will be seduced by its location, a stone's throw away from the Sables blancs beach, the salt-water spa and near the marina. From here..
9 LOGIS Auberge de Kervéoc'h
42, rte de Kervéoc'h. F - 29100 DOUARNENEZ
Prix from : 56 EUR
In the heart of the Dournenez bay, the Hotel-Restaurant is a former renovated farm in a small charming hotel in Finistère, near to the beach. Located in tranquillity, in the heart of a big flowered and tree lined park, the Kervéoc'h inn welcomes you ..


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Placecast has introduced a self-service version of its SMS and MMS ShopAlerts marketing platform. The platform enables template-driven campaign creation, with extensive control over the radius of geofenced areas as well as the time and dates of message delivery.
This means that any merchant, franchisee or small businesses could potentially utilize the Placecast platform to deliver geographic-based push messages and promotions to opt-in consumers. It's going to be challenging for small businesses as a practical matter. But it's particularly well-suited to franchise businesses and can handle multiple locations with ease. Distribution is up to the business or entity, which would need to capture the opt-ins (similar to follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook).
Messages or promotions can be built around deals and offers but don't have to be; there are many other types of content that can populate these messages.
Placecast works with O2 in the UK and AT&T in the US, as well as individual retailers. The O2 program has seen great success in the UK; the AT&T program is still in very early stages. Unless carriers are going to buy ad networks, the ShopAlerts/O2program is the model for carrier-based advertising -- although it's not apparent that the carriers see that clearly.
The original beta version of the ShopAlerts program, tested with selected retailers in the US in late 2009 and early 2010, yielded impressive results:
Agencies and companies often neglect SMS as a marketing medium and CRM tool. Even with smartphone penetration nearing 40% in the US that still means that 60% of users don't have them. SMS penetration and usage are nearly 100%.
Related posts on Placecast:
UK carrier O2 (owned by Spain's Telefonica) is seeing great success with its opt-in SMS marketing program O2 More. The location-based service is powered by Placecast, which also supports a similar but more nascent program in the US for AT&T. (It's not clear how much promotional effort AT&T is putting behind it.)
O2 not long ago announced it had more than two million subscribers for More. Consumers sign up for the O2 program, specifiy interest categories and recieve no more than a single text per day. The program sees very low churn.
Earlier this month the UK carrier touted the success of a More campaign for gym Fitness First:
Fitness First targeted O2 customers with location-based messages offering a free two-day pass and details of the nearest club. This resulted over 1,100 recipients signing up as new members of Fitness First on four month and 12 month contracts.
With average membership costing just under £300 per year, this uptake generated increased revenue around £400,000.
The best responding target audience was 18 to 35-year-old smart phone using single Londoners, who enjoy engaging through social media.
US carrier T-Mobile recently got into the daily deals market with the launch of an app called "more for me." But with much larger competitors -- and so many competitors -- it's unlikely that T-Mobile will see great success with the program.
However daily deals could be converted into SMS messages for broader distribution and differentiation. Indeed, the O2-Placecast model is a stronger bet than an app strategy for carrier advertising, and can reach 100% of the carrier's customers potentially.
Many marketers and companies tend to look "beyond" SMS to in-app ads and mobile Web advertising because SMS isn't sexy. (Just like text ads in search aren't sexy.) However the reach of SMS is 100% and the response rates to opt-in text messaging programs can be huge.
For example, in early 2010 Placecast found the following in its US beta test of ShopAlerts (the same kind of program run by O2):
Many people (including some analysts) make simplistic assumptions about the mobile market: for example that mobile and local are all but synonymous. I'm obviously a big advocate of local but I see mobile usage as quite complex and defying easy conclusions about usage or the future direction of the market.
There are lots of functions and activities that people perform and do on mobile handsets that have nothing to do with their immediate surroundings or local. For example: games, news, entertainment, music, sports, social networking and so on.
A new set of Nielsen data about app downloads/usage in the past 30 days reflect that mobile is a platform that is complex and diverse in its usage. While local content and apps are well represented in the hierarcy a large number popular app categories have nothing to do with location.
Instead they probably reflect that people are using mobile as a "generic" Internet access tool. Games, the most popular category, is a phenomenon unto itself.
Most purchases occur in the physical world. So most mobile ads will either direct people to actual stores or, in the case of most future display campaigns, offer a dealer or store locator -- at a minimum. Mobile will be a huge branding medium, irrespective of any localization component. And there will be many awareness ads that have a location component as secondary or perfunctory matter.
Moreover we get into an "accounting" problem in defining what is a "local" ad in mobile.
Is a Klondike Bar ad that contains a store locator buried two clicks down a "local ad"? What about mobile click-to-call ads for a florist network, which sends users to call center to place an order fulfilled locally? Is a mobile-video brand campaign for Hilton Hotels that can direct you to the nearest property if you initiate a search or lookup?
There's a lot of gray in determining what is a local ad. We might want to "require" localization in the ad creative before we consider mobile ads as "local." Just a thought.
But just as people often fail to recognize how local or offline purchase intent permeates a great many things that happen on the PC it's equally the case that non-local activity/interest is very much tied up in mobile activity. The chart above nicely illustrates that.
Yesterday Millennial Media released its latest SMART report for May. It shows advertiser trends and marketing tactics on its network. There was a drill-down focus on automotive in the report (which I'm not going to focus on except in one respect). The data indicate the increasing nuance and sophistication of mobile marketing programs.
There are a wide range of goals/objectives that marketers are pursuing via mobile: local, social, demographic targeting and so on. These tactics and objectives defy easy assumptions about the trajectory of mobile advertising over the next several years.
Mobile is a branding and awareness medium, it's also a local ad medium and it will be used in tandem with other media. It's not going to be primarily one thing (e.g., LBS). There will be enormous diversity in the campaigns and tactics seen. Indeed, I've argued before that mobile is a better branding medium than online display. That assertion is supported by the data.
Immediately below is the mix of targeting methodologies used by marketers on the Millennial network in May. The number of campaigns that were targeted in some way has remained relatively constant on Millennial's network for roughly the past year. But of that targeted advertising geo/local has grown and so has demographic targeting to some degree.
Compare the data for Q3 2010 (below). Geo-targeting was the primary targeting method employed by marketers in 42% of all targeted campaigns on Millennial's network. In May, 2011 that was smaller percentage of targeted ads but a higher percentage of them used local targeting (which can be state, city or zip).
Automotive advertisers were much more local in their mobile marketing efforts (chart below), seeking to send people into dealerships or to generate phone calls. They were less interested than advertisers generally in getting people to Like them on Facebook ("mocial").
As a general matter Millennial said:
Below is the mix of advertiser goals and "landing pages" they sent clicks to.
Compare Jumptap's data showing some similar things around targeting or post-click activity. Jumptap also shows consumer click metrics and the improved lift of local + demo targeting.
Verve Wireless is a San Diego CA-based mobile ad network consisting of approximately 1200 local media sites (mostly newspapers). The company's network features both small business and national-local advertisers; and it has created and released the first of what will apparently be quarterly reports focused on local-mobile advertising and consumer behavior.
Verve is calling the quarterly report the "Local Mobile Index" (LMI). The ad inventory measured is all mobile display. Verve says the data presented in its inaugural report are a mix of "Omniture, comScore and Verve reporting." The data can be compared to what Millennial Media is doing with its SMART reports but at a purely local level.
As with all such network-based data the Verve report must be seen as a reflection of what's happening on the company's own network primarily. However it's large enough that these data are going to be directionally reflective of larger trends in the local-mobile market.
Top ad verticals
Top five local-mobile ad verticals on the Verve network (Q1 2011):
Compare Millennial Media's top 10 verticals by ad spend for Q1:
Spending growth
According to Verve the local ad spend grew 82% year over year (Q1 2010 to Q1 2011) for the identical inventory in its network. This growth rate is in line or somewhat higher than general mobile spending growth. For example, here are eMarketer's mobile ad growth projections:
In the table immediately above, eMarketer said that mobile display grew 122% in 2010 but will slow to 65% annual growth in 2011. I believe it's too soon to argue that mobile ad growth will slow, however, and believe these figures are somewhat conservative.
About 56% of page views on Verve's network occurred during the afternoon commute hours and in the evening (between 7-10pm). The chart below reflects mobile usage throughout the week.
These data seem to contradict other mobile data that show weekends as a time of heavy mobile activity. However this might be explained by the fact that most of Verve's sites are newspaper sites and that consumption of these sites may decline on the weekend.
Ad performance
Verve said that in-app ads outperformed mobile web ads "by a factor of nearly 3x (2.67)" during Q1 2011. This is not a surprise given higher levels of consumer engagement with apps vs. the mobile web.
In addition, according to Verve, "rich media campaigns out performed standard banner programs, as measured by consumer engagement, by a factor of 7:1." However some rich media ads that launched video from the banner "performed worse than those without video or had video embedded in a landing page (1.61% video banners vs. 2.67% video embedded), which may indicate some reticence on the part of consumers to go straight into video without an intermediate step."
Top cities
Perhaps the most interesting data from Verve's report is the list of top DMAs by ad revenue. Here they are and they feature some surprises:
Texas is the top state by ad revenue in Verve's network.
Here's a situation where the data from Verve's network may diverge significantly from larger trends in the market. It's very unlikely, for example, that St. Louis is the top overall DMA for mobile ad revenue in the US. What's more plausible is that the sales reps in that market have had great success selling mobile to their advertisers (Verve does some national ad sales).
iPhone vs. Android
The iPhone represented nearly half of all traffic on Verve's network. However the company said that Android users were more engaged. Verve doesn't elaborate on the meaning of this statement in its report but says that "Android achieved 52% better engagement results during the quarter."
It's also interesting that BlackBerry had nearly as much share as Android on Verve's network. This is probably a reflect of the legacy of numerous RIM devices in the market.
There hasn't been much good local-mobile ad spending data in the market prior to this. So it will be great to see these quarterly reports and assess how the market is doing based on "facts on the ground." Most of the forecasts (though not all) about local-mobile released to date have been based on very high-level data and often incorrect assumptions about the market.
I've got to hand it to Loopt; every few months the company tries something different to rise above the noise in the LBS-SoLoMo market. Sometimes these efforts are very creative. The latest effort, "U-Deals," is a little bit of "back to the future."
The central idea is this: you identify a business and potential discount, publicize and get others on board and then Loopt tries to sell it to the business with some guarantee of participation.
This is a variation on the original "group buying" or reverse auction model that existed in the late '90s. The twist here is that the deal doesn't exist unless or until the consumer suggests or requests it. MerchantCircle also had similar functionality built into its platform, although it was mainly intended for individuals communicating with local businesses rather than for groups.
As I mentioned, this is a very creative twist on daily deals. However there's probably too much work involved for consumers for it it succeed on any kind of scale. To that end, Loopt has tried to automate the process as much as possible through its app: check in, request the deal at specified deal tiers or price points (see at left) and then promote on social networks.
It's much easier for consumers to simply find deals through customary channels like Groupon. (Loopt is a Groupon syndication partner as well.) We may see some adoption of this but I would be very surprised if U-Deals took off.
Right now this is only available in the San Francisco Bay Area on the iPhone and Android platforms. Here's a video that quickly explains the program and how it works.
Update: In fairness to Loopt and U-Deals I have to admit that I purchased the first deal, a discount voucher on Virgin America Airlines. We'll see how the program proceeds; I could be very wrong. However this was not a consumer-initiated deal I'm sure. That's what I'm critical of: not deals but the reliance on consumers to generate and promote them.
Yesterday at the "Inside Search" event in San Francisco Google introduced a range of upgrades and improvements: "search by image," voice search for PCs and several mobile search feature tweaks. Among the announcements, voice search for PCs may turn out to be most significant over time.
On the mobile front Google has been regularly trying to improve the user experience and make it easier to search on smartphones. Google is trying to cultivate mobile search behavior on smartphones comparable to the search habit on the PC. The company is also "hedging" somewhat by offering quite a few experiences and access points: apps, browser-based search and an evolving mobile homepage.
Below are screenshots reflecting the two of the improvements in mobile announced yesterday. Essentially Google is moving its icon-based "Places" search capability to the HTML homepage. You touch an icon to find nearby businesses in the category (e.g., restaurants, cafes). The "more" button brings you to a screen with a wider range of icons. However the Places app still offers a generally superior overall local search experience.
The map-related change duplicates a similar feature that Bing just added to its mobile maps/search experience. On the right in the image above is a map at the top of the screen. As users scroll down the page, the map dynamically changes to reflect the location of the businesses listed.
Google also offers a feature it calls "query builder" for mobile. Essentially the auto-complete drop-down suggestions can be quickly added to the search box to help "build" longer query strings with less typing. This, like other innovations (especially voice search) in mobile are intended to make it much easier and faster to use Google on the go.
T-Mobile USA is becoming a deals aggregator, with a new Android app called "More for Me." It's available today for any Android smartphone running OS 1.6 or higher. LivingSocial is the only deal source mentioned although the word "aggregator" implies a broader array of sources.
T-Mobile claims that the app is the first of its kind from any US mobile carrier. AT&T (the would-be owner of T-Mobile) similarly aspires to be a major player in the deals space and has a existing relationship with Placecast to deliver geo-fenced "shop alerts." That's not the same as "daily deals," but it's location-based discounts and offers nonetheless.
According to the T-Mobile press release:
The T-Mobile More for Me application is customizable, enabling consumers to find the most relevant deals, closest to their exact location. Users have the opportunity to see deals from a variety of retailers, in nearly any city, with many deals tailored to meet their specific interests and preferences.
"LivingSocial works directly with merchants in all of our 260+ global markets to craft great deals that drive our valuable members through their door," said Jake Maas, senior vice president, corporate and business development, LivingSocial. "We are excited to bring our handpicked experiences to the millions of consumers who will enjoy T-Mobile's new More for Me app."
What's unique here is not that T-Mobile has built a deals app or even that it's created by a carrier. Rather it's the idea that a carrier is creating an app extending beyond the borders of its own subscriber network. Given the availability of branded deal apps from Groupon, LivingSocial and others, however, it's very unlikely that More for Me will see much adoption beyond T-Mobile subscribers.
Millennial Media released its latest SMART report on mobile marketing trends and data. In the issue, Millennial focuses on growth in the retail vertical (compiled by comScore for Millennial) as well as its traditional range of metrics (e.g., campaign objectives, landing page composition).
In particular, the report says that "local market targeting grew 22% and represented 56% of all campaigns that used targeted reach." While targeting is growing, the majority of Millennial's advertisers appear to still be most interested in broad reach and driving awareness.
Local can mean different things on Millennial's network: targeting by state, city, zip. However the company also said, "advertisers in the Automotive and Restaurant verticals leveraged Local Market targeting to drive foot traffic into their brick-and-mortar locations through targeted regional promotions."
Millennial says that retail "content consumption" by consumers on mobile devices is growing in aggregate volume and frequency:
Below is the hierarchical mix of retail advertisers on Millennial's network: department stores followed by computer/electronics retailers (e.g., Best Buy) and home & garden retailers (e.g., HomeDepot).
Last week Lauren Freedman's e-Tailing Group put out some interesting consumer data from sponsored research. The February consumer survey sought to assess attitudes toward shopping on smartphones and tablets. Respondents were screened on the basis of whether they owned one or both of those devices and spent at least $250 annually online:
Unfortunately the survey sample size wasn't revealed in the report.
There are two sets of findings, one that pertains to shopping experiences with smartphones and one that focuses on tablet-based shopping. I've copied a few graphics from the report (arrows are mine).
The first graph below explores what information people seek out on their smartphones before a store visit.
A significant minority of respondents, despite being comfortable with ecommerce, did not do any "shopping" or buying on their smartphones. Top reasons cited were "awkward shopping experience," "concerns over [security]," slow connection, and overall poor user experience.
Perhaps not surprisingly respondents rated the shopping experience on tablets, with their larger screens, quite a bit better:
These findings reinforce that smartphones and increasingly tablets are being used for product research within and without the retail store -- but much less for actual purchasing. Though the location of tablet use wasn't explored in this survey, the vast majority of tablet activity is at home currently.
While smartphone and tablet usage are complementary, tablet ownership generally results in diminished PC usage.
It's very difficult to quickly and comprehensively analyze all the implications of Google Wallet. There are many.
I "live blogged" the press conference at Search Engine Land. For both consumers and merchants/retailers the proposition is pretty compelling: offer and loyalty card integration, single-tap payments and so on.
So far it appears that only the Nexus S phone will be capable of accessing and using Google Wallet, although there was some ambiguity around that issue. The merchants that are formally participating at launch the following:
However any merchant that has the MasterCard "pay pass" system enabled can participate. Google has provided a merchant locator by zip.
Offers and loyalty will be a big part of this, which is where the marketing/advertising tie-in happens. The integration of Wallet with Offers and loyalty cards will be the big differentiator for retailers and marketers as well as consumers vs. other NFC payments systems. This is where Google has a big advantage over competitors including Apple, Amazon, PayPal and wireless carriers.
Theoretically at least some of those competitors could participate in Wallet because Google says it's open ecosystem -- in the way that Android is: controlled by Google but anyone can participate. How will this affect other mobile payments initiatives, other payments startups and so on?
That question is hard to answer at the moment. If there's fast adoption of Google's system (a la Android) many competitive efforts will be toast. But that very much remains to be seen. Because even consumers eager to participate in Google Wallet will need to buy the Nexus S right now.
Once other NFC-enabled handsets become available, adoption should dramatically accelerate.
See related: Square's "Mobile Wallet" Service Sets Stage for Pay-By-Voice, Maybe
Last year Pew and Forrester both came out with reports arguing that LBS check-ins (e.g., Foursquare) were being embraced by only a small fraction of the mobile audience. In July Forrester asserted that "geolocation applications like Foursquare" were only occasionally being used by 4% of all Internet users.
In November Pew released findings from a telephone survey (n=3,001) that argued a similar 4% of PC Internet users and 7% of mobile Internet users were on LBS services. However 4% of online adults actually turns out to be a big number. It's roughly 8 million people, using the ~200 million online audience base of comScore.
In the aggregate, in 2010, there were probably several million people in the US checking in on Foursquare, Gowalla, MyTown, Whrrl and others, including Google Latitude.
Today Foursquare says it has 8.5 million users alone and many others, including Yelp and Facebook, offer check-ins. Facebook has not released official numbers but claims it is "by far" the largest check-in site out there. So the numbers are clearly growing.
ComScore released data yesterday asserting that, now, nearly 17 million mobile users are engaged to some degree with "check-in services":
16.7 million U.S. mobile subscribers used location-based "check-in" services on their phones in March 2011, representing 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population.
ComScore defines this category to include Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla. It's unclear what the full list of sites was or whether beyond a couple of examples, the definition of check-in sites was left up to user interpretation.
As one might expect smartphones were the primary source of check-ins, constituting 76.3% of all usage. Here's the smartphone "check-in" OS breakdown:
Overall comScore says that these check-in users "showed a high propensity for mobile media usage, including accessing retail sites and shopping guides, and displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user."
One surprise according to the survey data is that women overall outnumber men on check-in services, in contrast to last year's Forrester findings that showed a wide gap favoring men.
Anecdotal evidence, notwithstanding the growth comScore proclaims, suggests that a large number of early users of check-in services have walked away and are no longer using them on a regular basis.
Deals and loyalty programs -- such as one just announced between SPG and Foursquare -- are the key to keeping check-ins alive. In the absence of such rewards or incentives the check-in will either die or have to dramatically evolve and deliver some other type of value to survive.
Mapquest and Skyhook Wireless announced today that Skyhook's "Hybrid Location System" would be deployed in Mapquest's Android navigation app. The idea is that GPS is unreliable much of the time, as the press release explains:
Frequent users of navigation apps on smartphones know the headaches of trying to start a trip from inside a parking garage, or of following a route through the urban canyons of New York City. Everyone has a story of the costly wrong turn made due to a lost GPS signal and delayed navigation. These issues are primarily a result of the limitations in relying on GPS satellites, also a handicap of many other navigation apps. By using Skyhook's unique combination of Wi-Fi signals and GPS, MapQuest avoids these common GPS headaches.
The free navigation app from Mapquest offers voice search and voice turn-by-turn navigation, traffic and local search. It's a very nice offering -- and free. The challenge for any mapping or navigation provider on Android handsets is similar to the challenge of any search provider on the PC that isn't Google.
Google Navigation is so deeply integrated into the whole mobile search and mapping experience on Android that a competitor has to be superior (or better) to get attention and usage. However Mapquest has huge brand equity, which goes some distance to overcoming the "inertia" around Google Navigation on Android.
According to Hitwise, Google Maps and Maquest are the top two travel sites in the Us. However Mapquest is the top "branded" travel search term.
Top 10 US Travel Sites (per Hitwise):
There's an extensive article in the New York Times about Google and mobile search. The article is mostly a feature about the evolution of Google's approach to mobile. It also discusses voice search and Goggles but there's little hard data or new numbers.
The $1 billion mobile ad run rate is mentioned as are several previously released data points. Here are a few of the stats and observations from the article:
We've estimated, using comScore and Google's own public data that between 1.9 and 2.4 billion monthly queries on Google are coming from mobile. Google has said 33% of mobile queries have local intent. That would mean that between roughly 600 million and almost 800 million monthly queries are local-mobile.
But here's the "money quote" from the NY Times' piece: "Mobile search is definitely going to surpass desktop search," said Scott B. Huffman, who works on mobile search at Google and leads its search evaluation team. "The lines will pass, and I think they'll pass before anyone thought they would."
NAVTEQ put out a press release yesterday announcing results of "its first hyper-local ad campaign targeting millions of users of the Poynt application." Poynt is a search app. The NAVTEQ ads tested were location and/or contextually relevant to user queries.
Here are the results:
The maiden campaign featured hyper-local ads for national gas station and restaurant brands throughout the United States. All four campaigns performed three to five times better than the industry average* click-through rate (CTR) of .49 with an average CTR of 2.68% across campaigns. Post-click user engagement ranged from 4.49% to as high as 11.25%, depending on advertiser.
The 2.7% CTR and engagement numbers are better than average, but still not as strong as those reported by several others offering local-mobile advertising or location-based ads on mobile devices. Off the top of my head I know that TeleNav, xAD, Placecast and JiWire have local-mobile ad performance data that exceed the reported NAVTEQ metrics.
TeleNav previously said that ads on its navigation software saw nearly 4% CTRs and 24% conversions (in terms of users driving to store locations after seeing an ad):
[Ads] resulted in a click thru rate of 3.8 percent, which is significantly greater than traditional mobile and online display ads. Moreover, the data indicates that the conversion rate of users who drive to the business location after clicking on an ad presented in TeleNav's local search results is nearly 24 percent.
Local-mobile ad network xAD told me that it sees average local search CTRs of 5% to 8%, with some campaigns exhibiting higher response rates. Google also previously reported that after a local-mobile lookup 61% of users called a business and 59% visited a location in person.
The larger point is that directional searches on the go are highly commercial in nature with action likely to be taken by the individuals conducting them.
Marchex has acquired Jingle Networks, which operates the 800-Free-411 consumer service and a mobile ad network. The acquisition is valued at $62.5 million and is a mix of cash and stock. Jingle had previously raised roughly $70 million since it was founded in 2004 in multiple rounds from investors.
The acquisition will boost the Marchex Call Advertising Network and (finally) provides Jingle with an exit. Jingle launched with terrific fanfare and seemed like a great option for mobile callers seeking to avoid growing 411 fees. However, the growth of smartphones has taken a toll (so to speak) on directory assistance call volumes and they continuing to erode albeit at a relatively stable pace.
Compared to traditional carriers, Jingle had a more interesting and diversified model than traditional 411. (Google shuttered its Jingle competitor, 800-GOOG-411 last year.) The best of the free 411 services was Microsoft's, Bing-411, which continues to operate.
Marchex says that the addition of Jingle's calls and mobile network to its own will deliver "annualized reach of more than 500 million phone calls across digital media." The company says that Jingle's revenues will be $26 million in 2011. Call-based advertising will now constitute "75% of [Marchex's] revenues on an annualized basis by the end of 2011."
Marchex says that the overall market for calls is worth $179 billion annually and includes both online and offline media. These are ads "intended to generate calls." The company also says that some of the campaigns on its call network generate 10X response and conversions from consumers vs. clicks.
Investment firm Macquarie captured a bunch of mobile data presented, in part by Google, during and an AMA sponsored webinar on the mobile paid
search market. Most of this has been released or mentioned before but it's a nice collection of stats pertaining to mobile search and the mobile market in general:
Poynt is the local search app that could. Once near extinction the Canadian company, which is publicly traded, has come back and continues to grow.
A week ago the company said it reached "one billion user actions," which is impressive because of the "billion" part but otherwise is a bit of a dubious metric. More transparently, Poynt said it has about 6.5 million uniques across multiple operating systems. That would put it just behind Foursquare, with 8 million users, to provide some context.
Poynt started on BlackBerry and has seen its greatest success on that platform. However it's also avaiable on the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7 and now Nokia handsets (QT devices). The company says that it's adding about 30K users per day.
A couple of weeks ago local-mobile ad network xAD acquired the consumer business of Go2 Media and Poynt bought the ad serving back end. However, Poynt makes most of its money as a distributor of ads and content for third party YP publishes such as SuperMedia and AT&T.
Poynt is a workmanlike but unremarkable local search app, featuring restaurants, local business search, movies, gas and people search. Its appeal perhaps lies in its simplicity. Whether intentional or not its early adoption by RIM users in an uncrowded BlackBerry App World helped the company gain a following and build some momentum it probably wouldn't have otherwise.
Avantar is a similar case. Early in with a YP app on the iPhone many users adopted it and continue to use it, though it's extremely basic.
Poynt, as mentioned, is publicly traded in Canada and has a market cap of roughly $50 million Canadian (just over that same amount in USD). Unless the app were to dramatically improve and/or the company started releasing other apps Poynt is likely to hit the natural limits of growth in the not-too-distant future.
The endgame for the company is probably to get to about 10 million uniques (if possible) and then be acquired by YPG in Canada or another US local media publisher. However I'm a bit surprised that the company has had the success that it has to date.
TeleNav has a subscriber base of more than 20 million people, distributed over 600 devices in many countries. The company has done a good job of surviving the free navigation push by Google, Nokia and more recently Mapquest. It has an enterprise business as well as a direct consumer business. TeleNav also powers many of the carrier navigation services.
Earlier this week the company put out an "infographic" with some top-level US data about navigation usage. (As an aside I wish companies would stop putting out these so-called infographics for PR purposes. People pick them up, just as I have, but they make reading and understanding the data more difficult than it needs to be. It's a gimmick that should come to an end in my view.)
The chart shows that the top places US TeleNav users are navigating to. It also stands as a kind of unintended indictment of Americans' tastes and behavior.
The most searched/navigated locations are Wal-Mart, Target, Starbucks, Best Buy. McDonald's is in there at number 6. Navigational queries like this (name-in-mind searches) represent about 60% of local searches coming from mobile devices currently. Collectively Pizza, American (food) and Burgers represent about 63% of restaurant-related queries. And among them McDonald's and Pizza Hut figure prominently.
Separately TeleNav conducted a survey of drivers and found, among other things, that:
Nearly 25 percent of both sexes reported sending at least one text message while driving per week. Men texted the most, with 36 percent of those who text while driving indicating they send an average of seven or more texts per week while on the road. In contrast, only 23 percent of women admitted to texting as frequently.
Below is a video demo of the current version of TeleNav (as AT&T Navigator):
This past weekend Foursquare announced a deal with Amex, which was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. The partnership essentially offers discounts and rewards for checking in at participating local businesses:
Under the arrangement, AmEx customers can register their cards in the Foursquare system to get access to special offers from merchants who are also Foursquare participants. Customers who shop at those merchants with an AmEx card will receive credits and electronic notification that they have redeemed the offer. Merchants who participate in the program would potentially see more sales. . . .
The Foursquare partnership is AmEx's latest offering aimed at people who are roughly a generation younger than the company's traditional customer. AmEx has introduced several new cards targeted at the hip and tech-savvy generation in recent years, with mixed success.
The move is positioned in the article as a way for Amex to associate itself with a "hip" new mobile app and thereby attract younger users. It's going to be initially tested at the SXSW conference coming up next week in Austin, Texas: "Sixty local merchants will honor the 'spend $5, save $5' promotion."
It's great PR and a great high-profile deal for Foursquare, which now has more than 8 million users globally. Amex claims, however, this isn't simply about younger users but about new forms of loyalty and cardmember engagement.
On paper it all makes sense; however there are some potential challenges with the deal. I couldn't find empirical data but my understanding is that on average Amex cardholders are generally older than the bulk of Foursquare users, although there will be some overlap. According to Pew, here's the demographic breakdown of "location based services" users:
This "generic" LBS user profile cuts more broadly than Foursquare specifically. And Google's Ad Planner (as well as Quantcast and Alexa) shows a user base that is somewhat older than Pew's profile. It also shows more female users on Foursquare.
Beyond the "demographic" challenge, is the fact that most local businesses don't use Foursquare to promote themselves. In addition many don't take Amex; you remember the Visa ads. ("They won't take no for an answer, and they won't take American Express.")
In our recent SMB survey about 8% of respondents said they were using Foursquare to promote themselves. This number cannot be generalized to the entire population of SMBs. That would effectively mean about 2 million SMBs actively on Foursquare marketing themselves. The 8% figure is larger than in previous surveys, reflecting Foursquare's growth and increased visibility. However the number of businesses using it to acquire new customers or as a loyalty platform is relatively small.
Accordingly you have to find SMBs or national-local entities that are on Foursquare (and take Amex), together with Foursquare users who have Amex cards to use in those establishments. This slices the potential pie pretty thinly. Yet this is the right direction for Foursquare, which will have enormous difficulty monetizing via SMB self-service. It needs to make big deals with channel partners and do national-local deals with retailers to generate meaningful revenue.


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15 Recipes for Leftover Halloween Candy
Halloween may be a one-night affair, but its sweet treats can last long into November. If your kids brought home a treasure of chocolaty and sugary bites, you don't have to let them sit around. Use the leftover Halloween candy in these creative (and easy!) dessert recipes. You can bring the desserts to parties, sell them at a bake sale, or even freeze some of them for later use.
It's no secret that Halloween candy can pack on the calories and fat. Before you pick your treat, check out this guide to the healthiest Halloween candy.
Chocolate Peanut Butter-Cup Treats
These dolled up rice krispie treats are sure to score big with any chocolate and peanut butter fan!
Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter-Cup Treats
Marko Metzinger/Studio D


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Created using this Craftsy Indie Pattern
SALE Crystal Hoop Earrings Wire Wrap »
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Other projects made as part of this pattern:
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What materials did you use? Materials suggested makes 1 pair of hoops approximately 1 inch in diameter: ►12 inches (30.5cm) 22ga square wire ►9 inches (22.9cm) 20ga round wire ►18 inches (45.7cm) 20 or 22ga round wire ►►►all wire should be hard◄◄◄ ►18 to 22 4mm crystal cubes, rounds, or bicones or 4mm plain round beads in colors of your choice.
Wow! oh my god they are amazing ;) is there a tutorial?
Thank you all very much!! Wish I had seen your comments sooner, they are very much appreciated!!


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[Full Droid X Review] The Droid X is part of Verizon's line of Droid smartphones. It was released in July 2010 and runs Google Android 2.1 Eclair. The Verizon Droid X is packing a 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP processor with 512MB of RAM and ROM. The Droid X phone features up to 720p HD output through HDMI and a color transflective TFT display with a FWVGA 480x854 resolution that measures 4.3-inches. On the back of the Droid X smartphone is an eight-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. Read on for the best Droid X news, Verizon phone reviews and videos:
by Anton D. Nagy | May 5, 2011 2:46 AM
Google Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread for the Motorola Droid X has been leaked and rooted but unfortunately, according to rumors, it was rejected by Verizon so it's still not officially out there. A new set of hear-say just surfaced according to which an even newer than 4.5.591 build has been finalized by Motorola and sent to Verizon which should approve until tomorrow, May 6. If the rumors turn out to be true, the new ROM will enter its testing phase next Friday, May 13, and could be rolled-out as soon as two weeks from now. Whenever it hits, it can't come soon enough! Source: Droid-life
by GabePeters | April 26, 2011 6:00 PM
Australian Motorola Atrix 4G owner Irwin Proud quickly discovered that it's bootloader was locked after his purchase of the device earlier this year. In response, he formed a "Groubal" page to attempt to get the attention of Motorola and convince it that there is a large subset of users who wish to develop for the Atrix and cannot due to the immutable security. The Groubal page has grown quickly, currently at over 8800 signatures since it's inception on March 31st. Motorola has since taken notice, and has issued a response: "...It is our intention to enable the unlockable/relockable ...
by Stephen Schenck | April 25, 2011 4:09 PM
The Droid X² may be the Motorola smartphone getting all the spotlight lately, with its first press shots showing up late last week, but there may be yet another Moto Droid lurking in the shadows, as Droid-life has received some pictures of an unidentified Motorola model, purported to be an in-house multi-core prototype. While this pictured model looks quite similar to the Droid X, you'll notice this smartphone features a silver faceplate and is significantly thicker than the Droid X, with a bulging battery cover in the rear. While there have been extended batteries available for the Droid ...
by Anton D. Nagy | April 25, 2011 7:31 AM
Now that we've seen the first press shots of the Motorola DROID X^2 (X squared) we get a sense of the smartphone being close and also a feeling of the initial Motorola DROID X aging day after day. Amazon Wireless has the good old DROID X on sale for a limited time for $0.01. Compared to the $149.99, which is the price for the DROID X over at Verizon, $0.01 is a bargain, but it's not free. As usual, the price is valid with a two-year contract but for one cent you get a 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP processor, 512MB of RAM and ROM, FWVGA 480x854 resolution display of 4.3-inches as well as an ...
by CoreyLewandowski | April 20, 2011 4:33 PM
The recently released Motorola Droid X update (update 4.5.588) brought Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, the latest version of Motorola's MotoBlur UI, and is showing some major performance upgrades. The Droid X is powered by a 1GHz processor and after its most recent update it is running Android 2.2 Froyo. After the update it is reportedly getting a score of 1918 which is a significant boost over it's Android 2.2 update and nearly double the score from running Android 2.1, which the phone launched with (scores shown in image above). Source: Phone Arena
by Stephen Schenck | April 15, 2011 5:03 PM
Fresh off the last Motorola Droid X2 video we checked out, showing off the phone's boot screen with that lovely dual-core confirmation, we've come across a bunch of new pics and video of the Android smartphone, showing off some more of the hardware design, and checking out the device's performance with a Quadrant benchmark. In addition to the new media, there are some revised specs for the phone available. We've been expecting the Droid X2 to have a dual-core Tegra 2 running at 1GHz, but this new rumored figure has it at 1.2GHz. While that would be good news if true, the same source puts ...
by Stephen Schenck | April 14, 2011 3:31 PM
If you've been eyeing a smartphone that's lined-up to arrive with Verizon but have been a bit nervous about what your dream phone will end up costing, we may have some relief in store for you, as a leaked copy of the pricing structure for several upcoming Verizon models has arrived. While some of the prices are a relief, if only because they don't seem too over-inflated, a few stand out as models for which Verizon thinks you'll pay a premium. The Droid Charge is still listed at $300, the same as on the last price sheet that leaked out, making it one of the carrier's most expensive ...
by Anton D. Nagy | April 14, 2011 5:04 AM
Verizon has pushed out the over-the-air Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the Motorola Droid X and it didn't take long until it got rooted. If previously there were some questions about root involving different builds being pushed out, P3Droid from Team Black Hat has now confirmed on Twitter that the system has been rooted. While Superuser access was achieved by the team, there's currently no public solution available at the moment -- though we're pretty sure it's just a matter of days until everyone can grab one. Source: Twitter, Plixi Via: PhanDroid
by Stephen Schenck | April 12, 2011 4:49 PM
Last month a pre-release of the official Gingerbread update for Motorola's Droid X leaked, giving coders the chance to comb through it and prepare a rootable exploit in advance of its proper release. Now Verizon is pushing the update out OTA, but is it safe to update if you'd like to still be able to root your phone? Users reported the update arriving this morning, arriving silently with no prompt to download, alerting you when to reset your phone to complete the upgrade. The earlier leaked update was build 4.5.573, and a pre-rooted installer was able to get it on your phone without ...
by Chuong Nguyen | March 30, 2011 2:27 PM
If you're the owner of the Droid X or jumped ship on the Droid 2 before the special Star Wars R2D2 edition launched yesterday at select Verizon Wireless communications stores yesterday, then you'll be happy to know that the custom lock screen available on the R2D2 Droid 2 edition has been ported to the Droid X and Droid 2. The hack, which will require a rooted handset, is detailed on Droid-Life with instructions and the necessary files. Although the U.S. government has recently "legalized" rooting with an updated version of the DMCA rules, the hack detailed by Droid-Life does contain ...
by GabePeters | March 29, 2011 4:18 PM
Just one day after the leak of Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread for Motorola's Droid 2 and Droid X, we get the nice surprise of a pre-rooted build. Similar to their recent Atrix 4G update, this update brings with it a patch to fix the security vulnerability used for rooting many android devices (rageagainstthecage, psneuter). Team Black Hat worked around this patch by setting up a pre-rooted updater that deploys from recovery mode, instead of the usual SBF + RSD Lite method. Flashing your device back to the stock ROM is required prior to updating. The modified update deploys rooted from the first ...
by Stephen Schenck | March 28, 2011 7:14 PM
Last week we had some back-and-forth rumors about an upcoming Gingerbread update for Verizon's Droid X. First we hear "it's a go for Sunday", then "rejected by Verizon". Without any evidence either way, we just had to wait things out. Cut to Sunday, and leaked versions of the official updates for both the Droid X and Droid 2 surfaced. Was this Droid X update the same one Verizon supposedly rejected? We may have an idea why, as analysis of the software shows references to AT&T as the carrier, not Verizon. If you try running the mobile hotspot with either the new Droid X or Droid 2 ROMs, ...
by Stephen Schenck | March 25, 2011 7:55 PM
Sorry if we got your hopes up, Droid X owners; the rumored Gingerbread update that was just waiting for Verizon to send it your way, the one that could start rolling out as soon as Sunday, has supposedly been rejected by the carrier. If this tweeted warning is correct, Motorola will have to take another stab at putting together a Droid X Gingerbread build that Verizon is satisfied with. There's no indication yet as to what exactly Verizon had a beef with; we doubt it was a performance issue, as the Droid X should be more than capable of running Android 2.3 without issue. According to the ...
by Stephen Schenck | March 24, 2011 4:20 PM
We saw what purported to be in-development shots of a build of Gingerbread for the Motorola Droid X back at the end of January. Since then, we haven't comes across any further indications of progress towards a release of the Android update. According to Droid Life, there's now a rumor that the phone could receive Gingerbread starting this coming Sunday, March 27. While we've been hearing rumors of official Gingerbread updates for plenty of phones, they've been slow to materialize. Droid Life cites developer tweets indicating that the Droid X code is indeed complete and ready to go, and ...
by GabePeters | March 20, 2011 10:57 PM
Enterprising hacker William "nenolod" Pitcock has been hard at work on the Motorola signed bootloader issue and has now posted a method that can be used to obtain the private key for the "sholes" platform. Vulnerable devices include the Droid, Milestone, Droid X, Droid 2, and CHARM. Having the private key allows custom ROM images to be signed and accepted by the bootloader to flash to the device. It is currently unknown if the same vulnerability applies to recent and upcoming devices such as the Atrix or Bionic. Motorola was notified about the vulnerability privately three times prior to ...


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text: Shanghai Practice 1: Hamilton shows his intent 13 April, 2012 Lewis Hamilton started the Chinese GP weekend at the top of the timing screens Apr.13 (PVM) No doubt stung by the knowledge that he will not be starting Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix from pole position, Lewis Hamilton nevertheless showed his intent by topping the timing screens in the opening free practice session of the Shanghai weekend. Lewis Hamilton gets ready for action Hamilton, a two time winner in China, lit up a gloomy morning by scorching around the Shanghai International Circuit in 1 minute 37.106 seconds which was over a second faster than his closest rival. Again, as in Australia and Malaysia, the McLaren MP4-27 proved to be a fast car and pretty much plug-and-play wherever it is unleashed. The fact that Hamilton can only hope to start from sixth on the grid, thanks to the fact that a faulty gearbox needed changing and with that comes a five-place grid penalty, has inspired the 2008 world champion to send an early message to the paddock. He said of the penalty: "It doesn't alter my approach. I still have to qualify as high as possible." Game on! Green light for the 90 minutes session was given under misty skies over Shanghai, with the track littered with wet patches. The tricky conditions prevented any early meaningful runs, and in fact most chose to sit it out until the track dried up well into the session. The fast laps were set in the final minutes of the ninety as a solid dry racing line emerged. Malaysia GP winner Fernando Alonso was 11th fastest McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh did point out that Hamilton was still running the faulty gearbox in the first practice, but conceded to BBC that they were 99% certain that it would be replaced before the race. On the timing screens below Hamilton's best, were the Mercedes AMG pair with Nico Rosberg faster than team mate Michael Schumacher. The Silver Arrows team bolstered by the fact that the FIA has deemed their innovative 'double DRS' wing to be legal after Lotus lodged an official protest a day earlier. Again showing considerable pace were the Sauber duo with Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, fastest of the Ferrari powered brigade, fourth and fifth quickest. The Red Bull pair were next up with Mark Webber 0.001 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel, the energy drinks boys sixth and seventh respectively. During his fastest lap Vettel radioed his team that the DRS on his RB8 was not working. Two seconds down on his pace setting teammate was Jenson Button, ending the session eighth fastest. Daniel Ricciardo Ninth and tenth were the Toro Rosso youngsters, Daniel Ricciardo and rookie Jean Eric Vergne. The Ferrari powered team from Faenza keeping the both Ferrari drivers (of Maranello origin) out of the top ten. Fernando Alonso was 11th and Felipe Massa 12th Notably both Lotus drivers were out of the top ten, with Romain Grosjean 17th on the timing sheets and Kimi Raikkonen, 24th, slowest of all in the E20. Apparently no issues with either car, simply calling it quits, as the team explained: "With 10 minutes left to run both cars returned to the garage and parked up for the morning; the team having decided that there was little more to be gained from running on a frustratingly variable surface." Reserve drivers in action were: Valterri Bottas in place of Bruno Senna for Williams (13th), Giedo van der Garde in Vitaly Petrov's Caterham cockpit (19th) and Jules Bianchi taking Paul Di Resta's place in the Force India (20th). Free Practice 1 – Shanghai, 13 April 2012 Pos No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.106 7 2 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.116 1.010 14 3 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.316 1.210 14 4 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.584 1.478 13 5 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.911 1.805 12 6 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:38.977 1.871 15 7 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:39.198 2.092 12 8 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.199 2.093 6 9 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:39.748 2.642 16 10 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:39.768 2.662 14 11 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.056 2.950 14 12 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:40.153 3.047 14 13 19 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:40.298 3.192 8 14 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:40.328 3.222 13 15 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:40.540 3.434 12 16 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:41.071 3.965 14 17 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:41.204 4.098 14 18 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:42.330 5.224 14 19 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:42.521 5.415 11 20 11 Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1:44.118 7.012 8 21 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:44.227 7.121 10 22 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:44.500 7.394 15 23 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:47.204 10.098 12 24 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:50.465 13.359 11 Tweet Related NewsTech Talk: Mercedes new front wing and other trick bits spotted in ShanghaiLost in translation cause of China chequered flag debacleHakkinen slams Vettel for ignoring team ordersPhotos: Best of Chinese Grand Prix race dayRed Bull and Vettel deny that team orders were ignored in ShanghaiAlonso: I think this podium should be dedicated to Stefano DomenicaliRaikkonen: Things have been pretty difficult but I'm sure that with more knowledge we can work things outMassa calls for probe into disastrous pitstop during Chinese Grand PrixLotus progress halted as gearbox gremlins strike in ShanghaiHamilton: I just can't believe how amazing the car is and how hard everyone has worked


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A company in high-end and luxury residential developments is seeking an experienced architect who has worked on luxurey redevelopments of listed buildings to join their west London based team. This exciting group are beginning to develop some fantastic schemes across the west, and you will be to the fore in the design, development and delivery of these schemes. The successful candidate must have an eye for high quality finishing and strong technical/detailing skills, as well as a good understanding of planning and approval processes in the UK. The salary and package on offer is excellent for the right candidate.


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Jun 06, 2006 | 02:55 PM CDT
Technology Decisions Challenging the Flavor and Fragrance Industry
By: Nelson, Kate Nelson and Dave Josephson
If there is one thing that successful technology companies have in common it is marketing and public relations. One can hardly read a business-oriented magazine today without seeing either a technology advertisement or self promoting article. But how is a layman to separate fact from fiction?
Jun 01, 2006 | 07:15 AM CDT
Textile Materials With Fixed Cyclodextrins As A Fragrance Depot
By: Hans-Jürgen Buschmann, Dierk Knittel and Eckha…
The ability to semi-permanently infuse fabrics with finished fragrances and/or fragrance materials opens up a new realm of formulation and application possibilities for perfumers. The market has already seen the introduction of scented pillows and the like, but Buschmann et al.'s recent work presents the possibility of (washable) scented sportswear, linens, upholstery and many other household products that may be customized at will, and which may intake unpleasant odors while imparting pleasant ones.
Jun 01, 2006 | 07:02 AM CDT
Industry Insight with Tony Curtis
By: Jeb Gleason-Allured, Editor
Tony Curtis, senior lecturer, aroma trades studies, at the University of Plymouth's business school and faculty of science (Plymouth, Devon, UK) recently sat down with Perfumer & Flavorist magazine to discuss the institution's aroma and formulation science program, the role of perfumery education in the industry at large, and his thoughts on the current state and future of the industry.
May 30, 2006 | 02:10 PM CDT
Digitally Released Aroma and The Flavorist
By: J. Stephan Jellinek
Many of the most pleasurable culinary experiences happen before you take the first bite or sip: think of the enticing scent of pizza just coming out of the oven that makes you stop in front of a pizza place when you hadn't even been aware that you were getting hungry; of the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that makes you forget the pain of having to get out of bed early; of the warm, subtle blend of spices and seafood and cream that makes your mouth water when the waitress puts a bowl of lobster bisque down in front of you.
May 30, 2006 | 01:38 PM CDT
Digitally Delivered Fragrance and the Perfumer
By: J. Stephan Jellinek
For as long as man has used fragrance, it had one feature that set it apart from all other forms of esthetic decoration, cultural messages, sensory agents and psychological magic: once you presented it, you had lost control over it. It would float wherever diffusion and air currents carried it.
May 11, 2006 | 11:45 AM CDT
Computer-Controlled Smell Output
By: Joseph Kaye, Culturally Embedded Computing Gro…
Controlled scent dispersal — though not a new idea — continues to exhibit potential in an ever-greater range of applications, from video games to the Internet to museum exhibits.
May 07, 2006 | 09:43 AM CDT
Industry Insight: Givaudan's Cecile Krakower
By: Jeb Gleason-Allured, Editor
What is the relationship between the market and fragrance development? Where are new scent concepts coming from? To find some answers we spoke with Givaudan junior perfumer Cecile Krakower about the role of innovation, cross-disciplinary studies, cultural exchanges and trend spotting in fragrance creation.
Apr 21, 2006 | 11:09 AM CDT
Global F&F trends: The 12 Truths of Naturals
By: Jeb Gleason-Allured, Editor
Getting to know your F&F buying public. In doing my own research and networking at various F&F industry events, I've come to see that today's health-conscious buying public is more educated and varied than ever before. And no consumer topic is hotter than the natural/organic/wellness trend, which has changed our expectations of fragranced goods and foods.
Mar 03, 2006 | 04:31 PM CST
State of the Industry: 2006 and Beyond
By: Rick Brownell
Forecasting opportunities and threats on the road to recovery. Despite what was attributed to Cyclone Hudah, which raked across Madagascar in the spring of 2000, and political instability in that island nation, the real cause of this decade's vanilla crisis can be blamed on simple economics.
Dec 19, 2005 | 02:47 PM CST
Fragrance Trends: Global Fragrance -- Not Making Scents
By: Claire Briney, Euromonitor International
The fragrance industry faces declining sales, increasing competition and a shorter shelf life. Valued at $25 billion last year, the global market for fragrance continues to flounder, with sales increasing at a rate that is slower than the average growth for the industry as a whole (see T-1). Why is this market proving to be such a challenge?


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Campaign Finance & Election
Campaigns should be open and free, not prone to manipulation through government financing schemes. And now the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
- Read more about Goldwater Institute Appoints Andrea Woodmansee to Direct Communications: Former Director Tom Jenney to Run for Arizona House of Representatives
Phoenix, AZ-The Goldwater Institute and News 5 will co-host a gubernatorial candidate forum in Phoenix the evening of Wednesday, October 30, 2002. The event will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix, 2401 East Camelback Road, and will be televised the afternoon of Sunday, November 3, 2002.
Phoenix, AZ -- Goldwater Institute scholar Robert Franciosi applauds the unanimous decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals, which ruled yesterday that coercive public funding of campaigns is unconstitutional. Franciosi, who directs the Institute's work on electoral reform, also congratulates Rep. Steve May (R-Paradise Valley) and the Institute for Justice on an important victory in their two-year fight against coerced funding of political speech.
"In a free state," says Franciosi, "citizens should not be forced to finance politicians' campaigns for office."
A Goldwater Institute report identifies three dozen government contracting, hiring and university programs in Arizona that give preferences based on race and gender.
The report coincides with a proposed state ballot measure that would prohibit government entities from giving education, hiring and procurement preferences to women and minorities.
Ask Arizona politicians about tax cuts during an election year and with few exceptions the answer is predictable - they're for them. As the Nov. 7 election approaches, the three candidates for governor do, indeed, look favorably upon the idea of allowing Arizonans to keep more of their money. The difference among the candidates, however, lies in the depth and timing of tax reductions, not whether they support them.
Libertarian Barry Hess offers the most basic and boldest plan. If elected, he would kill the income tax as soon as possible, he said.
Where have all the cowboys gone?
In 1964, one of Arizona's own ran an energetic and inspiring bid for President. Now we have Congressman Jeff Flake. He, like Senator Barry Goldwater, is not afraid to buck party leadership and stick to principles.
A June 24th article ("Rep. Flake takes stand against 'pork'") notes that Flake took a controversial stand and promised never to ask for federal funding during the rest of his House career. Arizona's 6th Congressional District should feel honored to have such a maverick and principled representative.
GOP gubernatorial candidate found himself $615,000 behind eventual winner Janet Napolitano right after primary
The Clean Elections system stole the Arizona Governor's Office from Republican Matt Salmon and handed it to Democrat Janet Napolitano.
So says Clint Bolick, a lawyer for the Institute of Justice, a group that mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge aimed at abolishing the public election funding system.
In one of the closest gubernatorial races in state history, Napolitano beat Salmon by fewer than 12,000 votes.
PHOENIX (AP) - Leading candidates for Arizona governor came out swinging Wednesday evening, exchanging jabs during the last scheduled joint appearance of the general election campaign.
Democratic nominee Janet Napolitano, the current state attorney general, said Republican candidate Matt Salmon "inherits a legacy" of failed Republican leadership in a state government that has neglected health care and education.
With four states now offering public funds to help people run for office, the effort to take private money out of politics is getting its biggest test yet this fall.
Hundreds of candidates are running so-called clean election campaigns, with Arizona's race for governor leading the way - five of the 10 candidates in Tuesday's primary have opted for public financing.
Yet the outcome of this campaign finance experiment is still unclear.
By Rhonda Bodfield and Hipolito Corella
Results from Tuesday's primary election are sparking debate about whether taxpayers are getting their $18 million worth of reforms out of the state's new law that provides public campaign financing.
Voters narrowly passed Clean Elections in 1998 after supporters painted it as a law that would reduce the effect of special interests while giving a wider range of candidates a valid shot at public office.
The law was supposed to generate more lively debate and boost long-sagging voter turnout numbers.


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Active Administrator helps you understand, fix and prevent performance-related issues in your Active Directory. You can determine whether replication between servers is possible; ascertain the status of each domain controller; and maintain the Active Administrator database by purging, reorganizing and restoring data on schedule.
Active Administrator can analyze whether replication of a server or forest is possible. Errors are displayed with graphical indicators.
Assessment reports help you understand the health of your AD environment. The forest configuration report contains information about the forests, sites, domains and trusts. The replication health and status report contains information about the replication status for each domain controller, as well as any errors that occurred during the replication process. You can also monitor the status, performance and event logs of domain controllers to identify potential issues or trends before they become critical. Reports can be scheduled.
Active Administrator optimizes the performance of its database by running a SQL script that reorganizes and rebuilds indexes: if an index is fragmented less than 30%, the process rebuilds the index; if the index is fragmented 30% or more, the process rebuilds the index. This process can be run manually or on a schedule. You can also purge and archive data, either manually or automatically.
©2014 Dell Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | Terms of Use | Privacy
Acquisitions - Enstratius, RemoteScan, StatSoft


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Psst! You know those posts and stories you read online, scribed by Game Masters who run perfect, long-running campaigns and never seem to run into trouble?
It's ok--here in the real world, our campaigns aren't like that. We all have our issues as Game Masters, and that can include being stumped on which way the material for a new campaign should progress.
Enter Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots by the minds at Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing. Gnome Stew has made its mark as the premier gamemastery blog on the web, and now the lads behind that effort share some of that advice in this volume aimed towards providing plots and adventure hooks for every main type of RPG genre.
At 314 pages, Eureka is not a small product, and it certainly isn't a fly-by-night effort. The Gnomes put a lot of work into this system-neutral product, and it shows. The initial advice chapter sets the stage with some "how to use this info", but also a nice comprehensive review of the 36 Dramatic Situations to be found in various plots.
Eureka identifies the various adventure plots not only by genre and the aforementioned themes, but also by "tags". These tags are a sort of shorthand for identifying the type of plot involvement. For example, the tag "difficult choice" would mean the characters would likely face a tough decision in the course of the presented plot, whereas "epic challenge" might feature world-changing or high-level challenges.
Each genre receives its own chapter. There are generally 1 or 2 plots presented per page. As an example here, in the Fantasy Chapter, "The Unexpected Uprising" covers the potential for a full-scale revolt involving the characters. Linked events to take place before or after the main plot point are also detailed, and a small section for the tags and potential adaptations to other genres is also present.
I'm not going to say that every idea in the book appealed to me; with 501 of them, the law of averages tales care of that possibility on its own. But the ideas presented are usually well-considered, and I can definitely see the potential for many of them to turn the lightbulb on in a plotting or struggling Game Master's head.
Heightening the usefulness of this tome are two indexes, arranged by genre and plot tag, which make finding the right source of inspiration much easier. I also appreciate the hyperlinking present in the document, which is very useful in a larger pdf such as this.
If the product falls short anywhere, it's on the strength of the art. Andrew McIntosh's cover illustration is charming and appropriate, but as in so many other small-press products, the interior art is a mixed bag. Philip Miller does yeoman's work on his part, but in a book that's supposed to inspire, some might feel the art should be more frequent, and perhaps a bit more evocative. The layout, however, is pleasantly uniform and easy to follow.
Eureka can be ordered from Engine Games. If you're a Game Master who likes a little help with his brainstorming, Eureka will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf, virtual or otherwise. There are plenty of Game Master resources out there, but only a very few strike me as being as immediately handy and above all, usable by a GM, as Eureka. If you've got it all figured out and never seem at a loss for inspiration, well, keep on walking. But the rest of us mere mortal Game Masters are grateful for the help...


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The Red-tailed Hawks and I were out enjoying the beautiful, spring-like day we enjoyed yesterday. They basked in the sun and allowed me to approach fairly closely so that I could snap a few pictures.
Out and About
By: geodeSubscribe Channel: Pets & Animals Location: Southern Tier of New York
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Orion spacecraft gets dunked in the Atlantic in first sea trials
For the first time since the 1960s, NASA is testing a spacecraft in the water, seeing how seaworthy it is after a splashdown. It looks a lot like the Apollo spacecraft from years ago, but this Orion capsule is bigger than as its 12.8-foot-wide Apollo predecessor. Orion is 16.5 feet in diameter, and is more than twice as heavy at 31,000 pounds, compared to the 12,787-pound weight of the Apollo capsules. And the tech inside is like the difference between a Model T and a Bugatti Veyron.
Could this familiar launch/splashdown routine have anything to do with NASA's nostalgia for the hugely successful Apollo program? Maybe NASA finally figured out that it's not all that practical to design a space shuttle that returns to Earth on a landing strip, encased in fragile ceramic tiles. This one will ride atop the huge (and controversial) Aries launch vehicle, also currently under development, and take a dunk in the drink as its big finish. Take a look at two more pictures of the watery escapades:
From the looks of it, Orion fared well in its trials which took place yesterday 20 miles off the Florida coast. They'll be testing the moon ship for the rest of this week; no word on whether they'll try to shoehorn six astronauts into this craft that will someday take the sextet to the International Space Station, or the four-person crew that will travel inside it to the moon and back by around 2020. Funding permitting, that is.
Via Space.com


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Texture variation is key on this fabulous medium-weight poly. Hexagons have either a subtle, ribbon-like feel or a horizontal texture that contrasts with the smooth woven background. Light gray in tone, this fabric is best suited for light upholstery or drapery.
Color: SILVER
Width: 57"
Content: 100% POLYESTER
Learn about fabric careHOW TO CARE FOR POLYESTER FABRICS: Machine wash warm or cold, tumble-dry low. If ironing is needed, iron on a low temperature. Mood strongly recommends test-laundering a swatch, if you plan to wash your garment or home furnishings yourself.


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Sunnyvale Sleep Center Location
The Sunnyvale Sleep Center is located near the junction of highways 85 and 280. It has 16 rooms, each equipped with a queen-sized bed, private bathrooms and cable television. In addition, this facility has an education room and consultation rooms. The Sunnyvale Sleep Center, is fully accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the national leader in setting standards and promoting excellence in sleep medicine.
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Editor's note: This article is the last of a three-part series adapted from the new e-book "Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs," written by CNN tech writer Mark Milian. He self-published the book on Amazon Kindle, where it has been a top 100 bestseller. This e-book is not affiliated with or endorsed by CNN.
(CNN) -- Steve Jobs often responded directly to fans and customers by e-mail, which were then posted to blogs, but a curious thing happened after the late Apple co-founder resigned in August and quieted his digital communications.
E-mails from the new CEO, Tim Cook, began landing in the inboxes of enthusiastic Apple fans and on the same blogs that followed Jobs' every word.
Cook replied to several people who sent notes of congratulations.
"Thanks Gary," he told Gary Ng, who blogs for iPhone in Canada.
"Thanks Zech," he told Zech Yohannes of Denver, Colorado.
Cook graduated from Auburn University and is known to be a fan of its sports teams. So when an apparent graduate of his alma mater sent Cook a congratulatory e-mail, he responded: "Thanks Justin. War Eagle Forever!"
Like Jobs before him, Cook has also started handling customer-relations inquiries.
One person e-mailed Cook bemoaning the loss of file-and-preference synchronization in the transition from Internet services MobileMe to iCloud. The message was forwarded to the executive relations team that Jobs regularly tapped for similar e-mails, and a representative responded by calling the sender and explaining that Apple is open to bringing those features back if the company receives enough feedback requesting them.
Boston-based blogger Ben Gold offered Cook a line of unsolicited advice when Jobs' deputy was named as Apple's chief.
"I honestly have no recollection of sending this email (to Cook). It was actually a really stupid thing for me to write," Gold wrote on his blog afterward. "I'm totally qualified to be giving advice to the new CEO of one of the largest tech companies in the world, right?"
What Gold wrote in his e-mail was this: "Don't be Steve Jobs, be Tim Cook."
To his surprise, Cook wrote back.
He replied: "Don't worry. It's the only person I know how to be."


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Greyhound's Historic Clean Diesel Bus Order Highlights EfficiencyAnd Environmental Gains In Advanced Diesel Technology
220 Clean Diesel Bus Order Is Greyhound's Largest in 20 Years
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Greyhound's announcement that it has placed orders for 220 new clean diesel, low emission buses highlights the major advancements in diesel fuel efficiency and environmental gains, according to Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum.
"Congratulations are in order for Greyhound and the two manufacturers - Motor Coach Industries and Prevost of the Volvo Group - for this major order of the newest clean diesel bus technology," Schaeffer said. "These new buses will offer the most modern and advanced clean diesel technology to Greyhound's national fleet, which is the largest provider of intercity passenger service in North America.
"Because of its safety, reliability and efficiency, diesel is the predominant power source for public transit, school and intercity bus services nationwide. It's extremely noteworthy that Greyhound Bus Line serves 3,800 destinations across the country and connects communities with a 100 percent diesel bus fleet," Schaeffer said."Diesel buses are the best source of transportation for Greyhound's expansive service area because of the efficiency and power needed to dependably and safely transport 25 million passengers throughout North America every year." Greyhound Lines Inc. officials say the order is the company's largest bus order in more than 20 years and will make their fleet "one of the youngest and most environmentally friendly in the industry." Clean Diesel Bus Technology Has Reduced Particulate Matter and NOx Emissions By 98% Diesel power systems have been undergoing revolutionary technological advancements that have already achieved dramatic reductions in emissions for urban buses and highway engines. Advances in emissions-control systems and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD) are helping clean diesel engines achieve emissions performance equivalent to compressed natural gas (CNG) and other alternatives.
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Extension > Youth Development > Training and events > Online learning > Youth Development brown bag webinar series
Youth Development brown bag webinar series
Sponsored by University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development and North Dakota State University Center for 4-H Youth Development
The University of Minnesota Extension and North Dakota State University Extension have partnered to offer the youth development brown bag webinar series since 2010. The purpose is to provide research-based information on hot topics, trends, and innovative programmatic efforts on content relevant to youth practitioners over the lunch hour (11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. CT). The free webinar format provides professional development opportunities for people who work with youth without the cost and travel usually incurred with workshops and conferences. Participants are able to ask questions and get answers in real-time, while the presenter conducts interactive discussions, questions, and polls for sharing and applying the information to participants' work.
This webinar series is free to participants, but registration is required.
Direct questions to Kari Robideau or Sharon Query
Changing Adolescent Healthy Living Behavior through Mentoring
Judith Conway & Carrie Olson, University of Minnesota Extension
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
What happens when partners come together around a vision to make a difference in the lives of young people? A program designed by staff within the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development invited Southwest Minnesota State University health sciences, the local YMCA and middle school around a program design entitled, Science and Movement (S.A.M) 4-H Club field test pilot. This research field study brought seventh grade youth and health science college students together in a ten-week after school mentoring program utilizing research associated with quality programming. The youth objectives included increase in behavior change around healthy living, awareness of post-secondary options, and community connection. For college students, the results of this research study found that utilizing mentoring as a service-learning strategy became a powerful way to give deeper meaning to a college student's educational experience. This webinar will allow you to interact and learn from other webinar participants.
Mentorship (re)explained…
Joshua Kukowski & Brian McNeil, University of Minnesota Extension
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Mentors and mentorship are hot topics! While everyone may agree that this is a fundamental reason for success for our youth, what exactly does this mean? When you dig a little deeper, things are not what they seem. We will pull apart some myths, as well as look at the latest research and best practices in an interactive and thought-provoking session that will challenge the way you think about mentoring. Participants will gain knowledge about mentorship to help strengthen current programs and/or develop a new program.
Exploring 4-H: Hands-on Science
Linda Hauge & Sharon Smith, NDSU Extension
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
It has been found that youth who participate in science activities outside the classroom are more likely to become comfortable with science. If you are looking for some fun hands-on science, engineering and technology related activities this webinar will provide you with lesson plans and resources to enhance the programming of new and experienced staff or volunteers. The webinar content is targeted for grades 2-6 but applicable/adaptable to other age groups.
View past webinars
People who have taken this course say:
"Loved the way we could interact with this webinar."