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Landing Page Optimization, Business Planning and Google's SuccessWritten by Dave Lavinsky on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Over the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time studying a field called Landing Page Optimization. It's a fascinating field that deals with improving landing pages, which are the pages of your website that visitors come to either organically or through paid marketing initiatives. The goal of Landing Page Optimization is to maximize conversions (e.g., sales, newsletter signups, etc.) of these visitors.
One of the guiding principles of landing page optimization is that landing pages need to be simple. If there is too much information on the page, the reader gets confused and either clicks the back button or closes the browser.
This principle is the same as a guiding principle of business plan development; mainly that the plan, and particularly the executive summary, needs to present the business concept concisely so that the audience quickly understands it. If not, they will simply discard the business plan.
Interestingly a concise message might not only improve your business plan and your landing page, but your entire business' success. Consider the case of Google. The Google homepage has always had very little text on it. In fact, if you go to it, it doesn't even say that it is a search engine. But, by having a big empty box in the middle and having a button underneath it that says "Google Search", it is pretty intuitive that Google is a search engine.
Now, when someone was referred for the first time to Google over the past few years and came to Google.com, what do you think they did? Well, due to its simplicity, I think we can assume that nearly all people who came to Google.com typed in a search term and hit the search button. Then, they instantly saw high quality search results and were sold on the fact that Google is a great search engine.
So, by keeping their landing page and business concept/proposition extremely simple, Google was able to get people to try its product. Because the product is high quality, those trials resulted in loyal users.
While there are many examples out there, one interesting company that I think could really improve its business plan, landing page, and thus chance of success is SpinVox. I first read about SpinVox in this Guy Kawasaki post in which he says, "This service translates voicemail to text and then sends a text message to your phone and/or an email to your computer."
While Guy Kawasaki does a great job clearly explaining
SpinVox in this 22 word sentence, I don't think SpinVox does. On its homepage, SpinVox has the following text:
To sum up, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Use simplicity to hook the investor, the customer, the partner, or whoever else you are trying to influence. Once hooked, over time (which could be as little as 2 minutes later), you can tell the full story.
Growthink Client in the News: DCIPWritten by Pete Kennedy on Sunday, March 16, 2008
Last week, several theater chains and studios announced they were
nearing an estimated $1.1 billion financing deal to upgrade cinemas to
digital technology. This investment is expected to boost attendance and
save Hollywood billions of dollars in various annual print and delivery
7 Ways To Be More Attractive To LendersWritten by Growthink on Thursday, March 13, 2008
It's always said that access to funds is the life blood of any company. Going out and securing outside financing to help grow a business is an important step in the life of an emerging organization. Keep in mind, the process of commercial borrowing is best done in preparation for needing the capital, rather than when the request is made in a dire situation. Here are some necessary tips to keep in mind when preparing to seek a loan.
The Secrets to Their Success? 25 Quotes From Famous EntrepreneursWritten by Tom Zeleznock on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
There is no simple formula for creating a successful business. Luckily, there is an easy way to improve your chances.
Ready to Create Your Empire?
The first step is to create your business plan.
Click here to download Growthink's free business plan template
Feasibility Study Lessons from Bette MidlerWritten by Jay Turo on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We speak every week to many entrepreneurs and managers of emerging and middle market businesses seeking our assistance in strategizing, drafting, and packaging business plans.
Sometimes, the client has a very clear idea of their business vision, their key value propositions to their core target customers, an understanding of the competitive landscape in which they exist, and their mission critical milestones.
More often, however, folks come to us with a great idea, a contagious enthusiasm, and a gut, intuitive "feel" that there is a real opportunity in the marketplace for their business vision.
At Growthink we naturally share this enthusiasm, passion and excitement, and are fundamentally eager to dive right into the business plan drafting and the business-building process. We pride ourselves on being entrepreneurially allied with our clients and embodying a proactive, solutions-focused approach to the challenges and heartaches inherent to the entrepreneurial process.
But almost invariably, in short order what is revealed is what Bette Midler sang about in "From a Distance" – that "the world looks blue and green, and the snow-capped mountains white…and the eagle takes to flight" – with the unsaid being that upon closer inspection there is very little that is without blemish nor complexity.
Nowhere is this truer than in a business plan. There are no perfect ideas – no "slam dunk" business models driven by such creative insight and breakthrough that the business plan development process is simply a matter of documenting it on paper for posterity's sake.
Instead, the sometimes convoluted, sometimes messy, and always challenging process of fleshing out the various multi-faceted aspects of a business – its marketplace, its competitive realities, its profit model, and its "Monday morning" action plans – is where the new business idea will face its first real viability test. It is not an undertaking for the faint of heart nor for the lazy as it is hard, time and energy-intensive work. Those, however, that get through it can take solace in that they have dramatically increased their business' likelihood of eventual success - and correspondingly - its value.
For Bette Midler, click here
Entrepreneur Quote of the Week: AOL's Steve CaseWritten by Tom Zeleznock on Friday, March 7, 2008
"I'm not sure I knew what an entrepreneur was when I was ten, but I knew that starting little businesses and trying to sell greeting cards or newspapers door-to-door or just vending machine kind of thing is… there's just something very intriguing to me about that."
-Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL
According to a 2006 study, approximately 2/3 of entrepreneurs claim it was their "innate drive" that inspired them to start their own business. In other words, they were born an entrepreneur.
Of the remaining entrepreneurs surveyed, 21% credited work experience as their motivation for taking the leap, and 16% said they were inspired by the success of others around them.
Forty-two percent of these entrepreneurs also said they started a childhood business venture, meaning that kid selling lemonade down the street might just be a future business owner.
Is a person born an entrepreneur, or is the entrepreneurial attitude created out of experience? Can it be either? Or maybe some combination of both?
Were you born an entrepreneur?
How to Find Angel Investors and VCs Online: Follow Their BlogsWritten by Pete Kennedy on Thursday, March 6, 2008
Entrepreneur.com has published an interestingarticle reporting that entrepreneurs are connecting with venturecapitalists on VCs' blogs – and some start-ups are attracting funding throughthese new online relationships. For example, Paul Edmondson contacted Will Price of Hummer Winblad via his blog, and this communicationresulted in a $2 million investment in his online publishing company, HubPages.
Here's another sign of theimportance of blogging in the venture capital world. When looking for a newanalyst, early stage VC and prolific blogger Fred Wilson specifically requested"no phone calls, no resumes, no emails" – candidates should only provide a linkto their web presence.
Social media is having – and willcontinue to have – a significant impact on the shape of venture capitaland angel investment in the months and years to come.
Are you an entrepreneur looking to find angel investors to fund your company? Learn proven strategies and tactics when you download Growthink's Step-By-Step Angel Investor Guide.
The 6 Untold Reasons Why Businesses FailWritten by Dave Lavinsky on Thursday, March 6, 2008
There have been many articles written on the subject of why businesses fail, and most of them point to the same reasons, such as:
-Inadequate funding
These reasons are widespread and no doubt cause many businesses to fail. However, the reason for a company's failure is not always something so obvious. Here are 6 lesser-known reasons why a business might fail.
Why do these reasons remain untold? Simple. Most of the time, the business owner doesn't realize that these reasons are what caused their failure, and consultants generally don't ask the kinds of questions that would identify them.
1) Focusing on Short-Term Profits Rather than Building Long-Term Value
It's important to be profitable, but NOT when short-term profits come at the expense of the long-term value of the business and the lifetime value of the customer.
Here's a real-life example: In the late 1990s, there was a franchise of a national smoothie shop located in West Los Angeles, CA. At this store, smoothies sold for about $4. They cost only around $1 to make, resulting in a solid profit. However, certain ingredients, like mangoes and berries, cost more than the other ingredients, such as juice and frozen yogurt. Since juice and frozen yogurt were cheap, the franchisee put more of these ingredients in their smoothies and less of the expensive ingredients. By doing this, their profit margin per smoothie grew by approximately 20 cents, which seemed great… on paper. Unfortunately for the store, customers weren't satisfied with the taste of the lower cost smoothies, people stopped going there, and the store eventually went out of business.
As you can see here, it's important to consider the lifetime value of a customer. Repeat business is way more valuable than short-term profits. Saving 20 cents on a smoothie today will cost you big in the long run.
(Another great example of this concept is Google giving preference to relevant ads in order to improve the user experience, even though there are less relevant advertisers willing to pay a higher price per click.)
2) Ego Business vs. Business Opportunity
The foundation of a good business is a good business opportunity. As an entrepreneur, you want to fill a need in the marketplace. Unfortunately, many businesses are started solely to fulfill an entrepreneur's ego (or, to put it less harshly, to satisfy one of the entrepreneur's interests).
This can often be seen in the restaurant & bar industry, where too many entrepreneurs open shop because it's a "cool" thing to do. Such businesses rarely succeed.
3) Life distractions
The best ideas don't always come between 9 and 5. A person might have a great idea while driving, or in the shower, or while working out. It's moments like these when an entrepreneur leaves behind the day-to-day tasks of running a business and gains a better perspective of the big picture.
Sadly, there are a lot of things that can disrupt a person's home life. Illness, death of a family member, divorce, relationship trouble, and problems with a child are just a few of the many issues that can affect a person's mindset. When things like this occur, moments of clarity are replaced by stress and anxiety.
Many entrepreneurial ventures depend heavily on new ideas and creative thinking, and when an entrepreneur's head isn't clear, business can suffer.
4) Bad feedback & white lies
People like spending time with friends and family.
Unfortunately, when it comes to business, friends and family members don't always give the best advice. This is especially true at the birth of a business. Nobody wants to be a buzz-kill. No one wants to tell an entrepreneur their idea is bad, or their location stinks, or anything else negative. Most people are conditioned to be supportive of their friends and family regardless of the situation.
Plus, nobody wants to be wrong. Imagine your friend has an idea that you think is terrible. You share your objections, but the friend goes ahead with the idea anyways, and it succeeds. Now you'll always be the naysayer that never believed in them. Nobody wants to be that person.
That's why you'll rarely get honest, objective business advice from friends or family members. And yet, oftentimes friends and family are the first people entrepreneurs turn to for advice.
5) Maybe the owner is just a jerk
There are a lot of great people in the business world, but there are also some jerks. And these jerks sometimes start their own companies.
A jerk, in this case, is someone who a lot of people can't get along with. Maybe it's because they're a super-perfectionist, or they yell a lot, or they demand that everything be done in a certain way, or they constantly complain. Or maybe they're annoying in some other way.
The key is that nobody -- not employees, customers, partners, suppliers, clients, etc. -- wants to give 100% for a jerk. Clients and customers will be turned off, and employees will start cutting corners. Most people believe that life is too short, and don't want to spend their time working with someone they can't get along with.
6) The entrepreneur never took the full leap
In most new business attempts, the entrepreneur never leaves their day job, or they create a back-up plan, or they have a job lined up in case the new business fails. In these cases, failure IS an option, as the entrepreneur has a safety net to fall back on. In cases where failure is NOT an option, and the entrepreneur depends on the new business to provide food, shelter and clothing, the business has a greater chance of succeeding.
There's a great example of this concept in this NY Times article. Xiang Yu was a third century (B.C.) General in the Chinese army. He led his troops into enemy territory by crossing the Yangtze River. Then, in order to inspire his troops, Xiang Yu took some unorthodox measures. He burned all of his troop's ships and destroyed all of their cooking materials. This left the troops with only two options: Move forward and conquer the enemy, or perish. The maneuver did not make Xiang Yu very popular with his soldiers; nevertheless, the troops advanced and ultimately emerged victorious.
Xiang Yu's methods might be a little drastic in this day and age, but the moral of the story is what's important. Author Anita Roddick has said that entrepreneurship is a matter of survival, and the truth is, if you're not totally committed to your business, your chances for success will be greatly diminished.
Related articles:
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Since 1999, Growthink's professional business plan writers have assisted more than 1,500 clients in launching and growing their businesses, and raising more than $1 billion in growth financing.
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3/4/08 Recap: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Eight Year OldsWritten by Pete Kennedy on Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Interesting news and perspectives from around the web:
Who's the Tiger Woods of Your Industry?Written by Tom Zeleznock on Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Tiger Woods is arguably the most skilled golfer to ever live. However, his physical abilities alone are not what make him great.
Nike -- one of the companies that sponsor Woods -- once sent Tiger five brand new drivers. The company asked Tiger to test out the drivers and give his feedback.
After practicing with each of the clubs, Woods told Nike that he liked "the heaviest one." The news came as a shock to Nike. Why? Because all of the clubs weighed exactly the same.
Nike had a team of engineers and the best equipment in the
world. What they needed was Tiger Woods'
intuition. Tiger Woods understands golf
as well as anyone on the planet, so his intuition is an invaluable resource to
The lesson here is that every field has its own Tiger Woods, and when that person shares their insight, well, you might want to listen.
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Cooking and Baking
Food Ennui: What to do with leftover Pernil?
Lately I've just not been that hungry or food inspired. A couple days ago I roasted a 6lb pork shoulder. We (two people) ate a good amount of it the first night, but now I have pounds of juicy, falling-off-the-bone roast pork just sitting in my fridge with no plans for consumption.
Talk is closed, but that doesn't mean the conversations have to stop!
Check out this post for a more thorough explanation, and jump onto our Facebook page or our Twitter feed to keep the conversations going!

subset: commoncrawl


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Whistleblower Fraud Case Leads Professor to File a Supreme Court BriefFebruary 05, 2008
In a current whistleblower fraud case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Professor Joel D. Hesch of Liberty University School of Law filed a brief proposing a new standard for the courts to follow when interpreting the fraud statute.
The Supreme Court is examining the issue of whether a whistleblower is entitled to a reward for reporting fraud by Allicon Engine Company, which is a subcontractor helping to build a Navy ship costing $1 billion. The whistleblower argued that the company supplied defective engine components. The subcontractor convinced the district court to dismiss the case on a technical ground that the wording of the fraud statute does not extend to subcontractors who commit fraud under government contracts. At issue was whether the False Claims Act contains a requirement that the invoice actually be submitted to the government. In order to dismiss the case, the district court had to read words into the statute to reach a decision that subcontractors are exempt from the fraud statute.
Professor Hesch's brief, filed on January 22, points out that the parties have not correctly framed the issue, and that the Court is needlessly being asked to read words into the anti-fraud statute. He also pointed out that virtually every court that had addressed the situation had previously held that subcontractors are covered by the anti-fraud statute. He formulated a three-part test for the courts to use when interpreting the False Claims Act. Under his test, the Court would not need to reword the statute to reach the correct result.
The False Claims Act is the nation's primary tool for fighting fraud. In addition to requiring a wrongdoer to repay triple the amount of their fraud, it allows whistleblowers to receive rewards between 15 and 25 percent of any recovery based upon their allegations of fraud against the government.
Before coming to Liberty, Professor Hesch served over fifteen years as a trial attorney with the Civil Fraud Section of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. That office has nationwide responsibility for litigating significant fraud and False Claims Act cases. It was there that Professor Hesch led numerous fraud investigations affecting more than 20 different federal agencies. The cases he worked on recovered more than $1 billion from companies that cheated under federal contracts and programs. One of the fraud cases he worked on went before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, in the case named Rockwell v. United States. Professor Hesch wrote a scholarly law review article in that case providing guidance to the courts in interpreting whether whistleblowers are entitled to rewards when newspapers had previously printed stories about the fraud. His article was cited five times in a brief before the Supreme Court.
Oral arguments are scheduled for February 26, 2008, and a decision by the Supreme Court is expected to be issued in the spring of 2008.
Please see Professor Hesch's brief (PDF).


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A method and apparatus for combining video frame sequences with a video display of an interactive program guide (IPG). The apparatus comprises a plurality of compositors that combine background information, video frame sequences and program guide graphics into a single video frame sequence. The sequence is then digitally encoded to form an MPEG-like bitstream. The same background information and informational video is composited with a different program guide graphic to form another video sequence that is also encoded. A plurality of such sequences are produced with each sequence having a different program guide graphic. Each sequence is encoded and then multiplexed into a transport stream such that all the encoded sequences are transmitted to a subscriber's terminal using a single transport stream. As such, the subscriber can transition from one program guide to the next without interruption of the background or video display as the program guide graphic is changed.
1. A method of producing an encoded user interface comprising:
producing a video frame sequence representing an interactive program guide by combining, in a frame synchronized manner, background imagery with at least one video sequence and at least one graphic containing program guide information to form said video frame sequence;
encoding said video frame sequence within a head end of an information distribution system distribution system;
wherein the combining step further comprises:
compositing, frame-by-frame, at least one video sequence onto said background imagery to form a background sequence; and
compositing a plurality of program guide graphics onto said background sequence, where a different program guide graphic is composited onto said background sequence to form a plurality of program guide frame sequences that represent individual program guide pages.
2. The method of
encoding the video frame sequence to compress information therein to form a digital bitstream.
3. The method of
separately encoding each of said program guide frame sequences to form a digital bitstream for each of the program guide frame sequences.
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
encoding an audio signal associated with one of the video sequences; and
multiplexing the encoded audio signal into the common transport stream.
7. The method of
multiplexing foreground program guide data into said common transport stream.
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
11. The method of
12. The method of
13. A method of producing an encoded user interface, said encoded user interface comprising a plurality of bitstreams representing respective interactive program guide (IPG) pages and forming thereby a sequence of IPG pages, said method comprising:
combining, in a frame synchronized manner, background imagery with each of a plurality of video sequences to form a plurality of IPG video portions;
overlaying a plurality of respective graphic images containing program guide information over respective ones of each of said plurality of IPG video portions to form a plurality of IPG page portions, each of said plurality of IPG page portions comprising a respective common video portion and a plurality of programming information portions, and wherein a plurality of IPG page sequences comprises common programming information portions and differing video portions per IPG page sequence;
encoding each sequence of IPG pages within a head-end of an information distribution system to form said plurality of bitstreams;
providing a unique packet identifier (PID) for each IPG page; providing an indicator in each bitstream where said video component may be switched from one PID to another PID; and
multiplexing said plurality of bitstreams in a common transport stream to subscriber equipment.
14. The method of
15. The method of
16. The method of
identifying a longest IPG page;
inserting null packets into other IPG pages such that all of said IPG pages are equal in length; and
adding switching packets at an end of said IPG sequence after said null packets.
17. The method of
buffering all packets for all IPG pages of each sequence of IPG pages prior to forming said transport stream;
ordering packets of said IPG pages in said transport stream, wherein said finishing at a common point; and
adding switching packets at an end of each sequence of IPG pages.
18. The method of
starting each IPG page sequence together;
waiting until all packets for all of said IPG pages are generated; and
inserting switching packets in said bitstreams at a common interval and location in said bitstreams.
This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/093,891 filed Jul. 23, 1998 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. This application is also a continuation-in-part of commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/293,526 filed Apr. 15, 1999 and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/201,528 filed Nov. 30, 1998, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic program guides and, more particularly, the invention relates to a technique for encoding a user interface of an information distribution system.
2. Description of the Background Art
In several communications systems, the data to be transmitted is compressed so that the available transmission bandwidth is used more efficiently. For example, the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) has promulgated several standards relating to digital data delivery systems. The first, known as MPEG-1 refers to ISO/IEC standards 11172 and is incorporated herein by reference. The second, known as MPEG-2, refers to ISO/IEC standards 13818 and is also incorporated herein by reference. A compressed digital video system is described in the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital television standard document A/53, and is incorporated herein by reference.
The above-referenced standards describe data processing and manipulation techniques that are well suited to the compression and delivery of video, audio and other information using fixed or variable rate digital communications systems. In particular, the above-referenced standards, and other "MPEG-like" standards and techniques, compress, illustratively, video information using intra-frame coding techniques (such as run-length coding, Huffman coding and the like) and inter-frame coding techniques (such as forward and backward predictive coding, motion compensation and the like). Specifically, in the case of video processing systems, MPEG and MPEG-like video processing systems are characterized by prediction-based compression encoding of video frames with or without intra- and/or inter-frame motion compensation encoding.
Over the past few years, television has seen a transformation in a variety of means by which its programming is distributed to consumers. Cable television systems are doubling or even tripling system bandwidth with the migration to hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable plant thereby offering a larger number of channels to the viewer. Customers unsatisfied with their local cable systems have switched in high numbers to direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems. And, a variety of other approaches have been attempted focusing primarily on high bandwidth digital technologies, intelligent two way set top boxes, or other methods of trying to offer service differentiated from standard cable and over the air broadcast systems.
With this increase in bandwidth, the number of programming choices has also increased. Leveraging off the availability of more intelligent set top boxes, several companies such as Starsight and Prevue Guide have developed elaborate systems for providing an interactive listing of a vast array of channel offerings, expanded textual information about individual programs, the ability to look forward to plan television viewing as much as several weeks in advance, and the option of automatically programming a VCR to record a future broadcast of a television program.
Unfortunately, the existing program guides have several drawbacks. They tend to require a lot of memory, some of them needing upwards of one megabyte of set top terminal (STT) memory. They are very slow to acquire their current database when they are activated for the first time or are subsequently restarted (e.g., a large database may be downloaded to a STT using only a vertical blanking interval (VBI) data insertion technique). Disadvantageously, such slow database acquisition may result in out of date database information or, in the case of a pay per view (PPV) or video-on-demand (VOD) system, limited scheduling flexibility for the information provider. The user interface to existing program guides does not usually look like a typical television control interface; rather looks like a 1980's style computer display (i.e., blocky, ill-formed text and/or graphics).
Additionally, the present program guides may provide an advertising or preview region along with the program guide graphics. However, the insertion of these additional video signals is performed using an analog compositor that merely inserts (overlays) the additional imagery into the broadcast stream. The analog compositing process is accomplished and then the new analog video containing an advertisement or preview and the program guide are recorded on tape for subsequent broadcast. This compositing process is not accomplished in real time at the head end of the cable system and, consequently, the program guide can not contain targeted advertising for a particular household or a particular neighborhood or region. The program guide with its associated preview or advertising is broadcast to all subscribers connected to the head end of the cable system. Additionally, these program guides are generally passive, in that, the viewer sees the program guide information change on the screen to indicate different programs and their associated channels. However, there is no provision enabling a viewer to interact with the program guide display to scroll through the channel or channels that are available. Because such scrolling in an analog system requires a splice to a new program guide video sequence, the program guides that are interactive do not include advertising video or other video information with the program guide.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for encoding an interactive program guide.
The disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome by the present invention of a method and apparatus for encoding user interface of an information distribution system. One embodiment of such user interface is an interactive program guide (IPG) that forms an IPG screen or page containing a graphical guide region and a video region playing at least one video sequence. The invention is a method and apparatus for performing ensemble encoding of one or more IPG pages. The invention comprises a plurality of compositors that combine background information, informational video and program guide graphics into a single sequence of video frames. The sequence is then digitally encoded to form an MPEG-like bitstream. The same background information and informational video is composited with a different program guide graphic to form another video sequence that is also encoded. A plurality of such bitstreams are produced with each sequence containing a different program guide graphic. The encoding is performed using a common coding profile and a common clock for each of the encoders. The encoded sequences are then multiplexed into at least one transport stream such that all the encoded sequences are transmitted to subscriber equipment using one or more transport streams. As such, the subscriber can transition from one program guide page to the next without interruption of the background or informational video as the program guide page graphic is changed.
The informational video may appear in multiple locations upon the IPG screen. Promotional or advertising video may appear in one portion while an animated graphic appears in another location. Each of the informational video streams may have a different rate of display. The encoders handle different video rates by using slice based encoding of the composite image sequence.
One example of a program guide that is encoded in accordance with the invention has each graphic containing a set of programs (e.g., channels) listed along a left, vertical axis and each program associated with the channel is identified in a rectangular cell that extends toward the right. The horizontal axis represents time and about 1.5 hour of programming for ten channels is shown in each program guide graphic page. The informational video is generally contained in one or more regions above the program graphic.
In another example of a program guide that is encoded in accordance with the invention has each graphic containing a set of programs (e.g., channels) listed along a left, vertical axis and each program associated with the channel is identified in a cell that is listed beneath a time axis. The horizontal axis represents time and about 1.5 hours of programming for eight channels is shown in each program guide graphic page. Each channel is associated with text that represents three programming slots, one for each half hour in the time axis. The informational video is generally contained in one or more regions next to the program graphic, i.e., a guide region is on the left half of the screen and the video region is on the right half of the screen or vice versa.
The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.
In general, the SPE 102 produces a plurality of digital bitstreams that contain encoded information (e.g., television programming in an MPEG-like compressed form). These bitstreams are modulated using a modulation format that is compatible with the distribution network 104. The subscriber equipment 106, at each subscriber location 106 1, 106 2, . . . , 106 n, comprises a demodulator/decoder 124 and a display 126. Upon receiving a bitstream, the subscriber equipment decoder 124 extracts the information from the received signal and decodes the stream to produce the information on the display, i.e., produce a television program or program guide page.
In an interactive information distribution system such as the one described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,375, issued Jun. 26, 2001, the program bitstreams are addressed to particular subscriber equipment locations that requested the information through an interactive menu. An appropriate interactive menu structure for requesting video on demand is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,335, issued Mar. 27, 2001.
To assist a subscriber (or other viewer) in selecting programming, the SPE 102 produces a interactive program guide (IPG) in accordance with the present invention. The IPG of the present invention contains program information, e.g., title, time, channel, program duration and the like, as well at least one region displaying full motion video, i.e., a television advertisement or promotion. Such informational video is provided in various locations within the program guide screen.
Returning to
As the video is recalled from device 108, each video sequence is coupled to the IPG generator 116. As such, three video streams and one audio stream (e.g., an audio stream associated with one of the advertisements) are provided to the IPG generator 116. Additionally, a background image is recalled from the storage device 118 under instructions from the controller 114. The background image is generally a static graphic, but it may be a video frame sequence containing moving imagery. Lastly, the IPG grid generator 120 provides a program guide graphic to the IPG generator 116. The IPG data for the graphic can be provided from any one of a number of sources such as a network cable feed, an internet site, a satellite feed, and the like. The guide program data is formatted, for example, into the rectangular grid graphic of program cells (screen 500 of
The IPG generator 116 performs ensemble encoding by combining the three video sequences, the background and the guide graphics into a comprehensive IPG display such as the one depicted as IPG page 500 in
The subscriber equipment 106 contains a demodulator/decoder 124 and a display 126 (e.g., a television). The demodulator/decoder 124 demodulates the signals carried by the distribution network 104 and decodes the demodulated signals to extract the IPG pages from the bitstream. As shall be described below, each of the IPG pages is identified with a unique program identification code (known as a PID) that is used by the demodulator/decoder 124 to select a bitstream for decoding. The decoded IPG page is displayed, as shown in
The composite image (e.g., three, full motion video frame sequences positioned upon a background image, the background/informational video) is coupled to a plurality of IPG grid compositors 202 1, 202 2, 202 3, . . . , 202 15 (collectively referred to as compositors 202). The compositors 202 combine the respective IPG graphics with the background/informational video combination to produce a plurality of video frame sequences containing a composite of the background, the informational video, and the IPG graphics. There is one frame sequence for each IPG graphic, e.g., fifteen sequences in all. As discussed previously, the IPG graphic is produced by the IPG grid generator 120. The IPG grid generator 120 actually produces two items, one is the IPG grid background image (the IPG grid graphic discussed above and shown as graphic 510 in
Each of the frame sequences (IPG screen sequences V1, V2, V3, . . . , V15) are coupled from the compositors 202 to the plurality of video encoders, e.g., real time MPEG-2 encoders 204 1, 204 2, 204 3, . . . 204 n (collectively encoders 204). Each encoder 204 encodes an IPG screen sequence to form a compressed video bitstream, e.g., an MPEG-2 compliant bitstream. The encoders use a common encoding profile and common clock supplied by the encoding profile and clock generator 250. As such, each sequence of IPG frames are synchronously encoded in the same manner.
The IPG grid foreground overlay graphics data is also coupled to the multiplexer 206 from the IPG grid generator 120. This graphics data is generally sent as "user data" or "private data" within the transport stream. Further discussion of the graphics data is provided below.
If the informational video in each IPG page have differing amounts of motion, the encoders can encode the video in a slice-based manner. As such, each frame is divided into a plurality of horizontal stripes of macroblocks. Each frame contains stripe start and stop identifiers. The information (pixels and/or macroblocks) between the start and stop indentifiers can be encoded in a different manner than other portions of a given stripe. Consequently, a two dimensional region comprising portions of adjacent stripes can be encoded differently from other portions of the frame. The encoded information from the two dimensional region forms a bitstream that is identified by its own program identifier. At the subscriber equipment, the demodulator/decoder decodes the information in each slice, then reassembles the frame by placing the decoded slices into appropriate locations as identified by the slice start/stop identifiers. The two dimensional regions can be specified to align with the informational video such that the regions can contain video having different motion, i.e., fast versus slow motion. Consequently, one region could contain a slow moving animated character while another region could contain a fast moving sporting event promotion and both regions would be coded and decoded accurately.
All the compressed video streams (E1, E2, E3, . . . , E15) containing program guide information are multiplexed into a transport stream using multiplexer 206. These compressed video streams may contain the stripe-based encoded streams as well. In addition to the video information, audio information associated with one of the informational videos is also encoded and supplied to the multiplexer 206. The audio signal is delayed in audio delay 208, then encoded in the audio encoder 210. The delay compensates for the time required to perform video encoding of the associated video vis-a-vis the audio encoding. The compressed audio data is coupled to the multiplexer 206 for incorporation into the transport stream.
A transport stream, as defined in ISO standard 13818-1 (commonly known as the MPEG-2 Systems specification), is a sequence of equal sized packets, each 188 bytes in length. Each packet has a 4-byte header and 184 bytes of data. The header contains a number of fields, including packet identification number (PID). The PID field contains 13 bits and uniquely identifies each packet that contains a portion of a "stream" of video information as well as audio information and data. As such, to decode a particular video bitstream (or audio bitstream or data) for viewing, the decoder in the subscriber equipment extracts packets containing a particular PID and decodes those packets to create the video (and audio) for viewing.
Each of the fifteen bitstreams representing the IPG page sequences within a particular transport stream are uniquely identified by a PID. In the preferred embodiment, fifteen PID's are multiplexed into a single transport stream. Certainly, less of more IPG bitstreams can be included in a transport stream as bandwidth permits. Additionally, more than one transport stream can be used to transmit the IPG bitstreams. For example, additional IPG pages may be encoded that represent additional time within a day or additional channels. The bitstreams representing the additional IPG pages are transmitted in additional transport streams. As such, many IPG pages representing 24 hours of programming on hundreds of channels can be broadcast to the subscriber equipment for selective display to a viewer.
An exemplary transport stream consists of N programs multiplexed together into one transport stream. Each program has it's own video PID, which contains all the MPEG bits for a single guide page. All the programs share the same audio and PCR.
To change pages in the guide, it is required to switch between programs (video PIDs) in a seamless manner. This cannot be done cleanly using a standard channel change by the STT switching from PID to PID directly, because such an operation flushes the video and audio buffers and typically gives half a second blank screen.
To have seamless decoder switching, a splice countdown (or random access indicator) method is employed at the end of each video sequence to indicate the point at which the video should be switched from one PID to another.
Using the same profile and constant bit rate coding for each encoding unit, the generated streams for different IPG pages are formed in a similar length compared to each other. This is due to the fact that the source material is almost identical differing only in the characters in the guide from one page to another. In this way, while streams are generated in close lengths, they are not exactly the same lengths. For example, for any given sequence of 15 video frames, the number of transport packets in the sequence varies from one guide page to another. Thus a finer adjustment is required to synchronize the beginnings and ends of each sequence across all guide pages in order for the countdown switching to work.
The invention provides the act of synchronization of a plurality of streams that provides seamless switching at the STT.
Three methods are provided for that purpose:
First, for each sequence you can count the longest guide page for that particular sequence, and then add sufficient null packets to the end of each other guide page so that all the guide pages become the same lengths. Then add the switching packets at the end of the sequence, after all the null packets.
The second method requires buffering of all the packets for all guide pages for each sequence. If this is allowed in the considered system, then the packets can be ordered in the transport stream such that the packets for each guide page appear at slightly higher or lower frequencies, so that they all finish at the same point. Then the switching packets are added at the end of each stream without the null padding.
A third method is to start each sequence together, and then wait until all the packets for all the guide pages have been generated. Once the generation of all packets is completed, switching packets are placed in the streams at the same time and point in each stream.
Depending on the implementation of STT decoder units and requirements of the considered application, each one of the methods can be applied with advantages. For example, the first method, which is null-padding, can be applied to avoid bursts of N packets of the same PID into a decoder's video buffer faster than the MPEG specified rate (e.g., 1.5 Mbit).
The same principles of splicing and synchronization techniques are applicable to a plurality of different transport stream forms, including recombinant stream.
The teachings of the above three methods can be extended apply to similar synchronization problems and to rive similar methods.
Returning to
The subscriber equipment 106 is connected to the network 104 and receives the transport stream from the network 104. A demodulator/decoder 124 in each of the terminals extracts the transport stream from the modulation, demultiplexes the bitstreams within the transport stream, and decodes a selected program guide video sequence. Since the program guide bitstreams are contained in the transport stream, the terminal selects a particular program guide using its unique packet identifier (PID) that causes a video demodulator/decoder 124 to decode the program guide bitstream identified by that PID (or PIDs in the case of slice based encoding). When the user selects another program guide, another stream is decoded based upon the newly selected PID or PIDs. By transmitting many program guide streams in a common transport stream and by frame locking the program guide source, encoding and decoding processes, the latency experienced as a subscriber selects one guide page after another is undetectable. Also, because the informational video is the same and frame synchronized in each program guide bitstream with the only difference being a different guide graphic, the subscriber sees a transition in the guide graphic, but the informational audio and video is seamlessly presented to the viewer.
More specifically, the background imagery vs1 and the first informational video vs2 are coupled to the serial-to-parallel converter module 300. The frames of each of these video signals are then coupled to the compositor 302. In operation, the compositor 302 synchronizes the frames, resizes the informational video to fit into a predefined rectangular region, positions the rectangular region on the background and merges the two video frame sequences. The controller 114 of
The composited video sequence containing the background and first informational video is then coupled to the second compositor 306 such that the second informational video is composited onto the background and first video. The third compositor 308 performs a similar function to produce a frame sequence having the background and three informational video sequences composited into a single sequence. The size and position of the informational video display regions is controlled by signals from the controller via the PCI bus 312. The output sequence from the third compositor 308 is optionally coupled to the parallel-to-serial converter module 310 to produce a serial bitstream. Generally, the parallel data is coupled directly to the IPG grid compositors (202 in
Each of the IPG graphics, e.g., fifteen, are separately composited in this manner with the background and the advertising. As such, fifteen separate bitstreams, one contains each IPG graphic, are encoded and arranged in the transport stream.
When the subscriber reaches the bottom of the IPG graphic, i.e., the last cell or a special icon (arrow), a different PID is selected for decoding, i.e., the PID for the next IPG page containing channels 11 through 20. The decoder begins decoding the next stream as soon as it is selected. The connection between IPG pages is a functional attribute that is generally transmitted to the subscriber equipment as user data within the transport stream. Since the background and the informational video were synchronously added to the video sequence that become the IPG pages, the informational video seamlessly transitions from one screen to another without any visible anomalies. The IPG graphic is the only portion that changes from 510 1 to 510 2. The process of transitioning from one IPG page to another can be accomplished by incrementing or decrementing through the IPG pages. Additionally, parallel pages may be available to display additional time slots. As such, IPG pages representing programming in other time periods could be accessed by, for example, left and right arrows. These parallel pages may be carried in additional transport streams or in the same transport stream.
A second illustrative IPG page layout 600 is shown in
Although the foregoing description illustratively disclosed encoding an IPG page, the invention finds use in encoding any form of mixed graphical and video information screens. For example, the invention can be used to encode a HTML web page in the graphics region and a related television program in the video region. Alternatively, the informational video can be a television program that is displayed within a program guide while a viewer reviews the schedule information. Selecting the video region would enlarge the video to the entire screen, while selecting a program title in the program guide may initiate a preview video to play in second video window. As such, the invention should be interpreted as encompassing any combination of video and graphics that is encoded as a digital bit stream and broadcast from a head end of an information distribution system.
Although various embodiments which incorporate the teachings of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.
Patent Citations
Referenced by
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I regret that I have to depart momentarily. Since there were so many comments that were made that supported or supplemented much of what I had to say, I really don't have much to say.
But let me say that I regret having overlooked George Robertson. He was not named, but is not unknown. He certainly is not unknown to me. We have become very close friends. After you heard his presentation, you can understand why he will continue to be a real rising star throughout Europe in terms of his influence. I must tell you a story about George Robertson--how he caught my attention, because it touches upon something that Senator Kyl said a while ago about questions raised as to whether the United States is behaving like an imperial bully. When I attended a NATO conference recently and at a Partnership for Peace luncheon, I was trying to understand the sometimes schizophrenic attitudes on the part our European friends: On the one hand, I have been reading stories about "America the powerful, America the bully, America the pushy," always trying to throw its weight around. I said "Okay, I can understand how that can be the perception." When we say: Look, why don't you just handle the problem?--namely Bosnia. "Oh no, no, you can't leave, that would be an abdication of your responsibility."
I was trying to articulate the frustration that some of us sometimes feel in terns of the commentary that we read from time to time about our European friends and others talking about us being bullies and perhaps being too self-inflated.
Then George Robertson said in his inimitable brogue, "Bill, you don't understand," he said, "if you can't ride two horses at once, what the hell are you doing in the circus in the first place?"
That really sort of summed it up nicely, I thought. But he really did sum up the dilemma that we face from time to time. Senator Kyl has said that we do not purport to be, do not intend to be in any way an imperial bully. We recognize that we have global responsibilities and we recognize also that many countries ask us to perform this role. We are focused upon Europe at the moment.
There are other things taking place in Asia in which Europeans have a vast interest, Germany in particular, perhaps other countries; the French, the British and others, the Italians. All those have a stake in what's taking place in Asia as well.
I recently completed a twelve-day trip to Asia and what I found was the countries there are beckoning the United States. They welcome us. When I was in Singapore, for example, the Singaporans arc building a new pier that will be completed in 1999. They announced during my visit that they want American aircraft carriers to pay visits to Singapore. They are welcome in Singapore.
We signed a new agreement dealing with the training of our forces when they visit the Philippines. When I went to China, we had a very productive relationship in terms of my being the first American to have paid a visit to their air command control center, to sign a safety agreement with the Chinese government to be able to address the PLA's Academy of Sciences.
It was a unique experience for an American Secretary of Defense to have that opportunity to lay out our strategy for our presence in the region, the U.S. Defense guidelines. our commitment to South Korea and how we believe that we provide a stabilizing influence for the entire region.
As I mentioned last night, when you have stability, you have at least the opportunity to enjoy prosperity because investment flows. Business tends to follow the flag--when they find a secure environment they will invest, when you have investment, you have an opportunity to promote the prosperity of all the people in the region in which you can share. So we think that our presence is welcomed by many.
We do not seek to impose our presence on any, and if the day should come when a country asks us to leave, we leave, so we are not trying to occupy any territory. I mention this because there is some notion that, once again, America is trying to dominate.
With respect to the NATO enlargement, I want to reassure our Russian friends who are here from the DUMA, that this is not the case. I have taken occasion to meet with the former Minister of Defense Rodianov. I invited him into our talk with the Joint Chiefs of Staff where they meet on a daily basis, to receive briefings, to ask questions. Mr. Primakov has been there as well. I will be meeting shortly with Minister Sergeyev in Moscow--all in an effort to really establish the kind of personal relationships that many of us have here.
I mention this because I go back to 1984. 1984 was an important year. It was Orwell's year, as you may recall. It seemed appropriate that I would help to fashion an oxymoronic phrase known as the "nuclear build-down." I went off to Moscow to visit with the Academy of Sciences to explain this concept of how we could modernize our nuclear forces while reducing the overall limits as well as getting tile numbers down while still providing for a stable and mobile nuclear arsenal. I was singularly unpersuasive. I did not persuade anyone at the time that this was a concept that should be endorsed or embraced, but as an incident to my going to meet with various then Soviet officials, I went out to meet with two poets and this experience stayed with me.
I met with Yevtushenkov and Voznesiensky. Both of them have become good friends--each has played an important role in my life, certainly. Voznesiensky came to visit me shortly after I met him in Moscow, outside of Moscow. He came one day, it was in 1985, and he walked into my office and said he wanted a copy of "the book." I said, modestly, "which book of mine?"
He said, "You know, the spy book." It was a novel that I had co-authored with Senator Hart.
I said, "There's no sense in taking this book, you won't be allowed to take it back into the Soviet Union because the KGB has captured and kidnapped an American senator and taken him off to Moscow. It will never sell in Moscow, so don't even bother." But he said, "I want something else, I want the chance to meet President Reagan --just give me five minutes with President Reagan."
I said, "I can't get five minutes with President Reagan, but I'll see what I can do." So I called the White House. I said I have an important friend--poets enjoy a unique position in Russia--I think they still do. They command great audiences and the people look to them for their insights and wisdom and courage over the years. I was able to arrange a meeting between Voznesiensky and President Reagan. It was very quiet, very private and he made a direct appeal to the President. He said it's important that we start sharing our writers, our artists, our musicians and our people so that you will have a better understanding of who we are.
President Reagan picked up on it immediately and said "You're right!" He started an exchange program which I think has benefited both of our countries. From that one meeting, it was the beginning of a new opening that was brought to bear by this individual. I have not forgotten that experience.
The other experience I had in Moscow at that time was a meeting with Yevtushenkov. We spent the afternoon reading each other's lines and some of his novels. At the very end, when I was leaving, he said, "You and I must stay in contact, otherwise we will forget each other's faces."
It was a very simple way of him saying that when we don't maintain this kind of contact, when we don't have the opportunity to either befriend one another or confront one another across the table, then it becomes easy to demonize the other in a time of stress. That really is the value of this conference.
The fact that we can have so many different opinions, that we can have the Chancellor and the SPD, that we can have members from the DUMA and from other countries come to this conference to express their opinions and challenge us in terms of our ideas and to probe, to find out whether there is an intellectual basis for it. That is the essence of how we can continue to make history in the most positive sense. We should not have to live to tell those who follow behind us that, in Eliot's words, we have a sudden illumination, that we have the experience but we missed the meaning. All of us who have the experience during the past decades of what it means to pursue a path of peace and how that can be achieved and we should not leave it to chance or to any neglect, that we have done our very best to measure up to our responsibilities.
So I take this opportunity to say, it's a pleasure for me to be here, to be a part of Herr von Kleist's final chairing of this conference. I look forward to his successor following in very large footsteps.
Perhaps I can refer to one final poet: W. H. Auden. He said that history is a great tide that never sleeps or rests and, held one moment, burns the hand. I think we should always keep that in mind as we look back upon what the 20th century has meant and what we hope the 2lst century will mean. That we can, in fact, not simply have a repetition of what has taken place in the past; that the past not necessarily be only prologue, that we learn from our mistakes and really commit ourselves to a much better future.
Thank you very much.


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This morning I attended an energy confab in Washington, D.C. where Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from
Wyoming, gave this dismissive assessment of renewable energy as part of our power mix compared to coal and natural gas. "Wind and solar are just a supplement," he said. "It's Hamburger Helper — you add it to what's already there."
Not a surprising opinion to hear from a senator who represents one of America's biggest coal-producing states and who has wrestled with the Environmental Protection Agency over coal exports and the CIA over research into climate change. Nonetheless, I got to wondering how apt the senator's analogy is.
Hamburger Helper, for those who haven't resorted to a box in a hurry, is a mixture of pasta and spices that one adds to ground beef (or tuna, or chicken) to make a meal. A serving of Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper, to take one oozy example, adds 110 calories to a 310-calorie serving of the final product. About 35 percent.
We would be living in a far less dangerous world today, in respect to climate change, if a Hamburger Helper-size portion of America's electricity came from renewable, low-carbon sources like wind, solar and hydro power. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that in 2011, all renewables accounted for 167 of 1,049 gigawatts of electricity demand, or 15 percent. Worldwide, the percentage is higher, 22 percent in 2012, according to Bloomberg Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In other words, today's "meal" of energy is heavy on the meat but low on the starch and spice that makes it palatable.
By 2030, Bloomberg projects that renewables will represent 37 percent of the world's energy mix. So Senator Barrasso is, depressingly enough, overly generous when he compares renewable energy to Hamburger Helper. We may not reach that point for another 17 years or so.
Interesting sidenote: On Monday, General Mills General Mills, creator of Hamburger Helper, announced that it was dropping the word "Hamburger" from the forty-year-old brand. General Mills made the change in response to the changing tastes of Americans, who no longer have the fond association with hamburger than they did decades ago. Now we eat a lot more chicken.
I imagine that 17 years from now we will be having a similar rebranding around fossil vs. renewable energy. Low-carbon energy is more like chicken — a healthier alternative that is on a slow but inexorable march, one that will become ever more of a Helper as time goes on.


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With former staffers for her presidential campaign making very public allegations of misconduct stemming from last year's presidential run, Michele Bachmann now finds herself the target of an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics (there's an ironic name). The Daily Beast reports:
The Daily Beast has learned that federal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee.
"I have been interviewed by investigators," says Peter Waldron, a former Bachmann staffer who's embroiled in his own fight with his former boss, involving his allegations of pay-to-play politics and improper payments by the campaign—making him one of several members of Bachmann's inner circle who've fallen out with the woman they once hoped would become commander in chief. While he was careful to avoid specifics in regard to the investigating body, Waldron said that "investigators came [and] interviewed me and are interviewing other staff members across the country."
Two other former staffers confirmed the existence of the investigation this weekend, and on Monday Bachmann's campaign counsel, William McGinley, of the high-powered firm Patton Boggs, confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was looking into the congresswoman's presidential campaign last year…
Former staffers tell The Daily Beast that investigators have allegedly asked about allegations of improper transfer of funds and under-the-table payments actions by Bachmann's presidential campaign, specifically in relation to the campaign's national political director, Guy Short, and Bachmann's onetime Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson. Questions directly about Bachmann, they said, have been primarily focused on what she knew about those men's actions and when she knew it.
I wouldn't expect much to come of this. The House Ethics Committee is notorious for doing very little to actually promote ethical behavior by legislators. The most she'll get is a slap on the wrist from them. But if these allegations are supported, an FEC investigation might have a bit more teeth. Either way, it's another blow to Bachmann's public standing.


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Our Mission:
Our Mission is to provide our customers with high quality dedicated contract carriage.
Our Philosophy:
Safety & Respect for our employees and customers will always remain our primary focus in all the policies, procedures and programs that govern our business.
Our Solutions:
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In order to better manage our drivers and equipment and provide unparalleled responsiveness to our customers, Mo Vaughn Transport has equipped each of our vehicles with on-board computers with in-cab GPS systems. This allows our on-site management to send daily route plans and instructions directly to the trucks, verify the exact location of each vehicle at all times, and enable our drivers to directly update our order management system with pertinent shipment details.
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Student Privacy 101: Why school directory information sharing is a major edu privacy issue
One privacy problem in FERPA today is the ease of acquiring students' sensitive educational records by third parties. Under FERPA as it is now, Directory Information about students is allowed to be shared with third parties without parental or student consent. In order to stop the sharing of directory information, parents of students younger than 18 must take affirmative steps to opt their children out of directory information sharing. Students 18 and older must take steps to opt themselves out. FERPA Directory Information rules apply at the college and post-graduate level, too. Currently, FERPA opt out is mired in an outdated approach that needs to be updated and reformed from top to bottom.


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- The braided handle and tassel accents show off your personal style, while the interior caters to all your little one's need.
- It features multiple pockets for diapers, wipes, toys and more.
- It also has detachable stroller straps to hang it from your stroller, shoulder straps for hands-free use, removable changing pad and faux-leather finish with metallic hardware.
- 1-year warranty.
- Imported.


text:
Generally soft market conditions within the insurance industry enable you to find the cheapest auto insurance by comparing providers online.
insurance, industry, competition, premiums, cheap, cheapest, auto, automobile
Finding cheaper car insurance rates can save your family hundreds of dollars per year.
Finding the cheapest auto insurance allows you to save money while still providing excellent protection standards for your financial safety.
Savvy investors understand that the thinned competition throughout the insurance industry has caused premium rates to drop so low that they have nowhere else to go but up. Leading CEOs from major corporations agree that market conditions for insurance-based investments are better than they have been in at least 4 decades.
You see, especially in the insurance industry, premium rates that continue to drop cause a surplus of demand – and simultaneously create a deficit of supply. Consider the following:


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Call it the "oh-no second." You know--the interval between clicking the Send button on a private e-mail and realizing you just cc'd the entire universe.
But it's not just e-mail. Thanks to the ease, speed, and reach of technology, we now have the potential to be bigger doofuses in front of more people than at any other time in history.
For example, nothing says "I am a professional" more than intimate messages from loved ones popping up on screen during a presentation to the board. Then there are the pricey pocket-size gadgets that always seem to wind up in the swimming pool, the washing machine, or worse. Don't forget about social networks that allow you to get up close and personal with the mucous membranes of complete strangers. And if you're wearing a wireless microphone while you read this, turn it off now. You'll thank us later.
Here's a comforting thought: Whatever mortifying things you've done, somebody else has probably done worse. In fact, following are ten examples of real people who have been shamed by technology, along with some ways you can avoid a similar fate--lest you end up in articles like this one.
(BTW: This isn't the first time we've dipped into ways to make a fool of yourself with technology--we've also explored Web Embarrassments.)
Making snide sexual comments about someone in an e-mail and then accidentally sending it to them is embarrassing. Making snide sexual comments about your wife's colleagues--and accidentally copying her boss on the message--is a recipe for unemployment...if not celibacy.
Mike, a book author in New York, learned that the hard way.
"I was writing about a Christmas party thrown by my wife's employer," he says. "She's a professor of nursing, and they had an annual 'Nurses Ball' for faculty and student nurses. I sent one of my frequent 'what we're doing now' e-mails to several friends, and I accidentally included the dean of the nursing school where my wife taught. I jokingly referred to the party as the annual 'balling of the nurses.'"
In his defense, Mike says he was taking medication at the time. As for the dean: "I don't believe she was at all happy with me," he writes, "which may be why my wife no longer teaches there.'"
How to avoid having this happen to you: Before you send your pharmaceutically enhanced e-mail, try on a pair of Google Mail Goggles, which make you solve simple math problems before sending late-night Gmail missives.
You can probably think of many things that you don't want to see displayed on a wall of a classroom, but there's one thing in particular that you don't want to see ten times larger than life.
Karen, a technology instructor in Texas, was showing a roomful of teachers how easy it was to get onto the Apple Learning Interchange. She writes:
"My computer desktop was being projected up on a 5-by-5-foot screen. I started typing the Apple Web address in my browser. Unfortunately, I mistyped one little letter--and suddenly there appeared lots and lots of mad, male porn on the screen. The faster I closed the boxes, the faster new ones appeared. My copresenter was laughing too hard to help me."
After a few seconds (which she says seemed like a few years), Karen managed to turn off the projector. Fortunately, the audience was amused. Maybe they learned a few things.
How to avoid having this happen to you: Bookmark the URLs you need before you get up in front of the crowd. And bone up on your Ron Jeremy jokes, just in case.


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redsn0w 0.9.6rc13 Tutorial
Unsure what jailbreak to use? Click here to find out.
If you would like, feel free to watch this tutorial in video form.
redsn0w is one of the original jailbreaking programs and is still going strong on it's latest 0.9.6rc13 release. redsn0w is a simple to use jailbreak that should take just a few minutes from start to finish to complete that comes with the added benefit of supporting custom animated boot logos.
This is a fully untethered jailbreak for devices on iOS 4.3.2 meaning that unlike some other jailbreaks you can freely turn your device on and off without needing to rerun the program. As with all jailbreaks it is highly recommended that you connect your device to iTunes and let it sync to back up all of your data. You should not lose any data in the jailbreak but there's always a chance that something could go wrong so it's always a good idea to be safe.
To start with you will need to download redsn0w 0.9.6rc13 for either Windows or Mac.
These screenshots were taken using redsn0w 0.9.6b5 however the process remains the same in 0.9.6rc13
If you are on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer there is one additional step. Right click on redsn0w.exe and then click Properties. Select the Compatibility tab and here you'll need to do two things. First check 'Run this program in Compatibility mode' for Windows XP Service Pack 3. If you don't see an option for Service Pack 3 try Service Pack 2 or Windows 2000. Next check 'Run this program as an Administrator'. Apply the changes and that's it.
At this point you are going to need to locate the .IPSW firmware file for your device. If you are unsure where the firmware file is on your computer click here to learn how to find it. Once you have found the firmware direct redsn0w toward it and give it a moment to process.
At this point redsn0w will ask you to select your options. The most important thing is to keep the Install Cydia option checked, everything else is up to you. Not all options are available on all devices however so let me briefly explain what each does.
- Install Cydia – Installs Cydia, the main package installer for jailbroken devices
- Install custom bundle – Allows you to install a custom bundle
- Allow boot animation – Allows you to install custom animated boot logos from Cydia
- Enable battery percentage – Enables the numeric battery percentage
- Just boot tethered right now – If you have a device that has a tethered jailbreak you will need to enable this to boot
- Just enter pwned DFU mode right now – Allows you to immediately enter a pwned DFU mode state
Once you have selected the options you would like, click Next.
At this point you are ready to begin the jailbreak. Plug your device into the computer and then hold the Sleep button until you get 'Slide to Power Off'. Shut off your device.
At this point you need to put your device into DFU mode. It's a simple process and redsn0w will walk you through it. If you drop a button or mistime something just let your device boot normally and try again.
Once you successfully enter DFU mode then you're all done, just sit back and let redsn0w finish up. Now just grab your device and you should see Cydia on your SpringBoard. Congratulations, you are now jailbroken!


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Master of Science in Organization Psychology
1.Why a Master of Science in Organizational Psychology?
- This program prepares students for highly competitive professional practice. Professional opportunities in industrial and organizational psychology are expected to grow 29% or more by 2020.
- Committed to academic quality and professional respectability the MSOP curriculum is based on recommendations of relevant professional associations, such as Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Academy of Management (AOM).
- Evening classes meet once a week from 6-10 PM with some online enhancements. There are also six highly practical Saturday seminars during this two-year program.
2. How often does a new cohort begin?
- Fall 2014
- Spring 2015
- Fall 2015
- Spring 2016
3. What are the pre-requisites to start the Master's?
- General Psychology
- Statistics
- Social Psychology
- One other relevant course (Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior, Research Methods, Psychological Testing, Theories of Personality, Systems of Psychology. etc.)
4. What is the cost of the program?
- 42 Units
- $550/unit
- Total cost $23,100
5. Is Financial Aid available?
- Yes, up to $20,500 per academic year.
- Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.fafsa.gov Vanguard University Federal School Code: 00129310.
*Ask about our professional colleague discount.