text:
The Mobile Chasm
Bridging the gap between expectations and the as-is
There is little argument that mobile has been transforming business models and marketplaces at a surprising rate. Yet there is a big disconnect between consumer and employee expectations and corporate mobile offerings, including those of larger companies. The full potential remains untapped, hindered in part by an assumption that mobile is next in a line of regimented technology projects.
We've all seen the explosion of smartphone and tablet adoption in the consumer world—but a similar seismic shift is underway in the business world, too. Mobile technology isn't just an incremental trend. It's changing the very nature of society, culture, and business.
The mobile era
Personal computer (PC) shipments continue to drop,1 while forecasters project that iPad sales alone will reach 148 million devices in 2013.2 Smartphone and tablet shipments are predicted to dwarf those of PCs by 2016,3 and mobile devices are rapidly becoming the preferred computing platform for many. Smartphones have replaced feature phones,4 and mobile now accounts for 12 percent of all Internet traffic.5
Mobile devices have transformed the way that we interact with our environment. Operating anytime and anywhere, they provide immediacy and context. Their touch- and gesture-based simplicity is now second nature to many, setting new expectations for intuitive, usable interactions with technology. They're a natural convergence device: from communicator, camera, and web browser to barcode scanner, map, and payment device—and everything in between. Postal mail, phone books, shopping lists, and street maps are growing increasingly obsolete thanks to the smartphone.
These changes have been unfolding quickly, creating a growing gap between the status quo of today and the potential of tomorrow. Mobile is fundamentally reshaping operating models, business models, and marketplaces, at an often surprising rate. Merely having a mobile presence isn't enough.
Though businesses are taking note, there's a big disconnect between consumer and employee expectations and corporate mobile offerings, including those offered by larger companies. And while organizations are starting to explore the possibilities of mobile technologies, the full potential for business remains untapped.
Underlying the changes being wrought by the mobile era is a simple continuum. On one end is the opportunity for innovations to improve goods and services or for launching entirely new business models. On the other end lies the persistent threat of disruption.
On the innovation side of the continuum, many start-ups and innovators have gained momentum that could not have happened without mobile technologies. Think Uber, Google's Project Glass, and mobile-payment processor Square. Two years after its launch, Square now processes more than $16 million in payments each day.6 Long-standing enterprises are also taking advantage of new mobile opportunities. Coca-Cola's computer-operated FreeStyle machine gives consumers the freedom to choose from more than 100 beverage options using a touch-based interface. Whole Foods' Smarter Cart is a Kinect-powered shopping cart that follows shoppers around the store, speaks and responds to voice commands, and uses a Windows 8 tablet, UPC scanner, and RFID to read items.7 The future-friendly cart doubles as concierge and personal checkout machine.
On the disruption side, the marketplace tells many cautionary tales, from the demise of retail mainstays such as video and book stores to the besieged newspaper industry. But the impacts aren't confined to industries where physical goods have morphed into digital formats. Whether comparison shopping on a showroom floor or finding a restaurant in an unfamiliar city, mobile has spawned radical new ways to conduct business and interact with the world, across industries and locales.
Mobile opportunities generally fall into two buckets. The first involves doing the same things in a different way using mobile apps. For example, a mobile app for a car rental company allows reservations, location trackers, and other customer service functions to be deployed in a mobile-friendly format. It may not be revolutionary, but adding this mobile veneer is improving efficiency and effectiveness—saving time, simplifying processes, and reducing call-center traffic.
Similarly, enterprise mobile enablement encompasses more than bleeding-edge innovations; in many cases, it can be highly pragmatic. Replacing bulky in-flight pilot manuals with tablets; giving sales teams on-the-go marketing materials and real-time access to customer accounts; letting insurance agents customize, price, and sign policies at a client's kitchen table—hardly the stuff of science fiction, but the value is clear.
In the second bucket, companies such as Uber are inherently activated by mobile technologies. Uber's business model turns the traditional taxi service model on its head. Customers use an app to register credit card information and reserve cars when they need a ride. They can choose from a wide range of potential vehicles, with full visibility into the driver's proximity, type of automobile, and driver feedback from previous riders. Uber uses mobile technologies to drive reservation, payment, and fulfillment. The company would not exist without mobile technology.
Ideation versus implementation
CIOs largely recognize the opportunities in mobile. But they're also dealing with the complexities of even modest mobile adoption. Employees want to BYOD (bring your own device) from the warehouse to the boardroom. Constituencies are bubbling with app ideas, and IT organizations are often ill-equipped to deal with the onslaught of required changes.
Given these realities, it's reasonable to suspect that organizations at the scale of the Fortune 100 might be slow to adapt. We put that assumption to the test by investigating desktop and mobile websites, native apps, and investments in enterprise mobile enablement for each of the companies ranked in the Fortune 100 for 2012.
By the numbers
On the web
Mobile web
Fifty-one of the Fortune 100 have a mobile website (that is, a mobile-specific site with a dedicated URL, such as m.url.com or url.com/mobile). In general, consumer-oriented businesses, such as retail, entertainment, and airlines, have developed mobile websites in higher numbers than those in business-to-business industries. Companies in energy, heavy equipment, and aerospace and defense are much less likely to have developed a mobile web presence.
Given that mobile web is a dominant channel for marketing, communication, recruiting, and corporate outreach, not offering a mobile website is the modern-day equivalent of a retailer with an unlisted address.
Responsive web design
Responsively designed sites, which resize layouts and content and adapt design to different behaviors, devices, and resolutions, have emerged as a potential answer to the many development challenges created by a diverse landscape of screen sizes. Responsive design doesn't deliver different content or sites (that is, url.com vs. m.url.com) but rather tailors the same content and experience to the screen size and resolution currently accessing it. With this technology, it doesn't matter if the end user is on a mobile device, tablet, desktop, or even viewing content on a television. Despite the benefits, however, only two of the Fortune 100 websites are built using responsive design.8 The more robust of those two sites didn't launch until late summer 2012.9
Native mobile applications
Developed for a specific platform or device, the number of native apps available in app stores now tops 1 million.10 As with mobile web, analysis shows that consumer-oriented businesses, such as airlines and retailers, are much more likely to have native apps.11 Among those, nearly every company that has at least one mobile app supports multiple platforms. iOS has the largest number of mobile app offerings, with Android as a close second, along with occasional offerings for BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and a few Palm OS holdouts.
Categories of apps
- Marketing and information: These relatively basic apps are the mobile equivalent of marketing brochures. While they provide information, they don't take advantage of native-device functionalities and serve largely as mobile extensions of traditional content.
- M-commerce: Prevalent in the retail, airline, and insurance industries, these apps focus on driving revenue, though content is often nothing more than an extension of a desktop or mobile website.
- Account management and loyalty programs: These apps—typically in the financial services, airline, telecom, and health care industries—allow users to manage their personal account details and recent activity.
The apps we investigated run the gamut from well-designed to missing the point entirely. Many were inappropriately specialized, such as product-specific barcode scanners or gas station finders for a single brand. These apps don't give users a compelling reason to download.
what's the difference?
More than 30 percent of the Fortune 100 apps did not provide materially different functionality than their mobile web presence. So why even bother?
Sometimes the reasoning is clear, based on factors that point toward a native app: needing access to device sensors such as cameras, GPS, accelerometers, or Bluetooth/near-field communication; offline requirements for users who may not always have Internet connectivity; or the desire to have a seamless look and feel of the experience, indistinguishable from the native interface.
But many times it's as simple as discoverability—a desire to have an app in the app store. For consumer-facing industries, that's not a terrible idea. But consumers expect to be wowed. They desire a steady stream of new functionality and won't be shy about sharing their opinions about your offering. In our study, the average app rating was only 3.4 with over 1,000,000 downloads—not a terrible showing, but fairly underwhelming given the exposure and excitement around the space.
Less-specialized applications—such as a third-party barcode scanner or a brand-agnostic gas-station finder—appeal to a much broader user base. The more appealing apps take advantage of attractive visual design and platform-specific functionalities to communicate core attributes and brand promise via mobile. And apps that use mobile technology to enhance and communicate a brand experience provide more punch than cutting and pasting traditional print or desktop content into a native app.
Investments in mobile enablement
In addition to test-driving the Fortune 100's available websites and apps, we assessed their investments in mobile. Many of these investments hinged on m-commerce and direct-to-consumer marketing.
Retailers in the Fortune 100 are investing in mobile shopping cart technologies to bridge the gap between brick-and-mortar stores and online purchasing, using apps to provide a virtually seamless experience and connect consumers with their full product catalog.
Companies such as Kroger and Safeway encourage the use of their apps by delivering coupons and special offers directly to the device while increasing user engagement and adding value to their shopping experience. Walgreens and other retailers are partnering with third-party vendors such as aisle411 and Shopkick to provide in-store positioning and item location information.
Many of the mobile investments by Fortune 100 retail companies are tied to a marketing budget. As a result, the apps created by these investments mainly serve as product information or promotional apps—such as a cooking app focused on a particular food item or a game that promotes a particular car model. While these apps may further a product's brand name or image, many do not meet a sustainable consumer need. They run the risk of becoming one-use, throwaway apps.
The disruptive start-up story
Our examination of mobile maturity of the Fortune 100 was paired with a study of major players in the start-up and venture capitalist (VC) communities. We specifically targeted mobile-focused KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers); the self-described "boot camp for start-ups," Y Combinator; NYU-Poly's DUMBO Incubator; Andreessen Horowitz (home to the likes of Facebook, Pinterest, Groupon, and Twitter); General Assembly; 1871 Chicago; pioneer software venture capital fund Hummer Winblad; and the MIT Media Lab.
By the numbers
The mobile initiatives we studied from the start-up ventures touched a broad range of industries: from travel and mobile payments to education, health care, and big data. Of the nearly 350 firms and projects we researched across eight VCs and start-up incubators, 89 percent included some mobile dimension, either as a direct mobile platform, using mobile as a direct channel, or providing a service that could potentially be consumed over a mobile device. More than a quarter (26.2 percent) built their strategy around mobile.
A third of the 91 "mobile only" projects were focused on the technology sector, most of them platform- or enabling-services plays to build new capabilities and enable mobile innovation. A quarter (25.3 percent) were in the entertainment sector, largely spiked by gaming companies focused on mobile platforms. Retail, telecom, and media represented 18.4 percent of "mobile only" efforts. Health care and the public sector each represented only 3.4 out of 5, but it is expected that those numbers will likely rise sharply in the coming years.
More striking than these percentages and raw data were the kinds of problems that the VCs and start-up organizations are tackling using mobile technology. Rather than creating one-off marketing apps or transferring traditional print content to digital platforms, they're focused on building new business models.
The education sector, for example, is ripe for mobile disruption—a fact that has not gone unnoticed in the start-up community. Education software company Kno (funded by Andressen Horowitz, among others) has set out to change education by delivering an engaging, efficient, and social learning experience. Kno brings the textbook of yesteryear to life with 21st-century flashcards, interactive quizzes, Facebook integration, 3D modeling, course management, and many other interactive features.12
Mobile's ability to increase workplace efficiencies is also being explored by start-up companies. 1871 fundee RIVS.com aims to help companies hire faster with software that maximizes efficiency for high-volume hiring. The software offers what it calls on its website a "ridiculously easy online interface," automated interview scheduling, and consolidated applicant management. Using mobile, companies can manage all aspects of the hiring process, with automated screening features that have, according to RIVS, contributed to improvements in screening speed, cost, and quality.13
The next next big thing
We're on the cusp of mobile's potential, and once-audacious ideas are moving closer to becoming reality. Mobile and mobility are converging in the form of self-driving cars. Digital wallets are combining personal and professional personas to create singular digital identities. More broadly, we have seen a trend toward pervasive connectivity, with some form of computing embedded in almost everything around us.
Mobile is becoming the anchor of our digital identities—providing a centralized, always-connected hub for services, information, entertainment, and convenience across our personal and professional lives. Mobile is—or is on track to become—the new camera, watch, bookstore, radio, car key, dictionary, textbook, Rolodex, medical health record, sales tool, cash register, daily planner, calculator, customer service agent, thermostat, and personal assistant.
Early lessons learned
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."
—Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey legend
Though the mobile landscape is evolving quickly, much can be learned from early successes. Draw from creative, user experience, engineering, and functional talent, and focus their initial efforts on a target platform and a couple of juicy use cases with clear business value. Monitor the start-up community and technology blogosphere for inspiration, and hold team members accountable for staying current in their space. Even if the sparks don't yield immediate value, they just might contribute to your next big thing. Give employees access to real-time data, along with the permission to make decisions based on that information.
Though the insights are many, the following three lessons top the list:
Agility is critical to mobile strategy.
Strategy is important of course, but ideas should be implemented in eight weeks, not eight months. The rapid evolution of mobile demands nimble, responsive methodologies. Strategies based on technology that's relevant today won't be wholly relevant months later without iterative improvements and updates to emerging trends and technologies.
Two elements are essential. First, as with any project, it is important to assess the opportunities by identifying how mobile can reshape customer, employee, product, and partner experience. This may seem intuitive, but it can be difficult because companies often think in terms of processes and associated efficiencies without fully considering the user (more on this in the next section).
Second, develop a roadmap to establish just enough foundational architecture, infrastructure, and management capabilities to lead usage scenarios. Too many companies approach mobile as they might an ERP (enterprise resource planning) implementation, where the timeline for interface development, system selection, and database reconciliation can reasonably take months or years. Instead, recognize that though it will change over time, a strategy can't move forward without an initial decision on factors such as bring-your-own-device policies and IT support.
Failing fast—and often—can lead to innovation. This is an uncomfortable mindset for executives who attained their roles through a string of successful roles or projects, but it is an important lesson. Approach mobile strategy less like developing an IT application—regimented, slow, and deliberate—and more like an R&D exercise. Iterate, react quickly to lessons learned, and get (and give) permission to fail. If a dedicated R&D lab isn't realistic, consider a prototyping team to experiment with rapid iteration, implementation, and user feedback. "Permission to fail" does not imply a sandbox without accountability. It implies accountability at a broader level. The ways in which companies measure the output and results of technology implementations now may not be ideal for the rapid exploration of potentially transformative ideas where concept validation may be more important than perfect execution.
In our experience, companies often encounter several barriers to making this work:
- While stand-alone research organizations can explore concepts unconstrained, they often struggle with bringing products to market.
- Despite the fact that embedded innovation teams are small, easy to build, and capable of rapid prototyping, product exit strategies are often limited by the parent organization.
- Though cross-silo teams often excel at ideating multichannel strategies, they run into challenges when trying to deliver across the business due to competing priorities, decision makers, and processes.
Organizations at the scale of the Fortune 100 can be agile in this way. We have seen this work when they "think small within the big." Large companies can maintain their huge IT infrastructures and multiyear initiatives, but they can benefit from a focused suborganization that's staffed, measured, and positioned so they can move at the speed of mobile.
Take a UX-driven approach.
Meeting user expectations (UX) starts with research and data-driven inquiry to understand the target users' needs, desires, and routines. These insights drive early-stage strategy and feature ideation process. Because customers interact with companies through a variety of touchpoints—from browsing a website to calling a customer service associate—it's important to consider each and every interaction through the eyes of the customer.
For an airline, that means grounding features and functionality in the realities of the pilot and attendant experience, from predeparture workflows to in-flight limitations, such as low lighting and turbulence. For a distributor, it means weighing the needs of the business with the on-the-ground needs of drivers. And for a railroad, it means opportunities to help conductors overcome the distractions of a moving train, such as customizable font size, expanded touch areas, and a task-focused architecture.
While it seems intuitive to focus on the user, there are some common situations where this doesn't happen well:
- Creativity underinformed by the existing body of knowledge in app design, as seen in apps that defy common user expectations by straying from platform-specific interface guidelines, such as the use of "Back" and "Main Menu" buttons in the navigation bar
- Mobile websites that take an "island" approach—for example, by providing a vastly simplified version of their desktop site's content but without providing a link for mobile users to visit the full site if they need information that's not captured in the mobile site
- Taking the eye off convenience, which in many cases was a contributing factor to mobile's appeal—we see this in mobile forms (web or native app) with lengthy log-in processes that have the potential to turn users away
- Prioritizing often competing business requirements at the expense of the user, such as apps that are crowded with links, buttons, options, and functionality—while the needs of the business are important, so too is considering what users need to accomplish and the most intuitive way to enable the user journey.
In order to factor the user's needs into a mobile initiative, include one or more UX specialists in a development team.
Assign dedicated ownership of the mobile channel.
Time after time, we've seen businesses approaching mobile in the regimented and siloed manner that served them well in an earlier era, where technology was largely department based. Instead of looking at the broader picture and considering how new solutions can integrate with core business drivers, they tack on ad hoc fixes or fund parallel efforts in content and asset management, social media, customer relationship management (CRM), analytics, gamification, and mobile.
A winning mobile strategy often hinges on having a center of excellence led by a dedicated product owner. Such a role demands a broad swath of skills grounded in marketing, operations, and technology expertise and innovation. Organizations are taking note. Gartner predicts that 25 percent of organizations will have a chief digital officer (CDO) by 2015.18 Starbucks, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, and the City of New York all have appointed CDOs.19 As the mobile frontier continues to expand, we would expect many organizations to recalibrate their capabilities, fusing innovation and technology in potentially groundbreaking ways.
Industry Futurescape
Mobile's untapped potential doesn't discriminate, with nearly every industry and sector offering opportunities for transformation. However, our analysis of the Fortune 100 identified especially instructive examples in the retail and health care industries.
Today, much of the retail community views mobile as an add-on, filing m-commerce under the dot.com branch of the business. Many retailers treat in-store and web as two entirely distinct businesses, or silos, with different inventories, pricing, and merchandising. Mobile is driving convergence between the physical and the digital, motivating retailers to evolve from siloed business models to an omnichannel approach. The future of retail is not about the channel; it's about best serving the customer at the point of need.
We measure mobile's importance, in part, by the percentage of in-store sales that it influences. In the United States, mobile currently influences 5 percent of in-store sales (approximately $159 billion in 2012), but that percentage is projected to jump to 20 percent by 2016—an increase that translates to $628–$752 billion in sales.14 This growing shift in influence points to the value of considering mobile through a new lens: It's not e-commerce on a smaller device; it's a new and different set of functionalities to better serve the customer.
For example, consider a customer shopping at a tire store. If the retailer provided a mobile console for that customer to order new tires, mobile would simply be a different platform for the e-commerce paradigm. But if the retailer offered a mobile app that helped the customer select the appropriate tires based on a series of targeted questions (such as driving style, location, average load weight), that's a useful functionality that informs the customer.
Though it's unlikely that brick-and-mortar retail centers will disappear anytime soon, mobile's influence continues to grow along with consumers' expectations for immediate access to information—in and outside the store. Potential implementation goals for mobile may include:
Driving in-store purchases: Consumers convert at a higher rate when they're informed, and smartphone shoppers are 14 percent more likely than their non-smartphone counterparts to convert in-store.15 With mobile, retailers can provide appropriate information and functionality to the consumer at the point of need—whether it's a mobile registry that lets a high school senior know if anyone from her school has already purchased the prom dress she wants or an app that provides tailored content based on whether the user is in-store or not.
Improving inventory performance: Heightened inventory visibility is a huge opportunity because many retailers today divide their dot.com and in-store inventories. So, when an online product search turns up empty, the system has no visibility into the in-store inventory—which very well may have that item in stock—potentially resulting in a lost sale. Through mobile, retailers can expose their inventory across the entire network, resulting in increased revenue (decrease in sales lost due to lack of communication between inventory channels) and improved margins (better sales, so fewer markdowns on unsold items).
Empowering sales associates: Consumers today often have more immediate access to information than associates do. Consider the Apple retail model: Not only have sales associates moved from behind the counter to the sales floor, customers themselves can function as associates by conducting simple transactions on their mobile devices. In this evolution of the traditional point of sale, associates are no longer mere transactional agents; they're customer service agents.
Providing inspiration: Mobile-enabled media can inspire upselling and drive traffic. From an interactive catwalk to video tutorials or digital mood boards, retailers have growing opportunities to connect customers with products they didn't know they needed.
Rethinking the showroom: Rather than stocking every imaginable combination of bedding options, for example, retailers can repurpose showroom space to display inspiring bedroom styling options. They can then use mobile to enable timely shipping and delivery from a centralized location.
Using social networks to empower customers as trendsetters: Instead of dictating styles to customers, retailers can tap social networks to give voice to customers as trendsetters by leveraging user-generated content to inspire trending styles (think Pinterest, Etsy, and the Fancy) or social chatter to promote consumer engagement.
The future of retail is emerging as personalized, efficient, information-rich, connected, and empowering. Mobile has a crucial role to play but only if retailers embrace it as a new way of serving customers across channels and not merely as an extension of e-commerce.
Evolving expectations around mobile technology are also on the verge of reshaping the health care and life sciences industry. We expect mobile natives to become increasingly vocal in demanding mobile apps to supplement traditional services as they (and their parents-turned-patients) age. Twice as many Gen X and Y consumers want to access and maintain their personal health records using a mobile device than do baby boomers and seniors—indicating that younger generations are more likely to manage their health using mobile.16
With mobile, providers can establish better workflows and better coordinate patient care—especially among multiple care settings. Capabilities include viewing and updating patient records from a tablet, remote X-ray evaluation, and real-time provider collaboration enabled by mobile.
In addition, accountable care and outcomes-based models are well aligned with mobile's potential. For example, smoking cessation programs can be enhanced when paired with social apps that help smokers get support and guidance from a virtual community. For knee replacement device manufacturers that are judged by a patient's post-surgery improvements, a mobile device that's preloaded with interactive post-care activities is more likely to keep patients motivated and engaged with their prescribed exercise regimen than a static pamphlet. There are already a handful of available apps for diabetes—and mobile seems a promising partner for a disease that's been shown to produce better outcomes with better disease management.17 With mobile, patients can receive personalized daily coaching and monitoring of blood sugar levels, nutrition, activity, and medication.
Mobile benefits also apply to the broader life sciences industry. Whether a drug or device works or not is no longer the full picture. Better outcomes matter, too. For the physician, a better outcome may be one that's measured in terms of a patient's decrease in blood pressure over time. In this case, the deciding factor between two similar drugs may soon be an interactive mobile program that guides patients as they reach their goals.
EndnotesView all endnotes
- Gartner, "State of the Worldwide PC and Media Tablet Markets," 3Q11.
- ValueWalk, "Apple to Sell 380M iPads in 2013-2014: Credit Agricole," <http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/08/apple-inc-aapl-to-sell-380m-ipads-in-2013-2014-credit-agricole/>.
- Business Insider, "The State of the Internet," <http://www.businessinsider.com/state-of-internet-slides-2012-10?op=1, slide 40>.
- TechCrunch, "Nielsen: Smartphones Used By 50.4% Of U.S. Consumers, Android 48.5% Of Them," <http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/nielsen-smartphones-used-by-50-4-of-u-s-consumers-android-48-5-of-them/>.
- Business Insider, "The State of the Internet," <http://www.businessinsider.com/state-of-internet-slides-2012-10?op=1, slide 57>.
- Business Insider, "The State of the Internet," <http://www.businessinsider.com/state-of-internet-slides-2012-10?op=1, slide 66>.
- Mashable, "Whole Foods Debuts Kinect-Powered Shopping Carts," <http://mashable.com/2012/03/01/kinect-shopping-cart/>.
- As of October 15, 2012.
- Anthony Wing Kosner, "Microsoft's Site Redesign Will Introduce Mainstream Business to the Responsive Web," Forbes, June 30, 2012, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/06/30/microsofts-site-redesign-will-introduce-mainstream-business-to-the-responsive-web/>.
- Shelly Freierman, "One Million Mobile Apps, and Counting at a Fast Pace," New York Times, December 11, 2011, <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/technology/one-million-apps-and-counting.html>.
- Deloitte Digital Fortune 100 Survey, September 2012.
- Publishers Weekly, "Kno Rolls Out New Features for Textbook App," <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/48293-ready-for-fall-semester-kno-rolls-out-new-features-for-textbook-app.html>.
- <https://www.rivs.com/features/>.
- Deloitte, "The Dawn of Mobile Influence," <http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/Retail-Distribution/deebf5bbc7d28310VgnVCM2000001b56f00aRCRD.htm?id=us_pr_retail_mobile_062712>.
- Ibid.
- Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, "The Mobile Personal Health Record: Technology-enabled self-care," 2010.
- News-Medical.Net, "Case study demonstrates positive impact of diabetes management program," <http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100216/Case-study-demonstrates-positive-impact-of-diabetes-management-program.aspx>.
- Gartner, "Gartner Says Every Budget is Becoming an IT Budget," <http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2208015>.
- Information Age, "The rise of the chief digital officer," <http://www.information-age.com/channels/management-and-skills/perspectives-and-trends/2099848/the-rise-of-the-chief-digital-officer.thtml>.


text:
CINCINNATI, Ohio (WKYT) - At long last, Cincinnati's new casino opened its doors.
After two years of construction, the $400 million Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati opened for business Monday night. With fireworks overhead and crowds lined up down the street to get in, it's the last of the Ohio voter-approved casinos to open its doors in less than a year. There is already debate over whether the casino will live up to its promise.
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have waited nearly four years for the casino's opening. And while a push for casinos in Kentucky has failed, its neighbor Ohio moved ahead with the promise of entertainment, jobs, and millions in tax revenue.
By the time construction started, there were already questions about the casino's revenue projections. Cincinnati was expecting to get $21 million a year in revenue. Then last month, the city manager said it would be less.
"The updated figures for the city were somewhere in the $15-16 million range. The opening is upon us now, so we won't have to wait long to start to see how it will flow," explained Cincinnati City Commissioner Milton Dohoney.
"You had the governor that came in and took a little bit out. Casinos that are coming in that are further competing for the dollars. That's why the numbers are revised down below what they were in '09," described Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune. He thinks the county will get $5-6 million a year from casino revenues. That is half of the amount voters were told to expect. "All new money is good money for especially us at this time. Now back in '09, we were hoping to get as much as 12 million, but those are estimates. You can never bank on that and anybody that would budget based on estimates should not be in office," said Portune.
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has tried and failed every year since his 2007 election to legalize casinos in the state.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
OAKLAND -- Sometimes, all it takes is a change of scenery. For the A's, they got just what they hoped for in a return home Thursday after their most recent trip concluded with a three-game sweep in Detroit.
It helps, of course, that the A's played in front of 32,913 adoring fans and had ace Sonny Gray at the ready to outduel Toronto Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. In the end, the A's prevailed 4-1 at the Coliseum.
"We were a little tired at the end of another long road trip," A's closer Sean Doolittle said. "Coming home and seeing the place packed out, that was really kind of a shot in the arm for us. That was the boost that we needed."
The A's don't care how they beat the Blue Jays, just as long as they got back in a winning mode and erased the bad taste from losing three straight in Detroit.
That's precisely what the A's did in the first of four games between first-place teams in the American League.
Most of the scoring came in the second inning, and Gray and the A's bullpen made the two runs they received that inning hold up. In turn, that left the fans in a festive mood for the postgame fireworks show.
Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt credited Gray for keeping his composure early in the game, when there was the potential for disaster.
"Sonny doesn't let anything get to him," Vogt said. "With Sonny, there's no such thing as pressure, there's no such thing as a memory. He doesn't remember yesterday or the last inning. He comes out and gives you the best he's got every time."
The turning point came in the second inning, when Gray induced Anthony Gose to hit a ground ball to first baseman Nate Freiman with the bases loaded and one out.
Freiman tried to tag Munenori Kawasaki as the Blue Jays runner went from first to second. First base umpire Vic Carapazza signaled Freiman missed Kawasaki. Freiman then fired to Vogt for a force out at home.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons challenged the ruling on Freiman's attempted tag of Kawasaki, knowing if the call got overturned, Edwin Encarnacion would be safe at home because the force play no longer was in effect and Vogt didn't tag Encarnacion.
The umpires huddled, reviewed the play and sided with Gibbons. That gave the Blue Jays a run.
As a result, A's manager Bob Melvin informed the umpires he wanted the game played under protest on the grounds that Carapazza's safe call "affected what (Vogt) did at home."
Melvin said he was told afterward that anything that has to do with replay can't be protested.
"We completely understand the dynamics of this because we made a call on the field that directly affected the play at the plate," crew chief Bill Miller said. "That's what I explained to Bob. I explained to Gibbons, too, that when we went to replay, that's what we're going to try to solve.
"Replay's a new dimension to this game and there's going to be quirks and funny plays like this that happen. Unfortunately it happened to us."
Gray waited for the umpires to sort out the confusion, then he got out of the inning with a ground ball to shortstop.
"I knew the inning had the potential to escalate very quickly," Gray said, "so it was very important to get that guy out and move on."
The protest became moot with the A's victory, but it was a hot topic in the A's locker room.
"You can't change the way you've played baseball your whole life," Vogt said. "That's the tough part with replay now. I wouldn't do anything different on the play than I did because the umpire didn't signal that he tagged him. So, I have to assume that he missed the tag and get the force out at home."
Gray lasted seven innings and picked up his eighth victory. Rediscovering his curveball made all the difference, Melvin said. Vogt and Gray agreed.
"That was the idea, to really get that going again," Gray said. "The last six starts it was OK, but it hasn't been a big factor for us. ... I was able to find that again."
Just as the A's were able to find the win column once again, which has become quite common this season. The A's improved to 25-15 at home, the second-best mark in the major leagues.
Toronto (Marcus Stroman 4-2) at A's (Tommy Milone 6-3), 1:05 p.m. CSNCA
Coliseum board approves new A's lease amid threats to move team. Read story at www.mercurynews.com/athletics.
Scan this code with a smartphone to view an A's photo gallery or go to http://photos.mercurynews.com.


text:
OAKLAND -- Attorneys for Oakland are asking a federal judge to deny his hand-picked overseer of the city's police department fringe benefits that would catapult the official's total compensation to well above $300,000.
The city filed its request with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson after missing a court-imposed deadline Monday to agree to terms with former Baltimore Police Commissioner Thomas Frazier.
The major sticking points, according to the city, are that Frazier wants the cash equivalents of sick leave, vacation and city pension contributions. The city also wants Frazier to put the agreement in writing, which Frazier so far has refused to do, according to the filing.
Henderson appointed Frazier, 68, to the powerful post of compliance director earlier this month, giving the law enforcement veteran unprecedented authority to make police finally complete court-mandated reforms stemming from the 1999 Riders police brutality scandal.
The judge also ordered the city to pay Frazier a base salary of $270,000 and benefits similar to those of top city officials such as the police chief and city administrator.
The city and Frazier have agreed on most points. Frazier will work out of a city-leased office at 1970 Broadway and receive approximately $8,000 in medical coverage and $10,000 for executive leave that can be converted to cash.
The key disagreement is over retirement benefits. The city currently pays an additional 25 percent on top of salaries for nonpublic safety employees to fund their pensions. For Frazier that would mean an additional $67,500 -- a benefit Frazier is seeking, according to the city's filing.
"Our position is that it's not appropriate," Assistant City Administrator Scott Johnson said on Tuesday. The city's stance stems from the fact that employees are not entitled to cash out city pension contributions when they leave their jobs.
Frazier's representative in the negotiations, Ronald Yank, the former director of the state Department of Personnel Administration, did not return phone calls Tuesday.
The city held that the more appropriate rate to calculate retirement benefits would be the 3.75 percent that it gives part-time workers. That would amount to an additional $10,125 per year for Frazier.
Frazier also requested $15,576 for 15 days of vacation and $6,260 per year of sick leave, half of which he could cash out, according to the city's filing. The city holds that Frazier's position already comes with unlimited vacation and sick leave and that city employees can't begin cashing out sick days until they have accrued 450 hours of sick time.
Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6435.


text:
JAN 29, 2013 - Detroit Free Press
A Must Read - Share
Vinny Prospal scored from a hard angle at 1:22 of the third, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Dallas Stars, 2-1, on Monday night, ending a four-game losing streak.
Editor's Picks
Hey you have no friends!!! Get to work and start inviting friends to help build your Comunitee. Click Here to invite friends.
© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


text:
Clearwire, the wireless-network operator that agreed to be bought out by Sprint Nextel last month for $2.97 a share, received an unsolicited offer from Dish Network at a price that's 11 percent higher.
Dish bid $3.30 a share for outstanding stock in the company, which is majority-owned by Sprint, Clearwire said today in a statement. Clearwire said its board will discuss the proposal with Dish, though it has made no decision to reconsider the Sprint offer.
Dish, a satellite-television company that's expanding into the mobile-phone business, aims to use Clearwire's airwaves to bolster its wireless ambitions. As part of the deal, Dish offered to pay about $2.2 billion for 24 percent of Clearwire's spectrum. The transaction would require Clearwire shareholders to sell at least 25 percent of the stock and wouldn't be dependent on Sprint's participation.
Dish aims to provide "wireless video, voice and data the same way that we provide video," Dish Chief Executive Officer Joseph Clayton said today in a televised interview with "Bloomberg West."
A complete takeover of Clearwire would be impossible, considering Sprint owns more than 50 percent of the shares, said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics in Dedham, Mass. Dish, founded by combative billionaire Charlie Ergen, may just be trying to play the role of spoiler, he said.
"There's no way Dish can do it," he said. "They just want to throw a wrench in the deal. So what if they buy a portion of the shares? Sprint still owns the rest."
Even so, Clearwire will have to consider the offer, said Walter Piecyk, an analyst at BTIG in New York.
"Ergen made a clearly superior offer and Clearwire's special committee needs to do their job and evaluate it," he said.
Shares of Clearwire, based in Bellevue, Wash., advanced 0.7 percent to $2.92 at the close today in New York. The stock gained 49 percent last year. Dish's offer is 13 percent above Clearwire's closing price Tuesday.
"We look forward to working with Clearwire's Special Committee as it evaluates our proposal," Tom Cullen, Dish executive vice president of corporate development, said in a separate statement. The Englewood, Colo.-based company declined to comment further.
Sprint decided to acquire 100 percent of Clearwire in December after their four-year joint venture struggled to build a nationwide wireless network, leading to billions in losses for Clearwire. Sprint aims to take over Clearwire's spectrum -- the airwaves that let mobile devices operate -- and use it to enhance its own network. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said last month that the deal was "critical" to turnaround efforts at the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier.
The $2.97-a-share offer had to be approved by Japan's Softbank, which agreed in October to buy 70 percent of Sprint for about $20 billion. Softbank wouldn't allow a bid above $2.97 a share, people familiar with the negotiations said at the time.
That requirement may now be put to the test if Sprint contemplates raising its bid, Piecyk said.
"We continue to believe that Clearwire was a critical element of Softbank's interest in Sprint," he said.
Sprint criticized Dish's offer today and said it wouldn't relinquish its rights as a Clearwire shareholder to allow it to be completed. Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, currently owns just over 50 percent of the business.
"Sprint believes its agreement to acquire Clearwire, which offers Clearwire shareholders certain and attractive value, is superior to the highly conditional Dish proposal," the company said in a statement. "Sprint does not intend to waive any of its rights and looks forward to closing the transaction with Clearwire and helping consumers across the country realize the benefits of this combination."


text:
- Tea Pouches
- Loose Tea
- Iced Tea
- Teaware
- Gifts
- Sale
- Why Mighty Leaf?
Hakata Doll Tea Storage Tin
The Hakata Doll Tea Storage Tin is perfect for storing and keeping your favorite loose tea. In Japan, people collect ceramic or clay Hakata Dolls which usually depict geisha, samurai, nobles or commoners. With an internal lid you can ensure that the tea is storaged away in an airtight enviroment away from sunlight and moisture.• One tea tin with lid • Airtight storage lid included • 2-1/2dia, 6-1/8H • 150g capacity


text:
Preached by:
us consider five truths about the storms in your life:
1. You may have a plan & don't see the coming storm
It is natural to experience storms in your life.
Jesus gathered His Disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."
(Mark 4:35-36)
He clarified the destination, but didn't mention that there was going to be a fierce storm in the middle of their journey.
Sea of Galilee:
- Sea of Galilee is 680 feet below sea level
- It is the lowest freshwater lake in the world
(Perspective: Sea of Galilee is 17X larger than Bomoseen)
- Near Golan Heights (Mt. Hermon is 9,230 feet high)
(Perspective: Killington is 4,235' & Rutland is 648' ASL)
- Cold air pours into the basin of hot air = turbulence
- Storms are violent and unexpected
The storm was "furious" = hurricane force winds
"Waves broke over the boat" = Waves were throwing themselves into the boat (larger fishing boat). (Mark 4:37)
2. You can feel desperate and alone in your storm a. The storm did not bother Jesus:
- Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat
- He is a picture of security and calmness
- He was either physically exhausted or resting in faith
b. The Disciples panicked:
- Some of the Disciples were career fisherman
- Imagine a fisherman asking a carpenter for help J
- To the Disciples, Jesus seemed unaware - unconcerned
- The Disciples fearful for their lives cried out, "Don't You care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38)
3. In reality, God is in control in your storm
Jesus rebuked the wind and waves (Mark 4:39-41)
Command: "Quiet! Be Still!" = "Be muzzled!"
Jesus took the "bite" out of the storm.
- Could it be that Satan was trying to drown Jesus so He would not die on the cross as the Savior of the World?
a. Results upon Nature:
"The wind died down and it was completely calm"
(Mark 4:39)
b. Results upon the lives of the disciples:
- "They were terrified" = They feared a great fear
(Mark 4:40-41)
- FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
- Evidences of Fear: Anxiety, Indecision, Loneliness,
Anger, Depression, Inferiority, Haughtiness, Control
4. Faith in Christ conquers your fear in the storm:
Key: Your faith is as strong as the object of faith is
Q) What is the object of your faith?
Job Stability? Financial Portfolio? Relationships? Jesus?
Level of Education? Life Achievements? ____________?
Q) If you were there, how could you have acted in faith?
You could have let Jesus sleep in the midst of the fierce storm because of two truths. With Jesus in your boat:
a. The boat will not sink!
b. The storm will not last forever!
Jesus cares for you too:
- Sometimes He calms the raging sea
- Sometimes He calms the child in the raging sea
5. Others are watching your life with God in your storm
There were others on the lake too (Mark 4:36)
Q) What is the storm in your life? Health, Finances, Parenting, Relationships, Employment, Self-Doubt, Future Plans
Q) What would others say about God based on how you are currently handling your storm? ___________________


text:
The School of Planning and Geography is a major international centre for research in planning and human geography. As a top-rated school with the ambition to play a leading role in academic and policy debates at national and international levels, it aims to recruit committed research students for the pursuit of innovative, cutting-edge research at PhD level.
With its international linkages and research profile the School provides a rich and lively scholarly environment in which to conduct doctoral research work. At present there are around 30 full-time PhD students in the School. A series of shared offices are available for PhD students and each full time student has access to PC computer facilities. Each student benefits from a generous photocopying allowance and a fieldwork and conference budget of £750 p.a.
Research in the School is inter-disciplinary and is structured around the following five themes: environment, society and space; housing; spatial planning and city environments; urban and regional governance; and spatial analysis. The School houses seven major inter-disciplinary research centres: Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Space; Regeneration Institute; Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society; Centre for Local and Regional Government Research; Urban China Centre; Centre for Advanced Social Studies; and Centre for Education and the Built Environment.
Within the School various types of support mechanisms exist for PhD research students. Specifically:
- Each student is allocated two supervisors with expertise in the relevant topic.
- An internal reviewer is chosen to assess students' written work as part of a progress review scheme.
- A regular PhD research seminar series and two PhD Away Days per year provide students with an opportunity to present their research in a supportive and constructive forum. Students will be expected to make formal presentations outlining their research interests and activities. The seminars can be used by the postgraduates to sharpen up their presentational skills, try out new ideas and develop the arguments and hypotheses that guide their research.
- The five research groups within the School - Environment, Housing, Spatial Analysis, Spatial Planning and City Environments and Urban and Regional Governance - provide a context in which knowledge about the broad research area can be exchanged. Through membership of a research group, individual students are drawn into a wider academic community within the School.
- The School's International Centre for Planning Research supports researchers in their scholarly activities. It brings international planning academics into the School and organises seminars and conferences on planning and related research themes.
- The University Graduate College exist to foster an intellectually stimulating environment where students are encouraged to share and develop research interests with peers from other Academic Schools, and to feel part of a wider research community. It runs a number of seminars and facilitates the exchange of information between students working in the very different fields of study associated with the constituent schools. An extensive University Graduate College Programme offers students training in a range of skills that contribute not only to the efficient management of their research studies but also to their personal development and future employability.
- The School has been awarded ESRC recognition for 1+ 3 and +3 PhD programmes. Thus, first-year PhD students in Planning and Geography can gain the opportunity to undertake a scheme of study directly related to research training in planning, environment and housing. First year PhD students will be expected (depending upon prior learning and experience) to undertake some or all of the MSc in Social Science Research Methods. Distinct routes through the course in planning, housing, sustainability, transport and regeneration are available.
- All CPLAN PhD students are expected to undertake a mix of training in generic and subject-specific research skills, as well as transferable skills, in order to broaden their development as researchers beyond the confines of the research skills required for their project. Training can be categorised within the four domains of the Researcher Development Framework (RDF):
• Domain A: Professional and intellectual attributes
• Domain B: Personal effectiveness/career development
• Domain C: Research organisation and governance
• Domain D: Communication, impact and influence
Students are expected to accumulate 20 training points per year.
These various support mechanisms ensure that while research students engage in a unique and personalised piece of research they benefit from access to a broader community of researchers. The various levels of support add up to a vibrant and lively research culture both within the School and across the University as a whole.
The school has research links with a number of countries in Europe and the rest of the world. These links are reflected in our current PhD students, which come from across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and all parts of the U.K.
Further Information
Dr Andrew P. Kythreotis
Telephone:+44 (0)29 208 76063


text:
DOI Announces Offshore Virginia Wind Energy Lease Sale
July 31, 2013
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on July 22 announced that BOEM will hold a competitive lease sale for commercial wind energy off the shore of Virginia. The auction, which will be the second such U.S. offshore lease, is scheduled to take place on September 4 and will offer nearly 112,800 acres. The nation's first wind energy lease sale will be held on July 31 for an area offshore of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The Virginia wind energy area, located 23.5 nautical miles from the Virginia Beach coastline, will be auctioned as a single lease. The lease area has the potential to support more than 2,000 megawatts of wind generation—enough electricity to power approximately 700,000 homes.
As part of the 'Smart from the Start' program for expediting commercial-scale wind energy in federal offshore waters, DOI has identified Wind Energy Areas to spur responsible development of this abundant renewable resource. See the DOI press release, lease background on the BOEM website, and the lease announcement in the Federal Register.


text:
In every team sport in the world there is some form of hierarchy amongst the players on the field. Sometimes the division, or divisions, are clear such as in rugby where the captain is given the license to talk to officials, or in Cricket where the captain has multiple responsibilities such as designating his/her teammates positions on the field. Other sports don't have official titles with such notable responsibilities, but whenever a group of people is created, different levels of leadership take prominence.
The game of American Football somewhat blurs the line between official and natural leadership patterns. Certain players are expected to be greater leaders than others because of the position they play, but expectations are not always met.
Singling out two players, or specific positions, to lead your team can be incredibly difficult. Unlike a standard professional cricket or rugby team, an American football team is much larger and broken down into different groups. American football teams essentially consist of three units combined into one: an offense, a defense and the group that handles the kicking and punting duties known as the Special Teams. While in rugby you have a group of forwards and backs, those two groups often mesh into one another because they share the field at the same time. In American football when one group is on the field, the other two are on the sidelines.
While a professional American football team has a relatively large roster, 53 players, that number can be more than doubled at the college level. Both Navy and Notre Dame could potentially carry rosters of over 100 players to the Aviva Stadium this weekend. Each NCAA school is allowed to carry 85 scholarship players at any given time, but not every player on each team is given a scholarship. Therefore most teams have a minimum of 85 players.
Most of the leadership in college stems from the sidelines as a raft of coaches look to guide young developing players who can range from 16(Amobi Okoye is the youngest ever college player at this age) upwards to 24. However, it is never enough for coaches to lead teams, because coaches are not actively enduring everything that each player on the team is.
Players can't relate to coaches, so instead they look to their natural leaders. In American football, the natural leaders are expected to be playing the quarterback and middle linebacker positions. While there are official captains nominated on each team, those players simply represent the team at the coin toss without having any other official responsibilities.
It is somewhat fraudulent to call those positions of leadership natural, but there is no official rule that says these players must be leaders. It is just the tendency of most teams to look to those players at those positions because of the roles the players play. It just so happens that Notre Dame's starting quarterback and linebacker for the Emerald Isle Classic in Dublin this weekend, are two of the more interesting players playing in the game.
After Notre Dame's starting quarterback for the 2011 season, Tommy Rees, was suspended for the opening game of the year for being arrested, Sophomore Everett Golson seized the opportunity to start his first ever game at this level. Golson won a four quarterback competition that featured highly touted freshman recruit Gunner Kiel.
Golson was a superstar on the scout team last year but didn't get the opportunity to show off his talent properly until the spring game, a game played between the different Notre Dame offenses and defenses. In that game Golson completed 11 of 15 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, but most significantly he throw any interceptions to the defense.
One significant question mark over Golson that emanated from that game surrounded his body language. He didn't appear to relish the spotlight of leading an offense, but will get the opportunity to fix that this weekend in a real game. At only 19 years of age, Golson still has a lot to learn, but he comes into this game with a respectable resume from his high school days. Golson threw 151 touchdown passes in high school, which was good enough for sixth most nationally in the history of high school football.
Despite winning two state championships in High School football, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly still questioned Golson initially telling ESPN's Mike and Mike radio show, "I can still remember him as a little scrawny kid with those braids and I was underwhelmed, just from the eyeball stance." However, once he started throwing the football and playing in game situations, Kelly quickly changed his mind "I was like, 'Oh, OK,' maybe he is going to be pretty good."


text:
Hospitals see increase in flu cases
January 8, 2013
PARKERSBURG — Hospitals in Parkersburg and Marietta are seeing an increase in flu cases as the illness has been hitting more people over the last mont....
Just a word of caution for those heading out for their flu shot this year; I've never had an adverse reaction to one.. even the very first flu shot when they warned me that since it was my first, it would make my arm sore for a few day and feel like I was slightly ill. My arm was only 'tender' for a few hours and never felt sick, even the first time. This time, I've felt bad for days and today I woke up with a sinus infection. Could entirely be the chemistry of each individual or coincidence, but you might want to prepare for this one, just in case. I sure wish I had all my shopping and tings around the house taken care of for this week before I had THIS shot! Still feel horrible and even arm is still sore from elbow up into neck.
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
The local news just will not stop until we have a full blown flu pandemic in the area. I guess they are still mad at how the whole swine flu thing petered out.
4 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Showing 2 of 2 comments


text:
Police are investigating an early morning attack at a private club known as the Sin City Deciples club.
Officers were patrolling in the area of Vermijo and Chestnut just before 4 a.m. Sunday when they heard shots being fired. When they searched the area at Sin City Deciples Clubhouse, they found a man with a gunshot wound.
Witnesses tell KRDO NewsChannel 13 they saw that the victim was shot in the rear end, but police have not confirmed that.
The victim was taken to a local hospital with serious to potentially life-threatening injuries.
Police said they also responded to a separate incident, just before the shooting, in which a man and woman were attacked inside the club. One victim told police they were accused of stealing a cell phone. They tried to leave but were assaulted outside the club. One woman said she was kicked, beaten and robbed. Both victims suffered non-life threatening injuries.
One injured in early morning shooting at Sin City Deciples Clubhouse
Police are investigating an early morning attack at a private club known as the Sin City Deciples club.
Copyright 2013 KRDO. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
The Palo Alto City Council election is still months away, but the race for five seats is already heating up.
This week, Midtown resident Tom Dubois announced his candidacy. Mayor Nancy Shepherd also issued a formal statement that she will run again and Councilman Greg Scharff told The Daily News he plans to do the same.
They join Claude Ezran, a two-term Human Relation Commission member who announced his candidacy on May 27.
The council will welcome at least two new members, with Councilman Larry Klein termed out and Councilwoman Gail Price uninterested in a second term. It remained unclear Friday whether Councilwoman Karen Holman will run again. She could not be reached for comment.
In interviews this week, Dubois and Ezran told The Daily News they would focus on reforming the city's controversial planned community zoning if elected to the nine-member council. The zoning allows developers to build bigger projects in exchange for public benefits.
The would-be councilmen said the city hasn't done a good job of ensuring the benefits are worthwhile or even delivered.
"We need to be a bit more selective," said Ezran, noting that he also wants to beef up public transportation and address the city's parking shortage.
Dubois worked on a campaign to defeat a planned community zoning project that would have allowed the nonprofit Palo Alto Housing Corporation to construct a 60-unit apartment building for low-income seniors and 12 market-rate single-family homes on 2.5 acres at 567-595 Maybell Ave.
In November, 56 percent of voters overturned the council's previous approval of the project.
"Palo Alto is at a crossroads," Dubois said in a statement announcing his candidacy this week. "This campaign represents an opportunity to add an advocate for residents' concerns to the City Council."
Dubois said he is the first of potentially several candidates to be backed by Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning, a grassroots organization that coalesced in the wake of the project's defeat.
The incumbents, meanwhile, said they needed another term to wrap up work on a variety of important initiatives, including transportation demand management and residential permit parking.
Scharff, who has yet to formally announce his re-election bid, said he also wants to make certain the city locks up the funding necessary to clear a backlog of critical infrastructure projects.
"There are still a lot of things we need to finish up," he told The Daily News in an interview Friday.
In a statement announcing her candidacy this week, Shepherd said she is also concerned about controlling density and growth.
"I want to continue the work I started to protect our quality of life and help shape the future of Palo Alto," said Shepherd, who opposed the state's high-speed rail project during her first term because of its potential impact on the city.
Price, meanwhile, said she was ready to apply her talents elsewhere after 13 years as an elected official.
"I really enjoy public service," said Price, who also served as a member of the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education. "I feel like I've done a lot of good work, but it's time for a change."
Email Jason Green at firstname.lastname@example.com; follow him at twitter.com/jgreendailynews.


text:
Have trouble controlling yourself at the grocery store? New research published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests you should bring cash instead of a credit card. The study showed that paying with cash may lead to healthier food choices and less impulse purchases.
The research team analyzed the grocery shopping habits of 1,000 households over a period of six months, tracking what consumers bought and their method of payment. They found that people who paid with debit or credit cards were more likely to make impulsive food choices. These items also tended to be on the unhealthy side, HealthDay reports.
According to the study's news release, follow-up studies showed that psychologically, paying in cash is more "painful"; therefore, this pain potentially curbs the purchase of vice items.
Study authors, Manoj Thomas, Kalpesh Kaushik Desai and Satheeshkumar Seenivasan, write:
"The notion that mode of payment can curb impulsive purchase of unhealthy food products is substantially important…The epidemic increase in obesity suggests that regulating impulsive purchases and consumption of unhealthy food products is a steep challenge for many consumers."


text:
Hey im a great shooter and im great at driving to the rim but sometimes i get nervous of taking a hit. Im pretty strong and have done it successfully in earlier years but this year i need help?? any advice
Try to build more confidence. When you're going up just remember that if they hit you hard it'll probably be a foul and will help your team. Also depending on how old you are if you're not lifting yet START, everything you do will be that much easier if you get stronger.
Defenitly start lifting if your old enough to get stronger so the hits wont come as easily. Also when you work out and practice, buy some pads or the gloves that boxing trainers where so that a partner can hit you as your practicing driving. This will get you used to getting hit while driving
You got to just take the hit. Take the attitude out there that you dont care if you get hacked, just be strong and put it up. Im a freshmen on varsity that is much under weight then the other players in the league, i just focus on being as tough as i can and being strong with the ball. The hits use to bother me at first but then i just learned to take that attitude out there and dont care if i get fouled. Ill purposely pick the biggest kid and ill guard him. Ill box him out and colnfront them in the post. Just got to get low and and box them out. Theyll usually push me and get a foul. Getting thrown around like a rag doll just gets them more fouls and your team more free throws and closer to the bonus.
U gotta play yo game and u gotta play mad and angry when stepping on the court.u just gotta have confidence and draw the contact.also start weight lifting to get stronger to take the hit
Great players are great leaders.Miamiheatboy
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
Just outside the St. Louis city limits, the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers come together to form a region known as the Confluence Floodplain. This area provides vital habiat for millions of migrating waterfowl annually and has an extensive waterfowling tradition. The region is home to more than 100 established duck clubs encompassing more than 36,600 acres, as well as several thousand additional acres of important working agricultural lands that provide critical waterfowl habitat.
Ducks Unlimited is pleased to add the Hager Family to its list of partners working to preserve the magnificent migration area that is the Missouri Confluence. The family placed a DU conservation easement on their property, Raccoon Ranch, granting permanent protection to wetlands and other wildlife habitat in an area that is under siege from urban sprawl.
The voice of a true conservationist, Archie Hager says, "I encourage other landowners and clubs to follow this path of protecting this landscape to ensure that future generations throughout the Mississippi Flyway will be able to enjoy the spectacle of migrating waterfowl provided by Confluence wetlands for years to come."
Receive a free DU decal when you signup for our free monthly newsletter.
need help logging in?
My DU is your personal portal to the hunting, conservation and local DU information that you care about the most. Learn how it works.
Create your free My DU account today!
*Note: If you have a member login from the previous website, you may enter it here to access your My DU account. Visit our FAQ page for more details.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act into law.
First duck stamp, designed by Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist, Jay N. "Ding" Darling, issued.
Prairie drought peaks.


text:
A presentation on Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services' client grievance process will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Nov. 6 at Southeastern Mental Health Authority, 401 W. Thames St., Building 301, Norwich.
The presentations will cover recent modifications to the grievance procedure and fair hearing regulations. Summary posters will be distributed. Providers are required by the fair hearing regulations to post the notices. Registration is required.
For more information or to register, contact Bill Pierce at (860) 418-6933 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Editors' note: This brief has been edited.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
How do I load the AviSynth/FFmpeg and Avisynth/MEncoder enginers? I've downloaded the CCCP pack and AVISynth 2.5.7, but can't seem to figure out how to load these engines.
I've got to be missing something blatantly obvious!
divinestyler wrote:...missing something blatantly obvious!
divinestyler wrote:Ok that's cute and all, but surely you understand that I read through the readme/FAQ's thoroughly, before posting here. I download all of the codecs and updated settings as instructed. I also searched many threads, including the two previously posted, to no avail. I would not be wasting my and your time, if that was the case.
divinestyler wrote:I click the little black plug and the red cross just turn to a orange exclamation. I don't see anywhere in any of the menu where you can register/load an engine.
But where is the fun in that?divinestyler wrote:Now if you're reading this thread PLEASE offer me something tangible, not your average run of the mill internet cuteness. As witty as you all are, a little helping hand and humility would be much appreciated!
Gussi wrote:In short: There's nothing you can miss.
I just installed the reccomended avisynth and cccp for the hell of it, left everything default and did no configuration whatsoever, all I had to do is click the black plugin and it was ready to go. As meski said, try reinstalling avisynth/cccp.
divinestyler wrote:Only issue I'm having now is 5.1 output is all screwy. Center speaker sound is coming from fronts and vice versa.
meskibob wrote:divinestyler wrote:Only issue I'm having now is 5.1 output is all screwy. Center speaker sound is coming from fronts and vice versa.
Don't make me tell you to search again....
This one varies depending on your setup (OS, program versions) where some have a successful resolution while others are still pending. Look for posts with phrases like "surround sound issue" or "channel mixup". If none of those work out, then post back here so we can get it recorded.
Return to General Help and Support
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 2 guests


text:
Gold Engagement Ring - Engagement is one of the most important moments of everybody's life. And it is the dream of every woman in this world to be proposed by their boyfriends. And for you, the men, you have to be extra carefully when you are choosing an engagement ring to your girl friends. Since it is very complicated to find what is the best and what ring which has the right and correct feeling to represent your emotion of love to your girl friend. It is not only about the price and the design anymore, the most important thing is, the ring must be made of gold. it is not a big deal if it is a gold or white gold, because gold represents the pureness of your spouse's love , and the most important thing is the feeling of your spouse, it doesn't matter what the ring made of, as long as your boyfriend propose you and he has a pure feeling of love for you. But it is not wrong to choose the right and correct gold engagement ring. This article will guide you about how to choose gold engagement ring.
The Good Jeweler for your Gold Engagement Ring
Once you have a plan to buy a gold ring for your engagement, you have to choose the best jewel shop to buy your right and correct gold ring. And the most important is the price aspect. This is important to calculate your marriage cost and to your budget. The way to search the good jeweler you can start by asking your married friends or from your married families or relatives, ask them if they have recommendations for you where to buy an engagement ring to your marriage. Or if you don't want to go out and do something troublesome, you can buy it online, and make sure find the bona fide web shop for your gold engagement ring.
Make sure you Only Looking for Gold Engagement Ring
This is the common accident when you are in the jewelry shop to buy engagement ring. You didn't have an enough plan to buy your engagement ring, you didn't think first about the ring you are going to buy, and then, as a result, you don't have any confident to choose and buy your gold ring to your engagement proposal. So, to avoid this kind of feeling and regret, you have to make a plan first and you have to make your decision first to the gold ring you are going to buy for your engagement proposal first before you are going to the jewelry shop to buy a luxurious gold engagement ring.
Incoming search terms:
- mossberg 20 gauge youth shotgun model 54300
- infinite promise silver infinity cross pendant necklace
- ringsizes
- anarchy nation daily dozen
- antique wedding ring settings without stones
- mens ring turquoise ajax stone
- solitare chocolate diamond
- rosy blue engagement rings
- rosy blue diamond rings zei
- where to buy rosy blue diamond rings zei
- preteen emerald
- dolce models ekaterina
Tags: #gold engagement ring #gold engagement ring antique #gold engagement ring settings #gold engagement ring settings vintage #gold engagement ring trend


text:
EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado - Customer surveys used to be pretty simple but didn't have much information. Surveys these days are different: There's more data, and if you ask the right questions, you'll get some interesting answers.
The new surveys even have a new name: "net promoter score." That score measures people who like a business, and why, but it also puts new focus on people who aren't fans of a service or product.
Figuring a score is fairly easy: Take the percentage of "advocates" and then subtract the percentage of "detractors."
The most recent example from the Vail Local Marketing District makes the math easy. That group's survey of summer visitors returned positive survey results from 84 percent of respondents and negative results from just 2 percent. That leaves a score of 82.
And that's a high score. Vail Valley Partnership Executive Director Chris Romer said any score more than 50 is considered passable in the customer-satisfaction business.
The better news is that the scores for Vail's summer programs have made big gains in the past five years. The district's 2007 score was 62, taken just as Vail's "renaissance" project was coming to an end.
Of course, there's more to the whole net promoter score idea than just a good number from random surveys.
Asking the right questions, and then understanding the answers, can help form future strategy for a business or community.
For instance, a recent survey of Vail summer guests determined that a majority of respondents said they'd come back for music and concerts. But the survey also put music and concerts fairly far down on the list of reasons people came to Vail - "hiking" was near the top.
Is that an inconsistency? Not really.
Romer said that while people may come to Vail for hiking, shopping or dining, those are things visitors can do just about anywhere. But to visit the Rockies and see the New York Philharmonic requires a trip to Vail. That makes music a "driver" of future visits.
Things such as concerts "add to the experience," Romer said. "It makes (visitors) more likely to have awareness of your brand."
The marketing district uses its promoter scores as a way to plan for the future. So does East West Partners. But that company uses its survey scores as a way to both motivate employees and try to create repeat business.
East West Resorts Director of Sales and Marketing Mia Vlaar said that company, and many others - including Vail Resorts - are now using promoter scores as an integral part of their business.
"It's really catching on in the ski industry," Vlaar said.
The scores are a way to measure a company's customer service and give those companies a way to find people who might recommend their products and services.
But perhaps more important than the "promoters" are those who returned less-than-favorable surveys. Vlaar said the way to reduce the number of "detractors" is to find out what they didn't like.
That's important for more than using future discounts or promotions to convince a customer to give a hotel or restaurant another try. It's also because the old cliche is true: A satisfied customer will tell a friend or two about a great experience, but an unhappy one will tell everyone he knows.
Since most people who travel also use some form of social media now - whether Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor or Twitter - a dissatisfied customer can influence pretty much the whole solar system.
In the end, though, the whole promoter score system boils down to getting someone to take a survey.
"It's really not that hard to get someone to take a survey," Vail Economic Development Director Kelli McDonald said. "We get (people) through quickly on a (digital device). We can get someone through it in less than seven minutes."
East West Partners has better access to incentives and uses them. Survey-takers can be entered into drawings for three-night stays and other perks. And some East West employee incentives are now based on how a department performs on its promoter scores.
That kind of incentive can change behavior at a business.
"It keeps people's attention," East West's Director of Rental Operations Holly Nielsen said. "People take the surveys more seriously."
Business Editor Scott N. Miller can be reached at 970-748-2930 or email@example.com.


text:
Students at Pennsylvania's state-run colleges, including East Stroudsburg University, will be spared a faculty strike — at least for this semester.
In an open letter to students at the state's 14 universities, the head of the faculty union allayed fears of an imminent walkout.
"Faculty know you are worried that your professors will go on strike," wrote Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties President Steven Hicks. "We know you are concerned about the impact a strike would have on your classes, your finals and your tuition dollars. After thoughtful deliberation and consideration about how a strike at this time would affect our students, we have decided to postpone consideration of a strike for the rest of the semester."
The last day of classes for students is Dec. 7, with the semester officially ending Dec. 14.
Earlier this month, union faculty at the 14 schools voted to give their leadership the authority to call a strike.
Faculty and coaches have been working without a contract since June 2011, the longest they've gone without one, said Ken Mash, vice president of the state union and professor at East Stroudsburg University.
"We think (having a strike now) would be detrimental to students in a way that would cause great concern on their parts, and understandably so because this is finals time," Mash said.
Union and Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education officials will continue negotiations Dec. 11 and 19.
For more on this story, check back at PoconoRecord.com and read Wednesday's Pocono Record.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Please log in or register to manage your account
Model: 106R01389Item: XER106R01389
Generates optimum quality on every page. Efficient cartridge prints reliably and dependably from the first page to the last. Installs quickly and easily, boosting productivity. Device Types: Laser Printer; Color(s): Magenta; Page-Yield: 2200; Supply Type: Toner.
Printerbazaar is a one-stop destination for all your office supplies. From highly durable branded printers to a plethora of accessories, you can get your suitable product at a competitive cost.
At Printerbazaar, we are committed to make your shopping experience hassle-free by conveying the best information. We understand that office related purchasing decisions are vital and thus the right comparisons are necessary before buying.
Xerox® Compatible Xerox WorkCentre C2424 3/pack Ink Sticks
$69.73$4463 / each
Xerox® Compatible Xerox WorkCentre C2424 6/pack Ink Sticks
$110.84$6872 / each
Xerox® Compatible Xerox 13R551 Drum Unit
$81.97$5000 / each


text:
Hi everybody,
I'm in need to use a PDF to DXF/DWG converter and I'm looking for a Free OpenSource Software to get it done.
There are a couple (good!) converter out there - but they are asking for a lot of money.
Maybe somebody has experience with a Freeware converter and like to share the source ....
... or maybe there is a way to implement something like that in QCAD.


text:
Hey all,
I've been recently contacted by a developer asking to release the modified PMS sources I used in the magma release - thankfully I've managed to dig them up in my old laptop.
Totally forgot about this and I had no idea people still use that release (doesn't mencoder support WMAPRO by now?!) until the dev emailed me.
magma (as a standalone executable) was coded as a small project because I was annoyed external streamers couldn't stream 5.1 videos to the X360 while the official media player could.
The PMS integration is essentially just calling magma as an additional remuxing and encoding step (PMS -> mencoder (WMV, PCM audio) -> magma.exe (remuxing ASF with WMAPRO audio) -> PMS -> XBOX) if we're on XBOX and the video has >2 audio channels, it's down to only a few source file changes so I'm surprised no one has asked me about this before.
The real stuff happens inside win32/magma.exe, the way I've built it back then is just a drop in like mencoder with command line and all - if you look in the command line help you can also encode to other formats (HW accelerated H264, 24 bits audio etc) also video as VC1/WMV3 with additional GPU hardware encoding but if I remember correctly back in 2010 it was actually SLOWER on my crappy laptop than software WMV2 so I've dropped it. Not sure which release is included, I have to dig up all the old stuff in my old hard drives.
Attached is the a direct drop from my own PMS directory, the sources are probably as close to the original release (with the only change being some tests and 24 bits audio as default) - I don't really remember everything I've changed but if you diff with the previous version (of 2010) you could see all of them and easily integrate it with newer releases Mostly (MEncoderVideo.java and others, and some conf files I think - could be more).
Sources: http://magma-vault.googlecode.com/files ... ma-src.zip


text:
By Wade Bourne
Prospects for duck hunting at Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee are improving, thanks to a new influx of birds and a forecast for a strong cold front pushing through by the first of next week.
Reelfoot guides Billy Blakely (www.bluebankresort.com) and Ben Parker (www.parkersoutfitting.com) confirm that a flight of new ducks – mostly mallards – hit the lake on Dec. 5.
"We've had a few ducks on the refuge, but yesterday we had a lot more come in from the west (from the direction of the Mississippi River)," Blakely reports. "I had seven hunters in my blind behind Katy's Gourd. We came out with 37 ducks. They worked real well."
Parker offers similar comments. He guides in the Walnut Gap area of Reelfoot. On Dec. 5 his party of six hunters bagged 12 ducks – mostly mallards – in a half-day of hunting. "We had a weak cold front blow through the day before, and we started seeing evidence of new birds yesterday," Parker says. "It didn't appear to be a major migration, but there were a lot more ducks than we've been seeing."
Reelfoot Lake is suffering from exceptionally low water due to a prolonged drought in the west Tennessee area. The lake is approximately two feet below normal winter pool of just over five feet. Many holes in the lake's shallow areas have little or no water. Parker estimates that half the blinds on Reelfoot are unhuntable.
"I've got only 3 inches of water in my hole," Blakely adds. "I wouldn't have had that if I hadn't taken an airboat in there before the season and packed the mud down. After doing this I have just enough water to float my decoys."
Still, Blakely is optimistic. "We're looking better each day. More ducks are starting to come in, and we're picking up a little more water with each new rain. Also, the deep end of the lake is covered up with diving ducks and a few puddle ducks mixed in. Blinds on the open water have been doing real well."
Parker says the best thing that could happen to Reelfoot right now would be a deluge. "We need a lot of heavy rain to raise the lake level and get some water back in the shallow holes and woods. When the woods aren't flooded, the only place on Reelfoot for the ducks to hang out is on the refuge. We always do better when they're scattered out and working in areas open to hunting.
Parker continues, "The extended weather forecast shows several chances for rain over the next few days, including a good chance Sunday and Sunday night (Dec. 9). If we get some fresh water in the lake, and the big freeze comes up north like they're predicting, then we might be setting up for some really good hunting on Reelfoot in the days just ahead."
Wade Bourne is the Editor-at-Large for Ducks Unlimited Magazine.
Find migration and hunting reports in your area on the Ducks Unlimited Migration Map.
Receive a free DU decal when you signup for our free monthly newsletter.
need help logging in?
My DU is your personal portal to the hunting, conservation and local DU information that you care about the most. Learn how it works.
Create your free My DU account today!
*Note: If you have a member login from the previous website, you may enter it here to access your My DU account. Visit our FAQ page for more details.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act into law.
First duck stamp, designed by Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist, Jay N. "Ding" Darling, issued.
Prairie drought peaks.


text:
Obama within reach of 270
By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press
Not a subscriber? You can purchase a single-day subscription for only $0.75 to read this and access all of our content and our E-Edition. CLICK HERE purchase a single day subscription.
Become an electronic subscriber to the Republican-American for only $8 a month. CLICK HERE.