text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Any free but good anti-virus software? Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Any free but good anti-virus software? Goto page 1, 2 Next Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Technology Forum View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Captain_FilJoined: 06 Jan 2011Posts: 604Location: California - the land of fruits and nuts Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:15 am Post subject: Any free but good anti-virus software? I'm planning on buying a brand-new laptop soon. But I'm on a really tight budget. I don't want to spend more than I need to. So the question is... Are there any free but good anti-virus or anti-malware software programs available for download? After all... Free operating systems are available (Linux, etc.). And so are free productivity software (OpenOffice, etc.). Free encryption is also easy to access (TrueCrypt, etc.). So why not free anti-virus software that fully protects from any and all malware threats? The best things in life are free... Back to top Shonai BenJoined: 15 Feb 2003Posts: 617Location: on the floor Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:34 am Post subject: i use Ad-Aware Free........it works well. Back to top 7969Joined: 26 Mar 2003Posts: 5782Location: Coastal Guangdong Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:52 pm Post subject: Try AVG for anti-virus. Malwarebytes or Spybot for malware. Back to top Captain_FilJoined: 06 Jan 2011Posts: 604Location: California - the land of fruits and nuts Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:00 pm Post subject: Thanks for the helpful info, Shonai and 79. I really appreciate it! And so does my wallet... Back to top jdroegeJoined: 05 Sep 2011Posts: 3Location: Karachi, Pakistan Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 7:58 am Post subject: Good, free antivirus I agree AVG is good. I also use Microsoft Security Essentials. Use BOTH and you will be happier. Get SpyBot and CCleaner, too. I haven't use paid virus protection for years. About 50-75% of the USB's my students bring in have viruses. That is the largest source of potential infection for me. Jim Droege Karachi, Pakstan Back to top _smaugJoined: 08 Sep 2010Posts: 92 Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:07 am Post subject: I use Spybot and avast! http://www.avast.com/en-us/index Back to top alpha65Joined: 21 Nov 2011Posts: 3 Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:52 pm Post subject: I've got AVG for my anti-virus and Malwarebytes and CCleaner for malware/adware....works a treat to keep the nasties away. Back to top Phil_KJoined: 25 Jan 2007Posts: 2041Location: A World of my Own Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:14 pm Post subject: I use Avast! and it seems to catch everything. Back to top BizLizJoined: 20 May 2013Posts: 30Location: China Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 4:13 pm Post subject: I tried all the freebies... Avast is by far the best free antivirus and for the malware I run both malwarebytes and superantispyware. Once a month I will run McAfee Stinger and that always picks ups something the others miss. Back to top coledavisJoined: 21 Jun 2003Posts: 1838 Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:34 pm Post subject: I use Avast which is pretty good, although as stated previously, an occasional go with an anti-malware program isn't a bad idea. Back to top SashadroogieJoined: 17 Apr 2007Posts: 11061Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:24 pm Post subject: Not free, apart from one application, but Kaspersky has a lot to recommend itself: http://www.kaspersky.com/virus-scanner Back to top KarlaMontelibanoJoined: 11 Sep 2013Posts: 17 Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:41 am Post subject: this is what we are using now in my pc http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx Back to top JoeKingJoined: 30 Apr 2008Posts: 519 Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:54 am Post subject: I use Avast and Spybot. Back to top Trina MarlowJoined: 28 Apr 2014Posts: 50 Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:00 am Post subject: I'm using Avast for so many years now. I find it very effective. Download it for free here: https://www.avast.com/index Back to top winston.smithJoined: 11 Nov 2015Posts: 5 Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 3:57 pm Post subject: Third party installs with 'freeware' One of the ways companies manage to give their software away for "free" is by promoting some other software during the install process. In other words while installing the software you want a message during the install process appears that has a tick box somewhere (sometimes these are quite prominent and sometimes they are not very prominent at all) and next to the tick box there will be a question or a statement that allows the installation of some other piece of software as well as the software you were installing in the first place. One must take great care here ! The extra software may change your browser or the browser settings. It may install toolbars within your current browser or the new browser. The point is, the third party software may not be so trustworthy. They may send you to other websites to which they receive revenue for but these could be dodgy sites that have malware on them. Or the third party software may have malware characteristics themselves, such as adware or worse actual viruses and trojans. The point is when installing freeware it can end up there's even more malware than you started with if you are not careful. The solution to this is to be extremely viligent during the install procedure and be sure you read what it says next to any tick boxes and also the title of the page or window you are viewing. If there is any reference to software other than the one you intend installing be very careful. If you are not sure get advice from someone more technical. 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The cloud is a convenient way to store backups offsite and a cost-effective alternative to a traditional DR site. You might even decide to offload backup or DR operations to a service provider altogether, or move production workloads to the cloud. Whatever path you take, be sure to take Veeam with you.
Veeam partners offer a host of Veeam-powered services – find exactly what you're looking for below.
Quickly and easily secure your VMware or Hyper-V VMs within Evolve IP's Tier 4 data centers! Cloud-based backup has become a go-to solution for almost any organization that wants to ensure data survivability. Evolve IP's DRaaS VE (powered by Veeam Cloud Connect), allows you to keep an up-to-date copy or secondary copy of your virtualized applications in Evolve IP's cloud, restoring files and virtual disks to your local environment as needed. Learn more
NewCloud Backup offers a repository to get Veeam backups offsite through an SSL connection and cloud gateway. Utilize our nationwide ultra-low latency network to view, browse, and restore your backups through your existing Veeam interface. Learn more
phoenixNAP Cloud Backup for Veeam is designed to offer a quickly provisioned offsite backup at fractions of the cost of implementing a physical data recovery site. Using your Veeam® Availability Suite™ software, you can store a copy of your data in a remote, dedicated cloud repository. Start today! Learn more
ISG makes it easy and affordable to quickly backup your critical data to our secure, offsite cloud infrastructure. With ISG and Veeam Cloud Connect, you can simply transfer your backups to ISG's cloud infrastructure, helping you meet your offsite recovery objectives Learn more
CBTS Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) takes a holistic approach to addressing the entire spectrum of information backup and recovery concerns. It enables your business to eliminate capital expenditures and ongoing asset management with SLA-based services. An effective data backup solution offers four important components: speed, security, cost and your business' specific requirements. Based on these components, CBTS offers two flexible options: 1) a Virtual Edition for 100% virtual workloads, and 2) an Enterprise Edition for environments with both physical and virtual workloads. Learn more
Veeam Cloud Connect makes it easy to get your backups offsite to a hosted backup repository (called a cloud repository) without the cost of managing a second site. Learn more
Get your backups off site within or outside your geographic region without the cost and complexity of managing an offsite infrastructure with Involta's nationwide world-class data center presence. Veeam Cloud Connect from Involta provides a fully integrated, fast and secure way to backup and restore from the cloud. Simply choose Involta to set up your account and point your backups to our hosted backup repository; offsite backup has never been so easy! Learn more
Our Probax Backup Platform encompasses different types of backups in one management platform. We are Reseller-Driven and sell to the IT Channel whether it be IT Consultants, IT Companies, MSPs. Learn more
ThinkOn operates geographically diverse cloud service facilities in North America, Europe and Caribbean with cost effective data protection and disaster recovery services. We combine proven technology with over 30 years of experience to build simple, secure, and affordable solutions. Learn more
OffsiteDataSync is trusted by thousands of customers and recognized as experts and innovators by Veeam. With simple, all-inclusive pricing and knowledgeable staff we deliver the strongest offering on the market, second to none. Learn more
Quest provides industry leading technology and services capability in any configuration you choose. Ensuring your assets are adequately protected. Don't allow your data backup to be forced into a mold designed for somebody else's company. Learn more
Global Data Vault (GDV) is a cloud based Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) provider. Our culture is built around the belief that as to Disaster Recovery and your systems, it's always our problem. Learn more
Webair Cloud backup using Veeam® Cloud Connect provides customers with multiple options including enterprise storage tiers, multiple physical locations, and the ability to use public Internet or direct connectivity for data transfer as well as spin-up backups directly onto our Public Cloud. Learn more
Storagepipe is a trusted data protection provider since 2001 with comprehensive Veeam experience and a leader in cloud-based disaster recovery. Get the most out of your Veeam implementation by working with us. Cloud Connect, Replication, end-points, and more from one provider. Learn more
More Veeam customers have chosen iland as their Cloud Connect provider than any other. Why? In addition to No Setup Fees, Unlimited VMs, and Unlimited Bandwidth, iland offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, end-to-end encryption and 24x7 included phone support. Learn more
Backup as a Service, abbreviated BaaS, is a method of data protection where you store your data in a secure offsite or cloud repository. Automated scripts, scalability, monitoring and 24/7 technical support make this a needed service for any company with valuable data. Learn more
Look no further than mindSHIFT, one of the industry's largest IT Outsourcing and Private Cloud Service Providers. With our advanced data centers leveraging Veeam's newest Backup and Replication Availability Suite, it's never been so easy to provision fast, affordable and highly secure backups. Learn more
As a Platinum Veeam Cloud Provider, SIS is proud to offer simple, and secure backup to cloud services. Our Backup and Recovery solutions help you deal with the "unexpected" without missing a beat. The results? More time to do what you do best. Learn more
Free 30-Day 10 TB Trial! Our award winning service and technology earned us Veeam's 2016 Strategic Partner of the Year Award. Learn more
Establishing an off-site backup for your critical business data shouldn't require a herculean effort. Veeam Cloud Connect from C Spire provides a simple, affordable, yet robust way to protect your business from ransomware, accidental deletions, catastrophic disasters, and more. Learn more
Are you following the "3-2-1" backup strategy? 1 copy of your data should be offsite! CenterGrid RecoveryCenter is the premier choice for your offsite backup needs. We are a skilled and experienced Veeam Partner with multiple services for your data security needs. Learn more
FirstLight owns and operates 12 data centers and over 14,000 miles of low-latency fiber optics. This powerful combination enables the perfect foundation to support Veeam implementations looking to leverage a cloud connect provider. . Learn more
Leapfrog provides a combination of solutions tailored to meet the specific individual objectives of our clients. We offer fully integrated private-cloud recovery environments, Leapfrog's environment or a third party private cloud. We provide secure asynchronous replication, failover, and failback. We also provide a team of experts to execute your DR plan. Learn more
Everyone needs a place to store backups offsite and recover in the event of a disaster. If you don't have your own suitable offsite location – or if you need the convenience of anywhere access or assistance in the event of a disaster – VAZATA Cloud Hosting is great option to consider. Learn more
We offer Veeam Backup and Cloud Connect Services as a fully managed service or, with direct portal access enabling self-service, users can control their own backups & restores. We also offer out-of-region copies. Learn more
Activate a FREE trial with Contour Cloud in just 60 seconds and be on your way to a $1000 credit in Veeam Cloud Connect Services. Contour is a Strategic Gold Partner recognized for innovative and cost effective Veeam Cloud Backup and Replication Services backed by a 24x7 Network Operations Center. Learn more
Veeam BAAS costed per GB and on number of Servers with Unlimited Data Transfer on Multi-Gbps Connections. 30 Day rolling contract with 24 x 7 Global Technical Support with 100% SLA Uptime Guarantee. Cloud infrastructure available to clients if required. Learn more
We offer a fully managed Veeam backup solution, providing a cloud repository for backup and replication. We also fully monitor the backups. Learn more
A highly flexible cloud and scalable approach for clients to maintain full control and data over their entire backup infrastructure. Learn more
Centre Technologies gives your business the power to automatically back up your critical data directly into our secure cloud repositories with Veeam Cloud Connect, part of Veeam Availability Suite. The story is simple: if you are not backing up data from your virtual machines to a secure offsite lo Learn more
Pairing SSI DataSafe with Veeam technologies provides a fully integrated, secure way to backup and restore VMware. Transferring and replicating information from your existing virtual environment to an SSI's ultra-secure hosted backup sites. Learn more
From encryption to managing replication and disaster recovery, we take the work out of backing up file systems, system states and business applications. With incremental backup and block-level backup, your data is efficiently and effectively replicated to our secure data center. Learn more
Faction is one of the largest VMware service providers in the United States, and handles customers as large as 6 Petabyte of backups. Contact us to qualify for 10TB FREE for a YEAR, plus $1000 in Cloud Services! We can offer environments to do on-demand recovery, and can also provide private, secure, inexpensive connections into hyperscale public clouds. Learn more
When it comes to your IT journey, there is no better partner than VeriStor. We recognize that a successful data center strategy requires a holistic approach to the entire infrastructure to ensure that key dependencies are designed and implemented based on virtualization best practices – all while fueling business productivity. Since 2001, VeriStor has been custom designing and implementing performance-enhancing IT solutions for enterprise and mid-market companies. As the go-to IT provider in the Southeast, VeriStor is dedicated to leveraging the latest technologies and best-of-breed solutions to support your company's complex enterprise IT projects. Simply stated, VeriStor helps businesses achieve an IT infrastructure that accelerates business growth, improves efficiencies, and reduces costs. Learn more
The e4 Data Protection Suite by ELEMENT FOUR offers fully managed on-site Backup as a Service (Baas), reliable offsite backup service powered by Veeam Cloud Connect, and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). Your data and applications are critical to the operation of your business – leverage the e4 Data Protection Suite to ensure the safety of your data and applications. Learn more
TerraCom Direct offers more than just a concrete bunker to protect and provide redundant access to your critical data. Many of our customers choose TerraCom Direct because they have direct access to our team of professionals. Our team includes cloud architects, network infrastructure and systems engineers. We also specialize in virtualization and high-availability solutions, network design and support, remote access and cloud solutions proven to increase productivity and reduce IT costs. -- TerraCom Direct offers more than just a Data Center to protect and provide redundant access to your critical data. Many of our customers choose TerraCom Direct because they have direct access to our team of professionals who build and support our service offerings with high standards. -- Our team includes cloud architects, network infrastructure and systems engineers. who build and support our sevice offerings. who are always evaluating and deploying new technologies to improve our service offerings. Learn more
Cloud Connect Off-Site Backup Learn more
https://www.off-site.com/enterprise-cloud-infrastructure/veeam-and-offsite/ Learn more
Merrimac Solutions, Inc's, m.brella Managed Cloud has you covered! m.brella Back-up-and-Recovery-as-a-Service (BRaaS) allows our customers to protect their virtual machines and applications locally and securely transmit those datasets to our cloud. Learn more
Veeam Cloud Connect repository on public cloud infrastructure or private / dedicated Cloud Connect repository. Learn more
DataBank VCC allows existing Veeam customers, including on premise, cloud, or colocation, to move or copy virtual and physical server backups off site without the cost and complexity of building and maintaining an offsite infrastructure. Learn more
US Signal's Cloud Backup for Veeam is a fast, secure way to get your backups off-site and into the US Signal Cloud. It eliminates the costs and complexity of building and maintaining an off-site infrastructure. Only pay for the resources you need; no additional Veeam licensing is required. Learn more
ServerCentral provides high-availability, high-performance targets for your Veeam deployment delivered from our premiere global data centers. The ServerCentral managed services division can help with your deployment from license acquisition through implementation. Learn more
Veeam® powered backup and replication from Lume provides your organization with flexible failover and failback options for production workloads. Our Veeam Cloud Connect platform possesses flexible repositories, end-to-end encryption, and configurable WAN acceleration options. Learn more
Using Veeam Cloud Connect, easily off-site your on-premise VM backups to the SherWeb Performance Cloud. In a pinch, restore your VMs as SherWeb Performance Cloud Servers. Learn more
SCO Cloud's Veeam Cloud Connect Backup service is specifically designed to provide off-site backup of your business critical servers and workstations. It also provides you the capability to restore your premises systems from these cloud backups at any time. Any customer that is currently running Veeam Backup and Replication Version 8.0 or greater can utilize this service. As a Veeam Cloud Connect Service Provider, SCO Cloud will provide you with a dedicated login account to one of our east coast or west coast datacenters allowing you to gain access to your provisioned cloud backup storage. Learn more
CMA FastCloud Connect offers cloud-based disaster recovery for businesses challenged by backup and offsite protection of critical systems. With our Enterprise service, your data will be secured, safely offsite, and available in an emergency. CMA excels in Backup, DR, and Hosting as a Service. Learn more
Cutting edge Data Protection powered by Veeam! Bundle onsite Veeam licensing and an onsite storage/data mover for one subscription cost and a truly turnkey solution. Offsite cloud repository with warm standby resources and no caps on simultaneous jobs/bandwidth for unrestricted and easy backups. Learn more
We manage the entire backup process from A to Z. We are a fully managed BaaS provider. Learn more
Secant offers a full range of Veeam-based cloud backup and DR services out of our two Data Center locations. Learn more
Get physical and virtual backups off site and replicate VMs (virtual machines) without the cost and complexity of building and maintaining an off-site infrastructure. Veeam Cloud Connect provides a fully integrated, fast and secure way to back up and replicate to Storcom's cloud repository. Learn more
Get your backups offsite to a hosted cloud repository through a secure SSL connection. Backup data is accessible just like any other onsite repository. Leverage Veeam's modern backup technology including GFS Rotation, end-to-end encryption, Instant Restore, Application Restores, and WAN Acceleration. Utilize your own Veeam licenses or rent monthly from High Point Networks. Learn more
London Systems backup service powered by Veeam gives you a comprehensive backup for your on premise servers Learn more
The AvTek Off-site Data Protection powered by Veeam Cloud Connect solution is designed to be a fast off-site backup option to protect your business data in a remote, dedicated cloud repository. Learn more
VEEAM Cloud Connect Cloud Backup Trial. Learn more
Dataprise Backup Replication is an extension of our Managed Remote Backup product, for clients who have on-site teams comfortable with managing their own daily backups. Learn more
Steadfast, a Silver Veeam Cloud Provider, is proud to offer Veeam Backup and Replication™ for customers utilizing Hyper-V and VMWare hypervisors. As a premiere infrastructure provider, Steadfast is able to provide several Veeam Backup and Replication offerings, tailored to your business, for backup Learn more
Otava Cloud Connect allows you to get physical and virtual backups offsite to the cloud without the cost and complexity of maintaining a cloud infrastructure. There's no ingress or egress fees, migration fees or licensing fees. You simply pay for the backups you store, and that's it. Learn more
Many businesses and financial institutions have applications that are critical to their operations. Losing access to these applications and data, even for a few hours, can have a huge impact. Maintaining backup hardware and software to be ready for a disaster can be very expensive and time consuming. With AspireRecovery, CoNetrix can host backup copies of your servers and data for a low monthly cost. This "Disaster Recovery as a Service" (DRaaS) provides customers the ability to access restored versions of their servers and data if they experience a local server or site outage. Learn more
If your systems crashed, would your company continue to function? Don't take chances. We'll create a plan to ensure your most critical business applications are protected, and also to get you back up and running as quickly as possible. Learn more
VCSP partner
PrecisionIT offers Cloud Connect Backup Learn more
Your Cloud Connect backup and replication is securely managed, protected and maintained in our Tier 3, industry-compliant data center in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more
A Cut Above the Rest. When building our Veeam Cloud Connect infrastructure, BCT decided early on to invest heavily to provide our clients with nothing short of the best hardware, security, and data protection commercially available. We encourage you to compare our product offering and pricing. Learn more
DataWard offers virtual server backup to customers in the United States and Disaster Recovery as a Service to customers in the Oklahoma City metro area. Learn more
The 3-2-1 Rule states that companies need to keep three copies of their data, stored on two types of media, with one copy off site. Getting backups off site can be challenging due to limited bandwidth, exploding data volumes and a lack of resources required to build or maintain a true off-site backup repository. Veeam Cloud Connect allows you to offer a solution that masters the 3-2-1 Rule, preventing you from dumping money and resources into a second site or adding bandwidth. Learn more
AIS Veeam Cloud Connect provides customers offsite repository to store their Veeam backups. All hardware is deployed in our enterprise class 2N data centers to ensure uptime and availability of the service. Learn more
ITR Cloud BDR for Veeam provides a highly scalable hosted Veeam storage backup cloud, cloud replication for any Veeam environment, and cloud-based disaster recovery for VMware & Hyper-V environments. Learn more
OneNeck Backup for Veeam Cloud Connect is designed to help you get your backups off site without the cost and complexity of managing an offsite infrastructure. The solution provides a fully integrated, fast and secure way to backup and restore from the cloud. Learn more
PCM serves all of your backup and disaster recovery needs. With our depth of expertise in hardened data centers, analytic consulting, proven support structure, and cloud services we provide the solutions you need. Cloud Backup for Veeam leverages that expertise for easy and reliable backup storage. Learn more
TrueNet offers full line of Veeam services. Learn more
VCSP partner
Veeam Cloud Connect Backup Learn more
Cloud Connect Repositories, Veeam professional services, setup assistance, fast and knowledgeable support. Get the fastest recovery using bizrestore powered by veeam. Learn more
OpusBackup Enables you to Easily Backup and Retrieve Data from your Location to the Cloud. Eliminate the cost and complexity of managing additional storage sites or tape reinforcements. OpusBackup, powered by Veeam Cloud Connect, makes getting your backups off site to a secure cloud environment as simple one click, without the cost and complexity of building and maintaining an off site infrastructure. Pricing is $5 per VM per month plus disk space usage for the backups starting at $.10/GB for usage below 2TB to as low as $.04/GB for usage above 25TB. Learn more
The reliability of your DR solution is foundational to your success. Utilize Veeam to store compressed backups of your data in the CVM Cloud. In the event of an emergency, contact our engineers to restore and run your servers on our secure infrastructure until you are back up and running on-site. Learn more
Emerge provides fast and secure off-site storage for your locally protected Veeam Backups. Learn more
Protect your company's valuable data assets with Zimcom's offsite backup and protection service powered by Veeam Cloud Connect. Learn more
Getting backups offsite, however, isn't always easy. You could be facing limited bandwidth, hefty data volumes and/or a lack of resources required to build or maintain a true offsite backup repository. That's where Veeam Cloud Connect comes in handy: with Veeam Cloud Connect, you can avoid spending money and resources on a second site or extra bandwidth. All you need is our cloud backup repository services to take advantage of Veeam's built-in WAN acceleration technology and so much more. Learn more
Simple backup as a service and priced by the Gigabyte and number of VMs with no long-term commitment. Unlimited free transfer. Learn more
Using CloudSAFE DP Data Backup and Recovery Solution with Veeam Cloud Connect Backup, all you need to perform offsite backups is a username and password (provided by CloudSAFE), Veeam Backup Software and a dedicated High-speed internet connection. Gone are the days of dealing with tape media, tape rotations, sending tapes on or offsite, and experiencing long recovery times, all while hoping and praying that your tape backups are in usable condition. Learn more
Offsite Backup and Restore (BaaS) with Veeam Cloud Connect for a fully integrated, fast and secure backup and restore from the cloud for your VMware or Hyper-V environment. Learn more
VCSP partner
Leverage backup to the cloud with Equilibrium, Veeam and Azure. We provide a full service solution to protect your data. Learn more
Gig City Cloud is proud to offer Cloud Connect repositories for Veeam Availability Suite customers. Contact us today to learn how you can manage our repository in your console! Learn more
Our AdaptiveCloud Cloud Backup Using Veeam Cloud Connect is the perfect solution for offsite backups. Whether you need a main repository for your backups, additional bursts of capacity if your local repository is full, or an offsite copy for compliance or longer-term retention—we've got your covered, delivering a consistent level of service at a predictable price. We keep things secure with data encryption in flight, plus offer advanced features, such as WAN acceleration and deduplication. Learn more
Developing Tenacious Technology™ is what we do. Faster. Quicker. Tougher. EDSI offers advanced backup, disaster recovery, cloud services, firewall solutions, and more. From the ground to the cloud – we've got you covered. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, with over 60 years of combined experience; ask us how we can help secure your IT future. Learn more
Providing Backup and Replication using version 9 and earlier. We can support you by providing a cost effective way to backup using the tools you already have. Ask us about our software rental program. Learn more
With a flexible portfolio of physical, virtual, and cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, the Thrive team can deliver enterprise-class business continuity for organizations of any size. Save time and maximize value while protecting your critical business infrastructure with Veeam from Thrive. Learn more
With Veeam Cloud Connect and Immedion, you receive a consistent and reliable backup solution that works for all of your cloud environments, even as you move towards a multi-cloud production strategy. Our solution allows you to offload backups so you can focus on your business. Learn more
RenovoData's Veeam Cloud Connect Service provides peace of mind with offsite copies of your Veeam Backups, and friendly, knowledgeable support. Learn more
If you currently use Veeam to back up data to a local backup server or NAS/SAN, we can replicate it to the cloud in a secure, easy and affordable way... and make recoveries safe and easy. Our services are sold in ½-TB (512 GB) increments and cover as many Veeam instances that need Cloud Connect Backups Learn more
Advanced Backup Solutions (ABS) utilizes industry-leading ntechnologies to provide Enterprise-class backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solutions engineered for all size businesses. Learn more
With StoneFly enterprise cloud gateway, integrated with Veeam software, you can move all your backup copies to secure, reliable, and cost effective Azure,AWS cloud. And directly spin up mission-critical workloads in a single click. Learn more
ComportSecure helps satisfy the 3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies of data, 2 different media, 1 copy off-site. Your ComportSecure backup also establishes an air gap, helpful in avoiding increasingly common ransomware demands. Learn more
Veeam Cloud & Service Provider, we will enable you to backup your VMs off site without the cost and complexity of managing an offsite infrastructure. Veeam Cloud Connect is fully integrated, fast and secure way to backup and restore from the cloud. Price is based on the VMs and storage capacity. Learn more
Easily Backup All of Your VMware Machines to Our Secure Cloud Using Veeam Cloud Connect! Learn more
NonStop Availability giving you peace of mind so you focus on core business objectives. Learn more
Sanapptx has a mission to help businesses thrive and succeed, while always delivering the best cost-effective technological advancements. Learn more
VCSP partner
InfoLock's Backup and Recovery Service delivers a complete solutions to help our customers better manage their data. We make the backup and recovery process easier and "smarter" through technology and expertise while enabling data availability across any application and any cloud infrastructure. Learn more
VCSP partner
Jelecos Backup Services provides you long-term, retention-regulated data where no one will disturb it, without the costly Bells & Whistles of high-performance Cloud-based storage. Jelecos Backup Services deduplication & compression, we can save you money, space, and bandwidth so you can get on with tomorrow's business. Managing Backups is a complex and costly job for most businesses that don't specialize in advanced data management. Sizing, purchasing, provisioning and maintaining storage arrays suitable for long-term and secure archival data retention takes time, money and dedicated expertise; why build it all yourself when Jelecos has all that talent at our fingertips? Our Backup engineers have the expertise and know-how to design, build and manage your Backups using IT best-practices and a Compliance-Ready Environment hardened against today's security threats. Learn more
Take advantage in your Veeam investment. Fast and simple off-site cloud backup service to our Michigan datacenter. Learn more
Cloud Connect Backup for Veeam is designed to offer a quickly provisioned offsite backup at fractions of the cost of implementing a physical data recovery site. Using your Veeam® Availability Suite™ v8 software, you can store a copy of your data in a remote, dedicated cloud repository. Learn more
VCSP partner
Cities Digital offers secure, offsite backups and disaster recovery options. Utilizing Veeam Cloud Connect your backups are securely linked to our Cloud Repository as a second or third backup copy. Backups can be run at your preferred interval or continuously. In the event of a disaster your cloud backup may be transferred to a private cloud for access. Learn more
Peak10 + ViaWest is leveraging its purpose- built Recovery Cloud to offer a new offsite backup option. Learn more
VEEAM Cloud Connect out of dinCloud's Equinix CH3 location in Chicago over multi-gigabit Level3 (#1 ISP worlwide) & Telia Sonera (#2 ISP worldwide) connections in an SSAE16 SOC2 Type 2 certified datacenter. Learn more
North Atlantic Networks prides itself on our customer service. As such our backup and DR services are customer focused on right sizing your backup plan. Wither you need full backup management, just cloud storage or full DR suite NAN is here to help you get your backups where you need them. Learn more
OneIT provides fully managed cloud-based backups for your local virtual guests and data globally. Store an up-to-date copy or secondary copy of virtualized applications and restore files and virtual disks back to your local environment as needed. Learn more
Priorpoint offers Backup and DR as a Service provisioned in a biometrically secure, Tier3+ data center. Learn more
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
The National League won last night's All-Star Game for the first time in 14 years. How much time is that? Since that happened:
The US has had four Presidential elections.
There have been seven Winter and Summer Olympics.
I went back to and completed college.
Jason Schmidt was a young pitcher about to be traded to the Pirates.
Nomar Garciaparra was called up and has since retired.
The Milwaukee Brewers were still in the American League.
Titanic had not been released.
The Yankees hadn't won the World Series since 1978, 18 years prior.
The Pirates had only had three losing seasons in a row.
The Macarena was not yet totally played out.
Mother Teresa and Princes Diana were still alive.
The Star Wars prequels had not been made.
Joe Dimaggio, Johnny Vander Meer and Cal Ripken Sr. were still alive.
So a lot can and has happened. Here's to the Pirates winning a bunch of World Series in the next 14 years.
Fun note: Five players from the 1996 All-Star Game are still active this year in MLB: Chipper Jones, Jason Kendall and Mark Grudzielanek, along with 2010 All-Stars Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez.
Filed under: baseball | Tagged: All Star Game, National League | 1 Comment »


text:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Petraeus, who has remained largely in seclusion since being forced to resign as head of the CIA after the disclosure of an extramarital affair, returns to the public spotlight Tuesday with a speech and an apology before a group of military students and veterans.
Petraeus will deliver the keynote address to some 600 people at the University of Southern California's annual ROTC dinner.
The New York Times, which obtained an advance copy of the speech, said he will begin by acknowledging and apologizing for the affair, then will go on to discuss his future plans as a public advocate for veterans' and other causes.
"Needless to say, I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago," The Times' quoted from Petraeus' speech.
"I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing," the text of his speech read. "So please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply I regret — and apologize for — the circumstances that led me to resign from the CIA and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters."
The affair with the retired four-star general's biographer, Paula Broadwell, was discovered during an FBI investigation into emails she sent to another woman she viewed as a rival for his attention.
At the time, Petraeus told his staff he was guilty of "extremely poor judgment."
"Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours," he said.
The hero of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has since stayed out of the public spotlight. His lawyer Robert B. Barnett told The Times that Petraeus has spent much of that time with his family.
As the military leader credited with reshaping the nation's counterinsurgency strategy, turning the tide in the U.S. favor in both Iraq and Afghanistan and making the U.S. safer from terrorism, Petraeus would be expected to find a friendly audience at the ROTC dinner.
Where he goes from there is uncertain, but at least one expert in crisis communications expects that if his apology comes across as heartfelt and sincere, the public will indeed be seeing much more of him.
"America is a very forgiving nation," said Michael Levine who, among dozens of other celebrity clients, represented Michael Jackson during his first child molestation investigation.
"If he follows the path of humility, personal responsibility and contrition, I submit to you that he will be very successful in his ability to rehabilitate his image," he said.
Another longtime crisis communications expert, Howard Bragman, said Petraeus has handled the situation perfectly so far and he expects he'll continue to do so. He noted that unlike former President Bill Clinton, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards and other public figures caught in extramarital affairs, Petraeus didn't try to lie his way out of it, immediately took responsibility and moved on.
"I think the world is open to him now," said Bragman, vice chairman of the image-building company Reputation.com. "I think he can do whatever he wants. Realistically, he can even run for public office, although I don't think he'd want to because he can make more money privately."
Ahead of the speech, Petraeus drew lavish praise from USC's president, C. L. Max Nikias, who called him "arguably the most effective military commander since Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower."
"In our post 9/11 world, Gen. Petraeus' influence on our military is unmatched, and his contributions to the CIA are far-reaching," Nikias said. "
While at USC, Petraeus also planned to visit faculty and students at the Price School of Public Policy, which administers the ROTC program, and USC's School of Social Work, which trains social workers in how to best help veterans returning from war.


text: Turns out Pharrell has made the mistake of opening his mouth a lil too wide to paparazzi about his friend Madonna. The Neptunes front man implied that the Hard Candy Madonna is indeed very good at self inflicted publicity. Tell us something we didn't already know but I am sure Skateboard P will be knocked off the Xmas card list for that remark..or maybe not.


text:
WOW I finally posted on the exact day my child turns 33 months old! Yea for me!! I can't believe in 3 short months my baby will officially be a THREE YEAR OLD; that is almost unbelievable! And on top of that baby girl #2 will be here. I can't imagine what life will be like with 2 kids!
We got home late last night from our week long vacation in Gulf Shores. (I've got tons of pictures to post; hopefully I'll get them up sometime this weekend!) Micah Claire couldn't wait to get home and jump on her trampoline. So we spent 3 hours on the trampoline this morning. To say this child LOVES her trampoline is nothing short of an understatement. Most of our biggest fits occur when she has to get off her trampoline. So I thought it was very fitting to take her 33 month pics on her trampoline. My little camera ham!She loves to do forward rolls and back-hand springs (with a spot of course)My toe touching girl; I think she does 500 a day!And finally a pretty one with her face up! LOVE IT!!!Then a pike jump
She was so excited to be back on her trampoline that she didn't even want to get down for snack time... so we just had it on the trampoline.
And we keep lots of COLD water on hand for my little sweaty monkey!


text:
Photographer's Note
Sight from the castle: The building in the front, among the trees is the Scotish National Galery, the dark tower on the right is the Scott Momument, the bright building in the center is the Balmoral Hotel, the "grey roof" next to it is the train station,last but not least, the dark hill in the background is the Calton Hill.
Critiques | Translate
ManuMay (36447) 2014-01-16 10:00
Hi Gyorgy!
Once again an amazing capture, colours and a very beautiful light bathing the scene, good color gradation on this cloudy sky, everything under such valuable point of view...Very good!!
Have a nice day.
rigoletto (34279) 2014-01-16 10:05
hi gy�rgy. i like the way you saturate the colors, without exaggerating. a little decrease in brightness and addition of vignette and a thick black frame help to improve the dramatic result. it is very nice to see the scottish national gallery, train station, scott's monument and calton hill in one shot. further afield you even have the seascape! a magnificent share for suckers of edinbra.
photoray (13981) 2014-01-16 10:14
Howdy Gyorgy,
Beautiful Edinburg scene, combining the main historical architectural treasures in fine resolution, saturated colors and warm lighting, and contrast.
Good job,
yquem46 (38752) 2014-01-16 11:48
Hi Gyorgy
Another good shot
Quite nice to have a newcomer of quality in TE community
Welcome here
Best regards, have a nice evening
saxo042 (38078) 2014-01-16 12:29
Hi Gyorgy,
I like the combination of dark and sinister cloud above buildings in clear sunshine. A beautiful combination of colours. Also a very fine cityscape with many good details.
Kind regards
Corry (4508) 2014-01-16 19:47
Bonsoir Gyorgy
Superbe vue en plong�e sur ces b�timents avec la mer en arri�re plan. Vous avez su profiter du bon moment alors que le soleil mettait en �vidence l'imposant b�timent au centre de l'image. Bien fait.
HimalAnda (10671) 2014-01-16 23:41
Hello Gyorgy,
I like this POV and the colors.
Maybe it could have been more sharpen, but that's a nice picture.
emka (149871) 2014-01-16 23:55
hello Gyorgy, another really impressive view of Edinburgh. Stunning compsotiion with beautiful colours and sharpness. fantastic sky. Superb presentation.
Warm regrads Malgo
SnapRJW (31631) 2014-01-17 2:06
Hello Gyorgy - This is a cracking shot. The light is superb and I love the way the golden tones are sandwiched between the lush green FG and the moody sky above. Your viewpoint is excellent as it gives a wonderful overview of Edinburgh with its coastal location. Here, I think the saturation works a treat. Magical. Warm regards Rosemary
PS Many thanks for your visit to my gallery, I appreciate it!
kabel (1930) 2014-01-17 20:17
Hello, an interesting combination of light and shadow in your image. Lovely picture postcards from Scotland,
tober (8797) 2014-01-23 7:43
Wonderful and vivid cityscape which looks more elegant with black framing.
macjake (95935) 2014-01-28 12:04
Hi Gyorgy
lots of interesting subjects here!
a fantastic point of view.
and the lighting is just right, just in the right places.
wonderful overview of the city
npecanhuk (79329) 2014-05-18 14:12
Hello Gyorgy!
Great work with colors too!
Here, a wonderful location and a very beautiful and attractive picture, for sure!
Exposure, colors, level of sharpness, chosen high pov, composition and dof are all excellent!
TFS - congrats,
serp2000 (47063) 2016-04-04 13:21
Hi, Gyorgy,
My congratualtions! Wonderful picture, excellent colors management! It could be great post card from this city, TFS! Serghei
LuisGustavoLima (5184) 2017-07-07 15:21
Ol�, Gyorgy!
Bonita foto! Cores, luz e nitidez perfeitas! O c�u est� lindo, muito bonito mesmo! Bom �ngulo, que mostra v�rios pontos de interesse! A arquitetura antiga desse pr�dio ao centro � muito bonita,e contrasta com a modernidade da esta��o de trem! Parab�ns!
Photo Information
- Copyright: Gyorgy Marinkas (GyurMaster) (20375)
- Genre: �a��
- Medium: �m��
- Date Taken: 2013-09-10
- Exposure�Gf/5.0, 1/800 seconds
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version�GOriginal Version
- Date Submitted: 2014-01-16 9:47
- Favorites�G1 [view]
- To ManuMay: Re (1)
by GyurMaster, last updated 2014-01-16 10:19
- To rigoletto: Re (1)
by GyurMaster, last updated 2014-01-16 10:22
- To photoray: Re (1)
by GyurMaster, last updated 2014-01-16 10:22
- To yquem46: Re (1)
by GyurMaster, last updated 2014-01-16 11:53


text:
Business SituationAs companies increasingly transform themselves into digital businesses, their IT operations don't merely become more ubiquitous, they become more crucial to business success.
That is certainly the case for Centrica, an integrated, international energy company with major interests in energy production, supply and storage throughout the UK, Ireland and North America.
Centrica EM&T's trading platform was a case in point. Platform uptime was essential to capturing maximum revenue from trading operations. So was the speed of overnight batch runs, which had to be completed before traders could know their starting positions for the next day.
But the trading platform didn't perform at the level and with the speed that Centrica EM&T needed to meet its business goals.
"IT used to be the bottleneck on anything that needed to get done. Since working with Avanade, we have a track record of meeting business needs. IT is now an asset that gives the business confidence to explore opportunities."
SolutionTo solve its technology issues, Centrica EM&T chose Avanade, founded by Microsoft and Accenture.
Centrica EM&T engaged Avanade in 2013. By the end of 2014, the trading platform supported a 50% increase in trading volume, along with a corresponding increase in gross margins. Behind that business turnaround was an equally remarkable technology turnaround. Platform uptime is at 99.9%, in part as a result of reductions by 50% in the number of downtime incidents and by 60 percent in the average time to resolve those incidents. Overnight batch-runs are now regularly completing in time for start of daily operations, when previously they were frequently over-running and without proper maintenance would regularly fail to meet business needs.
Avanade put in place a team of 100 consultants, 20 deployed on application development and 80 on a range of application maintenance functions, including preventative maintenance, second and third-tier maintenance, environmental management, testing services and database administration. About 30% of the Avanade consultants were located with Centrica EM&T's own IT staff, where they could provide knowledge transfer to make their staff more effective.
ResultsResearch firm IDC estimates that the cumulative benefit of Avanade's engagement to Centrica EM&T over five years will be substantial. Most of its gain will come from the additional business Centrica EM&T can capture as it increasingly becomes a digital workplace in which traders are more able to maximize their productivity, aided, rather than hindered, by the trading platform.
- 50% increase in trading volume
- 50% reduction in downtime incidents
- 60% reduction in time to resolve incidents


text:
Program Description
International Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to build student expertise in particular world regions and/or about diverse international issues including globalization; global population, migration, and health; international conflict, terrorism, governance, and law; imperialism, decolonization, and development; And the role of gender, race, and class in international contexts.
A BA or MS degree in International Studies prepares students for a range of career possibilities in government service, in foundations and NGOs, and in the wide range of institutions offering services transnationally or otherwise working in global environments.
CCSU was designated as a Center for Excellence in International Education in 1986. Today, along with its Bachelors and Masters degrees in International Studies, CCSU boasts a wide variety of study abroad programs and initiatives that stretch from one end of the earth to the other. Ghana, Korea, Poland, England, Brazil, and Jamaica are just a few of the countries with whom CCSU maintains close and lasting links. The continuing enrichment, expansion, and refinement of the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science programs in International Studies result from the institution's established commitment to global awareness and global citizenship.
Ideally, undergraduate International Studies majors will spend one academic year abroad at one of over fifty CCSU partner institutions worldwide or in an institution of their own choosing whose program better meets one's needs. Some students choose to study abroad for shorter periods and students who are unable to complete a study abroad experience can work with their advisor to develop a local multicultural experience related to the students' academic track or regional specialization.


text:
Mo. Senate backs quick takeover of failing schools
Measure could hasten state takeover of KC School District
The Missouri Senate has endorsed a measure that could speed up state intervention in failing school districts.
The bill given initial approval Tuesday night is aimed mainly at the Kansas City School District, which lost its accreditation in January 2012.
Under current law, Missouri officials must wait until at least June 30, 2014, before intervening in the Kansas City district.
The Senate legislation would let the state intervene immediately after a district loses its accreditation. The state Board of Education could prescribe conditions under which the existing local school board could continue to oversee the school, or it could set up an alternative governing structure.
Those alternatives could include creating a special administrative board, merging the district with neighboring ones or splitting the district into several new ones.


text:
New disclosure rules and the threat of fiduciary violation lawsuits have helped bring down investment management, recordkeeping and other fees in 401(k) and other retirement accounts. Now revenue-sharing is following suit.
According to a 2013 survey by Boston-based investment consultancy NEPC, total plan costs for sponsors declined 0.02% from 2012 to 2013, falling to 0.53%. That's equivalent to a yearly charge of $5.30 for every $1,000 invested. That figure had been 0.59% in 2010, so the savings are in the many millions of dollars.
NEPC's survey also found that revenue-sharing arrangements – used to help offset, or in some cases, to pay for all plan-related expenses – began to decline in 2010 and continued to do so in 2013. It found that 13% of plans had no form of revenue sharing whatsoever, a figure that most expect will only grow.
NEPC found that the weighted average revenue share in 2013 was under 0.11% vs. more than 0.16% in 2008.
While that's good news, concerns about excessive revenue-sharing and transparency remain.
That's because, as things still stand, participants in most qualified plans pay the majority of plan costs through a combination of investment-related expenses and contract charges. These are typically netted from performance on a daily basis, but they are not expressed in dollars and cents. As a result, many participants mistakenly believe they are not paying expenses at all and that they are getting a 401(k) plan "for free."
The Department of Labor's 404(a)(5) disclosure form, which is issued annually by each plan and addresses participant-level fees, is supposed to help make these deal more transparent.
Gregory C. Lewis, a principal at Boston's Pinnacle Financial Group, said the DOL had good intentions in mind in adopting its new disclosure rules. "Since qualified plans can be costly undertakings, and participants bear the majority of plan costs, the DOL has endeavored through 404(a)(5) to educate participants about the various costs and fees that impact their plan accounts," he said.
But the DOL has fallen short in its bid to adequately inform participants, according to Evan Rapp, managing partner with RPG Consultants, Valley Stream, New York.
"The 404(a)(5) participant disclosure notices include quarterly fee reporting, as well as an annual fee report. (But) this report is extremely complicated and many pages. There is no way the average participant understands it," Rapp said.
"I believe the government had the best of intentions when they passed these laws. Sadly, they have done little good for 401(k) participants," he said. "Revenue-sharing is still permitted, but now must be disclosed in a 50-page document that is distributed once a year. So, except for additional paperwork, nothing really has changed. They can advertise 'free' 401(k) plans while getting all their revenue from the funds."
The DOL hasn't issued any explicit guidance on how to deal with revenue-sharing, so plan sponsors have needed to be careful about possible conflicts of interest, as well as the reasonableness of amounts paid to service providers.
Jason Chepenik, a 401(k) plan consultant in Winter Park, Fla., recently helped Intersil Corp., a semiconductor maker in Milpitas, Calif., revamp its 401(k) plan using low-cost funds with no revenue-sharing fees.
To fill the gap from the loss of revenue-sharing, workers pay an annual administrative fee equal to 0.09% of their account balances, he said. In all, Intersil workers will save more than $600,000 a year in fees on the $330 million they have invested, with the savings coming from both lower charges from a new plan recordkeeper and the use of lower-cost funds, Chepenik calculated.
In addition to switching to lower-cost mutual funds, some brokers have adopted another form of advisory arrangement with plan sponsors. "We have seen some brokers moving to an RIA arrangement and also moving to share classes with little or no 12b-1 (marketing or distribution) fees," said Carol Ringwald, vice president at July Business Services, Waco, Texas.
But that's not always ideal, either, at least from a participant's viewpoint.
Which is why, Ringwald said, "we have also seen RIA arrangements where they are using share classes that pay a level 12b-1 fee across all of the funds and we are still allocating that back to the participants to offset their RIA fee."
Daniel A. Notto, senior retirement plan counsel at AllianceBernstein, thinks it may be "most prudent" for sponsors to rethink revenue-sharing altogether.
Beyond turning to lower-cost mutual fund share classes, Notto suggests sponsors consider using collective investment trusts as the underlying investment vehicles instead of mutual funds. CITs typically don't engage in revenue-sharing and are usually less expensive than mutual funds because they have lower compliance, marketing and administrative costs, Notto recently wrote.
"The bottom line for plan fiduciaries is to make an informed decision," he said. "Get enough information to think the issue through, work with the plan's advisors or consultants, make a decision and document it. That is how plan sponsors — as fiduciaries — can do the right thing for their plan participants and protect themselves at the same time."
In a blog last fall, Chicago-based law firm Winston and Strawn offered sponsors some specific advice on revenue-sharing arrangements. The highlights:
• Confirm that the compensation proposed for the recordkeeper or other service provider under the arrangement is reasonable. … Ask the provider to provide a chart showing each form of direct and indirect compensation and the corresponding fees/rates expected to be received. … Reviewing the information in this format may provide for a more comprehensive review.
• Ask your consultant (or other provider) to confirm that the revenue-sharing formula … are consistent with (or more favorable than) market trends.
• Ask your consultant (or other provider) to provide specific recommendations on the type of reporting needed to confirm that amounts paid back to the plan are correctly calculated and applied for the benefit of the plan.
• Allocate/track revenue-sharing payments in a trust or bookkeeping account … and establish a policy addressing how and when revenue-sharing payments paid back to the plan will be allocated among participants or used to pay plan expenses in accordance with ERISA.
Check out The Search for Better 401(k) Advice by Michael Finke on ThinkAdvisor.


text:
Cancel your date. Put down the remote. And for heaven's sake, enough with the books already! It's time to get gaming.
Bundle newcomer Focus Multimedia has the Bundle Stars Magic Number indie game bundle for $5.07. It includes eight Windows titles with a combined value of $109.88. You're literally paying 63 cents per game.
When you click through to the bundle page, don't be surprised to see six games and two "mystery titles." According to a Focus Multimedia rep, those titles are due to be unlocked...later today! And I've got the names.
For the moment, you'll be getting the following, all of which will be made available for download via Steam:
- Hand-drawn point-and-click adventure The Whispered World.
- Wild-West action-strategy game Helldorado.
- Turn-based strategy wargame Storm: Frontline Nation.
- Point-and-click adventure Mata Hari.
- Physics-based action/adventure Cargo! The Quest for Gravity.
- Rube Goldberg-influenced puzzle game Crazy Machines: Elements.
- Mystery Title #1: More puzzles in Crazy Machines 2.
- Mystery Title #2: Noir murder-mystery Alter Ego.
Even if you purchase the bundle before the mystery titles are officially revealed, you'll still get them.
As with some other bundles, this one diverts a portion of its proceeds to a charity: Special Effect, a UK-based organization that helps people with disabilities enjoy computer games. Alas, Focus Multimedia doesn't specify what percentage they're getting.
I'll admit that some of these games aren't shining stars. For example, GameSpot gave The Whispered World a score of 5.5 (out of 10), praising its gorgeous artwork but knocking its "dense, logic-defying puzzles." (Users gave it a 7.3, though.) And they were even less kind to Helldorado, which scored a 4.5.
But Storm: Frontline Nation earned a respectable 7.0, and you can't go wrong with a Crazy Machines game -- they're always a blast.
Indeed, if all you want are the two Crazy Machines titles, they're already a steal at five bucks. (Normally they'd cost you $20.) Consider the rest gravy -- interesting-sounding titles that you might not get to try otherwise.
Bonus deal: Speaking of games, for a limited time, and while codes last, IGN is giving away Need for Speed: Most Wanted (iOS). Just click "Get my code," then take that code to the App Store and redeem it. This top-rated racer normally sells for $4.99.
Bonus deal No. 2: Tablet Wednesday? It may not be alliterative, but it's happening: If you have an American Express card, you can purchase a Kindle Fire HD for $149.99 (plus tax) when you "sync" your card with your Twitter account. It's normally $199. Basically, you have to tweet a particular hashtag, which gets you a link to the deal page. Another option: Johnny's Discount Electronics (via Ebay) has the current-gen Kindle Fire for $149 shipped -- a savings of $10.
Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.
Curious about what exactly The Cheapskate does and how it works? Read our FAQ.


text:
We had a birthday celebration this past weekend, so I decided it was time to finally put together that Delighted bunting to make the place look festive now that all the Christmas decor is down. (This pennant pannel is still available here.) It looks so cheery compared to how bleak everything looks outside.
And with said birthday celebration, I have started a new epoch of my life: mother of a teenager. Thirteen years ago my life changed forever with the birth of this baby girl. That period of time has been full of more drama, cuteness, hysterics, laughs, sleep deprivation, and bodily fluids than I ever thought possible, but I can't imagine my life with out these kiddos. I'm pretty sure that the next 14 years of teenagehood at our house to be another wild ride full of other unimaginable emotions and experiences. I have a feeling I'll earn my share of gray hairs in that time, but once again I'll be richer for it. (As well as even more batty than I am now.)
In the mean time I've started a bunch of new projects and joined a Swoon-along. A little bit over-enthusiastic? Probably so. But so far, I like it.


text:
STRANGEBUTTRUE- Placid rein: Your ancestor's tomb may tell tales
Q. Why are geologists taking a closer look at gravestones these days? –B. Stoker
A. The Geological Society of America is pressing cemeteries into service as global climate monitors, with the volunteering public doing the measuring, says Constance Holden in Science magazine. White marble gravestones, it turns out, are highly susceptible to erosion from acid rain, and because of their clear dates, scientists get an accurate read of a region's climate and pollution history, says Gary Lewis of GSA. Marble headstones are mainly a Christian tradition, so their data likely cluster in the Americas, Europe, and Oceania.
Participants will need a GPS device to read a marker's coordinates and a micrometer to measure its weathering. This is straightforward in places such as the United Kingdom and Australia, where inscribed letters are often filled with lead that is flush with the stone until the marble starts wearing away.
"Lacking this clue, weathering can be measured by comparing the stone's thickness at the top and bottom," explains Holden. Data can then be logged into the project's Website to create a special global map for climatologists.
Says geomorphologist Thomas Paradise of Arkansas, "It's a great idea, long overdue."
Q. An estimated 20 percent of employees work at least some of their time at home, generating a whole new lingo. You hip? –R. Warfield
A. The granddaddy of this new vocabulary is "telecommuting," coined during the 1970s OPEC oil embargo, says Paul McFedries in IEEE Spectrum magazine.
"Closet telecommuters" or "guerrilla telecommuters" have only their bosses' permission to work at home. Perhaps managers' greatest fear about the "office-free" lifestyle is that "teleworkers" may be "teleloafing," but generally people put in longer hours at home than at the office, the "teleworkaholic syndrome." Or they may feel lonely and isolated, prone to "watercooler withdrawal."
As folks fit themselves into the "zero-commuting" lifestyle, many remodel their abodes in a "HOHO" setup, for "his office/her office." Eschewing both the office and the home are "digital nomads," who go on the road and network wirelessly, relying on Wi-Fi connections to become "Wi-Fi warriors."
One journalist has even dubbed them "lippies," for location-independent professionals.
"I've worked out of my home since 1991," says McFedries, whose commute is 20 seconds up a flight of stairs unless there's a traffic jam when his wife is coming down.
"It's a life that suits those of us who WFH (work from home) to perfection."
Q. It's said that when Galileo Galilei simultaneously dropped two balls of different weights 150 feet off the Leaning Tower of Pisa, he famously overturned the Aristotelian notion that heavy objects fall faster than light ones. Was Galileo right in calling the drop a draw? –T. Pynchon
A. As right as can be, given the instruments available to him at the time– his eyes and ears. In a vacuum, all objects fall with the same acceleration, but air resistance
can cause either the light or the heavy ball to reach the ground first, depending on actual weights and densities, says electrical and computer engineer Paul J. Nahin in Mrs. Perkins' Electric Quilt.
In fact, due to air resistance, Galileo's heavier 100-pound ball would have dropped about 0.016 seconds faster, making impact while the lighter 1-pound ball was roughly 20 inches up.
But, surprisingly, under certain circumstances, the lighter ball can win. For example, if a smaller, denser 0.1 pound lead ball and a larger 0.2 pound wooden ball are compared in a 150-foot drop, the lighter lead ball with less air resistance will hit the ground while the wooden ball still has about 13 feet to fall.
Send Strange questions to brothers Bill and Rich at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Latest MedicineNet News
By Kevin S. Austin
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Lisa Zamosky
Oct. 4, 2013 -- Are you waiting to get access to the new health insurance Marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act? Since launching Oct. 1, the federal and state web sites that offer the plans have been overwhelmed by users, and many people have not been able to create accounts or get information.
If you're one of them, there are steps you can take to get ready while you're waiting to get online. Keep in mind that you don't have to do everything right away. Open enrollment lasts until March 31, 2014. If you want your coverage to start Jan. 1, 2014, you must sign up by Dec. 15 of this year.
Here's the information you need to apply for a plan:
- Personal information: Full names, date of birth, and Social Security numbers for everyone you want on your policy.
- Income/taxes: If you plan to file a federal tax return next year, will it be an individual or joint return? Will you have dependents? Are you claimed as a dependent? Do you have other income or deductions? What is your projected household income for 2014?
- Citizenship status: The citizenship status of everyone on your application.
- Employment: Employer name and address, estimated current wages.
- Repeat: You'll have to provide the same information for your spouse or partner, children who live with you, and anyone else who is on your federal tax return.
- Current health coverage: If anyone on your application currently has health insurance, you will need the details of that plan. That includes federal and state programs such as Medicaid and CHIP, employer programs, and COBRA.
- Get ready to pay: You can pay by check, cashier's check, money order, bank transfer, prepaid debit card, or automatic deduction from a credit or debit card.
Other Things to Have on Hand
- Your doctors: Make a note of your doctors and their specialties. When you get into the application process, you'll be able to see if they are in or out of the network of the plans you are considering. That will affect how much it would cost you to see them.
- Your medications: Have a list of all the medications you and your family members take. Your plan may have a list of preferred medications, called a drug formulary.
- Costs: Each plan will have different deductibles, copays, and coinsurance. Compare those you find on the Marketplace with the cost of your premiums to understand what your total costs will be.
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Did these women molest two girls?
The four women each had a chance to prove they were not monsters. They did not succeed.
Jurors decided that what the women did with two sisters, ages 7 and 9, in July 1994 was not the mundane activity of a week's visit with their aunt — a trip to Walmart, swimming, basketball, buying a goldfish — as the women testified.
More coverage Convicted of assault but maintaining their innocence
Jurors believed the girls' story instead: that the visit turned into a debauched nightmare, an orgy in which the aunt and her friends sexually assaulted the girls with various small objects.
And jurors never even heard the speculation about Satanism.
"They told me to take off my pants and I told them no," said one of the girls, 11 when she testified three years later. "They took them off and they started yelling and screaming."
All four women — the aunt, Elizabeth Ramirez, her roommate Kristie Mayhugh and two friends, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera — were found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.
They lost their appeals and went to prison, where they remain today. Except for those close to them and a handful of advocates, the shocking crime has been largely forgotten in the 16 years since the accusations first were made.
But a San Antonio Express-News investigation — including interviews with witnesses and experts and a review of police reports, medical studies and thousands of pages of trial transcripts and other court documents — raises troubling questions about the scientific legitimacy of medical evidence deployed against the women, whether authorities checked a previous rape allegation made by the girls and whether anti-gay views prejudiced Ramirez's jury.
In two trials, the defense called no witnesses to rebut the testimony of pediatrician Nancy Kellogg, then as now the medical director of Child Safe — at the time, it was called the Alamo Children's Advocacy Center. But research available when she examined the girls classified the three signs of sexual trauma she found as either normal, inconclusive or impossible to identify as a scar, as she did.
On and off the witness stand, the girls changed their accounts of the timing, weapons, perpetrators and other basic details of the assault every time they told it to authorities, records show.
The girls' family was mired in conflict before and after the trials, with members making abuse claims in two Texas counties and in another state. It wasn't the first time the nieces had made a rape outcry.
All of the accused women were or had been in lesbian relationships. The trial of Ramirez, held separately from the other women, showcased her sex life, and her jury foreman, a minister, had told attorneys that homosexuality was wrong on religious grounds.
Two advocacy groups, the Lubbock-based Innocence Project of Texas, or IPOT, and the National Center for Reason and Justice in New York, or NCRJ, have taken up the women's case.
Jeff Blackburn, IPOT chief counsel, said it represents "exactly how broken our criminal justice system can be" and called the medical testimony "junk science."
Kellogg declined repeated requests for comment for this article.
Both accusers, now in their 20s, also didn't comment — one of them by not responding to requests; the other declining by phone.
Statistically speaking, the defendants, 19 to 21 at the time of the allegations, were unlikely gang-rapists. Substantial research shows women make up only 10 percent to 20 percent of sexual predators, and those who abuse children usually have a history of mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse or are involved with a man who perpetrates it.
Ramirez, Mayhugh, Vasquez and Rivera fit none of those categories. They held down jobs and had taken college classes. Ramirez was pregnant and Rivera cherished her infant daughter and toddler son.
Ramirez testified she thought the girls were lying because their father was angry that she spurned his advances. Mayhugh and Vasquez mentioned him in their police statements as well.
Officials offered little explanation why, as the girls described it, the women would call them into the apartment, where they were getting drunk and smoking pot, two of them lounging around topless, and hold them by wrists and ankles, repeatedly violate them, threaten to kill them and their family — then let them take a shower and go about their day.
But Kellogg had a theory about that. Maybe they did it for the devil.
Satan's long shadow
Kellogg examined the girls when they reported the assault to police in September 1994, two months after the visit. She jotted a note on the back pages of both reports that the attack could be "satanic related."
Testifying outside the presence of jurors, Kellogg said she based that note on "my research and experience in this area," and published studies she could not name. There was also "the fact that there were female perpetrators and the fact that there was more than one perpetrator involved," she said.
Satanic and other rituals had been cited in a wave of child sex-abuse prosecutions that made national headlines in the 1980s and early 1990s.
But in a study released two years before the girls walked into Kellogg's exam room, Kenneth Lanning, a supervisory special agent for the FBI Behavioral Science Unit who analyzed many of the cases, found little or no evidence such ritualistic child abuse existed.
Neither jury knew about Kellogg's speculation because of defense objections. But at Ramirez's trial, prosecutor Philip Kazen's hyperbole in arguments to the jury evoked images of ritualistic abuse: the niece who testified was an "angel," he said, twice referring to her as a "sacrificial lamb" offered up by Ramirez to her friends.
"We're going to ask you," Kazen told jurors, "to believe a 9-year-old little girl who was sacrificed on the altar of lust."
Ramirez's trial put a spotlight on her sexuality. She answered personal, detailed questions, some from her own attorney, who sought to demonstrate she was not attracted to little girls.
Kazen urged the jury not to convict Ramirez because she was a lesbian, but added: "It's only important in the sense that that activity is generally consistent with the activity alleged in the indictment."
Clifford Rosky, a University of Utah law professor who researches sexuality and gender, reviewed parts of the trial transcript and said it appeared Kazen raised anti-gay stereotypes, including the misperception that lesbianism is related to child abuse. There is no way to know exactly how that affects juries, Rosky said.
Kazen, now a state district judge, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Kellogg's notation that the case could be "satanic related" was written after the debunking in the early 1990s of nationwide hysteria over ritualistic child abuse.
But something else had changed in those years. Physical signs of abuse identified by doctors in 1980s cases — bumps, white lines and other oddities seen on hymens — later were found to appear in both abused and nonabused girls, leading researchers to conclude they weren't definitive signs of trauma.
In her exams and testimony at both trials, Kellogg noted a thickening of the hymen as a sign of trauma. She noted its increased redness in the younger sister — which she admitted could have other causes. And she said a white line on the older sister's hymen was a scar that could only have been caused by trauma.
But by the time of the exam, one of the most widely circulated classification systems did not include thickening of the hymen as a definitive sign of abuse. A 1992 classification table reprinted in a 1994 issue of Pediatrics, a highly regarded medical journal, listed the thickening as "normal."
"I can tell you there was medical evidence, definitive studies, coming out by 1989 and they were being widely discussed by 1991 and (Kellogg) is supposed to be a leader in her field," said Debbie Nathan, one of the first journalists in the country to debunk satanic abuse cases made during the 1980s. She helped found the NCRJ and is an advocate for the four women.
Kellogg had reviewed medical exams done on the girls in 1992, after they said a 10-year-old boy attacked them in Denver, where they had lived with their mom. The exams showed no sign of abuse, and Kellogg noted that comparing the photographs from 1992 and 1994 showed the white mark on the older sister's hymen was new.
That should raise an alarm but it doesn't prove anything, said Sonja Eddleman, the clinical coordinator of a child-abuse evaluation team who also directs the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program at Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi.
A white mark or line can be a scar, but the only way to know it was caused by acute trauma is to follow the healing process from the time of injury until a scar is made, she said.
Eddleman reviewed Kellogg's testimony and exam records for the two girls and said defense attorneys likely could have found experts to challenge it.
Rivera's attorney at the time, Catherine Babbitt, said she can't comment because she now is a prosecutor for the Bexar County district attorney's office. Attorneys for Vasquez, Mayhugh and Ramirez didn't return calls for comment.
In the second trial, Babbitt hammered at the fact that Kellogg produced no examination photos. Prosecutor Mary Kay Delavan dismissed those concerns, asking jurors, "Do you feel cheated because you didn't get to see photos of the little girls' hymens?"
Today, Delavan says she stands by the case but cannot discuss details without reviewing records. Delving into the subject is unfair to the victims, she added.
Kazen made Kellogg's importance clear to jurors, telling them that "the medical, physical evidence does not lie."
Without the doctor, all prosecutors had was a story that, even for witnesses so young, was dizzying in its contradictions.
Who did what?
They must not have heard her correctly, the older girl said during the second trial.
"I said it was Anna three times," the girl said, denying she ever said Ramirez held the gun. "They probably got it mixed up."
All three defense attorneys relentlessly questioned both sisters on the changes in their stories to police and to Kellogg, but especially the older girl, who testified at both trials. At the first trial, she repeatedly had insisted it was Ramirez who held a gun to her head and threatened her.
Very little stayed the same from their first statements to police through the last trial — and these accounts differed from the ones their father and grandmother recalled for authorities. A sampling of the inconsistencies:
There were no weapons, then a knife, then two guns, or maybe just Ramirez had a gun.
The assaults happened at night, in the morning, at 2 p.m. when "Full House" was on TV, in the living room, in the bedroom, with the girls in the same place, with the girls separated.
Mayhugh wasn't there, then she was; their dad picked the girls up, Mayhugh and Ramirez drove them home, then all the women drove them home.
In both trials, prosecutors acknowledged the contradictions but told jurors they could not expect perfectly consistent testimony from such witnesses; they were just kids, prosecutors said.
In the second trial, both girls were asked about the rape allegations they had made about the boy in Denver.
The youngest, who would have been 4 or 5 years old in 1992 — records contain no date of the alleged assault — said under cross-examination she didn't remember it, until a lawyer pressed: "Is there anything you want to change?"
"Something did happen," she said.
This was a contradiction the defense did not press — the mysterious 10-year-old boy made for a good scapegoat, a way to explain Kellogg's exam findings.
But it was news to the girls' mom, Rosemary Camarillo, 43, who was shocked to hear, in a phone call from San Antonio during the trial, that her youngest had told her father she'd been raped when she lived with Camarillo in Denver.
"I didn't even know about it," and had no idea who the boy could have been, she said.
It is impossible to tell from publicly available records whether police, prosecutors or defense attorneys in the 1994 San Antonio case ever tried to find out if the 1992 incident actually happened or if police even took a report of it. Denver police have no report.
San Antonio police Sgt. Thomas Matjeka, who investigated the 1994 accusations, included no statements or notes on phone calls to Denver in the supplementary report submitted with the case file to the district attorney's office, which details the case from start to finish.
Besides the girls and the accused, Matjeka lists only the girls' father and paternal grandmother as giving him statements.
There also is no indication the detective interviewed the family living next door to Ramirez, including their two preteen children who often were at her apartment.
Both girls testified they screamed during the assaults. Police don't appear to have asked the neighbors if they heard anyone scream.
An SAPD spokesman could not obtain the case file in time to address specific questions.
History of accusations
The trial defense of Ramirez, Mayhugh, Rivera and Vasquez rested on a simple premise: the two girls were lying.
Ramirez thought she knew why. She testified she had turned down marriage proposals by her sister's former boyfriend, her nieces' father, including one around the time they spent a week's visit at her apartment.
This could have been Javier Limon's payback, months later, Ramirez testified: using his daughters to accuse her. But she couldn't say exactly when he made his advance.
Limon had three children with Ramirez's older sister, Camarillo — the two daughters who made the 1994 accusations and a son, all now adults.
When Limon, 44, was asked in a lengthy interview last month about Ramirez's theory that he was behind the girls' accusation, he denied it and denied ever making any advances, including marriage proposals.
When asked about the boy who allegedly raped his youngest daughter in 1992 in Denver, he could not recall talking about it to police in 1994.
"I said that?" he asked, sitting in a Whataburger in Fort Bend County. "I turned this over to the proper authorities and they did what they needed to do. As far as telling the police officer, I don't know if I said that. It's been a long time."
Limon had just left a court appearance with his ex-wife, Carina Hooper, 42. The two married in 1997, had one daughter, now 12, and Limon adopted her two sons. They divorced in 2004.
Hooper was the third woman with whom Limon has had children. He and a woman he was dating, Angela Garcia, now 37, had a son, Joseph Limon, in 1993. Javier Limon has had bitter custody disputes with all three women.
Though she wasn't told about it at the time, the rape outcry against the 10-year-old boy was made when Camarillo and Limon were fighting over custody of the girls in 1992, Camarillo said.
Javier Limon said he has been unlucky with women but is a protective father, not a manipulator of his children.
Joseph Limon, 17, disagrees. When he lived with his dad in Stafford, "There (were) times he would make me say I didn't want to go back to my mom's," Joseph said. "I was just so scared of him."
Limon had full custody of Joseph for about seven years until he turned 12, when Joseph refused to go back.
Javier Limon denied ever trying to coach his son to lie.
In recent years, his youngest children from his marriage with Hooper also were embroiled in abuse accusations. The daughter accused her middle brother of sexual assault, then changed her story and accused her oldest brother, according to relatives, including both her parents.
Court records show state child welfare workers at one point required all three siblings to be placed in separate households at night.
Allegations against the oldest sibling also had been made by the middle brother, and Phillip Limon, now 19, was indicted on charges of felony indecency with a child in October 2008.
The allegations against him surfaced while he and his siblings were in Hooper's care during a custody dispute between her and Javier Limon that now has lasted six years.
Phillip Limon pleaded guilty in April and got deferred adjudication probation. The four women accused in 1994 turned down the same type of plea deal before going to trial.
At 36, Ramirez still struggles with guilt over what happened to her friends.
"I've had a hard time with that every day," Ramirez said from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hobby Unit in Marlin, where she's serving a 37 1/2-year sentence. "Just because they knew me, their whole lives have been taken away from them."
Vasquez, Mayhugh and Rivera have been denied parole but are eligible.
Rivera, 35, who dreamed of being a mechanic, is at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville. Mayhugh, 37, who had studied veterinary science, is just up the road at the Murray Unit. And Vasquez, 35, who had a second interview scheduled for nursing school when she got arrested, also is at Hobby.
Their projected release date is June 2015.
Vasquez works side-by-side with Ramirez in the Hobby Unit's print shop. It is an awkward friendship that rarely, if ever, revisits what happened — and what didn't — that summer week in apartment No. 13.
The year her friends are looking at release, Ramirez will become eligible for parole. Her projected release date is Aug. 7, 2034. She will be 60.