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The Shafran Moltz Group conducted an?annual small business survey of 5,000 business owners this past month. The outlook continues to be uncertain. Forty five percent of respondents thought the economy was finally steady and do not believe there will be a double dip recession. However, over one third still saw the outlook as more cloudy. They thought that the economy was basically stuck in neutral or GDP could even decrease this year.
Health insurance continues to be the fastest increasing cost for small business owners. Even with impending new legislation, 69% of owners thought they would see premium increases from 5% to 20%. A quarter of the respondents predicted premium increases of 20% or higher.
No matter what President Obama says, 68% of the small business owners think that banks will stay missing in action for lending capital in 2012. This is a result of both the FDIC and the banks staying averse to risk. However, a quarter of the respondents did see light at the end of the tunnel and believe borrowing will increase this year.
Small business owners think that politics will dominate this election year. When asked, ?Who is the best presidential candidate for small business,? owners were split between President Obama and the eventual Republican nominee. Surprisingly, 33% wished that Steve Jobs could take the job or someone else.
The most common concerns small businesses mentioned for the coming year were how the continued uncertainty in the economy and gridlock in Washington affects their own inability to make decisions. Added fears were how the euro crisis and lagging home prices will hurt the overall economy in the long run.
Editor?s note: The Shafran Moltz Group is the author?s company.
BarryMoltz gets small business owners unstuck. With decades of entrepreneurial ventures as well as consulting countless other entrepreneurs, he has discovered the formula to get business owners marching forward. His newest book, BAM! shows how in a social media world, customer service is the new marketing. ?
Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/02/2012-small-business-outlook-partly-cloudy.html
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More and more people are turning their attention to living their lives in a more responsible way. They have begun a recycling plan and are working hard to conserve energy. They are also being more earth friendly in their food and drink choices. One simple way that has been discovered to be more earth friendly is to switch to using organic coffee. When someone chooses the coffee that is made from organic coffee beans, they are making a very earth friendly decision. The benefits that come with drinking coffee that is organic are many. To begin with, the traditional coffee is more harmful than this coffee. To keep the bugs off of the traditional coffee beans, pesticides are sprayed on the plants. There are still pesticides on the coffee beans that are ground up when the traditional coffee is packaged. Even the small doses of these pesticides can lead to a number of severe health issues.
You will not only be helping your body to be healthy when you choose the organic types of coffee but you will also be doing your part to help the environment. When someone grows organic type coffee, they must adhere to the guidelines that are in place. The government regulates the growers of these crops to ensure that they are following each one without skipping any steps.
One of the regulations that are place on organic coffee growers is that the beans must be planted and grown under the shade of trees. The plants should not be exposed to full sunlight. The beans will have just the right amount of nourishment from the sun when the small beams flow through the branches of the trees. This practice allows the beans to grow at a slower rate which makes them taste much richer.
Organic coffee beans cannot have the harmful pesticides and chemicals on them. In order to allow the beans to grow to their full maturity, all natural fertilizers and composts are used. When you drink your coffee you will now be rid of the harmful chemicals. The earth will not be filled with these chemicals either.
These coffee beans will be planted in soil that has been completely free from chemicals for a specific number of years. When crops treated with chemicals were grown on a particular piece of land, that land cannot be used to grow organic foods. There are tests completed on the land before any planting is done to make sure the guidelines are adhered to.
These regulations do add some time to the growing time for these plants. There are also more manual processes involved in growing these plants. The price of the organic coffee is raised some due to these things. While the difference is not really that great, it is still more costly than traditional coffee. The benefits to your health and the environment are well worth the small difference in price.
Traditional coffee flavors can also be found in the organic brands when you look for them in your grocery store. There may even be some on the shelf that you could not get in a traditional coffee. The all natural ingredients that are used to create these wonderful tastes are all organic as well.
If you were to spend a little time looking online you would also find that you can find some really great types of coffee that are organic and that taste amazing. You will not need to look in your grocery store for these coffees as they will be delivered right to your door step.
Source: http://mortgage-broker-fraud.com/2012/02/the-benefits-of-drinking-organic-coffee/
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WikiLeaks is making public email stolen from Stratfor, a global security analysis company based in Texas. Hackers broke into Stratfor data systems in December and stole employee emails.
The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks began publishing on Monday more than five million emails from a Texas-based global security analysis company.
Skip to next paragraphThe emails, snatched by hackers, could unmask sensitive sources and throw light on the murky world of intelligence-gathering by the company known as Stratfor, which counts Fortune 500 companies among its subscribers.
Stratfor in a statement shortly after midnight EST (0500 GMT) said the release of its stolen emails was an attempt to silence and intimidate it.
It said it would not be cowed under the leadership of George Friedman, Stratfor's founder and chief executive officer. It said Friedman had not resigned as CEO, contrary to a bogus email circulating on the Internet.
RECOMMENDED: Hackers rally to support Wikileaks
Some of the emails being published "may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic," the company statement said.
"We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them," the statement said.
WikiLeaks did not say how it had acquired access to the vast haul of internal and external correspondence of the Austin, Texas company, formally known as Strategic Forecasting Inc.
Hackers linked to the loosely organized Anonymous hackers group said at the beginning of the year they had stolen the email correspondence of some 100 of the firm's employees. The group said it planned to publish the data so the public would know the "truth" about Stratfor operations.
Stratfor describes itself as a subscription-based publisher of geopolitical analysis with an intelligence-based approach to gathering information.
WikiLeaks and Anonymous maintain the emails will expose dark secrets about the company. Stratfor said in its statement it had worked hard to build "good sources" in many countries, "as any publisher of global geopolitical analysis would do."
In December, hackers broke into Stratfor's data systems and stole a large number of company emails.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Reuters: "Here we have a private intelligence firm, relying on informants from the U.S. government, foreign intelligence agencies with questionable reputations and journalists."
"What is of grave concern is that the targets of this scrutiny are, among others, activist organizations fighting for a just cause."
Friedman, the chief executive, said on Jan. 11 the thieves would be hard pressed to find anything significant in the stolen emails.
"God knows what a hundred employees writing endless emails might say that is embarrassing, stupid or subject to misinterpretation. ... As they search our emails for signs of a vast conspiracy, they will be disappointed."
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It's a ritual I love. As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I look forward to just before Thanksgiving when all the year's best movies land in my mail box. And I get to watch them at home and then cast my votes for the great performances of the year in movies. Growing up in Hollywood, and working as an actor most of my life, I take this ritual seriously because I know well the work that goes into creating these amazing performances.
What is fresh about this year's movies is the range of choices the actresses had. I was struck by the fact that this year's crop of women have moved into areas previously inhabited by male actors -- and, wow, were they good.
Here's what I mean:
Role reversal. Historically, men love to play women, but rarely do women do the reverse. We've seen Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie" even Adam Sandler playing both the brother and sister in his film "Jack and Jill" this year and who could forget Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as the jazz era floozies in "Some Like it Hot." But you must see Glenn Close and Janet McTeer knock it out of the park - and not for laughs , but very real - in their gender bending performances in "Albert Nobbs."
Buddy movie/gal pals. There have been so many great guy ensemble films, but they're scarce for women. "Bridesmaids" had it all - from the good buddies to the gross-out comedy. And Melissa McCarthy was so brilliantly funny as she moved in on the wild turf once Monopolized by guys like John Belushi and Will Ferrell.
Action. What is also exciting this year is women's effective portrayal of brave, independent-minded characters - and, yes, in the case of Rooney Mara in "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo," not afraid to kick a little ass, too.
So here is a salute to an exceptional group of women who are competing for this year's Oscars. Good work! And good luck!
I can't wait to see the great debate in the comments below. The other thing I love about the movies - everyone is an expert!
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President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about the importance of the payroll-tax cut and jobless-benefits extension compromise that bi-partisan House and Senate conferees reached last week, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about the importance of the payroll-tax cut and jobless-benefits extension compromise that bi-partisan House and Senate conferees reached last week, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a lower corporate tax rate and an end to dozens of loopholes he said helps U.S. companies move jobs and profits overseas. "It's not right and it needs to change," he said.
The president wants to lower the U.S. corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent, the highest in the world after Japan. Under his plan, manufacturers would receive incentives so that their effective tax rate could be even lower.
Obama's election-year plan would set a new 28 percent corporate tax rate, still higher than the 25 percent rate sought by congressional Republicans.
"It's a framework that lowers the corporate tax rate and broadens the tax base in order to increase competitiveness for companies across the nation," Obama said in a statement.
Corporations would have to give up dozens of cherished loopholes and subsidies that they now enjoy. Corporations with overseas operations would also face an unspecified minimum tax on their foreign earnings.
The proposal outlined by Geithner would also eliminate tax loopholes and subsidies that Geithner called "fundamentally unfair."
Obama also would set a minimum tax on the foreign earning of U.S. companies.
Chances of accomplishing such change in the tax system are slim in a year dominated mostly with presidential and congressional elections. But for Obama, the proposal is part of a larger tax plan that is central to his re-election strategy.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who rolled out the plan Wednesday morning, acknowledged that the debate "will be politically contentious."
"Some will say these proposals are too tough on business, and others will say that they're not tough enough," he said.
Obama's plan would be part of a larger effort to overhaul the U.S. tax system, and it dovetails with Obama's call for raising taxes on millionaires and maintaining current rates on individuals making $200,000 or less. But White House spokesman Jay Carney said Congress could act separately on the corporate tax component of Obama's overall tax strategy.
Republican reaction was mixed. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said he appreciated the administration's plan, though it set a corporate tax rate that is higher than the 25 percent he has proposed. He faulted Obama, however, for not offering a wholesale overhaul of the entire tax system for businesses and individuals.
"While this is a good step by the administration, I will borrow from the president's own words to Congress from just yesterday: 'Don't stop here. Keep going,'" Camp said in a statement. But Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, dismissed the president's plan as a "set of bullet points designed more for the campaign trail than an actual blueprint for fixing our tax code."
While the 35 percent nominal corporate tax rate ranks among the highest, deductions, credits and exemptions allow many corporations to pay taxes at a much lower rate.
Under the framework proposed by the administration, the rate cuts, closed loopholes and the minimum tax on overseas earning would result in no increase to the deficit.
That means that many businesses that slip through loopholes or enjoy subsidies and pay an effective tax rate that is substantially less than the 35 percent corporate tax could end up paying more under Obama's plan. Others, however, would pay less while some would simply benefit from a more simplified system.
Reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent would reduce tax revenues by about $700 billion over the next decade, according to an estimate prepared in October by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.
That means lawmakers would have to find about $70 billion a year in tax increases to keep the package from adding to the budget deficit, hardly an easy task. In 2010, the corporate income tax raised a total of $278 billion, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Corporate income taxes have been shrinking as a share of overall federal taxes for decades. In 2010, corporate income taxes made up just 12 percent of all federal tax receipts, down from 24 percent in 1960, according to the IRS.
Geithner said the Obama plan aims to help U.S. businesses, especially manufacturers who face strong international competition. Obama's plan would lower the effective rate for manufacturers to 25 percent by offering other tax incentives that emphasize development of clean energy systems.
Many members of both parties have said they favor overhauling the nation's individual and corporate tax systems, which they complain have rates that are too high and are riddled with too many deductions.
The corporate tax debate has made its way into the presidential contest. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has called for a 25 percent rate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would cut the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent, and former Sen. Rick Santorum would exempt domestic manufacturers from the corporate tax and halve the top rate for other businesses.
While Obama has been promoting various aspects of his economic agenda in personal appearances and speeches, the decision to leave the corporate tax plan to the Treasury Department to unveil signaled its lower priority.
What's more, the administration's framework leaves much for Congress to decide ? a deliberate move by the administration to encourage negotiations but which also doesn't subject the plan to detailed scrutiny.
Obama's plan is not as ambitious as a House Republican proposal that would lower the corporate rate to 25 percent.
Still, Obama has said corporate tax rates are too high and has proposed eliminating tax breaks for American companies that move jobs and profits overseas. He also has proposed giving tax breaks to U.S. manufacturers, to firms that return jobs to this country and to companies that relocate to some communities that have lost big employers.
Geithner told a House committee last week that the administration wants to create more incentives for corporations to invest in the United States.
"We want to bring down the rate, and we think we can, to a level that's closer to the average of that of our major competitors," Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee.
White House economic adviser Gene Sperling has advocated a minimum tax on global profits. Currently many corporations do not invest overseas profits in the United States to avoid the 35 percent tax rate.
___
Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.
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I need new underpants -- and yes, I prefer to call them underpants, not panties.
Sure, I could trudge off to the mall and get a replacement package of three, comfort waist, no-roll, full cut briefs, made in El Salvador or Honduras, but... I can't. Not after President Obama's visit to my hometown, Milwaukee, last week, touting all things insourced: "We need an economy that's built to last -- an economy based on American manufacturing, American-made energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of the values that made this country great: Hard work. Fair play. Shared responsibility," he said.
See what I mean? It was my patriotic duty to replace my past-their-prime, made in Costa Rica Jockeys with something home sewn and possibly grown, and it felt so right.
I went online, typed, women's underwear made in USA, and up popped a plethora of websites with clever names like stillmadeinusa.com, madeinusaforever.com or americasworking.com -- listings of companies that make things I might be interested in the future -- outerwear, shoes, t-shirts, socks and fire retardant clothing.
Where were the underpants? Oh, sure there were boxers and briefs for men, loungewear, active wear, other kinds of clothing for women, but underpants? Tough to find. I know all about American Apparel, and I gave them a look, but couldn't get past the photos of scantily clad young things in thongs. At this stage in my life, I need more yardage and less pout.
After hours of scrolling and clicking, I hit on uwearusa.com and purchased a three pairs of white, cotton briefs for $7 a pair, only because they were phasing out their women's underwear section, which sucked. In a few months, when it was time for me to restock, I'd have to shell out a tad more money, but, it's all good, right? I mean, if it means keeping someone's job here? I could see paying $15, maybe $20 but, uh, $25 for one pair, when I was used to getting 3 pair for $12, maybe $8 on sale?
Let's face it. I was spoiled. I had become lazy. Think of it, which is what I don't do when I waltz through Kohl's to pick up a couple packages of multicolored briefs because I have a coupon or they are having a sale. But, now? I do think about it. What about organic cotton? Could that be an option? Would I feel that much better sitting in a pair of underpants that had not caused any undue stress to Mother Earth? At $42 a pair, I would be the one who was feeling the stress.
What about buying underpants that were imported, made in India, but were from a co-op, owned by local women, who benefited from each sale? Wouldn't that do as much good as a pair that may have been made here, but from cotton imported from God-knows-where, picked by tiny children? Why did this have to be so hard? Kind of makes me shudder at my next task: Bras.
Underpants are only a start. I plan on slowly replacing all my clothing with stuff made here. When I went through my closet and checked all the labels on my shirts, dresses, skirts, looked in my shoes, boots, I was embarrassed. A few sweaters, one dress, two pair of socks were all I had that were made in America. If only I had been to all the places that my clothes had been manufactured in, I would be a lot more worldly.
My made-in-USA items should be arriving in a week. I hope they fit. I hope they're comfortable. I hope that when I wear my insourced-maybe-not-organic-cotton underpants, I will stand a little taller, walk a little prouder, in, and think of the person whose job I just might have saved. Change has come to my closet. I'm saving the economy one pair of underpants at a time. Hopefully I won't become frustrated, give up and throw in the made-in-Guatemala towel.
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Follow Mel Miskimen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mmiskimen
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mel-miskimen/im-changing-my-underpants_b_1294360.html
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(NewsCore) ? Everybody, including the man himself, called Gary Carter ?The Kid? for his exuberant personality and intense play on the baseball diamond.
Carter, who died Thursday at age 57 nearly nine months after being diagnosed with brain cancer, was a hard-hitting catcher who helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Carter?s daughter, Kimmy Carter Bloemers, announced her father?s death on a website where she has provided updates on his condition since his diagnosis last May.
?I am deeply saddened to tell you all that my precious dad went to be with Jesus today at 4:10 pm. This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write in my entire life but I wanted you all to know,? she wrote Thursday.
?He is in heaven and has reunited with his mom and dad. I believe with all my heart that dad had a STANDING OVATION as he walked through the gates of heaven to be with Jesus ? He is now in God?s Hall of Fame.?
Bloemers revealed last month that her father?s health had severely worsened, with doctors diagnosing new tumors on his brain. In the fall, she had written optimistically about Carter?s treatment, saying some of the tumors were shrinking.
Carter made a splash during his first full season in the majors, 1975, when he hit for a .270 average for the Montreal Expos, finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting and played in the All-Star Game, the first of 11 appearances.
But it was his image as a happy warrior and skills as a field general as much as his offense that made Carter a major sports celebrity of the era, The Journal reported.
His love of cameras and microphones sometimes alienated teammates, who also may have resented his salary ? among the highest in baseball during the 1980s ? as well as his celebrity endorsements for products like Polaroid and Ivory Soap. He had a squeaky-clean family life, professed born-again Christianity, trained as hard as anybody on the team ? and made sure everybody knew it.
?Gimme a Coke, some fries and a Gary Carter,? a fan who thought him guilty of hot-dogging once told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
But if he had high self-regard, Carter had the numbers to justify it, hitting 324 homers, and driving in 1,225 in his 19 professional seasons.
?It used to be the Era of Johnny Bench,? an Expos coach said in 1981. ?Now it?s Carter?s era.?
Gary Edmund Carter grew up in Fullerton, Calif., and when he was seven years old was a national champion in the NFL?s punt, pass and kick contest. He went on to quarterback his high school football team and was captain of the baseball and basketball teams.
Carter was heavily recruited to play college football, but ended up signing with the Expos in 1972. He played a few major-league games in 1974, having by then been converted to catcher from shortstop.
He built a home in Canada and was so popular among fans that Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said, ?I am certainly happy that I don?t have to run for election against Gary Carter.? With Carter as backstop, the Expos posted five winning seasons starting in 1979. In 1982 they rewarded him with a $15 million, seven-year contract ? big money for a baseball player in those days.
The Mets were on the rise when, in the 1984 off-season, they executed a blockbuster deal for the player generally recognized as the best catcher in baseball.
Although the Mets failed to make the playoffs in 1985, they took the World Series in 1986 with a team of high-visibility stars including Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez. To many fans, Carter was the capstone that put the team over the top.
But 1986 was to prove Carter?s last strong season as his body began to fail him, the result of catching more than 100 games most years.
The Mets declined to renew his contract after the 1989 season. Carter played for the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers before returning to Montreal for his final season.
?My body cries out,? a tearful Carter said at a 1992 news conference at Olympic Stadium, where he announced his retirement.
In later years, Carter worked as a baseball broadcaster with the Florida Marlins, now known as the Miami Marlins, and coached minor-league baseball. He openly campaigned for the Mets manager job, attracting criticism.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. There was a question at the time whether he should go in as an Expo or a Met. Carter joked that he should receive a bisected plaque, but in the end the hall?s president, Dale Petroskey, decided on the Expos.
Read more: The Wall Street Journal
Article source: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/sports/gary-carter-hall-of-fame-catcher-dies-dpgonc-20120217-fc_18022258
Source: http://cancerkick.com/2012/02/20/catcher-gary-carter-dies-of-brain-cancer/
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Galway Advertiser, February 16, 2012.
Gordon Fahy of Avita Communications with his team of Keith Shaughnessy (senior engineer) and Anita Walsh (accounts administrator). Photo:-Mike Shaughnessy
By Martina Nee
In a world where staying connected has become the ?be all and end all? it is little wonder that businesses get tangled up in their own web of inefficient phone lines and other overly complicated communication systems resulting in money unneccessarily going down the drain. However, Avita Communications can help reduce these costs, installing the very latest technology and efficient solutions, providing more security, leaving you to get on with growing your business.
Launched in 2010 by Gordon Fahy and Gerry Gray, Avita Communications, located at Galway Technology Park, Parkmore, Galway, is at the forefront of new innovations in the world of communications such as voice and data convergence and unified communications. Avita Communications not only offers independent expert advice but it is also the official re-seller of Alcatel-Lucent products ? a leading provider of advanced telephony solutions across Europe ? providing clients with a whole range of efficient and cost-effective solutions. The company provides businesses nationwide with a range of managed communication services including VOIP, IP enabled telephone systems, unified communications, and networking infrastructure including LAN services and wide area networks (WAN).
Managing director Gordon Fahy knows all too well what a struggle it can be for businesses to get off the ground. Avita Communications began as a ?man in a van? operation and two years later developed into a company employing six and is now looking to increase its ranks by currently hiring more. It is this personal experience in building a business that has inspired the company?s motto, which is based on working to help businesses make savings. ?The reason we have had this level of success is because we?ve always gone by the motto ?If we can?t justify something cost-wise then we won?t get the sale?. I worked in telecoms in a company called CK [CK Business Solutions] for 10 years, and some time later after that company was sold one of the former directors Gerry Gray approached me about setting up another telecoms company, that was two years ago. It started with me in a van selling telecommunications products and installing phone systems and we now have four enginneers and two adminstration staff, and we?re currently hiring more.
?We are the official re-sellers of Alcatel-Lucent products, which is the largest telecommunications company in the world with a turnover last year of around ?4.56 billion. It is to continental Europe what Cisco is to the United States. They produce and sell high-end telecommunication products, from telephone systems and IP handsets, developments in mobile phones, the selling of data equipment like network switches and routers,? said Mr Fahy, an Alcatel-Lucent certified system expert.
By utilising these high-products combined with expertise, Avita Communications can offer businesses, from small to large, solutions which will help save money and increase competitiveness, productivity, and security. One way Avita can do this is by reducing the amount of phone lines that are used by a company, therefore eliminating wastage. According to Mr Fahy, most companies have in excess of four to five phones lines cosing them ?1,500 per annum. If the amount of hours these lines are used, and the number of lines needed, are reduced this can make savings of almost ?700 per annum.
Many businesses these days no long work from just one site as there could be multiple offices or many staff working from home and Avita Communications can help make real savings by removing the need for extra lines and eliminating inefficiencies.
?We?re about reducing costs. We go into a business and look at what they have and give independent advice. We?re not going to sell you minutes and get you to switch over to our company. Avita looks at all the providers, giving the customer options on how to reduce costs. In our experience there aren?t many businesses, particularly medium sized, where we don?t see a whole heap of wastage with telephone lines. We look at the telephone systems and lines of the company and come up with practical solutions, giving quotes on equipment if it is needed. Clients are given information on innovations in voice and data technology that can lead to reducing costs, for example, companies that do business often look for quality SIP which is voice over the internet. Instead of a line with your usual provider a business can get an account with SIP company which programmes the phone system to diall out over the internet. This means there is no line rental and reduced call costs. Our systems are fully compatible with all forms of SIP.?
Another area where Avita Communications can help businesses is in networking equipment such as switches and routers which enable companies to create links between multiple offices. Once this equipment is in place and with the addition of voice IP or VOIP calls go through the computer network. This is also advantageous to businesses where staff work from home. For example, a travel company may no longer need an actual office and Avita installs an IP phone in the home of staff members so that when a customer calls the number on the website all the phones ring and the person that picks up gets the commission. Avita Communications is also a specialist in unified communications which is becoming extremely popular in the business sector.
Mr Fahy explains: ?Unified communications is about bringing all forms of communications in the company together ? from the desk phone, the mobile phone, the pager, etc. There is an application for the iPhone that enables your phone to become part of the company?s phone system as soon as you walk into the building and when you make a call it does not go on to the mobile phone bill. There is other technology such as video conferencing and we also have the latest desk phones, My IC Phone, which is essentially a large pad which can make calls, has all the contacts, and does email. Pretty soon we won?t need a PC, everything is becoming wireless and we have absolute expertise in this. Avita has recently been involved in updating a student village. More and more students are using iPads and android phones, so instead of the old plug in, the building is made wireless throughout with bay stations.?
There are many start-up businesses, with maybe two employees and looking to keep costs down, and Avita Communications can help by providing Cloud PBX, a cloud telephone system, in which the client is given IP phones connected to a centrally located telephone system in a data centre run by sister company Sleepless. The advantage is that the client has no line rental or bills to worry about, as there is only the rental on the phones themselves per month with unlimited calls. ?It is a very affordable way for small companies to get off the ground with the best technology,? said Mr Fahy.
A huge amount of savings can also be made by taking steps to prevent hacking of the phone system. According to Mr Fahy, phone hacking is major problem with ComReg figures showing that Irish businesses were hit last year to the tune of ?620,000. ?This has several links to organised crime and it is very costly for businesses. I can give 15 examples of companies in Galway that have been hit, one was hit three times. A hacker dials into the system, gets the voice mail and the press hash, and guesses the password. They then put a diversion in place for a premium line that is set up or they run traffice through the phone all day. In a lot of cases where call cards are sold on the streets of Europe. Phone hacking is three times more prevalent than credit card fraud. In the last number of years none of our customers has been hit as we work in partnership with Calista which is the only company that ensures 100 per cent security. The extensive piece of software works to monitor the phone system and it shuts down the line if it detects unusual traffic. None of our systems has ever been hacked as we?re constantly updating, patching it up, and by having the right partnership with Calista, this allows us to give a 100 per cent solution.?
Avita Communications offers a free site survey to all businesses to identify cost saving options and potential areas to create more efficiencies.
For more information log onto www.avitacommunications.com or contact 091 511411.
Source: http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/49561
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The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday issued a final determination that Apple doesn't infringe certain HTC patents.
HTC can appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and said it might. "We are disappointed by the Commission's ruling and look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning. We'll explore all options, including appeal," said Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC.
The ruling was made on a complaint that HTC filed with the ITC following a complaint lodged by Apple last year. HTC accused Apple of selling products that violate its patents relating to power management methods and phone number directories.
Based on the merits of the case, HTC isn't likely to be successful if it does appeal, said Florian Mueller, a patent expert, in a blog post. Mueller, who is sometimes paid for his work by companies including Microsoft, has been closely following the mobile patent wars.
HTC hasn't fared well in its disputes with Apple in front of the ITC. Late last year, the ITC found that HTC was infringing an Apple patent and issued an injunction against the importation of offending HTC products. Rather than lose sales, HTC removed technology from its phones that let users click on a phone number in an email or other application to make a phone call.
Apple has appealed that decision to the Federal Circuit in hopes of widening the scope of the ruling, Mueller said.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com
Source: http://www.cio.com.au/article/415870/itc_rules_apple_favor_htc_dispute/
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Wise business owners understand the significance of business consulting solutions to the every day operation of their businesses. If you are a budding entrepreneur, looking for the help of a business consulting firm might also be a great concept since by doing so, you are certain that each and every aspect of your business will be covered.
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For those interested in look over my shoulder program and loms, we have some important information for you right now.
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The Federal Communications Commission said this week it won't let Lightsquared offer commercial services. The commission's determination follows a recommendation from the NTIA and other federal agencies that LightSquared causes interference to GPS users. On February 14, 2012, The NTIA released three reports providing the unclassified results of the government?s most recent LightSquared-GPS interference testing [...]
US telecom regulators have pulled the plug on an ambitious plan to build a high-speed wireless broadband network, citing potential interference with GPS navigation devices.
21 hours ago from PhysOrg
Federal officials are effectively killing a private company's plans to start a national high-speed wireless broadband network after concluding it would in some cases jam GPS devices.
24 hours ago from PhysOrg
Yesterday, the FCC stated its intent to revoke LightSquared's waiver that would have allowed it to deploy LTE on frequencies that were right next to GPS and other satellite services, putting ...
1 hours ago from Extremetech
The Federal Communications Commission said this week it won't let Lightsquared offer commercial services. The commission's determination follows a recommendation from the NTIA and other federal ...
23 hours ago from dailywireless.org
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. company LightSquared's plan to become a fifth major wireless carrier was stymied as regulators cited satellite interference in blocking its launch.
14 hours ago from UPI
The Federal Communications Commission said that a proposal by a company called LightSquared to build a wireless broadband network should be shelved because it interferes with GPS technology, ...
24 hours ago from Bits NY Times
Source: http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/telecom-news/cluster135960886/
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After a year of waiting, we finally have our hands on former councillor Gordon Chong?s Sheppard Subway report. This is the document that was supposed to open the door to cheap and extensive subway building. This is the document that was supposed to propel the mayor toward making good on his campaign promise to extend the Sheppard Subway.
That was the theory, anyway. In reality, Chong?s report doesn?t do any of those things.?Instead, it suggests that the city make a series of irresponsible financial decisions that will screw with Toronto?s operating budget for decades to come. And it still leaves a billion dollar gap.
To illustrate, here?s how our friends at KPMG ? brought in to help with Chong?s financial analysis ? suggest we might build an eastward extension of the Sheppard line, from Don Mills to Scarborough Town Centre, at a total cost of $2.7 billion over seven years. This is just one of the scenarios studied. It?s a simple five-step process.
1) Finance $221 million based on an expected rise in property values along Sheppard and Eglinton. They call this Tax Increment Financing. Yes, this means that future property tax revenues generated by Eglinton development will be tied up with construction on Sheppard instead of used to pay for infrastructure and services that might be needed on the Eglinton corridor. But disregard that ? we?re building subways here!
2) Finance an additional $446 million based on expected revenue from development charges. And don?t just limit yourself to development charge revenues in the Sheppard & Eglinton corridor ? take the cash from developments all across the city. Yeah, this might screw with the city?s credit rating and any increases to non-residential development charges could chase business into the 905, but, again, try to ignore the details. Focus on the subways. They go fast.
We should pause here to note that to drive the revenues we need from the first two steps, we?ll need to drastically increase density along the Eglinton and Sheppard corridors. This means building high-rise condo blocs in the 800-metre zone along both streets. Good thing residents hardly ever oppose tall building projects.
3) Sell 18 city-owned properties along Eglinton & Sheppard for an additional $221 million. We don?t really know which properties, but let?s just assume that we probably don?t need them.
4) Hope against hope that the Eglinton LRT project comes in under budget ? which it surely won?t if it?s built underground like the mayor wants ? so that the province can transfer $650 million in funding to the Sheppard project. If this doesn?t happen, the whole plan falls to pieces. (The federal government?s $333 million contribution might be contingent on secured provincial funding.)
5) Raise a billion extra dollars somehow. Maybe with tolls and new taxes. Maybe with magic. Who knows? Think of this step like a mystery we?ll all get to solve together. Even if we find a private sector partner willing to pitch in on a P3 for this corridor, KPMG says there will be a similar funding gap ? about $730 million ? that the city will be on the hook for over the life of the project.
In the end, even granting the sizeable assumptions that there will be provincial funding available for Sheppard and that there?s a politically-viable way to raise a billion dollars that the mayor won?t call a ?tax grab?, we?ll still face decades of city budgets where some revenue from property tax and development charges won?t be available because they?ll be tied up in bond payments from this subway financing deal. This will handcuff council?s ability to even consider funding any further transit or infrastructure projects until 2050 or so.
All this for eight kilometres of subway.
Revenue tools presented as options for transit financing in Gordon Chong's report
But let?s look on the bright side: at the very least, the $150,000 the mayor spent commissioning this report has provided us with a preliminary analysis of potential revenue tools. Rob Ford is never going to consider tolls and taxes ? and using them to fund subway construction in the Sheppard corridor is a tough sell ? ?but they?re important because inevitably Toronto will have to look to these kinds of revenue-drivers if it wants to continue to grow and improve its infrastructure.
Toronto?s transit expansion can?t stop here. The city needs to push forward with a Downtown Relief Line, an extension of the Eglinton LRT to the airport, a transit connection to Malvern and plans for right-of-way streetcars along the waterfront. Absent committed support for transit from the federal and provincial governments, new tolls and taxes represent the responsible way forward. The alternative is to continue drawing hopeful lines on maps and waiting for other governments to swoop in with funding promises at election time.
Council can throw out most of Chong?s report ? it?s irrelevant in the wake of council?s decision last week ? but they should give careful consideration to this section. Toronto?s transit future depends on it.
Tags: budget, downtown relief line, eglinton lrt, gordon chong, sheppard suwbay, transit
Source: http://fordfortoronto.mattelliott.ca/2012/02/15/sheppard-plan/
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Source: http://www.helphorner.com/help-horner/73
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Seattle and London-based nFluence Media emerged from two years of stealth mode to announce it has raised $3 million for a deal-targeting technology whose first application will be a daily deal aggregating iPhone app, due out later this month. However, the company is not necessarily just another player in the overly crowded "daily deals" space. Instead, the technology being funded here is an anonymous self-profiling system that can expand into other verticals, including future uses with mobile carriers, cable/satellite TV operators and shopping mall owners.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jwAKZaoTO3U/
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BEIRUT ? Al-Qaida's leader has called for the ouster of Syria's "pernicious, cancerous regime," raising fears that Islamic extremists will try to exploit an uprising against President Bashar Assad that began with peaceful calls for democratic change but is morphing into a bloody, armed insurgency.
The regime has long blamed terrorists for the 11-month-old revolt, and al-Qaida's endorsement creates new difficulties for the U.S., its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to help force Assad from power. On Sunday, the 22-nation Arab League called for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, but Damascus rejected it immediately.
In an eight-minute video message released late Saturday, al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to support Syrian rebels.
"Wounded Syria is still bleeding day after day, and the butcher (Bashar Assad) isn't deterred and doesn't stop," said al-Zawahri, who took over al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces last May. "However, the resistance of our people in Syria is escalating and growing despite all the pains, sacrifices and blood."
The United Nations estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March. But that figure is from January, when the U.N. stopped counting because the chaos in the country has made it all but impossible to check the figures.
While many of the anti-government protests sweeping the country remain peaceful, the uprising as a whole has become more violent in recent months as frustrated demonstrators and army defectors take up arms to protect themselves from the steady military assault. An increasing number of army defectors known as the Free Syrian Army have launched attacks, killing soldiers and security forces.
Syria now has become one of the deadliest conflicts of the Arab Spring, and many fear the country of 22 million at the heart of the Arab world is on the verge of a civil war that could engulf the region.
In a grave escalation of the violence, a string of suicide attacks have killed dozens of people since late December. The latest, twin bombings in the major northern city of Aleppo, killed at least 28 people on Friday, the government said. Some 70 people were killed in earlier attacks in the capital, Damascus, on Dec. 23 and Jan. 6. All the blasts struck security targets.
Nobody has taken responsibility for the attacks, but the regime said they have the hallmarks of al-Qaida and immediately blamed the global terror group.
Saturday's statement by al-Zawahri appears to bolster Assad's accusations, but the Syrian opposition and the Free Syrian Army reject the government's claims entirely. They accuse forces loyal to the regime of setting off the blasts to smear the opposition, terrify people into submission and exploit fears of chaos and sectarian warfare.
For many Syrians, the uncertainty over the future is cause for alarm in a country that has watched neighboring Lebanon and Iraq descend into bloody wars over the years. Syria is a fragile jigsaw puzzle of Middle Eastern backgrounds including Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians and more.
After Friday's bombings in Aleppo, Zuheir al-Atasi, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, accused the government of staging the attacks.
"After the heavy explosions, members of the opposition went to the site to film it. There were ambulances but no corpses. We documented that on tape," he said in Vienna during a gathering of Syrian opposition groups. "When the Syrian National TV arrived they started to bring out corpses. Once again we witnessed a theater play."
There is virtually no way to determine who was behind the attacks or to perform an independent investigation in Syria, one of the most authoritarian states in the Middle East. Assad has largely sealed off the country and prevented reporters from moving freely. The Arab League sent a now-suspended observer mission into the country to provide an outside view, but government minders accompanied the team.
Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center, a think tank in the Qatari capital, said prolonged chaos in Syria could open the door to extremist forces like al-Qaida.
"The longer this goes on, we may get a more permissive environment in Syria for these kinds of characters as the Syrian people get more and more desperate," he said. "I don't think they would be welcomed in Syria but there may be desperate people in Syria who are looking for any kind of help."
Still, Shaikh is not convinced that Saturday's al-Qaida statement was anything more than the terrorist group trying to reassert its influence in the Middle East, now that the Arab Spring uprisings have, in many ways, pushed it to the sidelines.
"Al-Zawahri's pronouncement, to me, is a propaganda effort that says, 'We're alive and well in the Mideast,'" he said.
He acknowledged that the suggestion that al-Qaida could become involved in the uprising could have a "chilling effect" on efforts by the West to stem the bloodshed.
"Certainly the U.S. policymakers are advised by their last experience and their last experience is Iraq. So yes, I presume there would be alarm and hesitation in getting further involved," he said.
In Saturday's Internet posting, al-Zawahri asked Muslims in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to join the uprising against Assad's regime, saying Syrian rebels must not rely on the West.
"Don't depend on the West and Turkey, which had deals, mutual understanding and sharing with this regime for decades and only began to abandon it after they saw it faltering," he said. "Instead, depend on Allah alone and then on your sacrifices, resistance, and steadfastness."
He urged Syrians to oppose help from the Arab League and "its corrupt agent governments."
Hours later, a Sunni sheik in Iraq's northern Kurdish region said a group of clerics in the area is calling for a Muslim jihad, or holy war, against Assad's regime.
"Jihad is the duty of every Muslim against the Assad regime," said Sheik Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Karim Barzanji, describing the edict issued by the Union of the Scholars of Islam in Kurdistan. "Any support from any Muslim or country is forbidden."
Syria has a large population of Kurds, who have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the uprising since Assad's regime began giving them long-denied citizenship as a gesture to win support.
The Arab League has been at the forefront of regional efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria.
On Sunday, the Arab League called for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria. The resolution adopted by the League also demanded that Syrian regime forces lift the siege on neighborhoods and villages and pull troops and their heavy weapons back to their barracks.
The central city of Homs has seen some of the worst violence of the uprising, and activists said regime forces were shelling rebellious neighborhoods on Sunday. Hundreds are believed to have been killed since the latest assault in Homs began more than a week ago.
The Arab League resolution also calls on Syrian opposition groups to unite ahead of a Feb. 24 meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group," which includes the United States, its European allies and Arab nations working to end the conflict.
Syria's ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Youssef, swiftly rejected the resolution, saying it showed the collective Arab will has been "hijacked" by states led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are opposed to Assad's regime.
Syria's ambassador to the Arab League, Ahmed Youssef, was quoted in Syria's state media as saying that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were "living in a state of hysteria after their last failure at the U.N. Security Council to call for outside interference in Syria's affairs and impose sanctions on the Syrian people."
The regime's crackdown has left it almost completely isolated internationally, except for key support from Russia and China, which delivered a double veto to block a U.N. resolution calling on Assad to leave power.
Moscow's stance is motivated in part by its strategic and defense ties, including weapons sales, with Syria. Russia also rejects what it sees as a world order dominated by the U.S. Last month, Russia reportedly signed a $550 million deal to sell combat jets to Syria.
The veto prompted Western and Arab countries to consider forming a coalition to help Syria's opposition, though so far there is no sign they intend to give direct aid to the Free Syrian Army.
On Sunday, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Jacob Lew, said it's only a matter of time before Assad's government collapses.
Speaking to "Fox News Sunday," Lew said: "There is no question that this regime will come to an end. The only question is when."
__
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Hamza Hendawi in Cairo, Philipp Jenne in Vienna and Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.
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Greece has agreed to new bailout terms, with brutal austerity measures attached, but Eurozone finance ministers don?t believe the Greeks will follow through, so they?ve held up the provision of the funding.
With the clock ticking on a possible sovereign debt default by Athens within weeks, eurozone finance ministers postponed a decision on Greece?s rescue until next week, piling the pressure on the Papademos government.
Following weeks of brinkmanship that have poisoned relations between the bankrupt country and its eurozone creditors, the ministers and senior officials from the eurogroup, the European central bank, the European commission, and the International Monetary Fund voiced exasperation with Greek delaying tactics.
The meeting in Brussels declined to activate the bailout to prevent an outright Greek insolvency by the end of March when the country has to redeem more than ?14bn in debt.
The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, left the Brussels meeting reportedly stating that his country now needed to decide whether or not to remain in the single currency.
That?s a new statement from a Greek official.
This looks like a kind of dance, where Greeks agree to unworkable terms with unenforceable rules. The finance ministers are supposed to shut up and go along, and then get all surprised when nothing works out later, leading to another round of discussions and deals. That?s how it?s worked for the past couple years. I don?t know if this delay is more of the same, just positioning, or if the finance ministers have had enough with Greece, or if they are so dead-set on destroying the Greek population that they want total assurance of that fact. The claim is that there is still a funding gap of ?325 million. Greek leaders objected to the supplemental pension cuts in the original deal, which could account for that. So the finance ministers want to see ?results? before they sign on.
That could mean action in the Greek Parliament. And that means walking into this:
Clashes between police and protesters broke out in Athens on Friday, a day after Greek leaders agreed to deep austerity cuts in a last-ditch bid to keep their country from going bankrupt.
The nation?s leaders have said that they believe many of the measures will worsen an already harsh recession, but the country?s lenders have demanded cuts in exchange for an international bailout, the second in less than two years. And though Greeks wonder if they can tolerate more pain, some European leaders have said that the country needs to slash spending even more.
In Greece on Friday, the fallout from the deal shook the political establishment and society as a whole, although few expected a serious challenge to passage of the new measures. The head of a junior partner in Greece?s coalition government, George Karatzaferis, said Friday that his right-wing LAOS party would vote against the austerity measures on Sunday. On Thursday, the deputy labor minister, Yiannis Koutsoukos, a Socialist, resigned, saying that the cuts would do far too much to hurt Greek society.
We?ve heard grumbling like this before. But presumably there is some breaking point when the gap between the people and their government is this large. No?
Source: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/02/10/eurozone-finance-ministers-delay-greek-bailout/
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Welcome to 
