With the clock ticking down to a Sept. 9 first day of class, primary school students will be able to use the library and will have a new gym floor to play on for the first time since Superstorm Sandy flooded the building.
The building is 100 percent functional, said Thomas Berger Red Bank School district facilities director.Watch the video above to see the work done.“There are still many things to do, but we did the things we needed to do to get the school operational,” he said. “Now, it’s catch up on the lose ends.”
Those things include replacing furniture on a one-to-one basis, some plumbing work and floor replacement under cabinets, he said.“Everything here works,” Berger said.The primary school, located on the banks of the Swimming River, had several inches of water in the one-story building when officials returned after Superstorm Sandy. Primary School students were temporarily housed at the middle school, while crews replaced carpeting with vinyl Ceramic tile in 16 of the 33 classrooms that are used daily in the primary school.
The primary school reopened on Nov. 26 after replacement and sanitizing work had been done to allow students to safely return to the building, but additional work remained in non-classroom areas.“I can say we’re in a much better place than when we reopened in November,” said Laura C. Morana, superintendent of schools. “The work our team has done has been happening for the last 10 months and is an ongoing process.”
There are tangible results, such as shiny new white floors in the school gym and library, both of which were damaged by flooding and put on the back burner to get class rooms repaired first, last fall.The gym is ready for use, however a large moveable wall to divide the gym had to be removed because it was water damaged, Berger said.
The library has been closed since the storm after it wound up being used as a storage area for class room furniture and items displaced from other parts of the building where work was going on. Equipment for a math and engineering class, which also used the library, was put on a cart and moved from room to room last school year, Morana said.New Primary School principal Luigi Laugelli joined the district on July 1 as the school moved into full repair mode. He said he wasn’t daunted by what he saw in the building.
“It’s not the physical structure, it’s the people inside, the quality of the staff and the families,” he said.Teachers came in early to working on their classrooms and volunteers helped out the district prepare the building, Laugelli said.Books and any supplies on lower shelves or on floors was lost to flooding, he said and new books have been ordered. When charities and other schools and individuals seeking to help after the storm contacted the district, Morana said the district asked for books. Those books went right in to class rooms last school term and may will find their way back to the library this year, she said.
Located just moments from Morgan Crossing and Grandview Corners, you'll be able to take advantage of everything the neighbourhood has to offer, including shopping, dining and recreation.
Inside your home, you'll find a spacious open floorplan with plenty of contemporary features. Among them is a chef's kitchen with a dining island, stainless-steel appliances, granite/quartz countertops and a modern designer porcelain tiles backsplash. The entire kitchen is complemented by the Metropolitan Evoke Wide Plank laminate flooring that continues through the living and dining area, with plush carpeting in the bedrooms and large porcelain tile in the bathrooms.
Adera is now offering homeowners a seriously amazing way to personalize their homes. Called I.D. By Me, the program allows the buyer to be their own interior designer and choose their own colour scheme, upgrade finishes or fixtures and several other choices. Among the options at Breeze are adding heated floors, upgrading the kitchen appliances and adding a washer/dryer package, along with several other ways to make your home your own.
Adera has long been committed to sustainable and green buildings, and this continues with Breeze. Among the ecologically friendly features you'll find here are LED street lamps (a first for Surrey), motion sensor lights in the bathrooms and ENERGY Star-rated windows and appliances. The lush landscaping outside of your home easily showcases the green lifestyle you will live at Breeze. All of the materials used in construction are locally sourced, which reduces the project's carbon footprint.
It's not, of course, radar at all. Household mobiles don't yet have radar technology and while the system can pick up the Bluetooth signal emanating from the sticker, it can't determine its direction. So you need to prowl around the house, mobile held on a fully extended arm, watching the screen for the blue dot to get closer or further away.
When you do get close, you can click a pager button, and the sticker will flash a blue light and emit a brief ping or buzz. The ping is so quiet, however, we couldn't hear it, unless we had an ear within centimetres of the sticker. So you end up depending on eyesight.
If you want to keep track of pets or small children, you can set a sticker to sound an alert when they wander out of range.By and large the sticker system works pretty well, though we'd certainly like a louder ping, and a thinner sticker. We have put one sticker on the back of a mobile, one inside our wallet. Stick-N-Find will locate the latter even if the wallet is closed.
And we have ordered two more stickers to go on car and household key rings. The stickers are too big to be applied to spectacle frames, alas: we look forward to the day when someone devises a tiny device for this purpose, possibly one that will answer when you whistle.Stick-N-Find mentions another use for the stickers. Put one on your luggage when travelling, then sit back and wait at the airport pick-up point. Stick-N-Find will alert you when your suitcase hits the carousel.
Total outlay for our four stickers including postage has been $142, which is pretty hefty, though peace of mind is valuable.A cheaper solution could be on the way. Another US company, Reveal Labs, has developed similar stickers dubbed Tiles, which are square rather than round, and says it will have them on the market in the coming US winter/Aussie summer.
Read the full products at http://www.tilees.com/!
2013年8月28日星期三
2013年8月14日星期三
Outdoor Elegance Meets Cutting Edge Technology
If anything in the summer of 2013 points to still evolving homeowner expectations, it may be the frequency with which locals are integrating screen porches, patios, fire pits, and outdoor kitchens into original landscaping schemes that artfully marry the house to its setting.
Gone are the days of minimal outdoor improvements; today’s homeowners are inclined to stay put and express themselves — which is why the traditional house as we’ve known it is becoming more personalized — in short, a home.
“It’s a real renaissance,” said Craig Durosko founder and chairman of Sun Design Remodeling Specialists, and one of the housing industry’s more prescient trend spotters.
“Interestingly, when we started this company in the 1980s our core specialty was opening up views and creating visual continuum, so indoor/outdoor solutions are just a logical extension of what our culture has always been about.”
Asked about current projects, Durosko said that Fairfax County’s more affluent homeowners are actively seeking to better articulate the relationship of the house and polished tiles — an impulse which has gradually become a passion for outdoor spaces that can be used in both the hottest days of summer and fall’s chilly nights.
“Homeowners want outdoor rooms — spaces that are wired for entertainment, useable for seven or eight months of the year, and so easy to maintain that the usual repair and replacement tasks are mostly eliminated,” Durosko said. “Naturally, the changes must also enhance the home architecturally.”
To meet a rising criteria, Durosko and colleagues constantly stay on top of a new generation of weather-resistant materials, absorbing and applying fine building techniques that will shape non-traditional materials into designs perfectly suited to the home's style and setting.
Starting with a blank canvas — the unadorned rear elevation to a Georgian-style brick home in McLean — Parker imagined a six-sided pavilion, with 10-foot ceilings and sweeping vistas.
The structure would segue from the preexisting sunroom, courtesy of two sets of matching French doors. The white exterior trim is now crowned with a white balustrade visually connected to a columned “arbor trellis” that adds definition to the rear elevation. Since the high-ceiling interior the owners wanted precluded a conventional "pitched" roof — which would have obstructed a second floor window — Parker designed an inverted membrane ceiling that accommodates internal drainage tied into the existing underground system.
Rainspouts are concealed inside the trimmed porch columns and extended, unseen, along the ogee end "eagle head" trellis. The trellis “ends,” in turn, continue as a decorative motif around the top of the porch.
The overall design, as Parker envisioned, perfectly elaborates the home's classic architecture while spotlighting the impressive "English garden" that dominates the backyard. The existing barbecue grill remains steps from either the kitchen or the porch, but now there are multiple dining venues. From the porch, in fact, the owners can keep an eye on the pool when the children are playing.
The patchwork design of the English garden, the old, flagstone patio, the small pond with running water, the crepe myrtles along the property line — all give the setting a refined textural elegance.
“We think of an outdoor living plan is a creative response to an owner's personal requirements,” says Bob Gallagher, whose extensive design/build portfolio extends back some 25 years. “The important point is not how much of it is open or enclosed, but how well the whole supports a lifestyle in which exposure to nature is the primary goal.”
A recent dining decking plus sunroom solution in Oak Hill illustrates the point. After years of occupying a home custom-designed precisely to exploit a pretty wooded setting, the owners had decided they wanted a still stronger link to the outdoors. Low-maintenance was an essential ingredient, but they initially envisioned an “China ceramic tile,” free from insects — yet with dramatic views in all directions.
“They had looked at screen porches,” Gallagher said. “The idea was an enclosed space on the new dining deck. Something of a place apart. A transitional foot print between house and open air.”
At a glance, the resulting 10.5-foot by 12.5-foot sunroom is a neatly balanced space plan that seems neither closed nor overexposed to the elements. Floor-to-ceiling windows define the room on every elevation. Overhead, two skylights installed on a hipped roof allow 25 square feet of natural light. Ceramic tile flooring and other neutral finishes reinforce the natural, open ambiance, which is visually linked to the welcoming dining deck.
To preserve generous views on the existing rear elevation, Gallagher and team placed the sunroom directly off the kitchen to the left of the family room. Built-ins and a fireplace comfortably integrate the space to the existing interior. The room is a favored spot to watch the trees, and mostly opened-up for cross breezes on temperate days.
Since upkeep requirements were to be restricted to an annual pressure wash, even the sunroom's exterior paneling is low-maintenance Hardiboard. Trex decking, aluminum balusters and vinyl-clad posts further an outdoor design scheme that is also easy to maintain.
Sometimes Durosko's first call from a homeowner comes when some weather-exposed part of an existing house has conspicuously failed.
To repair the front facade of a Fairfax home, for instance, Durosko and team replaced a leaking flat roof portico with an architecturally-appropriate alternative that features a concave metal roof. In lieu of the original wood-trimmed front-window, the remodeler called for an aluminum-framed arch-topped window integrated with other exterior elements. For added weather-protection, new portico supports are trimmed in PVC.
Gone are the days of minimal outdoor improvements; today’s homeowners are inclined to stay put and express themselves — which is why the traditional house as we’ve known it is becoming more personalized — in short, a home.
“It’s a real renaissance,” said Craig Durosko founder and chairman of Sun Design Remodeling Specialists, and one of the housing industry’s more prescient trend spotters.
“Interestingly, when we started this company in the 1980s our core specialty was opening up views and creating visual continuum, so indoor/outdoor solutions are just a logical extension of what our culture has always been about.”
Asked about current projects, Durosko said that Fairfax County’s more affluent homeowners are actively seeking to better articulate the relationship of the house and polished tiles — an impulse which has gradually become a passion for outdoor spaces that can be used in both the hottest days of summer and fall’s chilly nights.
“Homeowners want outdoor rooms — spaces that are wired for entertainment, useable for seven or eight months of the year, and so easy to maintain that the usual repair and replacement tasks are mostly eliminated,” Durosko said. “Naturally, the changes must also enhance the home architecturally.”
To meet a rising criteria, Durosko and colleagues constantly stay on top of a new generation of weather-resistant materials, absorbing and applying fine building techniques that will shape non-traditional materials into designs perfectly suited to the home's style and setting.
Starting with a blank canvas — the unadorned rear elevation to a Georgian-style brick home in McLean — Parker imagined a six-sided pavilion, with 10-foot ceilings and sweeping vistas.
The structure would segue from the preexisting sunroom, courtesy of two sets of matching French doors. The white exterior trim is now crowned with a white balustrade visually connected to a columned “arbor trellis” that adds definition to the rear elevation. Since the high-ceiling interior the owners wanted precluded a conventional "pitched" roof — which would have obstructed a second floor window — Parker designed an inverted membrane ceiling that accommodates internal drainage tied into the existing underground system.
Rainspouts are concealed inside the trimmed porch columns and extended, unseen, along the ogee end "eagle head" trellis. The trellis “ends,” in turn, continue as a decorative motif around the top of the porch.
The overall design, as Parker envisioned, perfectly elaborates the home's classic architecture while spotlighting the impressive "English garden" that dominates the backyard. The existing barbecue grill remains steps from either the kitchen or the porch, but now there are multiple dining venues. From the porch, in fact, the owners can keep an eye on the pool when the children are playing.
The patchwork design of the English garden, the old, flagstone patio, the small pond with running water, the crepe myrtles along the property line — all give the setting a refined textural elegance.
“We think of an outdoor living plan is a creative response to an owner's personal requirements,” says Bob Gallagher, whose extensive design/build portfolio extends back some 25 years. “The important point is not how much of it is open or enclosed, but how well the whole supports a lifestyle in which exposure to nature is the primary goal.”
A recent dining decking plus sunroom solution in Oak Hill illustrates the point. After years of occupying a home custom-designed precisely to exploit a pretty wooded setting, the owners had decided they wanted a still stronger link to the outdoors. Low-maintenance was an essential ingredient, but they initially envisioned an “China ceramic tile,” free from insects — yet with dramatic views in all directions.
“They had looked at screen porches,” Gallagher said. “The idea was an enclosed space on the new dining deck. Something of a place apart. A transitional foot print between house and open air.”
At a glance, the resulting 10.5-foot by 12.5-foot sunroom is a neatly balanced space plan that seems neither closed nor overexposed to the elements. Floor-to-ceiling windows define the room on every elevation. Overhead, two skylights installed on a hipped roof allow 25 square feet of natural light. Ceramic tile flooring and other neutral finishes reinforce the natural, open ambiance, which is visually linked to the welcoming dining deck.
To preserve generous views on the existing rear elevation, Gallagher and team placed the sunroom directly off the kitchen to the left of the family room. Built-ins and a fireplace comfortably integrate the space to the existing interior. The room is a favored spot to watch the trees, and mostly opened-up for cross breezes on temperate days.
Since upkeep requirements were to be restricted to an annual pressure wash, even the sunroom's exterior paneling is low-maintenance Hardiboard. Trex decking, aluminum balusters and vinyl-clad posts further an outdoor design scheme that is also easy to maintain.
Sometimes Durosko's first call from a homeowner comes when some weather-exposed part of an existing house has conspicuously failed.
To repair the front facade of a Fairfax home, for instance, Durosko and team replaced a leaking flat roof portico with an architecturally-appropriate alternative that features a concave metal roof. In lieu of the original wood-trimmed front-window, the remodeler called for an aluminum-framed arch-topped window integrated with other exterior elements. For added weather-protection, new portico supports are trimmed in PVC.
2013年7月29日星期一
Finland’s Grand Cru raises
He investors include Idinvest Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, and Nokia Growth Partners. To date, the company has raised more than $16 million.“We are impressed with Grand Cru’s team of mobile gaming veterans. They have created a great title and combined it with unique in-house developed technology,” said Walter Masalin of Nokia Growth Partners in a statement. “Growth in mobile gaming is accelerating and we are excited to be part of it.”
The company is starting to show off Supernauts, a 3D creative social game in which players build and share their own, unique worlds. The characters travel to a flooded Earth to rescue humans. The game was inspired by Minecraft and other casual sandbox games. In the game, each player gets a customizable, semi-private space where they can create and craft blocks and materials such as clay, bricks, concrete, wood, and tile. They can then use those materials to build structures. It has more than 50 levels in a variety of cities on Earth. Each level has 3D physics puzzles where the player has to rescue Earthlings by getting them to safety by building bridges, clearing paths, and Ceramic tile.
“At Grand Cru, our name derives from our ultimate goal of delivering outstanding products that raise the bar on quality, and our commitment has been recognized and bolstered by these strategic investments from partners such as Idinvest, Qualcomm Ventures and Nokia Growth Partners.,” said Markus Pasula, the cofounder and CEO of Grand Cru. “Our soon-to-be-released first title, Supernauts, is a mass-market world-building game for iOS that is truly social, allowing players to solve puzzles and create shareable worlds, brick-by-brick.”
Pasula and five other Finnish game veterans formed the company to make games with the potential for broad appeal. Grand Cru has more than 20 employees. The company is headquartered in the bohemian district of Helsinki called Kallio, which has the most bars per capita in Finland.
You will wait for a table, as you always have, even though the new Franny's has double the capacity of the old one. On a recent Sunday afternoon, when nine empty two-top tables were set and ready for customers, a smiling hostess said we would be seated in 10 to 15 minutes. Only farm-to-table is ingrained in this restaurant's culture, not people to table.
It's been almost 10 years since Franny's opened in Brooklyn, a five-minute walk down Flatbush Ave. from its present location. Crowds gathered. Nothing much has changed, although now you can reserve for parties of eight to 12. Come to think of it, that's a lot that has changed.
Franny's is a spiritual cousin to Alice Waters's Chez Panisse, the Berkeley restaurant that more than 40 years ago changed how people thought about sustainable and seasonal food. Franny's is so principled and so cherished that NYC health inspectors genuflect upon entering.
When the original opened, people on this coast were just beginning to think about these concepts. These days everybody knows about that stuff, the organics and biodynamics, the buying locally and eating healthfully. While such passions have been matched by similarly themed establishments, Franny's remains the flagship. If its ideals aren't quite so revelatory any more, they remain as alluring as ever to those who mob the place.
The new Franny's has a bar, several dining areas, and a lot of inexpensive-looking wood-and-metal shelving stacked with cordwood for the pizza ovens, which are illogically but intriguingly bedecked with Mexican-style tiles. The walls are mostly white subway tile. My guest insisted that the blond-wood chairs where we finally were seated resembled the ones she was assigned in elementary school. She said the hard banquette where I sat reminded her of the bench in her childhood bedroom, which had a seat that flipped up so toys could be stored underneath.
Franny's has never been lovely. That hasn't changed. The black matte finish out front—what rappers call "murdered out" when they see it on automobiles—seems poorly chosen, but perhaps Franny's is out to attract a new generation of diners with fast cars.
On that first visit, during the 10-15 minute wait at the bar, my friend attracted substantial attention from a guy sitting on the other side of her. He even offered her a taste of his drink. That seemed a little racy for a wholesome spot like Franny's. Maybe the new generation has already arrived.
Should you not wish to drink while awaiting a table, I can suggest ways to pass the time. Walk downstairs to one of the rest rooms and count the rolls of toilet paper stacked there. Mine had 88. Or try deciphering the exceedingly ambitious, highly curated, all-Italian wine list.
It might be the geekiest list in America, incomprehensible to normal human life forms. I know something about wine, but I was lost amidst unknown names and unhelpful organization.
On visit three I brought a wine director for a restaurant group with me. She looked at the list and said, "I need an hour to figure this out." Franny's has no sommelier on the floor. The waiters try to assist, but they're overmatched. I asked one of them how diners navigate this, and she replied, "Fake it, ask for help, or order the cheapest bottle on the list."
Fear not. You can triumph. Transport your mind to a world beyond Pinot Grigio. Ignore vintage dates unless you're looking for a red over $100, and there are few of those. Look for a grape you might recognize—vermentino, kerner, dolcetto, nebbiolo. There's even Chardonnay. The 2009 Scaglione Barbera is a simple red of perfect clarity.
Click on their website http://www.tilees.com/.
The company is starting to show off Supernauts, a 3D creative social game in which players build and share their own, unique worlds. The characters travel to a flooded Earth to rescue humans. The game was inspired by Minecraft and other casual sandbox games. In the game, each player gets a customizable, semi-private space where they can create and craft blocks and materials such as clay, bricks, concrete, wood, and tile. They can then use those materials to build structures. It has more than 50 levels in a variety of cities on Earth. Each level has 3D physics puzzles where the player has to rescue Earthlings by getting them to safety by building bridges, clearing paths, and Ceramic tile.
“At Grand Cru, our name derives from our ultimate goal of delivering outstanding products that raise the bar on quality, and our commitment has been recognized and bolstered by these strategic investments from partners such as Idinvest, Qualcomm Ventures and Nokia Growth Partners.,” said Markus Pasula, the cofounder and CEO of Grand Cru. “Our soon-to-be-released first title, Supernauts, is a mass-market world-building game for iOS that is truly social, allowing players to solve puzzles and create shareable worlds, brick-by-brick.”
Pasula and five other Finnish game veterans formed the company to make games with the potential for broad appeal. Grand Cru has more than 20 employees. The company is headquartered in the bohemian district of Helsinki called Kallio, which has the most bars per capita in Finland.
You will wait for a table, as you always have, even though the new Franny's has double the capacity of the old one. On a recent Sunday afternoon, when nine empty two-top tables were set and ready for customers, a smiling hostess said we would be seated in 10 to 15 minutes. Only farm-to-table is ingrained in this restaurant's culture, not people to table.
It's been almost 10 years since Franny's opened in Brooklyn, a five-minute walk down Flatbush Ave. from its present location. Crowds gathered. Nothing much has changed, although now you can reserve for parties of eight to 12. Come to think of it, that's a lot that has changed.
Franny's is a spiritual cousin to Alice Waters's Chez Panisse, the Berkeley restaurant that more than 40 years ago changed how people thought about sustainable and seasonal food. Franny's is so principled and so cherished that NYC health inspectors genuflect upon entering.
When the original opened, people on this coast were just beginning to think about these concepts. These days everybody knows about that stuff, the organics and biodynamics, the buying locally and eating healthfully. While such passions have been matched by similarly themed establishments, Franny's remains the flagship. If its ideals aren't quite so revelatory any more, they remain as alluring as ever to those who mob the place.
The new Franny's has a bar, several dining areas, and a lot of inexpensive-looking wood-and-metal shelving stacked with cordwood for the pizza ovens, which are illogically but intriguingly bedecked with Mexican-style tiles. The walls are mostly white subway tile. My guest insisted that the blond-wood chairs where we finally were seated resembled the ones she was assigned in elementary school. She said the hard banquette where I sat reminded her of the bench in her childhood bedroom, which had a seat that flipped up so toys could be stored underneath.
Franny's has never been lovely. That hasn't changed. The black matte finish out front—what rappers call "murdered out" when they see it on automobiles—seems poorly chosen, but perhaps Franny's is out to attract a new generation of diners with fast cars.
On that first visit, during the 10-15 minute wait at the bar, my friend attracted substantial attention from a guy sitting on the other side of her. He even offered her a taste of his drink. That seemed a little racy for a wholesome spot like Franny's. Maybe the new generation has already arrived.
Should you not wish to drink while awaiting a table, I can suggest ways to pass the time. Walk downstairs to one of the rest rooms and count the rolls of toilet paper stacked there. Mine had 88. Or try deciphering the exceedingly ambitious, highly curated, all-Italian wine list.
It might be the geekiest list in America, incomprehensible to normal human life forms. I know something about wine, but I was lost amidst unknown names and unhelpful organization.
On visit three I brought a wine director for a restaurant group with me. She looked at the list and said, "I need an hour to figure this out." Franny's has no sommelier on the floor. The waiters try to assist, but they're overmatched. I asked one of them how diners navigate this, and she replied, "Fake it, ask for help, or order the cheapest bottle on the list."
Fear not. You can triumph. Transport your mind to a world beyond Pinot Grigio. Ignore vintage dates unless you're looking for a red over $100, and there are few of those. Look for a grape you might recognize—vermentino, kerner, dolcetto, nebbiolo. There's even Chardonnay. The 2009 Scaglione Barbera is a simple red of perfect clarity.
Click on their website http://www.tilees.com/.
2013年7月18日星期四
More than 50 shades of gray
Forget about the title of that racy best-seller. Color expert Kate Smith says our eyes can distinguish more than 500 shades of gray.Add a color to white or beige, Smith notes, and eventually both will become lighter versions of the added color. Add color to gray, however, and only its intensity will change. “It becomes more complex because there is more variation,” she says. Those vague hues we describe as grayish-blues, or reddish-grays are what she means. Such blending is what enables grays to play well with other colors, taking on cool or warm qualities depending on the colors mixed in.
And not every color can be as effective in sweats as it is in a tailored business suit. As with clothing, gray interiors can be fun and relaxed or no-nonsense formal. They can be dressed up or down depending on the materials, accessories and supporting colors used. “Gray can change depending on what’s next to it,” Smith says.
Use gray with orange in a dining room, and the result is surprising warmth. Try it with pale pink in a bedroom, and get soft sophistication. Pair gray and white in a kitchen for Ceramic tile alternative to safe, vanilla predictability. In a nursery, gray and white make a gender-neutral baby room that’s friendly to all those colorful toys.
“Gray really creates that perfect backdrop for a simple, timeless nursery,” says Kim Terry, spokeswoman for Pottery Barn Kids, which offers numerous gray options in bedding, room accessories and even its kid-size Anywhere chair. Younger parents who grew up around beautiful, contemporary furnishings want the same in their own homes, Terry says. “That modern aesthetic has made its way into nurseries.” In kitchens and bathrooms, gray has become a new “it” color, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Earlier this year, the Hackettstown-based organization surveyed its interior designer members and found that the use of gray is a steadily rising trend.
“People are just more interested in a softer look than stark white,” explains South Orange interior designer Antoinette Fraser, who recently used gray elements in the kitchen and dining area of a Millburn home. Gray grout anchors a beautiful wall accent of gray glass with gray and white marble. “Gray is a natural transition from the white,” she says. “A lot of the whites were gray-based whites.”Those grayish-whites complemented stainless steel appliances, whose popularity helped usher gray into our kitchens, says Becky Ralich, head of color marketing and design services for paint-maker Sherwin-Williams. “All that stainless has given us the acceptance of gray,” she says. “We are now accustomed to it, and we are open to it.”
From the steely color of stainless to grays with a hint of morning coffee, gray wall paints and finishes for cabinetry should be chosen with consideration of what will be nearby.“Gray is a little bit tricky,” Ralich notes. With its various undertones, grays should be tested with a room’s permanent fixtures to ensure a good marriage, she says. “Take a bunch of samples home and see what each is going to look like in your light.” Careful selection will ensure that the chosen gray complements rather than competes with its surroundings.
Good effect is magnificently illustrated in a kitchen (at top) that Heidi Piron of Summit recently designed for a Bayhead summer house. European apple wood cabinetry, with its striking stripe-like grain pattern, warms the schist stone countertops and an abundance of blue-gray glass tiles. “The last two to three years, I have used quite a bit of gray in kitchens,” says Piron. “It’s a great neutral and it blends with everything. It can go traditional, it can go contemporary.”
In gray kitchens and bathrooms, fixtures can help set a casual or formal tone, says Piron. For more traditional designs, she works with deeper, richer grays and the sheen of Floor tiles, polished brass or pewter hardware.And for anyone who thinks of “gray days” and “gray moods” and wonders if too much gray will be an interior design downer, color expert Smith notes that a gray area can become decidedly sedate or stimulating.If the goal is a more upbeat space, bring in brights and high-contrast colors, she suggests. “The more contrast, the more stimulating,” she notes. “Excitement is created by color and contrast.”
But Smith appreciates gray’s quiet side, and selected it for her own bedroom. “Gray can be rather calming,” she says. “I happen to like gray because I look at color all day long. Gray gives me a little rest from all the visual stimulus.” SnapStone was one of 18 “recommended” floorings out of the 51 products tested by Consumer Reports, with an overall score that ranked second highest in the magazine's rating system.
The World-Herald featured SnapStone while examining Nebraska's ties to China. A reporter and photographer visited a Shanghai factory that produces some of the porcelain tiles that the company uses. The tiles are shipped to Omaha, where SnapStone employees insert them into plastic trays with interlocking tabs. The tiles can then be snapped together to form a floating tile floor.Company president and CEO Jonathan McIntosh said it's hard to say yet whether the rating will increase sales, but he said his company is hearing from people who read the magazine article or saw news reports about it.
SnapStone is sold at home improvement stores such as Menards as a do-it-yourself product. A similar product from the company is sold under the Avaire brand name at Nebraska Furniture Mart and other retailers. In addition, McIntosh said, “two large, prominent, national chains, within the past two weeks, have suddenly become much more receptive to our advances.”
The stove would have to be moved to get at the flooring underneath it. The stove is heavier than most, so it would take two guys to move it, one of whom would be me, but that wasn't a problem. Moving the stove means turning off the gas to it, which means I wouldn't be able to cook on it, which would in fact be a problem. But we have another stove in the basement, so the problem would be an inconvenience, not a tragedy.
And not every color can be as effective in sweats as it is in a tailored business suit. As with clothing, gray interiors can be fun and relaxed or no-nonsense formal. They can be dressed up or down depending on the materials, accessories and supporting colors used. “Gray can change depending on what’s next to it,” Smith says.
Use gray with orange in a dining room, and the result is surprising warmth. Try it with pale pink in a bedroom, and get soft sophistication. Pair gray and white in a kitchen for Ceramic tile alternative to safe, vanilla predictability. In a nursery, gray and white make a gender-neutral baby room that’s friendly to all those colorful toys.
“Gray really creates that perfect backdrop for a simple, timeless nursery,” says Kim Terry, spokeswoman for Pottery Barn Kids, which offers numerous gray options in bedding, room accessories and even its kid-size Anywhere chair. Younger parents who grew up around beautiful, contemporary furnishings want the same in their own homes, Terry says. “That modern aesthetic has made its way into nurseries.” In kitchens and bathrooms, gray has become a new “it” color, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Earlier this year, the Hackettstown-based organization surveyed its interior designer members and found that the use of gray is a steadily rising trend.
“People are just more interested in a softer look than stark white,” explains South Orange interior designer Antoinette Fraser, who recently used gray elements in the kitchen and dining area of a Millburn home. Gray grout anchors a beautiful wall accent of gray glass with gray and white marble. “Gray is a natural transition from the white,” she says. “A lot of the whites were gray-based whites.”Those grayish-whites complemented stainless steel appliances, whose popularity helped usher gray into our kitchens, says Becky Ralich, head of color marketing and design services for paint-maker Sherwin-Williams. “All that stainless has given us the acceptance of gray,” she says. “We are now accustomed to it, and we are open to it.”
From the steely color of stainless to grays with a hint of morning coffee, gray wall paints and finishes for cabinetry should be chosen with consideration of what will be nearby.“Gray is a little bit tricky,” Ralich notes. With its various undertones, grays should be tested with a room’s permanent fixtures to ensure a good marriage, she says. “Take a bunch of samples home and see what each is going to look like in your light.” Careful selection will ensure that the chosen gray complements rather than competes with its surroundings.
Good effect is magnificently illustrated in a kitchen (at top) that Heidi Piron of Summit recently designed for a Bayhead summer house. European apple wood cabinetry, with its striking stripe-like grain pattern, warms the schist stone countertops and an abundance of blue-gray glass tiles. “The last two to three years, I have used quite a bit of gray in kitchens,” says Piron. “It’s a great neutral and it blends with everything. It can go traditional, it can go contemporary.”
In gray kitchens and bathrooms, fixtures can help set a casual or formal tone, says Piron. For more traditional designs, she works with deeper, richer grays and the sheen of Floor tiles, polished brass or pewter hardware.And for anyone who thinks of “gray days” and “gray moods” and wonders if too much gray will be an interior design downer, color expert Smith notes that a gray area can become decidedly sedate or stimulating.If the goal is a more upbeat space, bring in brights and high-contrast colors, she suggests. “The more contrast, the more stimulating,” she notes. “Excitement is created by color and contrast.”
But Smith appreciates gray’s quiet side, and selected it for her own bedroom. “Gray can be rather calming,” she says. “I happen to like gray because I look at color all day long. Gray gives me a little rest from all the visual stimulus.” SnapStone was one of 18 “recommended” floorings out of the 51 products tested by Consumer Reports, with an overall score that ranked second highest in the magazine's rating system.
The World-Herald featured SnapStone while examining Nebraska's ties to China. A reporter and photographer visited a Shanghai factory that produces some of the porcelain tiles that the company uses. The tiles are shipped to Omaha, where SnapStone employees insert them into plastic trays with interlocking tabs. The tiles can then be snapped together to form a floating tile floor.Company president and CEO Jonathan McIntosh said it's hard to say yet whether the rating will increase sales, but he said his company is hearing from people who read the magazine article or saw news reports about it.
SnapStone is sold at home improvement stores such as Menards as a do-it-yourself product. A similar product from the company is sold under the Avaire brand name at Nebraska Furniture Mart and other retailers. In addition, McIntosh said, “two large, prominent, national chains, within the past two weeks, have suddenly become much more receptive to our advances.”
The stove would have to be moved to get at the flooring underneath it. The stove is heavier than most, so it would take two guys to move it, one of whom would be me, but that wasn't a problem. Moving the stove means turning off the gas to it, which means I wouldn't be able to cook on it, which would in fact be a problem. But we have another stove in the basement, so the problem would be an inconvenience, not a tragedy.
2013年7月11日星期四
Whitney converts to luxury apartments
With the assistance of Estates Management Company, Seven Hundred Woodrow, LLC has purchased The Whitney Hotel in Columbia to convert it into luxury residences for lease beginning August 2013.
“We are rebranding The Whitney to 700 Woodrow-A Devine Address to reflect the fact that residents will be able to extend their quality of life beyond their home,” said Matt Mundy, an associate of Estates Management Company that will manage the development. “It is an alluring, pedestrian-friendly property. Residents will be within walking distance of downtown Columbia’s premier shopping and dining district. We are excited about the opportunity to develop a community we believe will enhance the lives of our residents, the local economy, and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Located at the corner of Woodrow and Devine Streets, 700 Woodrow, which is seven stories, is situated in one of the most sought after, upscale neighborhoods in Columbia.The 75-unit apartment community will feature 14 one-bedroom, onebath homes and 61 twobedroom, two-bath homes. Each unit will include ninefoot ceilings, Ceramic tile, and a private balcony to enjoy views of downtown and beautiful Columbia sunsets.
All residences will be renovated to include gourmet kitchens with stainless steel-energy star appliances, built-in microwaves, tiled kitchen backsplashes, and granite countertops with dine-in casual bar tops and wood cabinetry with decorative hardware.
Living areas will also have designer lighting including ceiling fans; simulated hardwood flooring; brushed nickel faucets, curved shower rods, and ceramic tile in bathrooms; oversized mud/laundry rooms with washer/dryer connections and linen closets and wiring for cable and Internet access.
The upgraded apartments will include a concierge desk that will be staffed with a full-time employee and a contemporary club that will include a social lounge with coffee bar and a gathering area with televisions and comfortable seating. Residents will also have access to an outdoor entertainment area featuring garden/ yard games, abundant seating, a dining area and gas grill. Parking will be available in front of and around the building.
“Young and mature professionals seeking an eclectic, urban living experience will be attracted to 700 Woodrow,” Mundy said. “They will be able to walk or ride their bikes to local boutique retailers and places like Devine Foods, Cantina 76, Burger Tavern 77, Half- Moon Outfitters, Britton’s, and Earth Fare. Plus they will only be a mile away from great places like Whole Foods, Ulta, Charleston Cooks!, Taziki’s, and Basil Thai Restaurant.”
Founded in 1988, Estates Management Company is committed to delivering exceptional living experiences by providing unique living communities that residents are proud to call home. Estates Management has experienced phenomenal growth in real estate development and property management, including multifamily communities, office, retail, and luxury condominium residences.
A musician in his younger days, a flooring company owner since 1985, Larry Bally says there are similarities between the two pursuits.The skills a musician masters on one instrument carry over to others that he picks up. In the same vein, Bally has expanded from his original product — hardwood flooring — to include concrete polishing and other flooring choices.
"I just say that the greatest asset I own is my reputation," Bally, owner of Great American Hardwood Flooring, said. "I've spent 30 years building a reputation."
Actually a little longer than that. Bally had been running a paint contracting business under the "Great American" name for a decade when a hardwood floor installer messed up one of his jobs in 1985. Bally says he asked the general contractor in charge why he'd hire such incompetent help.Bally did, and after struggling for a few years, was able to give up painting and concentrate on flooring in 1992.
"It's very hard work but you get more respect and a chance to make more money in this trade," he said. "The margins are better."Bally opened his first showroom, on South Laura, in 1995 and moved to his current location on South Washington in 2006.Great American installs, repairs and refinishes hardwood floors. Much of its work can be seen around Old Town in buildings like River City Brewery and the Player Piano Lofts.
In the early 2000s, Great American also worked "coast to coast" for restaurant chains such as Ted's Montana Grill. The recession put a stop to that and also shut down much residential work, but Bally found a new market installing gymnasium floors in high schools and colleges around the state. Residential work has started to pick up again in the past year, he said.
Great American employs about four office workers and from 10 to 20 workers in the field. Bally added concrete polishing to its service line in 2009. "Next thing you know, it exploded," he said.
Bally's son, Jeff, heads up residential work while another son, Tim, is the estimator for gymnasium jobs and supervises concrete polishing. In June his wife, Pam, joined the business to help start Great American Floors and Decor, offering carpets, laminate, vinyl, ceramic tile and area rugs, along with a decorating service."It was just a natural," Bally said. "She (Pam) has a really strong background in retail and decorating."
Bally, who used to play drums for the divekings and other local bands, doesn't play much anymore but allows a heavy metal band to practice in part of the building. He's busy running the biggest hardwood flooring company of its kind in Wichita and the largest gym floor installer in Kansas, a development he attributes to one simple rule: "We do what we promise."
Click on their website www.tilees.com.
“We are rebranding The Whitney to 700 Woodrow-A Devine Address to reflect the fact that residents will be able to extend their quality of life beyond their home,” said Matt Mundy, an associate of Estates Management Company that will manage the development. “It is an alluring, pedestrian-friendly property. Residents will be within walking distance of downtown Columbia’s premier shopping and dining district. We are excited about the opportunity to develop a community we believe will enhance the lives of our residents, the local economy, and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Located at the corner of Woodrow and Devine Streets, 700 Woodrow, which is seven stories, is situated in one of the most sought after, upscale neighborhoods in Columbia.The 75-unit apartment community will feature 14 one-bedroom, onebath homes and 61 twobedroom, two-bath homes. Each unit will include ninefoot ceilings, Ceramic tile, and a private balcony to enjoy views of downtown and beautiful Columbia sunsets.
All residences will be renovated to include gourmet kitchens with stainless steel-energy star appliances, built-in microwaves, tiled kitchen backsplashes, and granite countertops with dine-in casual bar tops and wood cabinetry with decorative hardware.
Living areas will also have designer lighting including ceiling fans; simulated hardwood flooring; brushed nickel faucets, curved shower rods, and ceramic tile in bathrooms; oversized mud/laundry rooms with washer/dryer connections and linen closets and wiring for cable and Internet access.
The upgraded apartments will include a concierge desk that will be staffed with a full-time employee and a contemporary club that will include a social lounge with coffee bar and a gathering area with televisions and comfortable seating. Residents will also have access to an outdoor entertainment area featuring garden/ yard games, abundant seating, a dining area and gas grill. Parking will be available in front of and around the building.
“Young and mature professionals seeking an eclectic, urban living experience will be attracted to 700 Woodrow,” Mundy said. “They will be able to walk or ride their bikes to local boutique retailers and places like Devine Foods, Cantina 76, Burger Tavern 77, Half- Moon Outfitters, Britton’s, and Earth Fare. Plus they will only be a mile away from great places like Whole Foods, Ulta, Charleston Cooks!, Taziki’s, and Basil Thai Restaurant.”
Founded in 1988, Estates Management Company is committed to delivering exceptional living experiences by providing unique living communities that residents are proud to call home. Estates Management has experienced phenomenal growth in real estate development and property management, including multifamily communities, office, retail, and luxury condominium residences.
A musician in his younger days, a flooring company owner since 1985, Larry Bally says there are similarities between the two pursuits.The skills a musician masters on one instrument carry over to others that he picks up. In the same vein, Bally has expanded from his original product — hardwood flooring — to include concrete polishing and other flooring choices.
"I just say that the greatest asset I own is my reputation," Bally, owner of Great American Hardwood Flooring, said. "I've spent 30 years building a reputation."
Actually a little longer than that. Bally had been running a paint contracting business under the "Great American" name for a decade when a hardwood floor installer messed up one of his jobs in 1985. Bally says he asked the general contractor in charge why he'd hire such incompetent help.Bally did, and after struggling for a few years, was able to give up painting and concentrate on flooring in 1992.
"It's very hard work but you get more respect and a chance to make more money in this trade," he said. "The margins are better."Bally opened his first showroom, on South Laura, in 1995 and moved to his current location on South Washington in 2006.Great American installs, repairs and refinishes hardwood floors. Much of its work can be seen around Old Town in buildings like River City Brewery and the Player Piano Lofts.
In the early 2000s, Great American also worked "coast to coast" for restaurant chains such as Ted's Montana Grill. The recession put a stop to that and also shut down much residential work, but Bally found a new market installing gymnasium floors in high schools and colleges around the state. Residential work has started to pick up again in the past year, he said.
Great American employs about four office workers and from 10 to 20 workers in the field. Bally added concrete polishing to its service line in 2009. "Next thing you know, it exploded," he said.
Bally's son, Jeff, heads up residential work while another son, Tim, is the estimator for gymnasium jobs and supervises concrete polishing. In June his wife, Pam, joined the business to help start Great American Floors and Decor, offering carpets, laminate, vinyl, ceramic tile and area rugs, along with a decorating service."It was just a natural," Bally said. "She (Pam) has a really strong background in retail and decorating."
Bally, who used to play drums for the divekings and other local bands, doesn't play much anymore but allows a heavy metal band to practice in part of the building. He's busy running the biggest hardwood flooring company of its kind in Wichita and the largest gym floor installer in Kansas, a development he attributes to one simple rule: "We do what we promise."
Click on their website www.tilees.com.
2013年7月4日星期四
Second Toynbee Tile removed in Topeka
As he waited for the light to change, something caught his eye on the pavement just to his left.It was another rare Toynbee Tile, similar to one spotted and removed a couple of weeks ago three blocks away at 6th and S. Kansas Avenue.Toynbee Tiles originated around 30 years ago in Philadelphia and since have been found in some two dozen U.S. cities, as well as in the capitals of several South American countries.The tiles often contain short, cryptic messages.
City officials have said they consider the placement of Toynbee Tiles to be vandalism, on the same par as graffiti. Some local residents, however, consider them a type of folk art that need to be preserved.The city view prevailed for a second time in Topeka. The tile Bowen spotted Wednesday had been removed by Thursday morning, just as was the tile found and removed on the night of June 20.
Efforts to reach Topeka city officials on Thursday afternoon weren’t immediately successful.Bowen called The Topeka Capital-Journal on Thursday morning, and a reporter went over to check out the polished tiles.
There, in the left southbound lane on the north side of the intersection, was a license plate-sized rectangle of replacement asphalt, of the same approximate size as the Toynbee Tile that had been pulled up from 6th and S. Kansas Avenue.
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Bowen gave the following account of what he saw the day before:“I saw it there yesterday,” he said. “I just pulled up to the light in the southbound lane and looked down and there it was.“I didn’t take the time to see what all it said. When the light turned green, I had to go.”Bowen said he wishes now he would have pulled over and taken a picture of it.Though he didn’t read its message, he said the words were multi-colored — just like the other Toynbee Tile found a couple of weeks earlier in downtown Topeka.
BETA Holdings originated from Alpha Bricks, a company established in 1953 to manufacture bricks in the Mount Hampden area.In 1991 the company changed ownership and name to Beta Holdings, a brand that is now well recognised in Zimbabwe’s construction sector.Now Beta Holdings, through two of its operating units: Beta Bricks and Beta Tiles, has opened a distribution centre to offer services to Mutare and the surrounding areas. Quality clay bricks and concrete roof tiles will now be easily accessible to the local market.
Beta Holdings are coming into the Mutare market because we believe the area deserves quality products and services. Beta Holdings, as the largest construction material producer in Zimbabwe, cannot therefore afford neglect the Manicaland area as a whole.Beta is well known for their quality, value for money and customer focus.
As the largest brick and concrete roof tile supplier in the country and with a growing customer base, Beta can attest the expansion into Mutare as a clear signifier of their continued growth.Beta Bricks and Tiles is here to stay and will add more products and services through the depot here in Mutare.The Beta Bricks product range consists of 15 different clay brick types which are used for foundations, load bearing construction, laying of driveways, pavements and walkways, decorative exteriors as well as industrial, commercial and domestic building structures.
Beta clay bricks have the highest dimensional stability and compressive strength as well as being a durable and timeless building material that complements the aesthetic and functional needs of any building.As members of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Beta can guarantee that their clay bricks are of assured quality.
The Beta concrete roof tile is a modern tile made from cement, sand and pigments and is manufactured using an extrusion process resulting in utmost strength and density. The concrete roof tiles are manufactured from durable concrete made to strict strength specifications. There are 2 types of roof tile profiles currently available at Beta: the Mendip and the Double Roman.
The Mendip profile forms a gentle flowing pattern that gives instant visual appeal. It combines its exceptional strength and beautiful smooth surface with stunning aesthetics.The Double Roman profile is a modern version of the profile seen on roofs throughout Europe for over 2000 years and offers all the functional benefits of todays interlocking concrete technology.
After buying a new home in New York last November, the “House” actress had been trying to sell her Los Feliz home. Olivia Wilde first listed the place for $2.495 million and eight months later closed the deal for $2.19 million, according to property records.
The 3,284-square-foot home is a 1920s Spanish style with original Malibu tile, hardwood floors, stained glass and iron details throughout. With 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, as well as outdoor terraces and patios, the home had no shortage of living space for the 29-year-old star.
A larger California spread isn’t what the “The O.C.” actress is after, though. With her divorce from Italian filmmaker Tao Ruspoli finalized in 2011 and her engagement to actor Jason Sudeikis announced earlier this year, Wilde is ready to make her move to the Big Apple more permanent.
Read the full story at http://www.tilees.com/!
City officials have said they consider the placement of Toynbee Tiles to be vandalism, on the same par as graffiti. Some local residents, however, consider them a type of folk art that need to be preserved.The city view prevailed for a second time in Topeka. The tile Bowen spotted Wednesday had been removed by Thursday morning, just as was the tile found and removed on the night of June 20.
Efforts to reach Topeka city officials on Thursday afternoon weren’t immediately successful.Bowen called The Topeka Capital-Journal on Thursday morning, and a reporter went over to check out the polished tiles.
There, in the left southbound lane on the north side of the intersection, was a license plate-sized rectangle of replacement asphalt, of the same approximate size as the Toynbee Tile that had been pulled up from 6th and S. Kansas Avenue.
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Bowen gave the following account of what he saw the day before:“I saw it there yesterday,” he said. “I just pulled up to the light in the southbound lane and looked down and there it was.“I didn’t take the time to see what all it said. When the light turned green, I had to go.”Bowen said he wishes now he would have pulled over and taken a picture of it.Though he didn’t read its message, he said the words were multi-colored — just like the other Toynbee Tile found a couple of weeks earlier in downtown Topeka.
BETA Holdings originated from Alpha Bricks, a company established in 1953 to manufacture bricks in the Mount Hampden area.In 1991 the company changed ownership and name to Beta Holdings, a brand that is now well recognised in Zimbabwe’s construction sector.Now Beta Holdings, through two of its operating units: Beta Bricks and Beta Tiles, has opened a distribution centre to offer services to Mutare and the surrounding areas. Quality clay bricks and concrete roof tiles will now be easily accessible to the local market.
Beta Holdings are coming into the Mutare market because we believe the area deserves quality products and services. Beta Holdings, as the largest construction material producer in Zimbabwe, cannot therefore afford neglect the Manicaland area as a whole.Beta is well known for their quality, value for money and customer focus.
As the largest brick and concrete roof tile supplier in the country and with a growing customer base, Beta can attest the expansion into Mutare as a clear signifier of their continued growth.Beta Bricks and Tiles is here to stay and will add more products and services through the depot here in Mutare.The Beta Bricks product range consists of 15 different clay brick types which are used for foundations, load bearing construction, laying of driveways, pavements and walkways, decorative exteriors as well as industrial, commercial and domestic building structures.
Beta clay bricks have the highest dimensional stability and compressive strength as well as being a durable and timeless building material that complements the aesthetic and functional needs of any building.As members of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Beta can guarantee that their clay bricks are of assured quality.
The Beta concrete roof tile is a modern tile made from cement, sand and pigments and is manufactured using an extrusion process resulting in utmost strength and density. The concrete roof tiles are manufactured from durable concrete made to strict strength specifications. There are 2 types of roof tile profiles currently available at Beta: the Mendip and the Double Roman.
The Mendip profile forms a gentle flowing pattern that gives instant visual appeal. It combines its exceptional strength and beautiful smooth surface with stunning aesthetics.The Double Roman profile is a modern version of the profile seen on roofs throughout Europe for over 2000 years and offers all the functional benefits of todays interlocking concrete technology.
After buying a new home in New York last November, the “House” actress had been trying to sell her Los Feliz home. Olivia Wilde first listed the place for $2.495 million and eight months later closed the deal for $2.19 million, according to property records.
The 3,284-square-foot home is a 1920s Spanish style with original Malibu tile, hardwood floors, stained glass and iron details throughout. With 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, as well as outdoor terraces and patios, the home had no shortage of living space for the 29-year-old star.
A larger California spread isn’t what the “The O.C.” actress is after, though. With her divorce from Italian filmmaker Tao Ruspoli finalized in 2011 and her engagement to actor Jason Sudeikis announced earlier this year, Wilde is ready to make her move to the Big Apple more permanent.
Read the full story at http://www.tilees.com/!
2013年6月30日星期日
Is Needed to Address Climate Change
Before we get teary eyed with joy or scoff with derision, we should take a closer look at President Obama’s June 25 speech on climate change, and set it within the context of his five years in power. This is a position he himself argued for during his speech when he said that we need to “be more concerned with the judgment of posterity” than short–term political considerations.
So is Obama, in the words of World Resource Institute President Andrew Steer, really “resetting the climate agenda” and can we honestly say that “it’s a wonderful thing to see that he is really reclaiming this issue"?
While many other environmentalists, including Bill McKibben of 350.org, are fervently hoping that this is true, history and facts demonstrate otherwise. Obama’s dismal domestic and international track record on environmental issues—it was, Ceramic tile, he who was the lead protagonist in wrecking the international climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009—and his commitment to U.S. imperial power as a representative of American corporate interests surely point toward the need for a greater and more thoroughgoing critique than a character assessment of the man himself allows for.
Furthermore, it’s hard to take someone seriously when that person has presided over the biggest expansion of the security state in U.S. history and relentlessly pursued government whistleblowers with unprecedented ferocity, when they say simultaneously in a climate speech that they are directing the EPA to generate new standards for the regulation of existing power plants in “an open and transparent way.”
With a more systematic, broader analytical framework, unimpeded by misty visions of an Obama rebirth as a climate champion, one immediately recognizes the inadequacy of his Action Plan On Climate Change to keep the planet below the critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of average warming.
This needs to be acknowledged, even as we welcome the fact that—after a five–year hiatus, including a re–election campaign where he never even mentioned climate change—Obama has been forced to re–engage with the central issue of our time by the power of grassroots protest, even to the extent of referencing the divestment movement and the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.
Rather than celebrating Obama’s renewed “commitment” to environmental action, we should recognize it for what it is: After five years of doing all he can to promote fossil fuel production, it’s the first, timid, grudging response of the U.S. state to the growing environmental movement against Obama and all that he represents: the economic, political and military priorities of U.S. imperial power.
The growth of the environmental movement and its threat to U.S. imperial and corporate interests has been well catalogued, tracked and, as we now know, extensively spied upon by the U.S. security apparatus. After reporting on a raft of documentary evidence to this effect, Dr. Nafeez Ahmed writes.
There is, therefore, the overriding requirement that we continue to build the movement independent of the limitations imposed by the Democratic Party, until we achieve the kind of changes that are actually necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, by stitching together all forces aimed at this objective.
The biosphere of which humans are a part cannot afford half measures or rely on dubious “friends” in high places. Nor can we set our sights any lower than the swift dismantling of the fossil–fuel infrastructure of death and its replacement with publicly owned and democratically controlled clean energy systems. As many studies have shown, this is eminently doable with current technology and will create millions of worthwhile jobs through the generation of genuinely renewable energy from sources such as wind and solar power, alongside massive energy efficiency and conservation measures.
Such a transformation is far less utopian than believing that capitalism can solve the problem that it created. Such a transition cannot mean a continuation or expansion of the criminal agro–fuel production, still less the increase in natural gas production through fracking, the continuation of nuclear power and the entirely ridiculous concepts of “clean coal” and carbon capture and storage, all of which Obama includes as part of his planned solution—his “all of the above” strategy.
The fact that Obama is using executive authority to attempt to push through some changes to U.S. energy and climate policy, most significantly new rules on existing power plants, is a reflection not of strength, but of his preceding weakness on the issue, turning it from a positive into a negative, as the right wing has made all the running. Notwithstanding the catastrophic climate change that levels above 350 ppm of carbon portend and have already initiated—as droughts, floods, crop failures, super–storms and wildfires become the “new normal” across the globe from Australia to India, from the U.S. to Pakistan—politicians across the political spectrum greeted the news of 400 ppm of carbon earlier in May with a giant shrug of collective indifference.
While on the one hand Obama’s action plan doesn’t require Congressional approval, and that can be seen as encouraging in the face of an utterly recalcitrant Congress, it is also a flaw. The new rules will be vigorously challenged in the courts, and as and when the other corporate party manages to work out how to win an election again, they can be overturned just as easily, assuming they have even been implemented.
It needs to be highlighted that, in contrast to how Democrats and Obama like to portray the issue, it is not a solidly partisan one. While elected Republicans are certainly more likely to be climate–change denialists, the reality is that things are much more regional and dependent on which state a political representative is from. A much more reliable indicator of whether a state’s Representative is pro– or anti– climate change policy and clean energy, is whether the state’s economy is directly connected to fossil fuels or ethanol production, than whether they are Democrats or Republicans.
And on the ground, where people are forced to deal with the growing ramifications of climate change and the disruption and cost to their lives, the picture is very different. As reported in a recent survey of self–described Republicans and Republican–leaning independents, 62 percent said the U.S. should address climate change, and 77 percent said that the U.S. should use more renewable energy sources. This is all the more remarkable given that virtually no political representative from either party has been arguing for these things, and they have certainly not appeared on the TV screens or in the newspapers of the mainstream media.
In contrast to Obama’s glib reference to work being undertaken to prevent Miami from sinking below the waves, Jeff Goodell writing in Rolling Stone, paints a very different picture, underlining the calamitous reality of climate change in an article cheerily titled “Goodbye Miami.” On our present course, it is not a question of if, but when, the city of Miami—which vies with Las Vegas as the citadel to capitalist non–conformity with nature, along with most of southern Florida—will be underwater.
Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
So is Obama, in the words of World Resource Institute President Andrew Steer, really “resetting the climate agenda” and can we honestly say that “it’s a wonderful thing to see that he is really reclaiming this issue"?
While many other environmentalists, including Bill McKibben of 350.org, are fervently hoping that this is true, history and facts demonstrate otherwise. Obama’s dismal domestic and international track record on environmental issues—it was, Ceramic tile, he who was the lead protagonist in wrecking the international climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009—and his commitment to U.S. imperial power as a representative of American corporate interests surely point toward the need for a greater and more thoroughgoing critique than a character assessment of the man himself allows for.
Furthermore, it’s hard to take someone seriously when that person has presided over the biggest expansion of the security state in U.S. history and relentlessly pursued government whistleblowers with unprecedented ferocity, when they say simultaneously in a climate speech that they are directing the EPA to generate new standards for the regulation of existing power plants in “an open and transparent way.”
With a more systematic, broader analytical framework, unimpeded by misty visions of an Obama rebirth as a climate champion, one immediately recognizes the inadequacy of his Action Plan On Climate Change to keep the planet below the critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of average warming.
This needs to be acknowledged, even as we welcome the fact that—after a five–year hiatus, including a re–election campaign where he never even mentioned climate change—Obama has been forced to re–engage with the central issue of our time by the power of grassroots protest, even to the extent of referencing the divestment movement and the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.
Rather than celebrating Obama’s renewed “commitment” to environmental action, we should recognize it for what it is: After five years of doing all he can to promote fossil fuel production, it’s the first, timid, grudging response of the U.S. state to the growing environmental movement against Obama and all that he represents: the economic, political and military priorities of U.S. imperial power.
The growth of the environmental movement and its threat to U.S. imperial and corporate interests has been well catalogued, tracked and, as we now know, extensively spied upon by the U.S. security apparatus. After reporting on a raft of documentary evidence to this effect, Dr. Nafeez Ahmed writes.
There is, therefore, the overriding requirement that we continue to build the movement independent of the limitations imposed by the Democratic Party, until we achieve the kind of changes that are actually necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, by stitching together all forces aimed at this objective.
The biosphere of which humans are a part cannot afford half measures or rely on dubious “friends” in high places. Nor can we set our sights any lower than the swift dismantling of the fossil–fuel infrastructure of death and its replacement with publicly owned and democratically controlled clean energy systems. As many studies have shown, this is eminently doable with current technology and will create millions of worthwhile jobs through the generation of genuinely renewable energy from sources such as wind and solar power, alongside massive energy efficiency and conservation measures.
Such a transformation is far less utopian than believing that capitalism can solve the problem that it created. Such a transition cannot mean a continuation or expansion of the criminal agro–fuel production, still less the increase in natural gas production through fracking, the continuation of nuclear power and the entirely ridiculous concepts of “clean coal” and carbon capture and storage, all of which Obama includes as part of his planned solution—his “all of the above” strategy.
The fact that Obama is using executive authority to attempt to push through some changes to U.S. energy and climate policy, most significantly new rules on existing power plants, is a reflection not of strength, but of his preceding weakness on the issue, turning it from a positive into a negative, as the right wing has made all the running. Notwithstanding the catastrophic climate change that levels above 350 ppm of carbon portend and have already initiated—as droughts, floods, crop failures, super–storms and wildfires become the “new normal” across the globe from Australia to India, from the U.S. to Pakistan—politicians across the political spectrum greeted the news of 400 ppm of carbon earlier in May with a giant shrug of collective indifference.
While on the one hand Obama’s action plan doesn’t require Congressional approval, and that can be seen as encouraging in the face of an utterly recalcitrant Congress, it is also a flaw. The new rules will be vigorously challenged in the courts, and as and when the other corporate party manages to work out how to win an election again, they can be overturned just as easily, assuming they have even been implemented.
It needs to be highlighted that, in contrast to how Democrats and Obama like to portray the issue, it is not a solidly partisan one. While elected Republicans are certainly more likely to be climate–change denialists, the reality is that things are much more regional and dependent on which state a political representative is from. A much more reliable indicator of whether a state’s Representative is pro– or anti– climate change policy and clean energy, is whether the state’s economy is directly connected to fossil fuels or ethanol production, than whether they are Democrats or Republicans.
And on the ground, where people are forced to deal with the growing ramifications of climate change and the disruption and cost to their lives, the picture is very different. As reported in a recent survey of self–described Republicans and Republican–leaning independents, 62 percent said the U.S. should address climate change, and 77 percent said that the U.S. should use more renewable energy sources. This is all the more remarkable given that virtually no political representative from either party has been arguing for these things, and they have certainly not appeared on the TV screens or in the newspapers of the mainstream media.
In contrast to Obama’s glib reference to work being undertaken to prevent Miami from sinking below the waves, Jeff Goodell writing in Rolling Stone, paints a very different picture, underlining the calamitous reality of climate change in an article cheerily titled “Goodbye Miami.” On our present course, it is not a question of if, but when, the city of Miami—which vies with Las Vegas as the citadel to capitalist non–conformity with nature, along with most of southern Florida—will be underwater.
Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
2013年6月23日星期日
Israel unequipped to handle high level soccer
Amsterdam hosted the Europa League final between Chelsea and Benfica a month ago. What an experience, in no small part due to the fantastic organization by the Dutch.
True, it wasn’t the biggest or most glitzy competition in the world, not even in Europe. But they understood that soccer at this level isn’t just 90 minutes on the pitch. The organizers set up special facilities for the fans around the stadium. There were souvenir stores, bars, snack bars and stands with activities and prizes.
Hours before the final, the area outside the stadium was a happening place. Trains efficiently delivered tens of thousands of fans to the Amsterdam Arena. The atmosphere was wonderful. Reaching the stadium two hours before the opening whistle wasn’t enough to enjoy everything the event had to offer.
Around 90 minutes before the beginning of the under-21 Euro semifinal between Spain and Norway last Saturday night, the area near the Netanya stadium was dullsville. Many fans came early ? not because of the special atmosphere but out of fear of getting stuck in traffic jams.
It was clear that no thought was put into the approaches to the stadium. No one greeted the fans. The Israel Football Association didn’t hire musicians or anyone to paint children’s faces. They didn’t invite photographers, didn’t set up food or drink stands, and didn’t offer contests or special deals.
There was just one small tent there, where a simple souvenir scarf was being sold at an exorbitant price. And some shirts were available at even more exorbitant prices. That’s it.
Israeli amateurism in organizing the under-21 tournament was apparent from the moment tickets went on sale. The sale opened at the end of March. Anyone who tried to order tickets during the first days for the games in Netanya discovered that on the website of the authorized ticket seller there was no map of the stadium.
“How can I know which ticket is closest to the center line?” I asked a ticket sales representative on the phone. She couldn’t help. After a few days I went to collect my tickets for the championship games in Netanya, but they weren’t available.
“We were unable to overcome a snag in the system,” someone explained to me. “Try again in a few days.” Oh well, I thought, it’s just a small screw-up.
The best tickets quickly ran out. Foreign fans who are not Hebrew speakers couldn’t obtain them. Over the first few days it was impossible to find a referral in English to the sales site, not even on the UEFA website.
Further on, it turned out that the Football Association had sold all the tickets to the championship in advance. Besides a few invitations to VIPs and cronies, no one set aside tickets for fans of the national team.
The Dutch said that after advancing to the semifinal they asked groups of fans to come to Israel, but to fly to Israel and stay outside the stadium without a ticket? There’s a limit to what people are willing to do for the under-21 Euro. They simply gave up. There were several empty seats in the stadium. That’s what happens when you give out tickets in a slew of deals to people who aren’t really interested in the tournament.
And maybe the Dutch did well by not coming and saving themselves sitting in traffic jams on the way to and from the stadium. There were 12,000 spectators at the Netanya stadium. That’s it. It’s a big event, but nothing exceptional. Still, it seems the Football Association and the police made every mistake possible. They promised to augment the trains and they didn’t; they promised efficient shuttles and didn’t come through.
On the way to the opening game between Israel and Norway, the shuttle from the Beit Yehoshua train station stood in a long traffic jam, like everybody else. After the game, hundreds of fans waited for the shuttle where it had dropped them off, and it simply never came. Ushers weren’t around, and the police had no idea what they were talking about.
Inside Moshava Stadium I was happy to see signs leading to the special exit for Highway 5. After 15 minutes of driving on an unpaved road, it turned out the exit led to a neighborhood and back all the way to the junction next to the stadium ? simply pathetic.
The situation was much worse in Jerusalem. The area around Teddy Stadium remained a construction site throughout the tournament. The access road has been under repairs for a long time, the new southern section of stands lacks a roof. It was really as if the Euro had taken everyone by surprise.
As if that weren’t enough, the police closed traffic lanes leading to the stadium before the game. Is there any greater absurdity than this?
An acquaintance of mine tried to reach the Israel-England game and didn’t make it, so he gave up and turned around. Next to Pat Junction, near the stadium, he asked the police where he could park and board a shuttle. “There’s no such thing here,” an officer answered. Dejected, he went home and didn’t watch the game on television. His seat remained empty.
Luck actually played into my hands. An hour and a half before that game, I managed with great difficulty to crawl into the Malha Mall parking garage. An hour after the game I returned to my car. Another hour passed until dozens of other frustrated fans and I managed to get out of the garage into an endless traffic jam.
We have to give credit to IFA chairman Avi Luzon. He brought to Israel a tournament of the highest level. The soccer was wonderful, and the fans came in droves to watch the stars of the future. Isco, Lorenzo Insigne, Adam Maher and others totally delivered the goods.
But it’s doubtful we’ll see here a sporting event of this order in the future. Israel’s facilities are unsuitable for hosting a World Cup, Euro, Champions League final or even Europa League final. It’s a shame the Football Association was satisfied with merely holding a championship in Israel and didn’t make an effort to produce an unforgettable show.
Click on their website www.tilees.com for more information.
True, it wasn’t the biggest or most glitzy competition in the world, not even in Europe. But they understood that soccer at this level isn’t just 90 minutes on the pitch. The organizers set up special facilities for the fans around the stadium. There were souvenir stores, bars, snack bars and stands with activities and prizes.
Hours before the final, the area outside the stadium was a happening place. Trains efficiently delivered tens of thousands of fans to the Amsterdam Arena. The atmosphere was wonderful. Reaching the stadium two hours before the opening whistle wasn’t enough to enjoy everything the event had to offer.
Around 90 minutes before the beginning of the under-21 Euro semifinal between Spain and Norway last Saturday night, the area near the Netanya stadium was dullsville. Many fans came early ? not because of the special atmosphere but out of fear of getting stuck in traffic jams.
It was clear that no thought was put into the approaches to the stadium. No one greeted the fans. The Israel Football Association didn’t hire musicians or anyone to paint children’s faces. They didn’t invite photographers, didn’t set up food or drink stands, and didn’t offer contests or special deals.
There was just one small tent there, where a simple souvenir scarf was being sold at an exorbitant price. And some shirts were available at even more exorbitant prices. That’s it.
Israeli amateurism in organizing the under-21 tournament was apparent from the moment tickets went on sale. The sale opened at the end of March. Anyone who tried to order tickets during the first days for the games in Netanya discovered that on the website of the authorized ticket seller there was no map of the stadium.
“How can I know which ticket is closest to the center line?” I asked a ticket sales representative on the phone. She couldn’t help. After a few days I went to collect my tickets for the championship games in Netanya, but they weren’t available.
“We were unable to overcome a snag in the system,” someone explained to me. “Try again in a few days.” Oh well, I thought, it’s just a small screw-up.
The best tickets quickly ran out. Foreign fans who are not Hebrew speakers couldn’t obtain them. Over the first few days it was impossible to find a referral in English to the sales site, not even on the UEFA website.
Further on, it turned out that the Football Association had sold all the tickets to the championship in advance. Besides a few invitations to VIPs and cronies, no one set aside tickets for fans of the national team.
The Dutch said that after advancing to the semifinal they asked groups of fans to come to Israel, but to fly to Israel and stay outside the stadium without a ticket? There’s a limit to what people are willing to do for the under-21 Euro. They simply gave up. There were several empty seats in the stadium. That’s what happens when you give out tickets in a slew of deals to people who aren’t really interested in the tournament.
And maybe the Dutch did well by not coming and saving themselves sitting in traffic jams on the way to and from the stadium. There were 12,000 spectators at the Netanya stadium. That’s it. It’s a big event, but nothing exceptional. Still, it seems the Football Association and the police made every mistake possible. They promised to augment the trains and they didn’t; they promised efficient shuttles and didn’t come through.
On the way to the opening game between Israel and Norway, the shuttle from the Beit Yehoshua train station stood in a long traffic jam, like everybody else. After the game, hundreds of fans waited for the shuttle where it had dropped them off, and it simply never came. Ushers weren’t around, and the police had no idea what they were talking about.
Inside Moshava Stadium I was happy to see signs leading to the special exit for Highway 5. After 15 minutes of driving on an unpaved road, it turned out the exit led to a neighborhood and back all the way to the junction next to the stadium ? simply pathetic.
The situation was much worse in Jerusalem. The area around Teddy Stadium remained a construction site throughout the tournament. The access road has been under repairs for a long time, the new southern section of stands lacks a roof. It was really as if the Euro had taken everyone by surprise.
As if that weren’t enough, the police closed traffic lanes leading to the stadium before the game. Is there any greater absurdity than this?
An acquaintance of mine tried to reach the Israel-England game and didn’t make it, so he gave up and turned around. Next to Pat Junction, near the stadium, he asked the police where he could park and board a shuttle. “There’s no such thing here,” an officer answered. Dejected, he went home and didn’t watch the game on television. His seat remained empty.
Luck actually played into my hands. An hour and a half before that game, I managed with great difficulty to crawl into the Malha Mall parking garage. An hour after the game I returned to my car. Another hour passed until dozens of other frustrated fans and I managed to get out of the garage into an endless traffic jam.
We have to give credit to IFA chairman Avi Luzon. He brought to Israel a tournament of the highest level. The soccer was wonderful, and the fans came in droves to watch the stars of the future. Isco, Lorenzo Insigne, Adam Maher and others totally delivered the goods.
But it’s doubtful we’ll see here a sporting event of this order in the future. Israel’s facilities are unsuitable for hosting a World Cup, Euro, Champions League final or even Europa League final. It’s a shame the Football Association was satisfied with merely holding a championship in Israel and didn’t make an effort to produce an unforgettable show.
Click on their website www.tilees.com for more information.
2013年6月20日星期四
Adobe Photoshop CC review
Creative Cloud changes everything. Well, maybe not everything: Adobe Photoshop CC looks nearly identical to its CS6 predecessor, but it packs several powerful new features, including a revolutionary photo motion blur corrector, more effective image upscaling (capable of getting those low-def images looking good on a Retina display), new photo geometry corrections, and multiple shape and path selections.
Since it's part of the cloud subscription, as long as you pay ￡17.58 a month for Photoshop alone, or ￡46.88 for the full creative suite (￡27.34 for upgraders from CS3 or later, ￡15.88 for the Student and Teacher edition), you'll always have access to any new features that come along. That sounds more palatable to me than the old ￡650 or ￡950 up front, though I realise that some long-time users have expressed displeasure at having to continue paying to use the software. However, with the subscription, it would take you at least 3 years to spend the previous up front money, and by then, you'd probably want to upgrade anyway.
Another way that Creative Cloud affects new Photoshop users is that they'll now get all the Photoshop tools, including features that used to be available only in the Photoshop Extended edition, such as 3D modelling and image analysis. Extended costs ￡950, so this is quite a perk, not to mention the fact that it simplifies your product choice.
You should only consider installing Photoshop on a fairly powerful PC or Mac. You also need to sign in with your Adobe ID before the installer will let you start. I installed it on a Windows 8 PC (Photoshop CC runs on Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, but not on earlier Windows OS versions) with a 3.4GHz quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. It took about 20 minutes, and, right off the bat, I got a message saying that 3D editing wouldn't be available because of my video card or its driver. Mac users will need OS X 10.7 or 10.8.
The Photoshop UI remains largely unchanged from that of Photoshop CS6, which was a big advance over CS5. All your left-side tools and right-side panels are still available, in a choice of workspaces suited to standard image editing, 3D, motion, painting, photography, and typography. It's incredibly customisable, and you can save presets for all your customisations. The new cloud connectivity also means that you can log into a copy of Photoshop at a different location and have all your interface customisation show up.
Another helpful aspect of the interface is that, for most updated features, you can check a "Use legacy" box to get the old tool you're used to. Plenty of other little conveniences (which Adobe likes to call JDIs, for "just do it") have been added to the world's premiere photo editing software. For example, you can now nudge a path with the spacebar. Actions can now be conditional, using if/then expressions.
Behance
Behance is a social network for creative professionals, offering online portfolios and connections. It will be built into all the Creative Cloud applications, and will let users post projects for feedback from colleagues and clients. Users can post their files directly from Photoshop CC via a one-click share button at the lower left. They can share their work from within Behance, and discuss the work and even connect with potential and existing clients and freelancers.
Behance's ProSites are customisable online portfolios which Creative Cloud subscribers can use with their own URLs. I found Behance's presentation elegant, clean, and it incorporated all the essential social features du jour. I especially like the fact that it offers statistics of your page activity. You can also export photos in Zoomify format – a cool viewer that lets viewers zoom deep into large images – but I'd like to see more sharing options, like built-in email and Flickr sharing. Of course, you can do all this from Photoshop's ancillary Bridge image organiser app.
The hottest, most anticipated new feature of Photoshop CC is the modestly named Camera Shake Reduction. This was first shown by Adobe two years ago at its Max conference, and it was met with a very positive reaction. The tool analyses a photo to find the path of shake motion, and then aligns the shifted pixels. It sounds simple enough, but it's harder to get right than it may seem. This is because the path won't be the same everywhere in the photo unless you shook it exactly along a single plane – highly unlikely. You can use the tool's best guess, or select a region (or regions) where you want the blur trace to be estimated.
You can also adjust Blur Trace Bounds, Smoothing, and Artifact Suppression – the last two let me create a less "sharpened" looking result. I'd love to see a simple "effect strength" adjustment like that you get with Smart Sharpen (which, by the way, with this release gets a new Reduce Noise slider). Shake Reduction is not a panacea, but it's definitely a finer effect than even the Smart Sharpen tool. If the subject is simply out of focus, it won't help you; a simply blurry subject won't be fixed.
Photoshop CC also benefits from several new Camera Raw capabilities, some of which we've already seen in the Lightroom 5 beta. The latter includes a new geometry correction tool, Upright (see the above image). This lets you fix parallel vertical and horizontal lines. Its Auto setting attempts to fix perspective, but you can choose only to align verticals or only horizontals, or mess with the perspective to taste with transforming sliders for pincushion/barrel distortion, vertical, horizontal, and aspect ratio.
A couple more new capabilities designers will be thrilled to take advantage of are rounded rectangles and the ability to select multiple paths and shapes when applying effects. You can now save formatting of type as styles that can be easily applied to other text later. Type can also now be viewed in a way that previews system antialiasing used in web browsers. For web designers, Photoshop CC now can generate CSS code that produces the exact look designed in the software. Going in the other direction, they can also now import colour from a website's HTML or CSS code.
Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
Since it's part of the cloud subscription, as long as you pay ￡17.58 a month for Photoshop alone, or ￡46.88 for the full creative suite (￡27.34 for upgraders from CS3 or later, ￡15.88 for the Student and Teacher edition), you'll always have access to any new features that come along. That sounds more palatable to me than the old ￡650 or ￡950 up front, though I realise that some long-time users have expressed displeasure at having to continue paying to use the software. However, with the subscription, it would take you at least 3 years to spend the previous up front money, and by then, you'd probably want to upgrade anyway.
Another way that Creative Cloud affects new Photoshop users is that they'll now get all the Photoshop tools, including features that used to be available only in the Photoshop Extended edition, such as 3D modelling and image analysis. Extended costs ￡950, so this is quite a perk, not to mention the fact that it simplifies your product choice.
You should only consider installing Photoshop on a fairly powerful PC or Mac. You also need to sign in with your Adobe ID before the installer will let you start. I installed it on a Windows 8 PC (Photoshop CC runs on Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, but not on earlier Windows OS versions) with a 3.4GHz quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. It took about 20 minutes, and, right off the bat, I got a message saying that 3D editing wouldn't be available because of my video card or its driver. Mac users will need OS X 10.7 or 10.8.
The Photoshop UI remains largely unchanged from that of Photoshop CS6, which was a big advance over CS5. All your left-side tools and right-side panels are still available, in a choice of workspaces suited to standard image editing, 3D, motion, painting, photography, and typography. It's incredibly customisable, and you can save presets for all your customisations. The new cloud connectivity also means that you can log into a copy of Photoshop at a different location and have all your interface customisation show up.
Another helpful aspect of the interface is that, for most updated features, you can check a "Use legacy" box to get the old tool you're used to. Plenty of other little conveniences (which Adobe likes to call JDIs, for "just do it") have been added to the world's premiere photo editing software. For example, you can now nudge a path with the spacebar. Actions can now be conditional, using if/then expressions.
Behance
Behance is a social network for creative professionals, offering online portfolios and connections. It will be built into all the Creative Cloud applications, and will let users post projects for feedback from colleagues and clients. Users can post their files directly from Photoshop CC via a one-click share button at the lower left. They can share their work from within Behance, and discuss the work and even connect with potential and existing clients and freelancers.
Behance's ProSites are customisable online portfolios which Creative Cloud subscribers can use with their own URLs. I found Behance's presentation elegant, clean, and it incorporated all the essential social features du jour. I especially like the fact that it offers statistics of your page activity. You can also export photos in Zoomify format – a cool viewer that lets viewers zoom deep into large images – but I'd like to see more sharing options, like built-in email and Flickr sharing. Of course, you can do all this from Photoshop's ancillary Bridge image organiser app.
The hottest, most anticipated new feature of Photoshop CC is the modestly named Camera Shake Reduction. This was first shown by Adobe two years ago at its Max conference, and it was met with a very positive reaction. The tool analyses a photo to find the path of shake motion, and then aligns the shifted pixels. It sounds simple enough, but it's harder to get right than it may seem. This is because the path won't be the same everywhere in the photo unless you shook it exactly along a single plane – highly unlikely. You can use the tool's best guess, or select a region (or regions) where you want the blur trace to be estimated.
You can also adjust Blur Trace Bounds, Smoothing, and Artifact Suppression – the last two let me create a less "sharpened" looking result. I'd love to see a simple "effect strength" adjustment like that you get with Smart Sharpen (which, by the way, with this release gets a new Reduce Noise slider). Shake Reduction is not a panacea, but it's definitely a finer effect than even the Smart Sharpen tool. If the subject is simply out of focus, it won't help you; a simply blurry subject won't be fixed.
Photoshop CC also benefits from several new Camera Raw capabilities, some of which we've already seen in the Lightroom 5 beta. The latter includes a new geometry correction tool, Upright (see the above image). This lets you fix parallel vertical and horizontal lines. Its Auto setting attempts to fix perspective, but you can choose only to align verticals or only horizontals, or mess with the perspective to taste with transforming sliders for pincushion/barrel distortion, vertical, horizontal, and aspect ratio.
A couple more new capabilities designers will be thrilled to take advantage of are rounded rectangles and the ability to select multiple paths and shapes when applying effects. You can now save formatting of type as styles that can be easily applied to other text later. Type can also now be viewed in a way that previews system antialiasing used in web browsers. For web designers, Photoshop CC now can generate CSS code that produces the exact look designed in the software. Going in the other direction, they can also now import colour from a website's HTML or CSS code.
Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
2013年6月18日星期二
PaySmart launches EMV offering in the cloud using Multos
PaySmart's Software as a Service (SaaS) approach to EMV uses cloud computing technology and MULTOS to dramatically reduce the complexity and time required to conduct an EMV migration project, especially for independent EMV issuers.
"Everything is executed under a class 5 datacenter with disaster recovery and redundancy in two separate cities, a mission-critical environment supporting high-volume transactions and the same infrastructure used by major banks, insurance companies and credit cards companies worldwide. With paySmart, an issuer can start issuing chip cards in 30 days, with almost zero investments and paying a flat, monthly fee, only for cards which are actually generating revenues. Depending on the requirements, low cost MULTOS Step/One cards can be issued, which helps to reduce the total cost of ownership of the solution", explains Daniel Nunes de Oliveira, Business Development Director of paySmart.
Oliveira reveals why MULTOS simplifies the issuance model for paySmart: "the beauty of MULTOS for us is that we can perform data preparation in the cloud and send enciphered files directly to the cards, using card personalization bureaus or instant issuance printers. What was once risky, complex and used to take a long time to deploy, has now become low risk, simple and very fast. It is not necessary to invest in infrastructure and in human resources - all software and hardware is already plugged in,Ceramic tile, in a secure, private cloud."
Julio Rost, paySmart's Marketing Coordinator says, "The idea of the new brand is to help us to communicate to customers and partners that in addition to the Smartcon products and services that have made us leaders in this industry, we are now providing EMV technology as a service, a complete offer for independent issuers who want to migrate from magstripe to chip, quickly and efficiently".
So, earlier this month I went with my lil bro to my first significant live poker event. In Troia near Lisbon in Portugal. Free hotel, Dad offering to pay for the flights – free holiday! With the chance to turn a profit playing poker…who could say no!? I tried to qualify online a few times and reached the third and final tier three times. Close but no cigar. Ah, but there are satellites when we are there….
I’m moved tables four times and I take advantage of both my chip stack and the players lack of knowledge of me to make some more moves and I’m looking pretty damn good. We’re getting down to the bubble and I’m thinking take it easy. No rash moves. Give me the rubbish I had day 1. But 77 in first position…I make a min raise. I get an all in for another min raise and call it down. His AK hits but I’m still looking fine….then an all in ahead of me and I’m looking down at 10,10. I want to slow down and let someone bust out, but I’ve got the 5th best starting hand and it would only be 2/5 of my stack to call. Too tempting. He has Jacks. Sigh. They hold up. Sigh again. Then someone busts and it’s the final ten.
Final Table – there’s me on around 30K, same-ish as three other players. The blinds are 4k and 8k, owch. I get dealt the button so the other three shorties have to go through the blinds before me. Just don’t be tenth I think, just don’t. The other short stacks make moves all in, don’t get called. Survive a round. I look down at KQs in first position. AHHHHHH! First position! The blinds have to go through the short stacks again so I let it go. And agonise about it since. I’ve then got nowt when I face all ins on my blinds. Its ok I’m thinking, I can take one blinds hit since they have to take the blinds again before me. I steal some blinds on the button against my new best friend for the day Diogo. He doesn’t look happy but neither am I. The short stacks move all in again…and survive. The blinds hits me again with nowt, nowt again, nowt again. Guy to my right goes all in. By now I’m starting to worry, expecting to look down at a 7 and “the rules for playing poker card” that comes with the deck, but low and behold KK! My meagre stack goes in, and the big blind moves all in too.
The first all in guy shows AK. Perfect. He has three aces against my kings. Couldn’t ask for better. The second caller shows Q7. Q7!?!? He’s thinking there are more cards to bust me, but the AK has him covered chipwise so if he’s third he’s out and if he’s second he’s crippled. These are the two most likely outcomes, even not knowing the cards. Stupid move. But hey, I’ll take em all day. I’m 60%ish percent with double the chips on offer. Can’t ask for better. Flop is;
So I’m out at the same time as AK but my stack is shortest so I’m tenth. With nowt. I stare disbelievingly, try to weasel a joint ninth place finish, then rap the table, say good game, and walk away to swear and drink. Poker can be so cruel at times. But overall the experience was good. Statistically I was better than one in seven players in that sat, and since Mr. Q7 had already sucked out on me one earlier on when he was underdog I definitely had the better of him too.
Mint holiday, nearly free…and as lil bro already said, I won the 20 Euros bet offering him 10/1 odds that he couldn’t catch a fish in the marina with his bare hands. I’m watching him, howling with laughter, and one of the Portuguese poker lads walks over and see’s the Golem impression going on. ‘What are you doing?’ he says.
However, the school district is not willing to fund the project alone. It will cost $30,000 to employ a coordinator. SD71 committed $10,000 and is hoping other stakeholders will also chip in.
"It's not just a school project," said Taylor. "It's bigger and more sophisticated than that. It involves municipalities, schools and other stakeholders as well. So because so many components of the community are involved it needs to be championed of some kind. And because we've already been doing a lot of work in schools like bike rodeos, we're part of the push behind this."
"We need to have every one aligned. We need adequate funding for a coordinator because from our experienced, the coordinator is key to making all of these happen. We're just a volunteer group and already have our hands full with our own activities. We're willing to help out with this but we don't have anyone that's going to take this on. It needs to be a part-time paid position for someone to do all the coordination involved."
"Everything is executed under a class 5 datacenter with disaster recovery and redundancy in two separate cities, a mission-critical environment supporting high-volume transactions and the same infrastructure used by major banks, insurance companies and credit cards companies worldwide. With paySmart, an issuer can start issuing chip cards in 30 days, with almost zero investments and paying a flat, monthly fee, only for cards which are actually generating revenues. Depending on the requirements, low cost MULTOS Step/One cards can be issued, which helps to reduce the total cost of ownership of the solution", explains Daniel Nunes de Oliveira, Business Development Director of paySmart.
Oliveira reveals why MULTOS simplifies the issuance model for paySmart: "the beauty of MULTOS for us is that we can perform data preparation in the cloud and send enciphered files directly to the cards, using card personalization bureaus or instant issuance printers. What was once risky, complex and used to take a long time to deploy, has now become low risk, simple and very fast. It is not necessary to invest in infrastructure and in human resources - all software and hardware is already plugged in,Ceramic tile, in a secure, private cloud."
Julio Rost, paySmart's Marketing Coordinator says, "The idea of the new brand is to help us to communicate to customers and partners that in addition to the Smartcon products and services that have made us leaders in this industry, we are now providing EMV technology as a service, a complete offer for independent issuers who want to migrate from magstripe to chip, quickly and efficiently".
So, earlier this month I went with my lil bro to my first significant live poker event. In Troia near Lisbon in Portugal. Free hotel, Dad offering to pay for the flights – free holiday! With the chance to turn a profit playing poker…who could say no!? I tried to qualify online a few times and reached the third and final tier three times. Close but no cigar. Ah, but there are satellites when we are there….
I’m moved tables four times and I take advantage of both my chip stack and the players lack of knowledge of me to make some more moves and I’m looking pretty damn good. We’re getting down to the bubble and I’m thinking take it easy. No rash moves. Give me the rubbish I had day 1. But 77 in first position…I make a min raise. I get an all in for another min raise and call it down. His AK hits but I’m still looking fine….then an all in ahead of me and I’m looking down at 10,10. I want to slow down and let someone bust out, but I’ve got the 5th best starting hand and it would only be 2/5 of my stack to call. Too tempting. He has Jacks. Sigh. They hold up. Sigh again. Then someone busts and it’s the final ten.
Final Table – there’s me on around 30K, same-ish as three other players. The blinds are 4k and 8k, owch. I get dealt the button so the other three shorties have to go through the blinds before me. Just don’t be tenth I think, just don’t. The other short stacks make moves all in, don’t get called. Survive a round. I look down at KQs in first position. AHHHHHH! First position! The blinds have to go through the short stacks again so I let it go. And agonise about it since. I’ve then got nowt when I face all ins on my blinds. Its ok I’m thinking, I can take one blinds hit since they have to take the blinds again before me. I steal some blinds on the button against my new best friend for the day Diogo. He doesn’t look happy but neither am I. The short stacks move all in again…and survive. The blinds hits me again with nowt, nowt again, nowt again. Guy to my right goes all in. By now I’m starting to worry, expecting to look down at a 7 and “the rules for playing poker card” that comes with the deck, but low and behold KK! My meagre stack goes in, and the big blind moves all in too.
The first all in guy shows AK. Perfect. He has three aces against my kings. Couldn’t ask for better. The second caller shows Q7. Q7!?!? He’s thinking there are more cards to bust me, but the AK has him covered chipwise so if he’s third he’s out and if he’s second he’s crippled. These are the two most likely outcomes, even not knowing the cards. Stupid move. But hey, I’ll take em all day. I’m 60%ish percent with double the chips on offer. Can’t ask for better. Flop is;
So I’m out at the same time as AK but my stack is shortest so I’m tenth. With nowt. I stare disbelievingly, try to weasel a joint ninth place finish, then rap the table, say good game, and walk away to swear and drink. Poker can be so cruel at times. But overall the experience was good. Statistically I was better than one in seven players in that sat, and since Mr. Q7 had already sucked out on me one earlier on when he was underdog I definitely had the better of him too.
Mint holiday, nearly free…and as lil bro already said, I won the 20 Euros bet offering him 10/1 odds that he couldn’t catch a fish in the marina with his bare hands. I’m watching him, howling with laughter, and one of the Portuguese poker lads walks over and see’s the Golem impression going on. ‘What are you doing?’ he says.
However, the school district is not willing to fund the project alone. It will cost $30,000 to employ a coordinator. SD71 committed $10,000 and is hoping other stakeholders will also chip in.
"It's not just a school project," said Taylor. "It's bigger and more sophisticated than that. It involves municipalities, schools and other stakeholders as well. So because so many components of the community are involved it needs to be championed of some kind. And because we've already been doing a lot of work in schools like bike rodeos, we're part of the push behind this."
"We need to have every one aligned. We need adequate funding for a coordinator because from our experienced, the coordinator is key to making all of these happen. We're just a volunteer group and already have our hands full with our own activities. We're willing to help out with this but we don't have anyone that's going to take this on. It needs to be a part-time paid position for someone to do all the coordination involved."
2013年6月16日星期日
2013 Nissan Pathfinder
This week, we're driving Nissan's new generation Pathfinder, a larger SUV that is now more dedicated to highway driving comfort more so than the previous Pathfinders, even though the name "Pathfinder" exudes more of an off-road affinity.
The new Pathfinder is still a four-door, seven-passenger SUV that comes in eight shades of dress, from the two wheel drive "S" at $28,650 up the top line Platinum 4x4, which goes for $41,150... and happens to be our tester for the week.
Important to note is all new Pathfinders come with the same engine under the hood, which means regardless of choice you're receiving the same underpinnings and mechanical attributes. Specifically, a fine running 3.5-liter V6 produces a stout 260-horses and 240 lb. ft. of torque. Pathfinder also delivers excellent fuel mileage at 20 city and 26 highway EPA numbers. If you opt for the 4x4 versions, you'll lose just one MPG on both ends thanks to Nissan's new and standard on all models Xtronic CVT overdrive automatic.
Pathfinder's major change, however, lies underneath for 2013. The former truck style full chassis that made Pathfinder a real off-road and towing mouthpiece is now swapped for a car-like unibody construction, resulting in more creature comfort and less truck like stiffness. There's also more interior room to utilize for the family and suitcases although as for towing, the weight allowed is lower than the last generation by 2,000 lbs. Still, Pathfinder's new tow numbers are good for a unibody at 5,000 lbs. max.
During our week long test, we allowed a fellow newspaper auto enthusiast a test drive and he was quick to give much praise. He cited Pathfinder as one of the very best riding and amenity loaded Crossover/SUVs he's ever driven.
Inside, the top line Platinum is indeed "top line," and is as close to sibling Infiniti in luxury as Nissan allows. The seating is firm yet very comfortable, and the reclining features of front and second rows are an added feature.
We utilized the second row slid and tilt feature while moving some bigger items. The seats also fold in the third row for even more cargo space. Notable is the ease of entry for adults that ride in the third row, which really is for full size adults.
Standard equipment on all Pathfinders include the necessities like tri-zone air, 18-inch tires, nice alloy wheels, keyless entry, cruise, 60/40-split second-row (slides, reclines and folds), tilt-and-telescopic, and a nice six-speaker stereo with six-CD player.
When you arrive at the top line Platinum, everything imaginable is included as standard, including power front seats, leather, Bluetooth, eight-inch color display, rearview safety camera, XM radio, USB/iPod,
fog lamps, roof rack, rear park sensors, roof rack, heated front and rear seats, driver memory functions, 20-inch wheels on alloys, tow package, multi-view parking camera, cooled front seats, heated steering wheel, navigation system, real-time traffic and a spectacular 13-speaker Bose stereo audio system.
The options on our tester came in the form of a $2,300 Platinum Premium package that includes a dual panoramic sunroof and a DVD movie/entertainment system with two headrest seven-inch displays and some power tint sunshades. A roof rail costs $300 and carpeted floor mats were $200.
The 2013-2014 school year may well be remembered as the year with six snow days — including one on May 2. The senior class co-presidents included the phenomena in their addresses to the class, describing it as an event to be remembered. Undoubtedly 2012-2013 will also be remembered for the successful building referenda.
School may be out for the year, but things are just gearing up in the design phase for the renovation projects and the summer work planned in buildings and on grounds. The board of education established an ad hoc committee, which is meeting more frequently to help guide the process. In addition to the board committee, there have been numerous small group meetings and staff discussions about the final designs.
The schematic designs are on schedule to be completed and approved in early August. Once completed, the construction documents will be finalized. That work will take several months. The documents are scheduled for release and bidding in January 2014. It will then take some time to prepare for construction.
During the referendum process, we worked with design concepts. The basic design layouts now being prepared are largely consistent with the earlier ideas but more detailed and more closely aligned to how the spaces are used.
River Heights Elementary will have a new entrance and parking area on the east side and a new central core, including offices, a library-media center and renovated classrooms. The classrooms will also share flexible learning spaces, have better soundproofing and sight lines, and a new HVAC system that includes air conditioning. The staff, parents and students are very excited about the changes — especially the air conditioning!
River Heights Elementary is considered a "lighthouse" school with wrap-around childcare in the morning and a full schedule of after school programming that runs until 5:30 p.m. The improved environment will have significant impact on the functionality of the building. It will have a modern look and feel.
We have just begun the design work for Downsville Elementary. While the project is much smaller than the renovations at River Heights, they will also have a redesigned entrance and central core. Downsville will see major changes in energy projects, such as new windows, HVAC and roof.
Both of the schools are located in areas that may be able to utilize geothermal systems. Our strategic plan includes consideration of sustainable practices throughout the district. The action planning team met with members of the board and design team to discuss the various sustainable practices that could be considered during the renovation and maintenance work.
As a result of the discussions, proposals will be developed for multiple options and the board will be able to consider the costs and benefits of each. The community facilities task force also asked the board to place a high priority on energy projects that would have a good return on investment. The projects and planning have taken that into consideration.Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
The new Pathfinder is still a four-door, seven-passenger SUV that comes in eight shades of dress, from the two wheel drive "S" at $28,650 up the top line Platinum 4x4, which goes for $41,150... and happens to be our tester for the week.
Important to note is all new Pathfinders come with the same engine under the hood, which means regardless of choice you're receiving the same underpinnings and mechanical attributes. Specifically, a fine running 3.5-liter V6 produces a stout 260-horses and 240 lb. ft. of torque. Pathfinder also delivers excellent fuel mileage at 20 city and 26 highway EPA numbers. If you opt for the 4x4 versions, you'll lose just one MPG on both ends thanks to Nissan's new and standard on all models Xtronic CVT overdrive automatic.
Pathfinder's major change, however, lies underneath for 2013. The former truck style full chassis that made Pathfinder a real off-road and towing mouthpiece is now swapped for a car-like unibody construction, resulting in more creature comfort and less truck like stiffness. There's also more interior room to utilize for the family and suitcases although as for towing, the weight allowed is lower than the last generation by 2,000 lbs. Still, Pathfinder's new tow numbers are good for a unibody at 5,000 lbs. max.
During our week long test, we allowed a fellow newspaper auto enthusiast a test drive and he was quick to give much praise. He cited Pathfinder as one of the very best riding and amenity loaded Crossover/SUVs he's ever driven.
Inside, the top line Platinum is indeed "top line," and is as close to sibling Infiniti in luxury as Nissan allows. The seating is firm yet very comfortable, and the reclining features of front and second rows are an added feature.
We utilized the second row slid and tilt feature while moving some bigger items. The seats also fold in the third row for even more cargo space. Notable is the ease of entry for adults that ride in the third row, which really is for full size adults.
Standard equipment on all Pathfinders include the necessities like tri-zone air, 18-inch tires, nice alloy wheels, keyless entry, cruise, 60/40-split second-row (slides, reclines and folds), tilt-and-telescopic, and a nice six-speaker stereo with six-CD player.
When you arrive at the top line Platinum, everything imaginable is included as standard, including power front seats, leather, Bluetooth, eight-inch color display, rearview safety camera, XM radio, USB/iPod,
fog lamps, roof rack, rear park sensors, roof rack, heated front and rear seats, driver memory functions, 20-inch wheels on alloys, tow package, multi-view parking camera, cooled front seats, heated steering wheel, navigation system, real-time traffic and a spectacular 13-speaker Bose stereo audio system.
The options on our tester came in the form of a $2,300 Platinum Premium package that includes a dual panoramic sunroof and a DVD movie/entertainment system with two headrest seven-inch displays and some power tint sunshades. A roof rail costs $300 and carpeted floor mats were $200.
The 2013-2014 school year may well be remembered as the year with six snow days — including one on May 2. The senior class co-presidents included the phenomena in their addresses to the class, describing it as an event to be remembered. Undoubtedly 2012-2013 will also be remembered for the successful building referenda.
School may be out for the year, but things are just gearing up in the design phase for the renovation projects and the summer work planned in buildings and on grounds. The board of education established an ad hoc committee, which is meeting more frequently to help guide the process. In addition to the board committee, there have been numerous small group meetings and staff discussions about the final designs.
The schematic designs are on schedule to be completed and approved in early August. Once completed, the construction documents will be finalized. That work will take several months. The documents are scheduled for release and bidding in January 2014. It will then take some time to prepare for construction.
During the referendum process, we worked with design concepts. The basic design layouts now being prepared are largely consistent with the earlier ideas but more detailed and more closely aligned to how the spaces are used.
River Heights Elementary will have a new entrance and parking area on the east side and a new central core, including offices, a library-media center and renovated classrooms. The classrooms will also share flexible learning spaces, have better soundproofing and sight lines, and a new HVAC system that includes air conditioning. The staff, parents and students are very excited about the changes — especially the air conditioning!
River Heights Elementary is considered a "lighthouse" school with wrap-around childcare in the morning and a full schedule of after school programming that runs until 5:30 p.m. The improved environment will have significant impact on the functionality of the building. It will have a modern look and feel.
We have just begun the design work for Downsville Elementary. While the project is much smaller than the renovations at River Heights, they will also have a redesigned entrance and central core. Downsville will see major changes in energy projects, such as new windows, HVAC and roof.
Both of the schools are located in areas that may be able to utilize geothermal systems. Our strategic plan includes consideration of sustainable practices throughout the district. The action planning team met with members of the board and design team to discuss the various sustainable practices that could be considered during the renovation and maintenance work.
As a result of the discussions, proposals will be developed for multiple options and the board will be able to consider the costs and benefits of each. The community facilities task force also asked the board to place a high priority on energy projects that would have a good return on investment. The projects and planning have taken that into consideration.Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
2013年6月8日星期六
Starbucks Stock May Benefit From Swipe Fee Battle
Because the $7.2 billion swipe fee settlement with Visa and MasterCard doesn't really settle the issue but merely delays it for eight months, Starbucks stock may ultimately benefit from the alternative payment processing path it is blazing.
Nineteen major retailers, including Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Target, along with the National Federation of Independent Business, are opting out of the settlement and are considering pursuing new litigation against the credit card processors and the big banks like Bank of America, which are the ultimate recipients of the fees charged.
They allege the settlement does little to change an unfair system that costs consumers about $50 billion annually. Considering Visa and MasterCard agreed to pay $6 billion to settle the lawsuit, plus delay imposing the fees again for eight months -- a move that would cost them another $1.2 billion -- it amounts to little more than chump change when they reimpose the fees.
Yet some retailers are exploring alternatives to credit and debit card payments that can mitigate the cost of using plastic. Home Depot, for example, is pioneering the use of PayPal to complete a transaction at the cash register. The swipe fee issue was one reason the eBay payment solution is now available when you walk up to checkout, and the service has signed up 23 national retailers thus far, including Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, and J.C. Penney.
But the more interesting option to my thinking is the mobile wallet solution, where you can quickly use your smartphone to pay for a product or service. The industry is still in its infancy, but market researchers at Berg Insight think it will turn into a $35 billion industry by 2017, though that's obviously still just a small portion of overall credit and Ceramic tile use. Still, it offers a path for retailers to follow.
Starbucks is the trendsetter here with a stupid-simple smartphone app, so easy to use, in fact, that of the $500 million worth of goods and services purchased last year using mobile wallet apps, almost all of them were conducted in a Starbucks. That underscores the statements made earlier this year by CEO Howard Schultz, who said the coffee slinger was processing 3 million mobile payment transactions a week.
If other retailers follow suit, creating equally easy-to-use apps that consumers can readily access (apparently not every mobile wallet app is as clean as Starbucks'), they could bypass the credit and debit card issuers and processors altogether, saving themselves and consumers billions.
The proliferation of smartphones combined with a simple-to-use app could lead to the decline of Visa and MasterCard. Not everyone is going to release their grip on plastic, of course, but I think the market researchers may be underestimating its potential, and there's little reason to doubt that Starbucks, as a first-mover here, will see its stock becoming one of the biggest beneficiaries of the coming boom.
The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only those most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward those investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in The Motley Fool's special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.
One of the smallest schools in the district brought home one of the biggest prizes last week! The Fort McMurray Christian School recently won the Oil Sands Discovery Centre “Science Olympics 2013”.
“We weren’t surprised they won,” said Principal Joe Champion, speaking of the team of grade 7 and 8 students who competed at last Thursday’s event. “They are smart kids and they put a lot of time and work into it. They were pretty excited to come back to the school and tell us the good news!”
The guidelines of the event were straight forward: Each team of six students was given two projects to work on in advance, while a third was kept secret until the end of the event. The Christian School Team – called SOTWACA (Science Olympic Team With A Cool Acronym) won the first event — the Golf Ball Tower. In this event, each team was asked to construct a tower using only plastic straws, 50 centimeters of tape, 30 paper clips and one index card. “It was hard because we didn’t have much tape,” said grade 7 student Celine Nyange. “But we practiced a lot and made it work!” In 30 minutes the students created the highest tower that would independently support a golf ball for at least one minute. “Our golf ball was still standing at the end of the afternoon” added Caleb Odeleye proudly.
The second challenge — constructing and flying a plane — turned out to be a little different. It worked, but it wasn’t the best! So the race to win the final “secret” event was on!
“Gravity is very Egg-Citing” was the name of the egg dropping adventure. All teams were provided with one cup of Styrofoam peanuts, some tissue paper and felt, a sheet of cardboard with scissors and wire, some string, tape, a 1 L milk carton and one raw egg. In 40 minutes the students made a container with just the right engineering skill to make sure it dropped from a distance equivalent to the top of an oilsands dump truck to the bull’s eye — without breaking the egg! Out of 8 teams, very few achieved this goal, and only one of them — The Christian School — was right on target! “We were really excited that we had a good drop” said Caleb, the “dropper” of the egg.
Nineteen major retailers, including Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Target, along with the National Federation of Independent Business, are opting out of the settlement and are considering pursuing new litigation against the credit card processors and the big banks like Bank of America, which are the ultimate recipients of the fees charged.
They allege the settlement does little to change an unfair system that costs consumers about $50 billion annually. Considering Visa and MasterCard agreed to pay $6 billion to settle the lawsuit, plus delay imposing the fees again for eight months -- a move that would cost them another $1.2 billion -- it amounts to little more than chump change when they reimpose the fees.
Yet some retailers are exploring alternatives to credit and debit card payments that can mitigate the cost of using plastic. Home Depot, for example, is pioneering the use of PayPal to complete a transaction at the cash register. The swipe fee issue was one reason the eBay payment solution is now available when you walk up to checkout, and the service has signed up 23 national retailers thus far, including Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, and J.C. Penney.
But the more interesting option to my thinking is the mobile wallet solution, where you can quickly use your smartphone to pay for a product or service. The industry is still in its infancy, but market researchers at Berg Insight think it will turn into a $35 billion industry by 2017, though that's obviously still just a small portion of overall credit and Ceramic tile use. Still, it offers a path for retailers to follow.
Starbucks is the trendsetter here with a stupid-simple smartphone app, so easy to use, in fact, that of the $500 million worth of goods and services purchased last year using mobile wallet apps, almost all of them were conducted in a Starbucks. That underscores the statements made earlier this year by CEO Howard Schultz, who said the coffee slinger was processing 3 million mobile payment transactions a week.
If other retailers follow suit, creating equally easy-to-use apps that consumers can readily access (apparently not every mobile wallet app is as clean as Starbucks'), they could bypass the credit and debit card issuers and processors altogether, saving themselves and consumers billions.
The proliferation of smartphones combined with a simple-to-use app could lead to the decline of Visa and MasterCard. Not everyone is going to release their grip on plastic, of course, but I think the market researchers may be underestimating its potential, and there's little reason to doubt that Starbucks, as a first-mover here, will see its stock becoming one of the biggest beneficiaries of the coming boom.
The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only those most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward those investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in The Motley Fool's special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.
One of the smallest schools in the district brought home one of the biggest prizes last week! The Fort McMurray Christian School recently won the Oil Sands Discovery Centre “Science Olympics 2013”.
“We weren’t surprised they won,” said Principal Joe Champion, speaking of the team of grade 7 and 8 students who competed at last Thursday’s event. “They are smart kids and they put a lot of time and work into it. They were pretty excited to come back to the school and tell us the good news!”
The guidelines of the event were straight forward: Each team of six students was given two projects to work on in advance, while a third was kept secret until the end of the event. The Christian School Team – called SOTWACA (Science Olympic Team With A Cool Acronym) won the first event — the Golf Ball Tower. In this event, each team was asked to construct a tower using only plastic straws, 50 centimeters of tape, 30 paper clips and one index card. “It was hard because we didn’t have much tape,” said grade 7 student Celine Nyange. “But we practiced a lot and made it work!” In 30 minutes the students created the highest tower that would independently support a golf ball for at least one minute. “Our golf ball was still standing at the end of the afternoon” added Caleb Odeleye proudly.
The second challenge — constructing and flying a plane — turned out to be a little different. It worked, but it wasn’t the best! So the race to win the final “secret” event was on!
“Gravity is very Egg-Citing” was the name of the egg dropping adventure. All teams were provided with one cup of Styrofoam peanuts, some tissue paper and felt, a sheet of cardboard with scissors and wire, some string, tape, a 1 L milk carton and one raw egg. In 40 minutes the students made a container with just the right engineering skill to make sure it dropped from a distance equivalent to the top of an oilsands dump truck to the bull’s eye — without breaking the egg! Out of 8 teams, very few achieved this goal, and only one of them — The Christian School — was right on target! “We were really excited that we had a good drop” said Caleb, the “dropper” of the egg.
2013年6月7日星期五
'We Steal Secrets' juicy look at WikiLeaks
Prolific documentary-maker Alex Gibney delivers a gripping account of the wins and losses of hard-charging idealism on the front lines of the information wars in "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks." Exhaustively researched and balanced in its view of the controversial key player, the film slips in ahead of DreamWorks' dramatic take on the exploits of Julian Assange, "The Fifth Estate," which is currently shooting.
Unfolding like an espionage thriller but with a methodical journalistic skill at organizing a mountain of facts, the film raises stimulating questions about transparency and freedom of information in a world in which governments and corporations have plenty to hide. It should be a magnet for op-ed coverage.
In addition to WikiLeaks founder Assange, Gibney devotes almost equal time to the fascinating figure of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, allegedly the source of the largest volume of classified military documents leaked by Assange. It's an awkward irony that one of WikiLeaks' first major coups was a 2007 video showing a U.S. Apache helicopter mowing down unarmed civilians in Baghdad, released under the title "Collateral Murder."
Manning in a sense was also collateral damage. A brilliant but lonely tech geek from Bible-Belt Oklahoma struggling with gender-identity issues, he enlisted to get a government-funded college education. But his homosexuality made him a target for sergeants determined to "beat the macho into him."
Despite a supervisor's recommendation that he not be deployed, Manning went to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. But his isolation and unhappiness led him to dig deeper into easily cracked classified military files. Distressed by what he found there, he reached out to WikiLeaks.
While Assange has repeatedly asserted that WikiLeaks' encryption systems ensure that its sources remain undetectable, the fact emerges that Manning took all the risks as well as the fall. He was betrayed by fellow hacktivist Adrian Lamo and held for almost a year at Quantico under conditions of extreme duress before being transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he awaits trial in July. Hard evidence that the information spread by him has led to casualties or compromised missions remains elusive, according to Gibney's film. Humiliation of the Pentagon appears to have been the bigger issue.
Manning's story is framed by a thorough, more or less chronological account of Assange's rise and fall. The early sections dovetail with the dramatic depiction in Robert Connolly's TV movie "Underground." Operating under the codename Mendax as part of a small hacker group in Melbourne, Australia, called "The International Subversives," Assange became a dedicated proponent of information-sharing.
While no link has been verified, Gibney speculates in the opening of "We Steal Secrets" that Assange may have been behind the cheekily dubbed WANK (Worms Against Nuclear Killers), a virus that entered NASA's network in the run-up to the 1989 launch of its plutonium-powered Jupiter probe, Galileo.
The doc then traces Assange's success in exposing corrupt banking practices during Iceland's economic collapse in 2009-10, which led to heated public protests and provided the budding whistleblower with a new national base and sympathetic allies. Other early WikiLeaks efforts focused on tax evasion in Swiss banking, government corruption in Kenya and toxic-waste dumping.
Assange hooked up with like-minded German technology activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who became his right-hand man. When the incoming load of U.S. military and diplomatic secrets started burning a hole in Assange's pocket, WikiLeaks entered into a media alliance that included The Guardian and The New York Times to disseminate the information, much of which cast American intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan in a damning light.
However, when Manning's actions were uncovered and WikiLeaks became an international hot potato, those broadsheets both distanced themselves from Assange - notably so in a critical New York Times Magazine profile.
During this time, allegations of sexual assault surfaced against Assange in Sweden, which the WikiLeaks founder and many of his supporters have tried to paint as a fabricated smear campaign, possibly orchestrated by the CIA. A British legal rep for Assange amusingly calls it "a surreal Swedish fairy tale only missing the trolls." But the film implies with what seems like reasonable certitude that the conspiracy angle is bogus.
The unraveling of WikiLeaks was accelerated when major credit-card companies and PayPal bowed to pressure to stop processing donations to the organization, effectively setting up a financial blockade. The legal costs incurred in fighting Assange's extradition order to Sweden ate up much of WikiLeaks' remaining funds. Its founder lived in semi-isolation in England before landing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he remains holed up.
Gibney provides no shortage of support for Assange's noble mission to keep governments and corporations in check. But the film also digs into the questionable ethics and hypocrisy of his methods, as well as the ego and paranoia that clashed with his idealism. Domscheit-Berg quit the organization when it became apparent that WikiLeaks had lost control of what information was being spread and how.
There's a suggestion here that once Assange stepped out from undercover, his judgment was impaired by the rock-star seduction of the spotlight, and self-protection gradually trumped other concerns. The strength of the film is that it leaves the audience to decide whether he remains a figure of heroism or recklessness.
Given that "We Steal Secrets" is out less than a year after Gibney's equally dense account of pedophilia in the Catholic church, "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God," it's clear the filmmaker must have a virtual army of researchers working full-time. The volume of information here is considerable, but Gibney and editor Andy Grieve keep it pacey and accessible, incorporating smart graphics and animation, and a suspenseful score by Will Bates. The film could stand to be tightened by 10 minutes or so, but this is a tremendously fascinating story told with probing insight and complexity. Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
Unfolding like an espionage thriller but with a methodical journalistic skill at organizing a mountain of facts, the film raises stimulating questions about transparency and freedom of information in a world in which governments and corporations have plenty to hide. It should be a magnet for op-ed coverage.
In addition to WikiLeaks founder Assange, Gibney devotes almost equal time to the fascinating figure of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, allegedly the source of the largest volume of classified military documents leaked by Assange. It's an awkward irony that one of WikiLeaks' first major coups was a 2007 video showing a U.S. Apache helicopter mowing down unarmed civilians in Baghdad, released under the title "Collateral Murder."
Manning in a sense was also collateral damage. A brilliant but lonely tech geek from Bible-Belt Oklahoma struggling with gender-identity issues, he enlisted to get a government-funded college education. But his homosexuality made him a target for sergeants determined to "beat the macho into him."
Despite a supervisor's recommendation that he not be deployed, Manning went to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. But his isolation and unhappiness led him to dig deeper into easily cracked classified military files. Distressed by what he found there, he reached out to WikiLeaks.
While Assange has repeatedly asserted that WikiLeaks' encryption systems ensure that its sources remain undetectable, the fact emerges that Manning took all the risks as well as the fall. He was betrayed by fellow hacktivist Adrian Lamo and held for almost a year at Quantico under conditions of extreme duress before being transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he awaits trial in July. Hard evidence that the information spread by him has led to casualties or compromised missions remains elusive, according to Gibney's film. Humiliation of the Pentagon appears to have been the bigger issue.
Manning's story is framed by a thorough, more or less chronological account of Assange's rise and fall. The early sections dovetail with the dramatic depiction in Robert Connolly's TV movie "Underground." Operating under the codename Mendax as part of a small hacker group in Melbourne, Australia, called "The International Subversives," Assange became a dedicated proponent of information-sharing.
While no link has been verified, Gibney speculates in the opening of "We Steal Secrets" that Assange may have been behind the cheekily dubbed WANK (Worms Against Nuclear Killers), a virus that entered NASA's network in the run-up to the 1989 launch of its plutonium-powered Jupiter probe, Galileo.
The doc then traces Assange's success in exposing corrupt banking practices during Iceland's economic collapse in 2009-10, which led to heated public protests and provided the budding whistleblower with a new national base and sympathetic allies. Other early WikiLeaks efforts focused on tax evasion in Swiss banking, government corruption in Kenya and toxic-waste dumping.
Assange hooked up with like-minded German technology activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who became his right-hand man. When the incoming load of U.S. military and diplomatic secrets started burning a hole in Assange's pocket, WikiLeaks entered into a media alliance that included The Guardian and The New York Times to disseminate the information, much of which cast American intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan in a damning light.
However, when Manning's actions were uncovered and WikiLeaks became an international hot potato, those broadsheets both distanced themselves from Assange - notably so in a critical New York Times Magazine profile.
During this time, allegations of sexual assault surfaced against Assange in Sweden, which the WikiLeaks founder and many of his supporters have tried to paint as a fabricated smear campaign, possibly orchestrated by the CIA. A British legal rep for Assange amusingly calls it "a surreal Swedish fairy tale only missing the trolls." But the film implies with what seems like reasonable certitude that the conspiracy angle is bogus.
The unraveling of WikiLeaks was accelerated when major credit-card companies and PayPal bowed to pressure to stop processing donations to the organization, effectively setting up a financial blockade. The legal costs incurred in fighting Assange's extradition order to Sweden ate up much of WikiLeaks' remaining funds. Its founder lived in semi-isolation in England before landing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he remains holed up.
Gibney provides no shortage of support for Assange's noble mission to keep governments and corporations in check. But the film also digs into the questionable ethics and hypocrisy of his methods, as well as the ego and paranoia that clashed with his idealism. Domscheit-Berg quit the organization when it became apparent that WikiLeaks had lost control of what information was being spread and how.
There's a suggestion here that once Assange stepped out from undercover, his judgment was impaired by the rock-star seduction of the spotlight, and self-protection gradually trumped other concerns. The strength of the film is that it leaves the audience to decide whether he remains a figure of heroism or recklessness.
Given that "We Steal Secrets" is out less than a year after Gibney's equally dense account of pedophilia in the Catholic church, "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God," it's clear the filmmaker must have a virtual army of researchers working full-time. The volume of information here is considerable, but Gibney and editor Andy Grieve keep it pacey and accessible, incorporating smart graphics and animation, and a suspenseful score by Will Bates. The film could stand to be tightened by 10 minutes or so, but this is a tremendously fascinating story told with probing insight and complexity. Read the full story at www.tilees.com!
2013年6月5日星期三
Can This Be a Laptop?
Tablets are great, but how productive can people really be with them? When it comes to getting things done, nothing beats a mouse and keyboard. The struggle to have it all in one device has led to hybrids like the Lenovo Yoga and productivity-focused tablets like the Surface Pro.
Those products have their individual merits, but they always force the user to make the PC equivalent of Sophie's Choice: Do you sacrifice the keyboard for greater portability, or do you keep it and just accept your laptop will always be bulkier than a tablet?
Sony may have just spared us that terrible decision with the Vaio Pro 11. The Windows 8 PC weighs just 1.92 pounds, or about an ounce lighter than the Surface Pro tablet, and it measures just 0.68 of an inch at its thickest point. And yes, it's a laptop. With touch.
How can this be? Sony built the Vaio Pro 11 partly out of carbon fiber to keep the weight down, but other than that it attributes the laptop's featherlight status to "a passion for design." That passion seems to acknowledge that battery life is an issue, since Sony's product sheet says it'll last "all day" only with an optional sheet battery.
Sony lent me one of its super-slim Vaios to check out. It has a few odd design choices — and that battery life is an issue — but I still came away blown over that such a little device can pack a huge PC punch. That's partly because Sony sent over a machine configured with an Intel Core i7 chip rather than a less powerful i5.
It's hard to use the Vaio Pro 11 and not constantly marvel at the overall design. Still, while Sony appears to have perfected compactness in the laptop form factor, it needs to work on some of its specific design choices.
The keyboard, for example, feels a little less polished than others. Although the chiclet-style keys look good and provide nice breathing room for the fingers, a couple of them were slightly misaligned on my unit (then again, it was a pre-production unit). Also, the keys have slightly too much "give" for an ideal typing experience — this isn't exactly a MacBook Air.
On the plus side, the keyboard's backlit, and the light is intelligent enough to turn itself off if you don't touch the keyboard for Ceramic tile. When you open the laptop, the hinge is built so the back of the keyboard is elevated slightly — a very smart decision.
The trackpad is nice and big, although otherwise it's nothing to write home about. Here it feels like the pad actually has not enough give, and my presses sometimes threatened to topple the thing over if the laptop was resting in an irregular position. Still, it works fine.
The other touch interface — the screen — is beautiful: a full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display that's enhanced with Sony's Triluminous tech for better color, contrast and everything else that TVs have prioritized for years. It looks great, although for a touchscreen, I found it a tad "sticky" and sometimes hard to swipe on even if I was just a tad sweaty.
If there's a dumb decision in the Pro 11 design, it's the corners. For some reason Sony designed the corners to be incredibly pointy. They're not arrowheads, but they're sharp enough that they do poke out noticeably, and bring new meaning to the term "hot corners." God help the poor guy who drops this Vaio corner-first onto his foot.
I was able to forgive Sony its design sins, however, after using the Vaio Pro 11 for just a little while. Windows 8 boots up fast, but on this machine it's like lightning. Apps launch quickly as well, and it responds fluidly to gestures and taps on the screen. Just as I'd expect from a high-end Ultrabook.
It doesn't take much to coax the fans into turning on — fire up just a few apps, a high-res YouTube video, or start thinking about launching an app from Adobe, and sure enough that whirring will start. It's not as loud as, say, a MacBook Pro, but it's a near-constant presence.
What you're looking at, though — especially if it's video — will make you forget about the noise. Watching some movie trailers in 1080p on the Vaio Pro 11, I found the picture quality to have better contrast with lifelike motion and eye-popping color.
Sony attributes the Vaio's superior picture quality to both its Triluminous display tech as well as its X-Reality engine, which is said to reduce visual noise. Comparing the recent trailer for Man of Steel on the Vaio vs. my MacBook Pro, the Sony was the clear winner, even at the smaller screen size.
Sony also included its ClearAudio+ sound processing to improve the sound. I did find that music and videos sounded great on the Vaio, but it couldn't play very loud for it to be practical. To really use the Pro 11 as a primary video machine, you'll want to invest in an external speaker or headphones.
Those products have their individual merits, but they always force the user to make the PC equivalent of Sophie's Choice: Do you sacrifice the keyboard for greater portability, or do you keep it and just accept your laptop will always be bulkier than a tablet?
Sony may have just spared us that terrible decision with the Vaio Pro 11. The Windows 8 PC weighs just 1.92 pounds, or about an ounce lighter than the Surface Pro tablet, and it measures just 0.68 of an inch at its thickest point. And yes, it's a laptop. With touch.
How can this be? Sony built the Vaio Pro 11 partly out of carbon fiber to keep the weight down, but other than that it attributes the laptop's featherlight status to "a passion for design." That passion seems to acknowledge that battery life is an issue, since Sony's product sheet says it'll last "all day" only with an optional sheet battery.
Sony lent me one of its super-slim Vaios to check out. It has a few odd design choices — and that battery life is an issue — but I still came away blown over that such a little device can pack a huge PC punch. That's partly because Sony sent over a machine configured with an Intel Core i7 chip rather than a less powerful i5.
It's hard to use the Vaio Pro 11 and not constantly marvel at the overall design. Still, while Sony appears to have perfected compactness in the laptop form factor, it needs to work on some of its specific design choices.
The keyboard, for example, feels a little less polished than others. Although the chiclet-style keys look good and provide nice breathing room for the fingers, a couple of them were slightly misaligned on my unit (then again, it was a pre-production unit). Also, the keys have slightly too much "give" for an ideal typing experience — this isn't exactly a MacBook Air.
On the plus side, the keyboard's backlit, and the light is intelligent enough to turn itself off if you don't touch the keyboard for Ceramic tile. When you open the laptop, the hinge is built so the back of the keyboard is elevated slightly — a very smart decision.
The trackpad is nice and big, although otherwise it's nothing to write home about. Here it feels like the pad actually has not enough give, and my presses sometimes threatened to topple the thing over if the laptop was resting in an irregular position. Still, it works fine.
The other touch interface — the screen — is beautiful: a full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display that's enhanced with Sony's Triluminous tech for better color, contrast and everything else that TVs have prioritized for years. It looks great, although for a touchscreen, I found it a tad "sticky" and sometimes hard to swipe on even if I was just a tad sweaty.
If there's a dumb decision in the Pro 11 design, it's the corners. For some reason Sony designed the corners to be incredibly pointy. They're not arrowheads, but they're sharp enough that they do poke out noticeably, and bring new meaning to the term "hot corners." God help the poor guy who drops this Vaio corner-first onto his foot.
I was able to forgive Sony its design sins, however, after using the Vaio Pro 11 for just a little while. Windows 8 boots up fast, but on this machine it's like lightning. Apps launch quickly as well, and it responds fluidly to gestures and taps on the screen. Just as I'd expect from a high-end Ultrabook.
It doesn't take much to coax the fans into turning on — fire up just a few apps, a high-res YouTube video, or start thinking about launching an app from Adobe, and sure enough that whirring will start. It's not as loud as, say, a MacBook Pro, but it's a near-constant presence.
What you're looking at, though — especially if it's video — will make you forget about the noise. Watching some movie trailers in 1080p on the Vaio Pro 11, I found the picture quality to have better contrast with lifelike motion and eye-popping color.
Sony attributes the Vaio's superior picture quality to both its Triluminous display tech as well as its X-Reality engine, which is said to reduce visual noise. Comparing the recent trailer for Man of Steel on the Vaio vs. my MacBook Pro, the Sony was the clear winner, even at the smaller screen size.
Sony also included its ClearAudio+ sound processing to improve the sound. I did find that music and videos sounded great on the Vaio, but it couldn't play very loud for it to be practical. To really use the Pro 11 as a primary video machine, you'll want to invest in an external speaker or headphones.
2013年6月4日星期二
African markets outperforming emerging peers
In a column last week, I mentioned the significant outperformance of the S&P 500 index since 2010 compared with the MSCI emerging market index, this at a time when the economies of emerging markets are growing faster than those of developed countries.
Monday was another bearish one for emerging markets, with, for instance, Turkish stocks down by as much as 10% and Russia’s RTS index declining up to 2.1%.
The JSE’s all share index was down 2.48% on the stronger rand and the market playing follow-my-leader from a sell-off in the US on Friday — although US stock markets were rebounding by late Monday afternoon.
Standard Bank on Monday released a research report saying African currencies, bonds and equities remained relatively uncorrelated to other emerging markets, "potentially offering outperformance during the present profit-taking".
The report says that in the year to May this year, the MSCI African index was up 28.8%, the S&P 500 had climbed 18% over the same period, while the MSCI emerging markets index declined 3.7%
Standard says African currencies have performed better than expected against the strengthening dollar so far this year, and it is only the rand, Botswana pula and Mauritian rupee that have produced a negative return. "We expect a similar situation to materialise in the coming months, albeit we may see some short-term weakness, in line with global sentiment ."
A STORY flighted on SABC3 on Thursday night about the securitisation of South Africa’s mortgages by the banks prompted me to delve a little into the health of the local mortgage securitisation sector, a market not often covered by newspapers in this country.
Securitisation is the conversion of a pool of assets with a regular and predictable cash income such as mortgage repayments or credit card receivables into a security or marketable instrument.
It allows mostly the banks to "sell" a large number of its assets such as mortgage loans, which would otherwise not be attractive as individual purchases, to a specially formed company, which funds the purchase by issuing debt securities in the capital markets. It helps banks to improve their liquidity.
Other than the fact that I found out that these markets are relatively healthy, I discovered also that recent concerns among JSE investors about the exposure of some banks to high levels of unsecured lending may also affect the securitisation market.
For instance, Moody’s Investors Services senior analyst Anthony Parry says South Africa’s securitised mortgage market has a negative ratings outlook because of a number of macroeconomic factors. One such factor is unsecured debt, which "has grown significantly. We can’t separate that from the fact that consumers are already under pressure," he said.
Global rating agency Fitch said earlier this year that low economic growth and rising interest rates were not significant risk factors on the performance of mortgages, but "another downside risk ... would lie in a further, unexpected economic deterioration".
ON THE subjects of unsecured lending and property, cracks in the unsecured lending sector are as a result of an increase in bad debts and a slowdown in consumer household spending.
Gary Palmer, CEO of Paragon Lending Solutions, says the bank’s push into more profitable non-interest income was because of it not making sufficient earnings from traditional mortgage bonds. He argues that a decrease in interest rates and new lending regulations such as Basel 3 have pushed local banks into focusing on more profitable noninterest income, with increased involvement in the recovery process. This was why there had been a sharp decline in mortgage lending and a boom in unsecured credit.
Property investors may start finding it more difficult to obtain funding in the tighter economic environment, while commercial property owners will need to focus on rent collections from tenants, Mr Palmer says. But there remains big demand for income-generating properties, especially from blue-chip tenants.
The company developing tools that let people create stuff, today announced the official launch of Stitch -- the FREE iPhone app that takes a user's message, music and photos and puts it into motion. Saying "Good luck," "Happy birthday" or "Sorry I sold your cat" used to mean spending too much time online searching through old-school eCards. Users can now "Stitch" together slides with their images and music to create and share personalized messages at any time for any moment. The app is available exclusively in the Apple App Store.
"People want to create cool stuff and share it, and the products currently on the market don't allow us to get creative and personal," said Dustin Haisler, President of KlabLab. "Stitch was developed to give people the opportunity to convey the message they want to. Stitch isn't your grandma's greeting card."
Stitch fills the creativity void in the eCard space as the only mobile app that lets people design original content and put that content in motion. Templates act as guides, with popular subjects like Happy Birthday, I Love You and Thinking of You, while the blank template gives users total freedom to say exactly what is on their mind, whether that's wishing your son luck in the big game, saying hello to someone after a first date or asking mom to make her famous chocolate chip cookies.
Users can pull music directly from their iTunes library to customize the Stitch or select stock music within the app. Stiches can be further personalized by pulling images from the user's camera roll, Instagram's photo feed or Google Images. Text boxes can be inserted, sized and placed anywhere on the slides and users can also change the font color, size and justification. Stitchers can quickly render and share their completed Stitch on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and through email and text, without ever connecting to Wi-Fi.Click on their website www.tilees.com for more information.
Monday was another bearish one for emerging markets, with, for instance, Turkish stocks down by as much as 10% and Russia’s RTS index declining up to 2.1%.
The JSE’s all share index was down 2.48% on the stronger rand and the market playing follow-my-leader from a sell-off in the US on Friday — although US stock markets were rebounding by late Monday afternoon.
Standard Bank on Monday released a research report saying African currencies, bonds and equities remained relatively uncorrelated to other emerging markets, "potentially offering outperformance during the present profit-taking".
The report says that in the year to May this year, the MSCI African index was up 28.8%, the S&P 500 had climbed 18% over the same period, while the MSCI emerging markets index declined 3.7%
Standard says African currencies have performed better than expected against the strengthening dollar so far this year, and it is only the rand, Botswana pula and Mauritian rupee that have produced a negative return. "We expect a similar situation to materialise in the coming months, albeit we may see some short-term weakness, in line with global sentiment ."
A STORY flighted on SABC3 on Thursday night about the securitisation of South Africa’s mortgages by the banks prompted me to delve a little into the health of the local mortgage securitisation sector, a market not often covered by newspapers in this country.
Securitisation is the conversion of a pool of assets with a regular and predictable cash income such as mortgage repayments or credit card receivables into a security or marketable instrument.
It allows mostly the banks to "sell" a large number of its assets such as mortgage loans, which would otherwise not be attractive as individual purchases, to a specially formed company, which funds the purchase by issuing debt securities in the capital markets. It helps banks to improve their liquidity.
Other than the fact that I found out that these markets are relatively healthy, I discovered also that recent concerns among JSE investors about the exposure of some banks to high levels of unsecured lending may also affect the securitisation market.
For instance, Moody’s Investors Services senior analyst Anthony Parry says South Africa’s securitised mortgage market has a negative ratings outlook because of a number of macroeconomic factors. One such factor is unsecured debt, which "has grown significantly. We can’t separate that from the fact that consumers are already under pressure," he said.
Global rating agency Fitch said earlier this year that low economic growth and rising interest rates were not significant risk factors on the performance of mortgages, but "another downside risk ... would lie in a further, unexpected economic deterioration".
ON THE subjects of unsecured lending and property, cracks in the unsecured lending sector are as a result of an increase in bad debts and a slowdown in consumer household spending.
Gary Palmer, CEO of Paragon Lending Solutions, says the bank’s push into more profitable non-interest income was because of it not making sufficient earnings from traditional mortgage bonds. He argues that a decrease in interest rates and new lending regulations such as Basel 3 have pushed local banks into focusing on more profitable noninterest income, with increased involvement in the recovery process. This was why there had been a sharp decline in mortgage lending and a boom in unsecured credit.
Property investors may start finding it more difficult to obtain funding in the tighter economic environment, while commercial property owners will need to focus on rent collections from tenants, Mr Palmer says. But there remains big demand for income-generating properties, especially from blue-chip tenants.
The company developing tools that let people create stuff, today announced the official launch of Stitch -- the FREE iPhone app that takes a user's message, music and photos and puts it into motion. Saying "Good luck," "Happy birthday" or "Sorry I sold your cat" used to mean spending too much time online searching through old-school eCards. Users can now "Stitch" together slides with their images and music to create and share personalized messages at any time for any moment. The app is available exclusively in the Apple App Store.
"People want to create cool stuff and share it, and the products currently on the market don't allow us to get creative and personal," said Dustin Haisler, President of KlabLab. "Stitch was developed to give people the opportunity to convey the message they want to. Stitch isn't your grandma's greeting card."
Stitch fills the creativity void in the eCard space as the only mobile app that lets people design original content and put that content in motion. Templates act as guides, with popular subjects like Happy Birthday, I Love You and Thinking of You, while the blank template gives users total freedom to say exactly what is on their mind, whether that's wishing your son luck in the big game, saying hello to someone after a first date or asking mom to make her famous chocolate chip cookies.
Users can pull music directly from their iTunes library to customize the Stitch or select stock music within the app. Stiches can be further personalized by pulling images from the user's camera roll, Instagram's photo feed or Google Images. Text boxes can be inserted, sized and placed anywhere on the slides and users can also change the font color, size and justification. Stitchers can quickly render and share their completed Stitch on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and through email and text, without ever connecting to Wi-Fi.Click on their website www.tilees.com for more information.
2013年5月23日星期四
Cash beats plastic in Middle East
Cash transactions in the region accounted for 93 per cent of total consumer payments in volume terms in 2012, while transactions that involved cards represented only 5 per cent, indicating the “continued importance of cash in the region,” according to Euromonitor International.
“Cash transactions are expected to remain the leading consumer payment method, with volume growth projected at seven per cent over the next five years,” Maii Abdul Rahman, research analyst at Euromonitor International, told Gulf News.
The main driver for paper-based payments is the large unbanked population in the region that may take some time to enter the financial mainstream. There is also a limited consumer adoption of electronic payments due to security concerns and cultural reasons.
The Middle East and Africa’s consumer payments market hit a value of $1.2 billion in 2012 and is expected to expand by 32 per cent in 2017 to reach $1.5 billion. In terms of total payments, cash constitutes the largest share at 68 per cent, while cards represent only 18 per cent.
Abdul Rahman said most people use cash in transactions involving remittances, transportation, delivery services, fuel and groceries. “With a significant share of expatriate population, the GCC is the largest source of remittances to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt and Lebanon, making remittances the leading driver of cash transactions in the Ceramic tile,” Abdul Rahman said.
When it comes to shopping for clothes and shoes, paying for food and beverage, as well as other discretionary expenses, most consumers prefer to pay with plastic money.
“Sectors such as food and beverage, clothing and footwear, and leisure and recreation top the list of credit card transactions, with a combined share of 50 per cent. Looking at debit cards, food and beverages remain the sector most spent on, followed by household goods and services and transport,” said Abdul Rahman.
Cash may still be king, but with the continued push from the government, card-based transactions will become widespread in the near term.
Transactions involving cards are expected to post the highest growth, increasing by 12 per cent over the next five years, according to Euromonitor International.
“Increasing government initiatives across the region to push electronic payments and drive financial inclusion are one of the key growth drivers going forward,” said Maii Abdul Rahman, research analyst at Euromonitor International.
Abdul Rahman noted that in Nigeria, the government has recently launched 13 million national ID smart cards that can be used for electronic payments. In the UAE, the Wage Protection System (WPS) is currently facilitating salary payments for around 2 million labourers.
“These initiatives, coupled with an improved financial infrastructure, a young tech-savvy population and continued innovation with the rise of mobile commerce and NFCs (near field communications) are expected to strongly push card payment transactions in the future,” said Abdul Rahman.
“With the growth of smart phones and tablets and an increasing number of suppliers offering payment through mobile, m-commerce is gaining momentum in the region. And as disposable incomes and spending rise and the youth population is more inclined to embrace new payment methods, such as via mobile phones, this region is an ideal target market for financial institutions,” said Fulya Berksoy, regional consultant at Euromonitor International.
Square, which allows anyone with a smartphone to take credit-card payments, is now doing business in Japan. It is the third country, after the United States and Canada, where the company has made its industry-disrupting payments service available, and the popularity of the iPhone there could create fertile grounds for expansion.
It’s no surprise that the company would want to get into one of the world’s biggest, most sophisticated markets. It recently hired the top US trade negotiator, who helped bring Japan into a new round of regional free-trade talks, as its international government-relations guy, and a Google executive with significant global experience as its business lead. But the question for Square is whether businesses in Japan will adopt its little plastic card-swiper with the enthusiasm they have in the US, where the firm is on track to process $15 billion in payments this year.
There is already plenty of competition for mobile payments in Japan. PayPal is getting into the market, alongside a robust domestic sector dominated by mobile providers like NTT Docomo. But the bigger problem, or perhaps opportunity, might be in Japan’s way of doing business.
“They’re telling you that if they lost on all of them—which, by the way, no one ever does—it would have no effect on their tax expense,” Bobek Schmitt says. “But if they won on any of them, it would lower their tax rate.”
Like most companies, Apple doesn’t say which tax benefits it expects to flame out. Chances are good that many of them involve transfer pricing, Bobek Schmitt says—essentially, the fees that one Apple subsidiary charges another for services or the use of patents and other intellectual property, which is a common point of contention with tax authorities. (Bloomberg News has a more detailed look at various ways of measuring Apple’s tax bill.)
Apple is far from the only big company booking these unrecognized tax benefits. Google reported $2.07 billion of them as of the end of March, including $1.89 billion that could alter the company’s effective tax rate, which was 7.9%. General Electric reported $5.58 billion, of which $4.19 billion could alter its effective tax rate (12.4% as of March 31).
“Cash transactions are expected to remain the leading consumer payment method, with volume growth projected at seven per cent over the next five years,” Maii Abdul Rahman, research analyst at Euromonitor International, told Gulf News.
The main driver for paper-based payments is the large unbanked population in the region that may take some time to enter the financial mainstream. There is also a limited consumer adoption of electronic payments due to security concerns and cultural reasons.
The Middle East and Africa’s consumer payments market hit a value of $1.2 billion in 2012 and is expected to expand by 32 per cent in 2017 to reach $1.5 billion. In terms of total payments, cash constitutes the largest share at 68 per cent, while cards represent only 18 per cent.
Abdul Rahman said most people use cash in transactions involving remittances, transportation, delivery services, fuel and groceries. “With a significant share of expatriate population, the GCC is the largest source of remittances to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt and Lebanon, making remittances the leading driver of cash transactions in the Ceramic tile,” Abdul Rahman said.
When it comes to shopping for clothes and shoes, paying for food and beverage, as well as other discretionary expenses, most consumers prefer to pay with plastic money.
“Sectors such as food and beverage, clothing and footwear, and leisure and recreation top the list of credit card transactions, with a combined share of 50 per cent. Looking at debit cards, food and beverages remain the sector most spent on, followed by household goods and services and transport,” said Abdul Rahman.
Cash may still be king, but with the continued push from the government, card-based transactions will become widespread in the near term.
Transactions involving cards are expected to post the highest growth, increasing by 12 per cent over the next five years, according to Euromonitor International.
“Increasing government initiatives across the region to push electronic payments and drive financial inclusion are one of the key growth drivers going forward,” said Maii Abdul Rahman, research analyst at Euromonitor International.
Abdul Rahman noted that in Nigeria, the government has recently launched 13 million national ID smart cards that can be used for electronic payments. In the UAE, the Wage Protection System (WPS) is currently facilitating salary payments for around 2 million labourers.
“These initiatives, coupled with an improved financial infrastructure, a young tech-savvy population and continued innovation with the rise of mobile commerce and NFCs (near field communications) are expected to strongly push card payment transactions in the future,” said Abdul Rahman.
“With the growth of smart phones and tablets and an increasing number of suppliers offering payment through mobile, m-commerce is gaining momentum in the region. And as disposable incomes and spending rise and the youth population is more inclined to embrace new payment methods, such as via mobile phones, this region is an ideal target market for financial institutions,” said Fulya Berksoy, regional consultant at Euromonitor International.
Square, which allows anyone with a smartphone to take credit-card payments, is now doing business in Japan. It is the third country, after the United States and Canada, where the company has made its industry-disrupting payments service available, and the popularity of the iPhone there could create fertile grounds for expansion.
It’s no surprise that the company would want to get into one of the world’s biggest, most sophisticated markets. It recently hired the top US trade negotiator, who helped bring Japan into a new round of regional free-trade talks, as its international government-relations guy, and a Google executive with significant global experience as its business lead. But the question for Square is whether businesses in Japan will adopt its little plastic card-swiper with the enthusiasm they have in the US, where the firm is on track to process $15 billion in payments this year.
There is already plenty of competition for mobile payments in Japan. PayPal is getting into the market, alongside a robust domestic sector dominated by mobile providers like NTT Docomo. But the bigger problem, or perhaps opportunity, might be in Japan’s way of doing business.
“They’re telling you that if they lost on all of them—which, by the way, no one ever does—it would have no effect on their tax expense,” Bobek Schmitt says. “But if they won on any of them, it would lower their tax rate.”
Like most companies, Apple doesn’t say which tax benefits it expects to flame out. Chances are good that many of them involve transfer pricing, Bobek Schmitt says—essentially, the fees that one Apple subsidiary charges another for services or the use of patents and other intellectual property, which is a common point of contention with tax authorities. (Bloomberg News has a more detailed look at various ways of measuring Apple’s tax bill.)
Apple is far from the only big company booking these unrecognized tax benefits. Google reported $2.07 billion of them as of the end of March, including $1.89 billion that could alter the company’s effective tax rate, which was 7.9%. General Electric reported $5.58 billion, of which $4.19 billion could alter its effective tax rate (12.4% as of March 31).
2013年5月7日星期二
AnywhereCommerce forms alliance with Paytoo and Mobilepaid
Available for download on all common smartphones and tablets, the new app relies on AnywhereCommerce's patented audio-jack technology to transform any smartphone or tablet into a highly secure mPOS (mobile point-of-sale) terminal. Through this technology, merchants worldwide can accept payments made through traditional magnetic stripe, EMV chip, and NFC platforms.
The unique partnership between AnywhereCommerce, PayToo, and Mobilepaid forms the foundation for servicing over 25 million small retailers and more than three billion unbanked consumers worldwide. AnywhereCommerce brings its patented suite of secure mobile card-present payment accepting appliances to the relationship, while PayToo adds its Global Mobile Wallet acceptance solution, and Mobilepaid provides proprietary software technology that transforms any smartphone or tablet into a secure and efficient mPOS device.
"We are delighted to enter into this groundbreaking alliance with PayToo and Mobilepaid," said Mitchell Cobrin, founder and chief executive officer of AnywhereCommerce. "The combination of our respective solutions results in a viable and completely accessible mobile payment application that will directly benefit merchants and consumers worldwide."
The Bosnian, whose double at The Hawthorns in October included a last-gasp winner, guided home a volley after 35 minutes of a Barclays Premier League clash lacking in intensity but not incident.
Both sides spurned numerous chances with City hitting the woodwork twice through Carlos Tevez and James Milner in the first half and Marcus Rosenborg doing likewise for West Brom after the break.
City, although not mathematically certain of second place, made clear Saturday's date at Wembley was their priority as they fielded a team showing eight changes.
Captain Vincent Kompany and influential players Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy were rested completely while Sergio Aguero and David Silva were among those on the bench. Joe Hart, Milner and Samir Nasri were the only three men to survive from the stalemate at Swansea, meaning a whole new Ceramic tile.
West Brom made four changes themselves, giving a chance to goalkeeper Boaz Myhill and also bringing in James Morrison, Craig Dawson and Gabriel Tamas.
Aleksandar Kolarov was perhaps lucky to stay on the field when he caught Tamas on the side of the head with a high boot. The Romanian left the field for treatment, later to return bandaged up, while Kolarov escaped with a yellow card from referee Phil Dowd.
City then enjoyed a good spell as Tevez shot narrowly over from the edge of the box and Milner slammed a good chance from a dangerous Nasri cross. Jack Rodwell was then inches away from turning a Kolarov corner towards goal and Tevez rattled the crossbar with a powerful drive from the edge of the box.
The opening goal came moments later as Tevez broke away down the right and clipped back a delicate cross for Dzeko. The Bosnian, guilty of a glaring miss at Swansea, watched carefully and guided a well-weighted volley past Myhill.
The break came at a good time for West Brom and they began the second period with renewed vigour. Rosenborg smashed a free-kick against the bar after being tripped by Javi Garcia on the edge of the area and Hart then saved well from Billy Jones' follow-up header. West Brom applied pressure for a spell but were unable to break through.
A motorist's nightmare is what Pune-Mumbai Expressway has turned into in the last couple of years, with frequent accidents getting reported, most of them fatal.
To ensure lane and speed discipline, the State Highway Police is banking on a new tracking system based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
The RFID system that monitors lane driving and speeding on the 96-km Expressway has in-principle approval of the Highway Police, which said cutting lanes and crossing speed limit had caused numerous accidents in the past few years.
Mumbai-based non-government organisation Fulora Foundation has developed the RFID-based system and submitted the proposal to the Highway Police and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which maintains the expressway.
Dilip Bhujbal, superintendent of police, Pune division of SHP, said, "Statistics show that lane-cutting or speeding or both are behind increasing accidents on the Expressway. The Fulora Foundation had approached us with the RFID system. We have given it an in-principle approval."
Explaining the system, Arun Sabnis of Fulora Foundation said, "There are eight toll booths on the Expressway. RFID sensors map the vehicle's location and measure its speed. There are RFID tags at these toll booths and at regular intervals. Every time a vehicle arrives at a booth, along with the receipt of payment, it gets an RFID tag, similar to goods sold at shopping malls."
When the vehicle reaches the next booth, Sabnis said, staff there would have all the data on speeding and lane-cutting. Fines will be levied accordingly. The tag will be taken back at each booth and a new one issued. If all goes well, we plan to launch the system initially for state-run buses and other heavy vehicles in the fist week of June."
The unique partnership between AnywhereCommerce, PayToo, and Mobilepaid forms the foundation for servicing over 25 million small retailers and more than three billion unbanked consumers worldwide. AnywhereCommerce brings its patented suite of secure mobile card-present payment accepting appliances to the relationship, while PayToo adds its Global Mobile Wallet acceptance solution, and Mobilepaid provides proprietary software technology that transforms any smartphone or tablet into a secure and efficient mPOS device.
"We are delighted to enter into this groundbreaking alliance with PayToo and Mobilepaid," said Mitchell Cobrin, founder and chief executive officer of AnywhereCommerce. "The combination of our respective solutions results in a viable and completely accessible mobile payment application that will directly benefit merchants and consumers worldwide."
The Bosnian, whose double at The Hawthorns in October included a last-gasp winner, guided home a volley after 35 minutes of a Barclays Premier League clash lacking in intensity but not incident.
Both sides spurned numerous chances with City hitting the woodwork twice through Carlos Tevez and James Milner in the first half and Marcus Rosenborg doing likewise for West Brom after the break.
City, although not mathematically certain of second place, made clear Saturday's date at Wembley was their priority as they fielded a team showing eight changes.
Captain Vincent Kompany and influential players Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy were rested completely while Sergio Aguero and David Silva were among those on the bench. Joe Hart, Milner and Samir Nasri were the only three men to survive from the stalemate at Swansea, meaning a whole new Ceramic tile.
West Brom made four changes themselves, giving a chance to goalkeeper Boaz Myhill and also bringing in James Morrison, Craig Dawson and Gabriel Tamas.
Aleksandar Kolarov was perhaps lucky to stay on the field when he caught Tamas on the side of the head with a high boot. The Romanian left the field for treatment, later to return bandaged up, while Kolarov escaped with a yellow card from referee Phil Dowd.
City then enjoyed a good spell as Tevez shot narrowly over from the edge of the box and Milner slammed a good chance from a dangerous Nasri cross. Jack Rodwell was then inches away from turning a Kolarov corner towards goal and Tevez rattled the crossbar with a powerful drive from the edge of the box.
The opening goal came moments later as Tevez broke away down the right and clipped back a delicate cross for Dzeko. The Bosnian, guilty of a glaring miss at Swansea, watched carefully and guided a well-weighted volley past Myhill.
The break came at a good time for West Brom and they began the second period with renewed vigour. Rosenborg smashed a free-kick against the bar after being tripped by Javi Garcia on the edge of the area and Hart then saved well from Billy Jones' follow-up header. West Brom applied pressure for a spell but were unable to break through.
A motorist's nightmare is what Pune-Mumbai Expressway has turned into in the last couple of years, with frequent accidents getting reported, most of them fatal.
To ensure lane and speed discipline, the State Highway Police is banking on a new tracking system based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
The RFID system that monitors lane driving and speeding on the 96-km Expressway has in-principle approval of the Highway Police, which said cutting lanes and crossing speed limit had caused numerous accidents in the past few years.
Mumbai-based non-government organisation Fulora Foundation has developed the RFID-based system and submitted the proposal to the Highway Police and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which maintains the expressway.
Dilip Bhujbal, superintendent of police, Pune division of SHP, said, "Statistics show that lane-cutting or speeding or both are behind increasing accidents on the Expressway. The Fulora Foundation had approached us with the RFID system. We have given it an in-principle approval."
Explaining the system, Arun Sabnis of Fulora Foundation said, "There are eight toll booths on the Expressway. RFID sensors map the vehicle's location and measure its speed. There are RFID tags at these toll booths and at regular intervals. Every time a vehicle arrives at a booth, along with the receipt of payment, it gets an RFID tag, similar to goods sold at shopping malls."
When the vehicle reaches the next booth, Sabnis said, staff there would have all the data on speeding and lane-cutting. Fines will be levied accordingly. The tag will be taken back at each booth and a new one issued. If all goes well, we plan to launch the system initially for state-run buses and other heavy vehicles in the fist week of June."
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