Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bing begins roll out of HTML5-enhanced search interface

Bing transitions
Bing's new HTML5-and-CSS3-enhanced search interface, which was first demonstrated back in September 2010 to showcase the power of IE9, has started to roll out.

The most notable addition to the new interface is is smooth page transitions -- the fade in and out -- and navigation tabs (maps, images, videos, etc.) now persistently float at the top of the page. WinRumors is also reporting that a feature reminiscent of Google Instant search is being added to Bing, with page elements smoothly transitioning in and out as you type in your search query.

If you want to try out the new Bing UI, your best bet is to set your locale to United States - English and pray that you're part of the initial roll out. Alternatively, just wait a few days until MIX 2011, Microsoft's Web developer conference, which is when the new Bing UI should be officially launched.

Bing begins roll out of HTML5-enhanced search interface originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/bing-begins-roll-out-of-html5-enhanced-search-interface/

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iCloud Is on the Way, But What Exactly Will it Be?

Next week, Apple (AAPL) will unveil its much-anticipated iCloud service at its annual developer conference, WWDC. Apple even put out a press release this morning pre-announcing the service—something it almost never does. Details began leaking out in March, and then the name was pretty much confirmed when Apple bought the domain iCloud.com. Yet for all the talk and speculation, we still don’t know exactly what iCloud will look like, or what services it will include. Here is what we know so far (or at least what we think we know): iCloud will include a music locker that mirrors your iTunes collection online and makes it available via streaming to any device. But as I’ve...

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http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/31/iCloud_Is_on_the_Way_But_What_Exactly_Will_it_Be/

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Too Many Coincidences in Weiner's Tale

Peter Ingemi, New York Post
In the New York of the late 1800s, Boss Tweed famously complained about Thomas Nast cartoons: Though many immigrants in the city couldn’t read, even the illiterate could understand “those damn pictures.” Rep. Anthony Weiner and his staff now face a similar problem.By now, you’ve heard about the Tweet picture sent from Weiner’s account to a young lady named Gennette Nicole Cordova. The congressman has insisted his accounts were “hacked.” Cordova, in a statement released late Sunday night (36 hours after the tweet in...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/05/31/too_many_coincidences_in_weiner039s_tale_256391.html

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Philly group has begun certifying on its own

On the east side of the National Constitution Center, where a copy of the country's birth certificate rests in a glass case, Richard Frey squints under the hazy sun, looking for his day's first tour, which is a few minutes late.

Source: http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=166721&44=122814078&32=3796&7=195342&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Ffront_page%2F20110530_Philly_group_has_begun_certifying_on_its_own_.html

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WSBK: Rainy Superpole at Miller Motorsports Park Proves to Be a Challenge for Some

Carlos Checa (1:58.315) took pole from Jakub Smrz on his last lap of Sunday’s Superpole qualifying for the 2011 World Superbike round at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. Factory Yamaha riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty completed the front row of starters in a Superpole session marked with damp and drying conditions and a couple of crashes. Leon Camier, who will start twelfth, nearly ended his qualifying before it began with a huge highside on ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AsphaltandRubber/~3/nOpM4URh1Gw/

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Number of unaccounted for drops to 40 in Joplin

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/29/number-unaccounted-drops-40-joplin/

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Phone hacking: Ali Dizaei told he may have been target

Former police chief whose conviction for corruption was quashed says he will sue News of the World if his phone was hacked

Ali Dizaei, the controversial former senior Scotland Yard officer whose conviction for corruption was quashed earlier this month, has been told by Metropolitan police detectives that he could have been a victim of phone hacking by the News of the World.

Dizaei was sacked from the force after he was found guilty of corruption and served nearly a year in prison, but his conviction was quashed a fortnight ago and he was released pending a retrial. He has said he wants to rejoin the Met.

It is understood that Dizaei will sue the paper's publisher, News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers, if it can be shown his phone was hacked. If so he would becoming the latest of more than two dozen public figures to do so.

Scotland Yard is currently investigating the full extent of phone hacking at the paper after reopening its inquiry at the start of the year.

Detectives are in the process of contacting everyone whose name and contact details are listed in the pages of notebooks seized in 2006 in a raid on the home of Glenn Mulcaire, the former private investigator who was working for the News of the World at the time.

Dizaei said he was "shocked and appalled" after detectives told him his police phone may have been hacked.

He said the phone that may have been targeted was used for police business, according to a BBC report.

The relationship between the police and the News of the World has come under intense scrutiny in recent months after it emerged that some of the Met's most senior officers have regularly met senior executives at the paper, sometimes socially.

An apparent admission by former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, who told MPs in 2003 the paper had paid police officers for information in the past, has also been placed under the spotlight once more as part of an investigation by the Commons home affairs select committee into the legal ramifications of phone hacking.

Brooks, who is now chief executive of News International, the UK arm of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper business, wrote to the committee in March this year clarifying her 2003 comment. She said she had been "responding to a specific line of questioning on how newspapers get information".

She added: "If, in doing so, I gave the impression that I had knowledge of any specific cases, I can assure you that this was not my intention."

The home affairs select committee is expected to publish its report on phone hacking early next month.

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/31/phone-hacking-ali-dizaei

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Ducati Gearing Up for Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

There are a number of things this summer we’re pretty pumped about here at Asphalt & Rubber, two of which are are the upcoming Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the release of the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak Edition. Part Formula 1, part World Rally Championship, there’s something about a race course where one wrong move in a priceless no-limits vehicle can send you over the edge of a 3,000 foot cliff that ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AsphaltandRubber/~3/xz8p_e-UIpY/

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New Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos unearthed, and how to enable channel switching

Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos
Later today, Firefox will undergo its biggest developmental upheaval ever. Mozilla-central, the source of nightly builds, will be renumbered to version 5 -- and at long last, after years of wallowing around version 1, Mozilla's rendering and layout engine, Gecko, will also have its version number updated to match Firefox.

Shortly thereafter, Firefox's new channel system will be implemented. Firefox 5a2 will be introduced as the first Aurora build, and we should also see a Firefox 6 Nightly build. While we we're not sure where they came from, one Sören Hentzschel seems to have unearthed the new Nightly and Aurora logos (see above), along with new About Firefox dialogs (after the break).

In other news, if you want to take a sneak peek at the new 'channel changing' technology that will be introduced in upcoming Firefox builds, head to about:config and create a new string called app.update.desiredChannel -- the value doesn't matter. Then open Help > About Firefox and you'll be able to switch channel, but it doesn't do anything just yet (image after the break). Here's hoping that Firefox channel switching is smoother than Chrome.

Continue reading New Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos unearthed, and how to enable channel switching

New Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos unearthed, and how to enable channel switching originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/new-firefox-nightly-and-aurora-logos-unearthed-and-how-to-enabl/

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Philly group has begun certifying on its own

On the east side of the National Constitution Center, where a copy of the country's birth certificate rests in a glass case, Richard Frey squints under the hazy sun, looking for his day's first tour, which is a few minutes late.

Source: http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=166721&44=122814078&32=3796&7=195342&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Ffront_page%2F20110530_Philly_group_has_begun_certifying_on_its_own_.html

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Deaf education evolving with implants

The children are busy making a paper circus train, describing their favorite animals as they go. One boy announces he likes elephants; a classmate prefers snow leopards, explaining that they are "white as snow."

Source: http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=166721&44=122814063&32=3796&7=195342&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Ffront_page%2F20110530_Deaf_education_evolving_with_implants.html

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Interview With Don Luskin: Market Predictions From the Founder of TrendMacrolytics

Don Luskin, Founder and CIO of TrendMacrolytics, is a well-known television pundit and a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and National Review Online. What many may not know about Don is that he is an industry heavyweight. Many common investment products would not exist today if not for his creativity. He is credited with inventing the first sector ETF, the first ECN (allowing trading after hours), LifePath mutual funds and is said to have traded the first index option. I've known Don for over 10 years. We spoke frequently when he ran MetaMarkets, the company whose mutual fund, Open Fund, posted its trades online in real time. As part of the Investment U Interview Series, I sat...

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http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/29/Interview_With_Don_Luskin_Market_Predictions_From_the_Founde/

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Monday, May 30, 2011

Wheldon sent packing -- on Victory Tour

Story from www.indycar.com

Image: http://indycar.cdn.racersites.com/prod/photos/328313/NEWS_LIST_SNAPSHOT.jpg At the Speedway, Dan Wheldon...

Source: http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?142395-Wheldon-sent-packing-on-Victory-Tour&goto=newpost

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Rock Bridge senior tennis players claim state doubles title

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/28/rock-bridge-seniors-claim-tennis-doubles-state-title/

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MicroFinancial Named to the Boston Business Journal's Top 50 Fastest-Growing Public Companies in Massachusetts

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MicroFinancial Incorporated (NASDAQ: MFI), a financial intermediary specializing in vendor based leasing and finance programs for micro-ticket transactions, announced today that it has been named to the Boston Business Journal's Top 50 Fastest-Growing publicly traded companies in Massachusetts. This is the 2nd consecutive year that MicroFinancial has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal. The report, published in the Boston Business Journal's May...

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http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/26/MicroFinancial_Named_to_the_Boston_Business_Journals_Top_50_/

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Using Samples to Promote Your Product

Two guys giving out samples outside the Smoothie King.

Got a product? Give a sample. Make sampling easy and effective for any product in any industry with these six steps.

At Gordon Grade Coffee Company's office in Midtown Manhattan, 2,000 individual servings of Dr. Drip's eco-friendly premium drip coffee are ready to be shared with the masses. The start-up plans to distribute its self-brewed coffee—its first product—to stressed students during finals week at New York University.

Dr. Drip's guerrilla exercise precedes the product's official May 23 release, and is Gordon Grade's first foray into sampling.

"There's always a reticence to give anything away for free," says co-founder Jesse Gordon. "You don't know whether or not the end result will justify the cost of putting the team together and getting the product into people's hands."

Sampling is hardly a new concept, but the process still strains many companies that attempt it. Food products and cosmetics have long been icons of sampling; samples fill our stomachs at our local groceries and our noses in the cosmetic section of department stores. Other industries, from toys to technology, traditionally less familiar with the procedure, can also show their stuff through samples.

The act of sampling is changing as well. While more traditional in-store customer and indirect distributor sampling still occurs, creativity has entered the mix, allowing companies to fresh outlets for their sampling. Companies are directly targeting bloggers, trend-setters, and celebrities. But even as the process evolves, the goals remain largely the same.

"I want to be as effective as possible," says Gordon about his own sampling concerns. "I want to know how to turn a sample into a business."

Dig Deeper: Try Giving It Away


How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Decide Why You're Sampling

For a toy, it's the feel. For a drink, it's the taste. For a fragrance, it's the smell. Whatever your product, you need to develop a clear idea of why sampling is a necessary part of your marketing or sales plan. Before you plot your sampling strategy, return to your mission and company's core values to remind yourself why your product is worth trying.

Five years ago, Hosung NY started miYim, a line of plush stuffed animals and accessories for infants and toddlers made from certified non-toxic, recycled cotton. At miYim, in-store samples of velvety toys are all about the "aww" value that comes from displaying examples, and letting customers touch and squeeze them.

"When people think of our product, they're thinking cotton canvas or jersey, but our toys are as soft that they are almost always surprised," says Serah Chae, president of Hosung NY. "Because of that surprise factor and the obvious cuddle factor, our business model requires very diligent sampling."

For newer companies, sampling gives customers a sense of understanding and experience with an unknown product before they commit to buy. Fitango, a start-up that develops "action plans" to motivate behavior for individuals and businesses. Its online marketplace, similar to Apple's App store, offers a variety of samples frameworks for free.

"We're young," says Parinda Muley, Fitango's vice president of business development. "It's in our best interest for customers to be as comfortable with us as we are with them. We're willing to take the hit if it means one more business is using our platform."

But even more frequently sampled products, notably cosmetics, strive for consumer comfort.

"Skin care products and makeup can be really expensive so you want to make sure you're making a well informed decision," says Stacey Webb, director of marketing at OleHenriksen, a natural skin care company based in Los Angeles. "Consumers are so savvy these days, they don't want to spend their money on anything they aren't sure about."

Dig Deeper: How To Keep Your Message Clear


How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Pick Your Product

Once you know the why, you next need to decide the what. For new companies with a single product, like Dr. Drip Coffee, this decision is simple. For more developed product lines, a few more choices arise.

One option is to vary your samples. OleHenriksen rotates between offering bestselling products, new products, and hidden gems—products the company believes could become best-sellers after they are discovered. With each category, the skin care line still strives for mass appeal.

"You can't always control who gets the sample," Webb says. "Make sure it's going to be something that generally a lot of people will try, like, and see results."

For companies such as Fitango, which has with a potentially large and diverse market, providing differing samples allows the company to reach more of its target audience with separate marketing for segments like education, business, and leisure. For others, like miYim, limiting the samples to the newest products proves more effective.

"For the new customers, it's absolutely critical," says Chae. "But even with people who already know us, they still want to see what we can do differently."

Whichever direction seems right for you, make sure it's right for your consumer as well.

Dig Deeper: How To Adapt Your Product for Different Markets

How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Find a Target Audience

Like any other sales tactic, targeting the right audience is critical for your sampling success.

POM Wonderful, the company behind pomegranate juices, teas, and bars, appeals to a wide spectrum of consumers. So, the company divides its market into several pillars to make its extensive sampling efforts more effective.

"We focus around entertainment, philanthropy, health and beauty, fashion, the arts, and epicurean," says Rob Six, POM's vice president of communications. "That's where we see the bulk of our consumer and we try to target our sampling strategy around events that cater to those pillars."

For example, POM utilized guerilla-sampling tactics similar to Dr. Drip's on campuses nationwide for the debut of the company's POMx coffee. For its original juices, POM samples at marathons and epicurean events, such as SF Chefs, transforming the product into both a refresher for runners and an ingredient for foodies.

Because it's hard to target a baby audience directly, miYim takes a different approach, sending regular samples to up to 100 mommy bloggers with huge followings.

"They want to physically give it to their two-year-old and let them chew on it and see how they feel about it," says Chae about the bloggers. "They review the product online, and that's been a very powerful PR tactic for us."
Not just for toys, using reviewer samples are helpful for hard-to-reach audience. Once you have an audience, you need a plan.

Dig Deeper: How To Narrow Your Target Market

How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Have a Plan

When Ole Henriksen started his self-named product line in 1984, he batched out and labeled his own samples in the back room of his spa in Los Angeles.

"Sampling has aways been a big part of our culture," Webb says. "Ole as a man is so generous, I don't think he even thought of it as sampling, more of a gift for your skin."

Today, OleHenriksen still samples generously, but with more practicality.

"Sampling is expensive," Webb continues. "It's a balancing game based on the size of your market and what you're trying to do. You can't just say, 'I want a million.'"

You can, however, plan for a little extra. For each major product line or holiday special, miYim pads its sampling orders by 20 percent to account for unexpected events or requests. The company also saves money by planning its samples six-to-eight months in advance to avoid impulse spending. It also limits its audience to lower shipping costs.

"It's not like lipstick," Chae says of her product. "Our toys range from 11 to 35 inches. We don't want them to be shipped and disregarded. That's wasteful."

Additional packaging costs sometimes are the more strategic option, however. After starting with poured samples, POM soon realized it could better build its brand by giving away eight-ounce bottles.

"People can take the experience with them," says Six. "It's more expensive, but it's been more successful for us."

Dig Deeper: How To Set Business Goals

How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Strut Your Stuff

Sampling requires you think outside the box, both literally and figuratively. What you package your sample in matters for consumer appeal. POM uses an iconic curvy bottle to reinforce the brand image, miYim uses eco-friendly packaging to extend its mission, and OleHenriksen uses bright-colored packaging to distinguish its various product lines.

"We're very bright, we're very vibrant, and we make sure our packets resemble our actual products so our customers remember us," Webb says. "Be creative with your packaging. Make it stand out in a way that someone really wants to open and try it."

Creativity matters in the way you package your samples as well. POM outside-the-box sampling efforts have helped bolster the company's notability. Two years after introducing its product, the company created the POMtini for the 2004 Oscars, generating serious PR buzz.

"If you're going to do sampling, you can either do it very generically, or you can create an experience for your consumer," says Six. "We think the latter works better."

Dig Deeper: 12 Memorable Event Marketing Campaigns

How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product: Turn Samples Into Business

Are your sampling efforts working at all? In order to determine if your samples are actually effective, you need to track its success. Various metrics are useful. For example, in its sampling efforts, Gordon Grade hoped its college samplers would try the product and then join their social network. POM used a similar approach after their POMx coffee campaign.

"We saw a lot of feedback on Twitter," says Six. "We could read what people were saying about us."

Promotion codes are another way to boost sales and track effectiveness. This June, OleHenriksen will participate in the Skin Cancer Foundation's Sun Safety Expo in New York's Grand Central Station, handing out samples to any New Yorker, traveler, or tourist walking by. It is the first time the company is participating in such a large-scale event, and to track sales, representatives will give away codes for free shipping on OleHenriksen.com with each sample.

"When your sampling dollars are really important to you, you really want to make sure you're tracking what's working and what's not," Webb says. "If we find that something like that doesn't work for us because we didn't have anybody come to our site and redeem the promo code, maybe we wouldn't do it next year."

In order for sampling to be successful, samples must become sales. Generous sampling is a waste of marketing dollars if no revenue comes from it. As a new company, Fitango is willing to give away as many samples as possible and work closely with their customers as they learn the product. But, the honeymoon will end soon.

"Our goal is to work with them, help them build these platforms, and then work with them to determine the price their services," says Muley. "Once we've convinced a small business to use our service, we will charge them what makes sense."

Sampling can be tricky, it can be tedious, and it can be taxing on your company. But, if in the end, your customer base grows, the effort will be well worth it.

"It's such an important part of the marketing mix," says Six. "If you want someone to try your product twice, they have to try it once."

Dig Deeper: How To Evaluate Sales Success



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inc/headlines/~3/N3CbSm4pvfI/how-to-use-samples-to-promote-your-product.html

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APS Study Shows Customers Willing To Pay More For Renewable Energy

A study of Arizona Public Service Co. customers found they are willing to pay more — in some cases double to triple what they are paying now — in order to get more renewable energy. The...

Source:
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/27/APS_Study_Shows_Customers_Willing_To_Pay_More_For_Renewable__l/

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First Firefox 6 build next week, Firefox 7 by May, and aurora channel introduced

Firefox 5, 6, 7 and release channels
Mozilla's Engineering Project Manager, Christian Legnitto, has detailed the release schedule for Firefox 5, 6 and 7. If all goes to plan, Firefox 6.0a1 will be released next week, April 12, and Firefox 7.0a1 in the middle of May. The final build of Firefox 5 should be released on June 21, exactly three months after the release of Firefox 4.

Along with the faster 6-week release cadence, Firefox's new Chrome-like release channels have also been given names and anticipated update frequencies. The most notable change is the introduction of a new alpha channel -- which is analogous to Chrome Canary -- that will be called 'aurora' and will update nightly. Aurora will be where fixes and features are tested, and either approved for Beta, or backed out to Central. Aurora will have a new icon, too.

The Nightly (mozilla-central) channel will remain unchanged in name and frequency, but it will gain a new 'nightly icon.' The Beta (mozilla-beta) channel will remain as-is, with new builds rolling out weekly. The Release (mozilla-release) channel will also remain as-is, with security and stability updates coming every 6 to 12 weeks.

It should be noted that the names (including 'aurora') are not necessarily final, but it's unlikely that they'll change. We're also awaiting the arrival of the new 'channel switching' technology, which should arrive in the next few days -- in time for the release of Firefox 6 aurora!

First Firefox 6 build next week, Firefox 7 by May, and aurora channel introduced originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/first-firefox-6-build-next-week-firefox-7-by-may-and-aurora-ch/

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Missouri softball seniors see no end in sight

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/27/softball-seniors-see-no-end-sight/

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Windows 8 App Store images leaked?

windows 8 app store
Windows 8 images continue to leak onto the Internet, despite Microsoft's wallpaper-based pleas to those with access to the early releases. Today's installment courtesy CNBeta shows the upcoming Windows App Store, which will likely feature prominently in Windows 8.

We've got our doubts about the authenticity of the image. In addition to showing several of the built-in games which already ship with Windows, Opera is listed -- and a competing browser seems like an odd inclusion this early on. Of course, with the browser ballot still in place in the EU for quite some time, Microsoft would probably need to include rivals like Opera and Firefox to stay out of trouble. We're also not sure why Clickgamer is shown beneath Angry Birds instead of Rovio -- the game's actual publisher.

It's still early, of course, so it's entirely possible that the Windows App Store image is genuine but merely using placeholder images and text for now. Anyone else thinking Windows Marketplace might be a more logical name? You know, to keep things consistent with Windows Phone and keep Apple's legal eagles at bay.

Windows 8 App Store images leaked? originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/windows-8-app-store-images-leaked/

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A Cool Excuse for an iPad

Did you ever wonder what you and your childhood friends would be when you grew up? Could I have predicted that my rebellious attitude would lead me to form my own company? Or what about my friend, Paul Brooks? My childhood friend grew up to be the Senior Vice President of NASCAR and recently developed an awesome app for the iPad called Office Bleepster.

And how’s this for a creative origin: this easy-to-use iPad app wouldn’t have been developed had it not been for the Power Rangers.

Power Rangers Creator the Source of Inspiration

Paul Brooks met with Power Rangers creator, Haim Saban, for several days in his office while Saban was negotiating a deal for a kids’ animated series. In Saban’s office, what Paul experienced became the seed of inspiration for Office Bleepster. Saban maintained great ease and control over what occurred in his office with a series of electronic devices that allowed him to easily and seamlessly interact with his assistants. Saban would silently communicate with an assistant and coffee would instantly appear. Meetings were ended with an assistant entering the office to inform Saban that he had another meeting to attend. The result was a calm, professional atmosphere that Paul sought to replicate.

iPad App Ideal for Executive/Assistant Communication

There have been many communication devices developed over the years: why is the iPad suddenly the ideal communication tool for executives and assistants to communicate with each other? What Saban excelled at was not interrupting the visitor or client on the phone to communicate with his assistant. Paul couldn’t find that seamlessness with email, instant messaging, or intercoms. All of these modes of communication were interruptive.

How many times have you felt ignored when someone starts texting on their phone during a meeting? Office Bleepster allows for easy communication between an executive and their assistant through the use of two iPads. Through WiFi or a Bluetooth connection, messages can be sent and received through the use of 25 pre-determined instant message buttons, which are customizable. A short bleep sound is played when a message is sent or received. Because of the pre-determined buttons, Office Bleepster allows for one button to one button communication. Pushing just one button with one tiny sound being emitted (or no sound at all) keeps a visitor from noticing the exchange between executive and assistant. A typing function for texting is built into the program as well; ideal for when visitors are not present or when a specific need arises.

Warning: Informing Your Assistant about App Can Equal Constant Nagging for an iPad

If you are an executive and both you and your assistant already own an iPad, this would be a great way to communicate more seamlessly, especially during meetings and phone calls. But if your assistant doesn’t own an iPad, I could see this app being an excuse to relentlessly ask for one.

In truth, you could probably find a way to discreetly communicate without this iPad app. But if you’re feeling generous, this app could be a very cool excuse to award an awesome assistant with an iPad.

Curt Finch is the CEO of Journyx, a provider of timesheet and resource management software.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inc/headlines/~3/Q5d6S2yBF2g/office-bleepster-a-cool-excuse-for-an-ipad.html

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Salute to Veterans Airshow and Parade among Memorial Day weekend events

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/27/salute-veterans-corporation-invites-community-memorial-day-weekend-events/

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VA infection issues lead to 13,000 veterans' tests

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/29/va-infection-issues-lead-13000-veterans-tests/

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Yamaha to mark 50th anniversary of GP racing with special livery

Yamaha Factory Racing team riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies will display special red and white liveries on their YZR-M1 machines at the Assen and Laguna Seca races this season.

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/VKrx70cRq6I/Yamaha+mark+50th+anniversary+GP+racing+special

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Philadelphia Gas Works Reducing Rate 2%

The Philadelphia Gas Works said Friday it will lower the rates it charges its customers for gas on June 1. Residential customers will see their gas rate drop to $1.56 per 100...

Source:
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/27/Philadelphia_Gas_Works_Reducing_Rate_2/

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Text of Obama's remarks at Joplin memorial service

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/29/text-obamas-remarks-joplin-memorial-service/

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UPDATE: City Manager's State of the City address

Source: http://columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/05/27/update-city-manager-mike-matthes-releases-state-city-address/

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Special Election Puts Pelosi Back in the Limelight

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/05/27/special_election_puts_pelosi_back_in_the_limelight_256234.html

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Bridgestone's French GP debrief with Hirohide Hamashima

For the Monster Energy Grand Prix d eFrance, Bridgestone debuted a brand new asymmetric rear tyre; soft compound rubber in the right shoulder and extra soft compound rubber in the lesser-used left shoulder.

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/FjP-1scMKu8/Bridgestone+French+GP+debrief+Hirohide+Hamashima

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Silvio Berlusconi faces Milan test as voters go to the polls

Italian minister resigns ahead of mayoral election that prime minister has turned into referendum on his government

Voters in Milan have gone to the polls for a crucial test of Silvio Berlusconi's diminished political vigour after his government suffered a fresh blow with the resignation of a minister.

Daniela Melchiorre said on Saturday she had quit her job as industry under-secretary because of his public denigration of Italy's judges and prosecutors during last week's G8 summit in France. Television cameras showed Barack Obama looking perplexed as Berlusconi told him Italy had become "almost a dictatorship of leftwing judges".

The Italian prime minister is a defendant in three trials and risks indictment in a fourth. On Tuesday, a court in Milan is due to begin hearing evidence in a case in which he is accused of paying an underage prostitute and using his influence to cover up the alleged offence.

Government supporters played down the significance of Melchiorre's departure, questioning her motives and depicting her as an opportunist. The former magistrate was a member of the last centre-left government before switching to the right.

But it is such floating MPs who pose the greatest threat to the government's tenuous majority. There is also a risk that Melchiorre's defection could be followed by others if Berlusconi loses control of his native Milan.

Almost 6 million Italian are eligible to vote in mayoral runoffs in 90 towns. But the showdown in Italy's business capital is seen as by far the most significant.

Berlusconi's candidate, Letizia Moratti, trailed by six percentage points in the first round of voting on 15 and 16 May 15. Were she to emerge the loser after polls close on Monday, it would be the first time for nearly 20 years that the right had lost Milan ? a stronghold not only of Berlusconi's Freedom People (PdL) movement, but of its coalition partner, the Northern League.

Moratti waged a vitriolic campaign in the runup to the second ballot. She and the prime minister, who has turned the vote for mayor into a referendum on his government, railed at the centre-left's candidate, Giuliano Pisapia. He was accused of wanting to turn Milan into a haven for Roma people and of planning to building a mosque for Islamist extremists.

Early turnout figures suggested the tactics might have had some success. By midday on Sunday, Milan was the only major town in which abstentions were lower than in the first round.

The right's inflammatory rhetoric raised the temperature of an already heated contest. Two people were hurt in a brawl on Saturday between supporters of the opposing candidates.

In Naples, the next biggest city at stake, a fire swept through a PdL electoral office after a similarly ill-tempered campaign. Berlusconi, who flew to the city for the close of campaigning, said he could "categorically exclude" a government crisis were the right defeated.

Much will depend on the reaction of the Northern League, many of whose rank-and-file supporters have declared Berlusconi a liability after the party's disappointing performance in the first round. But the League's leader, Umberto Bossi, has been reluctant to break up the governing coalition.


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/29/silvio-berlusconi-milan-election-italy

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Duncan Watts, from Yahoo Research and author of Everything is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer.


Duncan Watts directs the Human Social Dynamics group at Yahoo Research and is formerly a professor of Sociology at Columbia University.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inc/headlines/~3/5KS57IAOicc/live-chat-duncan-watts.html

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Boardwalk Pipeline Prices Public Offering

Natural gas transportation company Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP has priced a public offering...

Source:
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/27/Boardwalk_Pipeline_Prices_Public_Offering_a/

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Godelieve's Group : Burundi

photo $2,100 of $4,750 raised.

Started raising funds on May 24, 2011

Pascaline is a 34-year-old shopkeeper who lives at the chief place in the province of Kayanza, situated to the north of Burundi. She has sold not only food products, such as corn flour, but also clothes and other articles for 6 years and at the same time, works as a cultivator. She is married to Ernest Nduwayo, himself a clothing shopkeeper, and they have 6 children, aged respectively 14 years old, 12 years old, 10 years old, 7 years old, 1 year old, and 6 months old, who are being educated. She studied until her 6th year of primary school. She is asking Kiva for a loan to augment her capital and increase the size of her business in order to make large profits. She hopes her business will grow considerably in order to allow her to ensure that her family's basic needs are met. She is a member of the group "Tuzigame."


Source: http://www.kiva.org/lend/301731

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How ETFs Fit Into the New Investment Landscape

By Samuel Lee The case for low-cost investing is stronger in a world of low expected returns and increasing sophistication, and index funds and exchange-traded funds are a great way to keep expenses to a minimum. The financial crisis and its echoes have led many investors to revise their investment strategies. The two major thrusts among institutional investors have been either to search harder for funds that may outperform or to hold more low-cost index funds. Most investors and advisors will be better off adopting the low-cost approach as the quest for a shrinking market-beating pie becomes more brutal and the penalty for mistakes becomes even steeper. ETFs and other passive vehicles are...

Source:
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/27/How_ETFs_Fit_Into_the_New_Investment_Landscape/

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Cancer patients denied last wish to die at home because of shortage of nurses

70,000 cancer patients in England and Wales die in a hospital bed every year, despite wanting to be at home

Tens of thousands of cancer patients are dying in hospital, despite wishing to end their lives at home, because of a "shameful" lack of NHS nurses, campaigners say.

Only 56% of primary care trusts (PCTs) in England offer around-the-clock community nursing care, which helps those approaching the end of their lives remain among family and friends.

Macmillan Cancer Support has found that 73% of the 157,000 cancer patients who die every year in England and Wales would prefer to spend their last days at home.

But data from the Office of National Statistics shows that 51% of these patients (80,070) die in hospital and another 17% (26,690) in a hospice, with only 27% (42,390) dying in their own surroundings. Care homes account for the remaining 5%.

The mismatch between patients' wishes and their eventual place of death affects 72,220 people. Some of those who die in hospital do so because their illness means that they cannot remain at home, but campaigners say that many or most of them could have ended their days there with loved ones if there was sufficient nursing support.

"It is a tragedy that, each year, tens of thousands of cancer patients are not able to get their dying wish ? to die in their own home, surrounded by their loved ones ? because they do not have the support they need. We know that with the right support, 73% of cancer patients would prefer to die at home, but only 27% actually do," said Mike Hobday, Macmillan's head of policy.

"It also costs the NHS more money to have them in hospital, where they don't want to be, showing how badly needed around-the-clock community nursing is. Twenty-four/seven nursing care can significantly reduce emergency admissions and allow patients the end-of-life care that they want, yet it is only available in just over half of England's PCTs."

Conservative MP John Baron, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cancer, said: "It is shameful that so many people with cancer cannot die where they wish ? in their own homes ? because of a lack of community nursing provision. Those areas that currently do not provide out-of-hours community nursing should make plans to address this issue."

Their calls for action came as research revealed how much time many cancer patients spend in hospital as they near the end of their life.

The study, in the European Journal of Cancer, found that in 2006 in England, 58% of 147,000 people with the disease in the last year of their lives had been admitted to hospital during that time, and 25% had spent more than 10% of their time as an inpatient.

"This research shows that a considerable number of cancer patients are spending significant amounts of time in hospital in the last year of life, despite many patients telling us that they want to die at home" said Ciar�n Devane, the chief executive of Macmillan. "It is wrong to deny people the choice about where they die."

Health minister Paul Burstow accepted that existing provision was inadequate. "People deserve care at the end of life that is compassionate and gives them the choice over where they die and how they are cared for. Progress is being made in improving end-of-life care, but I know more needs to be done. We want to make sure everyone gets the highest quality of care, in the place of their choice," he said.

More is being done to improve training, promote best practice and ensure that proper end-of-life care exists across NHS and social care services, he added. "The government believes that people should be given a choice about where they receive end-of-life care. I am determined to increase the pace of change to make this choice a reality," he said.

Joe Levenson of the National Council for Palliative Care said: "Every minute someone dies in the UK, but many people each year, including tens of thousands with cancer, are still not receiving the type of end-of-life care they want and need. Much more needs to be done to improve access to 24/7 palliative care, including in people's own homes, where so many people would prefer to die."

Sue Brooks, a retired health and safety officer in Berkshire, lost her husband, David, to cancer. She has called for better round-the-clock NHS nursing care so that terminally ill people can die at home: "David was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2005 and by that December he was very, very ill. We agreed with the doctor that he would spend some time in a hospice to give me a break and let me get out and buy Christmas presents for our three children. But by the time he was ready to come home, he was too sick to be moved.

"The hospice was wonderful, and I was with him when he died. But we weren't at home, and he strongly wanted to die at home. He had even drawn a sketch of how he wanted the room at home to look when he died.

"If we'd been able to get 24/7 nursing cover, maybe he wouldn't have had to go into the hospice at all. Sadly, it's a postcode lottery as to who gets that. But that's actually costing the NHS more money, as it's cheaper to nurse someone at home than keep them in hospital.

"Most terminally ill people want to die at home, but the majority don't get the chance. Do you not deserve some respect at that time of your life, when you have given everything? It's a tragedy that people who are sick and know they are dying can't have their very last wish."


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/28/cancer-patients-nurses-shortage

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Andrew Lansley forced to make U-turn on public health campaign cuts

Health secretary attacked after calls to smoking, drugs and lifestyle helplines plunged following spending freeze

The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has been forced into a major U-turn on funding for public health campaigns, after evidence emerged that the spending freeze had cost lives.

An extra �15m has now been set aside for promoting the government's anti-smoking website and �14m will be made available for a campaign promoting healthy living.

The decision has come in response to a damning Department of Health (DoH) report on the consequences of the government's decision to "all but cease" publicly-funded advertising last year.

The DoH found that the number of people ringing the drug abuse support helpline, Frank, had fallen by 22%, that visits to the Smokefree website had fallen by 50% and that the number of people joining the government's lifestyle website was down by two-thirds.

Most worryingly, the report said, there was evidence that "the cessation of marketing activity [had] resulted in declining quit attempts, and subsequent loss of life from smoking-related illness".

It added: "Following the coalition government's freeze on non-essential marketing expenditure, all social marketing programmes were reduced and expenditure on advertising all but ceased.

"We have now had the opportunity to learn from the freeze and to assess where the loss of mass communications had a negative impact... We now recommend that some advertising, and other forms of mass communication such as sponsorship, paid media partnerships and PR, be resumed."

The revelation follows savage criticism of the DoH decision last year to axe the �1.5m awareness campaign for flu vaccinations. Figures released this month showed there had been a rise in deaths from 474 in 2009/10 to 535 in 2010/11 and that a disproportionate number had been among the young.

Lansley justified the freeze on marketing spending last year as a departure from the "lecturing" attitude, which he said characterised some previous government's interventions.

But shadow health secretary John Healey said Lansley needed to publicly apologise for his mistakes: "Mass publicity must play a part in good public health. This report shows that Andrew Lansley made the wrong judgment in axing anti-smoking promotions, just like he did on the flu-jab adverts last autumn.

"The health secretary needs to tell people that he's learnt the lessons and won't make the same mistake again."

Key evidence for the loss of life caused by the government's policy was provided in a submission to the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health by Professor Robert West, director of Tobacco Studies at Cancer Research UK.

West told the group: "Evidence shows that total spending on government mass media campaigns in a given quarter is associated with smoking cessation activity in that quarter. If, as seems likely, this association is causal, the recent suspension of mass media campaigns will lead to significant loss of life, and with every month that passes without further activity the death toll will grow."

West told the Observer that the most recent figures on giving up smoking confirmed his fears: "For smoking, most of the population are in a state of motivational tension, they are a bit dissonant about it and what the marketing does is tip them over the edge into activity. So if you stop doing that they carry on being dissonant.

"We looked at a number of objectives ? markers of cessation activity, attendance at clinics, hits on the website and the quit line ? and the correlation is very striking. The association between marketing activity and spend was very strong.

"It [lack of marketing] will have cost lives. For every year that someone over the age of 35 carries on smoking they lose three months of life expectancy. So if you just lose a year of significant activity you have already lost lives. That is the inescapable logic of it."

Research by the DoH suggests smokers' motivation to quit is in decline, with the number of people saying they do not want to quit at all at 30%, its highest level since tracking began in 2007. Over recent years, there has also been a year-on-year decline in people trying to stop smoking, from 43.5% in 2007 to 35.8% in 2010.

On top of the spending on anti-smoking and the healthier living campaign, Change4Life, a further �4m will be spent on marketing targeted at young people, and �11m on advertising issues related to older people.

Professor Geof Rayner, an adviser to the Change4Life programme, said he was delighted: "I am pleased the civil service has put this in front of the politicians and that the politicians have seen some sense. They should be pragmatic, not ideological, about public health."

However, the total spending is still less than half the �93m spent by the Labour government in 2009/2010.

A DoH spokesman denied the decision to start spending again was a U-turn but claimed that the freeze had been an opportunity to test the efficacy of previous spending.

"Our campaigns have a high impact," he added. "A study found that two-thirds of the public think advertising is vital to the success of government campaigns."


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/28/andrew-lansley-u-turn-public-health-cuts

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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules

The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.

Presumably it's not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.

Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."

In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.

Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/

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Balancing Acts - Meg Cadoux Hirshberg


Meg Cadoux Hirshberg is the wife of Stonyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg. In these videos she describes the ups and downs of having the line between business and family disappear.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inc/headlines/~3/-ONcWzfAbzw/balancing-acts.html

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'The Tree Of Life': A Creation Trip Worth Taking

Terrence Malick's film, part creation epic and part Oedipal family drama, recently won the Palme d'Or ? the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Critic David Edelstein says reaction to the film has been mixed, but he "recommends the experience unreservedly."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/27/136646293/the-tree-of-life-a-creation-trip-worth-taking?ft=1&f=1057

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How to Build an Empire

The formula for success, according to David Horvath, pictured with wife and co-founder Sun-Min Kim, is to tell a good story.

David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim stuck to a positive message, and made Uglydolls into a household name.

The story of Pretty Ugly begins with two people who never wanted to work at a toy company.

When David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim met at Parsons School of Design in 2001, the pair quickly bonded over their love for design and their hope to create toys with a meaningful message. They also fell in love. But just as their relationship began, Kim's student visa expired, and she moved back to Korea.

But the couple decided to stay together. "I sent her a letter after she went back and signed it with a doodle of a little lumpy monster at the bottom," says Horvath. "She sewed a replica of the little drawing and sent it back to me as a gift. And I realized, that the toy we had always talked about making was in my hand. I thought, 'This is it.'" And so the Pretty Ugly empire was born.

Before he even called Kim to thank her, he showed the doll to a friend. This friend happened to own a small knick-knack store called Giant Robot, and immediately asked Horvath for 20 of the dolls. Horvath broke the news to Kim. "She made and sent me 20 more," he says. "I dropped them off at Giant Robot, and, by the time I got home, I had a message from my friend saying they had sold out."

Over the next 18 months, Kim sewed 1,800 dolls. She sent each batch to Horvath, who would then take them to a growing list of small stores, which included hip furniture stores, card shops, and kid stores.

"We realized that these dolls had huge reach. They're for the 8-year-old girl who wants to play and the 34-year-old woman who wants something funny on her modern furniture," says Horvath.

But it was about this time, in early 2003, that Kim put her foot down. "She said that her fingers were turning purple," laughs Horvath. "This was the turning point, the moment we decided to take this business to the next level."

The first step: Kim came back to the United States for the business—and to marry Horvath.

That February, the couple got a booth at the International Toy Fair, an annual toy-ganza held in New York City. The response was immediate and positive, Horvath says the MoMA, Barney's, and "like Frank's store in Indiana" were all charmed by the Uglydolls.

The formula for success, according to Horvath, is that the dolls tell a story. For example, there's three-eyed Peaco, who's coy and friendly, and floppy-eared Ox, whose name means hugs and kisses. "To us, ugly means unique and different. It's about celebrating what makes you, you," he says. "I think that's an important message for everyone."

And it's the message and story that is pushing the business forward. Already this year, Pretty Ugly has sold twice the number of Uglydolls as it did last year. (Though Horvath won't reveal any numbers, he says "millions upon millions" of dolls have sold.) There are Uglydoll calendars, books, lunch boxes, and action figures. A trip to the website is a portal into an animated world of funny little creatures, and serves as another community-building and retail platform. Horvath says they are even branching out into the entertainment world in the near future.

"After 10 years in business, it's crazy to think that now there are people that have grown up with our dolls," says Horvath. "It's been so meaningful for us to know that the original idea has endured and made an impact."



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inc/headlines/~3/iiIrV1gegoI/small-business-success-stories-pretty-ugly.html

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