If Apple’s regular release schedule is to be trusted, we should expect a new iPhone this summer. Will it be called the iPhone 5S with small improvements over the iPhone 5? Or will the pressure from rival Android phones force Apple to go big and make a complete overhaul?
So far, the rumor mills point to an incremental upgrade – no revolutionary changes. So let’s read the tealeaves and try to predict what will be changed. And remember, this is all conjecture with no official information forthcoming from porcelain tiles.
I like to start with the fun stuff, like the camera. Certainly, the next iPhone could get a megapixel upgrade. There are some Android phones that brag 13 Megapixels, and while it’s possible Apple could increase the resolution of their camera, I think a more interesting upgrade would be the inclusion of a new, smart flash that incorporates Phillips multi-color LED. To match ambient light, the camera could elect to use a white flash (in fluorescent or colder lighting) or a yellow flash to match warmer room tones (candlelight, camp-fires, or accent lighting).
There have been tons of rumors about Apple increasing the screen size from 4 inches to 4.8 inches to compete with some of the Android “Phablets” like the Note. But this rumor seems a little thin with CEO Tim Cook stating publically on Apple’s Q1 2013 Earnings Call that he thinks Apple made the right decision to stick with a smaller screen.
Unlike current wireless charging where you have to put a device onto a pad that’s plugged into a power source, Apple has applied for a patent to use something called Near Field Magnetic Resonance (NFMR). With this technology, a home base (a computer or larger device) serves as a hub that can charge the phone anywhere within a meter’s proximity. This could also be a boon for selling more Mac laptops if they become the primary vehicle for wireless NFMR charging.
For the first time ever, I am including an IOS update in the “Fun Rumors” category. While the iPhone operating system (currently IOS 6) is not usually an opportunity for big innovation, this portion of the company has recently been taken over by Jonathon Ive, Apple’s superstar design guru. He is no doubt feeling pressure to bring his genius to bear on software (good luck with that) and may surprise us with a few cool new tricks. I expect a Siri upgrade at the very least, and a determination to show that Apple’s maps have recovered from the debacle of the IOS 6 roll out.
Where Android phones pose the greatest clear and present danger to the iPhone is on price. Many models are free with a 2-year contract. So the $199 price tag of the iPhone with a 2-year contract is just too steep for many. The biggest price pressure is coming from emerging markets like China and Brazil, where Apple has to lower the price of their only phone in the initial land grab for new smartphone users.
If Apple introduces a free-on-2-year-contract phone, this lower cost version will almost certainly still be able to access faster LTE data networks. It will possibly have a slower Snapdragon System on a Chip (SOC) processor from Qualcomm. It might include a bigger battery, which could increase the phone’s thickness from the current 7.6 mm to a rumored 8.2 mm. It could have a lower resolution camera. And the most interesting possibility: its case could be from a cheaper plastic or Floor tiles, which could allow for a multitude of colors.
The inclusion of a cheaper iPhone could be a huge boon to consumers. If you’ve been holding out until Apple’s flagship device became more affordable, don’t let the slightly diminished technical specs deter you. The beauty of the iPhone is that it’s intuitive and fun to use – but that’s a function of the operating system, not the hardware. If it were me, I’d wait to buy until the consumer testers run the cheaper iPhone through it’s paces and make sure there’s nothing glaringly wrong, and then I’d get it. That is, if Apple actually releases two versions as part of its traditional June release cycle.
Credit unions and other debit card issuers moved significantly closer to being able to issue smart chip embedded debit cards last week when a key industry council announced its members reached agreement on a key software approach.
The Secure Remote Payment Council announced that the 10 debit network members of its Chip and PIN Workgroup have agreed to adopt a common software approach and work with Discover Financial Services to license it for use by all debit card issuers.
The new approach will help solve the problem of how to have debit cards that both have smart chips embedded in them and which allow merchants to easily route debit transactions on any one of the 18 possible different competing debit processing networks.
Under regulations flowing from the Durbin amendment to the most recent financial reform laws, credit unions and other debit issuers are supposed to provide the ability for their debit cards to process debit transactions on at least two unaffiliated networks, but the current smart chip standard used in the rest of the world only allows for one.
The inability to provide that faculty on debit cards had held up the issuing of smart chip-enabled debit cards and CO-OP Financial Services, one of the key organizations working to resolve the problem, this week advised credit unions to still hold off issuing smart chip enabled debit cards a while longer.
“Adoption of this common U.S. debit AID [application identification] and application is extremely important to credit unions because it preserves their routing and network choices in connection with the emerging EMV standard,” said Stan Hollen, CEO of CO-OP Financial Services in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
EBay shares slide ahead of analyst day
While eBay is usually "prudently cautious," investors may be nervous about what the company will set for expectations for the next two to three years, said Baird analyst Colin Sebastian, who has an "Outperform" rating on the stock.
Another possible concern, he added, could be the Senate's approval of a budget early Saturday that gives states more power to collect online sales taxes on purchases made from Internet companies in other states. That could hurt eBay, because its many small-time sellers might have a difficult time implementing tax collection into their sales practices.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan expects eBay to give 2015 guidance for earnings of $3.50 to $3.85 per share on revenue of $20 billion to $22 billion. On average, analysts polled by FactSet are expecting earnings of $3.74 per share on revenue of $21.4 billion.
Rohan also had a series of questions for eBay regarding its PayPal unit ahead of Thursday's analyst day. Concern over new fees that MasterCard and possibly other credit card companies plan to start charging has been hurting eBay stock in recent weeks, and Rohan said in a note to clients that he'd like details on how these fees will impact the profit margin on PayPal transactions.
The analyst also questioned why PayPal has only 5 percent of the mobile payments business, and said he would like to get an update on consumer use of PayPal at checkouts, and what incentives the company will offer to lure customers to use the service at retail stores. He also wants an update on the deal announced in August with Discover to enable merchants to accept PayPal easily. EBay said it is on track with the Discover plan to go live in the second quarter.
Rohan said the key to eBay's analyst day is whether the company gives guidance specific enough to beat investors' expectations. He said that eBay management is too smart to provide high-margin targets and instead will probably provide an outlook that is "just enough to keep shares steady while showing solid growth and market share gains in both marketplaces and payments."
He suggested that after the analyst day, investors will be comfortable with eBay's current stock price and be open to giving the San Jose, Calif., company some wiggle room so it can make investments for the future. Rohan kept a "Buy" rating and $63 price target on eBay shares.
Traditional banks are clearly at an advantage when it comes to cash transactions. Years ago they ceded ground by sharing credit transactions in doing deals with the likes of Visa and Mastercard.
But there is debate now on whether the use of cash is in decline. There is evidence that the value of cash withdrawals from ATMs has peaked. By contrast the value of credit and debt card purchases have grown from $176 billion 10 years ago to $408 billion today.
Mott says if one assumes cash withdrawals indicate cash payments, the value of card purchases is now 70 per cent of the total.
By way of further example, Coles estimates the value of cash sales is down from 45 per cent in 2007 to 33 per cent today. And the average value of cash transactions across the board is only $12.
But we are a long long way from a utopian cashless society. The ramifications for the banks can be good and bad - but Mott takes the view that it is potentially more negative than positive.
On the plus side, the ability for the banks to invest less in the branch and ATM infrastructure frees up capital expenditure and a reduction in handling cash also cuts some bank costs. On the negative side bank investment in technology may have to be increased to deal with systems to better facilitate mobile transactions.
Allowing a non-bank player into a threesome with the customer and bank could reduce the transaction fees earned by banks but encourage customers to become more agnostic in banking relationships.
The bottom line is that WWE knows that most of its fans are younger or casual ones who don’t read wrestling sites like this one. Therefore, the company feels like it can get away with what are obviously predictable storylines and matches because the average fan doesn’t view them as such.
Any fan who’s above 12 years old or who isn’t just a casual one, however, knows that the retirement stipulation that’s been added to Triple H vs. Lesnar is just a way to make it seem like a bigger deal when the lovable babyface inevitably overcomes the odds to beat the big bad heel.
I cannot say I blame WWE for doing this. WrestleMania 29 is shaping up to be awfully predictable and doesn’t have anywhere near the buzz that it should, so creating that buzz in any way possible is a logical move.
The GSA 28 “smart” autopilot servo is a brand new design developed specifically for the experimental market. Weighing only 1.4 pounds, it is over 40 percent lighter than most experimental autopilot servos. A gear train with engagement clutch and ability to back drive the brushless DC motor provide multiple levels of protection without the need to use a shear pin. The engagement clutch also decouples the motor from the flight controls, which minimizes the friction the pilot will feel when the autopilot is off. Each servo also provides a built-in interface to drive a customer-supplied trim servo. When the autopilot is off, the servo provides speed scheduling for the manual trim commands. When the autopilot is on, the servo automatically trims the aircraft to constantly keep it in trim. Plus, servo software updates are done over the CAN bus using the G3X SD card, eliminating the need to send the servo back to the manufacturer for updates.
With the optional GMC 305 autopilot control panel, pilots gain a dedicated autopilot user interface, as well as additional autopilot functionality including airspeed hold, independent flight director, and optional yaw damper. A control wheel integrated into the GMC 305 makes for easier pitch, vertical speed and airspeed adjustments. Plus, for added safety, the panel’s advanced Level (LVL) mode button commands the autopilot to help restore the aircraft to straight and level flight. And because the servos interface directly with the ADAHRS, the GMC 305 control panel allows for standalone operation of the autopilot in the unlikely event of a display loss.
Another possible concern, he added, could be the Senate's approval of a budget early Saturday that gives states more power to collect online sales taxes on purchases made from Internet companies in other states. That could hurt eBay, because its many small-time sellers might have a difficult time implementing tax collection into their sales practices.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan expects eBay to give 2015 guidance for earnings of $3.50 to $3.85 per share on revenue of $20 billion to $22 billion. On average, analysts polled by FactSet are expecting earnings of $3.74 per share on revenue of $21.4 billion.
Rohan also had a series of questions for eBay regarding its PayPal unit ahead of Thursday's analyst day. Concern over new fees that MasterCard and possibly other credit card companies plan to start charging has been hurting eBay stock in recent weeks, and Rohan said in a note to clients that he'd like details on how these fees will impact the profit margin on PayPal transactions.
The analyst also questioned why PayPal has only 5 percent of the mobile payments business, and said he would like to get an update on consumer use of PayPal at checkouts, and what incentives the company will offer to lure customers to use the service at retail stores. He also wants an update on the deal announced in August with Discover to enable merchants to accept PayPal easily. EBay said it is on track with the Discover plan to go live in the second quarter.
Rohan said the key to eBay's analyst day is whether the company gives guidance specific enough to beat investors' expectations. He said that eBay management is too smart to provide high-margin targets and instead will probably provide an outlook that is "just enough to keep shares steady while showing solid growth and market share gains in both marketplaces and payments."
He suggested that after the analyst day, investors will be comfortable with eBay's current stock price and be open to giving the San Jose, Calif., company some wiggle room so it can make investments for the future. Rohan kept a "Buy" rating and $63 price target on eBay shares.
Traditional banks are clearly at an advantage when it comes to cash transactions. Years ago they ceded ground by sharing credit transactions in doing deals with the likes of Visa and Mastercard.
But there is debate now on whether the use of cash is in decline. There is evidence that the value of cash withdrawals from ATMs has peaked. By contrast the value of credit and debt card purchases have grown from $176 billion 10 years ago to $408 billion today.
Mott says if one assumes cash withdrawals indicate cash payments, the value of card purchases is now 70 per cent of the total.
By way of further example, Coles estimates the value of cash sales is down from 45 per cent in 2007 to 33 per cent today. And the average value of cash transactions across the board is only $12.
But we are a long long way from a utopian cashless society. The ramifications for the banks can be good and bad - but Mott takes the view that it is potentially more negative than positive.
On the plus side, the ability for the banks to invest less in the branch and ATM infrastructure frees up capital expenditure and a reduction in handling cash also cuts some bank costs. On the negative side bank investment in technology may have to be increased to deal with systems to better facilitate mobile transactions.
Allowing a non-bank player into a threesome with the customer and bank could reduce the transaction fees earned by banks but encourage customers to become more agnostic in banking relationships.
The bottom line is that WWE knows that most of its fans are younger or casual ones who don’t read wrestling sites like this one. Therefore, the company feels like it can get away with what are obviously predictable storylines and matches because the average fan doesn’t view them as such.
Any fan who’s above 12 years old or who isn’t just a casual one, however, knows that the retirement stipulation that’s been added to Triple H vs. Lesnar is just a way to make it seem like a bigger deal when the lovable babyface inevitably overcomes the odds to beat the big bad heel.
I cannot say I blame WWE for doing this. WrestleMania 29 is shaping up to be awfully predictable and doesn’t have anywhere near the buzz that it should, so creating that buzz in any way possible is a logical move.
The GSA 28 “smart” autopilot servo is a brand new design developed specifically for the experimental market. Weighing only 1.4 pounds, it is over 40 percent lighter than most experimental autopilot servos. A gear train with engagement clutch and ability to back drive the brushless DC motor provide multiple levels of protection without the need to use a shear pin. The engagement clutch also decouples the motor from the flight controls, which minimizes the friction the pilot will feel when the autopilot is off. Each servo also provides a built-in interface to drive a customer-supplied trim servo. When the autopilot is off, the servo provides speed scheduling for the manual trim commands. When the autopilot is on, the servo automatically trims the aircraft to constantly keep it in trim. Plus, servo software updates are done over the CAN bus using the G3X SD card, eliminating the need to send the servo back to the manufacturer for updates.
With the optional GMC 305 autopilot control panel, pilots gain a dedicated autopilot user interface, as well as additional autopilot functionality including airspeed hold, independent flight director, and optional yaw damper. A control wheel integrated into the GMC 305 makes for easier pitch, vertical speed and airspeed adjustments. Plus, for added safety, the panel’s advanced Level (LVL) mode button commands the autopilot to help restore the aircraft to straight and level flight. And because the servos interface directly with the ADAHRS, the GMC 305 control panel allows for standalone operation of the autopilot in the unlikely event of a display loss.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sacramento jury quickly reaches guilty verdicts
They batted around the word "obvious" outside the courtroom Tuesday – as in, there was no question about the verdict that took very little time for a Sacramento jury to reach in finding Juan Carlos Orozco guilty in the Aug. 26, 2010, torture-and-robbery murder of Galen Joseph May.
Orozco, a meth user whose girlfriend had just kicked him out of their house, went upstairs in the minutes after his ejection to push into May's place in the North Country Vista Apartments on Watt Avenue in Antelope. It was 1 o'clock in the morning, and May, 69, a retired thoroughbred trainer who in his day helped prepare three horses for the Kentucky Derby, had just arrived home after a quick stop at a nearby Circle K.
Looking for fast money, Orozco tied up May hand and foot with electric cords. He fastened two plastic bags over his head. He retrieved a flat-headed screwdriver and poked 22 holes in May's face, neck and chest in an apparent attempt to get him to give up the code to his ATM card. When May didn't, he wrapped a belt around May's neck and cinched it as tight as he could.
Along with the asphyxiation murder, jurors found the special-circumstance allegations that Orozco killed for robbery and inflicted torture to be true. Those findings qualify Orozco for the no-parole life term.
"I'm glad the jury rendered the right decision," said Will May, of Seattle, the victim's brother. Orozco "obviously was guilty, and the only thing that surprised me was how quick the decision was. But when things are obvious, you make a quick decision."
The jury forewoman, who did not give her name, said of the case, "The evidence was pretty obvious."
Orozco last week took the witness stand in his own defense. He testified that he found the keys to May's car in the parking lot and was only returning them, despite it being past midnight, when he looked inside and saw that the man was dead. Then he stole May's car, used May's ATM card for a couple of purchases and took off for Salinas and then Delano, where he was arrested a week after the killing.
Case in point: the dinner I recently had with a group of five compatriots, all of us upwardly mobile and overly educated. Throughout the meal, we’d been mildly boasting about our accomplishments and fawning over each other’s talents. By the time we indulged in some chocolate mousse, everyone was riding pretty high on the hog.
But when the $116.37 check arrived, the night’s buoyancy disappeared. We spent no fewer than 15 minutes scribbling and squabbling, trying to sort out what each of us owed for the night’s vittles. We eventually paid appropriate amounts and acted like nothing happened, but the shame was palpable.
How is paying a group check still a problem in 2013? How can it be that this generation of tech-savvy, smartphone-wielding early adopters still boggles at the end of a meal?
Two diners is fine, possibly even three, but if the table’s population gets any bigger, it’s like a social collapse in a rat colony: chaos unfolds as we all turn on one another. There’s the collective “daaaaamn” at the total price, there’s the failed attempt to split the amount evenly, there are the passive-aggressive reminders that so-and-so had one more drink than everyone else, there’s the silent groan of frustration when a couple announces that they’ll be paying as a unit, and so on. Pity the poor server, who has to hear a three-minute explanation of what to do: “Put $17.30 on this credit card, $4.75 on this one-- oh crap, we did the math wrong; give us a moment…”
There are check-splitting apps that try to ease that numerical burden. Billr, Divided, Check Split, Divvy -- they all help sort out group bills. Divvy even lets you enter your data simply by taking a photo of the check. But that leaves the payment problem untouched: even if a program is doing all the math, there will still be a mélange of debit cards, credit cards, and unbroken $20 bills to sort through. These apps are a great start, and we should all download them, but there’s still one more step we all need to take. And it’s astoundingly low-tech.
More often than not, what truly sinks these payment situations is the lack of a common medium of exchange. When cards mix with cash, the amount of necessary calculations skyrockets and errors become harder to fix. Each card becomes its own bill, with a charged amount separate from the other cards and the pooled cash. Errors become harder to fix -- when we inevitably over- or underpay, we end up doing a second round of payments to one another. Or, worse, we just promise to pay each other back later.
But with the magic of cash, everything becomes easier. Pop the meal into one of the check-splitting apps, then have everyone shell out the exact amounts owed. Easy peasy. Don’t let anyone get away with that lamest of excuses: “I only have a twenty.” Force anyone who says that to go to the register and get the $20 bill broken -- and to get an individual dollar broken so that he or she can have exact change. It costs nothing more than a walk from one’s seat.
Even if you don’t believe in collective action, wielding cash and a check-splitting app can still improve your own group-dining experience. Just whip your phone out, quickly calculate what everyone owes, pay your amount and then let the rest of the rats fight it out over their plastic.
Orozco, a meth user whose girlfriend had just kicked him out of their house, went upstairs in the minutes after his ejection to push into May's place in the North Country Vista Apartments on Watt Avenue in Antelope. It was 1 o'clock in the morning, and May, 69, a retired thoroughbred trainer who in his day helped prepare three horses for the Kentucky Derby, had just arrived home after a quick stop at a nearby Circle K.
Looking for fast money, Orozco tied up May hand and foot with electric cords. He fastened two plastic bags over his head. He retrieved a flat-headed screwdriver and poked 22 holes in May's face, neck and chest in an apparent attempt to get him to give up the code to his ATM card. When May didn't, he wrapped a belt around May's neck and cinched it as tight as he could.
Along with the asphyxiation murder, jurors found the special-circumstance allegations that Orozco killed for robbery and inflicted torture to be true. Those findings qualify Orozco for the no-parole life term.
"I'm glad the jury rendered the right decision," said Will May, of Seattle, the victim's brother. Orozco "obviously was guilty, and the only thing that surprised me was how quick the decision was. But when things are obvious, you make a quick decision."
The jury forewoman, who did not give her name, said of the case, "The evidence was pretty obvious."
Orozco last week took the witness stand in his own defense. He testified that he found the keys to May's car in the parking lot and was only returning them, despite it being past midnight, when he looked inside and saw that the man was dead. Then he stole May's car, used May's ATM card for a couple of purchases and took off for Salinas and then Delano, where he was arrested a week after the killing.
Case in point: the dinner I recently had with a group of five compatriots, all of us upwardly mobile and overly educated. Throughout the meal, we’d been mildly boasting about our accomplishments and fawning over each other’s talents. By the time we indulged in some chocolate mousse, everyone was riding pretty high on the hog.
But when the $116.37 check arrived, the night’s buoyancy disappeared. We spent no fewer than 15 minutes scribbling and squabbling, trying to sort out what each of us owed for the night’s vittles. We eventually paid appropriate amounts and acted like nothing happened, but the shame was palpable.
How is paying a group check still a problem in 2013? How can it be that this generation of tech-savvy, smartphone-wielding early adopters still boggles at the end of a meal?
Two diners is fine, possibly even three, but if the table’s population gets any bigger, it’s like a social collapse in a rat colony: chaos unfolds as we all turn on one another. There’s the collective “daaaaamn” at the total price, there’s the failed attempt to split the amount evenly, there are the passive-aggressive reminders that so-and-so had one more drink than everyone else, there’s the silent groan of frustration when a couple announces that they’ll be paying as a unit, and so on. Pity the poor server, who has to hear a three-minute explanation of what to do: “Put $17.30 on this credit card, $4.75 on this one-- oh crap, we did the math wrong; give us a moment…”
There are check-splitting apps that try to ease that numerical burden. Billr, Divided, Check Split, Divvy -- they all help sort out group bills. Divvy even lets you enter your data simply by taking a photo of the check. But that leaves the payment problem untouched: even if a program is doing all the math, there will still be a mélange of debit cards, credit cards, and unbroken $20 bills to sort through. These apps are a great start, and we should all download them, but there’s still one more step we all need to take. And it’s astoundingly low-tech.
More often than not, what truly sinks these payment situations is the lack of a common medium of exchange. When cards mix with cash, the amount of necessary calculations skyrockets and errors become harder to fix. Each card becomes its own bill, with a charged amount separate from the other cards and the pooled cash. Errors become harder to fix -- when we inevitably over- or underpay, we end up doing a second round of payments to one another. Or, worse, we just promise to pay each other back later.
But with the magic of cash, everything becomes easier. Pop the meal into one of the check-splitting apps, then have everyone shell out the exact amounts owed. Easy peasy. Don’t let anyone get away with that lamest of excuses: “I only have a twenty.” Force anyone who says that to go to the register and get the $20 bill broken -- and to get an individual dollar broken so that he or she can have exact change. It costs nothing more than a walk from one’s seat.
Even if you don’t believe in collective action, wielding cash and a check-splitting app can still improve your own group-dining experience. Just whip your phone out, quickly calculate what everyone owes, pay your amount and then let the rest of the rats fight it out over their plastic.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Flawed process skews Fraser Institute’s school rankings
Three Ottawa-area schools made the top 10 in the Fraser Institute’s most recent provincial high school “Report Card,” released Sunday, however a University of Ottawa education expert says the report card should be taken with a big grain of salt.
Colonel By in Gloucester and St Joseph’s in Renfrew tied for third place in the province with 9.2/10. West Carleton High School came in eighth place out of 725 public, private and Catholic high schools with 9/10, and Earl of March in Kanata came in at No. 22, down five spots from last year, but maintaining its score of 8.6/10.
The right-leaning Fraser Institute, which has been providing the analysis for five-years, says the annual rankings allow parents and educators to measure improvement year over year to see “evidence of change (or lack thereof) over time.”
In order to rank the schools, the institute analyses grade 9 literacy and math test scores provided by the Ministry of Education.
Every grade 9 student is required to take the same standardized tests managed by Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) which, the Fraser Institute says, provides valuable data about how individual schools — and teachers — are instructing the province’s teens.
But, Joel Westheimer, University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa, calls the rankings “dangerous” and urges parents, educators and students to ignore it entirely.
“The problem is that those numbers are based on such a small fraction of what makes up a good school,” he said Sunday. “They’re enormously misleading.”
Westheimer said the root of the problem lies in the testing methods which focus on memorizing facts, instead of processing information.
“Testing technology is in its infancy and we don’t know very much about how to measure the things that are important to a lot of educators and parents” such as critical thinking skills, citizenship and an ability to sift through the incredible amount of information now available through every smart phone.
“Because we can’t actually measure what we care about, we start caring about what we can measure,” said Westheimer noting that analyses such as the Fraser Institute’s annual report force lower-ranked schools to spend even more resources teaching to these tests, to the detriment of other subjects.
The report, prepared by Peter Cowley and Stephen T. Easton, also takes into account the socio-economic makeup of the school population, including parents’ average income, the percentage of students who speak English as a second language, and the number of students with special needs who attend.
This socio-economic measurement identifies schools “that are successful despite adverse conditions faced by their students at home,” says the report.
The authors say the ranking allows schools that are lower on the list to learn from “more effective” schools at the top by studying their teaching techniques.
However, Westheimer says the schools which rank the highest are almost always those from higher-income neighbourhoods.
Instead of concentrating on standardized testing, Westheimer recommends assessing schools by the best examples of a student’s work.
“Portfolio assessment” requires high school students to gather examples of their best work in a variety of required subjects and present it at an exhibition in front of parents, teachers, community-members and other students.
“Rather than testing that’s focused on trying to catch kids not knowing things, portfolio assessment tries to find out what they know,” said Westheimer. “It’s a whole different approach.”
“Of course,” acknowledges the report, “the choice of a school should not be made solely on the basis of a single source of information.” It suggests parents should consult EQAO and ministry websites, discuss choices with parents whose children already schools in the neighbourhood, and set up meetings with representatives from the local school board.
"Jordan electronic gate is a result of a strategic relationship between Dubai and Jordan. Verifying identities is becoming more complex with the rapid growth of international travel in and out the region; especially at Queen Alia International Airport. Jordan eGates reduce the long queues at passport control counters in and out the airport and displays stature of Jordan in coping with latest advanced information technologies," said Major General Al-Marri.
Jordan's eGate is an advanced information technology system that is integrated with immigration and security agencies in Jordan. The eGates are automated and are used instead of immigration counters to check and process travelers' entry-exit transactions, according to the security measures standards applied in Jordan.
Jordan eGates system uses an advanced infrastructure that enables consultation with the databases of concerned government agencies. The system matches information available and confirms identities. It also highlights anomalies preventing fraud and immigration discrepancies.
The system is activated using eGate cards issued by Datel Jordan. When passengers apply for an eGate card, biometric data is captured at the registration office. Data includes finger prints, a photo taken at the location and passport information. This data will be stored on a 'smart card chip' that is part of the eGate card.
Jordan eGates are equipped with a 'smart card chip' and a finger print scanner. This will enable gates verify travelers' identity with the biometric and passport information that are stored on the 'smart card chip' in the eGate card. eGates are also equipped with a boarding pass reader to identify and match traveler's flight details.
Once the biometric data check is completed at the airport, the eGate doors open automatically. This happens in less than 15 seconds allowing passengers enhance their travel experience from and to the new Queen Alia International Airport. It also saves pages on the passenger's passport as it does not require a physical stamp on the passport.
"The eGates installed at the new Queen Alia International airport paves the way for a faster and more efficient movement of the growing number of passengers in and out of Jordan," said Mr. Abdulrahman Ahmed Abdulrahman, Director General of Datel Jordan.
"We've already started issuing eGate cards in Jordan and building strategic partnerships with various agencies and corporations to facilitate this unique service in the Arab World for holders of Jordanian passports as the first phase of this exciting project," Abdulrahman continued.
Colonel By in Gloucester and St Joseph’s in Renfrew tied for third place in the province with 9.2/10. West Carleton High School came in eighth place out of 725 public, private and Catholic high schools with 9/10, and Earl of March in Kanata came in at No. 22, down five spots from last year, but maintaining its score of 8.6/10.
The right-leaning Fraser Institute, which has been providing the analysis for five-years, says the annual rankings allow parents and educators to measure improvement year over year to see “evidence of change (or lack thereof) over time.”
In order to rank the schools, the institute analyses grade 9 literacy and math test scores provided by the Ministry of Education.
Every grade 9 student is required to take the same standardized tests managed by Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) which, the Fraser Institute says, provides valuable data about how individual schools — and teachers — are instructing the province’s teens.
But, Joel Westheimer, University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa, calls the rankings “dangerous” and urges parents, educators and students to ignore it entirely.
“The problem is that those numbers are based on such a small fraction of what makes up a good school,” he said Sunday. “They’re enormously misleading.”
Westheimer said the root of the problem lies in the testing methods which focus on memorizing facts, instead of processing information.
“Testing technology is in its infancy and we don’t know very much about how to measure the things that are important to a lot of educators and parents” such as critical thinking skills, citizenship and an ability to sift through the incredible amount of information now available through every smart phone.
“Because we can’t actually measure what we care about, we start caring about what we can measure,” said Westheimer noting that analyses such as the Fraser Institute’s annual report force lower-ranked schools to spend even more resources teaching to these tests, to the detriment of other subjects.
The report, prepared by Peter Cowley and Stephen T. Easton, also takes into account the socio-economic makeup of the school population, including parents’ average income, the percentage of students who speak English as a second language, and the number of students with special needs who attend.
This socio-economic measurement identifies schools “that are successful despite adverse conditions faced by their students at home,” says the report.
The authors say the ranking allows schools that are lower on the list to learn from “more effective” schools at the top by studying their teaching techniques.
However, Westheimer says the schools which rank the highest are almost always those from higher-income neighbourhoods.
Instead of concentrating on standardized testing, Westheimer recommends assessing schools by the best examples of a student’s work.
“Portfolio assessment” requires high school students to gather examples of their best work in a variety of required subjects and present it at an exhibition in front of parents, teachers, community-members and other students.
“Rather than testing that’s focused on trying to catch kids not knowing things, portfolio assessment tries to find out what they know,” said Westheimer. “It’s a whole different approach.”
“Of course,” acknowledges the report, “the choice of a school should not be made solely on the basis of a single source of information.” It suggests parents should consult EQAO and ministry websites, discuss choices with parents whose children already schools in the neighbourhood, and set up meetings with representatives from the local school board.
"Jordan electronic gate is a result of a strategic relationship between Dubai and Jordan. Verifying identities is becoming more complex with the rapid growth of international travel in and out the region; especially at Queen Alia International Airport. Jordan eGates reduce the long queues at passport control counters in and out the airport and displays stature of Jordan in coping with latest advanced information technologies," said Major General Al-Marri.
Jordan's eGate is an advanced information technology system that is integrated with immigration and security agencies in Jordan. The eGates are automated and are used instead of immigration counters to check and process travelers' entry-exit transactions, according to the security measures standards applied in Jordan.
Jordan eGates system uses an advanced infrastructure that enables consultation with the databases of concerned government agencies. The system matches information available and confirms identities. It also highlights anomalies preventing fraud and immigration discrepancies.
The system is activated using eGate cards issued by Datel Jordan. When passengers apply for an eGate card, biometric data is captured at the registration office. Data includes finger prints, a photo taken at the location and passport information. This data will be stored on a 'smart card chip' that is part of the eGate card.
Jordan eGates are equipped with a 'smart card chip' and a finger print scanner. This will enable gates verify travelers' identity with the biometric and passport information that are stored on the 'smart card chip' in the eGate card. eGates are also equipped with a boarding pass reader to identify and match traveler's flight details.
Once the biometric data check is completed at the airport, the eGate doors open automatically. This happens in less than 15 seconds allowing passengers enhance their travel experience from and to the new Queen Alia International Airport. It also saves pages on the passenger's passport as it does not require a physical stamp on the passport.
"The eGates installed at the new Queen Alia International airport paves the way for a faster and more efficient movement of the growing number of passengers in and out of Jordan," said Mr. Abdulrahman Ahmed Abdulrahman, Director General of Datel Jordan.
"We've already started issuing eGate cards in Jordan and building strategic partnerships with various agencies and corporations to facilitate this unique service in the Arab World for holders of Jordanian passports as the first phase of this exciting project," Abdulrahman continued.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Gang Of Eight to Drop National ID Card From Bill
A group of senators working on a bipartisan bill to keep undocumented immigrants out of U.S. workplaces while finding solutions for offering temporary legal status to illegal workers are likely dropping the idea of a high-tech biometric ID card, citing high costs. Instead, the AP reports the four Republican and four Democratic senators in the immigration group will seek to expand E-Verify, a barely used program offered by the federal government which allows employers to run prospective workers' information through several government databases in order to ensure employment eligibility. Unlike the ID card, which would house fingerprints and other vital information in a built-in chip, E-Verify relies on manual input, and is thus prone to human error.
Currently, use of E-Verify is fairly low. The Department of Homeland Security reports that as of March 2012, 353,822 employers were enrolled nationwide. Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi require all employers to use E-Verify. A number of other states require it for government agencies or for private employers with government contracts. California and Illinois have statutes limiting the use of E-Verify, with the former prohibiting municipalities from mandating enrollment and the latter prohibiting enrollment altogether until the system's accuracy issues can be resolved.
These accuracy issues, accompanied by fears that required enrollment in E-Verify would discourage employers from hiring foreign but eligible workers, have civil rights groups pushing back against the program's implementation. In a talk with the CATO Institute, ACLU legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese addressed the program's pratfalls, citing the story of a U.S. citizen who lost her new job after information in E-Verify proved to be inaccurate. With an E-Verify rejection being notoriously difficult to contest, she ended up settling for a lower paying job. The problem with her records turned out to have been due to a misspelling of her name on the part of her employer. Because employers are prohibited from screening prospective workers through E-Verify prior to hiring, Calabrese says they may unfairly reject applicants with foreign-sounding last names just to avoid the hassle that an E-Verify error presents.
According to a 2011 report by the Government Accountability Office, the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has made significant improvements to E-Verify since 2008, but errors persist. At the time of the report, the system's accuracy rate was 97.4%, up from 92% in 2006. This still leaves a high potential for false negatives that would have a great negative impact on the lives of eligible workers. Because a vast majority of the system's errors come from issues of spelling and name consistency, foreign-born Americans and women who have changed their last names due to marriage are especially susceptible to falling victim to E-Verify's as-yet unresolved problems. Also likely to run into problems are persons who have been victims of identity theft.
Because E-Verify is a system that relies on human input and is thus prone to human error and prejudice, the best thing to do in order to ensure equal employment opportunity for all eligible workers is to follow the lead of Illinois and hold off using the system until greater accuracy can be ensured, or a better system, such as a biometric ID card, can be implemented.
The LG Nexus 4 has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip, while the iPhone 5 has a 1.2GHz dual core chip and the Galaxy S3 has a quad core Exynos chip (international version – the US version has a dual-core). The iPhone 5 is the slowest, but it’s still twice as fast as the 4S. The LG Nexus 4 has four cores and 2GB of RAM, compared to either 1GB of RAM and four cores, or 2GB of RAM and two cores in the GS3. The Nexus 4 carries it away.
The Nexus 4 is on Android Jelly Bean 4.2, whereas the Galaxy S3 is on 4.1. The iPhone 5 is on iOS 6, as you’d expect, and this is a nifty, user-friendly OS. If you’re after customisation options, you’ll want Android, though. One big edge that the Nexus 4 has over the Galaxy S3 is that it’ll get updates much faster, so really, it comes down to deciding between the iPhone 5 and the Nexus 4.
The LG Nexus 4 comes in 8GB and 16GB versions, but has no SD card. The Galaxy S3 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, with SD support for another 64GB, so the GS3 is the winner by yards.
The LG Nexus 4 has a 4.7” True HD IPS screen and a resolution of 1,280×768 and 318ppi. The iPhone 5 has a 4” IPS screen with a 1,136×640 resolution and a 306ppi. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the biggest, at 4.8”, with a 306ppi and a 1,280×720 resolution. Each screen has its ups and downs, and you’ll have to go for the one that suits your needs most. IPS gives the most realistic colours, whereas the Super AMOLED screen on the GS3 can look over-saturated. As the LG Nexus has IPS and is big, it’s the winner.
You should get around 15 hours of talk with the Nexus 4 and its 2,100mAh battery. The GS3 and the iPhone 5 both give you around eight hours. However, Anandtech showed that the iPhone 5 had the best battery, with the Galaxy S3 second and the Nexus 4 third.
The LG Nexus measures 133.9mmx68.7mmx9.1mm and weighs 129 grams and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is 136.6×70.6mmx8.6mm with a weight of 135g grams. The Apple iPhone 5 wins, though, as it’s smallest and has the best design; however the LG Nexus 4 wasn’t exactly hit with the ugly stick.
If you need NFC, you have the choice of the Galaxy S3 and the LG Nexus 4. If it’s LTE you’re after, you have the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3. The GS3 has both facilities, so it has a clear advantage.
The Nexus 4 has an 8MP camera with autofocus and 1080p video. There’s also a 1,3MP camera at the front. The GS3 also has an 8MP camera, with LED flash and autofocus, and a 1,9MP front camera. The iPhone 5 has the obligatory 8MP rear camera with a 1.2MP front camera. Each camera has a unique feature – with the Nexus you’ve got PhotoSphere, with the iPhone 5 you can take almost unbeatable low-light pics, and the Galaxy S3 can take simultaneous stills and films. The iPhone 5 stands head and shoulders above the other two, though, with its outstanding BSI sensor.
Currently, use of E-Verify is fairly low. The Department of Homeland Security reports that as of March 2012, 353,822 employers were enrolled nationwide. Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi require all employers to use E-Verify. A number of other states require it for government agencies or for private employers with government contracts. California and Illinois have statutes limiting the use of E-Verify, with the former prohibiting municipalities from mandating enrollment and the latter prohibiting enrollment altogether until the system's accuracy issues can be resolved.
These accuracy issues, accompanied by fears that required enrollment in E-Verify would discourage employers from hiring foreign but eligible workers, have civil rights groups pushing back against the program's implementation. In a talk with the CATO Institute, ACLU legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese addressed the program's pratfalls, citing the story of a U.S. citizen who lost her new job after information in E-Verify proved to be inaccurate. With an E-Verify rejection being notoriously difficult to contest, she ended up settling for a lower paying job. The problem with her records turned out to have been due to a misspelling of her name on the part of her employer. Because employers are prohibited from screening prospective workers through E-Verify prior to hiring, Calabrese says they may unfairly reject applicants with foreign-sounding last names just to avoid the hassle that an E-Verify error presents.
According to a 2011 report by the Government Accountability Office, the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has made significant improvements to E-Verify since 2008, but errors persist. At the time of the report, the system's accuracy rate was 97.4%, up from 92% in 2006. This still leaves a high potential for false negatives that would have a great negative impact on the lives of eligible workers. Because a vast majority of the system's errors come from issues of spelling and name consistency, foreign-born Americans and women who have changed their last names due to marriage are especially susceptible to falling victim to E-Verify's as-yet unresolved problems. Also likely to run into problems are persons who have been victims of identity theft.
Because E-Verify is a system that relies on human input and is thus prone to human error and prejudice, the best thing to do in order to ensure equal employment opportunity for all eligible workers is to follow the lead of Illinois and hold off using the system until greater accuracy can be ensured, or a better system, such as a biometric ID card, can be implemented.
The LG Nexus 4 has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip, while the iPhone 5 has a 1.2GHz dual core chip and the Galaxy S3 has a quad core Exynos chip (international version – the US version has a dual-core). The iPhone 5 is the slowest, but it’s still twice as fast as the 4S. The LG Nexus 4 has four cores and 2GB of RAM, compared to either 1GB of RAM and four cores, or 2GB of RAM and two cores in the GS3. The Nexus 4 carries it away.
The Nexus 4 is on Android Jelly Bean 4.2, whereas the Galaxy S3 is on 4.1. The iPhone 5 is on iOS 6, as you’d expect, and this is a nifty, user-friendly OS. If you’re after customisation options, you’ll want Android, though. One big edge that the Nexus 4 has over the Galaxy S3 is that it’ll get updates much faster, so really, it comes down to deciding between the iPhone 5 and the Nexus 4.
The LG Nexus 4 comes in 8GB and 16GB versions, but has no SD card. The Galaxy S3 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, with SD support for another 64GB, so the GS3 is the winner by yards.
The LG Nexus 4 has a 4.7” True HD IPS screen and a resolution of 1,280×768 and 318ppi. The iPhone 5 has a 4” IPS screen with a 1,136×640 resolution and a 306ppi. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the biggest, at 4.8”, with a 306ppi and a 1,280×720 resolution. Each screen has its ups and downs, and you’ll have to go for the one that suits your needs most. IPS gives the most realistic colours, whereas the Super AMOLED screen on the GS3 can look over-saturated. As the LG Nexus has IPS and is big, it’s the winner.
You should get around 15 hours of talk with the Nexus 4 and its 2,100mAh battery. The GS3 and the iPhone 5 both give you around eight hours. However, Anandtech showed that the iPhone 5 had the best battery, with the Galaxy S3 second and the Nexus 4 third.
The LG Nexus measures 133.9mmx68.7mmx9.1mm and weighs 129 grams and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is 136.6×70.6mmx8.6mm with a weight of 135g grams. The Apple iPhone 5 wins, though, as it’s smallest and has the best design; however the LG Nexus 4 wasn’t exactly hit with the ugly stick.
If you need NFC, you have the choice of the Galaxy S3 and the LG Nexus 4. If it’s LTE you’re after, you have the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3. The GS3 has both facilities, so it has a clear advantage.
The Nexus 4 has an 8MP camera with autofocus and 1080p video. There’s also a 1,3MP camera at the front. The GS3 also has an 8MP camera, with LED flash and autofocus, and a 1,9MP front camera. The iPhone 5 has the obligatory 8MP rear camera with a 1.2MP front camera. Each camera has a unique feature – with the Nexus you’ve got PhotoSphere, with the iPhone 5 you can take almost unbeatable low-light pics, and the Galaxy S3 can take simultaneous stills and films. The iPhone 5 stands head and shoulders above the other two, though, with its outstanding BSI sensor.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Angola’s Middle Class Clamors for Housing Amid Oil Boom
Guilhermina Simoes, a manager at Banco Bic SA in Angola, sat on a stool in the midday heat with a knapsack as she planned to camp overnight and beat the Monday morning crowd to buy a new apartment.
“I’m not leaving until my application is submitted,” said Simoes, a 30-year-old mother of three and a graduate of the country’s Agostinho Neto University. “It’s not a question of choosing where to live, it’s a question of opportunity. There’s nothing else.”
Simoes is among middle class Angolans willing to line up for days to find new homes to escape their rundown neighborhoods in Luanda, the capital of Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria. Thousands of people wait for 1,200 application spots a day at Kilamba, a new Chinese-built city of 5,400 hectares (13,300 acres), while other sites at Cacuaco, Capari, Kilometer 44 and Zango are also filling up.
Angola, where a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, is rebuilding with the help of Chinese loans backed by oil output of more than 1.7 million barrels a day from offshore fields operated by companies such as Total SA (FP) and Chevron Corp. (CVX)
The government’s decision on Feb. 5 to cut the prices of bigger apartments to a maximum of $190,000 from $200,000 and smaller ones to $70,000 from $125,000 sparked a flood of applications. Before that about 30,000 units in five suburbs of Luanda, home to more than five million people, stood empty for more than a year because Angolans couldn’t afford them.
“Eleven years after the end of Angola’s civil war, we are seeing the beginnings of an emerging middle class in Luanda,” Lucy Corkin, a sovereign risk analyst at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, said March 7 in an e-mail. “The challenge is that Angola’s social and physical infrastructure is currently not yet properly equipped to deal with their demands in terms of goods and services.”
Luanda is plagued by power outages several times a day and almost constant traffic jams around dusty and garbage-strewn slums. The nation is trying to build up agriculture to reduce imports and feed a country that was the world’s fourth-largest coffee producer before independence in 1975.
Before coming to Kilamba on March 3, Simoes spent a week gathering the necessary documents, such as her tax-payer number, national ID and social security card. She also needed a letter from her employer proving she earns $1,500 a month to qualify for a $600 per month rent-to-own plan to buy an $80,000 three- bedroom apartment.
With an annual per capita income of $5,681, according to the International Monetary Fund, Angola ranks seventh in sub- Saharan Africa, ahead of countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. The United Nations said in 2011 that 54 percent of its people still live on less than $1.25 a day.
Angola forecasts 7.1 percent economic growth this year after 7.4 percent last year and an average expansion of 9.2 percent over the past five years, according to government budget documents. The country depends on oil for approximately 40 percent of its total output and 70 percent of government revenue, according to the IMF.
“Though small as a percentage of the general population, Angola now has an emergent, increasingly articulate middle class expecting the benefits of peace and oil prosperity to flow to them,” Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, a lecturer in comparative politics at Oxford University, said by e-mail.
“I want to stop living in my neighborhood in central Luanda because it’s a like a ghetto,” said Nelson Dias, a 38- year-old computer engineer with Empresa Interbancaria de Servicos SA, who’s also seeking an apartment at Kilamba. “This place is organized, it’s a real city.”
Traveling south from Luanda on a new highway, Kilamba’s apartment blocks rise from the countryside foliage, each neighborhood a distinct color, such as blue, green and yellow. The pristine roads, sidewalks and parkland inside are also like almost nothing else in the country.
“I like living here because it’s comfortable and it’s a good place for children with lots of space to play,” said Claudia Patricia, 30, a four-month resident of Kilamba with her husband and two children. “It’s clean and quiet.”
"You’ll see us doing similar things that we’ve done with Country Road and Trenery. We are excited, in particular about Witchery in SA, as well as Australia. It’s becoming more fashion forward, targeting a younger customer, somebody who is looking for a slightly smarter, sexier, more glamorous look. We think that fits well in our portfolio because we don’t have any meaningful offer of that type of merchandise at this point and at those price points.
"We think it will get particular traction with the Gauteng customer, and in particular the younger black customer," said Ms Disberry.
Country Road? Woolworths’ 88%-owned subsidiary, concluded the acquisition of 40-year-old fashion retailer Witchery Group from Gresham Private Equity for A$172m (R1.6bn) in October.
"You will see us putting them in Woolworths ‘big white box’ as we do with Country Road and hopefully stand-alone stores," Ms Disberry said. It is expected that Woolworths will launch the brands in South Africa in a year. Over the past five years Woolworths has made big shifts in its clothing business in a bid to get the right product, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price.
The company has invested a significant amount of money in an end-to-end suite of systems, and has built functional skill in its business by establishing a merchant academy where its buyers, planners, technologists and designers are trained. It also uses customer data to segment merchandise and plan the layout of its stores.
"Customers are seeing a very different product from us, but at the same time it’s driving profitability," said Ms Disberry.
The firm’s procurement strategy has allowed it to shorten lead times, as it focuses on a fast-response model — amid international retailers such as Zara expanding in South Africa.
The group head of design, sourcing and technology for clothing at Woolworths, Darren Todd, said: "We still have a very strong presence here in SA from a manufacturing perspective, but what we’ve done is identify centres of excellence in China, Bangladesh, India, Madagascar and Mauritius — our journey offshore has been about identifying innovation and differential product."
“I’m not leaving until my application is submitted,” said Simoes, a 30-year-old mother of three and a graduate of the country’s Agostinho Neto University. “It’s not a question of choosing where to live, it’s a question of opportunity. There’s nothing else.”
Simoes is among middle class Angolans willing to line up for days to find new homes to escape their rundown neighborhoods in Luanda, the capital of Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria. Thousands of people wait for 1,200 application spots a day at Kilamba, a new Chinese-built city of 5,400 hectares (13,300 acres), while other sites at Cacuaco, Capari, Kilometer 44 and Zango are also filling up.
Angola, where a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, is rebuilding with the help of Chinese loans backed by oil output of more than 1.7 million barrels a day from offshore fields operated by companies such as Total SA (FP) and Chevron Corp. (CVX)
The government’s decision on Feb. 5 to cut the prices of bigger apartments to a maximum of $190,000 from $200,000 and smaller ones to $70,000 from $125,000 sparked a flood of applications. Before that about 30,000 units in five suburbs of Luanda, home to more than five million people, stood empty for more than a year because Angolans couldn’t afford them.
“Eleven years after the end of Angola’s civil war, we are seeing the beginnings of an emerging middle class in Luanda,” Lucy Corkin, a sovereign risk analyst at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, said March 7 in an e-mail. “The challenge is that Angola’s social and physical infrastructure is currently not yet properly equipped to deal with their demands in terms of goods and services.”
Luanda is plagued by power outages several times a day and almost constant traffic jams around dusty and garbage-strewn slums. The nation is trying to build up agriculture to reduce imports and feed a country that was the world’s fourth-largest coffee producer before independence in 1975.
Before coming to Kilamba on March 3, Simoes spent a week gathering the necessary documents, such as her tax-payer number, national ID and social security card. She also needed a letter from her employer proving she earns $1,500 a month to qualify for a $600 per month rent-to-own plan to buy an $80,000 three- bedroom apartment.
With an annual per capita income of $5,681, according to the International Monetary Fund, Angola ranks seventh in sub- Saharan Africa, ahead of countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. The United Nations said in 2011 that 54 percent of its people still live on less than $1.25 a day.
Angola forecasts 7.1 percent economic growth this year after 7.4 percent last year and an average expansion of 9.2 percent over the past five years, according to government budget documents. The country depends on oil for approximately 40 percent of its total output and 70 percent of government revenue, according to the IMF.
“Though small as a percentage of the general population, Angola now has an emergent, increasingly articulate middle class expecting the benefits of peace and oil prosperity to flow to them,” Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, a lecturer in comparative politics at Oxford University, said by e-mail.
“I want to stop living in my neighborhood in central Luanda because it’s a like a ghetto,” said Nelson Dias, a 38- year-old computer engineer with Empresa Interbancaria de Servicos SA, who’s also seeking an apartment at Kilamba. “This place is organized, it’s a real city.”
Traveling south from Luanda on a new highway, Kilamba’s apartment blocks rise from the countryside foliage, each neighborhood a distinct color, such as blue, green and yellow. The pristine roads, sidewalks and parkland inside are also like almost nothing else in the country.
“I like living here because it’s comfortable and it’s a good place for children with lots of space to play,” said Claudia Patricia, 30, a four-month resident of Kilamba with her husband and two children. “It’s clean and quiet.”
"You’ll see us doing similar things that we’ve done with Country Road and Trenery. We are excited, in particular about Witchery in SA, as well as Australia. It’s becoming more fashion forward, targeting a younger customer, somebody who is looking for a slightly smarter, sexier, more glamorous look. We think that fits well in our portfolio because we don’t have any meaningful offer of that type of merchandise at this point and at those price points.
"We think it will get particular traction with the Gauteng customer, and in particular the younger black customer," said Ms Disberry.
Country Road? Woolworths’ 88%-owned subsidiary, concluded the acquisition of 40-year-old fashion retailer Witchery Group from Gresham Private Equity for A$172m (R1.6bn) in October.
"You will see us putting them in Woolworths ‘big white box’ as we do with Country Road and hopefully stand-alone stores," Ms Disberry said. It is expected that Woolworths will launch the brands in South Africa in a year. Over the past five years Woolworths has made big shifts in its clothing business in a bid to get the right product, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price.
The company has invested a significant amount of money in an end-to-end suite of systems, and has built functional skill in its business by establishing a merchant academy where its buyers, planners, technologists and designers are trained. It also uses customer data to segment merchandise and plan the layout of its stores.
"Customers are seeing a very different product from us, but at the same time it’s driving profitability," said Ms Disberry.
The firm’s procurement strategy has allowed it to shorten lead times, as it focuses on a fast-response model — amid international retailers such as Zara expanding in South Africa.
The group head of design, sourcing and technology for clothing at Woolworths, Darren Todd, said: "We still have a very strong presence here in SA from a manufacturing perspective, but what we’ve done is identify centres of excellence in China, Bangladesh, India, Madagascar and Mauritius — our journey offshore has been about identifying innovation and differential product."
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Sophisticated Yaletown living at Bosa's Pacific Point
Bosa Developments is bringing high sophistication to Yaletown with its newest offering, Pacific Point. Not only will buyers be able to experience all the benefits of living in such a vibrant neighbourhood, but they can also sleep soundly with the peace of mind that comes from purchasing a property from Vancouver real estate icon Nat Bosa.
"It's rare that Nat Bosa puts his name to something," says George Wong of Magnum Projects. "This is one of those rare opportunities."
Pacific Point started life as a rental property, but Bosa saw the opportunity to purchase the development and turn the homes into condominiums. Everything in the suites is brand-new, including the appliances, decor and plumbing.
"This is the first thing that has caught his eye in a long time," Wong says, adding "he fell in love with the location."
Yaletown is the perfect place for couples and professionals of all ages who are looking to take advantage of the night life and entertainment that is located in the neighbourhood. Wong says that many of the people who have pre-registered to see the homes are current Yaletown residents, young couples and empty nesters.
"This is not only sophisticated Yaletown, but it's grown-up Yaletown," says Wong. "You cannot find something better."
Pacific Point features 214 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes in a variety of floorplans ranging from 450 to 1,680 square feet. One of the highlights of the homes is the simply gorgeous views from every suite of False Creek, George Wainborn Park, David Lam Park, English Bay and downtown Vancouver.
Inside, each condo is made for luxury, with high-end kitchens, elegant living areas and beautiful bathrooms. Buyers have their choice of colour scheme, Latte or Grey, designed by Cristina Oberti Interior Design.
The kitchens feature a quartz-slab backsplash, polished quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances, complemented by undercabinet task lighting and imported Italian Armony Cucine cabinetry, which also appears in the bathrooms.
Laminated flooring is included throughout most of the main living areas, with large porcelain tiles in the den and chic carpeting in the bedrooms.
The modern bathrooms have their own porcelain tiles and polished quartz countertops, as well as a fantastic soaker tub and an enclosed glass shower in select ensuites.
Bosa is known for putting homeowners first, and this is readily apparent at Pacific Point. Little touches like full-size stacking washer and dryers and soft-close doors and drawers in the kitchen are simple things that make everyone's life easier (and quieter!)
On the property, homeowners will have access to a swimming pool, hot tub and steam room, as well as a huge fitness studio and yoga room and a lounge with a pool table.
As more Bergen County residents become renters by choice, a new brand of apartment-living, combining luxury and convenience is now available. The first of its kind, Vermella Lyndhurst, is situated in a prime suburban location, nestled between ball fields and a shopping center, and offers all of the metropolitan access and amenities that were previously only found in urban apartments.
"Our goal is to find infill sites in high barrier to entry markets close to transit, and to build the highest quality product within that market," said Ed Russo, president and COO of Russo Development. "Utilizing our in-house expertise and self-performing large portions of the construction, we are able to deliver a higher quality product while remaining price competitive in the market."
With leasing now officially underway for the community's first building of 54 one- and two-bedroom residences, renters are able to get their first look at the community's 8,000 square foot clubhouse, complete with an outdoor heated pool and sun deck, clubroom with billiards, HDTVs, fireplace and bar, fitness center with cardio theatre and yoga room, covered patio, media lounge, outdoor fire pit, cyber café and conference room.
In addition to the community's abundant amenity space, Vermella Lyndhurst will ultimately feature 296 one-, two- and three-bedroom spacious apartment homes. Each residence has been enhanced with energy-efficient stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, hardwood floors, nine-foot ceilings, in-residence washer and dryer and ceramic tile. A fully-furnished model home is open for public viewing.
"The spacious residences feature the best of contemporary design and open plan concepts to provide a comfortable and stylish living experience," noted Michael Buldo, senior project architect for Russo Development. "Our team utilizes extensive sound-insulation techniques to create an optimal living environment."
Via Verde, which was designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects, along with Ettinger Engineering Associates, Robert Silman Associates and Lee Weintraub Landscape Architecture, and co-developed by Jonathan Rose Companies, LLC and Phipps Housing, was the winning response to the New Housing New York Legacy Competition sponsored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Enterprise Foundation.
Residents will enjoy improved indoor air quality as Lettire utilized green cleaning materials and non-toxic, no/low VOC materials during construction. Co-ops at Via Verde feature spacious floor plans with hardwood flooring, in-unit stacker washer/dryers, stainless steel appliances, built-in dishwashers and microwaves, luxury kitchens with bamboo cabinets, porcelain tile floors, ceramic tile backsplashes, Caesar stone countertops, Energy Star appliances, remote control ceiling fans, porcelain tile bathrooms and panoramic windows. Balconies, private backyards and duplex layouts are offered in select units.
Building amenities include an attended lobby, bicycle storage, landscaped courtyard, playground area, amphitheater, and a series of green roofs including a Scots Pine tree orchard on the 3rd floor roof, an edible fruit bearing apple and pear trees orchard on the 4th floor roof, resident vegetable gardening beds on the 5th floor roof, and green roof and fitness center on the 7th floor. In addition, the building contains photovoltaic solar panels which will provide power to the common areas.
"It's rare that Nat Bosa puts his name to something," says George Wong of Magnum Projects. "This is one of those rare opportunities."
Pacific Point started life as a rental property, but Bosa saw the opportunity to purchase the development and turn the homes into condominiums. Everything in the suites is brand-new, including the appliances, decor and plumbing.
"This is the first thing that has caught his eye in a long time," Wong says, adding "he fell in love with the location."
Yaletown is the perfect place for couples and professionals of all ages who are looking to take advantage of the night life and entertainment that is located in the neighbourhood. Wong says that many of the people who have pre-registered to see the homes are current Yaletown residents, young couples and empty nesters.
"This is not only sophisticated Yaletown, but it's grown-up Yaletown," says Wong. "You cannot find something better."
Pacific Point features 214 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes in a variety of floorplans ranging from 450 to 1,680 square feet. One of the highlights of the homes is the simply gorgeous views from every suite of False Creek, George Wainborn Park, David Lam Park, English Bay and downtown Vancouver.
Inside, each condo is made for luxury, with high-end kitchens, elegant living areas and beautiful bathrooms. Buyers have their choice of colour scheme, Latte or Grey, designed by Cristina Oberti Interior Design.
The kitchens feature a quartz-slab backsplash, polished quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances, complemented by undercabinet task lighting and imported Italian Armony Cucine cabinetry, which also appears in the bathrooms.
Laminated flooring is included throughout most of the main living areas, with large porcelain tiles in the den and chic carpeting in the bedrooms.
The modern bathrooms have their own porcelain tiles and polished quartz countertops, as well as a fantastic soaker tub and an enclosed glass shower in select ensuites.
Bosa is known for putting homeowners first, and this is readily apparent at Pacific Point. Little touches like full-size stacking washer and dryers and soft-close doors and drawers in the kitchen are simple things that make everyone's life easier (and quieter!)
On the property, homeowners will have access to a swimming pool, hot tub and steam room, as well as a huge fitness studio and yoga room and a lounge with a pool table.
As more Bergen County residents become renters by choice, a new brand of apartment-living, combining luxury and convenience is now available. The first of its kind, Vermella Lyndhurst, is situated in a prime suburban location, nestled between ball fields and a shopping center, and offers all of the metropolitan access and amenities that were previously only found in urban apartments.
"Our goal is to find infill sites in high barrier to entry markets close to transit, and to build the highest quality product within that market," said Ed Russo, president and COO of Russo Development. "Utilizing our in-house expertise and self-performing large portions of the construction, we are able to deliver a higher quality product while remaining price competitive in the market."
With leasing now officially underway for the community's first building of 54 one- and two-bedroom residences, renters are able to get their first look at the community's 8,000 square foot clubhouse, complete with an outdoor heated pool and sun deck, clubroom with billiards, HDTVs, fireplace and bar, fitness center with cardio theatre and yoga room, covered patio, media lounge, outdoor fire pit, cyber café and conference room.
In addition to the community's abundant amenity space, Vermella Lyndhurst will ultimately feature 296 one-, two- and three-bedroom spacious apartment homes. Each residence has been enhanced with energy-efficient stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, hardwood floors, nine-foot ceilings, in-residence washer and dryer and ceramic tile. A fully-furnished model home is open for public viewing.
"The spacious residences feature the best of contemporary design and open plan concepts to provide a comfortable and stylish living experience," noted Michael Buldo, senior project architect for Russo Development. "Our team utilizes extensive sound-insulation techniques to create an optimal living environment."
Via Verde, which was designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects, along with Ettinger Engineering Associates, Robert Silman Associates and Lee Weintraub Landscape Architecture, and co-developed by Jonathan Rose Companies, LLC and Phipps Housing, was the winning response to the New Housing New York Legacy Competition sponsored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Enterprise Foundation.
Residents will enjoy improved indoor air quality as Lettire utilized green cleaning materials and non-toxic, no/low VOC materials during construction. Co-ops at Via Verde feature spacious floor plans with hardwood flooring, in-unit stacker washer/dryers, stainless steel appliances, built-in dishwashers and microwaves, luxury kitchens with bamboo cabinets, porcelain tile floors, ceramic tile backsplashes, Caesar stone countertops, Energy Star appliances, remote control ceiling fans, porcelain tile bathrooms and panoramic windows. Balconies, private backyards and duplex layouts are offered in select units.
Building amenities include an attended lobby, bicycle storage, landscaped courtyard, playground area, amphitheater, and a series of green roofs including a Scots Pine tree orchard on the 3rd floor roof, an edible fruit bearing apple and pear trees orchard on the 4th floor roof, resident vegetable gardening beds on the 5th floor roof, and green roof and fitness center on the 7th floor. In addition, the building contains photovoltaic solar panels which will provide power to the common areas.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Increases Overall Drive Count by 50 Percent
Additionally, Cirrascale has concentrated its resources within the storage market ensuring leading-edge technology by partnering with several of the industry’s most notable independent storage software companies to create storage solutions to address the widest variety of industry applications including Big Data, Cloud, HPC, Active Archive and more. This new wave of Software Defined Storage, as implemented by Cirrascale partners, provides increased flexibility, lowers the total cost of ownership of storage and allows for the re-configuration of hardware as storage requirements change. Cirrascale embraces this shift from monolithic black box storage solutions and is dedicated to the ideals of software providing the reliability and survivability of data instead of expensive and proprietary closed hardware.
“With the introduction of this newly expanded storage platform, Cirrascale is once again proving that companies choosing an emerging supplier of storage solutions can significantly increase their competitiveness within their own industries while getting the same level of reliability, scalability and superior price/performance compared to higher cost Tier 1 suppliers,” said David Driggers, Chief Executive Officer, Cirrascale Corporation. “The continued innovation of our blade-based storage products demonstrates our ability to deliver compelling storage solutions that will provide our customers and licensees with investment protection for years to come.”
The Cirrascale CirraStor blade storage solution is immediately available to order and will begin shipping in high volume in Q2 2013. Licensing opportunities for these technologies are also available immediately to both customers and partners.
Popular do-it-yourself shows on television have created a savvy clientele among those looking to build or renovate, but the reality can be overwhelming, according to Lindsay Schultz, owner and designer at Lindsay Schultz Kitchens & Cabinetry.
“Once they step into a showroom and are confronted with thousands of options, they kind of stop dead in their tracks like a deer in the headlights,” said Schultz, who loves to take the lead from there.
While home/cottage owners (or business owners – she also does commercial properties) can shop retail in her showroom for hardware, tiles, accessories and a full line of sinks and faucets, cabinetry always includes design, supply and installation.
“We want to make sure each project is pulled off to our standards,” she said. “What we don’t get involved in is re-facing or reconfiguring existing cabinets.”
Working with two Canadian cabinet manufacturers gives Schultz complete flexibility to fit any design and budget: “It’s like having a woodworking shop behind us – but we don’t.”
“Custom doesn’t mean expensive,” she added. “We are super competitive to our local building centres, but unique. We really understand family, home, budget and timelines.”
Every relationship forged with a new client means a new set of parameters. It can mean helping a little or a lot. Schulz regularly takes on the duties of a general contractor in her projects – 85 per cent of which are renovations. But she can come in and focus solely on the cabinetry, as well.
“We won’t do a full house where they’re gutting everything, but I am able to look at the floor plans, which makes me different because I can help out with so many aspects of the project.”
She has also compiled a strong, reliable group of tradespeople to complete her projects: “An important part of our business is being connected to the right people – because they’re a reflection of (us).”
The graduate of the Academy of Design in Toronto said she enjoys pulling the look of an entire space together, and is often called upon to consult on colours, the backsplash, lighting and flooring – which is all part of the service and included at no extra cost.
“We have an exclusive line of hardwood available,” she added. “It’s a big, big deal these days to pull hardwood into the kitchen. Unless you have a flood where the water’s sitting there for a week, it’s not a problem.”
Having worked for a kitchen-and-bathroom company straight out of school, the longtime Midland resident found her niche without first having to generalize: “It’s honestly what I was meant to do.”
“There is a need to do the water proofing again. We are trying to redesign the structure and install tiles to avoid a leakage,” he added.
“This is a primitive approach to building a pool leaving no space between the ground and the floor of the pool,” explained a city-based civil engineer (on condition of anonymity) who has been involved in building pools in various housing societies and hotels.
“The pools will suffer particularly during the monsoon, sprouting more leaks as the groundwater pressure builds up further,” he explained. He feels the remedy is only in completely reconstructing the pools again. “There is a need to lay a “sole” of small stones, plugging their gaps.
A proper soil testing is required to define the specs of the sole to be created, the chemicals to be used and the kind of water-proofing required. Use of the heavy Shahabadi blocks are alss critical to suppressing any groundwater, he added.
Eight years ago, Srihari Constructions was given an 18-month timeline to deliver the project, which included a two-storey building spread over 7- acres, with a hall for badminton, tabletennis, wrestling and boxing, besides five nets for cricket practice, a basketball court and three synthetic tennis courts.
Other than the tennis courts, none of the other facilities are operational yet. The mini golf course, contracted to another player, is also not in place. The facility today wears a deserted look, as Srihari Constructions managed to get Rs 4.80 crore sanctioned from the government for the repair (essentially to the pools), over and above the project cost of Rs 16 crore.
“With the introduction of this newly expanded storage platform, Cirrascale is once again proving that companies choosing an emerging supplier of storage solutions can significantly increase their competitiveness within their own industries while getting the same level of reliability, scalability and superior price/performance compared to higher cost Tier 1 suppliers,” said David Driggers, Chief Executive Officer, Cirrascale Corporation. “The continued innovation of our blade-based storage products demonstrates our ability to deliver compelling storage solutions that will provide our customers and licensees with investment protection for years to come.”
The Cirrascale CirraStor blade storage solution is immediately available to order and will begin shipping in high volume in Q2 2013. Licensing opportunities for these technologies are also available immediately to both customers and partners.
Popular do-it-yourself shows on television have created a savvy clientele among those looking to build or renovate, but the reality can be overwhelming, according to Lindsay Schultz, owner and designer at Lindsay Schultz Kitchens & Cabinetry.
“Once they step into a showroom and are confronted with thousands of options, they kind of stop dead in their tracks like a deer in the headlights,” said Schultz, who loves to take the lead from there.
While home/cottage owners (or business owners – she also does commercial properties) can shop retail in her showroom for hardware, tiles, accessories and a full line of sinks and faucets, cabinetry always includes design, supply and installation.
“We want to make sure each project is pulled off to our standards,” she said. “What we don’t get involved in is re-facing or reconfiguring existing cabinets.”
Working with two Canadian cabinet manufacturers gives Schultz complete flexibility to fit any design and budget: “It’s like having a woodworking shop behind us – but we don’t.”
“Custom doesn’t mean expensive,” she added. “We are super competitive to our local building centres, but unique. We really understand family, home, budget and timelines.”
Every relationship forged with a new client means a new set of parameters. It can mean helping a little or a lot. Schulz regularly takes on the duties of a general contractor in her projects – 85 per cent of which are renovations. But she can come in and focus solely on the cabinetry, as well.
“We won’t do a full house where they’re gutting everything, but I am able to look at the floor plans, which makes me different because I can help out with so many aspects of the project.”
She has also compiled a strong, reliable group of tradespeople to complete her projects: “An important part of our business is being connected to the right people – because they’re a reflection of (us).”
The graduate of the Academy of Design in Toronto said she enjoys pulling the look of an entire space together, and is often called upon to consult on colours, the backsplash, lighting and flooring – which is all part of the service and included at no extra cost.
“We have an exclusive line of hardwood available,” she added. “It’s a big, big deal these days to pull hardwood into the kitchen. Unless you have a flood where the water’s sitting there for a week, it’s not a problem.”
Having worked for a kitchen-and-bathroom company straight out of school, the longtime Midland resident found her niche without first having to generalize: “It’s honestly what I was meant to do.”
“There is a need to do the water proofing again. We are trying to redesign the structure and install tiles to avoid a leakage,” he added.
“This is a primitive approach to building a pool leaving no space between the ground and the floor of the pool,” explained a city-based civil engineer (on condition of anonymity) who has been involved in building pools in various housing societies and hotels.
“The pools will suffer particularly during the monsoon, sprouting more leaks as the groundwater pressure builds up further,” he explained. He feels the remedy is only in completely reconstructing the pools again. “There is a need to lay a “sole” of small stones, plugging their gaps.
A proper soil testing is required to define the specs of the sole to be created, the chemicals to be used and the kind of water-proofing required. Use of the heavy Shahabadi blocks are alss critical to suppressing any groundwater, he added.
Eight years ago, Srihari Constructions was given an 18-month timeline to deliver the project, which included a two-storey building spread over 7- acres, with a hall for badminton, tabletennis, wrestling and boxing, besides five nets for cricket practice, a basketball court and three synthetic tennis courts.
Other than the tennis courts, none of the other facilities are operational yet. The mini golf course, contracted to another player, is also not in place. The facility today wears a deserted look, as Srihari Constructions managed to get Rs 4.80 crore sanctioned from the government for the repair (essentially to the pools), over and above the project cost of Rs 16 crore.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
New Container store in Tampa wants to relieve your mess
The Container Store thrives on the hopeful dream of many that with just the right storage cases and shelves, all our homes could be beautifully neat and organized.
Instead of random piles of domestic sediment, our clutter would vanish into tidy, color-coordinated bins, each one handily marked with labels like "Easter Decorations," "Winter socks" or "Dog Toys." Hence, they have hundreds of types of boxes and 45 different kinds of laundry hampers.
A Container Store is set to open in Tampa on March 16 at the corner of Westshore Boulevard and Boy Scout Boulevard. That's astride the main conduit between the enclave of South Tampa and the vast International Plaza mall.
Container Store officials like to say they are much more than a store. They're a solution and consulting center, staffed with employees who go through training in how to be especially friendly, helpful and skilled in designing the right storage unit for a customer.
Started in 1978 in a tiny store in Dallas, each new Container Store spans more than 25,000 square feet, and they're full of staffers/consultants in blue aprons to help customers organize their lives.
The physical embodiment of a Real Simple magazine cover, they have long aisles of color-coded letter boxes, 120 different food storage devices, 700 kinds of office products, 45 different kinds of laundry hampers, 350 travel products and 80 styles of hangers.
Robots have physical sensors and motors -- they can operate in the real world just as well as any software program operates on the Internet. They will be embedded in our physical spaces -- our sidewalks, bedrooms and parks--and they will have minds of their own thanks to artificial intelligence.
Yet robots also are fully connected to the digital world -- they are far better at navigating, sharing information and participating in the online world than humans ever can be. We have invented a new species, part material and part digital, that eventually will have superhuman qualities in both worlds at once.
The questions that remain are: How will we share our world with these new creatures, and how will this new ecology change who we are and how we act?
As a roboticist, I ponder these questions often. And as the pace of robotics development accelerates, I'm convinced these are questions that our entire society should collectively answer. So, two years ago, I began to apply my understanding of robotics technology to predict how we someday will experience robots in the wild, a writing exercise that yielded my new book, "Robot Futures."
The book doesn't dwell on technologies, but on the possible human side effects. Could the creation of "do-it-yourself" robots and the proliferation of cheap, but intelligent, toys result in a zoo of obnoxious, exotic new creatures? Will robots, with limitations that will be easy for humans to take advantage of, bring out the worst in people, resulting in bullying behaviors and other abuse?
By imagining these possible futures, I don't mean to diminish the promise of robotics or minimize the potential risks. My hope is that it will help us envision, discuss and prepare for change, so that we can influence how the robot future unfolds.
The 40-employee company has between 10 and 15 people who work out of the Flint Township facility, although that payroll is expected to grow as the company makes investments into new technology and brings in additional clients.
"From an overall company perspective, we grew by 40 percent last year on the revenue side and doubled the number of people working in the company and this year we expect to add another dozen people to the company and we are on track to grow another 38, 40 percent," Klein said.
The appeal of coming to Genesee County was because it is on a different power grid from Southeast Michigan and is easily accessible by highway, he said.
"We love the assets of what EDS and GM left behind," he said. "It was a big step for us in 2005 to take a pretty vacant data center and turn it into what is now one of the biggest data centers in the state of Michigan, and our anchor."
Bringing tech companies to the area to utilize the talent produced from Kettering University and University of Michigan-Flint is of interest to Jim Hamlin, owner of OBlendz restaurant in the UM-Flint Pavilion downtown.
Any additional business for the area is always welcome, but it could also be done with a nod to keeping young professionals here, he said.
"That's probably the direction they ought to move in," he said. "It would be nice to see some type of promotion to get some business in the city again. I'd love that."
The Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce played a part in bringing Online Tech to the area and promotes the opportunities available to prospective buyers, as well as holds quarterly meetings with a list of consultants to discuss those sites, said Janice Karcher, vice president of the economic development for the chamber.
There is an interest in large buildings and the chamber also works with site consultants and the state on behalf of companies to respond to site requests, she said.
The I-69 International Trade Corridor Next Michigan Development Corporation recently submitted a proposal to the state to have 1,600 acres in Genesee, Shiawasee, Lapeer and St. Clair counties considered for a 15-year tax abatement as renaissance zones.
Instead of random piles of domestic sediment, our clutter would vanish into tidy, color-coordinated bins, each one handily marked with labels like "Easter Decorations," "Winter socks" or "Dog Toys." Hence, they have hundreds of types of boxes and 45 different kinds of laundry hampers.
A Container Store is set to open in Tampa on March 16 at the corner of Westshore Boulevard and Boy Scout Boulevard. That's astride the main conduit between the enclave of South Tampa and the vast International Plaza mall.
Container Store officials like to say they are much more than a store. They're a solution and consulting center, staffed with employees who go through training in how to be especially friendly, helpful and skilled in designing the right storage unit for a customer.
Started in 1978 in a tiny store in Dallas, each new Container Store spans more than 25,000 square feet, and they're full of staffers/consultants in blue aprons to help customers organize their lives.
The physical embodiment of a Real Simple magazine cover, they have long aisles of color-coded letter boxes, 120 different food storage devices, 700 kinds of office products, 45 different kinds of laundry hampers, 350 travel products and 80 styles of hangers.
Robots have physical sensors and motors -- they can operate in the real world just as well as any software program operates on the Internet. They will be embedded in our physical spaces -- our sidewalks, bedrooms and parks--and they will have minds of their own thanks to artificial intelligence.
Yet robots also are fully connected to the digital world -- they are far better at navigating, sharing information and participating in the online world than humans ever can be. We have invented a new species, part material and part digital, that eventually will have superhuman qualities in both worlds at once.
The questions that remain are: How will we share our world with these new creatures, and how will this new ecology change who we are and how we act?
As a roboticist, I ponder these questions often. And as the pace of robotics development accelerates, I'm convinced these are questions that our entire society should collectively answer. So, two years ago, I began to apply my understanding of robotics technology to predict how we someday will experience robots in the wild, a writing exercise that yielded my new book, "Robot Futures."
The book doesn't dwell on technologies, but on the possible human side effects. Could the creation of "do-it-yourself" robots and the proliferation of cheap, but intelligent, toys result in a zoo of obnoxious, exotic new creatures? Will robots, with limitations that will be easy for humans to take advantage of, bring out the worst in people, resulting in bullying behaviors and other abuse?
By imagining these possible futures, I don't mean to diminish the promise of robotics or minimize the potential risks. My hope is that it will help us envision, discuss and prepare for change, so that we can influence how the robot future unfolds.
The 40-employee company has between 10 and 15 people who work out of the Flint Township facility, although that payroll is expected to grow as the company makes investments into new technology and brings in additional clients.
"From an overall company perspective, we grew by 40 percent last year on the revenue side and doubled the number of people working in the company and this year we expect to add another dozen people to the company and we are on track to grow another 38, 40 percent," Klein said.
The appeal of coming to Genesee County was because it is on a different power grid from Southeast Michigan and is easily accessible by highway, he said.
"We love the assets of what EDS and GM left behind," he said. "It was a big step for us in 2005 to take a pretty vacant data center and turn it into what is now one of the biggest data centers in the state of Michigan, and our anchor."
Bringing tech companies to the area to utilize the talent produced from Kettering University and University of Michigan-Flint is of interest to Jim Hamlin, owner of OBlendz restaurant in the UM-Flint Pavilion downtown.
Any additional business for the area is always welcome, but it could also be done with a nod to keeping young professionals here, he said.
"That's probably the direction they ought to move in," he said. "It would be nice to see some type of promotion to get some business in the city again. I'd love that."
The Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce played a part in bringing Online Tech to the area and promotes the opportunities available to prospective buyers, as well as holds quarterly meetings with a list of consultants to discuss those sites, said Janice Karcher, vice president of the economic development for the chamber.
There is an interest in large buildings and the chamber also works with site consultants and the state on behalf of companies to respond to site requests, she said.
The I-69 International Trade Corridor Next Michigan Development Corporation recently submitted a proposal to the state to have 1,600 acres in Genesee, Shiawasee, Lapeer and St. Clair counties considered for a 15-year tax abatement as renaissance zones.
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