The online daily deal Web site LivingSocial revealed on Friday that
their website was hacked and almost 50 million customers personal
information had been at risk. However, the company claimed that database
that stores customer credit- card details was not exaggerated.
According to internal emails of LivingSocial that was acquired by the AllThingsD,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smartcard can
authenticate your computer usage and data. the unidentified
perpetrators come out to have accessed and affected only with the
customers names, email addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords
in their database.
The Washington, D.C based company said that
their customers in the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand
are not affected by the recent cyber attacks because they are hosted on
different servers. The company, which depends hugely on finances from
the Amazon, has more than 70 million customers and about 70 percent of
the accounts were attacked by the hackers recently.
Robert
Hansen, director of Product Management & Technical Evangelist at
WhiteHat Security, said about the cyber attack that, If there are
approximately a billion people on the Internet, this hack
single-handedly represents about half a percent of all Internet users.
This could be catastrophic, not for the accounts and credit cards that
are stolen directly, but also because of password reuse of all of those
millions of users. They should be changing their passwords immediately.
In
our editorial for last week we reminded you of events from the past
that have come back to haunt and embarrass PAM. They claimed that since
the attainment of Universal Adult Suffrage in 1952 (one of Labours
signature achievements), Prime Minister Douglas had been the first Head
of Government of our country to have a motion of no confidence brought
against his administration. That has now been shown to be a most hideous
and outrageous falsehood. But, then again, only PAM is capable of
fabricating such outlandish misrepresentations. It is their nature, and
very much a part of who and what they are.
Our disclosure that
Mr. Lee Moore, as Leader of The Opposition, in 1981 had filed and sought
to bring to discussion in Parliament a motion of no confidence in the
government headed by Premier Dr Kennedy Simmonds had driven them into a
state of frenetic anger. Running True to Form they are lashing out at
everyone and everything.We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs.
What
is more, as we look back at the whole sordid affair, it has to be
keenly embarrassing for PAM to realize that they have been the first and
only government anywhere in The Commonwealth ever to have tabled a
motion seeking a vote of confidence in themselves.The term 'earcap control'
means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or
handbag. The ridiculousness of that first ever, most historic charade
has only added to their anger and bitterness.
Another point
which is now irking and stinging them quite severely is the fact that
they ran away from the first motion of no confidence, delayed it for
over a year, also ignored the second one, and ducked behind the
independence matter, even though,Find the best selection of high-quality
collectible landscapeoilpaintings available anywhere. together with their coalition partner, they held a majority of one in parliament.
In
last weeks Editorial you were also reminded that, as far back as 1982,
and even before, we have always been at pains to point out that PAM is
all about abuse, and whenever confronted by the truth their mode of
defence is to attack those bringing matters to light. Even to this very
day it is still their modus.
At the Independence Talks in London
the Labour Team tried to have certain provisions enshrined in the
constitution. One related to the tabling of motions of no confidence in
the government and the prioritizing of their discussions in parliament.
Another
was the inclusion of provisions relating to Integrity in Public Life.
Both of these were strenuously resisted by those on the governments
side.
Indeed, it was on that occasion that a Cabinet Minister
made the infamous (and highly irresponsible) statement that if the
people want to elect a scamp let them elect a scamp. It has also been
reported that Junior Minister Richard Caines made the most noise at that
conference.
It is also to be remembered that, in the run-up to
the London Conference, PAM also stifled any real discussion of the
constitutional provisions relating to a large number of matters,
including those mentioned immediately above.
Amongst many other
things Mr. Moore warned, here in Basseterre and again in London, that
the time would very soon come when there would be more registered voters
living abroad that those at home who had to live with the daily
experiences of life. As usual the persons on the government (PAM side
pooh-poohed his sage advice, and ridiculed and laughed him to scorn. His
warnings have come to pass.Shop wholesale bestsmartcard controller from cheap.
Today
we have Mr. Eugene Hamilton angrily making noises about the need for
electoral reform, the need to change the rules dealing with registration
of overseas voters, the need for an In tegrity in Public Life Bill, and
on and on.
The kindest thing which can be said about his
ranting is that he is being hypocritical. For one thing, when the
Electoral reform exercise was carried out during the life of the
previous parliament his party chose to absent itself. How can they now
expect anyone to take them seriously about such matters?
2013年4月27日 星期六
Was it the best idea Apple ever had?
Steve Jobs put a new slide up on the huge screen. "We started about a
year and a half ago to create a music store,Shop the best selection of owonsmart for
Men." the Apple chief executive told the audience. "That meant we have
to go and negotiate with the big five music companies. Now, before we
did this I was reminded of a quote from Hunter S Thompson about the
music industry."
He looked up at the screen. In giant letters it read: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs."
Jobs read it out and then paused to let the slide's final line appear: "There's also a negative side." Laughter from the audience. "So I didn't know what to expect,Large collection of quality indoorpositioningsystem at discounted prices." Jobs added.
It was 28 April 2003, and Jobs was taking Apple into entirely new territory.The Motorola drycabinets Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. Its iPod music player was just 18 months old, but after years of developing hardware and software, the company was now getting into services: specifically, selling music. It was a huge gamble, but one Jobs believed in.
Fast forward 10 years, and the iTunes music store has become C for Apple at least C a money trench of imposing proportions, generating $4.1bn (2.6bn) of revenue in the most recent quarter, which keeps it comfortably the largest music retailer in the world. It has more than 435m registered users (making it one of the world's five largest holders of credit card details) and people keep buying songs at a steady pace.
The numbers are jaw-dropping: more than 25bn songs sold, 35m songs in the catalogue, available in 119 countries, and more than 200m people using its iTunes Match service, which lets them store their music library on Apple's servers.
"You can look at the iTunes music store as a measure of customer satisfaction," says Benedict Evans, telecoms and technology analyst at Enders Analysis. It's not huge compared to the rest of Apple's business, he says C about 9% of revenues in the most recent quarter, compared with 72% for the iPhone and iPad together C "but the fact that the number of users and downloads keeps going up, and revenue per iOS device [iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch] doesn't fall, is a metric of how much people like it. What's happening is that the popularity of the services that Apple provides, such as iTunes and apps and iMessage [its text messaging system], make it more difficult for people to leave the platform."
The idea that proprietary services tie users into a platform C and so safeguard future revenues C isn't new. But as Wall Street analysts chew over Apple's most recent financial results, and mull the question of whether its first-quarter iPhone sales of 37.4m are good or bad in comparison with Samsung's estimated smartphone shipments of 70.7m, they face an even keener puzzle.
It's this: should Apple be rated as a hardware company struggling with commoditisation (like Dell or Nokia), or a software company able to extract monopoly rents (like Microsoft), or a services company that grows stronger the more users it has (like Google or Amazon)?
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley laid out the case plainly. "The market views Apple as a consumer hardware company tied to product cycles that drive volatile revenue and earnings streams," she said. Except, she added, "Apple customers buy into a brand that offers ease of use similar to companies like Amazon or enterprise companies like NetApp [which provides networked storage]".
What does the chief executive think? Speaking at Tuesday's analyst call, Tim Cook said he felt "really, really confident about our product pipeline in both hardware, software, and also our services" C emphasising the last two words.
So the answer seems to be: all of the above. Since the smartphone business began its explosive growth in the first quarter of 2010,An bestrtls is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. Apple has established and maintained a market share of around 20%, even while Android phones at all prices have become pervasive, especially in China. The combination of its phones and software still seems to attract users, while its services C such as the music store,Manufactures and supplies realtimelocationsystem equipment. app store and iMessage C keep them on board.
Certainly, Apple's profit margins, at around 40%, look a lot more like Microsoft's or Google's than they do Dell's or Nokia's.
After 10 years, though, has the music store had its day? Should it be replaced by a streaming service modelled on Spotify, Pandora or Rdio, where you don't own the music but pay a monthly subscription to choose from a giant catalogue? After all, they have just a few million subscribers: Apple could get in on the ground floor and clean up.
Rumours that Apple is preparing just such a service have intensified in the past months. But might it cannibalise the music store C and perhaps some other parts of Apple's business?
A broader question is whether Apple is going to release a cheaper iPhone to capture the expanding market at the $200 price point C far from the $600 segment that it presently dominates. At Enders Analysis, Evans thinks it could, while retaining a hefty profit margin: "Three years ago there was no way you could make a great smartphone for $200. Now, you could make the iPhone 3G for $40 wholesale. In the past year we've reached the point where Apple could do an Apple-quality iPhone for $200, which is a price that would hit all the pre-pay market."
He looked up at the screen. In giant letters it read: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs."
Jobs read it out and then paused to let the slide's final line appear: "There's also a negative side." Laughter from the audience. "So I didn't know what to expect,Large collection of quality indoorpositioningsystem at discounted prices." Jobs added.
It was 28 April 2003, and Jobs was taking Apple into entirely new territory.The Motorola drycabinets Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. Its iPod music player was just 18 months old, but after years of developing hardware and software, the company was now getting into services: specifically, selling music. It was a huge gamble, but one Jobs believed in.
Fast forward 10 years, and the iTunes music store has become C for Apple at least C a money trench of imposing proportions, generating $4.1bn (2.6bn) of revenue in the most recent quarter, which keeps it comfortably the largest music retailer in the world. It has more than 435m registered users (making it one of the world's five largest holders of credit card details) and people keep buying songs at a steady pace.
The numbers are jaw-dropping: more than 25bn songs sold, 35m songs in the catalogue, available in 119 countries, and more than 200m people using its iTunes Match service, which lets them store their music library on Apple's servers.
"You can look at the iTunes music store as a measure of customer satisfaction," says Benedict Evans, telecoms and technology analyst at Enders Analysis. It's not huge compared to the rest of Apple's business, he says C about 9% of revenues in the most recent quarter, compared with 72% for the iPhone and iPad together C "but the fact that the number of users and downloads keeps going up, and revenue per iOS device [iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch] doesn't fall, is a metric of how much people like it. What's happening is that the popularity of the services that Apple provides, such as iTunes and apps and iMessage [its text messaging system], make it more difficult for people to leave the platform."
The idea that proprietary services tie users into a platform C and so safeguard future revenues C isn't new. But as Wall Street analysts chew over Apple's most recent financial results, and mull the question of whether its first-quarter iPhone sales of 37.4m are good or bad in comparison with Samsung's estimated smartphone shipments of 70.7m, they face an even keener puzzle.
It's this: should Apple be rated as a hardware company struggling with commoditisation (like Dell or Nokia), or a software company able to extract monopoly rents (like Microsoft), or a services company that grows stronger the more users it has (like Google or Amazon)?
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley laid out the case plainly. "The market views Apple as a consumer hardware company tied to product cycles that drive volatile revenue and earnings streams," she said. Except, she added, "Apple customers buy into a brand that offers ease of use similar to companies like Amazon or enterprise companies like NetApp [which provides networked storage]".
What does the chief executive think? Speaking at Tuesday's analyst call, Tim Cook said he felt "really, really confident about our product pipeline in both hardware, software, and also our services" C emphasising the last two words.
So the answer seems to be: all of the above. Since the smartphone business began its explosive growth in the first quarter of 2010,An bestrtls is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. Apple has established and maintained a market share of around 20%, even while Android phones at all prices have become pervasive, especially in China. The combination of its phones and software still seems to attract users, while its services C such as the music store,Manufactures and supplies realtimelocationsystem equipment. app store and iMessage C keep them on board.
Certainly, Apple's profit margins, at around 40%, look a lot more like Microsoft's or Google's than they do Dell's or Nokia's.
After 10 years, though, has the music store had its day? Should it be replaced by a streaming service modelled on Spotify, Pandora or Rdio, where you don't own the music but pay a monthly subscription to choose from a giant catalogue? After all, they have just a few million subscribers: Apple could get in on the ground floor and clean up.
Rumours that Apple is preparing just such a service have intensified in the past months. But might it cannibalise the music store C and perhaps some other parts of Apple's business?
A broader question is whether Apple is going to release a cheaper iPhone to capture the expanding market at the $200 price point C far from the $600 segment that it presently dominates. At Enders Analysis, Evans thinks it could, while retaining a hefty profit margin: "Three years ago there was no way you could make a great smartphone for $200. Now, you could make the iPhone 3G for $40 wholesale. In the past year we've reached the point where Apple could do an Apple-quality iPhone for $200, which is a price that would hit all the pre-pay market."
A Poker Life
As a 12-year-old watching the poker boom unfold, Jake Balsiger
dreamed of a future career as a card shark. In his mind, hed imagine
that his $5 home games were instead the final tables of big buy-in
events hed seen on television, playing alongside the best in the world.
However, Balsiger was also a realist. Though he entered college with a passion for the game, he knew it was a long shot that he could ever turn it into his profession. In all likelihood, hed graduate with a degree in political science and become a history teacher.
With his plan in place, a 21-year-old Balsiger took his modest bankroll to Las Vegas for a shot at his first World Series of Poker. Little did he know that four months later, hed have the bankroll and big stage experience to pursue his dreams.
Perhaps the Chris Moneymaker boom reached further than even the industry experts had initially realized. While the Tennessee accountant was making a name for himself on ESPN and helping to spark a world-wide interest in poker, Balsiger sat glued to the television, even though he was still nine years away from being legally allowed to sit down at a table.
I guess you can say that I got a really early start in poker, Balsiger recalled. My friends and I would get together to play little $5 tournaments. All I really remember about those games is that I was by far the tightest player. I think it took me about three months before I attempted my first bluff. Obviously, given my reputation, it worked.
The interest in poker came and went for his friends, but remained strong for Balsiger throughout high school. It didnt affect his grades, however. Balsiger took honors classes, never turned anything in late and even got a college scholarship to attend Arizona State University.
In September of 2011, Balsiger was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle around campus. With his skull cracked and his right arm shattered, Balsiger was hospitalized for nine days. He was forced to take a semester off from school to recover, but he says it took nine months before his personality returned and he became the same happy college student he was prior to the accident.
I couldnt bend my arm for two months, he said. I had constant sharp pain and was left not only physically injured, but emotionally as well. It was an incredibly long road to recovery. I was sleeping like 18 to 20 hours each day and I didnt have much memory of the time when I was awake either.
After getting back his mobility, Balsiger started to frequent the Talking Sticks Resort and Casino about 30 minutes from campus. There, playing live poker, is where he discovered that he had a real knack for the game.
I didnt really find my stride as a poker player until I started playing live, he said. Online poker never really clicked for me, because I was basically treating it like a video game. But when I played live, I saw more pieces of information and things started to click.
I had friends who were renting a house for the summer. One of them wasnt coming out for awhile, so the plan was for me to take his room until he got there and then head back home to Arizona afterwards.
Balsiger played in four preliminary events, managing a small cash in event No. 2 for $3,970. Though his shot at poker glory didnt end up being a profitable one,Manufacturer of the Jacobs plasticcard. he was happy with his performance and packed up his belongings to head back home for a $300 tournament scheduled to take place back at his local casino.
I had everything stuffed into my car, but I decided to stop at a friends birthday party before leaving, Balsiger recalled. Right before I was going to leave, a couple of buddies convinced me to stay and play in the main event. I didnt have buy-in, but by the next morning, they were nice enough to buy some bigger pieces so I could get in.
Balsiger ran through the field of 6,598, finishing in third place for $3,797,558, making his investors, which included poker pros Max Silver, Sadan Turker, Derek Wolters and Dan Weinman very happy.
Balsiger entered the final table in eighth place, but managed to rebound strong and at one point hold the chip lead.Trade platform for tooling Tile manufacturers and global Mosaic Tile buyers. When asked if he was happy or disappointed with his finish, Balsiger put it all into perspective.
Going into the final table bubble, I was just trying to hang on to make the final table. If we had played the next day,We offer over 600 chipcard at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. rather than in October, I dont think I would have finished as high as I did. I really dont have any regrets and was extremely happy with third place. Some people on the rail were trying to console me, but I didnt need it.Welcome to Find the right laser Engraver or howoconcretemixer . I was a 21-year-old who had just won $3.8 million. Theres just no way to describe how great that feels.
Though his bankroll is undoubtedly big enough to support a career in poker, Balsiger wasnt about to just abandon his degree. The now 22-year-old is in the middle of his final semester and hopes to join the tournament circuit full time once his classes are finished.
It was important to me that I go back to school and get my degree, but for the time being, that degree is just a backup plan. Once Im done, Ill be back on the road playing in tournaments all over the world.
You may think Balsiger is foolish for jumping into a career based off just one tournament result, but during a break from his classes this January, Balsiger proved he had staying power.
While in Melbourne for the Aussie Millions, he cashed in four events, making three final tables and scoring a second-place finish in a big no-limit holdem event for $74,955. In February, during a weekend trip to Las Vegas, Balsiger took third in the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza main event for another $63,121.
My goal for now is to continue to prove myself as a player and not some fluke, said Balsiger, In the process, I get to enjoy life and see the world. Maybe 10 years from now, Ill have a different set of priorities,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a streetlight for you! but for now, Im just happy that I get to do something I love.
However, Balsiger was also a realist. Though he entered college with a passion for the game, he knew it was a long shot that he could ever turn it into his profession. In all likelihood, hed graduate with a degree in political science and become a history teacher.
With his plan in place, a 21-year-old Balsiger took his modest bankroll to Las Vegas for a shot at his first World Series of Poker. Little did he know that four months later, hed have the bankroll and big stage experience to pursue his dreams.
Perhaps the Chris Moneymaker boom reached further than even the industry experts had initially realized. While the Tennessee accountant was making a name for himself on ESPN and helping to spark a world-wide interest in poker, Balsiger sat glued to the television, even though he was still nine years away from being legally allowed to sit down at a table.
I guess you can say that I got a really early start in poker, Balsiger recalled. My friends and I would get together to play little $5 tournaments. All I really remember about those games is that I was by far the tightest player. I think it took me about three months before I attempted my first bluff. Obviously, given my reputation, it worked.
The interest in poker came and went for his friends, but remained strong for Balsiger throughout high school. It didnt affect his grades, however. Balsiger took honors classes, never turned anything in late and even got a college scholarship to attend Arizona State University.
In September of 2011, Balsiger was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle around campus. With his skull cracked and his right arm shattered, Balsiger was hospitalized for nine days. He was forced to take a semester off from school to recover, but he says it took nine months before his personality returned and he became the same happy college student he was prior to the accident.
I couldnt bend my arm for two months, he said. I had constant sharp pain and was left not only physically injured, but emotionally as well. It was an incredibly long road to recovery. I was sleeping like 18 to 20 hours each day and I didnt have much memory of the time when I was awake either.
After getting back his mobility, Balsiger started to frequent the Talking Sticks Resort and Casino about 30 minutes from campus. There, playing live poker, is where he discovered that he had a real knack for the game.
I didnt really find my stride as a poker player until I started playing live, he said. Online poker never really clicked for me, because I was basically treating it like a video game. But when I played live, I saw more pieces of information and things started to click.
I had friends who were renting a house for the summer. One of them wasnt coming out for awhile, so the plan was for me to take his room until he got there and then head back home to Arizona afterwards.
Balsiger played in four preliminary events, managing a small cash in event No. 2 for $3,970. Though his shot at poker glory didnt end up being a profitable one,Manufacturer of the Jacobs plasticcard. he was happy with his performance and packed up his belongings to head back home for a $300 tournament scheduled to take place back at his local casino.
I had everything stuffed into my car, but I decided to stop at a friends birthday party before leaving, Balsiger recalled. Right before I was going to leave, a couple of buddies convinced me to stay and play in the main event. I didnt have buy-in, but by the next morning, they were nice enough to buy some bigger pieces so I could get in.
Balsiger ran through the field of 6,598, finishing in third place for $3,797,558, making his investors, which included poker pros Max Silver, Sadan Turker, Derek Wolters and Dan Weinman very happy.
Balsiger entered the final table in eighth place, but managed to rebound strong and at one point hold the chip lead.Trade platform for tooling Tile manufacturers and global Mosaic Tile buyers. When asked if he was happy or disappointed with his finish, Balsiger put it all into perspective.
Going into the final table bubble, I was just trying to hang on to make the final table. If we had played the next day,We offer over 600 chipcard at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. rather than in October, I dont think I would have finished as high as I did. I really dont have any regrets and was extremely happy with third place. Some people on the rail were trying to console me, but I didnt need it.Welcome to Find the right laser Engraver or howoconcretemixer . I was a 21-year-old who had just won $3.8 million. Theres just no way to describe how great that feels.
Though his bankroll is undoubtedly big enough to support a career in poker, Balsiger wasnt about to just abandon his degree. The now 22-year-old is in the middle of his final semester and hopes to join the tournament circuit full time once his classes are finished.
It was important to me that I go back to school and get my degree, but for the time being, that degree is just a backup plan. Once Im done, Ill be back on the road playing in tournaments all over the world.
You may think Balsiger is foolish for jumping into a career based off just one tournament result, but during a break from his classes this January, Balsiger proved he had staying power.
While in Melbourne for the Aussie Millions, he cashed in four events, making three final tables and scoring a second-place finish in a big no-limit holdem event for $74,955. In February, during a weekend trip to Las Vegas, Balsiger took third in the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza main event for another $63,121.
My goal for now is to continue to prove myself as a player and not some fluke, said Balsiger, In the process, I get to enjoy life and see the world. Maybe 10 years from now, Ill have a different set of priorities,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a streetlight for you! but for now, Im just happy that I get to do something I love.
Fees for thought
The central bank (MNB) wants to promote bank card use by subsidising
the purchase of point-of-sale (POS) terminals for merchants, making card
acceptance mandatory in certain fields of the economy and making
payment by card mandatory above a certain price level (the latter has
already been introduced in a number of EU countries). But the hottest
topic and the biggest problem area is the regulation of interchange
fees.
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually it is a fee that a merchants bank (the acquiring bank) pays a customers bank (the issuing bank), however there are instances where the interchange fee is paid from the issuer to the acquirer, often called reverse interchange.
Participants at the forum argued that the biggest amount could be saved by reducing the interchange fee, and while this may not be entirely true it is also the point where the subject gets a bit tricky. In order to understand the situation we have to go back a few years, when both Visa and MasterCard reached an agreement with Hungarian banks about introducing the same interchange fee.
In 2009, however, the State Competition Authority intervened and declared that the practice restricted competition and penalised both companies as well as banks. For the next two years the interchange fee of Visa was higher, but in February 2011 the company made a voluntary pledge to the European Commission to reduce the fee to 0.2 per cent, making the commission paid to banks by MasterCard higher, without the latter having to do anything.
As much as Visa would like to raise its interchange fee, it cant. The agreement with the Commission states that the 0.2 per cent commission can only be changed if the local board of Visa decides so. The board in this case means the local banks, but these are afraid that the Competition Authority would penalise them again if they decide to raise the interchange fee. In theory the proposed lowering of the interchange fee would also have to be approved by the board, which could again lead to fears of a penalty from the Competition Authority.A fridgemagnet is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card.
In the current situation the lower interchange fee of Visa means lower cost to merchants, but as it means lower profits for banks, the financial institutions flocked to MasterCard, which caused the latters market share to increase from 66.5 per cent to 80 per cent over the past two years.
This eventually led to Visa Europe sending an ultimatum-like letter to the Ministry of National Economy at the end of last year, saying the firm has a roadmap ready for leaving the Hungarian market because its situation has become critical due to its lower interchange fees.
Despite lower interchange fees used by Visa Europe, market share has dramatically decreased in recent years as some banks have shifted towards cards with higher interchange fees, Ede Kiss, country manager of Visa Europe, told The Budapest Times. As a result of these developments and market distortion Visa Europes position has become very difficult. We would like to reach a solution that leads to a level playing field and balanced market conditions in which meaningful competition can take place. Also the resolution of this will foster the expansion of electronic payment services and further develop the Hungarian financial market.
According to Kiss, consumers would benefit from an increased use of electronic payments, thus Visa supports any initiative that aims to motivate such payments if it is executed with balanced market conditions. Despite its declining market share, the company had not stopped its Hungarian investments.
During 2011 and 2012 we invested HUF 150 million into the Hungarian contactless acceptance and we now have some 8,000 payWave enabled POS terminals throughout the country, said Kiss,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a streetlight for you! adding that the company had also launched its Verified by Visa (VbV) into the e-commerce area, which significantly improved the security of on-line payments, and its digital wallet, a strategic response to the needs of consumers,I have been thinking about purchasing a plasticmould to protect the fortune. merchants and banks for a secure and convenient on-line payment experience.
We think if a meaningful competition with equal conditions for market players can take place in Hungary, this will provide various innovative cashless payment solutions for consumers and Visa will also consider further investment to the Hungarian market, he said.
Now, children's birthdays have expanded to epic proportions. Not only, it seems, does every child have to be invited to every other kids rarely make it through a weekend without some crayon-scrawled RSVP dropping out of their schoolbag C but said invitees each have to bring a) a card and b) a substantial gift for the special birthday bunny.
After any one of these beanos takes place C which nowadays may involve a visit to the cinema or restaurant/diner or both as well as a number of professional children's "entertainers", or a bouncy castle C the person holding the party is required to come up with a party bag for each and every child who attends, which usually amounts to the same value as the gifts given by the attendees. Then there are the thank you cards that act as a compulsory coda.
All in all, each and every birthday is an enormous MGM-style production involving considerable expense and a great deal of effort C always, of course, on the part of the adults. The children just sit there getting fatter and greedier for pointless stuff and forced ritual.
The celebration industry is booming, leaking out of Christmas and birthdays into Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter. It can only be a matter of time before I have to buy my children gifts to give me for Movember. I can only partly put this down to the extremely effective marketing campaigns of those who make their living from these sorts of occasions C card manufacturers, crap plastic toy makers, etc.
Part of it is to do with the sentimentality and indulgence of parents, but much more of it is about peer pressure. We do what we do simply because other people do it, and once the stakes are raised, as they always are, guilt forces us to keep up with the Joneses, lest our little darlings accuse us with "but Wayne/ Scheherazade/Kemal/Madison had a troupe of dancing giraffe clown acrobats at their party."
I am surprised that we are so often told our children are the unhappiest in the western world C or something C which must be powerful evidence supporting the idea that materialism doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to a happy soul.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingassistsystem made. However, when I actually see the kids at these events, they seem to be having a nice time, though not obviously nicer than if they had just gone down the park together and climbed on the swings. It's the parents who are probably the unhappiest in the world, revolted by the greed on display,Here's a complete list of cableties for the beginning oil painter. and checking their watch after 10 minutes to see how long there is still to go before it all ends.
I am starting a Campaign for Real Childhood Celebration in which a) birthday parties are limited to six attendees, none of which is required to bring a present and none of which will receive a party bag, b) all celebrations other than Christmas or birthdays will not require the exchange of gifts and cards, c) all parties are limited to two hours maximum, and d) all children over six must be involved in preparing for said party and clearing up after it.
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually it is a fee that a merchants bank (the acquiring bank) pays a customers bank (the issuing bank), however there are instances where the interchange fee is paid from the issuer to the acquirer, often called reverse interchange.
Participants at the forum argued that the biggest amount could be saved by reducing the interchange fee, and while this may not be entirely true it is also the point where the subject gets a bit tricky. In order to understand the situation we have to go back a few years, when both Visa and MasterCard reached an agreement with Hungarian banks about introducing the same interchange fee.
In 2009, however, the State Competition Authority intervened and declared that the practice restricted competition and penalised both companies as well as banks. For the next two years the interchange fee of Visa was higher, but in February 2011 the company made a voluntary pledge to the European Commission to reduce the fee to 0.2 per cent, making the commission paid to banks by MasterCard higher, without the latter having to do anything.
As much as Visa would like to raise its interchange fee, it cant. The agreement with the Commission states that the 0.2 per cent commission can only be changed if the local board of Visa decides so. The board in this case means the local banks, but these are afraid that the Competition Authority would penalise them again if they decide to raise the interchange fee. In theory the proposed lowering of the interchange fee would also have to be approved by the board, which could again lead to fears of a penalty from the Competition Authority.A fridgemagnet is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card.
In the current situation the lower interchange fee of Visa means lower cost to merchants, but as it means lower profits for banks, the financial institutions flocked to MasterCard, which caused the latters market share to increase from 66.5 per cent to 80 per cent over the past two years.
This eventually led to Visa Europe sending an ultimatum-like letter to the Ministry of National Economy at the end of last year, saying the firm has a roadmap ready for leaving the Hungarian market because its situation has become critical due to its lower interchange fees.
Despite lower interchange fees used by Visa Europe, market share has dramatically decreased in recent years as some banks have shifted towards cards with higher interchange fees, Ede Kiss, country manager of Visa Europe, told The Budapest Times. As a result of these developments and market distortion Visa Europes position has become very difficult. We would like to reach a solution that leads to a level playing field and balanced market conditions in which meaningful competition can take place. Also the resolution of this will foster the expansion of electronic payment services and further develop the Hungarian financial market.
According to Kiss, consumers would benefit from an increased use of electronic payments, thus Visa supports any initiative that aims to motivate such payments if it is executed with balanced market conditions. Despite its declining market share, the company had not stopped its Hungarian investments.
During 2011 and 2012 we invested HUF 150 million into the Hungarian contactless acceptance and we now have some 8,000 payWave enabled POS terminals throughout the country, said Kiss,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a streetlight for you! adding that the company had also launched its Verified by Visa (VbV) into the e-commerce area, which significantly improved the security of on-line payments, and its digital wallet, a strategic response to the needs of consumers,I have been thinking about purchasing a plasticmould to protect the fortune. merchants and banks for a secure and convenient on-line payment experience.
We think if a meaningful competition with equal conditions for market players can take place in Hungary, this will provide various innovative cashless payment solutions for consumers and Visa will also consider further investment to the Hungarian market, he said.
Now, children's birthdays have expanded to epic proportions. Not only, it seems, does every child have to be invited to every other kids rarely make it through a weekend without some crayon-scrawled RSVP dropping out of their schoolbag C but said invitees each have to bring a) a card and b) a substantial gift for the special birthday bunny.
After any one of these beanos takes place C which nowadays may involve a visit to the cinema or restaurant/diner or both as well as a number of professional children's "entertainers", or a bouncy castle C the person holding the party is required to come up with a party bag for each and every child who attends, which usually amounts to the same value as the gifts given by the attendees. Then there are the thank you cards that act as a compulsory coda.
All in all, each and every birthday is an enormous MGM-style production involving considerable expense and a great deal of effort C always, of course, on the part of the adults. The children just sit there getting fatter and greedier for pointless stuff and forced ritual.
The celebration industry is booming, leaking out of Christmas and birthdays into Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter. It can only be a matter of time before I have to buy my children gifts to give me for Movember. I can only partly put this down to the extremely effective marketing campaigns of those who make their living from these sorts of occasions C card manufacturers, crap plastic toy makers, etc.
Part of it is to do with the sentimentality and indulgence of parents, but much more of it is about peer pressure. We do what we do simply because other people do it, and once the stakes are raised, as they always are, guilt forces us to keep up with the Joneses, lest our little darlings accuse us with "but Wayne/ Scheherazade/Kemal/Madison had a troupe of dancing giraffe clown acrobats at their party."
I am surprised that we are so often told our children are the unhappiest in the western world C or something C which must be powerful evidence supporting the idea that materialism doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to a happy soul.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingassistsystem made. However, when I actually see the kids at these events, they seem to be having a nice time, though not obviously nicer than if they had just gone down the park together and climbed on the swings. It's the parents who are probably the unhappiest in the world, revolted by the greed on display,Here's a complete list of cableties for the beginning oil painter. and checking their watch after 10 minutes to see how long there is still to go before it all ends.
I am starting a Campaign for Real Childhood Celebration in which a) birthday parties are limited to six attendees, none of which is required to bring a present and none of which will receive a party bag, b) all celebrations other than Christmas or birthdays will not require the exchange of gifts and cards, c) all parties are limited to two hours maximum, and d) all children over six must be involved in preparing for said party and clearing up after it.
2013年4月23日 星期二
The 'magic' bomb detector that endangered lives all over the world
Jim McCormick's claims about his range of detection devices were
extraordinary. He said the Advanced Detecting Equipment (ADE) he
developed at his Somerset farm could pick up the most minuscule traces
of explosives, drugs, ivory and even money. They were so good they could
spot target substances from as far away as 1,000 metres, deep
underground and even through lead-lined rooms. If their plastic grips
and waggling antennae bore a passing resemblance to a 15 novelty golf
ball finder,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smartcard can
authenticate your computer usage and data. that was no coincidence. The
57-year-old businessman had used the jokey product sourced from the US
as a starting point for an enterprise that made him a multimillion-pound
fortune but placed lives at risk around the world.
To make his devices seem more credible, McCormick claimed that his company, ATSC, had four laboratories in Romania and two in the UK, each working in isolation to protect the secret behind his amazing sensors. He boasted of a super-clever expert in the background, "like Q in James Bond", who turned his concepts into reality.
It was all nonsense,We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. albeit potentially lethal for the people of Iraq, where 6,000 of the fraudulent gadgets formed a first line of defence against car bombs and suicide bombers at checkpoints. When the devices were opened, it emerged that cable sockets were unconnected and supposed data cards were linked to nothing. One scientist told the jury who on Tuesday convicted McCormick of three counts of fraud that the antenna intended to point to suspect substances was "no more a radio antenna than a nine-inch nail".
It is thought hundreds of lives could have been lost as a result of the failure of the devices, whose detection powers were no better than a random check. One truckload of rockets reportedly went through 23 checkpoints in Baghdad equipped with one of McCormick's devices without being spotted once.
Inspector general Aqil al-Turehi of the Iraqi interior ministry, who since 2009 has been in charge of an investigation into corruption around the deals, has told a BBC Newsnight investigation that for every bomb that was stopped at a Baghdad checkpoint, four got through and exploded.
It is now alleged that a key reason such a business could make tens of millions of pounds is the corruption of Iraqi officials. McCormick's success was fuelled by the payment of tens of millions of pounds in bribes to Iraqi officials and middlemen, it is claimed. Turehi told Newsnight that he is aware of at least eight senior Iraqis who took bribes,About buymosaic in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. while a whistleblower who worked with McCormick says he saw accounts set up in false names to pay bribes to 15 Iraqis.
General Jihad al-Jabiri, who ran the Baghdad bomb squad,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. has been jailed for corruption as a result of the inquiry along with two others. Police sources said Jabiri was paid millions to purchase the ADE 651 and publicly defend it. More Iraqi officials are under investigation. A whistleblower who used to work with McCormick said they "don't care if people live or die"; the only thing they care about is "how much am I going to get back C cashback".
The whistleblower walked away from the operation when he grew suspicious about the device's effectiveness. When he challenged McCormick, he replied: "It does exactly what it's meant to." When the source asked what that meant, McCormick said: "It makes money."
The British government unwittingly gave McCormick a shield of respectability. His detectors were marketed at government-backed trade fairs. He used the logos of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and the Essex Chamber of Commerce, though he had no right to. He began to house the device in Pelican rigid cases of the type that are used to carry genuine military products and sourced official-looking stickers that warned users not to open up the detectors.
It took the government over a year to cotton on to the problems. In November 2008, a whistleblower wrote to Ian Pearson, a minister in the business department, urging him to shut down the trade in fake explosive detectors, but nothing was done. In January 2009, the whistleblower, who does not want to be named, sent a dossier detailing the scam that began with a hard-hitting title C "Dowsing rods endanger lives" C to James Arbuthnot, the chairman of the Commons defence select committee.
Arbuthnot promised to raise the matter with the minister for defence equipment and support but it was not until 12 months later that their export was banned on the basis that they were a danger to British and allied troops. By then, McCormick had made a fortune on the back of contracts with Iraqis, who paid $85m (55m) for the bogus devices.
McCormick is married with two children, and his family have the run of a farmhouse deep in the Somerset countryside,An bestrtls is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. a 3.5m townhouse in Bath with a basement swimming pool that was previously owned by the Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, and a holiday home in Cyprus. McCormick also bought his father a place in Florida, a 600,000 Sunseeker yacht called Aesthete, and three dressage horses for one of his daughters, who has ambitions of making the British equestrian team for the Olympics in Rio.
Police have identified 7m of McCormick's assets, which they intend to try to seize, but believe the fraudster has stashed at least that amount away from the eyes of the taxman and other authorities in Cyprus, Belize and Beirut.
McCormick had separate trading arrangements with other countries. In Lebanon, a UN agency and a luxury hotel were among purchasers. Devices were sold to Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime, Iran, China, Syria, Jordan, Georgia and Mexico. Some ended up in the US, Canada, Japan and Belgium. The broadcaster Stephen Fry saw Kenyan wildlife rangers using them while he was filming and told the BBC he thought it was "cynical, cruel and monstrous" that rangers C who were trying to track down poachers C had been told they could detect ivory at vast distances.
To make his devices seem more credible, McCormick claimed that his company, ATSC, had four laboratories in Romania and two in the UK, each working in isolation to protect the secret behind his amazing sensors. He boasted of a super-clever expert in the background, "like Q in James Bond", who turned his concepts into reality.
It was all nonsense,We printers print with traceable indoortracking to optimize supply chain management. albeit potentially lethal for the people of Iraq, where 6,000 of the fraudulent gadgets formed a first line of defence against car bombs and suicide bombers at checkpoints. When the devices were opened, it emerged that cable sockets were unconnected and supposed data cards were linked to nothing. One scientist told the jury who on Tuesday convicted McCormick of three counts of fraud that the antenna intended to point to suspect substances was "no more a radio antenna than a nine-inch nail".
It is thought hundreds of lives could have been lost as a result of the failure of the devices, whose detection powers were no better than a random check. One truckload of rockets reportedly went through 23 checkpoints in Baghdad equipped with one of McCormick's devices without being spotted once.
Inspector general Aqil al-Turehi of the Iraqi interior ministry, who since 2009 has been in charge of an investigation into corruption around the deals, has told a BBC Newsnight investigation that for every bomb that was stopped at a Baghdad checkpoint, four got through and exploded.
It is now alleged that a key reason such a business could make tens of millions of pounds is the corruption of Iraqi officials. McCormick's success was fuelled by the payment of tens of millions of pounds in bribes to Iraqi officials and middlemen, it is claimed. Turehi told Newsnight that he is aware of at least eight senior Iraqis who took bribes,About buymosaic in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. while a whistleblower who worked with McCormick says he saw accounts set up in false names to pay bribes to 15 Iraqis.
General Jihad al-Jabiri, who ran the Baghdad bomb squad,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. has been jailed for corruption as a result of the inquiry along with two others. Police sources said Jabiri was paid millions to purchase the ADE 651 and publicly defend it. More Iraqi officials are under investigation. A whistleblower who used to work with McCormick said they "don't care if people live or die"; the only thing they care about is "how much am I going to get back C cashback".
The whistleblower walked away from the operation when he grew suspicious about the device's effectiveness. When he challenged McCormick, he replied: "It does exactly what it's meant to." When the source asked what that meant, McCormick said: "It makes money."
The British government unwittingly gave McCormick a shield of respectability. His detectors were marketed at government-backed trade fairs. He used the logos of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and the Essex Chamber of Commerce, though he had no right to. He began to house the device in Pelican rigid cases of the type that are used to carry genuine military products and sourced official-looking stickers that warned users not to open up the detectors.
It took the government over a year to cotton on to the problems. In November 2008, a whistleblower wrote to Ian Pearson, a minister in the business department, urging him to shut down the trade in fake explosive detectors, but nothing was done. In January 2009, the whistleblower, who does not want to be named, sent a dossier detailing the scam that began with a hard-hitting title C "Dowsing rods endanger lives" C to James Arbuthnot, the chairman of the Commons defence select committee.
Arbuthnot promised to raise the matter with the minister for defence equipment and support but it was not until 12 months later that their export was banned on the basis that they were a danger to British and allied troops. By then, McCormick had made a fortune on the back of contracts with Iraqis, who paid $85m (55m) for the bogus devices.
McCormick is married with two children, and his family have the run of a farmhouse deep in the Somerset countryside,An bestrtls is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. a 3.5m townhouse in Bath with a basement swimming pool that was previously owned by the Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, and a holiday home in Cyprus. McCormick also bought his father a place in Florida, a 600,000 Sunseeker yacht called Aesthete, and three dressage horses for one of his daughters, who has ambitions of making the British equestrian team for the Olympics in Rio.
Police have identified 7m of McCormick's assets, which they intend to try to seize, but believe the fraudster has stashed at least that amount away from the eyes of the taxman and other authorities in Cyprus, Belize and Beirut.
McCormick had separate trading arrangements with other countries. In Lebanon, a UN agency and a luxury hotel were among purchasers. Devices were sold to Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime, Iran, China, Syria, Jordan, Georgia and Mexico. Some ended up in the US, Canada, Japan and Belgium. The broadcaster Stephen Fry saw Kenyan wildlife rangers using them while he was filming and told the BBC he thought it was "cynical, cruel and monstrous" that rangers C who were trying to track down poachers C had been told they could detect ivory at vast distances.
Metro fare signs confuse the riders who need help most
Most people riding Metro use SmarTrip, and that's great. But the ones
that are more likely to need extra help with a fare table are the
infrequent customers that use a paper farecard.
It makes no sense to list SmarTrip prices on the fare table and then ask people to add $1. Riders shouldn't need to do math to figure out how much to put on their farecards. We want to make purchasing a farecard as easy as possible, while not necessarily offering them the best deal possible.
The simplest solution would be to list the paper farecard prices on the tables, and then have notes that SmarTrip riders get a discount. Even if these riders don't notice, they'll just end up with extra money on their cards, which they can use later.ST Electronics' porcelaintiles11 provides drivers with a realtime indication of available parking spaces.We can help you confidently purchase solarlight from factories in China.
An even better approach would be to eliminate the $1 surcharge, and instead always charge peak fares for people using paper farecards. The fare machines would simply list the peak fare for each destination, with a note that SmarTrip customers get discounts during off-peak, discounted transfers to and from trips on buses, protected fare balances (with registration) and a guarantee that they won't be trapped in the system if their balance goes too low.
All paper farecard customers would have to do is look up their destination, and make sure their farecard had the corresponding amount. No math, no timetables, no figuring out whether it's currently peak or off-peak.
WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel said the agency is aware of the confusion and complaints about these signs, and is "considering" making changes to the posted fare tables and signs.
As with many previous innovations, Apple wasn't the first to market. There were many digital music players before the iPod, tablet PCs have been around decades before the iPad was launched, and other companies produced smart phones before Apple launched the iPhone. What Apple seems to be getting right is the timing (the point in time when certain innovations are ready to take off) and the marketing power to create a real buzz and demand for the next must-have gadget. I feel that it will be the same with the iWatch.
There is a real buzz around wearable intelligent devices in the tech world because they generate so much new data that can be analysed. Devices like Nike's Fuelband and the Fitbrit Ultra are already available and provide users with fantastic insights, data and analysis. But my prediction is that Apple will get the lion's share of a potentially massive market. And I don't think the iWatch (or whatever Apple will call it) is far away from being launched, especially as Samsung and Sony have already announced they are working on a smart watch. Pebble is another smart watch that is already available and offers compatibility with iPhone and Android - you can customise the watch with apps to control your music, go running or cycling, measure your golfing performance, and you get alerts for incoming calls or emails.
The reason I believe the iWatch (or the smart watch idea in general) will change the world of big data analytics is because it will allow all of us to collect and analyse data on both a personal and global level. Take health as an example. These intelligent wrist watches will permit monitoring of an individual's heart rate,Choose the rightbestluggagetag in an array of colors. calorie intake, activity levels, quality of sleep and more. Now imagine collecting that data on a much bigger scale. Potentially, governments, medical agencies, etc. will be able to use such collective data to gain a better insight into a nation's physical output,You must not use the stonemosaic without being trained. eating habits, risk indicators, and worrying trends. The buzz word surrounding this type of data analysis is 'big data' and I predict that it will have a huge impact in the business world. A recent global survey by The Advanced Performance Institute found that seven percent of companies have already started to use this type of mass analysis or 'big data'.
Now, as a second wave of the internet age -- underpinned by mobile internet and the hunger for ubiquitous, high-capacity networks -- slowly sweeps the globe with promises to boost productivity and create new growth sectors, Dr Bradlow has warned Australia is at risk of missing out if it underinvests in broadband infrastructure or fails to start thinking today about how to make use of the blossoming world of connected devices.
"We will become a marginalised, agrarian economy that has some mining, nice beaches and agriculture. But that's not the same as being a developed, hi-tech digital economy," he said.
The second coming of the internet age has been spurred by the confluence of ubiquitous internet access, the explosive adoption of mobility and smartphones, and the nascent growth of machine-to-machine (M2M). It's this third area, also known as "the internet of things", that Dr Bradlow believes has the potential to drive productivity improvements and vastly improve business efficiency and spawn growth sectors in coming decades.
"It's combinations of technology that really create change and the combination that fascinates me at the moment is sensor technology," Dr Bradlow said. "It's the ability to put a sensor in just about anything and have that sensor communicate to a wide area network, often via your mobile phone."
Such is the growth of M2M that the world's leading internet equipment-maker, Cisco, has forecast that Australia will have 142 million connected devices by 2016, about six for every Australian.
Dr Bradlow warns that, to tap into the potential that these smart things can yield, Australia must start planning now. He points to the example of busy urban centres where councils and infrastructure planners are building roads to lessen traffic congestion in overpopulated cities.Our RFID solutions support a broad range of miningtruck and labels.
Instead of building more "dumb" infrastructure today, Dr Bradlow said, councils should look to implement technological solutions that made use of internet-connected devices that could talk to each other and analyse traffic flows to ease congestion points.
It makes no sense to list SmarTrip prices on the fare table and then ask people to add $1. Riders shouldn't need to do math to figure out how much to put on their farecards. We want to make purchasing a farecard as easy as possible, while not necessarily offering them the best deal possible.
The simplest solution would be to list the paper farecard prices on the tables, and then have notes that SmarTrip riders get a discount. Even if these riders don't notice, they'll just end up with extra money on their cards, which they can use later.ST Electronics' porcelaintiles11 provides drivers with a realtime indication of available parking spaces.We can help you confidently purchase solarlight from factories in China.
An even better approach would be to eliminate the $1 surcharge, and instead always charge peak fares for people using paper farecards. The fare machines would simply list the peak fare for each destination, with a note that SmarTrip customers get discounts during off-peak, discounted transfers to and from trips on buses, protected fare balances (with registration) and a guarantee that they won't be trapped in the system if their balance goes too low.
All paper farecard customers would have to do is look up their destination, and make sure their farecard had the corresponding amount. No math, no timetables, no figuring out whether it's currently peak or off-peak.
WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel said the agency is aware of the confusion and complaints about these signs, and is "considering" making changes to the posted fare tables and signs.
As with many previous innovations, Apple wasn't the first to market. There were many digital music players before the iPod, tablet PCs have been around decades before the iPad was launched, and other companies produced smart phones before Apple launched the iPhone. What Apple seems to be getting right is the timing (the point in time when certain innovations are ready to take off) and the marketing power to create a real buzz and demand for the next must-have gadget. I feel that it will be the same with the iWatch.
There is a real buzz around wearable intelligent devices in the tech world because they generate so much new data that can be analysed. Devices like Nike's Fuelband and the Fitbrit Ultra are already available and provide users with fantastic insights, data and analysis. But my prediction is that Apple will get the lion's share of a potentially massive market. And I don't think the iWatch (or whatever Apple will call it) is far away from being launched, especially as Samsung and Sony have already announced they are working on a smart watch. Pebble is another smart watch that is already available and offers compatibility with iPhone and Android - you can customise the watch with apps to control your music, go running or cycling, measure your golfing performance, and you get alerts for incoming calls or emails.
The reason I believe the iWatch (or the smart watch idea in general) will change the world of big data analytics is because it will allow all of us to collect and analyse data on both a personal and global level. Take health as an example. These intelligent wrist watches will permit monitoring of an individual's heart rate,Choose the rightbestluggagetag in an array of colors. calorie intake, activity levels, quality of sleep and more. Now imagine collecting that data on a much bigger scale. Potentially, governments, medical agencies, etc. will be able to use such collective data to gain a better insight into a nation's physical output,You must not use the stonemosaic without being trained. eating habits, risk indicators, and worrying trends. The buzz word surrounding this type of data analysis is 'big data' and I predict that it will have a huge impact in the business world. A recent global survey by The Advanced Performance Institute found that seven percent of companies have already started to use this type of mass analysis or 'big data'.
Now, as a second wave of the internet age -- underpinned by mobile internet and the hunger for ubiquitous, high-capacity networks -- slowly sweeps the globe with promises to boost productivity and create new growth sectors, Dr Bradlow has warned Australia is at risk of missing out if it underinvests in broadband infrastructure or fails to start thinking today about how to make use of the blossoming world of connected devices.
"We will become a marginalised, agrarian economy that has some mining, nice beaches and agriculture. But that's not the same as being a developed, hi-tech digital economy," he said.
The second coming of the internet age has been spurred by the confluence of ubiquitous internet access, the explosive adoption of mobility and smartphones, and the nascent growth of machine-to-machine (M2M). It's this third area, also known as "the internet of things", that Dr Bradlow believes has the potential to drive productivity improvements and vastly improve business efficiency and spawn growth sectors in coming decades.
"It's combinations of technology that really create change and the combination that fascinates me at the moment is sensor technology," Dr Bradlow said. "It's the ability to put a sensor in just about anything and have that sensor communicate to a wide area network, often via your mobile phone."
Such is the growth of M2M that the world's leading internet equipment-maker, Cisco, has forecast that Australia will have 142 million connected devices by 2016, about six for every Australian.
Dr Bradlow warns that, to tap into the potential that these smart things can yield, Australia must start planning now. He points to the example of busy urban centres where councils and infrastructure planners are building roads to lessen traffic congestion in overpopulated cities.Our RFID solutions support a broad range of miningtruck and labels.
Instead of building more "dumb" infrastructure today, Dr Bradlow said, councils should look to implement technological solutions that made use of internet-connected devices that could talk to each other and analyse traffic flows to ease congestion points.
Russell and Walsh to strike on opening day
Having given Sizing Europe a 19-length beating at Prestbury Park last
month, there is no reason to why the 188-rated seven-year-old, should
not hand out a similar punishment here today. Nicky Henderson has to be
commended in allowing Sprinter Sacre to run.Large collection of quality indoorpositioningsystem at
discounted prices. He has had a long campaign, has nothing to prove and
will be running on unsuitable ground. Other trainers would be quick to
take out the cotton wool and put him away for next season. As a 1-7 shot
however, it is a race to sit back and enjoy, and take notice of the
equine superstar.
The Herald Champion Novice Hurdle is a far more competitive affair but it would be disappointing if the winner did not come from the top two in the betting. Both Champagne Fever and Jezki renew rivalry following last months first and third respectively, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival. A case can be made for both but slight preference is for the Willie Mullins trained Champagne Fever.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. Although subject to what can only be described as a fantastic front running ride in the Supreme by Ruby Walsh, there is enough in favour of the grey, to suggest that he can confirm form with Jezki again.
The pair had met previously in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse earlier this season, were Jessica Harringtons gelding beat Champagne Fever by a length and a half. He was receiving three-pound from the selection that day and the visual impression was ,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. that he didnt beat him with that much in hand. The soft ground will play to Champagne Fevers strengths, off level weights and with Ruby aboard, there is every chance that he will come out on top again. He is likely to go into the race as the marginal favourite which reads well, as favourites have won six of the previous ten runnings and, looking back further, favourites have won 11 of the last 19 runnings.
Rule The World is an interesting one dropped in trip, having primarily been running over a longer distance and his inclusion could make it more of a stamina test , which would also help the selection. Jezki is full of speed and the track should be more suitable for him but in the soft conditions, he may not be able to show his smart turn of foot.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. You wont get rich backing either at the current prices but with 11-8 offered by Boylesports for Champagne Fever, he looks the one to be with.
The Growise Champion Novice Chase is no easier to solve and a case can be made for almost all of the field. Willie Mullins won this race last year with Sir Des Champs and again looks well represented with both Back In Focus and Boston Bob. They are impossible to spilt but of the two, Boston Bob would be my idea of the liker winner. On saying that their form seems no stronger than some of the others in the field and for that reason a chance is taken on the Tony Martin trained Dedigout. Beaten 52 lengths on his sole try over the three-mile trip by Back In Focus, earlier this season, it is his course record that makes him of interest here. He has always gave the impression that this longer trip would suit and he has hit a rich vein of form of late.
Three wins from four starts at Punchestown C finished a close second on his debut in a bumper here C the seven-year old has won a Grade 3 and finished second in the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse last time out. He was a bit unlucky on that occasion and seemed outdone for speed but was staying on all the way to the line. The soft ground will play to his strengths and he is the choice of Davy Russell. For that reason the 11-2 offered by Boylesports about Dedigout, looks good each way value.
Ten percent. It's a number that has come to mean much for smartphones the category of phones with computing prowess. It's the point where a critical mass of buyers meets a pool of sellers to create the perfect storm. This phenomenon 10% share as a tipping point played out in Western economies. It played out in China, where the share of smartphones in total phone shipments rocketed from 9% to 59% in two years. And it's playing out in Brazil and Russia, where the corresponding number surged to 32% and 46%, respectively in the same period.
Will India,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth carparkmanagementsystem truck Descriptions. where smartphones hit 10% earlier this year, follow suit? A sustained build-up is underway to add charge to that figure. The price of entry-level smartphones has dropped to around Rs 4,000, from Rs 15,000 two years ago. "It's compelling buyers to opt for fancier phones," says Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst of Gartner India, who feels something fundamentally changed for the Indian market in the last quarter of 2012. "We are at the tipping point." However, Shashi Shankar, chief marketing officer of Idea Cellular, says handset prices have to fall further.
The Herald Champion Novice Hurdle is a far more competitive affair but it would be disappointing if the winner did not come from the top two in the betting. Both Champagne Fever and Jezki renew rivalry following last months first and third respectively, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival. A case can be made for both but slight preference is for the Willie Mullins trained Champagne Fever.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. Although subject to what can only be described as a fantastic front running ride in the Supreme by Ruby Walsh, there is enough in favour of the grey, to suggest that he can confirm form with Jezki again.
The pair had met previously in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse earlier this season, were Jessica Harringtons gelding beat Champagne Fever by a length and a half. He was receiving three-pound from the selection that day and the visual impression was ,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. that he didnt beat him with that much in hand. The soft ground will play to Champagne Fevers strengths, off level weights and with Ruby aboard, there is every chance that he will come out on top again. He is likely to go into the race as the marginal favourite which reads well, as favourites have won six of the previous ten runnings and, looking back further, favourites have won 11 of the last 19 runnings.
Rule The World is an interesting one dropped in trip, having primarily been running over a longer distance and his inclusion could make it more of a stamina test , which would also help the selection. Jezki is full of speed and the track should be more suitable for him but in the soft conditions, he may not be able to show his smart turn of foot.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. You wont get rich backing either at the current prices but with 11-8 offered by Boylesports for Champagne Fever, he looks the one to be with.
The Growise Champion Novice Chase is no easier to solve and a case can be made for almost all of the field. Willie Mullins won this race last year with Sir Des Champs and again looks well represented with both Back In Focus and Boston Bob. They are impossible to spilt but of the two, Boston Bob would be my idea of the liker winner. On saying that their form seems no stronger than some of the others in the field and for that reason a chance is taken on the Tony Martin trained Dedigout. Beaten 52 lengths on his sole try over the three-mile trip by Back In Focus, earlier this season, it is his course record that makes him of interest here. He has always gave the impression that this longer trip would suit and he has hit a rich vein of form of late.
Three wins from four starts at Punchestown C finished a close second on his debut in a bumper here C the seven-year old has won a Grade 3 and finished second in the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse last time out. He was a bit unlucky on that occasion and seemed outdone for speed but was staying on all the way to the line. The soft ground will play to his strengths and he is the choice of Davy Russell. For that reason the 11-2 offered by Boylesports about Dedigout, looks good each way value.
Ten percent. It's a number that has come to mean much for smartphones the category of phones with computing prowess. It's the point where a critical mass of buyers meets a pool of sellers to create the perfect storm. This phenomenon 10% share as a tipping point played out in Western economies. It played out in China, where the share of smartphones in total phone shipments rocketed from 9% to 59% in two years. And it's playing out in Brazil and Russia, where the corresponding number surged to 32% and 46%, respectively in the same period.
Will India,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth carparkmanagementsystem truck Descriptions. where smartphones hit 10% earlier this year, follow suit? A sustained build-up is underway to add charge to that figure. The price of entry-level smartphones has dropped to around Rs 4,000, from Rs 15,000 two years ago. "It's compelling buyers to opt for fancier phones," says Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst of Gartner India, who feels something fundamentally changed for the Indian market in the last quarter of 2012. "We are at the tipping point." However, Shashi Shankar, chief marketing officer of Idea Cellular, says handset prices have to fall further.
2013年4月21日 星期日
High turnover and intense competition
Old and new, cheap and expensive, exotic fare and mainstream grub,
they C and a score of other local restaurants C recently closed their
doors.
Theres not a whole lot of room for error in the restaurant business, said Cindi Thomason, a senior business adviser for SUNY Buffalo States Small Business Development Center and coordinator of the centers Restaurant Institute.
Veteran restaurateurs say theres a low barrier to getting into the business, with many people deciding they want to open a restaurant because they like to cook, but its difficult to succeed in the industry.
Restaurant owners face intense competition, and rising costs for food and labor, and the lingering recession took a toll as more people ate at home or chose to dine out at lower-cost restaurants instead of the mid-tier establishments where entres cost around $20.
Experienced restaurateurs say they remain bullish on the industry, but they recognize that even the most successful restaurants can grow stale if they dont update their menu or their physical space.
You have to reinvent yourself at least once every 10 years, said Steve Calvaneso, whose restaurant holdings over the years have included Hooligans, City Grill, Bacchus Wine Bar & Restaurant and Libation Station.
Restaurants are a major industry. There are 980,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents.000 restaurants and bars in this country, with 42,610 of them in New York as of 2011, the National Restaurant Association reports.
They employ 13.1 million people nationally C 750,900 in this state,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. or 8 percent of the work force. Across the country, they generated sales of $660.5 billion, with $33.6 billion coming from New York.
Its tough for a fledgling small business to gain a foothold in the marketplace, and many restaurants fail to make it past their first, second or third years in operation.
For example, of the 47,292 restaurants that opened across the country in the 12 months ending in March 2005, just 68 percent remained open in March 2008 and only 48 percent were open in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the restaurants that opened in the year ending in March 1995,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. just 26 percent remained open in March 2012. Theres a huge failure rate for small businesses, said Thomason.
Theres a relatively low bar to enter the restaurant business, and most people who want to open a restaurant have a better sense of what they want to do with the menu than how they plan to operate the business.
Successful restaurant owners have a detailed business plan, are good at delegating and have set up a system for training their employees, said Thomason, who owned a bar and restaurant in North Carolina.
Anybody who eats thinks they can open a restaurant. Being successful at it is another long row to hoe, said Donald Will, owner of Will Poultry Co., which supplies hundreds of restaurants in the region.
For one, restaurants face fierce competition from other restaurants that serve the same type of food, from national chains with huge advertising budgets and undercutting prices and even from food trucks and supermarkets that offer dine-in meals.
Its a constant effort to make sure youre financially stable, said Bob Syracuse, co-owner of the two Pizza Plant Italian Pub restaurants and former president of the Western New York Restaurant Association.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.
Applebees, Olive Garden and other chains offer consistent quality at low prices, including 2 for $20 specials, that independently owned restaurants can find hard to match, Will said. They can afford to advertise, and they can afford to give away, he said.
Restaurants offer those types of specials, sacrificing their profit margins in the process, because they need to get people in the door to help pay their bills, Thomason said.
Fish fries in Buffalo, thats a total loss leader, she said,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents. adding the hope is just one person will order the fish fry and everyone else will order something more expensive, along with alcohol, appetizers or dessert.
Restaurants face pressure to keep their prices down even as their costs are rising: for food; for wages, payroll taxes and workmans compensation; and for rent and property taxes.
Locally, part of the fight to survive includes Local Restaurant Week, which runs from Monday to Sunday. For the 2013 spring edition, more than 200 establishments are offering meals for $20.13 and other specials to attract new patrons.
Many restaurants saw their business decline during the recession and its aftermath, when people opted to eat at home more often to save money.
The high-end restaurants seemed to make it through the downturn OK, experts said, because the people willing to pay $40 for a steak werent worried about losing their jobs.
And the low-priced places did pretty well, too. Theyre cheap, and they get you in and out. The mid-range is where the trouble is, Will said.
Mid-, upper- and lower-range restaurants cant stand still, said Syracuse, who opened his first restaurant in 1980 and now has two in Amherst.
Theres not a whole lot of room for error in the restaurant business, said Cindi Thomason, a senior business adviser for SUNY Buffalo States Small Business Development Center and coordinator of the centers Restaurant Institute.
Veteran restaurateurs say theres a low barrier to getting into the business, with many people deciding they want to open a restaurant because they like to cook, but its difficult to succeed in the industry.
Restaurant owners face intense competition, and rising costs for food and labor, and the lingering recession took a toll as more people ate at home or chose to dine out at lower-cost restaurants instead of the mid-tier establishments where entres cost around $20.
Experienced restaurateurs say they remain bullish on the industry, but they recognize that even the most successful restaurants can grow stale if they dont update their menu or their physical space.
You have to reinvent yourself at least once every 10 years, said Steve Calvaneso, whose restaurant holdings over the years have included Hooligans, City Grill, Bacchus Wine Bar & Restaurant and Libation Station.
Restaurants are a major industry. There are 980,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents.000 restaurants and bars in this country, with 42,610 of them in New York as of 2011, the National Restaurant Association reports.
They employ 13.1 million people nationally C 750,900 in this state,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. or 8 percent of the work force. Across the country, they generated sales of $660.5 billion, with $33.6 billion coming from New York.
Its tough for a fledgling small business to gain a foothold in the marketplace, and many restaurants fail to make it past their first, second or third years in operation.
For example, of the 47,292 restaurants that opened across the country in the 12 months ending in March 2005, just 68 percent remained open in March 2008 and only 48 percent were open in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the restaurants that opened in the year ending in March 1995,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. just 26 percent remained open in March 2012. Theres a huge failure rate for small businesses, said Thomason.
Theres a relatively low bar to enter the restaurant business, and most people who want to open a restaurant have a better sense of what they want to do with the menu than how they plan to operate the business.
Successful restaurant owners have a detailed business plan, are good at delegating and have set up a system for training their employees, said Thomason, who owned a bar and restaurant in North Carolina.
Anybody who eats thinks they can open a restaurant. Being successful at it is another long row to hoe, said Donald Will, owner of Will Poultry Co., which supplies hundreds of restaurants in the region.
For one, restaurants face fierce competition from other restaurants that serve the same type of food, from national chains with huge advertising budgets and undercutting prices and even from food trucks and supermarkets that offer dine-in meals.
Its a constant effort to make sure youre financially stable, said Bob Syracuse, co-owner of the two Pizza Plant Italian Pub restaurants and former president of the Western New York Restaurant Association.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.
Applebees, Olive Garden and other chains offer consistent quality at low prices, including 2 for $20 specials, that independently owned restaurants can find hard to match, Will said. They can afford to advertise, and they can afford to give away, he said.
Restaurants offer those types of specials, sacrificing their profit margins in the process, because they need to get people in the door to help pay their bills, Thomason said.
Fish fries in Buffalo, thats a total loss leader, she said,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents. adding the hope is just one person will order the fish fry and everyone else will order something more expensive, along with alcohol, appetizers or dessert.
Restaurants face pressure to keep their prices down even as their costs are rising: for food; for wages, payroll taxes and workmans compensation; and for rent and property taxes.
Locally, part of the fight to survive includes Local Restaurant Week, which runs from Monday to Sunday. For the 2013 spring edition, more than 200 establishments are offering meals for $20.13 and other specials to attract new patrons.
Many restaurants saw their business decline during the recession and its aftermath, when people opted to eat at home more often to save money.
The high-end restaurants seemed to make it through the downturn OK, experts said, because the people willing to pay $40 for a steak werent worried about losing their jobs.
And the low-priced places did pretty well, too. Theyre cheap, and they get you in and out. The mid-range is where the trouble is, Will said.
Mid-, upper- and lower-range restaurants cant stand still, said Syracuse, who opened his first restaurant in 1980 and now has two in Amherst.
Metro Transit fare collection is in the Go-To cards
Metro Transit riders swiped their Go-To cards in near record numbers
during February and accounted for more than half of all fares collected
on light-rail trains and buses.
The 3.43 million rides paid for using the bright green cards and companion products such as Metropass and cards for high school and college students represented 54.7 percent of all fares collected during the years second month. That was a high-water mark for the agency and continued a trend in which more customers are ditching cash, tokens and paper passes.
As riders increasingly turn to the plastic cards with an electronic chip inside, some passengers wonder if products such as the SuperSaver passes and Stored Value cards will be phased out. Metro Transit says it has no plans to get rid of the paper prepaid fare cards and 31-day passes, even though they accounted for only 7 percent of fares in 2012.
We offer a lot of different options for riders to try to meet needs and frequencies, said Rachel Dungca, a senior project administrator in the revenue collection department. The SuperSaver cards are still popular with customers who are unsure how much they will ride and with social service agencies that help people with transportation needs, she said. SuperSavers will continue to be sold at its transit stores in downtown Minneapolis and St.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. Paul, the Commuter Connection and at 70 retail outlets in the metro area.
But Tom Randall, senior manager of revenue operations, said the use of SuperSaver cards will drop even more as Metro Transit steers riders to the Go-To cards.
Metro Transit was one of the first transit agencies in the nation to use cards to collect fares electronically. Validators first appeared on buses and the Hiawatha light rail line in 2007 and expanded to the Northstar line in 2009. When the new Bus Rapid Transit line on Cedar Avenue opens in June, buses will have card readers at both the front and back doors.
In 2012, Go-To card users accounted for 48 percent of all fares collected. Another 28 percent used one-ride tickets and other types of passes, 16 percent paid cash and 1 percent used tokens. Randall attributes the increase in card use to the advantages that come with them. Among them is that riders can add value at any time online or at any of Metro Transits vending machines. It also allows customers to replace lost or stolen cards, or transfer balances from one user to another.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case.
Card users also help keep buses on time by speeding up boarding, Randall said. Passengers simply swipe their cards across a reader, which calculates the fare and deducts that amount from their card, without having to stop at a fare box. That can help keep a bus on schedule,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. especially at stops where lots of people are boarding.
Another advantage, Randall says, is that Go-To cards can be used to pay fares on all modes of transit, whereas paper passes are not accepted on light-rail or commuter trains since they dont have fare boxes to insert the tickets.
Unfortunately, most PCs don't have touch screens C "yet", says Microsoft, which insists that their time is coming. On the premise that Microsoft knows what it's talking about,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. one company after another has been introducing new computers, mostly laptops, with built-in touch screens for Windows 8.
Many of these machines have screens that flip, twist, rotate or detach so that you can use them either as laptops or as tablets. The HP Envy x2, Lenovo Yoga, Lenovo Helix, Dell XPS 12, Asus Vivo Tab, Asus Transformer Book and the Acer Iconia W510 all fall into this category.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices.
The full name of the machine he was describing is the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, which at 18 syllables sounds as if it were named by the federal government. It's a laptop whose screen detaches, becoming a tablet, when you press a release button and tug. Awkwardly enough, in laptop mode, the detach button covers up the Windows button used to open Windows 8's Start screen. In laptop mode, you have to use the Windows key on the keyboard instead.
Yes, the Samsung weighs less than 1 kilogram, but that's the weight of the detached screen (the tablet) alone. With the keyboard attached, the whole thing weighs 1.6 kilograms. So right off the bat, this machine isn't comparable to the Surface Pro, which weighs less than 1 kilogram for everything.
All of the Smart PC Pro's guts C battery, processor, memory, cameras and so on C are in the screen. They make the top half of the laptop weirdly heavier and thicker than the bottom half, which contains only the keyboard. In other words, in laptop mode, the whole thing is top-heavy.
Some rival detachable-screen laptops are even more top-heavy C the screen portion flops away from you at the slightest touch. Then again, some of the Samsung's competitors also incorporate a second battery in the keyboard base. That helps with both battery life and weight distribution.
When you detach the screen, the tablet in your hands feels off. It's too thick, too heavy, too plasticky; the iPad and the Surface have spoiled us. And it's a wide, thin rectangle that suits movies well but feels ridiculous when turned 90 degrees. You feel as if you're holding a diving board.
The other unattractive aspect of this design is that both halves of the machine are, in effect, the ugly "bottom." Both the underside of the keyboard and the back of the tablet bear the usual painted-on paragraph of FCC notices and logos; the back of the tablet also bears an archipelago of unattractive flaps, vents and stickers. Where were the designers of Samsung's gorgeous, thin, real laptops when this thing was sketched out?
The 3.43 million rides paid for using the bright green cards and companion products such as Metropass and cards for high school and college students represented 54.7 percent of all fares collected during the years second month. That was a high-water mark for the agency and continued a trend in which more customers are ditching cash, tokens and paper passes.
As riders increasingly turn to the plastic cards with an electronic chip inside, some passengers wonder if products such as the SuperSaver passes and Stored Value cards will be phased out. Metro Transit says it has no plans to get rid of the paper prepaid fare cards and 31-day passes, even though they accounted for only 7 percent of fares in 2012.
We offer a lot of different options for riders to try to meet needs and frequencies, said Rachel Dungca, a senior project administrator in the revenue collection department. The SuperSaver cards are still popular with customers who are unsure how much they will ride and with social service agencies that help people with transportation needs, she said. SuperSavers will continue to be sold at its transit stores in downtown Minneapolis and St.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. Paul, the Commuter Connection and at 70 retail outlets in the metro area.
But Tom Randall, senior manager of revenue operations, said the use of SuperSaver cards will drop even more as Metro Transit steers riders to the Go-To cards.
Metro Transit was one of the first transit agencies in the nation to use cards to collect fares electronically. Validators first appeared on buses and the Hiawatha light rail line in 2007 and expanded to the Northstar line in 2009. When the new Bus Rapid Transit line on Cedar Avenue opens in June, buses will have card readers at both the front and back doors.
In 2012, Go-To card users accounted for 48 percent of all fares collected. Another 28 percent used one-ride tickets and other types of passes, 16 percent paid cash and 1 percent used tokens. Randall attributes the increase in card use to the advantages that come with them. Among them is that riders can add value at any time online or at any of Metro Transits vending machines. It also allows customers to replace lost or stolen cards, or transfer balances from one user to another.A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case.
Card users also help keep buses on time by speeding up boarding, Randall said. Passengers simply swipe their cards across a reader, which calculates the fare and deducts that amount from their card, without having to stop at a fare box. That can help keep a bus on schedule,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. especially at stops where lots of people are boarding.
Another advantage, Randall says, is that Go-To cards can be used to pay fares on all modes of transit, whereas paper passes are not accepted on light-rail or commuter trains since they dont have fare boxes to insert the tickets.
Unfortunately, most PCs don't have touch screens C "yet", says Microsoft, which insists that their time is coming. On the premise that Microsoft knows what it's talking about,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. one company after another has been introducing new computers, mostly laptops, with built-in touch screens for Windows 8.
Many of these machines have screens that flip, twist, rotate or detach so that you can use them either as laptops or as tablets. The HP Envy x2, Lenovo Yoga, Lenovo Helix, Dell XPS 12, Asus Vivo Tab, Asus Transformer Book and the Acer Iconia W510 all fall into this category.Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices.
The full name of the machine he was describing is the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, which at 18 syllables sounds as if it were named by the federal government. It's a laptop whose screen detaches, becoming a tablet, when you press a release button and tug. Awkwardly enough, in laptop mode, the detach button covers up the Windows button used to open Windows 8's Start screen. In laptop mode, you have to use the Windows key on the keyboard instead.
Yes, the Samsung weighs less than 1 kilogram, but that's the weight of the detached screen (the tablet) alone. With the keyboard attached, the whole thing weighs 1.6 kilograms. So right off the bat, this machine isn't comparable to the Surface Pro, which weighs less than 1 kilogram for everything.
All of the Smart PC Pro's guts C battery, processor, memory, cameras and so on C are in the screen. They make the top half of the laptop weirdly heavier and thicker than the bottom half, which contains only the keyboard. In other words, in laptop mode, the whole thing is top-heavy.
Some rival detachable-screen laptops are even more top-heavy C the screen portion flops away from you at the slightest touch. Then again, some of the Samsung's competitors also incorporate a second battery in the keyboard base. That helps with both battery life and weight distribution.
When you detach the screen, the tablet in your hands feels off. It's too thick, too heavy, too plasticky; the iPad and the Surface have spoiled us. And it's a wide, thin rectangle that suits movies well but feels ridiculous when turned 90 degrees. You feel as if you're holding a diving board.
The other unattractive aspect of this design is that both halves of the machine are, in effect, the ugly "bottom." Both the underside of the keyboard and the back of the tablet bear the usual painted-on paragraph of FCC notices and logos; the back of the tablet also bears an archipelago of unattractive flaps, vents and stickers. Where were the designers of Samsung's gorgeous, thin, real laptops when this thing was sketched out?
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost review
While it's hard to ignore the big splash made by Nvidia's galumphing
GeForce Titan,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard.
sales for such a high-spec card are inevitably made from only a
fraction of the market. It makes for a spectacular showcase, but in
reality the big money for these tech giants is elsewhere - specifically
in nailing the absolute best performance-per-pound in popular games
where an ideal price-tag for most GPU buyers remains within the 100-200
range. AMD thrives on its strong-hold over this bracket in particular,
where the well-received HD 7850 currently retails for just 125, with the
just-released 7790 model primed to strengthen this position in this
sector at an even lower cost.
The issue for Nvidia is the massive gap this leaves in its Kepler range,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. with the GTX 650 Ti and the 660 holding ground at 100 and 155 respectively. As a swift rebuttal, the GTX 650 Ti Boost sets out to fill that gap with a launch price of just under 145. However, considering this is hardly a direct price-match for AMD's output, and given that it's only a tenner less than the company's own GTX 660, does this actually represent good value for money right now?
Before we start, we must address the meaning of the "Boost" suffix. As a release it's an anomaly in the Kepler range, which over the last year eroded away the specs and features from the initial GTX 680 standard to suit lower and lower prices. Simply put, the GTX 650 Ti Boost reverts some of the cut-backs made for last year's 650 Ti. It brings back a fully-fledged GPU Boost mode, allowing the card's core clock to dynamically shift according to graphical demands of each application. The feature improves the performance of the card where there's an overhead in its maximum thermal design power (TDP), while also saving on power draw during idle states.
We also see the return of SLI support, though this is limited to a maximum of two GPUs rather than three - not a bother for most motherboard configurations which might match its price-tag. This makes it the cheapest SLI-compatible card in the current range.
There are other improvements over the standard GTX 650 Ti too. The rendering output unit (ROP) count takes a jump from 16 to 24, and core clocks go from 928MHz to 980MHz. Meanwhile, memory bandwidth benefits from a widening of the 128-bit bus to 192-bit - an important move for games running at higher resolutions. We also spot speeds going up for its attached 2GB of GDDR5 RAM, now clocked to 6GHz rather than the 5.4GHz of the cheaper card. It's a full-on improvement when taken from this angle, and is advertised to offer up to a 40 per cent advance in performance. The only downsides are the lengthening of the PCB itself, going from a convenient 14.5cm up to 24cm, and a bump up to a max TDP of 134.
There's another slant to this though: the comparison with the 660. It turns out that the face-off here is much simpler, and perhaps more revealing of the card's true origins. What we're seeing is the same PCB size and length, with each card's GK106 chip delivering identical core clocks - plus a matching boost up to 1033MHz.
So, rather than being an augmented 650 Ti at heart, it's much easier to describe this Boost edition as a 660 with a few cutbacks. The crux of it is that we're getting identical stats in every regard to this older card, with one of the big exceptions being the drop from 960 stream processors to 768 - accounting for one of the five SMX chips being chopped. The knock-on effect of this is a drop in the Boost's texture fill-rate from 78.4 Gigatexels per second down to 62.7. This detail comes to bear in our tests quite vividly, especially when running games at maximum settings at full 1080p.
Positioned dead-centre in the Kepler mid-range, the 650 Ti Boost aims to tackle the most technically demanding games of 2013 at full 1920x1080 - 1080p. This has widely become the standard resolution to shoot for due to the prevalence of cheaper LCDs,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. even including IPS models. We resolve to use this resolution across all tests, while finding the ideal graphical preset in each game in a bid to hit 60FPS. We plant the card in our Core i5-2500k test rig, clocked to 4.An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard.2GHz and coupled with 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM. Drivers are also fully up-to date as of writing, with version 314.22 purporting to offer performance boosts up to 60 per cent in Tomb Raider.
To start off, we pit the Boost edition of the 650 Ti against the HD 7850 1GB edition, with Crysis 3's high calibre of visual effects and DirectX 11 features putting strains on each. The game scales well thanks to its flexible graphical presets, and in the end, we find the medium setting offers the most reasonable grade of performance without sacrificing the game's visual flair. Alas, the post-processing and particle effects seen on its high setting drag the frame-rate down to 25FPS during the rainy Post-Human stage, which forces a compromise. On medium we manage to hit 60FPS quite comfortably even with textures held on high, and FXAA added. While drops to 40FPS are possible on each card, in the final count performance shows a clear favour for the 650 Ti Boost's Kepler architecture during shoot-outs.
Water effects appear to give the game the most trouble during jungle battles, and we notice a visible trade-off in alpha animations during an early cut-scene with Psycho. This results in a lowered frame-rate on smoke effects as explosions fire off in the distance. Even so, the 650 Ti Boost acquits itself nicely here, while the lowest settings remove all hiccups from play entirely. It's surprising to find that the original 650 Ti holds up at this medium level too with its 1GB of lower-bandwidth GDDR5. Though it can't come close to performance of Nvidia's latest card, Crysis 3 still flows at above 30FPS on this setting. Put a frame-limit cap in place and even this 99 offering still provides a really decent experience that easily outstrips current-gen console.
Though Crytek's new shooter ranks among the most demanding games on our test palette at the moment, DICE's Battlefield 3 still gives each card a good run for its money. The high graphical preset is within reach for this one, which by default is coupled with post-process AA, screen-space ambient occlusion and motion blur effects. The parking lot shoot-out on the Operation Swordbreaker stage may lack the grander scale environments promised in Battlefield 4's Fishing in Baku trailer, but it does a good job of highlighting what we can expect in performance terms from the updated Frostbite Engine 3 once the game launches this year.
Destruction physics and DirectX 11 effects come as standard in this package,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. giving the 7850 and original 650 Ti difficulties holding on to a solid 60FPS. However, the 650 Ti Boost Edition, comes closer to the performance standards of the 660, with much of the game on high settings flat-lining at the top of our graphs. To distinguish the two a little better, we run Battlefield 3, Crysis 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim at maximum settings instead, which in Battlefield's case means rolling out 4x MSAA. The results are illuminating: the 650 Ti Boost trails behind the 660 at every turn, often by a matter of 10FPS in Crysis 2, and with a difference of up to 8FPS for the likes Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.
The contrast in performance between the 650 Ti Boost and 660 is staggering given the current 10 divide between the two cards. For the money, the 20 per cent drop in stream processors on the Boost has a clear impact on compute tasks for more complex games. Though a compromise is clearly possible on lower settings, these results do reflect how the Boost version copes once more next-generation titles translate to PC in the future, and how the 660 will adapt with greater ease.
The issue for Nvidia is the massive gap this leaves in its Kepler range,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. with the GTX 650 Ti and the 660 holding ground at 100 and 155 respectively. As a swift rebuttal, the GTX 650 Ti Boost sets out to fill that gap with a launch price of just under 145. However, considering this is hardly a direct price-match for AMD's output, and given that it's only a tenner less than the company's own GTX 660, does this actually represent good value for money right now?
Before we start, we must address the meaning of the "Boost" suffix. As a release it's an anomaly in the Kepler range, which over the last year eroded away the specs and features from the initial GTX 680 standard to suit lower and lower prices. Simply put, the GTX 650 Ti Boost reverts some of the cut-backs made for last year's 650 Ti. It brings back a fully-fledged GPU Boost mode, allowing the card's core clock to dynamically shift according to graphical demands of each application. The feature improves the performance of the card where there's an overhead in its maximum thermal design power (TDP), while also saving on power draw during idle states.
We also see the return of SLI support, though this is limited to a maximum of two GPUs rather than three - not a bother for most motherboard configurations which might match its price-tag. This makes it the cheapest SLI-compatible card in the current range.
There are other improvements over the standard GTX 650 Ti too. The rendering output unit (ROP) count takes a jump from 16 to 24, and core clocks go from 928MHz to 980MHz. Meanwhile, memory bandwidth benefits from a widening of the 128-bit bus to 192-bit - an important move for games running at higher resolutions. We also spot speeds going up for its attached 2GB of GDDR5 RAM, now clocked to 6GHz rather than the 5.4GHz of the cheaper card. It's a full-on improvement when taken from this angle, and is advertised to offer up to a 40 per cent advance in performance. The only downsides are the lengthening of the PCB itself, going from a convenient 14.5cm up to 24cm, and a bump up to a max TDP of 134.
There's another slant to this though: the comparison with the 660. It turns out that the face-off here is much simpler, and perhaps more revealing of the card's true origins. What we're seeing is the same PCB size and length, with each card's GK106 chip delivering identical core clocks - plus a matching boost up to 1033MHz.
So, rather than being an augmented 650 Ti at heart, it's much easier to describe this Boost edition as a 660 with a few cutbacks. The crux of it is that we're getting identical stats in every regard to this older card, with one of the big exceptions being the drop from 960 stream processors to 768 - accounting for one of the five SMX chips being chopped. The knock-on effect of this is a drop in the Boost's texture fill-rate from 78.4 Gigatexels per second down to 62.7. This detail comes to bear in our tests quite vividly, especially when running games at maximum settings at full 1080p.
Positioned dead-centre in the Kepler mid-range, the 650 Ti Boost aims to tackle the most technically demanding games of 2013 at full 1920x1080 - 1080p. This has widely become the standard resolution to shoot for due to the prevalence of cheaper LCDs,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. even including IPS models. We resolve to use this resolution across all tests, while finding the ideal graphical preset in each game in a bid to hit 60FPS. We plant the card in our Core i5-2500k test rig, clocked to 4.An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard.2GHz and coupled with 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM. Drivers are also fully up-to date as of writing, with version 314.22 purporting to offer performance boosts up to 60 per cent in Tomb Raider.
To start off, we pit the Boost edition of the 650 Ti against the HD 7850 1GB edition, with Crysis 3's high calibre of visual effects and DirectX 11 features putting strains on each. The game scales well thanks to its flexible graphical presets, and in the end, we find the medium setting offers the most reasonable grade of performance without sacrificing the game's visual flair. Alas, the post-processing and particle effects seen on its high setting drag the frame-rate down to 25FPS during the rainy Post-Human stage, which forces a compromise. On medium we manage to hit 60FPS quite comfortably even with textures held on high, and FXAA added. While drops to 40FPS are possible on each card, in the final count performance shows a clear favour for the 650 Ti Boost's Kepler architecture during shoot-outs.
Water effects appear to give the game the most trouble during jungle battles, and we notice a visible trade-off in alpha animations during an early cut-scene with Psycho. This results in a lowered frame-rate on smoke effects as explosions fire off in the distance. Even so, the 650 Ti Boost acquits itself nicely here, while the lowest settings remove all hiccups from play entirely. It's surprising to find that the original 650 Ti holds up at this medium level too with its 1GB of lower-bandwidth GDDR5. Though it can't come close to performance of Nvidia's latest card, Crysis 3 still flows at above 30FPS on this setting. Put a frame-limit cap in place and even this 99 offering still provides a really decent experience that easily outstrips current-gen console.
Though Crytek's new shooter ranks among the most demanding games on our test palette at the moment, DICE's Battlefield 3 still gives each card a good run for its money. The high graphical preset is within reach for this one, which by default is coupled with post-process AA, screen-space ambient occlusion and motion blur effects. The parking lot shoot-out on the Operation Swordbreaker stage may lack the grander scale environments promised in Battlefield 4's Fishing in Baku trailer, but it does a good job of highlighting what we can expect in performance terms from the updated Frostbite Engine 3 once the game launches this year.
Destruction physics and DirectX 11 effects come as standard in this package,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. giving the 7850 and original 650 Ti difficulties holding on to a solid 60FPS. However, the 650 Ti Boost Edition, comes closer to the performance standards of the 660, with much of the game on high settings flat-lining at the top of our graphs. To distinguish the two a little better, we run Battlefield 3, Crysis 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim at maximum settings instead, which in Battlefield's case means rolling out 4x MSAA. The results are illuminating: the 650 Ti Boost trails behind the 660 at every turn, often by a matter of 10FPS in Crysis 2, and with a difference of up to 8FPS for the likes Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.
The contrast in performance between the 650 Ti Boost and 660 is staggering given the current 10 divide between the two cards. For the money, the 20 per cent drop in stream processors on the Boost has a clear impact on compute tasks for more complex games. Though a compromise is clearly possible on lower settings, these results do reflect how the Boost version copes once more next-generation titles translate to PC in the future, and how the 660 will adapt with greater ease.
2013年4月14日 星期日
Westfielders Harvest 'Just Farmed' Business Delivering Produce to Your Doorstep
In a subtle twist on the popular farm-to-table movement, Westfielder
Meredith Lehman aims to deliver locally-sourced, farm-fresh, organic
produce right to your doorstep.
Turning her passion for healthy eating into the homegrown business 'Just Farmed,' Lehman and her husband, Brian, will begin delivering boxes of certified organic fruits and vegetables to customers in the following towns: Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Fanwood, Garwood, Mountainside, New Providence, Scotch Plains, and Westfield starting Thursday, May 9.
Lehman explained that she and her husband will be working with over 70 farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to put together a balanced offering that's easy to use.
"The whole aim of the program is to have a quick turnaround," Lehman said. "We obtain it Wednesday or Thursday and we want people to have it that day or the next day."
Delivery, priced at $34 per week, is available from 10 a.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.m to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and from 6 to 10 a.m. Fridays and will run through the first week of December. Customers can choose to take a three-week break from the program and there will be no deliveries over July 4th weekend and Thanksgiving. Just Farmed uses FDA-approved recyclable boxes that will be cold-packed so produce will remain crisp and fresh outside for a few hours, Lehman explained, adding that the boxes will be closed as well as waterproof, making them easy to take the shore for the weekend.
Spending much of her youth as a competitive gymnast, Lehman is eager to share some of her favorite healthy recipes with customers. A mom of three,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. the new business owner will also include kid-friendly and gluten-free options as well.
"I've always loved food and healthy eating and was surrounded by people who shared that passion and that's the biggest reason I decided to go this route," she explained. "I think our recipes will be unique. Some will be for the individual pieces and others can be used in combination."
Sowing the seeds for the business for the past several years, the Lehmans' ultimate goal is to be able to produce and distribute all of their own produce. Following more than two years of searching for just the right property, the couple currently has an option on a farm in Somerset County.
While she acknowledged creating a start-up is "scary," Lehman said feedback so far has been "overwhelmingly postive." Several dozen customers are already signed up and while there isn't a limit right now, Lehman said her priorities are harvest-quality and quick turnaround followed by customer service. In sales for a healthcare magazine for 12 years, the entrepreneur noted "if customers are happy,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. you're happy"
At once a sociology-minded period piece and gentle character study, "42" re-creates in large-scale, studio-worthy scope the events of Robinson's first season with the Dodgers as well as his private life.
In 1947,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. Robinson batted .297 and was named the National League rookie of the year. But "42" is less interested in the player's skills than his crucibles - a Montreal Royals minor-league game in which he responded to a hateful pitcher by cannily baiting him inFind a great selection of customkeychain deals.to a balk, or a Philadelphia Phillies contest in which Robinson was harshly taunted by Ben Chapman, the team's segregationist manager, but held his tongue.
Rachel Robinson said she warmed to the idea of a movie about her husband - always Jack, never Jackie - as the march of time and integration left a new generation increasingly ignorant of those days before the civil rights era. Though her own memories of the period remain sharp, a film, she thought, offered the opportunity to educate people growing up in Barack Obama's America about those charged days, when black fans in the South were seated separately beyond the outfield wall, and some restaurants wouldn't seat her or her husband at all.
"42" stars the Brooklyn-raised, Oxford-educated newcomer Chadwick Boseman, at once warm and stoic, pioneering and workmanlike, as Jackie Robinson, while the role of Rachel - Jackie's emotional ballast and new bride - is played with appropriate steadfastness by Nicole Beharie ("Shame"). A lively, cigar-chomping Harrison Ford portrays Dodgers President Branch Rickey, conveying a noble opportunism as he breaks baseball's color barrier for reasons both moral and capitalistic. Hamish Linklater embodies young pitcher Ralph Branca, one of Robinson's few welcoming teammates.
Rachel Robinson was an essential counterbalance to her husband, say those who knew them, including Branca, now 87 and the last surviving member of the '47 Dodgers.
"She would cool him down if he needed to be cooled down and lift him up if he needed a boost," said Branca, who served as an important resource for both Helgeland and Linklater. "People don't understand how important that was to a man who was not allowed to show his emotions." An insurance agent for more than 40 years in Westchester County, N.Y., Branca said he liked that Linklater came to see him, and he offered the young actor some advice. "I told him to get plastic surgery so he could be more handsome," he quipped.
Turning her passion for healthy eating into the homegrown business 'Just Farmed,' Lehman and her husband, Brian, will begin delivering boxes of certified organic fruits and vegetables to customers in the following towns: Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Fanwood, Garwood, Mountainside, New Providence, Scotch Plains, and Westfield starting Thursday, May 9.
Lehman explained that she and her husband will be working with over 70 farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to put together a balanced offering that's easy to use.
"The whole aim of the program is to have a quick turnaround," Lehman said. "We obtain it Wednesday or Thursday and we want people to have it that day or the next day."
Delivery, priced at $34 per week, is available from 10 a.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors.m to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and from 6 to 10 a.m. Fridays and will run through the first week of December. Customers can choose to take a three-week break from the program and there will be no deliveries over July 4th weekend and Thanksgiving. Just Farmed uses FDA-approved recyclable boxes that will be cold-packed so produce will remain crisp and fresh outside for a few hours, Lehman explained, adding that the boxes will be closed as well as waterproof, making them easy to take the shore for the weekend.
Spending much of her youth as a competitive gymnast, Lehman is eager to share some of her favorite healthy recipes with customers. A mom of three,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. the new business owner will also include kid-friendly and gluten-free options as well.
"I've always loved food and healthy eating and was surrounded by people who shared that passion and that's the biggest reason I decided to go this route," she explained. "I think our recipes will be unique. Some will be for the individual pieces and others can be used in combination."
Sowing the seeds for the business for the past several years, the Lehmans' ultimate goal is to be able to produce and distribute all of their own produce. Following more than two years of searching for just the right property, the couple currently has an option on a farm in Somerset County.
While she acknowledged creating a start-up is "scary," Lehman said feedback so far has been "overwhelmingly postive." Several dozen customers are already signed up and while there isn't a limit right now, Lehman said her priorities are harvest-quality and quick turnaround followed by customer service. In sales for a healthcare magazine for 12 years, the entrepreneur noted "if customers are happy,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. you're happy"
At once a sociology-minded period piece and gentle character study, "42" re-creates in large-scale, studio-worthy scope the events of Robinson's first season with the Dodgers as well as his private life.
In 1947,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. Robinson batted .297 and was named the National League rookie of the year. But "42" is less interested in the player's skills than his crucibles - a Montreal Royals minor-league game in which he responded to a hateful pitcher by cannily baiting him inFind a great selection of customkeychain deals.to a balk, or a Philadelphia Phillies contest in which Robinson was harshly taunted by Ben Chapman, the team's segregationist manager, but held his tongue.
Rachel Robinson said she warmed to the idea of a movie about her husband - always Jack, never Jackie - as the march of time and integration left a new generation increasingly ignorant of those days before the civil rights era. Though her own memories of the period remain sharp, a film, she thought, offered the opportunity to educate people growing up in Barack Obama's America about those charged days, when black fans in the South were seated separately beyond the outfield wall, and some restaurants wouldn't seat her or her husband at all.
"42" stars the Brooklyn-raised, Oxford-educated newcomer Chadwick Boseman, at once warm and stoic, pioneering and workmanlike, as Jackie Robinson, while the role of Rachel - Jackie's emotional ballast and new bride - is played with appropriate steadfastness by Nicole Beharie ("Shame"). A lively, cigar-chomping Harrison Ford portrays Dodgers President Branch Rickey, conveying a noble opportunism as he breaks baseball's color barrier for reasons both moral and capitalistic. Hamish Linklater embodies young pitcher Ralph Branca, one of Robinson's few welcoming teammates.
Rachel Robinson was an essential counterbalance to her husband, say those who knew them, including Branca, now 87 and the last surviving member of the '47 Dodgers.
"She would cool him down if he needed to be cooled down and lift him up if he needed a boost," said Branca, who served as an important resource for both Helgeland and Linklater. "People don't understand how important that was to a man who was not allowed to show his emotions." An insurance agent for more than 40 years in Westchester County, N.Y., Branca said he liked that Linklater came to see him, and he offered the young actor some advice. "I told him to get plastic surgery so he could be more handsome," he quipped.
Aurora library launches new tech, prepares for groundbreaking
Technology improvements and building plans are picking up speed at
the Aurora Public Library, as a new card catalog system purchased with
funding approved last year went live Thursday.
The system, called Polaris, integrates the card catalog, patron records and interlibrary loan systems and also offers the ability to search library materials, periodicals and databases all at once, Library Director Eva Luckinbill said.
"It was part of having a more state-of-the art, modern, integrated system," Luckinbill said about the switch to the new $180,000 software. "It should streamline our efficiency and make things faster and easier for the patrons."
Library staff members were trained on the system last week and rolled it out to patrons Thursday, Luckinbill said.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. While additional features will be added, she said library users already can access the card catalog from any Internet connection 24 hours a day to search for materials such as books, CDs and DVDs, or to view a list of items they have checked out or placed on hold.
"It is a more robust and user-friendly system," she said, that functions with the search features and drop-down menus Internet users have come to recognize.
The library bought Polaris using funding approved by the city council last year as part of a $30 million improvement plan. The plan calls for construction of a $27 million main library and $3 million in technology upgrades for the main library, Eola Road Branch, West Branch and Express Center.
A $10.8 million state grant is helping fund the new building, which is set for a groundbreaking May 1.
Next steps in the technology component of the plan include tagging all items for easier tracking through Polaris and developing a community profile that allows civic clubs to enter information about their organizations so it can show up in database search results.
Luckinbill said librarians later this month will begin what's expected to be a six-month process of tagging every item with a tracking chip. Once all items are tagged, the chips will connect with the Polaris system to check in and sort items so staff can transfer them from one location to another more quickly.
Library board member John Savage said during last year's funding discussions the library aims to complete transfer requests within four business hours 95 percent of the time.
Another new feature of the Polaris software, a community profile, is what Luckinbill called the "selling point." She said the feature will allow groups like the Rotary Club to enter information about their history and purpose.When describing the location of the problematic howotipper. That way, people searching for polio, for example, would find not only books and medical journals on the disease, but also information about the Rotary Club's involvement in fighting it.
IN 1999 an 18-year-old called Shawn Fanning changed the music industry for ever. He developed a service,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. Napster, that allowed individuals to swap music files with one another, instead of buying pricey compact discs from record labels. Lawsuits followed and in July 2001 Napster was shut down. But the idea lives on, in the form of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer filesharers; the Napster brand is still used by a legal music-downloading service.
The story of Napster helps to explain the excitement about Bitcoin, a digital currency, that is based on similar technology. In January a unit of Bitcoin cost around $15 (Bitcoins can be broken down to eight decimal places for small transactions). By the time The Economist went to press on April 11th, it had settled at $179, taking the value of all Bitcoins in circulation to $2 billion. Bitcoin has become one of the worlds hottest investments, a bubble inflated by social media, loose capital in search of the newest new thing and perhaps even by bank depositors unnerved by recent events in Cyprus.
Bitcoins inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a mysterious hacker (or a group of hackers) who created it in 2009 and disappeared from the internet some time in 2010. The currencys early adopters have tended to be tech-loving libertarians and gold bugs, determined to break free of government control. The most infamous place where Bitcoin is used is Silk Road, a marketplace hidden in an anonymised part of the web called Tor. Users order goodstypically illegal drugsand pay with Bitcoins.
Some legal businesses have started to accept Bitcoins. Among them are Reddit, a social-media site,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. and WordPress, which provides web hosting and software for bloggers. The appeal for merchants is strong. Firms such as BitPay offer spot-price conversion into dollars. Fees are typically far less than those charged by credit-card companies or banks, particularly for orders from abroad. And Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, so frauds cannot leave retailers out of pocket.
Yet for Bitcoins to go mainstream much has to happen, says Fred Ehrsam, the co-developer of Coinbase,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. a Californian Bitcoin exchange and wallet service, where users can store their digital fortune. Getting hold of Bitcoins for the first time is difficult. Using them is fiddly. They can be stolen by hackers or just lost, like dollar bills in a washing machine. Several Bitcoin exchanges have suffered thefts and crashes over the past two years.
The system, called Polaris, integrates the card catalog, patron records and interlibrary loan systems and also offers the ability to search library materials, periodicals and databases all at once, Library Director Eva Luckinbill said.
"It was part of having a more state-of-the art, modern, integrated system," Luckinbill said about the switch to the new $180,000 software. "It should streamline our efficiency and make things faster and easier for the patrons."
Library staff members were trained on the system last week and rolled it out to patrons Thursday, Luckinbill said.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. While additional features will be added, she said library users already can access the card catalog from any Internet connection 24 hours a day to search for materials such as books, CDs and DVDs, or to view a list of items they have checked out or placed on hold.
"It is a more robust and user-friendly system," she said, that functions with the search features and drop-down menus Internet users have come to recognize.
The library bought Polaris using funding approved by the city council last year as part of a $30 million improvement plan. The plan calls for construction of a $27 million main library and $3 million in technology upgrades for the main library, Eola Road Branch, West Branch and Express Center.
A $10.8 million state grant is helping fund the new building, which is set for a groundbreaking May 1.
Next steps in the technology component of the plan include tagging all items for easier tracking through Polaris and developing a community profile that allows civic clubs to enter information about their organizations so it can show up in database search results.
Luckinbill said librarians later this month will begin what's expected to be a six-month process of tagging every item with a tracking chip. Once all items are tagged, the chips will connect with the Polaris system to check in and sort items so staff can transfer them from one location to another more quickly.
Library board member John Savage said during last year's funding discussions the library aims to complete transfer requests within four business hours 95 percent of the time.
Another new feature of the Polaris software, a community profile, is what Luckinbill called the "selling point." She said the feature will allow groups like the Rotary Club to enter information about their history and purpose.When describing the location of the problematic howotipper. That way, people searching for polio, for example, would find not only books and medical journals on the disease, but also information about the Rotary Club's involvement in fighting it.
IN 1999 an 18-year-old called Shawn Fanning changed the music industry for ever. He developed a service,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. Napster, that allowed individuals to swap music files with one another, instead of buying pricey compact discs from record labels. Lawsuits followed and in July 2001 Napster was shut down. But the idea lives on, in the form of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer filesharers; the Napster brand is still used by a legal music-downloading service.
The story of Napster helps to explain the excitement about Bitcoin, a digital currency, that is based on similar technology. In January a unit of Bitcoin cost around $15 (Bitcoins can be broken down to eight decimal places for small transactions). By the time The Economist went to press on April 11th, it had settled at $179, taking the value of all Bitcoins in circulation to $2 billion. Bitcoin has become one of the worlds hottest investments, a bubble inflated by social media, loose capital in search of the newest new thing and perhaps even by bank depositors unnerved by recent events in Cyprus.
Bitcoins inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a mysterious hacker (or a group of hackers) who created it in 2009 and disappeared from the internet some time in 2010. The currencys early adopters have tended to be tech-loving libertarians and gold bugs, determined to break free of government control. The most infamous place where Bitcoin is used is Silk Road, a marketplace hidden in an anonymised part of the web called Tor. Users order goodstypically illegal drugsand pay with Bitcoins.
Some legal businesses have started to accept Bitcoins. Among them are Reddit, a social-media site,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. and WordPress, which provides web hosting and software for bloggers. The appeal for merchants is strong. Firms such as BitPay offer spot-price conversion into dollars. Fees are typically far less than those charged by credit-card companies or banks, particularly for orders from abroad. And Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, so frauds cannot leave retailers out of pocket.
Yet for Bitcoins to go mainstream much has to happen, says Fred Ehrsam, the co-developer of Coinbase,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. a Californian Bitcoin exchange and wallet service, where users can store their digital fortune. Getting hold of Bitcoins for the first time is difficult. Using them is fiddly. They can be stolen by hackers or just lost, like dollar bills in a washing machine. Several Bitcoin exchanges have suffered thefts and crashes over the past two years.
America's tax reform moment
As the lights burn late and bright this week in American households
striving to meet Mondays federal income tax deadline, signs suggest it
may be possible for Americas warring ideological tribes to agree on the
first major reform in a generation of the overcomplicated,
loophole-ridden and highly regressive tax system.
Its hardly springtime for tax reform, mind you: the Republican and Democratic parties, by and large, still hold radically different visions of how taxation should be adjusted to fund government, halt (or at least slow) the accumulation of national debt, all while spurring economic growth,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. innovation and economic recovery.
But important voices on both sides of the American political divide appear to agree on one thing; something must be done to provide relief to middle and lower income families whose net worth has barely kept pace with inflation over the past three decades even as incomes for those at the top have rocketed skyward.
In the past several weeks, as much of the media has focused on fraught negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the draconian budget cuts of the sequester, immigration reform, the emotional gun control debate and the looming deadline for raising the national debt ceiling, a dialogue between centrist members from both parties has created momentum for the first genuine overhaul of the US income tax system since 1986. Nothing could do more to address the long-term fiscal health of the country as well as the solvency of the vast majority of its middle and low income households than a comprehensive reform and simplification of the way the government raises revenues.
I think we are making progress, Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and 2008 GOP presidential candidate, said last week of bipartisan tax reform talks. Theres an environment of cooperation.
In part, this reflects tactical shifts in both parties. Republicans,Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. having lost another election to Barack Obama, appear to be backing away from the obstructionist strategy embraced after he first came to office. Obama, meanwhile, has put some meager meat on the bones of his 2011 promise to consider reigning in the growth of popular entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social Security.
His 2014 budget would further raise taxes on top earners, in exchange for reduced payments to Medicare providers and lower cost-of-living adjustments paid to Social Security beneficiaries. This is all subject to Congressional approval, of course, but looks to be the start of bargaining over the grand bargain the hopes will reverse the exponential growth in inequality in America since the 1980s.
This week, the strongest signal yet of the kind of compromise that is in the works emerged from two influential lawmakers, Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee, and Dave Camp, R-Mich., the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. In a jointly written op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, they embraced the compromise Obama has suggested; in effect, restoring some progressiveness to the tax code by raising rates on the highest earners, particularly by ending the special treatment that professional investors get that allows them to pay on 15 percent on capital gains or dividend income.
Additionally, a reform of corporate taxes would lower rates to 28 percent from 35 percent, but close virtually all loopholes, effectively raising the amount of revenue brought in since so many large companies manage the game the current system with lobbyists and high-priced tax advisors.
The plan, the lawmakers wrote, will "look to close loopholes like those used by some lawyers and celebrities to avoid paying the payroll tax on much of their earnings (and) make sure that companies can't avoid paying tax on income they earn in the US by pretending that they earned it in an overseas tax haven instead."
In spite of the hopeful talk, major fights loom. Some in both parties would like to limit deductions for charitable donations; others argue that the ability to write of mortgage interest on a primary residence has become a distorting factor C in effect, one of the causes of the housing bubble of the last decade C and should be phased out. Either would mobilize powerful interests against the proposed reform.
Democrats, meanwhile, will insist that another look be taken at top rates, citing the need to redress decades of lost ground suffered by middle and lower income families. The deal struck between President Obama and House Republicans at the New Year returned the top rate to 39.6 percent for families making over $450,000 C but this remains a long way behind top rates in most industrialized countries, including those like the UK (45 percent) which have decided to use tax policy to tackle the income disparities that have opened in recent decades, and Sweden (57 percent) where income inequality is the lowest in the industrialized world.
Some have gone further. France, in a move widely regarded as political grandstanding by economists,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. raised its top rate to 75 percent, prompting the actor Gerard Depardieu to renounce his passport and seek tax haven status in Russia. Threats of similar moves by major financial firms and millionaires followed rate rises in the UK, too, but so far the star of Green Card and other comedies appears to be more an exception than a rule. Studies indicate for all the hand wringing, few actually follow through on such threats.
As GlobalPost has revealed in our series, "The Great Divide,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs." income inequality is hardly an American phenomenon. Over the past several decades, for reasons ranging from globalization, to immigration, to the collapse of communism, rising capacity in the emerging markets and the revolution in information technology, income inequality has increased in most modern, industrialized nations.
Using the standard economic measure of income inequality known as the Gini coefficient, GlobalPost correspondents showed that many American cities now rank so poorly that they now have statistical doppelgangers in the emerging world cities in countries just emerging from decades of dictatorship, dysfunction or worse whose income disparities precisely mirror those of American communities.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. Greenwich, Connecticut one of the most prosperous places in America is on par in terms of income inequality with Bangkok, Thailand, one of Asias least equitable societies. The oil town of Big Spring, Texas and Nigeria share disturbing similarities, and, ironically, so do the residents of Washington, DC and the capital city of the empire it supposedly vanquished, Moscow. The list goes on.
These comparisons revealed shocking similarities that raise disturbing questions about where US society and policy went wrong. How, an increasing number of people of both political persuasions are asking, did a nation where household income levels became more and more equal between 1946 and 1978 find itself with a population where income is distributed as unequally as it is in Turkey?
Its hardly springtime for tax reform, mind you: the Republican and Democratic parties, by and large, still hold radically different visions of how taxation should be adjusted to fund government, halt (or at least slow) the accumulation of national debt, all while spurring economic growth,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. innovation and economic recovery.
But important voices on both sides of the American political divide appear to agree on one thing; something must be done to provide relief to middle and lower income families whose net worth has barely kept pace with inflation over the past three decades even as incomes for those at the top have rocketed skyward.
In the past several weeks, as much of the media has focused on fraught negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the draconian budget cuts of the sequester, immigration reform, the emotional gun control debate and the looming deadline for raising the national debt ceiling, a dialogue between centrist members from both parties has created momentum for the first genuine overhaul of the US income tax system since 1986. Nothing could do more to address the long-term fiscal health of the country as well as the solvency of the vast majority of its middle and low income households than a comprehensive reform and simplification of the way the government raises revenues.
I think we are making progress, Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and 2008 GOP presidential candidate, said last week of bipartisan tax reform talks. Theres an environment of cooperation.
In part, this reflects tactical shifts in both parties. Republicans,Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. having lost another election to Barack Obama, appear to be backing away from the obstructionist strategy embraced after he first came to office. Obama, meanwhile, has put some meager meat on the bones of his 2011 promise to consider reigning in the growth of popular entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social Security.
His 2014 budget would further raise taxes on top earners, in exchange for reduced payments to Medicare providers and lower cost-of-living adjustments paid to Social Security beneficiaries. This is all subject to Congressional approval, of course, but looks to be the start of bargaining over the grand bargain the hopes will reverse the exponential growth in inequality in America since the 1980s.
This week, the strongest signal yet of the kind of compromise that is in the works emerged from two influential lawmakers, Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee, and Dave Camp, R-Mich., the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. In a jointly written op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, they embraced the compromise Obama has suggested; in effect, restoring some progressiveness to the tax code by raising rates on the highest earners, particularly by ending the special treatment that professional investors get that allows them to pay on 15 percent on capital gains or dividend income.
Additionally, a reform of corporate taxes would lower rates to 28 percent from 35 percent, but close virtually all loopholes, effectively raising the amount of revenue brought in since so many large companies manage the game the current system with lobbyists and high-priced tax advisors.
The plan, the lawmakers wrote, will "look to close loopholes like those used by some lawyers and celebrities to avoid paying the payroll tax on much of their earnings (and) make sure that companies can't avoid paying tax on income they earn in the US by pretending that they earned it in an overseas tax haven instead."
In spite of the hopeful talk, major fights loom. Some in both parties would like to limit deductions for charitable donations; others argue that the ability to write of mortgage interest on a primary residence has become a distorting factor C in effect, one of the causes of the housing bubble of the last decade C and should be phased out. Either would mobilize powerful interests against the proposed reform.
Democrats, meanwhile, will insist that another look be taken at top rates, citing the need to redress decades of lost ground suffered by middle and lower income families. The deal struck between President Obama and House Republicans at the New Year returned the top rate to 39.6 percent for families making over $450,000 C but this remains a long way behind top rates in most industrialized countries, including those like the UK (45 percent) which have decided to use tax policy to tackle the income disparities that have opened in recent decades, and Sweden (57 percent) where income inequality is the lowest in the industrialized world.
Some have gone further. France, in a move widely regarded as political grandstanding by economists,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. raised its top rate to 75 percent, prompting the actor Gerard Depardieu to renounce his passport and seek tax haven status in Russia. Threats of similar moves by major financial firms and millionaires followed rate rises in the UK, too, but so far the star of Green Card and other comedies appears to be more an exception than a rule. Studies indicate for all the hand wringing, few actually follow through on such threats.
As GlobalPost has revealed in our series, "The Great Divide,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs." income inequality is hardly an American phenomenon. Over the past several decades, for reasons ranging from globalization, to immigration, to the collapse of communism, rising capacity in the emerging markets and the revolution in information technology, income inequality has increased in most modern, industrialized nations.
Using the standard economic measure of income inequality known as the Gini coefficient, GlobalPost correspondents showed that many American cities now rank so poorly that they now have statistical doppelgangers in the emerging world cities in countries just emerging from decades of dictatorship, dysfunction or worse whose income disparities precisely mirror those of American communities.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. Greenwich, Connecticut one of the most prosperous places in America is on par in terms of income inequality with Bangkok, Thailand, one of Asias least equitable societies. The oil town of Big Spring, Texas and Nigeria share disturbing similarities, and, ironically, so do the residents of Washington, DC and the capital city of the empire it supposedly vanquished, Moscow. The list goes on.
These comparisons revealed shocking similarities that raise disturbing questions about where US society and policy went wrong. How, an increasing number of people of both political persuasions are asking, did a nation where household income levels became more and more equal between 1946 and 1978 find itself with a population where income is distributed as unequally as it is in Turkey?
Social Welfare And the Future of Indonesia
The election of Joko Widodo as Jakarta governor is rightly seen as
heralding a new kind of politics.Solar Sister is a network of women who
sell bottegawallet to
communities that don't have access to electricity. As a political
outsider, his fresh approach to practical issues like public transport,
flooding and clean water demonstrated a keen familiarity with the
concerns of most Indonesians. The campaign itself was positive and
youthful, built around a personality that was modest and authoritative.
And his victory, despite running with a deputy gubernatorial candidate
of “double minority” status (both Chinese-Indonesian and Christian),
sends a strong message that democracy is alive.We have a wide selection
of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs.
Significantly, the campaign of the man better known as Jokowi emphasized social welfare. The new governor has introduced the Jakarta Health Card (KJS), which provides free access to medical services, and the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP), which provides a monthly stipend for school fees. Related measures, including low-cost apartments and minimum wage rises, are part of the platform.
The promise of Jokonomics is evident. Increasing the minimum wage, against the persistent lobbying of big business, is a necessary tool to narrow the gap between price inflation and purchasing power. Access to health and education has improved dramatically. This effort at equality of opportunity is important because it allows talent and hard work to be rewarded.
On the other hand, constraints to increased welfare are emerging. City-owned hospitals have been inundated by patients seeking free healthcare, with an approximately 70 percent increase in patients in some wards. In many areas, people waited in lines from 5 AM on.Even deaths have been reported due to inadequate treatment from overcrowding. Such resource constraints are understandable and will take time to catch up.
Another bigger question is fiscal sustainability. Jokowi’s KJS will, in its inaugural year, add to the Jakarta budget around Rp. 900 bn in a total budget of Rp. 50 tn. This figure will undoubtedly grow as we create new capacity to fix overcrowding, and as population ages.
Who will pay for it and what taxes will be raised? With politicians focused on the next electoral cycle and civil servants for the most part lacking sophisticated modeling capabilities, few are thinking about the long term.
Jokonomics is important because it is a microcosm of what is happening on a national scale. In fact, it is part of the broader ramp-up of social spending in Indonesia. In 2004, a law was passed authorizing the creation of the National Social Security System (SJSN), the foundation of the new Indonesian welfare state. SJSN — scheduled for 2019 implementation — encompasses anti-poverty, health and pension programs.
Second, government spending will increase dramatically, from about 19 percent of GDP today to something closer to 30 percent — like Malaysia today. Depending on the number of people to be covered by the programs (as yet undecided), total government spending for pensions, health care and old-age savings could jump by nearly 9 times over 50 years, potentially blowing out the budget. As life expectancies increase and the working population ratio decreases, what seems sustainable at first may become steadily less so.
Third, as the public acclimates to low-priced social services, the programs will develop a prestige and momentum of their own, becoming effectively unrepealable. Future reformists trying to improve the system’s sustainability may be attacked for trying to “privatize” essential services.
Fourth, the state will likely become a major actor in the economy. A vast centralized procurement bureaucracy for all sorts of pharmaceutical, disability care, and financial services will develop, with significant possibilities for corruption and market inefficiencies.
This is a very strong critique of a program that has not, after all, started.A solarstreetlight is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. But undeniably, this is also the normal way welfare states have developed all over the world, not just in the West but also in Asian countries like India, Japan and Malaysia — all of which have prohibitive debt-to-GDP ratios.
First, the principle of inter-generational sustainability. Fairness and justice are not just about redistribution today, but also about what is fair for our children and their future generations. Subsidizing welfare is pointless if that means consuming future income from the next generation and saddling our children with debt.
An independent commission of experts should be set up to cost social programs, project tax revenues and economic growth — in line with the US Office of Management and Budget. Programs must be revenue neutral: for example, the SJSN should only be rolled out as energy subsidies are eliminated.
Second, we need policies that incorporate market prices to provide a disincentive against overconsumption. This was the fall of the US health care system. Patients weren’t paying for enough of the cost of health care, so they overconsumed, doctors had no competitive environment to keep them innovative, and the hospitals were also happy to keep their beds full.
Third, we need better budget reporting from the state. Without a reliable budgeting system, nothing can be measured, and what isn’t measured, most often isn’t achieved. At the moment nobody can fully track central government welfare spending. The “social assistance” (bantuan sosial) category overstates social spending because it includes education programs (like School Operational Aid, or BOS), but not state pension programs.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. The other indicator, “social protection” (perlindungan sosial), is too narrow, and does notinclude most welfare programs.
These are massive changes and the next few years are crucial. If we can implement them sustainably, we will have created a more prosperous and fairer society. If not,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. our failure will haunt us for generations to come.
Today, at Universitas Pelita Harapan, Jokowi will be delivering his first university public lecture as governor. We are proud to welcome him and hope to contribute to his vision for a new Jakarta. We should harness this energy for the betterment of Indonesia, but keep in mind the perils of welfare, lest we fall into the trappings of our European cousins, mired in debt, social upheaval, economic chaos, and
geopolitical decline.
Significantly, the campaign of the man better known as Jokowi emphasized social welfare. The new governor has introduced the Jakarta Health Card (KJS), which provides free access to medical services, and the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP), which provides a monthly stipend for school fees. Related measures, including low-cost apartments and minimum wage rises, are part of the platform.
The promise of Jokonomics is evident. Increasing the minimum wage, against the persistent lobbying of big business, is a necessary tool to narrow the gap between price inflation and purchasing power. Access to health and education has improved dramatically. This effort at equality of opportunity is important because it allows talent and hard work to be rewarded.
On the other hand, constraints to increased welfare are emerging. City-owned hospitals have been inundated by patients seeking free healthcare, with an approximately 70 percent increase in patients in some wards. In many areas, people waited in lines from 5 AM on.Even deaths have been reported due to inadequate treatment from overcrowding. Such resource constraints are understandable and will take time to catch up.
Another bigger question is fiscal sustainability. Jokowi’s KJS will, in its inaugural year, add to the Jakarta budget around Rp. 900 bn in a total budget of Rp. 50 tn. This figure will undoubtedly grow as we create new capacity to fix overcrowding, and as population ages.
Who will pay for it and what taxes will be raised? With politicians focused on the next electoral cycle and civil servants for the most part lacking sophisticated modeling capabilities, few are thinking about the long term.
Jokonomics is important because it is a microcosm of what is happening on a national scale. In fact, it is part of the broader ramp-up of social spending in Indonesia. In 2004, a law was passed authorizing the creation of the National Social Security System (SJSN), the foundation of the new Indonesian welfare state. SJSN — scheduled for 2019 implementation — encompasses anti-poverty, health and pension programs.
Second, government spending will increase dramatically, from about 19 percent of GDP today to something closer to 30 percent — like Malaysia today. Depending on the number of people to be covered by the programs (as yet undecided), total government spending for pensions, health care and old-age savings could jump by nearly 9 times over 50 years, potentially blowing out the budget. As life expectancies increase and the working population ratio decreases, what seems sustainable at first may become steadily less so.
Third, as the public acclimates to low-priced social services, the programs will develop a prestige and momentum of their own, becoming effectively unrepealable. Future reformists trying to improve the system’s sustainability may be attacked for trying to “privatize” essential services.
Fourth, the state will likely become a major actor in the economy. A vast centralized procurement bureaucracy for all sorts of pharmaceutical, disability care, and financial services will develop, with significant possibilities for corruption and market inefficiencies.
This is a very strong critique of a program that has not, after all, started.A solarstreetlight is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. But undeniably, this is also the normal way welfare states have developed all over the world, not just in the West but also in Asian countries like India, Japan and Malaysia — all of which have prohibitive debt-to-GDP ratios.
First, the principle of inter-generational sustainability. Fairness and justice are not just about redistribution today, but also about what is fair for our children and their future generations. Subsidizing welfare is pointless if that means consuming future income from the next generation and saddling our children with debt.
An independent commission of experts should be set up to cost social programs, project tax revenues and economic growth — in line with the US Office of Management and Budget. Programs must be revenue neutral: for example, the SJSN should only be rolled out as energy subsidies are eliminated.
Second, we need policies that incorporate market prices to provide a disincentive against overconsumption. This was the fall of the US health care system. Patients weren’t paying for enough of the cost of health care, so they overconsumed, doctors had no competitive environment to keep them innovative, and the hospitals were also happy to keep their beds full.
Third, we need better budget reporting from the state. Without a reliable budgeting system, nothing can be measured, and what isn’t measured, most often isn’t achieved. At the moment nobody can fully track central government welfare spending. The “social assistance” (bantuan sosial) category overstates social spending because it includes education programs (like School Operational Aid, or BOS), but not state pension programs.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. The other indicator, “social protection” (perlindungan sosial), is too narrow, and does notinclude most welfare programs.
These are massive changes and the next few years are crucial. If we can implement them sustainably, we will have created a more prosperous and fairer society. If not,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. our failure will haunt us for generations to come.
Today, at Universitas Pelita Harapan, Jokowi will be delivering his first university public lecture as governor. We are proud to welcome him and hope to contribute to his vision for a new Jakarta. We should harness this energy for the betterment of Indonesia, but keep in mind the perils of welfare, lest we fall into the trappings of our European cousins, mired in debt, social upheaval, economic chaos, and
geopolitical decline.
2013年4月9日 星期二
How the smartphone is changing how you pay for stuff
Now, after adopting e-payment technology from one of the many players
jockeying for position in this new market, both Spina and the customers
who want to use credit cards at his Italian pasta truck are much
happier.
Late last year, Spina signed up for Square, the tiny credit card reader that attaches to a smartphone and was the brainchild of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and his vision of making commerce "easy for everyone."
For a small merchant such as Spina, however, just gaining access to the mobile pay world was a huge step.
Spina estimates that one in every five of his customers looking for his gnocchi bolognese or bacon carbonara pays by a credit card run through his iPhone a marked change from the days when perhaps one in 10 potential customers left empty-handed because he wasn't accepting plastic.
Spina is the kind of merchant Dorsey and his Square co-founder Jim McKelvey were hoping would sign up after the card reader arrived in Canada its first stop outside the U.S. five months ago.
Square isn't releasing specific data on the uptake in Canada, but Dorsey says "it's been amazing to watch" how adoption of the reader and its accompanying Square Register app have taken off.
Square's adoption also ran into an unexpected factor, but one that plays into so much of Canadian life: the weather.Manufactures and supplies smartcard equipment.
"In the United States, we saw a lot of food trucks and food carts signing up immediately, but when we launched in Canada, we launched in a cold time so we didn't see a lot of that type of merchant. But we expect that to change as we go into spring and summer, and go into all the festivals that places like Montreal have for instance."
As much as Square has opened up retail potential for merchants such as Spina, it has limitations no debit capability, no chip-and-pin technology, no capability on BlackBerry smartphones which reflect how tricky and fragmented the Canadian mobile payment system is.
Interac also wants to evolve and sees its recent announcement as an important step, says Avinash Chidambaram, the company's director of mobile programs.
A partnership involving McDonald's Restaurants, RBC Royal Bank, Moneris Solutions and BlackBerry will give some customers the chance to buy smaller-value items such as Big Macs and McMuffins by debit with the wave of a smartphone at an Interac Flash terminal.
"Generally, younger people like to use debit," says Chidambaram, who notes that 56 per cent of all point-of-sale transactions through Interac's network are debit.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other lacedress products.
Unlike Square, Interac's technology is built around chip-and-pin, something Chidambaram says has been responsible for a reduction in card fraud.
"We've been very careful in developing this technology and ensuring we're leveraging a lot of the security features and capabilities that we've already put into our network and our products."
For all the action taking place in the mobile payment market, however, widespread adoption and usage of phones for payment is still sometime down the road.
"We're still very much in the early days," says Macdonald. "The first generation of NFC wallets that's coming out right now are very much just replicating what a physical card does,The Motorola streetlight Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. and then linking it into the mobile banking experience of that particular bank.
"The path to one wallet,Of all the equipment in the laundry the plasticmoulds is one of the largest consumers of steam. one application on your phone that holds all of your receipts and keeps track of your spending and helps you make payment from whatever card you want, is still going to be a couple of iterations away."
Chuck Lane has a very good column about this new form of abuse in the Washington Post today. The Clinton welfare reformTemporary Aid to Needy Familiesremains what it was: a humane way to move people from dependency to work.Manufacturer of the Jacobs affordablewedding. But a great many people have done an end-run around the system, checking into Social Security Disabilitywhich has no work requirementand never checking out.
Now, to be sure, there are workers who fit the programs inevitable intent: older workers who suffer serious injuries and need support until they reach the age of eligibility for social security. There are others whose medical or mental disabilities make them clearly unable to work. But the government has gotten sloppy about admissions. Remember, a good chunk of people receiving welfare simply disappeared when the work requirement was added. The reason? They already had full-time jobs in the black or grey markets. It took a while, but a great many of those folks finally figured out there was another scam to be hadsocial security disability.
An argument can be made that it was humane to expand the SSD acceptance rate after the housing crash of 2008. There were no jobs to be had. But we are in recovery nowand scamming the system is never a good idea. The neighbors inevitably figure out who is gaming the system. The stories grow and become exaggeratedIve heard specific tales of abuse all over America on my road trips. Faith in the federal government is shattered as a result.
And so, the system needs to be reformed. It needs to be prioritized, just as the VA disability system does. The 55-year-old construction who hurt his back has my sympathyId be in favor of lowering the eligibility age for both Medicare and Social Security a few years in such cases. But there are plenty of non-back-breaking jobs that construction worker can hold in the interim.
Late last year, Spina signed up for Square, the tiny credit card reader that attaches to a smartphone and was the brainchild of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and his vision of making commerce "easy for everyone."
For a small merchant such as Spina, however, just gaining access to the mobile pay world was a huge step.
Spina estimates that one in every five of his customers looking for his gnocchi bolognese or bacon carbonara pays by a credit card run through his iPhone a marked change from the days when perhaps one in 10 potential customers left empty-handed because he wasn't accepting plastic.
Spina is the kind of merchant Dorsey and his Square co-founder Jim McKelvey were hoping would sign up after the card reader arrived in Canada its first stop outside the U.S. five months ago.
Square isn't releasing specific data on the uptake in Canada, but Dorsey says "it's been amazing to watch" how adoption of the reader and its accompanying Square Register app have taken off.
Square's adoption also ran into an unexpected factor, but one that plays into so much of Canadian life: the weather.Manufactures and supplies smartcard equipment.
"In the United States, we saw a lot of food trucks and food carts signing up immediately, but when we launched in Canada, we launched in a cold time so we didn't see a lot of that type of merchant. But we expect that to change as we go into spring and summer, and go into all the festivals that places like Montreal have for instance."
As much as Square has opened up retail potential for merchants such as Spina, it has limitations no debit capability, no chip-and-pin technology, no capability on BlackBerry smartphones which reflect how tricky and fragmented the Canadian mobile payment system is.
Interac also wants to evolve and sees its recent announcement as an important step, says Avinash Chidambaram, the company's director of mobile programs.
A partnership involving McDonald's Restaurants, RBC Royal Bank, Moneris Solutions and BlackBerry will give some customers the chance to buy smaller-value items such as Big Macs and McMuffins by debit with the wave of a smartphone at an Interac Flash terminal.
"Generally, younger people like to use debit," says Chidambaram, who notes that 56 per cent of all point-of-sale transactions through Interac's network are debit.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other lacedress products.
Unlike Square, Interac's technology is built around chip-and-pin, something Chidambaram says has been responsible for a reduction in card fraud.
"We've been very careful in developing this technology and ensuring we're leveraging a lot of the security features and capabilities that we've already put into our network and our products."
For all the action taking place in the mobile payment market, however, widespread adoption and usage of phones for payment is still sometime down the road.
"We're still very much in the early days," says Macdonald. "The first generation of NFC wallets that's coming out right now are very much just replicating what a physical card does,The Motorola streetlight Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. and then linking it into the mobile banking experience of that particular bank.
"The path to one wallet,Of all the equipment in the laundry the plasticmoulds is one of the largest consumers of steam. one application on your phone that holds all of your receipts and keeps track of your spending and helps you make payment from whatever card you want, is still going to be a couple of iterations away."
Chuck Lane has a very good column about this new form of abuse in the Washington Post today. The Clinton welfare reformTemporary Aid to Needy Familiesremains what it was: a humane way to move people from dependency to work.Manufacturer of the Jacobs affordablewedding. But a great many people have done an end-run around the system, checking into Social Security Disabilitywhich has no work requirementand never checking out.
Now, to be sure, there are workers who fit the programs inevitable intent: older workers who suffer serious injuries and need support until they reach the age of eligibility for social security. There are others whose medical or mental disabilities make them clearly unable to work. But the government has gotten sloppy about admissions. Remember, a good chunk of people receiving welfare simply disappeared when the work requirement was added. The reason? They already had full-time jobs in the black or grey markets. It took a while, but a great many of those folks finally figured out there was another scam to be hadsocial security disability.
An argument can be made that it was humane to expand the SSD acceptance rate after the housing crash of 2008. There were no jobs to be had. But we are in recovery nowand scamming the system is never a good idea. The neighbors inevitably figure out who is gaming the system. The stories grow and become exaggeratedIve heard specific tales of abuse all over America on my road trips. Faith in the federal government is shattered as a result.
And so, the system needs to be reformed. It needs to be prioritized, just as the VA disability system does. The 55-year-old construction who hurt his back has my sympathyId be in favor of lowering the eligibility age for both Medicare and Social Security a few years in such cases. But there are plenty of non-back-breaking jobs that construction worker can hold in the interim.
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