HP is leading the way through microenterprise development.
(NewsUSA) - As many entrepreneurs in America know, starting up a small business and finding long-term success can be an incredibly difficult task. According to the “Monthly Labor Review,” only 44 percent of small businesses survive more than four years -; leaving 56 percent that may have the drive to excel but just can’t make ends meet.
Small businesses are very important to America’s working economy, however. The “Monthly Labor Review” also reported that small businesses employ half of all private-sector employees and generate 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually. Because one of the big reasons that small businesses become successful is an ample supply of capital, more big businesses are realizing that investing in microenterprises -; businesses that have five or fewer employees and seed capital of $35,000 or less -; not only improves the chance of hard-working businesses reaching their own goals, but it also improves the country’s overall economic growth.
Larger corporations like HP, itself a garage start-up nearly 70 years ago, recognize the important role these businesses play in the economy and the community. And HP recently awarded more than $5 million in cash, equipment and training resources to non-profit organizations serving small businesses in underserved communities across the globe.
The Microenterprise Development Grants provide start-up assistance, business training, access to capital and advice to entrepreneurs and very small businesses in underserved communities. The awards are focused on providing technology access for entrepreneurs and training for microentrepreneurs in the use of technology to build and grow their businesses.
In the United States, the HP Microenterprise Development Grants are worth $56,000 and include office items such as HP wireless notebook computers, printers, digital cameras, digital projectors and $20,000 in cash to be used toward the purchase of relevant software, equipment configuration and other expenses. Recipient organizations also receive the HP-sponsored small business technology training curriculum, “Smart Technology for a Smarter Business,” and are included in a learning community of HP Microenterprise Development Program grant recipients, facilitated by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO).
“HP is improving economic viability and quality of life for individuals and communities around the world through investments of HP resources and technology,” said Yvonne Hunt, vice president of Global Philanthropy for HP. “These grants represent one channel for us to support economic development to accelerate entrepreneurial growth and success.”
With the efficiency and effectiveness of microenterprises improving daily with help from big business, entrepreneurs can start making their small business dreams a reality. For more information, visit http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/programs/microenterprise/recipients.html.
(ARA) - Most people have come to understand that it is important to choose a complex password and to change their passwords often in order to protect their privacy and information. But security professionals now believe that passwords simply don’t work anymore.
There are too many ways for passwords to be compromised for people to trust this thin layer of protection. The Internet is now filled with technologies specifically designed to capture your password. “Phishing” sites that mimic familiar sites and keystroke loggers that track the information you type are now part of the landscape of the Internet.
People are becoming more aware that it’s not good enough to simply be very careful with the passwords that are used for important accounts or Web sites. Most people use the same or very similar passwords across many Web sites and therefore, when a password is captured, it can be used to access many things.
A recent survey found that 70 percent of IT professionals thought passwords were not secure. These same people admitted that one in five companies had already had a security breach that allowed private information to get into the wrong hands. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission claims that consumers lost more than $5 billion to identity theft in 2007 and businesses lost far more.
“Consumers need to become more aware of the danger of relying exclusively on passwords to protect their personal information; and Web sites need to provide simple and inexpensive ways for consumers to protect themselves,” says Evan Conway, chief identity officer of Positive Networks, a company that specializes in working with companies and Web sites to ensure that privacy and information is protected.
One approach, he explains, to having a more secure site is a concept called two-factor authentication. The idea is that prior to allowing someone access to an account, a Web site or application checks two separate things for identity verification.
“Not only does the consumer need to have the password, but must also have an additional method to prove their identity,” says Conway. Sites that use Positive Networks’ PhoneFactor (www.phonefactor.com) technology, will instantly ring either the customer’s mobile or landline phone when someone signs onto an application or Web site. The password is verified just like normal and then the user must answer an instant automatic phone call to gain access. It only takes seconds and generally comes at no cost to the consumer. In additional to preventing unauthorized access, it proactively notifies a consumer if there is a fraudulent attempt to gain access being made.
Other approaches require consumers to carry a special physical “token” with them that provides a constantly changing additional password to verify. While generally quite secure, this approach can be expensive and requires consumers to carry an extra device. Biometric technologies such as fingerprint readers and retinal scans are no longer science fiction and have been implemented in some cases. While adding appropriate security, they also bring a high cost and require additional devices to be available to make the verification.
While the risk of a breach is expensive for consumers and companies, bad publicity is also driving companies to make these improvements. Stories develop almost daily regarding issues of identity theft and privacy loss caused by failures of businesses to protect their customers. The Wall Street Journal reported on April 29, 2008, that a series of national medical organizations, including health plans and medical facilities, had privacy breaches. Beyond the cost issues associated with these breaches, the loss of trust can provide additional challenges and legal issues for these types of organizations.
What is clear is that it will take a combined effort to protect your identity and privacy. Technology providers continue to offer solutions that are much easier for consumers and businesses. Businesses and Web sites must implement solutions and actively promote them to their users.
In the end, consumers must protect themselves by choosing to do business with organizations that offer solutions that adequately protect their privacy. It is becoming increasingly clear that passwords no longer offer a protection that can be trusted by consumers.
To learn more about the PhoneFactor service offered by Positive Networks, visit www.phonefactor.com.
(ARA) - The advent of the Internet and wireless technology have made a greater impact on the way we relate to one another than any other factor in the past 20 years. The rapid evolution of these now-ubiquitous technologies presents a unique set of opportunities and challenges for today’s families. These tools allow us simultaneously to become more connected with one another and become more isolated.
These days, it’s not uncommon for children to be more tech-savvy than their parents. As a result, it often can be difficult for parents to understand or relate to what their kids are doing online — a scary prospect for many. But when adults stay informed and approach children in the right way regarding their online activities, technology can have a very positive effect on our relationships and family lives.
Being born into a digital age, today’s children have developed the ability to move seamlessly between online and offline environments. Their online worlds are part of their real lives. Spending time online (even socializing) can have great rewards for children and teens, preparing them for an increasingly wired professional world, helping raise confidence in introverted children and exposing them more readily to diverse cultures and ideas. The key issue is whether time on the computer is balanced by offline relationships and activities.
In addition to balancing time spent online, it’s important for parents to understand the online activities in which their child is engaged. Parents often wonder how children who were raised to be respectful, kind and law-abiding can end up engaging in hateful, illegal, sexually provocative, bullying or harassing activities on the Internet. Any child may be a victim or perpetrator of bad behavior on the Internet. Some of the top reasons good kids do bad things online include:
* It’s easy and fast. As a parent, you have probably witnessed the strong and changeable emotions of pubescent kids. On the Internet, strong emotions can be discharged at the speed of a keystroke, but the ripple effects can last forever.
* There is an illusion of privacy. When kids are on the Internet in their own rooms and the audience is invisible, they begin to feel like they are in a private space. They get bolder because they can’t see or hear the people who are reading their messages or viewing their embarrassing or provocative photos.
* The Internet allows for emotional and physical distance. The child who bullies or harasses someone online doesn’t witness the emotional and physical reaction of his or her target. This distance makes it much harder to feel compassion and easier to ignore or discount the victim’s pain, suffering and anger. The child who bullies or harasses on the Internet is also safer from physical retaliation. Because of the physical distance from the target, a small or fragile child who has been the victim of bullying in real life may then be tempted to become an online bully.
So what can parents do to help kids avoid these Internet and technology pitfalls? For starters, consider these steps:
* Be empathetic — Simply let kids know you are there for them, without demanding that they open up immediately. If you pressure a child to talk when you are feeling anxious, agitated or angry, you are most likely to sound accusatory, hysterical or like an interrogator. As a result, a child is even more likely to shut down, become evasive or lie to escape you.
* Prioritize time together — Find simple activities to share. Make something together. Take a drive. Share something you know she already enjoys, or that he can teach you how to do. Tell a few stories about times in your own adolescence when you felt confused, anxious, left out or misunderstood, and how you came out of it eventually. You might be surprised to find that with patience and persistence, your teen eventually will begin to open up to you on his or her own!
Some additional tips for parents and guardians to consider for navigating relationships in a technology-driven world:
* Discuss when, how and for what purposes the mobile phone is to be used. Set some guidelines and boundaries for yourselves and your kids to follow.
* Discuss personal safety and courtesy-related calls such as calling on arrival at events away from home, or to announce lateness due to unforeseen circumstances.
* Set parameters for total amount of time allowed for chatting and texting with friends and family each month.
For a free, downloadable guide to understanding a child’s virtual world, including warning signs, tips for communicating and great resources for smarter, safer surfing online, visit www.IncredibleInternet.com.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Dr. Linda Young is a staff psychologist at Seattle University and is a Qwest Communications expert at IncredibleInternet.com. Qwest works with Dr. Young and other experts to educate families about the latest online risks and smarter Internet surfing. Visit www.IncredibleInternet.com for more information.
LinkedIn is co-founder’s ‘brain on the Web’; he got first jackpot with PayPal
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. - Few Internet entrepreneurs practice what they preach as devoutly as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, whose business revolves around his belief that good fortune flows from good relationships.
Hoffman, 40, has put that principle to work by mining his own vast network of Silicon Valley connections to rake in one Internet jackpot after another.
A college friendship led Hoffman to PayPal and his first windfall, when eBay bought the online payment service for $1.5 billion in 2002. Since then, he has become even wealthier by investing in other Internet startups he discovered through friends and former colleagues.
Along the way, Hoffman also used some of his PayPal proceeds to help start LinkedIn, an online business-networking service that helps professionals like him realize the value of their contacts from the past and present.
With about 1 million people joining each month and projected 2008 revenue of $75 million to $100 million, LinkedIn seems likely to deliver another big payoff for Hoffman.
“LinkedIn is a great expression of who Reid is,” said John Lilly, chief executive of the Firefox Web browser maker, Mozilla, where Hoffman is on the board. “It’s really his brain on the Web.”
LinkedIn tries to help people who know each other elsewhere more easily meet others who might help their careers. For example, if Mary and Bob are both part of Fred’s online network, Mary could ask Fred for a referral to Bob, who could then decide whether he wanted to embrace a new relationship with Mary.
LinkedIn’s focus on professional networking distinguishes it from social playgrounds like Facebook and News Corp.’s MySpace, where users are encouraged to share their personal lives by posting party photos and adding favorite bands.
Network for grown-ups
Although it may not sound as much fun, LinkedIn appears to be thriving. About 18 million people now have profiles on the site, roughly twice as many as a year ago.
Hoffman, who remains LinkedIn’s chairman and largest shareholder five years after starting the company, said the Mountain View-based company will probably file for an initial public offering of stock before 2010 if he isn’t first tempted to sell to one of the suitors that have inquired about buying LinkedIn. Hoffman wouldn’t identify the suitors.
“I know we are going to be much more valuable in a year or two,” Hoffman said. “We have had [buyout] conversations with all the usual suspects, but I think an IPO is by far and away the most likely outcome.”
Nonetheless, LinkedIn has its share of detractors, who see it as little more than a tool for job hunters and employment recruiters, a slightly different twist on online help-wanted services like Monster.com or Yahoo’s HotJobs. Besides selling ads, the site lets employment recruiters and others pay for expanded access to LinkedIn members.
LinkedIn so far hasn’t generated the same level of buzz as Facebook, which has been attracting many of the same users as LinkedIn. With 60 million users, privately held Facebook already has a $15 billion market value and has indicated it will pursue its own IPO in 2009 or 2010.
Hoffman happens to have a stake in Facebook, underscoring his knack for identifying promising Internet opportunities in their early stages.
“It’s like he is able to look at the Internet and figure out where all the pieces fit together,” said Mark Kvamme, a partner at Sequoia Capital and a member of LinkedIn’s board.
While Facebook could produce Hoffman’s biggest investment return, it threatens to become a thorn in his side if it diminishes the amount of time people spend at LinkedIn.
Read More: News & Observer
CHICAGO - Marion Jones said Wednesday seeing the pain her family and friends endured after she admitted using performance-enhancing drugs outweighed the impact of returning her Olympic medals.The former Olympic track gold medalist appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” her first television interview since being sentenced last week to six months in prison for lying to investigators about steroid use and a check-fraud scam.
“I want people to understand that, you know, everybody makes mistakes. … I truly think that a person’s character is determined by their admission of their mistakes and then beyond that, what do I do about it?” Jones said via satellite from Austin, Texas, where she lives. “How can I change the lives of people? How can I use my story to change the life of a young person?”
Once the most celebrated female athlete in the world, Jones won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
After long denying she ever had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted last October she lied to federal investigators in November 2003, acknowledging she took the designer steroid “the clear” from September 2000 to July 2001. “The clear” has been linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.
Winfrey pressed Jones on the repeated, impassioned denials she made over the years. “You knew at that time, you knew were lying, right?” Winfrey said.
“I made a mistake. I made the choice, at that time, to protect myself, to protect my family,” Jones said. “And now I’ve paid the consequences dearly.”
Read More:News & Observer
RALEIGH - Is it really necessary to put over 31 garbage cans on one city block in downtown Raleigh? Evidently the state government thinks so.
Visitors to the Bicentennial Mall in downtown Raleigh have recently noticed a slew of new garbage cans lining both sides of the walkway. The one block long walkway connects the NC Museum of History and the NC Natural Science Museum between the NC Legislature Building and the old NC Capitol Building.
Although there didn’t seem to be much of a trash problem before, the state government obviously thought there was enough of a garbage issue to place at least 31 garbage cans on both sides of the street.
The shiny black Rubbermaid plastic cans are only ten feet apart or less in some cases, leaving some visitors to wonder if they went overboard.
“Was someone related to the garbage can vendor?” joked one NC resident who was visiting the NC Natural Science Museum when asked what they thought about the new garbage cans.
“They really stand out and I think they look worse than the garbage,” said another visitor.
“The new garbage cans look like they were picked up at Wal-Mart and it doesn’t really match the rest of the mall,” they added. “At least the old ones blended in a lot better.”
They pointed out an older metal garbage bin that is gray in color moved off to one side.
According to stickers placed on both sides of the cans that almost seem like advertisements, the cans are “Property of the Facility Management Division.”
“Questions? Need A Pick-up? Visit WWW.NCFacilityManagement.net or call Work Control at 919-733-3853,” says the sign on the cans.
Looking down the Bicentennial Mall at the distant horizon, one is impressed by the marble slabs of the NC Legislature Building and the American and North Carolina flags.
Then looking downwards, the long line of black plastic garbage cans with big white stickers that say “TRASH ONLY” seems to serve a reminder that the beautiful Bicentennial Mall that is part of the Main Street of North Carolina doesn’t appear quite as grand as it used to be.
Inquiries through a telephone call and e-mail to the NC Facility Management office about the garbage cans were not immediately returned.
SOURCE:Raleigh Chronicle
CARY, N.C. & BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Trana Discovery, a drug discovery technology company, today announced that their recently-developed HIV high-throughput screening (HTS) assay designed to identify compounds that inhibit the use of transfer RNA (tRNA) by HIV has the ability to select compounds with anti-HIV bioactivity. Because tRNA is essential for HIV replication, disruption of the virus’s ability to use tRNA appears to represent a novel target for anti-HIV therapy.
In a recent live cell-based study, a subset of compounds identified using the new Trana HIV 201 assay proved to inhibit the HIV virus through a mechanism other than inhibition of reverse transcriptase. The study was conducted in collaboration with and by Southern Research Institute.
Scientists at Trana Discovery have invested years of research to develop the patented technology that forms the basis for the assays used to screen molecular libraries for tRNA inhibitors. The technology centers on the anticodon stem loop (ASL) of tRNA and the importance of nucleotide modifications within the ASL. The ability to synthesize copies or mimics of the ASL with the modifications, just as they occur in nature, is what overcomes previous barriers to high-throughput screening and enables the application of Trana Discovery technology to rapidly and methodically search for inhibitors of tRNA.
During tests at the High Throughput Screening Center at Southern Research, several compounds were identified that responded to the assay. In a cell-based study that followed, a subset of these compounds was examined for their inhibition qualities in the replication of the HIV-1 Ba-L virus using live Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) and found to have anti-HIV activity. Further testing indicated that antiviral activity was not due to inhibition of reverse transcriptase, the mechanism of action of many of the currently available HIV therapies.
“The screen is interesting in that it identified compound classes that are different from that of known antivirals,” said Lucile White, manager of the Southern Research High Throughput Screening Center. “As a consequence, this HTS assay may lead to the identification of leads which inhibit viral replication by a unique mechanism.”
“The Trana HIV 201 assay gives pharmaceutical companies the ability to rapidly and efficiently screen vast libraries of compounds,” said Steve Peterson, CEO of Trana Discovery. “For those companies that hold collections of bioactive compounds of an unknown mechanism of action, application of our assay could possibly help identify very quickly a totally new class of treatment for HIV. The fact that drug resistance continues to be a major challenge for managing patients with HIV and with increasing numbers of individuals who are being infected, we’re very optimistic that the use of the assay will identify new antivirals to help keep patients one step ahead of the infection.”
Trana Discovery is seeking partners holding diverse collections of compounds or compounds with known bioactivity against HIV but unknown mechanism of action to identify candidates for drug development. Organizations interested in licensing the Trana HIV 201 assay, which can screen up to 50,000 compounds per day, should contact Trana at info@tranadiscovery.com or by calling 866-390-3452 (toll free) or +1-919-342-6192. Parties interested in screening compounds using this assay at Southern Research Institute facilities may contact David Harris at d.harris@southernresearch.org or call +1-800-967-6774.
About Trana Discovery, Inc.
Trana Discovery, a drug discovery technology company, helps its partners find novel classes of drugs for the treatment of serious viral, fungal and bacterial infectious diseases. The technology identifies compounds that work through a unique mechanism of action: the target pathogen’s ability to use transfer RNA (tRNA) in replication. The use of Trana Discovery technology can unlock the value – scientific, human, and financial – hidden in drug compound libraries, expedite the discovery of new drugs and provide opportunities for exclusive rights to new drug classes. Trana Discovery is commercializing technology that has been under development for nearly 20 years at North Carolina State University. The company is located in Cary, North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.tranadiscovery.com.
Read More:CarolinaNewsWire
RALEIGH, N.C. – Homes in Motion announced the unveiling of its new corporate identity, including a fully-redesigned logo and Web site. Hummingbird Creative Group, led by well-known Raleigh business leader Wendy Coulter, is responsible for the new logo, and 123Triad Web Design created the new Web site.
The new logo reflects the company’s goals to creatively and affordably enhance the homes of its customers. Using a purple and gold color scheme, the logo features the structure of a house and an upward-pointing arrow to capture the forward-moving attitude that drives the company’s owners.
The new Web site, online at www.homesinmotion.org, emphasizes before-and-after pictures of Homes in Motion’s transformation of a home’s visual appeal and monetary value. The “selling updates” section of the site gives examples of these transformations, documenting how Homes in Motion has helped area residents receive as much as $15,000 additional profit on the sale of their home simply by investing in market-smart updates.
“We are thrilled with our new corporate look and this new chapter of growth for Homes in Motion,” said Ann Jagger, co-founder and managing partner along with Karen Jensen. “This rebranding effort follows some restructuring to focus on our best capabilities to help Triangle residents. We’re pleased both to help sellers retain their hard-earned home equity and see measurable results, or to simply help people enjoy their homes again.”
Read More:CarolinaNewsWire
Westinghouse Digital Electronics and AdtekMedia Inc. have partnered to speed the national expansion of “PumpTop TV,” AdtekMedia’s digital media network that consists of television screens installed atop gas station pumps.
Westinghouse Digital will build and install display systems for fuel pumps in thousands of gas stations in each of the sixty largest U.S. markets. The screens will be serviced by AdtekMedia’s narrowcast network, which will deliver news content and advertising to gas station consumers as they fuel their vehicles.
The result will be one of the largest out-of-home digital media networks in the U.S., reaching more than 100 million drivers each month, according to the companies (pdf).
PumpTop TV runs a five-minute program of news, sports, entertainment, weather and traffic interspersed with advertising, complete with both audio and video. The system includes dual screens (on both sides of the pump), 19 inches wide, with high resolution displays.
PumpTop TV is looking into national and regional content providers for its network. The first market will be Los Angeles, followed by San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
Related topics: Planning, Signs of What’s to Come, Feature, New Tech, Entertainment, Interactive, Outdoor, Demographics, Television…
ABC Delivers News Content to PumpTop TV
PumpTop TV and ABC have partnered to produce and deliver custom news content throughout each day to U.S. gas station consumers.
PumpTop TV shows a five-minute program of news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic interspersed with advertising. ABC will produce a daily lineup of news features through its “ABC News NOW” property, a 24-hr digital cable network available via cable, broadband, mobile and out-of-home digital media.
PumpTop TV’s network consists of more than 2,500 screens found at most major gas station brands in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets. Installations have begun in the San Francisco and Sacramento markets, with Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston slated for 2008.
Internet-Connected Gas Pumps Give Directions via Google Maps
Google is on the verge of announcing a partnership that will put its Maps feature on screens at gas stations across the country.
Screens at gas pumps made by Gilbarco Veeder-Root will be fitted with internet connections that display Google Maps, reports MarketingVOX.
Drivers filling their tanks will be able to scroll through the maps for directions to where they are going. They can also locate hotels or landmarks.
Motorists will then be able to print out the directions directly from the pump.
Google will not sell ads itself on the gas pump service. Gas stations will likely make money by offering local retailers space to present coupons that can also be printed out.
Read More:Mediabuyerplanner.com
Horowitz Associates found that weekly viewing of full episodes of TV shows doubled from last year’s study, with 16 per cent of high-speed Internet users watching TV online weekly.
NEW YORK Six out of 10 high-speed Internet users either watch or download online video content at least once a week. As much as 86 percent do so on a monthly basis, according to the Broadband Content and Services 2007 study by market research and consulting company Horowitz Associates.
These figures are up from 45 percent and 71 percent, respectively, that were released in the 2006 study.
Horowitz Associates found that news and user-generated content (non-professional) are the highest-viewed genres, followed by movie previews, music videos and segments of television shows.
The study found that NBC and ABC were the networks most associated with online TV content, and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy the most-mentioned program viewed online.
Horowitz Associates also found that weekly viewing of full episodes of TV shows doubled from last year’s study, with 16 per cent of high-speed Internet users watching TV online weekly.
But, while broadband video consumption is on the rise, the study determined that traditional TV remains the preferred platform. Seventy percent of Internet users (survey respondents) who watch TV online said they did so because they missed the episode shown on television. Roughly 18 percent said they watch television shows online to watch them again, having first viewed the program on TV. About 20 percent said they watched programming online when they happen to find them or if someone told them about a particular show they could view online.
Read More:Adweek.com
