The Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH. ($2,195 list) is an impressively small wide-angle lens with a modest f/2.8 maximum aperture. It's compatible with Leica rangefinder cameras, although it's easy enough to use with Sony NEX and Micro Four Thirds cameras using an inexpensive adapter. It's an impressive performer, delivering sharp images at its maximum aperture, but you don't get the edge-to-edge performance that Leica shooters adore until f/4. That's still pretty reasonable for a wide-angle design, and it's even more impressive when you consider just how compact and light the lens is.
The Elmarit measures just 1.2 by 2 inches (HD) and weighs in at 6.3 ounces. The included clip-on plastic hood adds a bit of height, but not much, and its weight is impressive when you consider its all-metal construction. It can focus as close as 0.7 meter and accepts 39mm filters, the standard for smaller Leica lenses. Its aperture ranges from f/2.8 down to f/22 in half-stop clicks, and there's a tab on the focusing ring to make adjusting focus a more pleasant experience. There's no such thing as an autofocus M camera, so be prepared to focus this one yourself.
I used Imatest to check the performance of the Elmarit when paired with the full-frame Leica M. The lens was released and designed for use on the older digital M8 camera, which featured a smaller-than-full-frame image sensor. Imatest shows that average sharpness, calculated using a center-weighted methodology, is 2,311 lines per picture height. This is in excess of the 1,800 lines that we require to call a photo sharp, but there is some softness at the extreme edges of the frame. Performance there is limited to a mere 1,347 lines, which is noticeably fuzzy upon careful examination.
Stopping down to f/4 fixes everything. The overall resolution jumps to 2,736 lines, and edges are quite impressive at 1,879 lines. At f/5.6 the overall sharpness is 3,104 lines, with edges that cross 2,700 lines, and things are just about the same at f/8. This is a wide-angle design, and it doesn't focus as close as some 28mm SLR lenses, so you won't be missing out on much bokeh by narrowing the aperture when corner-to-corner sharpness is a requirement for a shot.
There is a modest amount of barrel distortion, about 0.9 percent, which is a bit much compared to some Leica glass, but is barely relevant in field conditions. If you do notice some curvature in your images, a quick slider adjustment in Lightroom will straighten them out.
The Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH. is a good choice for Leica shooters who want to buy a wide-angle lens, but can't afford the Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. ($4,295). Its aperture isn't as ambitious, but its price tag is significantly lower and it's compact to boot. The lens is the widest you can use on a full-frame M without resorting to an accessory viewfinder for framing. Leica shooters who value performance over size often seek out the older, larger 28mm Elmarit on the used market, as it is said to produce sharper corners at its maximum aperture. But if you prefer the more modern look that an aspherical lens produces, and don't want to have the need for an f/2 wide-angle or the budget for the Summicron, the Elmarit-M is a solid choice. Just remember to stop it down a bit when you're going for edge-to-edge sharpness in a shot.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a driver plowed his car into pedestrians on the popular Venice Beach boardwalk, killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon and injuring 11 other people, police said on Sunday.
Los Angeles police said Nathan Campbell, 38, was taken into custody late on Saturday after the car involved was found in nearby Santa Monica where they say Campbell lives, and where he later turned himself in.
Witnesses said it appeared the car's driver had been aiming for pedestrians on Saturday while driving down the popular Oceanside walkway at speeds up to 20 miles per hour while people screamed and scrambled to get out of the way.
Security video footage aired on ABC News showed the driver parking the car - a dark-colored Dodge Avenger - across the boardwalk from a cafe and getting out, apparently to look at the crowd. The driver then got back in the car and drove it into the crowd before backing up and apparently steering toward another group of people, the footage showed.
A police spokeswoman said Campbell was arrested on suspicion of murder after questioning, but could not give further details on what charges he faces, a possible motive, or whether he was under the influence of drugs of alcohol at the time. Bail was set at $1 million, police said.
Ten of the 12 people injured were taken to hospitals on Saturday - two in critical condition, one of whom died - and two in serious condition. Injuries included broken bones and head trauma, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Police identified the deceased pedestrian on Sunday as a 32-year-old Italian woman who had been on her honeymoon, without giving further details.
The Venice Beach boardwalk is a major tourist attraction known for its eclectic patchwork of shops, restaurants and sporting areas.
In 2003, an elderly man drove his car through a crowded farmers' market in nearby Santa Monica, killing 10 people and injuring 69.
(Writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
In this image take from a security camera, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Snapchat)
In this image take from a security camera, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Snapchat)
In this image take from a security camera, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Snapchat)
Pedestrians gather as police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Maarten Smitskamp)
Pedestrians gather as police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Maarten Smitskamp)
Map locates Venice Beach, in Los Angeles; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm;
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The driver parked outside a hotel and surveyed the leisurely summer scene at the Venice Beach boardwalk: Hundreds of people were sitting at cafes, walking along the seashore or shopping at vendors selling jewelry or art.
Then, according to surveillance video, the man got into a large black car, steered around a vehicle barrier and accelerated mercilessly through the crowd, hitting one person after another as bystanders tried desperately to get out of the way.
Saturday's hit-and-run killed an Italian woman on her honeymoon and hurt 11 others who only a moment earlier had been enjoying an afternoon near the beach at the height of vacation season.
A couple of hours later, authorities arrested a man on suspicion of murder after he walked into a police station in neighboring Santa Monica and said he was involved.
Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, of Los Angeles, remained jailed Sunday on $1 million bail.
Police declined to discuss a motive but Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said there was no indication that the attack was a terrorist act or that anyone else was involved.
By the time it was over, the driver had covered about a quarter of a mile along the boardwalk before fleeing. The entire incident was over in minutes.
Witnesses reported a horrifying aftermath.
People were " stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs, looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming," said Louisa Hodge, who described "blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the sidewalk."
The Italian woman was identified as Alice Gruppioni, 32. Her family in Bologna told the Italian news agency LaPresse that she had been on her honeymoon after a July 20 wedding.
Gruppioni worked as a manager for the family business Sira group, which makes radiators. Her father, Valerio Gruppioni, runs the company and was formerly president of the Bologna soccer team, according to LaPresse.
The family declined to speak to The Associated Press on Sunday.
Another person was critically injured. Two others were taken to hospitals in serious condition. Eight suffered less serious injuries, police said.
According to security video and witness accounts, the driver parked next to the Cadillac Hotel and twice walked out to the boardwalk before getting into the Dodge Avenger. He carefully maneuvered between a storefront and metal poles that had been erected to prevent anyone from driving onto the boardwalk.
Then he stepped on the accelerator and plunged into the crowd.
"I heard a big 'boom, boom,' like the sound of someone going up and down the curb, it was super loud," said Alex Hagan, who was working the desk at the hotel.
The driver knocked over two mannequins and an ATM and started hitting people, swerving from side to side and often running straight into victims. Video showed the car struck at least three vendors ? a fortune teller, a couple selling jewelry and a woman who does tattooing.
Two women who appeared to be in their 60s were also hit. Many people ran after the car, screaming and cursing as it sped away, Hagan said.
Golestan Alipour was bartending at Candle Cafe & Grill when the menacing vehicle drew near.
"The restaurant was full. Everybody ran," Alipour said.
It was not immediately clear how fast the car was going.
The driver eventually turned up a side street and headed away from the ocean. The car was later found abandoned less than two miles away, police said.
At the scene, detectives searched for evidence across the boardwalk, which is in a part of Los Angeles known for eccentricities. The 1.5-mile ribbon of asphalt ? which runs along the sand a few hundred yards from the ocean ? is home to galleries, restaurants, tattoo shops, skateboard parks and the famous outdoor weight room known as Muscle Beach. It can draw as many as 150,000 people on summer weekends.
Hodge said she and her friend, Ashley Taylor, had noted the large number of people walking along the seaside.
"It was a really nice day. There were tons of people out. In fact, we were talking about how packed it was, because we were having a hard time getting through all the people," Hodge said.
The two women stopped to buy ice cream and a couple of hats, which may have saved their lives. They stepped out of a store as emergency crews arrived.
Hodge saw a man and woman lying next to each other, wearing head braces, barely able to move but grasping hands.
Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin said there have been previous problems with motorists accidentally driving onto the boardwalk, especially during the evening, because many entrances aren't blocked and there are no signs warning them about entering a pedestrian area.
However, four yellow metal poles blocked the roadway used by the hit-and-run driver, who squeezed past the barrier by driving onto a sidewalk, authorities said.
"The frightening part," Bonin said, was that this part of the boardwalk was "one of the more protected streets."
The crash was not far from where an elderly driver sped through an open-air farmer's market in Santa Monica in 2003, killing 10 people and injuring more than 70 others.
Investigators said George Weller, who was 86 at the time, mistakenly stepped on the gas instead of the brake and then panicked. He was doing up to 60 mph when he plowed through the market. Weller was convicted of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced to probation.
___
Associated Press Writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
A clerk in the county of San Diego who had moved against the resumption of the issue of same-sex marriage licences in California, has withdrawn a legal bid to stop them from taking place.
Ernest Dronenburg Jr said in a statement yesterday that he had withdrawn his request for the California Supreme Court to stop same-sex weddings, because the sponsors of a 2008 ballot measure have also filed a similar petition.
The high court had rejected the clerk?s request for a stay to temporarily stop same-sex weddings in the state while they considered his petition, reports the Associated Press.
Dronenburg had argued in his petition that county clerks should be allowed to decide whether they want to issue licences to couples.
?County clerks carry out their duties, including the issuances of marriage licenses, without supervision or control of the governor or attorney general,? he wrote. ?Indeed, no statute requires county clerks to report to the governor or attorney general.?
He also went on to argue that equal marriage should only have resumed in Alameda and Los Angeles counties, which is where the Proposition 8 cases originated.
The supporters of California?s now defunct Proposition 8 ban on equal marriage, in July began legal proceedings to challenge the resumption of issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, accusing the courts of interpreting a Supreme Court ruling in the wrong way.
The first same-sex wedding took place between the plaintiffs who brought the case against Prop 8 at the end of June, following the Supreme Court declining to take up the case, and as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals since gave the green light for same-sex weddings to resume.
The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously lifted its stay on an injunction, which had ordered state officials to stop enforcing Prop 8, meaning marriage licenses could immediately be issued to same-sex couples.
ProtectMarriage, the group that sponsored Proposition 8, and its ban on equal marriage back in 2008, has launched a doubled-edged legal attack on state officials? interpretation of what the Supreme Court ruling means.
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Adding logos to all your slides is easy if you work with the Slide Master.
On the View tab, in the Master Views group, click Slide Master. You will likely want to position the logo differently on the Title Slide than on the remaining layouts. Insert the picture on the first layout, then copy and paste it to the second layout. Resize and/or reposition as needed. You can copy and paste that to the remaining layouts where you would like the logo. Leave some layouts without a logo in case you have a large graphic that might chop it off.
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Added benefit of lixisenatide is not provenPublic release date: 2-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Press Office presse@iqwig.de 49-022-135-6850 Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Drug manufacturer's dossier did not contain suitable data for any therapeutic indication
Lixisenatide (trade name: Lyxumia) has been approved in Germany since February 2013 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in combination with oral blood-glucose lowering drugs or basal insulin when these, together with diet and exercise, do not provide adequate glycaemic control. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. No such added benefit can be derived from the dossier, however, because the drug manufacturer did not present any suitable data for any of the possible therapeutic indications of lixisenatide.
G-BA specified appropriate comparator therapy
Lixisenatide is approved in combination with other blood-glucose lowering drugs, including basal insulin. Depending on the type of prior treatment, there are different subindications within the therapeutic indication for the use of lixisenatide, for which the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) specified different comparator therapies. For the combination of lixisenatide with metformin, sulfonylurea (glibenclamide or glimepiride) plus metformin is the appropriate comparator therapy.
Two subpopulations are differentiated for the subindication "lixisenatide plus sulfonylurea" regarding the appropriate comparator therapy: For patients for whom metformin is suitable, the comparison is made with the combination of metformin and sulfonylurea. For patients who do not tolerate metformin, the comparison is made with human insulin. A sulfonylurea may be given in addition to human insulin if this is necessary for the individual patient.
The triple combination of lixisenatide with metformin and sulfonylurea is to be compared with human insulin (if applicable, plus metformin). If lixisenatide is combined with basal insulin with or without metformin, the appropriate comparator therapy specified is also human insulin (if applicable, plus metformin).
Manufacturer deviated from appropriate comparator therapy
In the subindication "lixisenatide plus metformin", the manufacturer additionally defined two specific patient groups, for which it specified comparator therapies deviating from the G-BA. In both cases, the manufacturer did not give sufficient reasons for deviating from the comparator therapy defined by the G-BA.
The manufacturer confined itself to a certain part of the specified comparator therapy in the subindications "lixisenatide plus sulfonylurea" when metformin is unsuitable, and "lixisenatide plus basal insulin (if applicable, plus metformin)": It only made a comparison with basal insulin or with intensified conventional insulin treatment instead of considering all treatment options with human insulin. It therefore also only presented data for this comparison.
The manufacturer compared the triple combination "lixisenatide plus metformin plus sulfonylurea" with basal insulin plus metformin plus sulfonylurea. IQWiG did not accept the reasons given by the manufacturer for the deviation, either, because this treatment option is not advisable from a medical point of view because of more frequent side effects, among other things.
Indirect comparisons unsuitable
The manufacturer did not present a direct comparative study between lixisenatide and the appropriate comparator therapy for any of the four subindications mentioned.
For two subindications, it conducted adjusted indirect comparisons based on several studies. In principle, such indirect comparisons can be suitable to prove an added benefit. The three studies it used for the combination of lixisenatide with metformin were unsuitable, however: In two cases, sulfonylureas were not used according to their approval status, and in one case, the study participants differed considerably from the patients in the lixisenatide study, including with regards to baseline blood glucose levels, age, and BMI. Hence treatment effects from the indirect comparison could not be interpreted.
As to the combination of lixisenatide and basal insulin (if applicable, plus metformin), the pharmaceutical company also drew on an adjusted indirect comparison. But the four studies with intermediate comparators were also unsuitable for this comparison because of different patient populations, deviating aims of treatment, and heterogeneous comparator therapies, among other things. Hence the treatment effects could also not be interpreted.
The manufacturer itself did not identify any relevant studies for lixisenatide in dual combination with sulfonylurea versus the appropriate comparator therapy. In the triple combination with metformin plus sulfonylurea, it deviated from the appropriate comparator therapy and did not present any relevant studies.
Hence the dossier did not contain any study results for any of the four therapeutic indications that would be suitable to prove an added benefit.
G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit
The dossier assessment is part of the overall procedure for early benefit assessments supervised by the G-BA. After publication of the manufacturer's dossier and IQWiG's assessment, the G-BA conducts a commenting procedure, which may provide further information and result in a change to the benefit assessment. The G-BA then decides on the extent of the added benefit, thus completing the early benefit assessment.
###
An overview of the results of IQWiG's benefit assessment is given by a German-language executive summary. In addition, the website gesundheitsinformation.de, published by IQWiG, provides easily understandable and brief German-language information on lixisenatide.
The G-BA website contains both general English-language information on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific German-language information on the assessment of lixisenatide.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Added benefit of lixisenatide is not provenPublic release date: 2-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Press Office presse@iqwig.de 49-022-135-6850 Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Drug manufacturer's dossier did not contain suitable data for any therapeutic indication
Lixisenatide (trade name: Lyxumia) has been approved in Germany since February 2013 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in combination with oral blood-glucose lowering drugs or basal insulin when these, together with diet and exercise, do not provide adequate glycaemic control. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. No such added benefit can be derived from the dossier, however, because the drug manufacturer did not present any suitable data for any of the possible therapeutic indications of lixisenatide.
G-BA specified appropriate comparator therapy
Lixisenatide is approved in combination with other blood-glucose lowering drugs, including basal insulin. Depending on the type of prior treatment, there are different subindications within the therapeutic indication for the use of lixisenatide, for which the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) specified different comparator therapies. For the combination of lixisenatide with metformin, sulfonylurea (glibenclamide or glimepiride) plus metformin is the appropriate comparator therapy.
Two subpopulations are differentiated for the subindication "lixisenatide plus sulfonylurea" regarding the appropriate comparator therapy: For patients for whom metformin is suitable, the comparison is made with the combination of metformin and sulfonylurea. For patients who do not tolerate metformin, the comparison is made with human insulin. A sulfonylurea may be given in addition to human insulin if this is necessary for the individual patient.
The triple combination of lixisenatide with metformin and sulfonylurea is to be compared with human insulin (if applicable, plus metformin). If lixisenatide is combined with basal insulin with or without metformin, the appropriate comparator therapy specified is also human insulin (if applicable, plus metformin).
Manufacturer deviated from appropriate comparator therapy
In the subindication "lixisenatide plus metformin", the manufacturer additionally defined two specific patient groups, for which it specified comparator therapies deviating from the G-BA. In both cases, the manufacturer did not give sufficient reasons for deviating from the comparator therapy defined by the G-BA.
The manufacturer confined itself to a certain part of the specified comparator therapy in the subindications "lixisenatide plus sulfonylurea" when metformin is unsuitable, and "lixisenatide plus basal insulin (if applicable, plus metformin)": It only made a comparison with basal insulin or with intensified conventional insulin treatment instead of considering all treatment options with human insulin. It therefore also only presented data for this comparison.
The manufacturer compared the triple combination "lixisenatide plus metformin plus sulfonylurea" with basal insulin plus metformin plus sulfonylurea. IQWiG did not accept the reasons given by the manufacturer for the deviation, either, because this treatment option is not advisable from a medical point of view because of more frequent side effects, among other things.
Indirect comparisons unsuitable
The manufacturer did not present a direct comparative study between lixisenatide and the appropriate comparator therapy for any of the four subindications mentioned.
For two subindications, it conducted adjusted indirect comparisons based on several studies. In principle, such indirect comparisons can be suitable to prove an added benefit. The three studies it used for the combination of lixisenatide with metformin were unsuitable, however: In two cases, sulfonylureas were not used according to their approval status, and in one case, the study participants differed considerably from the patients in the lixisenatide study, including with regards to baseline blood glucose levels, age, and BMI. Hence treatment effects from the indirect comparison could not be interpreted.
As to the combination of lixisenatide and basal insulin (if applicable, plus metformin), the pharmaceutical company also drew on an adjusted indirect comparison. But the four studies with intermediate comparators were also unsuitable for this comparison because of different patient populations, deviating aims of treatment, and heterogeneous comparator therapies, among other things. Hence the treatment effects could also not be interpreted.
The manufacturer itself did not identify any relevant studies for lixisenatide in dual combination with sulfonylurea versus the appropriate comparator therapy. In the triple combination with metformin plus sulfonylurea, it deviated from the appropriate comparator therapy and did not present any relevant studies.
Hence the dossier did not contain any study results for any of the four therapeutic indications that would be suitable to prove an added benefit.
G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit
The dossier assessment is part of the overall procedure for early benefit assessments supervised by the G-BA. After publication of the manufacturer's dossier and IQWiG's assessment, the G-BA conducts a commenting procedure, which may provide further information and result in a change to the benefit assessment. The G-BA then decides on the extent of the added benefit, thus completing the early benefit assessment.
###
An overview of the results of IQWiG's benefit assessment is given by a German-language executive summary. In addition, the website gesundheitsinformation.de, published by IQWiG, provides easily understandable and brief German-language information on lixisenatide.
The G-BA website contains both general English-language information on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific German-language information on the assessment of lixisenatide.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Our universe is filled with gobs of galaxies, bound together by gravity into larger families called clusters. Lying at the heart of most clusters is a monster galaxy thought to grow in size by merging with neighboring galaxies, a process astronomers call galactic cannibalism. New research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is showing that, contrary to previous theories, these gargantuan galaxies appear to slow their growth over time, feeding less and less off neighboring galaxies.
The Internet has become one of the most essential tools for modern day businesses? Given the numerous benefits that the medium has to offer, various organizations and business owners are realizing that there is no way to avoid having a presence on the Internet for your business if you want to grow and be successful.
The same is true for lead generation. Among the many sources of lead generation available to business today, the Internet has been the most rewarding.
The low cost to acquire new leads via the Internet and the expanded access to new populations that the Web offers gives you unprecedented cost savings and a rapid return on investment. Business owners also reap benefits of not requiring the high investment costs involved in creating a physical presence (retail outlet, manufacturing plant or office); equivalent to what is possible with a Website or social media account.
In 2009, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation conducted a survey that established that the average estimated cost to start a new bricks and mortar business in the USA was $31,150. Getting a website built for the average small business costs a fraction of this amount.
An added advantage is you can be anywhere in the world and your Internet lead generation system/Website is still will working for you, without rest, 24 x 7.
For those who may still be pondering whether they need a Website for their business to generate leads, I think the safe answer here is Yes? and it?s time to start asking more important questions like ?
Will people buy what my business sells online?
How do I use a Website to generate revenue for my organisation?
What does the Website need to do or provide to make it easier for customers to deal with us?
How will we fit what happens on our Website into the systems and processes we already use in our company?
What technical expertise does the business need so it can keep the Website and lead generation system working properly?
How will I know if we are getting the best results possible from what we do online?
? and more.
How Marketing Budgets Impact Results with Offline Marketing Tactics
Most businesses with a modest marketing budget will utilise strategies such as word-of-mouth and referrals as a starting point for lead generation. Then move into areas such as direct mail, cold calling, sales presentations, networking and maybe SMS messaging.
Bigger marketing budgets usually mean that broadcast style advertising like television and radio feature, as does magazine, journal and newspaper advertising. Beyond this brand marketing and experiential marketing campaigns (things like what Red Bull does to get your attention) get utilised by the heavy hitters.
As you can see in the offline world, the size of your marketing budget has a pretty dramatic impact on what you can achieve to reach more potential customers and how much of their attention you can possibly capture.
Additionally, unless there is a person involved in the lead generation strategy/marketing tactic, your ability to measure the success of marketing activities is rather complex.
For example, pretend you spent a sizeable sum to get a radio ad produced and aired on a popular local radio station in a prime time slot ? let?s say 6 times within 3 hours for 3 consecutive days. With a follow up the next week when your radio ad runs 8 times within 3 hours for 2 consecutive days.
To work out which approach to radio advertising gets you the best return on investment you need to know how many calls you got as a result of each strategy (6 times within 3 hours for 3 days, or 8 times in 3 hours for 2 days).
The first rush of phone calls you get straight after the ads are aired in the first week you know are due to the radio ads played in the first week. The following week any calls you get right away after your ads have been aired you can pretty safely assume were from the second week?s ad slots. But how do you account for calls that you receive a week or more later (3 weeks or more, after your first radio ads were played)? Do you say they?re all because of the second weeks ad strategy, or half maybe even a third are from the week one ads? How about if some calls are from word-of-mouth and nothing to do with your radio ads?
If you have a person involved in the lead generation strategy you can get that person to note down or count every encounter with a prospect. When you don?t you have to make guesses or do incredibly complex calculations to figure it out.
Taking Lead Generation Online
Increasingly there are equivalent strategies online for all of the marketing activities you?d do offline.
Offline
Online
Television Ads
YouTube/Ustream Video Ads
Radio Ads
Podcast Ads
Magazine, Journals & Newspaper Ads
Banner Ads
Classified Ads
Adwords & PPC Ads
Press Releases
Online Press Releases
Direct Mail
Email Campaigns
Networking
Social Media & Social Networks
Word of Mouth
Viral Content
Referrals
Affiliate Programs
Sales Presentations
Webinars
Cold Calling
Forums, Groups & Social Media Connection Requests
The thing that is most strikingly different, though is that every single one of the online tactics can be tracked, measured & amp; monitored individually, which means you know without a shadow of a doubt the strategies that get great outcomes and those that don?t get a return on your investment.
Whether you decide that this is technically challenging for your company to undertake so you outsource or choose to do these activities yourself to have maximum control, there are four major things you?ll need to know about before you plunge into online lead generation.
The Four Things You Need to Know Before Moving to Online Lead Generation
1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
You and your team know best who your target market and audience is. Ideally you know who your audience is by their demographics such as age, gender, level of education, disposable income, that sort of thing. Better still is if you can identify them by their attitudes, behaviours and motivations.
The Internet and Web is a big place, so the greater detail you have to describe your audience the more precisely you?ll be able to find where they are in large numbers online, what words and content you need to have to best attract them, how to communicate with them so that you aren?t annoying or interrupting them and when is the best time to ask for the sale.
2. HAVE A PROCESS
Just like you have forms and authorisation workflows within your business for different activities you already do, you need to have a process for how you will hand online leads you create.
From what happens when a Website visitor fills out the form on your Contact Us page (who the inquiry goes to and what they do with it next) to what happens after someone has downloaded a document from your Website (do they get sent an email, maybe someone phones them or they get added to a newsletter database).
In many ways when you receive a contact message via your Website or through email it?s very much like when a person has picked up the phone and rung your business. That person is interested in your business right then and there, so have a process that works as well as possible for these situations just like you already do when someone phones.
3. HAVE THE WEBSITE
As sexy as huge numbers of ?Friends? and ?Followers? sounds. Our perspective is that social media and social networking Websites are like closed kingdoms; these Websites want to keep you, your ?Friends? and all your communications in their domain which makes doing business pretty challenging.
When you have your own Website you can control, measure and optimise every aspect of how you do business online, including lead generation. Where ever possible you want to be forming connections with people directly and not through the filters and restrictions of some other organisation.
Get your own Website. Use social media to attract people to you and then encourage them to take the next step and engage with you via your Website.
Make sure that your Website is capable of capturing information provided by your leads and Website visitors so that you can put them into your process.
4. CHECK & MONITOR
The last area is to do with measuring ? something that tends to be bewildering to many.
In some ways the highly sophisticated software applications that are inexpensively (even freely) available for monitoring your Website are too fully featured. Which does cause some overwhelm especially when you?re just wanting to see a few simple numbers to tell you if things are good or not.
The best solution here is to focus on just one or two specific things that are important to you and your organisation to know about how your online lead generation is going. Then keep an eye on how these change over time and as you undertake different strategies and tactics.
If you choose to outsource online lead generation and the maintenance of your Website, then make sure that who you are working with is able to give you the analysis and reports you need to make business decisions.
Just knowing that you got more of something such as more Twitter Followers, doesn?t mean as much for your bottom-line as knowing that if a Website visitor watches all your videos in one day and then you send them an email offer, that 22% of them will buy from you when a sales person calls them.
So make sure you are getting information you can report to your board or executives on that has relevance to your business.
As challenging as this may all seem, if you haven?t yet taken the first step to moving your lead generation on to the Web, prepare in these four areas and your transition will be a lot smoother than you might imagine.
HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party claimed a landslide victory on Thursday in Zimbabwe's elections, but its rival, Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said there had been "monumental fraud".
Wednesday's voting was peaceful across the southern African nation, but the early conflicting claims from the two sides heralded an acrimonious dispute over the outcome and raised fears of a repeat of violence that marred a 2008 election.
Releasing unofficial results early in Zimbabwe is illegal, and police have said they will arrest anybody who makes premature claims about the result. Election authorities were due to announce results within five days from Wednesday.
But a senior source in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, who asked not to be named, said the outcome was already clear.
"We've taken this election. We've buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win," the source told Reuters by phone on Thursday.
Riot police took up positions outside the party's headquarters in central Harare and other key locations in the capital. MDC offices appeared to be almost deserted.
An independent election monitor in Zimbabwe, who also could not be named for fear of arrest, said early results were looking like a "disaster" for Tsvangirai, who was making his third bid to unseat the 89-year-old Mugabe.
Responding to the ZANU-PF claim, a high-ranking source in Tsvangirai's MDC party described the election as "a monumental fraud".
"Zimbabweans have been taken for a ride by ZANU-PF and Mugabe. We do not accept it," the source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
The MDC was to hold an emergency meeting later on Thursday.
PEACEFUL, BUT FREE AND FAIR?
Several political sources told Reuters key MDC members had lost their seats, even in the capital, Tsvangirai's main support base since he burst onto the political scene 15 years ago.
The head of an African Union observer mission said late on Wednesday the polls appeared at first glance to be "peaceful, orderly and free and fair" - an assessment at odds with the view of the MDC and of independent entities monitoring the poll.
In Thursday, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), the leading domestic monitoring agency, said the credibility of the poll was seriously compromised by large numbers of voters being turned away from polling stations in MDC strongholds.
"It is not sufficient for elections to be peaceful for elections to be credible," ZESN chairman Solomon Zwana told a news conference. "They must offer all citizens... an equal opportunity to vote."
The United States, which has sanctions in place against Mugabe, had also expressed concern before Wednesday about the credibility of the vote, citing persistent pro-ZANU-PF bias in the state media and partisan security forces.
Other worries centered on the voters' roll, which was meant by law to be released in electronic form to all parties before the poll, but which has still not been made available.
(Reporting from Harare/Johannesburg; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
Miamisburg-based Sports Image signed its 25th franchisee.
A local sports marketing company has sold its third franchise in less than 60 days.
Miamisburg-based Sports Image signed Darren Kempf to a territory that covers the St. Petersburg, Fla. area. That also marks its 25th franchisee.
Sports Image focuses mainly on high school and youth sports programs, brokering sponsorship deals with local, regional and national companies. In exchange for cash or equipment, companies can get everything from an advertisement on a scoreboard to being included as part of game day promotions and public address announcements.
It now has franchisees in more than a dozen states.
Sports Image also provides event management services and runs the Good Samaritan Flyin? to the Hoop Invitational, which has become a showcase for its work. Flyin? to the Hoop ? a Dayton-area high school basketball event held over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend ? attracts some of the top teams and college prospects from around the U.S. and pumps about $1.6 million annually into the local economy.
Source: www.core77.com --- Tuesday, July 30, 2013 Ford research engineer Zach Nelson hacked up an Xbox 360 controller, and used an out-of-date MakerBot Thing-O-Matic, to make a rather interesting mod to a Shelby GT500: A haptic shift knob. When the RPMs hit a mere 3,000?god that car must have some awesome low-end torque?Nelson's 3D-printed custom knob vibrates, telling you it's time to shift (rather than informing you that you just ate a grenade in Call of Duty ). It might sound gimmicky, but Nelson's experiment provides a glimpse of the future. OpenXC is Ford's program to make vehicle data available to the user in realtime, with the diagnostic system beaming it to a tablet or smartphone over Bluetooth. By tapping that info, installing an Arduino controller, and programming in some simple values, Nelson was able to go from concept to execution in a matter of weeks. While some tech blogs have breathlessly been reporting that Nelson's device "will teach people how to drive a stick," that's obviously incorrect, and not the real point of the experiment; nor is the LED indicator going to be a gamechanger, as few of us who drive stick have ever been driving around going "Gee, what gear am I in?" Rather, Nelson is demonstrating that by simply opening the floodgates of a vehicle's information, Ford is enabling you customize your driving experience in a manner of your choosing. And it points towards the future: Open-source vehicle telematics, combined with digital manufacturing devices a ...
In an effort to lift itself from the dysfunction and ineffectiveness of the Billy Hunter-Derek Fisher regime, the NBA players association has spent the past month identifying four candidates to succeed Hunter as executive director.
Led by 18-year veteran Jerry Stackhouse, the NBPA has narrowed its options to former NBA coach and league executive Stu Jackson, Pistons legend and former NBA coach Isiah Thomas, former Madison Square Garden executive Steve Mills and Charlotte Bobcats president Fred Whitfield, FOXSports.com has learned. Sports attorney David Cornwell is said to be a longshot candidate.
?I?m totally denying we are down to those four prospects,? Stackhouse told me Sunday afternoon. ?Those are just four well-known guys, guys who know our business, guys who have ideas we wanted to hear from. They are not the only guys we want the search firm to vet. I haven?t even had a chance to talk with Fred Whitfield yet. I was planning to do that on Monday.?
Stackhouse said the timetable for the union to name an executive director is between Christmas and NBA All-Star Weekend. He said the union needed to first clean up its bylaws and structure.
?Our long-term deadline is to have our guy in place around the same time as when Adam (Silver) replaces David Stern,? Stackhouse said. ?We want our guy in place to begin the process of forging a relationship with Adam.?
Mills, who runs a financial planning company for athletes and entertainers, has been considered the front-runner ever since Hunter was ousted in February. Like Stu Jackson, Mills has a strong rapport with deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who will replace David Stern as commissioner midway through the upcoming season.
Regardless of who gets the job, it?s clear the NBA and the NBPA want to usher in a spirit of cooperation and shared goals that were missing during the Stern-Hunter era. Stern and Hunter feuded. Hunter fell into the media-laid trap of believing his only job was to engage Stern in a racially tinged war over the collective bargaining agreement.
Silver and the new executive director will likely embrace the Gene Upshaw-Paul Tagliabue-NFL model. Upshaw, a Hall of Fame player, was ridiculed by misguided members of the media because he worked with Tagliabue and Pete Rozelle on growing the league rather than focusing solely on the players? percentage of revenue. A smaller percentage of a bigger pie can be significantly more profitable than a bigger percentage of a smaller pie.
My point in bringing all this up is there is a terrific opportunity for the NBPA?s next executive director. He will be provided the chance to influence the direction of basketball in a way Hunter was not.
In fact, the new executive director should seek the position with the clear goal of being a transformative figure in the world of sports. As I have argued in previous columns, the NBA should set its sights on catching the NFL in terms of relevancy and popularity.
Basketball is the sports world?s No. 1 underachiever. Everyone ? male and female, short and tall, fat and skinny ? plays and understands the game. The temptation to use performance-enhancing drugs isn?t as pervasive (baseball) and it's not as rife with injury risks (football). And the game is blessed with sports? most charismatic and interesting stars.
What basketball ? not just the NBA ? has lacked is leadership and synergy. The new executive director will be assuming power at the perfect time. All signs point to the NCAA instituting radical change. The commissioners of the power conferences are demanding change. The public is demanding change. Sports Illustrated?s Pete Thamel wrote a story last week suggesting ?seismic? change within the NCAA.
Football and men?s basketball are driving this movement. The NBA and NFL players? unions should play large roles in how young football and basketball players are governed and developed before they reach the professional ranks.
Billy Hunter?s lack of vision always frustrated me. He never recognized the power of his position or he never had the energy to galvanize the necessary support to wield the power that was within his reach.
It?s my hope that the next NBPA executive director seizes that power and uses it to improve basketball and the entire system that shepherds a 13-year-old prospect into the professional ranks. If he does that, the new executive director could be an important figure beyond the world of sports.
In the aftermath of the George Zimmerman verdict, there is a debate raging around racial profiling, black criminality and who bears responsibility for addressing these issues. The topic is being exploited by the talk-show crowd on both sides of the political aisle.
Throughout this country?s history, sports have played a crucial role in bringing us all together, helping us understand each other and find common ground. Keep in mind, Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey were nearly two decades ahead of the civil-rights movement. Robinson?s success with the Brooklyn Dodgers inspired the civil-rights movement.
The NBPA, with its black leadership and primarily black membership, can inspire a new movement. As black people, we don?t do enough to control our own destiny. For a multitude of reasons, including mass incarceration, we don?t do a good enough job taking responsibility for molding and leading our young people along the right path.
Football and basketball, sports reliant on the talent of young black men, are driving the collegiate power structure ? the commissioners of the five power conferences ? to reshape the way the NCAA conducts business. Decisions are being made about young football and basketball players and there will be no significant black voices influencing those decisions.
I don?t blame white people for that. I blame us. I blame Billy Hunter and DeMaurice Smith. I blame LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Ray Lewis, Charles Woodson, Kevin Durant, Adrian Peterson, Ndamukong Suh and all the other professional black athletes who don?t think it?s their responsibility to play an active role in how their games are governed.
By dangling the possibility of returning 19-, 20- and 21-year-olds to college basketball, the NBPA could dictate the terms of NCAA reform, and those reforms could very well include compensation for those athletes and year-round academies for teenage prospects.
After winning his second NBA title, LeBron James answered his critics by explaining that the deck was stacked against him at birth and statistics showed that someone from his background should be dead, in jail or trapped in poverty.
In my opinion, it?s LeBron?s responsibility to do what he can to make it easier for other kids ? particularly athletes ? born into a similar situation to find the path to a better life. One of the best things he could do is force the NBA and the NCAA to involve themselves with the development of promising athletes at age 12 or 13.
Kids are pledging allegiance to gangs at that age. Why not bait them into pledging allegiance to an academic-based athletic culture/academy at that age? Only a handful of them may make it to the NBA, but they will all benefit from the experience and the overall game of basketball will benefit, too.
The new executive director of the NBPA will be staring at a historic opportunity. I hope he?s not just another puppet looking to collect a fat paycheck.
While Hillary Clinton has not announced whether she will run for president again in 2016, there is a whole galaxy of donors, political professionals who are making pretty major life and career choices on the assumption that she will. Take the super PAC Ready for Hillary: it has raised more than a million dollars since this spring, The New York Times' Nicholas Confessore reports, with a ?goal of creating "a grass-roots network that would give her a prohibitive edge in any Democratic primary and a significant advantage over potential Republican rivals." (It will also gather a massive list of supporters' names and addresses that the group can then sell to the Clinton campaign, if it ever forms.) Until then, donors are also proving their love for the Clintons by donating to other candidates. Huma Abedin ? Clinton's longtime aide and New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner's wife ? has reportedly implied that a donation to Weiner will keep one close with the Clintons. But The?Times reports that a donation to Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia and the chairman of Clinton's 2008 campaign, is another way to prove one's devotion to the Hillary cause. The breadth of the pro-Hillary galaxy shows the frenzy among some Democrats to get as close as possible to Clinton by any means possible.
RELATED: 'If You Wanted to Stay in Hillary's Good Graces, You Answer the Call from Huma'
Ready for Hillary was founded by a former junior staffer for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and now has five full-time staffers. It's run by Adam Parkhomenko, who started his first "Vote Hillary" group in 2003 and was a junior staffer on her 2008 campaign, and Allida Black, a Clinton supporter who told Slate she was talking about a Hillary PAC the night Obama was reelected. The group has hired Jeremy Bird, field director for Obama's 2012 campaign, and Mitch Stewart, who led the Obama campaign's operations in swing states, USA Today reports. Former Clinton White House political director Craig Smith is a senior adviser to the group. Former Rep. Ellen Tauscher, who worked under Clinton at the State Department, is a strategic adviser, the Times reports.
RELATED: Huma Abedin Had an Incredibly Sweet Deal at the State Department
Major Democratic donors have been recruited by Ready for Hillary, though donations?are limited to a paltry $25,000 right now. (It's focusing on small donors, the Times reports, having brought in 3,625 donations of $20.16.) Big donors include:
Winthrop McCormack, an Oregon publishing executive; Agnes Gund, the New York arts philanthropist; and Irwin Jacobs, a?
telecommunications executive who gave more than $2 million to a pro-Obama super PAC last year.
But other Clinton causes need attention, too. Donors have to consider whether to express their support for Clinton through different financial contributions. There's the Clinton Foundation, recently renamed to be the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.?
RELATED: The Unanswered Questions of Weinergate
There's?Hillary Clinton's transition team, run by, you guessed it, Huma Abedin. The office has half a dozen aides,?Politico's Maggie Haberman?reports, and not all are full-time. The Weiner scandal "is proving to be another stress-test of the Clinton infrastructure in a year that was supposed to be relatively quiet for them," she reports. The team is working to create a Hillary office within the Clinton foundation.
RELATED: Anthony Weiner May Think He's Closer Friends with the Clintons Than They Do
Some Clinton donors think giving to Anthony Weiner shows their support for Hillary. Prominent Democratic donors are frustrated Abedin contacted them, ABC News reports, because "The clear implication... was that supporting Weiner was akin to supporting the Clintons, given Abedin?s longstanding and close relationship with the former secretary of state."?An anonymous Clinton source told the?New York Post last week, "If you look at the contributors to Anthony around the country, they weren?t giving for Anthony ? they were giving for Huma...?For many people, Huma is the gateway to Hillary. She?s one of the closest aides; she?s an adopted daughter. You think [power agent] Bob Barnett would give to Anthony? [Billionaire] Haim Saban wouldn?t give Anthony a second chance." But the biggest bundlers, the?Post reported, were ignoring Weiner, because "They already have strong enough ties to Hillary."
RELATED: Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton & Twitter: The Awkward Marriage of Insecurity
Even the Weiner?interns think backing Weiner gets them closer to Hillary.?Weiner intern Olivia Nuzzi writes in the New York Daily News, "Their hope was to make a connection with Weiner?s wife, Huma Abedin, and thus forge a potential connection to her longtime boss, Hillary Clinton, to get an inside track for a campaign position if she ran for president in 2016." Junior staffer Clay Adam Wade told her, "I thought if I could only ride this out to the very end, perhaps I could network with Ms. Abedin and, in a few years, secure myself a spot in Secretary Clinton?s all-but-certain bid for the presidency. It was a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
But there are other candidates that perhaps better communicate Clinton love. In the next three months, Hillary Clinton will "hit the campaign trail in some form" for Terry McAuliffe, a noted "Friend of Bill" and Virginia gubernatorial candidate, Politico reports. Some "in the Clinton orbit say they have been encouraged to support Terry McAuliffe?s campaign," the Times reports.?Donors must feel relieved they have a lot of options out there.
Then there are the Hillary movies. Objective news networks won't donate to the Clinton campaign, but they can certainly profit from the Hillary buzz. There are already?three?movies about Hillary Clinton planned this year ??a CNN documentary that will air both on TV and in theaters, an NBC mini-series starring Diane Lane as Clinton, and a major motion picture whose cast has not been picked. The entertainment industry knows you have to spend Hillary money to make Hillary money.
Big spenders ? Chinese tourists carrying boutique shopping bags are easy prey for thieves, especially in the suburban hotels where they tend to stay. Photograph: Julien Chatelin/Rex Features
In China the words "Paris" or "France" are synonymous with "romantic" and the French capital is a honeymoon destination of choice. But a growing number of Chinese tourists are being robbed in Paris and France's image is taking a battering as a result.
Gan Di, a medical student, took his wife there after their June wedding. Aged 27, he belongs to the balinghou, or "post-1980" generation, those who benefited from the economic reforms of the past 20 years and now travel around the world ? as 83?million Chinese did in 2012. But his Parisian honeymoon turned sour after a ride on the Metro. "It was very crowded and they took advantage of us being pressed together," he said. The pickpockets made off with his phone and wallet.
Thefts targeting Chinese and Asian tourists have grown hugely over the past two years. The French police don't register the nationality of victims of crime, but there is no shortage of eyewitness accounts. In April, staff at the Louvre Museum went on strike because of the pickpocket invasion.
One explanation is that Chinese tourists often carry large amounts of cash. Chinese and Japanese tourists are also known to spend freely, with an average of between ?800-?1,200 ($1,000-$1,500), mostly in luxury Champs Elys?es boutiques. With expensive brand names on their shopping bags, they are an easy prey for thieves, especially in the suburban hotels where many stay.
The most audacious thefts can occur even before Chinese visitors set foot in the city, on the A1 motorway from the airport, which is notorious for traffic jams. On at least two occasions, organised gangs attacked tourist minibuses. They wait for the bus to reach a standstill, break the windows and snatch bags from terrified occupants.
The French police have been on alert since this wave of muggings started. In April they strengthened their presence at tourist sites and the number of thefts fell by 12% within a few weeks, compared with 2012 figures. However, they are helpless when faced with the professional gangs that work areas such as the Eiffel Tower.
In central Paris the pickpockets are mainly young eastern Europeans controlled by criminal networks that are hard to dismantle, especially since the thieves are teenagers and don't carry IDs. Being under age, they are released very quickly.
Furthermore, Asian tourists such as Gan Di rarely file complaints. The police station by the Eiffel Tower only gets between 60 and 80 per month. "The tourists are usually with tour operators and simply don't have two hours to spend in a police station," said Serge Leduc, head of security at the Louvre.
Tales flourish on the popular Chinese microblogging sites. Chinese-born Cai Situ, who runs an independent press agency in Paris, opened an account on the most popular one, Weibo, called "Public security news from Paris" and collects accounts of theft and muggings. On the same site, the head of an advertising agency is offering T?shirts for prospective travellers to Paris, with the French for "I only have a credit card" on them.
The increase in incidents has led to diplomatic tensions between the two countries. In June, a violent attack on six Chinese students attending a prestigious oenology school near Bordeaux further exacerbated anti-French sentiment in China, leading to criticisms of the lure of the French wine industry, so prized by Chinese investors. When 40 major Chinese business leaders visited Paris the same month, they raised the issue of security with president Fran?ois Hollande and received the special protection usually reserved for heads of state.
In 2010, the Chinese diaspora in the Belleville district of Paris demonstrated against the attacks, especially those during weddings when people traditionally offer cash gifts. Now complaint forms are available in Chinese.
The regional tourist office says that the figures show no drop in Asian visitors but the chairman, Jean-Pierre Blat, has long-term concerns: "With the growth of emerging countries, we could see between 10-15 million more tourists by 2020, and we just don't have the capacity to deal with them."
One problem is the lack of security in suburban hotels. In central Paris, hotel capacity is at saturation point and new ones can only be built outside the ring road, in precisely the areas now avoided by the Chinese tour operators. Jean-Fran?ois Zhou, the founder of Ansel Travel, says that the Chinese blacklist hotels whose clients have been the victims of theft. He now tries to get his clients into central hotels, even if it raises the cost of his services.
On 11 June the Paris police announced 26 measures to promote the safety of tourists, with a greater police presence in areas popular with Asian visitors. The long-term aim is to change their cash habits by promoting awareness and working with the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean embassies. The plan also entails more police patrols in the hotel areas of Seine-Saint-Denis outside the city proper.
The Louvre has gone one step further by setting up an international telephone line and a computer to help tourists report thefts. It is in a prominent location, under the glass pyramid.
This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) ? The Baltimore Ravens signed tight end Visanthe Shiancoe to a one-year contract Sunday, one day after Dennis Pitta dislocated his hip during practice.
Pitta had surgery Saturday and could miss the entire season.
Sciancoe, a 33-year-old free agent, played in only four games last season with New England. But he played in all 16 games in each of the previous nine seasons ? the first four with the New York Giants and the next five with Minnesota.
He has 243 career catches for 2,677 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Pitta was hurt on the third day of training camp when he collided with safety James Ihedigbo in the back of the end zone while going for a pass from Joe Flacco.
Pitta was a key figure last year in the Ravens' run to a Super Bowl championship last season. He was expected to take on a bigger role this year after Baltimore traded wide receiver Anquan Boldin during the spring.
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Ford research engineer Zach Nelson hacked up an Xbox 360 controller, and used an out-of-date MakerBot Thing-O-Matic, to make a rather interesting mod to a Shelby GT500: A haptic shift knob. When the RPMs hit a mere 3,000?god that car must have some awesome low-end torque?Nelson's 3D-printed custom knob vibrates, telling you it's time to shift (rather than informing you that you just ate a grenade in Call of Duty ). It might sound gimmicky, but Nelson's experiment provides a glimpse of the future. OpenXC is Ford's program to make vehicle data available to the user in realtime, with the diagnostic system beaming it to a tablet or smartphone over Bluetooth. By tapping that info, installing an Arduino controller, and programming in some simple values, Nelson was able to go from concept to execution in a matter of weeks. While some tech blogs have breathlessly been reporting that Nelson's device "will teach people how to drive a stick," that's obviously incorrect, and not the real point of the experiment; nor is the LED indicator going to be a gamechanger, as few of us who drive stick have ever been driving around going "Gee, what gear am I in?" Rather, Nelson is demonstrating that by simply opening the floodgates of a vehicle's information, Ford is enabling you customize your driving experience in a manner of your choosing. And it points towards the future: Open-source vehicle telematics, combined with digital manufacturing devices a ...