The Perfect Desktop--Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn
HowtoForge: "With the release of Microsoft's new Windows operating system (Vista), more and more people are looking for alternatives to Windows for various reasons..."
Shark Tank sells out
Saturday’s Super 14 final sold out on Monday morning, sending many hopeful fans home empty-handed. (Read on Source)
Stock Market Technical Analysis Review
Technical analysis video review of the stock market and individual stocks for Wednesday June 6, 2007 including...
Reverend's New Book Urges Leaders to Rethink the Structure of the Church
The Making of a Preacher: Naked in the Pulpit by Reverend C. Mark Ealy explores the work that leads to healthy relationships and calls the church to new core values. (PRWeb Jun 29, 2007)
Surrey announce £35million Oval overhaul
Surrey have finalised proposals for a £35million investment at The Oval in a bid for their ground to remain competitive to host international cricket . (Read on Source)
MS SQL Server 2008 on schedule
Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 is on schedule for a 2nd quarter 2006 release, says Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of Microsoft's data and storage platform division. So what does this mean for security managers?
Google To $2000/Share? Somebody Muzzle Blodget
Henry Blodget made his name by predicting outlandish price increases for Internet stocks in the late nineties. A lot of people lost a lot of money (or, all their money) by listening to his recommendations. The government charged him with securities fraud in 2003 and he was subsequently banned from the securities industry for life. (Read on Source)
First Radiohead...now Nine Inch Nails bids adieu to music label
Trent Reznor announces his band is "free of any recording contract." Can music groups use the Web to replace record execs?
Shoemoney RSS Contest Winners for Wednesday, October 24!!
Google Winner - Dexter $449 - 1 free blog makeover - From Weborithm Bloglines Winner - Pat Marcello $100 - 1 page on the Million Euro Wiki - From Million Euro Wiki $50 - Cash prize - From Findgascards.com News Gator Winner - Dana Mark $100 - 1 free page on Million Dollar Wiki - From Million Dollar Wiki $20 [...] (Read on Source)
IK ships Advanced Room Correction for DAW Studios
IK Multimedia today announced the Advanced Room Correction system for DAW-based studios, a kit designed to reduce distortion caused from environmental acoustics. The kit consists of a professionally calibrated microphone, measuring software, and a plugin that functions with any DAW-based software. Co-designed by Audyssy, IK Multimedia advertises th...
IPhone 3G Set for 8 A.m. Debut on July 11
If you're the sort of person who creates countdown widgets for major Apple product releases, you've now got an official Zero...
July 9, 1993: Yes, They're the Romanovs, DNA Tests Confirm
1993: DNA testing identifies nine bone fragments found in an unmarked grave in a Siberian forest near Ekaterinburg as those of Nicholas II -- the last czar of Russia -- and members of his family.
The identification, made by British scientists working with Russian colleagues, ended a 75-year mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the Romanovs, the last ruling family before the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the birth of the Soviet Union.
Drs. Peter Gill and Kevin Sullivan of the British Forensic Science Service in Birmingham were able to establish with near certainty that the remains found in the Koptyaki Forest indeed belonged to Nicholas, the Czarina Alexandra, four of their five children (the remains of Prince Alexei were not recovered), the family's personal physician and three servants.
Despite some subsequent criticism of the scientific methodology employed in the nuclear- and mitochondrial-DNA testing, the 1993 findings are considered to be accurate.
Nicholas and his family were arrested by the Bolsheviks, who were then engaged in a struggle with the Mensheviks, or Whites, for control of Russia following the country's collapse during World War I.
Although the Bolsheviks originally planned to put Nicholas on trial for crimes against the Russian people, the sudden approach of White troops caused the Red Guard to panic. Fearful that the czar might be rescued, the guard commander, with Lenin's approval, executed the Romanovs on July 17, 1918, in the basement of the Iptiev House, the Ekaterinburg mansion that served as their makeshift prison.
As the lab tests eventually determined, the bodies were taken to Koptyaki and buried in a mass grave. Further testing in Great Britain established the mitochondrial-DNA haplogroup and sequences for the Romanov family line.
The Soviet Union kept mum about the family's fate until finally admitting, in 1926, that they were dead. Although two Russians -- a movie producer and an ethnographer -- claimed to have discovered the grave in 1976, the burial site remained a closely guarded state secret until the USSR itself ceased to exist in 1991.
The mystery remained fixed in the popular consciousness throughout most of the 20th century, and there was no shortage of crackpots and frauds emerging from obscurity claiming to be Princess Anastasia or some other down-at-the-heels member of the czar's family.
Once the remains were examined, tested and identified, they were laid to rest in the imperial crypt in Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on July 17, 1998, exactly 80 years after the Romanovs' execution. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the czar and his family in 2000.
Complete closure came earlier this year when DNA testing on some newly unearthed bone shards identified Prince Alexei, the last missing Romanov.
Source: Various
Themes in e107 CMS
Packt "The look and feel of any website is a major factor that drives traffic towards the site. A theme is responsible to give a consistent look and feel to a website. In this article by Theodore S Boomer, we will see how to select and delete themes for e107 websites"
Choanoflagellates II
No sooner than we do an article on a topic that may seem esoteric to some – namely tyrosine kinase signaling in choanoflagellates – than new information comes along to add to the picture. The previous discussion was about how remarkable it is that a complete set of sophisticated intercellular signaling proteins exists in a single- ... (Read on Source)
Microsoft goes live with Mojave videos
Software giant is hoping that videos of Windows Vista skeptics reacting positively to Vista will help convince millions of other skeptics that the operating system just has a bad rap.
Clumps And Streams Of Dark Matter May Lie In Inner Regions Of Milky Way
Using one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world to simulate the halo of dark matter that envelopes our galaxy, researchers found dense clumps and streams of the mysterious stuff lurking in the inner regions of the halo, in the same neighborhood as our solar system.
Benchmarking network performance with Network Pipemeter, LMbench, and nuttcp
Network latency and bandwidth are the two metrics most likely to be of interest when you benchmark a network. Even though most service and product advertising focuses on bandwidth, at times the latency can be a more important metric. Here's a look at three projects that include tools to test your network performance: nepim "network pipemeter," LMbench, and nuttcp. For this article I built each utility from source on a 64-bit Fedora 9 machine. I used nepim version 0.51, LMbench version 3, and nuttcp version 5.5.5.
Google-Funded Satellites Promise Internet Access for All
Google is getting on board with a new push to bring high-speed Internet access to parts of world still unconnected. The company has joined Liberty Global and HSBC to fund a startup called "O3b Networks" -- short for the "other 3 billion" people who can't yet surf the Net.
'Not a waste'
Physicist defends money spent on 'Big Bang' machine
Employee Performance Reviews ? Dealing With Disagreements
What do you do when an employee disagrees with something you?ve written on their performance review? How can you prepare for this and deal with it effectively?
Start by listening to figure out the source of the disagreement. Is it an issue of fact (you wrote that the employee received a customer satisfaction score of 79 but the employee says that his score was actually 83), or is a matter of judgment (you wrote that the employee?s customer service skills were unsatisfactory; she feels that her skills are terrific)? If the disagreement involves an issue of fact, get the facts and make any corrections necessary. If it?s a matter of judgment, ask the employee for additional evidence. Then determine whether that evidence is weighty enough to cause you to change your mind, revise your judgment, and amend the rating that you assigned on the employee?s performance review.
Most of the time, you have a reasonably good understanding of the areas where disagreements are likely to pop up in the course of the performance review discussion. Before beginning the discussion, re-read the review you wrote and try to spot the areas where you and the individual may not seem eye-to-eye. Then ask yourself, ?What am I going to say when George disagrees with my assessment that his performance on the Thompson project just barely met expectations?? If you?ve taken to time to review the appraisal you?ve written for potential hot spots, and given some thought to how you?ll respond, you?re much less likely to be caught off guard.
During the employee performance review discussion, start with your higher ratings and move toward the lower ones. Be prepared to give additional examples besides the ones you?ve included on the formal written appraisal. Refer back to the informal conversations you have had with the individual over the course of the year.
Of course, if you haven?t had on-going, informal performance review discussions with the individual over the course of the appraisal period, then it?s much more likely that disagreements will surface during the review. That?s one more reason for scheduling periodic, ?How?s it going?? discussions with each person on your team.
As soon as a disagreement pops up, switch into active listening mode. ?Active listening? involves allowing the other person to clarify both the facts and feelings about an issue so there?s nothing left under the surface. For example, using phrases as simple as, ?Tell me more . . .? or, ?What else can you share with me about that . . . ?? or, ?Really . . . ?? can encourage people to talk more about their perceptions. Simply nodding without saying anything encourages people to expand on what they have said. It?s not at all unlikely that the employee, allowed a sufficient chance to think aloud about what you have written, will end up saying, ?Yeah, I guess I see what you mean.?
In dealing effectively with employee performance review disagreements, remember what your objective in the discussion is ? and what it isn?t. Your objective in a performance review discussion is not to gain agreement. It is to gain understanding. If the employee agrees with you, that?s great. But particularly if your appraisal is a tough-minded assessment of the fact the Charlie?s contribution toward achieving your department?s objectives was only mediocre, you?ll probably never get him to agree. That?s OK. What you want is for him to understand why you evaluated his performance the way you did, even if his personal opinion is different.
Finally, if you have several employee performance reviews to deliver, don?t start with the individual whose performance was the worst and where disagreements are the most likely to arise. Start with the easiest ? your best performer ? and move toward the more difficult. In this way, you?ll build your skills and become more comfortable with the performance review process. Remember the advice that John Dillinger, the 1930?s public-enemy #1, once provided: ?Before you rob your first bank, knock off a couple of gas stations.?
Dick Grote is one of America?s most well-known speakers, authors, and consultants on employee performance reviews. He is the Chairman and CEO of Grote Consulting and the developer of the GroteApproach <a href="http://www.groteapproach.com/">online employee performance review system</a>.
Live Operator VS. Voicemail Study
Specialty Answering Service, the leading internet based live operator answering service, released today an independent study showing the ineffectiveness of voicemail versus call center applications. This brief synopsis article and the results herein are the culmination of a 6 month study on the subject of live small to medium sized businesses using voicemail or live operators to manage their inbound calls during normal business hours & after business hours.
To remain unbiased in our results, we acquired a random sample of 100 business via yellow page resources. The group was divided into thirds (Group A calls answered by voicemail, Group B calls answered by Answering Service, Group C Calls answered by business owner 24/7). The summation of the results is as follows: 1) Highest customer satisfaction and new customer acquisition reports & records came as a result of Group C's actions. 2) Group B's numbers fell slightly short of Group C (accounting for +- error curve shows no marked difference) 3) Group C's results following with the conjecture that voicemail will actually disrupt business, showed that over 70% of callers do not leave messages on voicemail.
It is very hard to imagine that many businesses are losing seven out of every ten calls. Based on these findings, a few extra budgeted dollars to utilize a call center a month would generate extra revenue for a company through increased call volume. Even though voicemail is still an acceptable way of managing incoming telephone calls, it costs companies millions of dollars in lost business.
Alex Drumheller of Specialty Answering Service was not surprised with the findings. "We have known for years that people are three times more likely to leave a message with a live person than they would with voicemail. Voicemail is killing businesses," Drumheller said. "People look at voicemail as a cheap alternative. It may be cheap, but it is not inexpensive."
Specialty Answering Service has seen first hand the effectiveness if a live voice answering your phones. The study has reinforced how valuable a live answering service is in today's environment.
Todd Cardin is the regional sales representative for Specialty Answering Service's Philadelphia office. This article may be reprinted as long as its contact remains unchanged.
Venture capital and private equity capital and services in china
Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided to immature, high-potential, growth companies in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company.
Venture capital investments are generally made as cash in exchange for share in the invested company. Venture capital has been widely studied in the U.S. and Europe, but only recently it has received greater attention in China.
This is despite the fact that China has one of the world's fastest growing economies and is home to approximately one quarter of the world's population. As China's private sector continues to grow, venture capital funds have directed increasing attention to small- and medium-sized technology-based firms.
Venture capital in China has many interesting differences from that in Western countries. Venture capital in China has many interesting differences from that in Western countries.
VCA members comprise venture capital firms, institutional investors, banks, incubators, angel groups, corporate advisors, accountants, lawyers, government bodies, academic institutions and other service providers to the venture capital and private equity industry. venture capitalists are typically very selective in deciding what to invest in; as a rule of thumb, a fund may invest in one in four hundred opportunities presented to it.
Funds are most interested in ventures with exceptionally high growth potential, as only such opportunities are likely capable of providing the financial returns and successful exit event within the required timeframe that venture capitalists expect. Please visit online www.dynastyresources.net in NewYork city.
Representing the <a href="http://dynastyresources.net/venture-capital-financing.html">venture capital financing</a> in the website <a href="http://www.dynastyresources.net">www.dynastyresources.net</a> in NewYork city.
Rare, prehistoric-age reptile found in New Zealand
AP - A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday. (Read on Source)
Extreme Weather Postpones Flowering Time Of Plants
Extreme weather events have a greater effect on flora than previously presumed. A one-month drought postpones the time of flowering of grassland and heathland plants in Central Europe by an average of 4 days. With this a so-called 100-year drought event equates to approximately a decade of global warming.
Preparing for the Obama Era
Faced with one of the most important transfers of presidential power in American history -- amid wars on two fronts, the looming threat of terrorism at home and a full-blown economic crisis -- the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama team have responded with exceptional cooperation on...
A Clearer Picture of Cancer
The list of genes and proteins associated with cancer and other diseases is growing rapidly: earlier this month, for instance, scientists reported sequencing the whole genome of a cancer cell for the first time. A field called molecular imaging puts this information in context by letting scientists watch biological molecules in action inside ... (Read on Source)
IStudio Publisher Coming to Expo
c:four has announced plans to launch iStudio Publisher at Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco next month. The new...
Homeland Security forecasts 5-year threat picture (AP)
AP - The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
name: MAGPIE