11.24
Business Wire, March 18, 2009
Providing a Robust Buying and Distribution Channel for Global Buyers
WESTCHESTER, Ill. — Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. the leading North American salvage auto
auction company today announced reaching a strategic marketing alliance
with RideSafely.com and its affiliate HaulMatch.com. Existing
RideSafely.com offices in Hamburg, Dubai and Moscow will now offer IAA
support services such as buyer registration, buyer payment and logistics
assistance. In addition, IAA will now serve as RideSafely.coms
preferred auction source in these regions and the companies will work in
concert to co-market and recruit buyers for their mutual benefit
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11.24
Business Wire, Nov 23, 2009
OLDWICK, N.J. — The 2008 National Seismic Hazard Maps by the U.S. Geological Survey are
changing the perception of earthquake risk in the United States
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11.23
0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Nov 22, 2009 | by Anonymous
4&5
Hit the road with us, from Route 66 to the Rockies, from Memphis to Miami
6&7
We take a double look at Egypt – a Red Sea resort and then its White Coast
8&9
Explore an undiscovered side of France…and try to win a Keycamp holiday
10&11
Sri Lanka is back on the tourist map, so we show you some of its delights
Homes
12&13
Get out the shears and clippers and give the garden a manicured look
14&15
See how to give YOUR home a burst of colour, from pinks to purples
16&17
Get tips on making pressies, then Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen designs a bedroom
18&19
Check out Xmas tree baubles with a difference, then see Tricks of the Trade
20&21
We’ve got great ideas for a teen bedroom…and for a dream bathroom too
THIS WEEK’S PAGE 1 PICTURE
Our front page picture this week shows the El Gouna resort on Egypt’s shimmering Red Sea coast …more on Pages 6 and 7
11.22
0 Comments | Manila Bulletin, Nov 19, 2009
The beautiful women of Miss Earth 2009 show off their fine form: The collective result of a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, exercise and a tall, confident posture. The Miss Earth candidates gladly share their secrets to achieving beauty through a healthy lifestyle for our benefit: Diet and nutrition Miss Japan Tomomi Takada, for example, says a proper diet is her investment for maintaining good posture by keeping her bones healthy and strong.
Yes I am very much concerned about maintaining good posture. I know that a tall and confident posture depends on strong and healthy bones. I mostly eat fish, vegetables, and foods rich in amino acids and calcium. I like milk and its other products because it contains calcium and its good for bone growth and bone health. In Japan, we eat foods that are rich in calcium such as fish, she reveals. Latina beauty Gisela Menossi, who is representing Argentina in the pageant, also believes in eating only the right foods. To keep my bones strong, I drink milk and eat cheese, vegetables, fruits, fish, and foods that are rich in calcium. Yes I love milk. I make sure that I drink four glasses of milk a day to keep my bones strong and healthy, says Menossi. Bones and exercise But theres more to a healthy lifestyle than just eating the right foods in the proper amounts. For Miss Venezuela Jessica Barboza, exercise is a vital component of living a healthy life. I do a variety of workouts. I alternate pilates and yoga. I do kickboxing to release myself from all the stresses of the day, says Barboza. Miss Spain Alejandra Echevarria also works out regularly. To maintain the health of my bones, I engage in exercises and get involved in sports. Coming from a place famous for its beaches, its no surprise that Miss Australia Melinda Heffernan works out near the sand and surf. Shes so rigorous about her workouts that she describes it as being similar to military training. I attend this boot camp near the beach where I do weights and running thrice a week, says Heffernan
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11.22
0 Comments | Wireless News, Nov 21, 2009
According to Campaigner’s 2009 State of Small Business Online Marketing Survey, 46 percent of small businesses surveyed rely on email marketing to help them find new customers, keep existing ones and grow their businesses.
With the economic recovery underway, the survey also found that 36 percent of small businesses plan to begin using email marketing in the next 12 months.
Campaigner, an email marketing solutions provider, sponsored the online survey conducted by Hurwitz & Associates, gathering responses from 259 small businesses with 1-20 employees. The first report – Small Business Marketing Health Check – focused on how small businesses are succeeding and the mix of marketing tools they are using. Those findings were published in October.
As demonstrated in the Campaigner survey results released in last month’s report – Small Business Marketing Health Check – small businesses that use email and other Web marketing tools expect to achieve greater business growth and higher revenues than businesses that are not using online marketing tools.
“The survey points to an adoption trend in small business email marketing – 46 percent currently use email marketing and 36 percent plan to use it next year,” said Laurie McCabe, partner, Hurwitz & Associates. “As the recovery from the recession gets underway, businesses that already have email marketing programs in place are better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities to increase sales and revenues.”
Despite the growing confidence in using email marketing, both current users and those that plan to use email marketing view spam as the biggest barrier or potential barrier to successful email marketing. When questioned about their concerns in designing and executing email marketing campaigns, respondents reported the following top challenges:
– Concerns that my customers will view email marketing as spamming
– Too many email campaigns are filtered out by spam filters
– Poor response rates
“The survey results show that email marketing is now a mainstream tool for small businesses to stay connected to customers with informational e-newsletters as well as sales and promotional offers to drive sales,” said Steve Adams, Campaigner’s VP of marketing. “We also hear the concerns and challenges small businesses have voiced in their responses
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11.21
Business Wire, Nov 20, 2009
OLDWICK, N.J. — A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of
A (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of aa- of Allstate
Insurance Group (Allstate) and its members. Additionally,
A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of a- and debt ratings of Allstates
parent, The Allstate Corporation (Allcorp) (Northbrook, IL)
(NYSE: ALL). The outlook for these ratings is stable.
Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Superior) and ICRs
of aa- of the primary life/health member companies of
Allstate Financial. A.M. Best also has affirmed the debt ratings
of aa- of the outstanding notes issued under various funding
agreement-backed securities (FABS) programs of Allstate Life
Insurance Company (ALIC) (Northbrook, IL). The outlook for these
ratings has been revised to negative from stable. (See link below for a
detailed listing of the companies and ratings.)
The ratings reflect Allstates solid risk-adjusted capitalization,
favorable operating performance and significant market presence
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11.21
0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Oct 23, 2008 | by SOPHIE GOODCHILD
AN EXHIBITION on health tourism showcasing 120 clinics from around the world offering everything from heart surgery to nose reshaping, opens this weekend in London.
Organisers of the event at Olympia claim more than 100,000 people are now seeking surgery abroad each year, and the number will double by 2010.
Fertility treatment, cosmetic surgery and weight loss operations are among the most popular procedures, while the shortage of dentists in Britain means dental treatment overseas is increasingly popular, and can cost half the price of care here.
Research by medical website Treatment Abroad found Britons cited fear of superbugs, cheaper prices, and lack of waiting lists as some of the reasons for travelling to foreign destinations.
Clinics with stands at the Health Tourism Show include a centre in Barcelona that will do heart surgery for prices from [pounds]4,500 a [pounds]4,000 saving on typical British fees.
A clinic in Malta offers nose reshaping for just under [pounds]3,000, including flights and hotel.
Other procedures include teeth whitening in Cyprus, MRI scans in Norway, weight loss surgery in Tunisia and IVF in Istanbul.
Philip Archbold, a director of Treatment Abroad a sponsor of the show said the event would offer balanced information.
“Patients need to do the research.
We urge people to check infection rates and the surgeon performing the operation.
If [the information] is not available, go somewhere else
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11.20
Business Wire, Nov 19, 2009
Innovative Touch Screen Kiosks Enable Lightning-Quick Downloads of
Movies and TV Shows onto USB Flash Cards
LOS ANGELES — With the objective of providing consumers access to faster, higher
quality digital downloading, Digiboo LLC, a new digital media company,
and Movie Gallery, Inc., parent company of Hollywood Video and Movie
Gallery, today jointly announce a pilot program for placement of up to
100 of Digiboos digital movie kiosks in select Hollywood Video and
Movie Gallery retail stores nationwide.
Digiboo Market Opportunity
The proposed service leverages recent advancements in USB technology and
capabilities. USB is particularly attractive and relevant to most
consumers, as it is a standard used on virtually all PCs and on many
other media devices, with an installed base of hundreds of millions of
devices. The latest version, USB 3.0, is more than 10X faster than USB
2.0 and is backward compatible with existing USB enabled devices.
The flash card and rapid download components allow consumers to watch
the movies they want and where they want offering a much better
experience than they have had previously, stated home entertainment
industry veteran Richard Cohen, Digiboo chief executive officer. With
Digiboo, you can download your movies in less than 30 seconds, theres
no subscription, no out-of-stock movies, and no returns. Plus, Digiboos
technology enables films and other media to be played on so many
different kinds of devices.
Digiboos touch-screen kiosks will allow consumers to plug in a small,
portable flash drive and download from a choice of more than 1,000
movies and TV shows for rental or purchase in under 30 seconds. The
movies in your pocket can then be played on a variety of devices:
netbooks and other laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and televisions.
Content will be protected by digital rights management technology.
Pilot Program
The pilot will begin in January 2010 and will test both rental and
sales, and explore various pricing scenarios. Customers will have access
to movies and tv shows, and eventually books, music, and games.
Innovation is critical to our strategy as people are constantly
evolving in the way they want to acquire and consume entertainment and
other media. Digiboos technology platform will allow us provide content
to our customers in a new way thats both more convenient and
cost-effective, said Clifford Torng, Chief Marketing Officer of Movie
Gallery, Inc. This new alliance enables us to provide our customers
with significant flexibility in terms of where, how and when they
acquire and view content as the kiosks can be placed in a number of
different environments, and USB flash drives can be easily made to work
with virtually any video playback device.
Cohen noted that the Digiboo product should significantly broaden
consumer interest in the home entertainment market since the technology
is so consumer focused and makes downloading of movie content even more
accessible.
Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery not only offer convenient,
high-traffic retail locations, but their consumer profile and proven
expertise in merchandising to those consumers makes them an ideal
partner for Digiboos pilot program, he added.
About Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video
Based in Wilsonville, Ore., Movie Gallery, Inc. is the second largest
North American video and game rental company. The company operates more
than 3,000 stores under the Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video and Game
Crazy brands in all 50 U.S. states and Canada
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11.20
Macworld, December, 2009
How quickly are Mac users adopting Snow Leopard? We sorted through Macworld.com’s Web statistics to find out. The result: Macworld readers have been quick to upgrade–within a month of Snow Leopard’s release, the majority of visits to Macworld.com were from Macs running the new OS. Compare those numbers with the adoption rate for Windows Vista, which, after a year on the market, was in use by only 14 percent of PC World’s Web visitors (macworld.com/5400). Windows XP took 11 months to surpass Windows 98 on PCWorld.com
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11.20
PR Newswire, Nov 18, 2009
In Time for American Diabetes Month, New Online Lifestyle Community Encourages Information Sharing, Collaboration
PARK CITY, Utah, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ — Did you know that 5.7 million people are unaware that they have diabetes? Symptoms can be as innocuous as excessive thirst and weight loss, frequent urination, weakness and fatigue. KeyVive.com, a new online lifestyle community for people affected by diabetes launches today with a first-of-its-kind offer of a free blood glucose meter to help people get diagnosed early and give support to individuals with pre-diabetes and those unaware of the disease.
KeyVive.com launches with the “Do I Have Diabetes” module designed to reach out to those who might have diabetes and not know it. The site provides consumers with valuable information on symptoms, as well as a diagnostic process. It includes a community to offer individuals support to the fear and uncertainty that comes with a diabetes diagnosis. Consumers will be encouraged to complete a quick and easy assessment test; those who qualify will receive a free wellness kit that includes an Advocate Redi-Code blood glucose meter, a national doctor network resource packet and lifestyle products. An Advocate customer service team will be on hand to provide live support to all wellness kit recipients.
“We’re thrilled to be associated with KeyVive and to provide our meters at no cost to help minimize the alarming number of undiagnosed people in the United States,” said Oliver Suess, vice president, Pharma Supply Inc., distributor of Advocate products. “Our company prides itself on customer service, helping consumers access vital information and understand how their equipment works.”
A diabetes diagnosis often comes with a range of emotions such as fear, anger, denial, depression and uncertainty. To help ease these emotions and relieve the loneliness that frequently affects people living with diabetes, KeyVive will use its supportive social network as a platform to unlock each member’s potential to live powerfully and positively by educating, informing, engaging and connecting its members with one another.
“By providing social and easy-to-use lifestyle tools to help people with diabetes manage their lives, KeyVive is poised to be the leading online community for people with this chronic disease. In addition, KeyVive facilitates the exchange of information and personal stories,” said David Greenholtz, president and co-founder, KeyVive. “We’re excited about cultivating a community that can offer support and be a resource for the best up-to-date information.”
A PSA video series highlighting the importance of getting tested and diagnosed right away will also launch with KeyVive’s first module, “Do I Have Diabetes.” All PSA participants have been personally affected by diabetes and are donating their time to help KeyVive raise awareness about the importance of early diagnosis. Celebrities participating in the PSA video series include actors Helen Slater, Ian Ziering and Treat Williams. The campaign also includes athletes such as five-time Gold Olympic Medalist Eric Heiden and professional snowboarder and diabetes advocate Sean Busby, as well as fitness expert Kathy Smith. The PSAs will be distributed online and syndicated Web-wide.
The KeyVive Web site will feature the top 100 celebrities with diabetes
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