Thursday, May 30, 2013

I Am a Victim of Fraud

As it turned out, your debit debacle wasn't over. Even as the ABC News Fixer began trying to unravel this case, another $2,000 disappeared from your Citibank account – not through QuickPay but through some other mechanism. More on that in a sec.

Our first move was to contact Chase, to try to put the $5,900 back into your Citibank account. We got in touch with one of Chase's media reps and they kicked it up to the executive office, and within a few days the money was back in your Citibank account. Hooray!

But we had barely celebrated that victory when the other $2,000 vanished. That turned out to be an easier fix involving Citibank.

When we asked them about it, they realized that after they credited the two $2,000 debits in the beginning, their system apparently thought it was one transaction being incorrectly credited twice. That triggered the other $2,000 debit. (If you find that confusing, you are not alone.)

Everything was hunky-dory at this point. But then the thief tried one more time – something you learned when Citibank called you to ask whether you'd authorized a withdrawal of $40,000. You assured them you had not, and they stopped that fraud, too.

You told us you think someone obtained your Citibank account number because, in the past, you had given it to customers of your biofeedback business so they could pay you electronically. Whoever obtained it apparently created a QuickPay account using your personal information, and then used it to move money from your Citibank account into their pockets. You have since closed your old Citibank account and opened a new one, a move that should thwart the fraudsters.

Your case made us wonder what protections exist for consumers in this age of electronic payments and receipts. We're always seeing TV commercials with happy people sending or receiving money on the bus or in their bed.

The federal rule that protects consumers in cases of debit card fraud – Regulation E – extends to transactions done with other devices, such as smart phones, according to the FDIC. Under Regulation E, consumers who report fraud linked to a checking account in a timely matter have limited liability –$50 if they report it within two days, and $500 if they report it within 60 days.

However, because your problems occurred with a business checking account, Regulation E did not apply, according to the FDIC and Citibank.

Note to small business owners: Be careful with whatever banking system you use. You might not get a happy ending like Philip's.

Citibank told us they do have multilayered security for their business accounts, though they also stress that customers need to safeguard their codes, user IDs and passwords.

We also talked to Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. She says that as banking continues to get easier and electronic payments become more common, it's super important to protect all your information. Said Grant, "The bottom line is, as making payments and transferring funds gets easier and easier, it can also make fraud easier."

Throughout this, we raised three children, and helped with college, weddings and all the other events in life. As we are approaching our “golden years,” we would like to buy a small home.

We have saved for a down payment, and the only outstanding debt we have is a college loan for our son. We also qualify as a first-time buyer since it’s been so long since we were homeowners. Is buying a home in our best interest? I have always believed that the only way to retire in California is to have a paid-for home. We will be meeting with a financial advisor, but I so respect your opinion and would like to know your thoughts. — Sue, California

My best advice is that you do not retire until you are debt-free and own your home outright. This guarantees you will have a rent-free retirement during the years that you will not have paychecks. Of course, I do not know enough about your situation to be any more specific than that. How many years do you have before you stop working? What are your other investment and retirement account resources?

You would not believe the heart-wrenching letters I receive from people in their 70s and beyond who are trying to juggle credit-card debt, college loans and a mortgage payment on their Social Security checks. You just can’t do that and also eat. The next step for these folks is to become a financial burden to their kids.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Attract venture capital for their high-tech startup

At a time when many high-tech startups in Florida can't seem to raise a dime, a couple of 22-year-old entrepreneurs from Orlando have tapped a six-figure investment they hope will help put their young company on the map.

In a little less than two years, the co-founders of Feathr Inc. have gone from the good-time college days of fraternities and parties to 60-hour workweeks and investment pitches to high-level financiers with deep pockets.

 Combining their technical know-how with some business savvy and a little luck, the childhood friends and one-time University of Florida roommates have created a smartphone app for digital business cards that has attracted investors with international ties in venture capital - the kind of high-risk, high-reward financing that built Silicon Valley and other major technology centers.

So though Florida's share of the nation's newly invested venture capital has plummeted during the past year, the early success of Feathr - brainchild of Bishop Moore grad Aidan Augustin and Wekiva High grad Neal Ormsbee - could become a template for certain startups looking to finance future ventures.

"These guys are smart, energetic and, perhaps most importantly, they are coachable," said Dennis R. Pape, a veteran Central Florida venture capitalist and founder of VenturePitch Orlando, a networking event where Feathr demonstrated its product recently. "They are really a cut above the young entrepreneurs that we usually see."

After operating on a bootstrap budget since its founding last year, Feathr has secured $150,000 from a group of Indian-American investors in Tampa who are members of TiE Florida, the state chapter of an international organization of Indian entrepreneurs. Combined with money raised from "angel" investors - family members and advisers - Feathr has raised nearly $200,000 in the past 18 months.

The TiE Florida investors were impressed by Feathr's product and the sophistication of the novice entrepreneurs - especially Augustin, the company's chief executive and its point person when it's time to pitch the rtls.

"He was constantly in touch with us, persistently following up on his dream," said Sunal Jain, founder of the Tampa-based TiE chapter and president of Medical B&T Services LLC, a billing-technology company. "When we finally visited his place, saw his team and where they worked, and interviewed each team member, we were convinced of the prospects for this company."

Augustin said the idea of a digital business card grew out of his experience as a UF engineering student during a 2011 internship in Silicon Valley.

"I was trying to meet new people, going to tech groups, meet-ups and that sort of thing for young entrepreneurs," he said. "Most of us didn't have business cards, and it was awkward to keep asking for phone numbers or e-mail addresses. I started to joke with people that we should create an app that would make this whole process easier. When I got back to Gainesville, it wasn't a joke anymore. I went to work on it."

Augustin shared the idea with Ormsbee, his longtime pal and fellow engineering student, who added programming and business skills to the mix. They began with a basic idea: a digital-business-card app that people could download, customize and share electronically with prospective clients and customers.

Since then it has morphed into a full-spectrum, multimedia app - a digital business card "on steroids" - that event organizers can give attendees to download as a networking resource. It features not only someone's professional information, but also the event's agenda, list of attendees, speakers' bios and other data.

The two UF students came up with the name Feathr based on the adage "birds of a feather flock together," hoping to evoke an image tied to networking while creating a unique term for marketing on the Web.

They took their proposal in late 2011 to UF's Tech Entrepreneur Boot Camp, where they won a prize for best presentation. By early 2012, they had formed a company and moved into the Florida Innovation Hub, the giant university's small-business incubator. They also recruited two more longtime friends and UF students for the startup: Tommy Goode of Apopka and Andrew Kennedy of Orlando.

 But before I start the pre-fight analysis (or rank speculation, if you prefer), let’s take a moment to take a look at the undercard.

First off there’s Apple. Now, whatever their prestige in the design world, Apple have never been serious contenders in the gaminge world. Yes, you can get some pretty cool iPad games, including some impressive Warcraft clones, but both Sony and Microsoft have taken the iPad’s measure and relegated it to ‘accessory’.

Even more worryingly for Apple, Microsoft are already pitching the Xbox One as a TV box as well as a games box, nicely pulling the rug from under all the muttering about Apple TV - and Apple are pretty serious about being a smooth entertainment provider. Microsoft haven’t even broken into a sweat to do it. It’s a by-blow that reminds me of the scene in the Avengers where Hulk casually punches Thor across the room. Puny Apple.

Then there’s Nintendo, the old heavyweight champions who, like George Foreman, just seem to keep going. They had a pretty impressive comeback with the Wii but, sadly, the Wii U has failed to continue the Wii’s form. Yes, it has its fans, but relatively few of them and in the latest round of the Console Wars, it doesn’t really look like a contender.

And let’s not forget the OUYA, the plucky little crowd-sourced open platform console. Let me declare an interest here: I am an OUYA Kickstarter backer, and I expect to get my console and controllers in a few weeks. I’m a sucker for a good underdog story.

But – to push the boxing analogy beyond any reasonable point – the OUYA isn’t even Rocky Balboa in the days before his first shot at taking down Apollo Creed. It’s a lightweight which has piqued the interest of dedicated fight fans on the amateur circuit and is just about to turn pro. It’s got talent and dedication, it’s light on its feet and it’s a lovely little mover, but no lightweight fight is going to draw the crowds like a titanic heavyweight clash.

This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) even blamed the Benghazi scandal on — wait for it — budget cuts and the sequester.

Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply isn't around.

Detroit is absolutely bankrupt. The city faces a cash shortfall of more than $100 million by June 30. Long-term liabilities, including pensions, exceed $14 billion. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to bail out Detroit's city government even further. Thanks to the financial situation of Detroit, emergency services like police and fire departments are being severely cut short. 911 is only taking calls during business hours. Homes have been abandoned making parts of the city look like a ghost town.

If our public servants are right and wouldn't dare lie and try to scare us, then chaos, anarchy and lawlessness should reign in Detroit now, right? Well, not exactly.

Dale Brown and his organization, the Threat Management Center (TMC), have helped fill in the void left by the corrupt and incompetent city government. Brown started TMC in 1995 as a way to help his fellow Detroit citizens in the midst of a rise in home invasions and murders. While attempting to assist law enforcement, he found little but uninterested officers more concerned with extracting revenue through traffic tickets and terrorizing private homes with SWAT raids than protecting person and rtls.

In an interview with Copblock.org, Brown explains how and why his private, free market policing organization has been so successful. The key to effective protection and security is love, says Brown, not weapons, violence, or law. It sounds a bit corny, yes, but the results speak for themselves.

Almost 20 years later and Detroit's financial mess even more apparent, TMC now has a client base of about 1,000 private residences and over 500 businesses. Thanks to TMC's efficiency and profitability, they are also able to provide free or incredibly low-cost services to the poor as well.

The reasons TMC has been so successful is because they take the complete opposite approach that government agencies, in this case law enforcement, do. Brown's philosophy is that he would rather hire people that see violence as a last resort, and the handful of Detroit police officers that actually worked with Brown in the earlier years and have an interest in genuine protection now work for TMC. While governments threaten their citizens with compulsion, fines, and jail if they don't hand over their money, TMC's funding is voluntary and subject to the profit-loss test; if Brown doesn't provide the services his customers want, he goes out of business.

This means that Brown is not interested in no-knock para-military SWAT raids, "officer safety" as the highest priority, bloated union pensions, or harassing people for what they have in their bloodstream. TMC works with its customers on the prevention of crime as well rather than showing up after the fact to take notes like historians.

The heroic Brown and TMC are a great example of how the market and civil society can and do provide services traditionally associated with the state far better, cheaper and more in tune to people's wants and needs. I have always believed policing, protection and security are far too important to be run by the state — especially in age of militarized Stormtroopers — and Brown is helping show why.

Law enforcement isn't the only "essential government service" that the private sector is taking over and flourishing in. The Detroit Bus Company (DBC) is a private bus service that began last year and truly shows a stark contrast in how the market and government operates. Founded by 25-year-old Andy Didorosi, the company avoids the traditionally stuffy, cagey government buses and uses beautiful vehicles with graffiti-laden exterior designs that match the heart of the Motor City. There are no standard bus routes; a live-tracking app, a call or a text is all you need to get picked up in one of their buses run on soy-based biofuel. All the buses feature wi-fi, music, and you can even drink your own alcohol on board! The payment system is, of course, far cheaper and fairer.

Comparing this company's bus service to say, my local San Francisco MUNI transit experience, is like comparing the services of local, free-range, organic farms in the Bay Area to the Soviet bread lines.

Not surprisingly, the city government, which has no time to protect its citizens, does manage to find the time to harass peaceful citizens in this spontaneous, market order. Charles Molnar and a couple of other students from the Detroit Enterprise Academy wanted to help make benches for the city's bus stops, where long-waits are the norm, equipped with bookshelves to hold reading material.

Detroit Department of Transportation officials quickly said the bench was "unapproved" and had it taken down. Silly citizens, don't you know only governments can provide these services?

The TMC and the DBC are just two of the larger, more visible examples of the market and voluntary human cooperation reigning in Detroit. "Food rebels," running local community gardens, are an alternative to Big Agriculture and government-subsidized factory farms. Private parking garages are popping up. Detroit residents are using Lockean homesteading principles to repurpose land amongst the rubble of the Fed-induced housing bubble. Community events like Biergartens and large, civic dining gatherings (with no permits or licenses!) are being organized privately. Even Detroit's artists are beginning to reflect this anarchic, peaceful movement in their artwork.

Detroit's city government may be in shambles financially, but the citizens of Detroit are showing what happens when people are given their liberty back. For centuries, libertarians have been arguing for strict limits on state power, the benefits of private, civic society, and the bottom-up, spontaneous order that arises where free markets and voluntary interactions dominate. Perhaps we shouldn't be so scared and sicken with political Stockholm Syndrome the next time politicos fear-monger over budgets cuts.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Hockey sizes up for the top job

But it's not just the Treasurer's job he wants - he wants Tony Abbott's job too. Eventually. Over the past few months, Hockey has been telling people in Sydney and Melbourne that he is now "serious" about replacing Abbott should the opportunity arise at some stage.

This is what he told guests at Peter FitzSimons and Lisa Wilkinson's Australia Day barbecue at their waterfront home in Sydney. And he has said the same thing to several senior business leaders in private meetings and boardroom discussions in recent months.

He's also told colleagues: "I won't make the same mistakes that Peter Costello made on the leadership. Unlike Peter, I won't die wondering."

But Hockey's renewed leadership ambitions are safely parked for now. Abbott has been an effective Opposition Leader. The Coalition maintains a strong lead over Labor in the polls. Abbott looks all but guaranteed to become prime minister in September.

The leadership turmoil within Labor means that any hint of disunity in Coalition ranks is, as one opposition MP put it to this column, "one bone that is buried deep". Labor's perpetual leadership angst has strengthened Abbott's hold on the leadership.

The Coalition is determined to do all it can to avoid any sign of instability. Any frontbencher seen to be "angling for the leadership", another Coalition MP told this column, will earn the wrath of their rtls.

They know how damaging it has been to Labor. In the past three years, Labor has endured three major leadership convulsions: Kevin Rudd's removal in 2010, his challenge last year and the aborted putsch in March. Between each crisis, Labor has been gripped by leadership speculation.

All leaders are tested in government. Yet leadership instability is a permanent feature of modern politics. In the past 30 years, every prime minister from Malcolm Fraser to Julia Gillard has faced either a direct leadership challenge or the threat of one.

Hockey's loose lips about being a future leadership contender - confirmed by several of his colleagues and senior business figures - provide an insight into his increasing confidence.

It is far removed from the ridicule he received after vacillating on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in late 2009, when he was favoured to replace Malcolm Turnbull.

The purpose of Hockey setting out leadership markers now is to position himself as the heir apparent to Abbott, whenever that time comes. Critical to this is cementing his place as the clear No 2 right now. Julie Bishop is the Liberal deputy leader and deputy Coalition leader, even though National Party leader Warren Truss will be deputy prime minister in government. Hockey does not see Bishop as becoming a threat.

He is suspicious about Turnbull, who has buried the hatchet with Abbott. He is acutely aware of how Turnbull, as a backbencher and minister, undermined Costello as treasurer. And he is keeping a close eye on Scott Morrison, who is also in the future leaders frame.

For the past decade, Abbott has been a leader among the conservative wing (dries) of the Liberal Party while Hockey has been a leader among the moderates (wets). But Hockey's tough stand on the budget and his promise to end "the culture of universal entitlement" has won him respect from conservatives.

Hockey's principal backer in the Liberal partyroom is South Australian MP Jamie Briggs, a well-known dry. Briggs is to Hockey what another South Australian MP, Christopher Pyne (a wet), was to Costello.

Peter Dutton, another social conservative, is also close to Hockey. Formerly assistant treasurer to Costello, he regularly talks to Hockey about economic policy. They ran on a leadership ticket in 2009. A future Hockey-Dutton ticket is expected.

Coalition MPs say they are witnessing Hockey transform his political persona. It is not just about shedding weight. Once taunted as "sloppy Joe", known for gaffes and often short on detail, he is working harder. He is more disciplined, focused and effective in the media.

Hockey understands the budgetary challenge. Last week two independent reports - from the Parliamentary Budget Office and Treasury - revealed that a structural budget deficit was expected for the rest of the decade. Further cuts to spending and tax increases are likely to be needed to return the budget to structural surplus. Hockey has already ruled out tax cuts for the foreseeable future.

This will be difficult, given Abbott's endorsement of big spending policies such as his $4.3 billion paid parental leave scheme and his poorly designed $3.2bn Direct Action climate change policy. Hockey also needs to ensure his messages are consistent with Abbott's, given they have contradicted each other in the past on PPL, carbon tax compensation and returning to surplus.

As with all leadership contenders, Hockey will determine his future by his performance. He needs to keep faith with his promise to curtail middle-class welfare and repair the budget's bottom line. It won't be trouble-free. He has already been rolled in shadow cabinet several times.

Hockey also has a tendency to feign outrage, which grates with colleagues. And he talks down Australia's overall economic performance, which rankles some senior business figures.

Some Coalition MPs are highly critical of opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb's communication skills. It therefore falls mainly to Hockey to sell the Coalition's economic messages. How effective Hockey is as a communicator will also determine whether or not he gets to the top job he is talking so openly about.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Biggest Thing Since Blogging And YouTube Channels

"Your Own Branded Social Network" or YOBSN is a Social Network engine that offers a first of its kind opportunity to not only brand a company or individual but instantly connect them to millions of people around the world. YOBSN owners can brand and customize the portal by which their clients and friends access the social network creating top-of-mind awareness for their cause, product or service. Smart Media provides the important social media content and features and even the incentives for users to want to return and use the social network and YOBSN owners can create a second layer of content to their system by offering even more to their free users.

What makes YOBSN unique over other social networks is that they share their revenue not only with the YOBSN owner but also with the YOBSN owners free users. Like nearly all other social networks Smart Media earns the majority of its income from advertisers and they share this revenue with the people responsible for creating it. It is definitely an idea whose time has come. Users can enter contests daily to win cash and prizes. They can play free games for real cash and prizes and also earn points whenever they click on banner ads that interest them.

Users can earn points for referring others and these points can be spent in an online rewards store for digital or physical products. One might compare it to a frequent flyer program or rewards card program with one major exception being that users don't spend any money to earn them. Most rewards programs are simply discount programs where the discount may or may not ever be used. When someone uses a credit card to earn frequent flyer miles, for example, a small portion of the money that the person spent is used to create the free miles. So these miles may or may not be used in the future, and if enough of them are accumulated then
the person would have a need to use them. In essence the miles are not free the person is actually paying something for rtls.

The word "free" is used a lot in business but in many cases it is not actually free. For example, "Buy 2 get 1 free" sounds really good, but the truth is much less appealing to consumers when the truth is it is actually "Buy 3 and get 33%" off each item. 33% off of one item is not very appealing to consumers but add "If you buy 3" makes it even less appealing. So instead say "Buy 2 get 1 free" and consumers respond and that is because they think they are getting something for free when actually they are only getting a small discount.

However, with YOBSN it is actually free and the users never spend money to earn the rewards. The money for the rewards comes from advertising revenue generated by Smart Media. The YOBSN owner is not charged for the rewards that their free users earn. In fact, they actually earn money when their free users earn rewards. This money also comes from profits earned by Smart Media not by the YOBSN owner.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia, the world’s biggest maker of stand-alone graphics chips, says that its new chip is primed to run this year’s batch of high-end PC games — such as Call of Duty: Ghosts, Watch Dogs, and Battlefield 4. Numerous gamer-PC makers are launching new computers today based on the new 250-watt chip, which can execute 4.0 teraflops in single-precision mode.

It’s worth noting that game consoles always lag behind the PC in performance. That’s because console makers have to lock in on a design a couple of years ahead of the launch and then give that specification to game developers so they make launch titles. The custom chip takes a while to design, and it can be engineered better than a general-purpose PC to run games.

But PC makers have the advantage of just taking the fastest off-the-shelf graphics chip and marrying it with other state-of-the-art components. They can build a more modern machine that isn’t based on last year’s technology. So it’s no surprise that a new Nvidia graphics chip with expensive PC trappings will be able to run circles around game consoles that haven’t launched yet.

The Nvidia chip has a Kepler-based graphics processing unit (GPU) with 2,304 cores and 3GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory. Those specs are 50 percent more than its predecessor, the GeForce GTX 680. Rival Advanced Micro Devices says it has a faster graphics card, but it achieves that by putting two graphics chips in a single card.

The new cards based on Nvidia’s new chip will come with Nvidia GeForce Experience software, gaming drivers, and other advanced features. The card taps PhysX, which creates more realistic physics and motion in games. Players who really want a fast experience can gang multiple cards together using Nvidia’s SLI technology.

“The GeForce GTX 780 delivers the fastest framerate and smoothest animation at a value never before seen in PC gaming,” said Scott Herkelman, the general manager of the GeForce business unit at Nvidia. “This level of performance allows gamers to become fully immersed into a game the way the developers originally intended.”

Nvidia’s GPU Boost 2.0 technology will automatically increase the GPU speed for enhanced performance while maintaining temperature range and fan controls. The 780 GPU is available today from add-in card suppliers including Asus, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, and Zotac. The chip is selling for $649. PC makers that will use the chip in gamer systems include AVADirect, Cyberpower, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Geekbox, iBuyPower, Maingear, Origin PC, Puget Systems, V3 Gaming, and Velocity Micro.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

How Maslow’s hierarchy can help you build a great mobile checkout process

Everybody’s talking about the m-commerce boom, but if you look past the sophisticated surveys, app owners are struggling to figure out why their conversion rates fall short of expectations.

It’s not surprising if you consider the fact that mobile shopping cart abandonment rates are around 97 percent. Many frustrated developers have asked me how they can decrease these huge numbers that just don’t fit their business model.

I’ve tried to look at this challenge differently, not as a payment expert but rather from a psychological viewpoint, exploring our users’ needs and expectations throughout the checkout process.

Many influential payment companies in this ecosystem have introduced backend solutions that address merchants and developers’ needs. So as a developer you can now enjoy easy APIs, friendly onboarding, methods with reduced processing fees, all of which make their lives easier. The one factor that’s left out of this equation is the user, who somehow seems to be neglected, even though they’re the only one who controls the transaction.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory used to understand human motivation. The hierarchy is based on five levels of needs. In order to reach the next level, a person must first satisfy the lower level of rtls.

Even though it’s a little far from the original framework, some of its principals can actually be applied to understand the influence of users’ needs in reference to mobile conversion rates.

Mobile commerce is here to stay. We’re not just targeting early adopters anymore. However, in order to achieve mass market adoption the basic process needs to be clear and simple.

Many app owners require that their users create an account, even for a one time purchase. Yet people need to get their feet wet before jumping in the water. Forcing users to register and remember yet another password can be a huge barrier for someone who still has concerns about their purchase.

Every complication along the way gives the user a chance to stop and rethink their buying decision, while chasing away most impulse buyers among your users. This is obviously less basic than the need for air or food, but it’s probably the key factor to increasing conversion rates.

Security concerns are probably the #1 barrier to online shopping, and things don’t improve on mobile. However, it’s a matter of perception rather than facts. The level of security available with today’s range of technologies is high. Financial risks exist in the physical commerce world as well, but whenever there’s a mobile payment involved, the fear factor kicks in and users becomes more alert. Delivering a secure process isn’t enough; our biggest challenge is to make users FEEL that the process is secure.

One of the problems in most checkout experiences on native apps is redirecting to the PSP’s web page to complete the transaction. At that very point where your user has finally grown to trust you, you pull them away to a different site and bring them back to square one in terms of their attitude towards the purchase. This triggers many doubts about this unfamiliar external page, about its level of security, and what could go wrong while trying to return to the app. Creating a full native experience will ease those concerns and give your users more piece of mind.

A sense of belonging is triggered in a familiar environment. The beauty of Amazon’s checkout is that you can buy a book, a pair of sneakers or a laptop, but the checkout process is the same. By creating this payment standardization process the consumer feels like they are in a familiar place.

Your payment page doesn’t have to win a design contest; it has to look like a place where people pay, with a reliable look and feel, aligned with the standard payment conventions.

Another way to maintain familiarity and continuity is by enabling users to pay without re-entering credit card details. Make sure you keep security in mind and meet the standards of PCI compliance; if you need a reminder, go back to level 2 of the pyramid.

Last year, T-Mobile threw down the gauntlet and announced it would no longer subsidize smartphones and went to a pay-as-you-go format. Since the beginning of the year, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have also announced changes to their pay-as-you-go strategies. While the Big Two (AT&T and Verizon Wireless) took baby steps towards making pay-as-you-go a viable alternative for their contract customers, this is still a positive development in my opinion. More choices in the no-contract space are a small but important win for consumers and will hopefully lead to more options for customers of all four of the major U.S. carriers.

While pay-as-you-go MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like Straight Talk, Solavei, and Ting are extremely viable and attractive options for smartphone users in the U.S., many of these services have caps on how much high-speed data you can access. Furthermore, as of the time of this writing, only Sprint allows MVNOs to access its 4G LTE network. There has been some buzz about some MVNOs accessing 4G LTE on T-Mobile’s network, but my research has shown that this has not yet come to fruition. While many users are fans of MVNOs, which operate independently of the Big Four carriers, I am focusing on the Big Four's prepaid plan options.

I was very intrigued by AT&T’s recent announcement that the company has created a new separate MVNO called Aio, which will operate on AT&T’s HSPA+ network, though it's currently only offering service in Orlando, Tampa and Houston. Aio will offer unlimited talk, text and data, but users will be limited to 4 megabits per second of “high speed data”.

Pricing plans are as follows: the Aio Basic ($40 per month) will cap “high speed data” at 250mb; the Aio Smart plan ($55 per month) will cap “high speed data” at 2GB; and the Aio Pro plan ($70 per month) will cap “high speed data” at 7GB. Users can buy an additional gigabyte of “high speed data” for $10. If Aio is successful in its three initial markets, AT&T has stated that it will roll the service out across the U.S. AT&T will also continue to offer its GoPhone pay-as-you-go service.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Payday lenders skirt military law

Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation’s military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent.

The Military Lending Act sought to protect service members and their families from predatory loans. But in practice, the law has defined the types of covered loans so narrowly that it’s been all too easy for lenders to circumvent it.

“We have to revisit this,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the defense appropriations subcommittee and is the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat. “If we’re serious about protecting military families from exploitation, this law has to be a lot tighter.”

Members of the military can lose their security clearances for falling into debt. As a result, experts say, service members often avoid taking financial problems to their superior officers and instead resort to high-cost loans they don’t fully understand.

The Department of Defense, which defines which loans the Military Lending Act covers, has begun a process to review the law, said Marcus Beauregard, chief of the Pentagon’s state liaison office.

The act mainly targets two products: payday loans, usually two-week loans with annual percentage rates often above 400 percent, and auto-title loans, typically one-month loans with rates above 100 percent and secured by the borrower’s vehicle. The law caps all covered loans at a 36 percent annual rate.

That limit “did do a great deal of good on the products that it covered,” said Holly Petraeus, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s head of service-member affairs. “But there are a lot of products that it doesn’t cover.”

Representatives from payday and other high-cost lenders said they follow the law. Some defended the proliferation of new products as helpful to indoor Tracking.

In June 2011, Levon Tyler, a 37-year-old staff sergeant in the Marines, walked into Smart Choice Title Loans in Columbia, S.C.; it was the first time he’d ever gone to such a place, he said. But his bills were mounting. He needed cash right away.

Smart Choice agreed to lend him $1,600. In return, Tyler handed over the title to his 1998 Ford SUV and a copy of his keys. Tyler recalled the saleswoman telling him he’d probably be able to pay off the loan in a year. He said he did not scrutinize the contract he signed that day.

If he had, Tyler would have seen that in exchange for that $1,600, he’d agreed to pay a total of $17,228 over two and a half years. The loan’s annual percentage rate, which includes interest and fees, was 400 percent.

Tyler said he provided his military ID when he got the loan. But even with an annual rate as high as a typical payday loan, the Military Lending Act didn’t apply. The law limits the interest rate of title loans — but only those that have a term of six months or less.

In South Carolina, almost no loans fit that definition, said Sue Berkowitz, director of the nonprofit South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center. The reason? Ten years ago, the state legislature passed consumer protections for short-term auto-title loans. In response, lenders simply lengthened the duration of their loans.

Today, plenty of payday and auto-title lenders cluster near Fort Jackson, an army base in Columbia, legally peddling high-cost loans to the more than 36,000 soldiers who receive basic training there each year.

Tyler’s loan showcases other examples of lenders’ ingenuity. Attached to his contract was an addendum that offered a “Summer Fun Program Payoff.” While the loan’s official term was 32 months, putting it outside both South Carolina’s regulations and the Military Lending Act, the “Summer Fun” option allowed Tyler to pay off the loan in a single month. If he did so, he’d pay an annual rate of 110 percent, the addendum said.

Michael Agostinelli, the chief executive of Smart Choice’s parent company, American Life Enterprises, said he wants his customers to pay off their loans early. “They’re meant to be short-term loans,” he said.

He also said that customers who pay on time get “a big discount.” In Tyler’s case, he would have paid an annual rate of 192 percent if he had made all his payments on time.

But Tyler fell behind after only a couple of payments. Less than five months after he took out the loan, a repo company came in the middle of the night to take his car. Three weeks later, it was sold at auction.

The suit names among its plaintiffs three soldiers who took out what appeared to be classic title loans. All agreed to pay an annual rate of around 150 percent for a 30-day loan. All had trouble repaying, according to the suit. One, an Army staff sergeant and Purple Heart recipient, lost his car. The other two managed to pay interest but almost none of the principal on their loans for several months.

The company was fully aware that its customers were soldiers, because they presented their military identifications, said Roy Barnes, a former governor of Georgia who is representing the plaintiffs.

Community Loans, which boasts more than 900 locations nationwide, argued in court that the transactions were not covered by the Military Lending Act because they weren’t loans but sales.

Here’s how Community Loans said the transaction worked: The soldiers sold their vehicles to the company while retaining the option to buy back the cars — for a higher price. In early 2012, the judge rejected that argument. The case is continuing.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Sorry tale of a listing MP

Whaddya mean, a drink too many? Haven't started yet. Three bottles of champagne. Pronto! That's not a brand we stock, sir.

Pronto? It means chop chop. Rattle your dags. A into G. I'm afraid I can't serve you any more wine, sir. Now, look here, sport. You know who I am?

 ''Bugger. Wrong card. Well, forget cards. I'll tell you who who I am face to face. I'm a member of Parliament. And here's my ID. The genuine plastic card on a chain. There's not too many of those around, sonny. I can get better grub at half the price you charge here by just flashing this at Bellamy's.

And I can use the members' dunnies in the House at any time. Night or day. Night or day

Congratulations, sir. Our prices are a bit dearer than Bellamy's, but then we are not subsidised by the taxpayer. The voters in your electorate will be pleased to know you are eating well, sir. '

 At the polytech, sir. It's part of the paper on handling difficult customers. If the customer is made to feel inferior he may quieten down and do as he is asked. We need that training as the temptation to assault the customer can become irresistible.

Don't try that with me, cobber. No MP is gonna feel inferior to a waiter poncing around with a ring in his ear. Let's have more champagne and less posh talk.

I'm sorry, sir. You have already had far too much to drink and I'm afraid you are upsetting the other indoor Tracking.

Look here, sunshine. I'll be the thudge of jat. Champagne. Now!

No, sir. And please stop shouting. The lady at table 6 is having a fit at all this noise. She was sent here by her specialist with her nerves. She had hoped to be going home tomorrow. I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave.

 I'm not sure that Mr Key looks after the staffing at the hotel, sir. Certainly it was Monsieur Alphonse who offered me my present position and he said nothing about having to ring Wellington. And I imagine Mr Key has more than enough on his plate running the country and visiting tourist resorts overseas. The staffing of a country hotel is unlikely to concern him.

It soon will concern him, my lad. When he hears about one of his members being given the runaround in a public place. He'll have you out of here before you can say, ''and chips with that''. Rubbish, if you don't mind me saying so, sir.

He also explained just how sophisticated some identity theft operations can be. One of thieves' most preferred methods is skimming ATMs. The criminals will insert card readers onto the ATM and install tiny cameras somewhere on the machine to record the black magnetic strip information from the back of the card and watch someone enter their PIN. The criminals can then buy blank plastic credit cards and encode them with magnetic strips containing the same information, creating a duplicate credit card.

The best way to prevent against this is to keep your hand low over the key pad when you're typing in your PIN, Solomon said. He added that many companies have made newer machines which make it harder to install skimming devices, but that these machines are expensive and banks have been slow to replace old machines due to cost.

Another way of gaining information for criminals is by asking for it directly. Solomon recalled a "jury duty" story in which a person pretending to be from the government calls and said you've missed jury duty. To avoid being held in contempt, they tell you they are now recording the conversation and that you must identify yourself and pledge to come on a certain future date. They ask for your Social Security number, birth date, etc., and you've just given a criminal all they need.

"How many people like eBay?" Solomon asked. "The criminals have their own versions, as well. A carding website will have auctions, like `I'll sell you 100 IDs for $2,000.' You can even rate the seller. `Johnny Jones gave me some great cards.' "

Other tips Solomon offered were never to click on links from unusual emails, as they might install a virus on your computer, and to consider changing passwords every 60 to 90 days.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The Truth About Diversity and Discrimination

As a young manager in a big company, I volunteered to be the college recruiting liaison for my department. That meant coordinating between hiring managers and recruiters, reading hundreds of resumes, setting up interviews, and reviewing feedback to help determine who to hire.

It was a lot of work but a great experience until one day the department head threw me a real curve ball. He said that the human resource folks were coming down on him, that we had to hire two black engineers that year. No kidding; it was that cut and dried. Welcome to the real world.

That may have been 30 years ago, but I will never forget how wrong it felt. Call me strange, but I was always pretty much colorblind when it came to race, not to mention gender, religion, nationality, sexuality, whatever. For whatever reason, it never meant that much to me. And I wasn’t raised in a protected environment, that’s for indoor Tracking

I actually grew up in racially segregated Brooklyn, New York. My friends and I were bussed into an all black and Hispanic junior high school in the middle of a slum. It was a real war zone. People were killed there every year. Still, none of that made a difference. I’ve always thought of people as unique individuals. Period.

Of course, that’s how it should be. And I’ve no doubt that it will be. But not if we stay on the path we’re on. Ironically, the legislation that’s designed to reduce discrimination and promote diversity oftentimes reinforces the opposite behavior. The same is true of racially exclusive organizations and cultural norms like political correctness.

They promote resentment, poor work ethic, victim mentality, entitlement behavior, and yes, even racism. They undermine personal responsibility and accountability. They reduce organizational productivity and effectiveness. And they’re slowly eroding the foundation of our nation and our competitiveness in an increasingly global marketplace.

Don’t get me wrong. Civil rights, women’s rights, equal opportunity, it’s all good. It’s sad that they didn’t happen sooner. But things change. Organizations change. Cultures change. And when that happens, even the most altruistic goals and strategies can have unintended consequences that reinforce the wrong behavior.

When smart business leaders find themselves in that situation, the first thing they do is be completely honest with themselves about their situation. Then they come up with a common goal and figure out what kind of cultural change they need to achieve it. Then they make sure that everything they do reinforces the behavior needed to bring about that change.

First of all, I don’t think I’m going out on too long a limb by suggesting that we’re all looking for a colorblind society, and I mean that in the broad sense: race, gender, religion, nationality, and sexuality should play no role in the decisions we make in business, politics, or society. Period.

I’m sure that’s a goal we can all agree on. Now, let’s see if our current laws, our politics, and our cultural norms reinforce that behavior or not.

Take affirmative action, for example. Maybe there was a time when it was needed, but today, affirmative action is basically institutionalized racism. It provides advantages to certain select groups while discriminating against others. It doesn’t make us colorblind. It specifically forces us to look at and make decisions based on race.

Moreover, when people are hired, promoted, or admitted into schools based on anything but their merits, that changes their behavior. They either feel like they’re special when they’re or like perpetual victims who can’t achieve things on their own.

In either case, it doesn’t teach them personal accountability and self-reliance. It teaches them to expect things they didn’t work for, to want things they don’t deserve. 

Affirmative action also creates resentment in those who are passed over in favor of special minority groups. It teaches them that good grades and hard work aren’t as important as race. That, in turn, erodes their personal accountability and self-reliance. And you know what else it does? It actually reinforces racism. That’s just common sense.

It’s interesting to note that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said that she was a “perfect affirmative action baby” because she was admitted into Princeton and Yale despite test scores that “were not comparable” to those of her colleagues. She said that “cultural biases built into testing” makes it harder for minorities to perform well.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Jonathan’s policies are driven by sentiments

Weeks after his controversial book, The Accidental Public Servant, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under President Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration, Mr. Nasir El-Rufai, in this online interview, tells LEKE BAIYEWU the roles he played while in office and his disposition to Umaru Yar’ Adua and Goodluck Jonathan-led administrations

As regards the solution to Boko Haram insurgency, you once said the Federal Government knew what to do and should do it. Does it mean the government is not getting it right by proposing an amnesty for members of the sect?

I have always insisted that the Federal Government knows what to do about the nation’s insecurity and should just do it. It is the principal duty of the government to ensure peace and security of the people. It is a responsibility that cannot be outsourced. The state has certain prerogatives to enable it to discharge this function, including enormous intelligence assets, the law and a constitutional monopoly of the means of coercion. Preserving order, ensuring peace and promoting harmony are among the highest objectives of statecraft, and they are too serious to be left to the caprice of politics or the destructive allure of ethnic and indoor Tracking.

Many of the policies of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration are driven by these unhelpful attitudes and sentiments, including the so-called amnesty programmes. As far back as June 2011, the Jonathan administration knew what it needed to do from the Galtimari Committee report and the resultant White Paper to nip the Boko Haram insurgency in the bud. What did he do? He puts the report, recommendations and White Paper in the drawer and watched, while some 4,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram and the military. Why is it so hard to implement the recommendations of all the committees set up by the government on the insurgency?

How would you describe that rate of corruption in the National Assembly? You once accused two senators of demanding bribes from you to ease your ministerial appointment confirmation?

Corruption is a national challenge, and the country has to summon the will to combat it in all sectors. It is not only in the National Assembly but everywhere within other arms and tiers of government. We simply must elect people of integrity that can begin to attack this national scourge from the top down.

As the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Secretary of the National Council of Privatisation from November 1999 to July 2003, how would you describe the perceived failure in the sale of public corporations?

Perception can sometimes be miles apart from reality. The BPE under my leadership successfully privatised many companies through transparent and open bids. For example, Unipetrol is now Oando; National Oil is now Conoil; and both companies are thriving. Where we were obstructed by personal and political interests from concluding their privatisation, the companies concerned were either eventually liquidated – like Nigeria Airways – or have lost value and market share to nimbler competitors – like NITEL.

There were no irregularities in privatisation under my watch. And the Senate committee that conducted investigations into privatisation found nothing. The findings also showed that more than 80 per cent of privatised companies were either doing very well or not worse off than being under the control of the government. There is nowhere in the world where an 80 per cent success rate equals failure.

How much have the recommendations by the Presidential Committee on Power Supply Improvement been implemented and do you think the cabal in the sector will ever allow stable power supply?

The Presidential Committee on Power Supply was set up by President Obasanjo, not ‘formed’ by me. It operated for some three months only and succeeded in raising our generation capacity from 1,500 to 3,200 megawatts. We made far reaching recommendations to accelerate the completion of the National Independent Power Project, but the (Umaru) Yar’adua-Jonathan administrations did not focus on implementing them. The Economic Team in the Obasanjo years based a lot of the reform ideas on applying market forces within a well-structured and properly regulated system. Every government policy has potential winners and losers, and the interests that may be affected could deploy resources to entrench their advantage. It is the duty of government to develop and implement policy within this minefield.

Power supply is an area that will continue to require substantial investments, close monitoring and effective regulation. That is where attention should be focussed, not on celebrating minuscule additions to the paltry total generation capacity of 3,200MW the Obasanjo administration left behind in April 2007.

After the fiasco of the SAGEM identity card project and the scandal associated with it, the Obasanjo government decided on a new approach. What we suggested was a new identification system that was sufficiently rigorous and technologically advanced to be integrated across all the government agencies that collected personal information. And that could be accessed by banks and other companies to verify identity. Each enrolled citizen was to be given a smartcard, which could also be a payment card.

We designed a private sector-led project for the new identity scheme and we selected the team to deliver the project, led by the current Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission shortly before we left office.

It is disappointing that the team has not delivered the project as envisaged and that the NIMC leadership has made it a project depending on the government treasury, rather than the initial vision of a private sector led investment.

In the course enforcing the master plan of the Federal Capital Territory, many structures, including a house belonging to the then Peoples Democratic Party chairman, were demolished. You’ve said you have no regrets but your critics maintain that the exercise was to witch-hunt some people.

I did my duty in Abuja without fear or favour and President Obasanjo gave me the support I needed to do the job. Which of the demolitions has been reversed? Tell me if you know of any house that was removed that should not have been.

If you have read my book, ‘The Accidental Public Servant,’ you will see that my prominence in the Obasanjo government was because of the many assignments I was asked to handle, rather than any ambition. I have never had any ambition for any public office.

It was widely believed that you went on self-exile at the end of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration because you stepped on toes while in office. Whose toes did you step on and have you been forgiven?

The Obasanjo government ended in May 2007 and I remained in Nigeria until June 2008, when I went abroad for further studies. Subsequent events compelled me to remain outside my country, upon completion of my studies. Umaru Yar’Adua was after me and I took prudent measures against presidential mischief. As for stepping on toes, I know I did my job to the best of my ability and ensured that people did not violate rules the way they were accustomed to.

You were appointed member of the National Energy Council in September 2007 by the late Yar’Adua’s administration but you resigned your appointment in June 2008. What caused this?

I attended only one meeting of the Energy Council – that was the inaugural meeting in September 2007. By June 2008, there was no illusion that I would attend another one. I resigned membership of the council and left Nigeria in June 2008 to be a Mason Fellow at Harvard University. There was no point being member of a moribund council that, in any case, I would have no time for.

Under same administration, you, along with Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Alhaji Lawal Batagarawa, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, and Chief Andy Uba were reportedly accused of committing treason by encouraging military insurrection. Why would you have done that?

I am hearing this for the first time and I am sure some of the people you named will also be similarly surprised at your revelation. It is unfortunate that President Umaru Yar’Adua collected around himself some of the most insecure people around. Like the many featherweights that have blighted Africa, Yar’adua and his gang tried to criminalise all opposition, to conflate dissent and treason always. Elected to lead democratic systems, they approached the job with the mind-sets of absolute rulers. They never learn the lessons of history.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Texas poker players hope for a winning hand

Hayden Sneed travels more than 120 miles round trip from Plano to play the game he loves. Sneed, 23, said it is a hassle to make the trek across the Red River just for a game of poker. But there may be some good news on the horizon for poker lovers like Sneed.

With the help of State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez and the Poker Gaming Act of 2013, poker players in Texas might finally find Texas Hold ‘Em and other forms of poker legal inside Texas borders. If the legislation passes before the end of regular session on May 27, poker would be legal to play online, in bingo halls or inside of special clubs.

“It would be ultimately convenient because I’m already expending gas and time for a game,” Sneed said. “Over half of the parking lot [at Winstar Casino] in Oklahoma is full of Texas license plates.”

The poker gaming act and online poker acts of 2013 would legalize and regulate poker within certain areas of Texas, while also boosting Texas’ economy by providing upwards of $10 million dollars in extra revenue, according to Nate Walker, Rodriguez’s chief of rtls.

Sneed said that he wouldn’t mind playing in bingo halls around Dallas, even though there would probably be fewer players at the table than in the much larger poker rooms in the casinos in Oklahoma. He said he would still be more apt to attend a game a few miles away versus the 60 it takes to get to a legal table now.

“Even at a $60 buy-in, it’s still much more appealing,” Sneed said. “Around here, I think there’s no way it couldn’t be popular.”

Currently in Texas, games at personal residences are legal, but only if the winnings are distributed among the players, and the house does not take a cut.

This bill would help to regulate illegal games now being played throughout the state, including in homes and warehouses that illegally take a cut. Instead, games would be played in establishments that would be regulated and taxed by the state.

“In Dallas there are warehouses where you need to know a secret knock or password just to get in,” Walker said. “We’ve seen articles in newspapers about robberies and gunfights at these types of meetings.”

Rob Kohler, representative of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is against the legislation. He does not believe Texas should rely on legal gambling to increase its tax revenues.

“The most important thing that people on both sides of the argument agree on is that someone is going to get hurt,” Kohler said. “It’s just a matter of how many that’s disputed.”

Saket Soni, executive director of the New Orleans-based National Guestworker Alliance, points out that existing guest-worker programs tie the foreigners to their employer. “If they complain about working conditions or organize, there is a readymade retaliation button,” Soni said. “Employers can simply terminate a worker and deport their problem because, once they’re fired, those workers are deportable.”

The groups behind the W Visa say the program would be different. They point to a “portability” provision that would allow the foreigners to switch employers. “Portability is, really, the foundation of all labor rights,” said Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of a pro-business group called ImmigrationWorks USA. “If you want to ask for better wages or better conditions or better anything, your leverage comes from being able to say, ‘I’m leaving.’ ”

But there’s some fine print. The Senate bill, as it stands, would require unemployed W Visa holders to find a job within 60 days. And they could not apply just anywhere. They would have to work for another employer registered in the program.

The search for such an employer could be daunting. Few of the workers would speak English well and know their way around. “Sixty days to find a job these days is pretty challenging,” Soni said, even for workers born and raised in the United States.

For portability to be most meaningful, jobless W Visa holders would have protections against blacklisting, and the registered employers would have incentives to hire unemployed W Visa holders instead of bringing in new foreigners for openings, Soni said. Jobless W Visa holders could also benefit from coordination and support programs.

Supporters of a proposed visa for low-skilled, nonseasonal laborers say it would break the mold for U.S. guest-worker programs. They point out that the visa, part of a sweeping immigration bill that a Senate committee took up Thursday, would allow foreigners to switch employers and would provide a path to citizenship.

But a WBEZ examination of the legislation suggests that the W Visa could, in practice, tether the foreigners to potentially abusive bosses and would not provide any guarantee of a future in the country.

The program, developed in talks between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, would set up a legal mechanism for bringing in as many as 200,000 foreigners a year to worksites ranging from meatpacking plants to nursing homes. Business groups behind the plan say it would help address a “future flow” of workers into positions that Americans don’t want.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Cheerful and cheap, with pizzazz

Reporters got a sneak preview Monday of what’s in store at the Coquitlam location and Target Canada president Tony Fisher was the tour guide.

With clean, airy surroundings, the store’s sight lines are unobstructed and the aisles wide enough to drive a truck through. Staff friendliness is a key ingredient, as is a curious offering of cheap chic items next to designer items.

A native of Minnesota, Fisher admitted he is still learning about Canadian consumer tastes after opening 24 Target stores in Ontario in March. Minneapolis-based Target has 1,784 American stores.

Fisher — who moved to the Toronto area in 2011 to lay the groundwork for this year’s rollout — gets the impression that Canadians like to travel from store to store to get what they want. “We want to offer a one-stop shopping experience,” said the upbeat executive.

The U.S. retailer has shovelled out $10 million to $12 million to upgrade every former Zellers location with new lighting and new flooring. Some of the retail clerks are former Zellers employees.

The Coquitlam Centre Target store, which at 120,000 square feet is larger than the average Canadian Target store, has a large beauty section, a substantial grocery section, Canucks hockey and B.C. Lions football apparel, a wide smattering of indoor Tracking, household goods and a big pet aisle catering to that growing market.

Nestled in a big-box neighbourhood of Coquitlam, there is no doubt who this new kid on the Canadian retailing block is targeting — think the smart, savvy mothers who do most of the shopping in the family and know how to find a bargain. The store is also happy, of course, to welcome the dads who shop once in a while and the “young independents” looking for “room essentials.”

To promote customer loyalty, Canadian shoppers will be able to save five per cent when using a REDcard debit card or a Target RBC MasterCard — allowing the store to track consumer preferences and pitch to them directly with in-store promotions.

In the baby section, Fisher stopped to show that everything from soothers to baby food and disposable diapers are in one handy location, so a mother with a fussing infant doesn’t have to comb through the store to find everything she needs.

The Bulls are also an example of a team that built a functional NBA offense despite lacking a single big man with any reliable range outside of 18 feet.4 Playing two big men close to the basket crowds the lane and brings spacing issues, and those spacing issues, plus the emergence of ace 3-point shooting power forwards (Ryan Anderson, for instance), has created the impression that it's just too difficult for teams to score with two traditional interior players — especially if neither brings a Zach Randolph–style post game.

Boozer has a bit of a post game, but his go-to post move is a face-up fading jump shot. The Bulls, when Derrick Rose was around, built a top-10 offense around Rose's brilliance and the ability of both Boozer and Noah to work in very sophisticated ways, and in tandem, south of the foul line — as screeners, passers, and occasional shooters/drivers. And that offense, sans Rose, was still good enough to squeeze out a league-average number of points against the Nets' very average defense in the first round. They did so again last night, keenly using Noah's passing and the threat of Boozer's jump shot to beat Miami's trapping defense on just enough occasions to wring out their average scoring output. (There are times, against elite defenses like Miami's, when it almost feels as if Noah's passing skills are as important an asset as his all-world defense. What a brilliant player.) There are a bunch of lottery teams ready to follow this same pattern of building an above-average offense around two interior bangers, including Detroit (Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond) and Toronto (Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas). If the skill sets are right and varied, it's possible.

Miami, of course, is the league's premier small-ball team, the pied piper everyone is allegedly following. Nonsense. The Heat can play this way because they have James, an unprecedented NBA physical specimen, plus a wing player in Battier willing to do whatever it takes to win titles — even if it means guarding Boozer, David West, and Randolph in succession.

The most intriguing potential big-versus-small matchup on the board, mostly because of Oklahoma City's adaptability and the added intrigue of Russell Westbrook's season-ending injury.5 The Grizz have built around the Zach Randolph–Marc Gasol pairing, reasoning they could build at least an average offense around two post-up brutes — a duo that includes the best passing big man in the game in Gasol. Teams can contend with an average offense and a top-three defense, and the Grizz have had the latter half of that equation covered all season.

Only Utah and Indiana finished a larger share of offensive possessions via post-up plays, and Memphis is leaning on post-ups even more so far in the playoffs, per Synergy Sports.6 Like the Bulls, Memphis stands as proof that teams can create their own version of floor spacing in an inside-out fashion, with interior bangers drawing attention toward the rim and moving the ball in smart ways from there.

But the Thunder have the trump card in this series: small-ball lineups with Kevin Durant at power forward. Those lineups over multiple seasons have been frighteningly explosive offensively, even if they can be hit-and-miss on defense — as is typical for smaller lineups. Scott Brooks has been a bit reluctant to break these bad boys out against the brutish Grizz, and when he has, Memphis has generally responded by downsizing and shifting either Tayshaun Prince or Quincy Pondexter to power forward. Oklahoma City played small for only about 26 minutes over three regular-season games against Memphis, and followed the same pattern in Game 1; Brooks didn't go to Durant at power forward until late in the third quarter, eventually staying with that setup for about 8:30 of continuous play in which the Thunder were plus-10.7 Memphis shifted into small-ball mode for almost the entirety of that duration, save for a brief stretch in which Darrell Arthur, the team's third big man, tried and failed to defend Durant.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

ISU's Bowman looks back on tenure

As Al Bowman nears the end of his 10 years as president of Illinois State University, he sat down for an interview with The Pantagraph about his years of service and what’s ahead for him, the university and higher education in general.

The ISU Board of Trustees discussed the final four presidential candidates during a closed session on Saturday. The board could name Bowman’s successor at its regular quarterly meeting on Friday, although a definite timeline has not been announced.

“It’s been an interesting run because in many ways the deck was stacked against us. When I took office, the state had budget problems and public higher education was being cut. Of course, the demographic changes. So there’s been lots of financial challenges. But I think the key to the success of this institution is that we developed a plan that was right for Illinois State and that made sense in the marketplace.

“You know, like any business you try to find a niche that allows you to exploit your strengths. And in the case of Illinois State, when we were having a debate in the mid-1990s about what direction the institution should go, we coalesced behind a plan that made undergraduate education the center of everything we do. And so we invested in the undergraduate experience. And I think we incorporated a number of key elements that one sees in private universities into our undergraduate experience. And in doing that it brought us more capable students. It certainly excited donors who were interested in getting involved in the campus. Faculty have been very happy with the quality of students we’ve been enrolling over the last 10 years.

“I also think that we’ve hired very, very capable people around campus. Senior leadership is very good at what they do. Our middle managers are deeply committed to the institution and doing a good job. And then when you get down to the department level, the department chairs, which is where I came from, department chairs are passionate about the academic experience and building our indoor Tracking.

“So, at the end of the day what you’ve seen over the last 15 years of so is an institution that I think got almost everything right. … Almost. You’re never perfect. But we developed a plan that I think resonated with the public and, consequently, people were willing to send their children here. The institutional progress, of course, I think is the best evidence that the plan worked. Because when you look at the last 10 years and the change in our institutional ranking, it’s clear that the prominence of Illinois State has really risen.

“This is the first time in our history where for the last 2 years we’ve been in the top 100 among public universities in US News & World Report. And now we have a number of programs across campus that have national rankings and that allows us to attract good solid faculty. Those good faculty are very competitive in the grants arena. More evidence that we’ve gotten hiring right is seeing the amount of grants and the number of grants and sponsored programs that have been funded. In the last 10 years, faculty and staff have been awarded a quarter-billion dollars in grants and contracts. And now we have over 100 faculty members who have accumulated more than a million dollars in individual awards.”

“There are some facility goals that I thought I could get accomplished but the severe recession made it difficult for the state to fund the academic projects that were on the table. I’m very happy that the governor has approved the fine arts project. But I thought I could get the library project done before I retired. We’ve outgrown the library. It really needs to be doubled in space. I know it will happen eventually. But that was a project that was near and dear to my heart.

“There are some academic buildings that need attention. DeGarmo. Williams Hall, we’d like to remodel. That building has lots of potential. Metcalf lab school — I’d like nothing more than to snap my fingers and build a new building for Metcalf out on the Gregory Street property. And I think that will happen eventually as well.”

“So, at the end of the day what you’ve seen over the last 15 years of so is an institution that I think got almost everything right. … Almost. You’re never perfect. But we developed a plan that I think resonated with the public and, consequently, people were willing to send their children here. The institutional progress, of course, I think is the best evidence that the plan worked. Because when you look at the last 10 years and the change in our institutional ranking, it’s clear that the prominence of Illinois State has really risen.

“This is the first time in our history where for the last 2 years we’ve been in the top 100 among public universities in US News & World Report. And now we have a number of programs across campus that have national rankings and that allows us to attract good solid faculty. Those good faculty are very competitive in the grants arena. More evidence that we’ve gotten hiring right is seeing the amount of grants and the number of grants and sponsored programs that have been funded. In the last 10 years, faculty and staff have been awarded a quarter-billion dollars in grants and contracts. And now we have over 100 faculty members who have accumulated more than a million dollars in individual awards.”

“My happiest memory is learning that the state was releasing the capital dollars for the Schroeder Hall project. In part that one was personal because I was a new president and that was my first major building project.

“It was also important because the campus desperately needed that project to get done. The building was in terrible shape and lots and lots of complaints from faculty and staff. We had constant problems with the roof leaking; heating and cooling was a challenge. And so it brought be a great deal of personal satisfaction. And then, professionally, it was important because it showed the campus that Illinois State could get big things done even in a challenging financial environment.

“The biggest disappointment is the accumulated erosion of state support for public higher education. Public universities educate the majority of students in this country. Illinois has had a pretty good reputation of supporting public higher education. But it’s clear that those priorities have shifted. Now in part the priorities have shifted because there are greater demands on the state budget. But it’s also very disappointing that at a time in our country’s history when educating citizens with advanced training is important to our economic development we’re pulling our investment away from public higher education and I think we’ll pay a price for that down the road, if we haven’t already.”

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Book sale insiders reveal dust jacket treasures

Every day is Christmas for the volunteers sorting donations to the annual Times Colonist book sale. Open a box, they never know what might be inside.

Sometimes an old love letter, $2 bill or pressed flower will slip out of a dust jacket. Sometimes the box will hold a bigger, weirder surprise.

Among the nuggets mined in the past week are a cigar box full of collector pins, an original Mulroney-era Raeside cartoon and a series of autographed, mounted photos of yesterday’s TV stars: Susan Lucci, Piper Laurie, Patty Duke, Mulder and Scully from the X-Files.

Yes, there were jump boots, size 12 from the looks of them. A Playboy bunny logo was mounted on the brass knuckles, which must have left some interesting scars. No passports, marijuana or urns of cat ashes this year, though.

The FBI fingerprint kit came in a hard plastic container sealed within a clear evidence bag. We hoped/ feared that the container would hold a severed hand, but when Sgt. Mike Yeager of the Victoria police forensics section cracked it open he found a brand-new brush, powder and lifting tapes, along with a how-to instructional DVD — your basic G-man field kit. Maybe it belonged to Mulder and Scully.

Sometimes the unboxed items are personal in nature, making you wonder if someone, somewhere wants them back. Nicco Collins, wherever you are, we have photos of every team — rugby, soccer, hockey,indoor Tracking, football — for which you ever played as a kid.

Victoria’s Karen McLeod has been holding on to one such gem for years, hoping to return it to its rightful home. It’s a handmade Father’s Day card that fell out of a book — she can’t remember which one — that she bought at the TC sale maybe a decade ago.

What makes this card so compelling is the earnestness of its author, who might have loved his father, but was absolutely passionate about his desire to play hockey. Judging from the names printed in a laboured boyhood (or girlhood) hand, it was probably written around 1972.

The cover features a pencilled rendering of a goaltender in a No. 30 Boston Bruins sweater. (Had to be Gerry Cheevers.) “Happy Father’s Day,” the message begins, but after that it’s pretty much a heartfelt plea to pull on the blades: “dear dad can i join hockey this year, I will help you with the boat and wash the car, set the breakfast table in the morning and bring in your breakfast for you on Sunday and Saturday and take empty beer bottle cases down to the basement every night you ask me to.

“Hockey is the best,” it continues. “Join now you can be an All Star just like Bobby Orr, and Bobby Hull, Denise Hull, Gordie Howe, Tony Esposito, Phil Esposito, Ken Driden.”

Having misplaced the card when moving house, McLeod recently rediscovered it in a box of old photographs. Too bad it bore no name. She hopes someone will recognize it as a missing family treasure. “It’s a long shot, I suppose, but…”

Anyway, you’ll have your own chance to unearth treasures of the printed kind at the annual two-day Times Colonist book sale this weekend. It runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday at the Victoria Curling Club at 1952 Quadra St. As usual, the money raised will go to literacy-related projects on Vancouver Island.

 Incoming waves: tablets, e-books, movies online. Outgoing waves: Desktop PCs, landline phones, anything on disc, tape or paper.

It’s fascinating to watch outgoing industries struggle to remain relevant. Take, for example, the outgoing wave known as pocket cameras. No wonder nobody is buying them anymore. Your phone takes pictures nearly as well and is far more convenient.

 First, it emphasizes the features that a smartphone can’t match, like a zoom lens. Second, it imitates the workings and design features of a smartphone. Third, it can transmit new photos to your phone for immediate sending or posting online. The result, the Canon N ($300), is half pocket camera, half photo-taking accessory for your phone.

In the category of features a phone camera lacks, the Canon N starts by offering a powerful zoom lens — 8X, compared with zero X on a smartphone. Digital zoom, where the camera just enlarges a photo to make it seem as if you’re closer, doesn’t count.

The N also has a much bigger, more sensitive sensor and lens. Now, the N’s sensor isn’t very big for a camera — it measures 0.4 inches diagonally — but it’s much better than what’s in a typical phone. Finally, the N’s screen flips out 90 degrees, so you can take photos at interesting angles.

The second category, imitating a phone’s design and operation, is more intriguing. The Canon N is one of the weirdest-looking cameras you’ve ever seen. It’s a nearly square, nearly featureless block, in black or white.

It has only three physical buttons, all tiny: Power, Play and Connect to Phone. As on a phone, the rest of the controls are all on the touch screen.

Now, you might have noticed that that list does not include “shutter button”; this camera doesn’t have one. Instead, you take a picture by pressing up or down on the silver plastic ring around the lens, which budges slightly and clicks.

And what, you may ask, is the point of that design? Simple: This camera works equally well upside down or at 90 degrees. Like a phone, it detects which way you’re holding it and flips the screen image accordingly. Thanks to this ring-shutter system, you can take a shot no matter how you’re holding the camera.

 There are other cellphone similarities. There is no external battery charger; you charge the battery in the camera, by connecting a USB cable to your computer or a wall adapter. The battery itself looks like a squared-off AA battery; it’s tiny. Canon says it’ll give you about 200 shots on a charge, which is very low.

This camera takes the same kind of memory card used on many cellphones, a microSD card, rather than the SD cards used in most cameras. That’s unfortunate, because it means you can’t copy the pictures to your computer by popping out the card and inserting it into your laptop. You’ll have to use the USB cable or a wireless connection.

On the side, a tiny switch moves between Automatic mode and Creative mode, which would be better named Instagram mode. When you press the shutter button — sorry, shutter ring — the camera takes six pictures instead of one. It applies a different filter to each one, of the sort created by the popular Instagram phone app. That is, it degrades each with various degrees of exposure adjustment, color saturation, tints and even oddball cropping. The results are never the same twice, and sometimes they’re interesting.

In Automatic mode, the camera is a basic point-and-shoot, with almost no photographic controls. With a tap on the Menu button, however, you can gain access to a Program mode that lets you make manual adjustments of exposure (brightness), white balance, ISO (light sensitivity) and so on.