Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - There's An App For That!

LOS ANGELES -- The Times has launched its first mobile interactive guide to help attendees explore this weekend's Festival of Books. Now available for free download for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android users, it includes the following features:

* Customizable schedule of events

* Detailed "search" by activity, author, book title or genre and descriptions of all panels, participants, performers and exhibitors

* Maps of the Festival grounds, including information about dining options, parking and public transportation

* Integration with users' Facebook and Twitter accounts for posting photos, status updates and tweets

* Easy access to up-to-the-minute news from the Festival's Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as USC traffic updates

All attractions, including the Festival's eight outdoor stages, hundreds of panels, exhibitors, book sellers and live entertainment, will be comfortably located around the USC campus' central Trousdale Parkway. Other conveniences added this year include additional information booths, sit-down dining and more concession stands, a shaded rest area, an increased number of parking spaces and valet parking option for panel pass purchasers. Triangular shuttle service between Union Station, Los Angeles Convention Center and USC will also supplement existing public transportation.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is presented in association with USC, presenting sponsor Target, major sponsors Buick and GMC and official ticketing provider Eventbrite.

About the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was created in 1996 to promote literacy, celebrate the written word, and bring together those who create books with the people who love to read them. Between 130,000 and 140,000 people attend the event annually.

General event information is available online at latimesfestivalofbooks.com or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK. Detailed speaker and event information is available in the official festival program online.

About the Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times (http://latimes.com) is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 1.9 million and 2.9 million on Sunday, more than 8 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly and a combined print and online local weekly audience of 4.5 million. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times has been covering Southern California for more than 128 years.

The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) businesses and affiliates also include The Envelope (http://theenvelope.com), Times Community Newspapers (http://www.latimes.com/tcn), LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine (http://latimesmagazine.com), Brand X (http://thisisbrandx.com) and Hoy Los Angeles (http://vivelohoy.com) which, combined with the flagship Los Angeles Times, reach approximately 5.2 million or 38% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace. LATMG also owns and operates California Community News as well as Tribune Direct's west coast division and is part of Tribune Company, one of the country's leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information is available at http://latimes.com/aboutus.

About the University of Southern California

Established in 1880, the University of Southern California is one of the world's leading private research universities. The university is the largest private employer in Los Angeles -- with more than 21,000 employees, and an annual economic impact of nearly $5 billion. USC enrolls 35,000 students at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels, and hosts more international students than any other U.S. university. With a strong tradition of integrating liberal and professional education, USC fosters a vibrant culture of public service and encourages students to cross academic as well as geographic boundaries in their pursuit of knowledge. There are nearly 300,000 living alumni in the Trojan Family. While nearly three-quarters of them live in California, USC alumni can be found in positions of leadership all over the world.

Big money, big brother.

Summary: All over the world, Internet users entertain romantic delusions about cyberspace. To most of us Web surfers, the Internet provides a false sense of complete freedom, power, and anonymity.

Every once in a while, of course, unsolicited messages and ads that happen to be mysteriously related to our most intimate habits intrude. They remind us that we Internet users are, indeed, under constant virtual surveillance. When the watchers have only commercial motives, such "spam" feels like a minor violation. But in China or Russia, the Internet is patrolled not by unsolicited peddlers, but by the police.

So Russian human-rights activists and the environmental organisation Baikal Environmental Wave should not have been surprised when, earlier this month, flesh and blood policemen -- not Internet bots -- confiscated their computers and the files stored within them. In the time of the Soviet Union, the KGB would have indicted these anti-Putin dissidents for mental disorders. This supposedly being a "new Russia," cyber-dissidents are accused of violating intellectual property rights.

You see, they were using Microsoft-equipped computers and could not prove that the software had not been pirated. By confiscating the computers, the Russian police could supposedly verify whether or not the Microsoft software that the activists were using had been installed legally.

On the surface, Microsoft and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's police look like strange bedfellows. But are they? Microsoft's authorised representatives declared that they could not oppose the Russian police actions, because the Seattle-based company had to abide by Russian law. Such an ambiguous declaration can be interpreted either as active support for the Russian police or as passive collaboration. Moreover, in previous cases, Microsoft assisted the Russian police in their investigations of non-governmental organisations.

Clearly, human-right activists in Russia cannot and should not count on Microsoft as an ally in their efforts to build a more open society. But Microsoft's ambiguous -- at best -- behavior is part of a pattern. Indeed, the record of Internet companies in authoritarian countries is both consistent and grim.

Yahoo set the pace in pioneering the active collaboration of Internet and high-tech firms with political repression. In 2005, Yahoo gave the Chinese police the computer identification code for a dissident journalist, Shi Tao. Shi Tao had sent a message in praise of democracy, which the censors had detected. Following Yahoo's lead, the police arrested him. Shi remains in jail to this day.

At that time, Yahoo's managers in the United States, like Microsoft in Russia, declared that they had to follow Chinese law. Shi Tao, in his jail cell, was undoubtedly pleased to learn that China is ruled by law, not by the Communist Party. After all, the rule of law is what Shi Tao is fighting for.

Google, at least for a short while, seemed to follow different guidelines in its Chinese business, appearing to adhere to its widely proclaimed ethical principle, "Don't be evil." To protest against censorship, the Silicon Valley-based company relocated from mainland China in 2009 to the still relatively free Hong Kong. On the Hong Kong-based search engine, Chinese internauts could read about Taiwan, the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, or the Dalai Lama. On Google.cn, these sources, along with the results of searches using many other forbidden terms, simply did not appear.

Google's move seemed to reconcile its proclaimed libertarian philosophy with its business ethics. But that reconciliation did not last long: Google, after all, had accepted censorship from the beginning of its efforts in China, in 2006, in order to gain entry into the Chinese market. After six months of life in Hong Kong, money talked: Google reinstated its mainland China service, and with the same level of censorship as before. In the end, Google, not the Chinese Communist Party, lost face.

Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft have thus followed a strikingly similar road: access to lucrative markets trumped ethical anxiety. The tools that they provide are politically neutral. Dissidents try to use them to pursue a democratic agenda. Police use them to detect and repress dissidents. Either way, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google make money -- just like, say, IBM, which in the 1930's sold its computing machines to the Nazi regime: the Nazis used these machines to make the destruction of their victims routine and bureaucratic.

Should we be shocked that Internet companies put profits ahead of morals? After all, they are ordinary, profit-seeking corporations, just like the IBM of Hitler's era. Internet companies may, more than most, hide their true motives behind ersatz, democratic-sounding slogans, but in the end they are advertising products like any other. In advertising or self-promotion, the choice of words is determined by customer expectations, not by managers' philosophy, as they mostly have none.

Capitalism is always a trade-off: we must live with unethical behaviour by money-making corporations that provide us with useful new tools. These tools can be used by Iranians fighting dictatorship, or by Tibetan dissidents trying to save their culture. They also can be used to compute the number of exterminated Jews, to arrest a Chinese dissident, or to break a human-rights group in Russia.

Microsoft in Russia or Google in China teach us that capitalism is not ethical: it is only efficient. Entrepreneurs are greedy by definition: if they were not, they would go bankrupt. An open society will never be created or sustained by righteous entrepreneurs or be the mere byproduct of political engineering. Liberty, as always, remains the endeavour of vigilant, free men and women.

Guy Sorman, a French philosopher and economist, is the author of Economics Does Not LieC Project Syndicate

Copyright 2009 Khaleej Times. All Rights Reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

A better wheelchair?(mobility and more)

A robotic wheelchair in development at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) in Pittsburgh is giving wheelchairs "arms."

Hongwu Wang and Garrett Grindle, doctoral students at the University of Pittsburgh, created the chair, which has four computers, sensors, and computer-driven arms and hands. It's scheduled to undergo human testing in about four months, reports David Templeton in the July 9 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

According to the article, the chair's robotic arms can open doors, retrieve food, and do other chores. It's controlled by eye motion, voice prompts, or joystick. Caregivers will be able to control it via the Internet when help is needed.

HERL's primary focus is wheelchair improvements, but its staff is also developing a better prosthetic foot for the U.S. military. In other work, two doctoral students are trying to figure out the best head and hip maneuver when people transfer from their wheelchairs. The lab also creates wheelchair components, including a computerized caster that compiles mileage, among other data.

Contact: rcooper@pitt.edu.

The fight: does brand have a place in today's DM?(GLOVES OFF)

* CONTENDER H. Gordon Lewis Principal Lewis Enterprises Author of 31 books; expert copywriter & direct marketing consultant

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I'VE HAD a number of conversations lately where people argue for a blending of brand advertising and direct marketing. I find the argument for the inclusion of brand to be the standard argument by people who work in fields where brand traditionally is valued.

Direct built its empire on a drive for results. Brands used to be significant, but online price bots and multiple search engines have changed that. In a price-driven marketplace such as the Internet, brand is secondary to price. Most people choose to buy from the least expensive source.

Direct marketing also leverages strength from convenience. For example, you could poll 100 direct marketers and 110 will tell you that "free shipping" outpulls any other lead.

I have no problem with brand advertising, but would argue the same amount of money can be used to generate more revenue and loyalty through direct. On a comparative level, direct is much more powerful than brand. Adding brand elements to our industry is a move to give image a more equal sway rather than just going for the jugular.

If you have a budget of half a million dollars, how much do you want to spend on selling something and how much do you spend to build an image? A lot of people use brand marketing as a crutch. My position is one that is looking at the bottom line. In direct marketing, we build house lists of customers who buy product and that is gold. Anything else is false gold or some kind of alloy.

* CONTENDER David Williams President/CEO Merkle Took over the company at age 25; more than 18 years of experience in DM

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

BRAND MARKETERS want you to believe that creative, brand position and entertainment hold the keys to successful marketing. In contrast, direct marketers contend that only media that can be targeted and measured with precision are worthwhile investments.

I think both camps have lost focus on what is truly important--developing multimedia strategies and programs that enhance the value of relationships with consumers over time.

The claims that the 30-second spot is dead and that measurement is stifling creativity are false. Both brand and direct marketing can be very effective tools in driving consumer behavior over time. Brand advertising should focus on satisfying a universal need in the marketplace. Great direct marketing focuses on capitalizing on unique needs at a specific point in time.

The challenge today is not about which approach is better; it is figuring out how to create an effective blend of universal, unique offers and messages delivered through multiple media at the right time to drive the best results.

Conceptually, this might sound easy. In reality, it is very difficult to do well. Both the critical competencies of brand and direct are necessary for success. Instead of deploying each independently, brand and direct should be integrated to deliver the best set of outcomes.

The digital and information revolution taking place in marketing has created an ideal environment for marketers who understand what prospects want, and can engage them in the most effective way.

THE DECISION * KNOCKOUT DRAW

Lewis argues a great point about the relative value of a direct dollar and a branding dollar in a transaction window. However, Williams just beats him to the punch with an argument that speaks to a longer-term relationship. Consumers may indeed search for low prices, but they're searching by brand names often enough to back Williams' point that just as direct focuses and amplifies branding, branding can drive direct.

Stelmar Shipping Ltd. Invites You to Join Its Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2002 Earnings Conference Call.

In conjunction with Stelmar Shipping Ltd.'s fourth quarter and year-end earnings announcement, you are invited to listen to management's conference call to discuss the Company's results on January 28, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. It will also be broadcast live over the Internet. Nick Hartley, Chairman; Peter Goodfellow, Chief Executive Officer and President; and Stamatis Molaris, Chief Financial Officer of Stelmar Shipping Ltd. will lead the call.

    WHAT:     Stelmar Shipping Ltd. Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2002              Conference Call     WHEN:     Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time     WHERE:    There are two ways to access the call:               United States Dial-in:  (800) 406-5356              International Dial-in:  (913) 981-5572   

Please dial in at least 10 minutes prior to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to ensure a prompt start to the call.

    Live webcast: Click on the link below and register:    https://cis.premconf.com/sc/scw.dll/usr?cid=vlllrdwszszvmwcww   

If you are unable to participate at this time, a replay of the call will be available until midnight on February 10, 2003. United States callers can dial (888) 203-1112; international callers please dial (719) 457-0820. The access code required for the replay is 132135.

The webcast will also be archived on the Company's website, http://www.stelmar.com/. (Minimum requirements to listen to broadcast: the RealPlayer software, downloadable free from http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html, and at least a 14.4 Kbps connection to the Internet.)

To pre-register your attendance on the call, please contact Olga Lambrianidou via e-mail at ogl@athens.stelmar.com or via telephone in Athens at 011-30210-891-7252.

About Stelmar Shipping, Ltd.

Stelmar Shipping Ltd. is an international provider of petroleum product and crude oil transportation services. Headquartered in Athens, Greece, Stelmar operates one of the world's largest and most modern Handymax and Panamax tanker fleets with an average age of approximately seven years, excluding the newbuildings. The Company's fleet of 31 tankers will expand to 36 by the end of the first half of 2004. The Company, through its maintenance of a modern fleet and commitment to safety, has earned an excellent reputation for providing transportation services to major oil companies, oil traders and state-owned oil companies.

CONTACT: Stamatis Molaris, Chief Financial Officer of Stelmar Shipping Ltd., +30210-891-7260; or Leon Berman, Principal of The IGB Group, +1-212-206-0898, for Stelmar Shipping Ltd.

Web site: http://www.stelmar.com/