Thursday, March 28, 2013

Feeling down | Step Talk

Just wondering who the "oldest" SM on this site is and how did you make it as long as you have?
I have been a SM for 3 years and its so hard and not getting easier.

There are currently 75 users and 184 guests online.

? ? New forum topics ? ?

In your experience as a stepparent, which is easier to deal with?:

Toddlers

33%

Teenagers

4%

There is no good age

63%

Total votes: 256

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Outsourcing Up, But Also Hiring in U.S. - IT Business Edge

Expect a surge in outsourcing this year, according to a new study from accounting and consulting firm BDO USA.

It found 63 percent of tech companies plan to outsource or manufacture products offshore this year, up from 35 percent in 2011 ? but manufacturing makes up a big chunk of that. Still, that?s the highest rate since it began the surveys in 2008.

Its findings are based on a poll of 100 U.S. technology chief financial officers, Fox Business notes.

At the same time, 43 percent plan to boost hiring in the United States. Thirty percent said they will be hiring in research and development this year, up from 23 percent last year and 22 percent in 2011.

According to Aftab Jamil, partner and director of the technology and life sciences practice at BDO USA:

?While the drive to remain competitive has led technology companies to maintain outsourcing contracts, many are working in tandem to grow their U.S. work force to develop new and innovative products and solutions in the U.S. while outsourcing traditional 'back office' operations.?

Meanwhile, HfS Research reports that IT outsourcing, while able to cut costs and standardize processes, is failing to deliver on the goals of providing innovation and access to analytics as well as transforming organizations.

Phil Fersht, founder and CEO, writes in his Horses for Sources blog that IT outsourcing isn?t expected to get much better, though some companies are bringing some IT work back to the United States. Low-end work is outsourced, high-end work is retained. And Ferscht told me that companies might be totally happy with that -- that they don?t want to spend more on functions such as help desk and systems maintenance and may accept less-than-stellar service in those areas.

Writes Fersht:

?Ambitious CIOs these days like to focus their time on ecommerce,?mobility, ?Big Data? and?cloud strategies, and will engage IT?consultants with projects?when they need some high-end help, but most aren?t expecting their outsourcer to do that kind of work for them. ??

The only way for service providers to move up the value chain, he says, is to provide services to meet defined business goals.

?Simply put, IT provides a supporting utility to help achieve these business outcomes that clients want to buy, which would ideally be accessible in the cloud where business users can access their services wherever they want. The focus then shifts from providing widgets, to the actual provision of value, where providers start working with their clients to achieve business results, as opposed to creating simply?a low-cost environment.?

Source: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/charting-your-it-career/outsourcing-up-but-also-hiring-in-u.s..html

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Lawrence D. Elliott: Respectful Love

Memories of the Past

If you ever saw her on the street, the words glamour, class, and style would immediately come to mind. Her sunny smile would brighten up the most cloudy and gloomy day. Whether wearing a dark winter coat with a white silk scarf or one of her self-knitted sweaters and boots... every eye seems to focus on her the moment she enters any room or even as she walks down the most crowded street. And that includes me.

Cornelia G. Becker is not only a popular international photographer and owner of her own firm, but a published author and poet who creates emotional imagery with her words, both in her native German and in English. But there is something about her you wouldn't notice at first glance, no matter how long that "glance" is. She's also a rape survivor. This also means she's a fighter. She's fought hard to keep that smile shining and that spirit alive. And you can feel it whenever you're around her.

Lucky for me, she still believes in love. It's evident in the poems and breathtaking photographs she shares with the world. I don't know if I could have made it through such an existence in one piece. But for her, it was more than just an existence. She has chosen to live. Whenever I'm with her and see how she travels through life, it's hard to remember the bumpy and treacherous road on which she's had to navigate. Like a delicate butterfly, she lives to find the most beautiful flowers in the ugliest fields.

This, my friends, is what might be considered by the Germans as a Liebeserkl?rung -- a declaration of love. But it's more than that. This is someone for whom I have the utmost respect. Not just because of her physical beautiful, but also for the spiritual power she possesses. What is inside only enhances what is on the outside. There are those moments I discover myself transfixed as I watch her every move. I'm totally mesmerized!

But to my surprise, I find she is unaware of what a treasure she is. The fact is, not enough people have spoken of or shown to her the realities of her value. This, of course, shocks the hell out of me! It's sad how so many are all too happy to pounce on our failures, but are graveyard silent when something positive should be said.

But she carries on. And I watch. I see. I notice the attention she garners and it speaks louder than any words could. She is something special, indeed.

But I'm making up for the oversight of others. I let her know every chance I can, both in words and in deeds, just how special she truly is. I don't want her to ever forget how grateful I am to have her in my life. And it's an honor to do so because I'm a better man just being around her. My respect for her grows with each passing day. And so does my love.

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Follow Lawrence D. Elliott on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lawrence_author

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-d-elliott/respectful-love_b_2957141.html

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PFT: Raiders to cut ties with DT Kelly

Manti TeoAP

As the calendar approaches April, the pre-draft spin cycle will soon hit overdrive.

The rules are simple.? Teams that don?t like a player will say good things about him, hoping that someone with a higher pick will take the player, which will push a more viable prospect down the board.? Teams that like a player will say bad things about him, hoping that he?ll still be there when the team makes its pick.

It?s important to keep those rules in mind when considering any off-the-record assessments of players by scouts and coaches who, depending on the teams for which they work, may be hoping to influence what other teams will or won?t do.

Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports spoke to scouts and coaches from multiple unnamed teams who attended the Monday Pro Day workout of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te?o.? And none of those folks regard Te?o as a first-round pick.

?Nice player, but not worth a first-round pick.? Not in my view,? said an unnamed ?AFC personnel man.?

?He?s not a star,? an AFC head coach said.? ?If I?m taking a linebacker in the first round, I want a guy who can change my defense.? Trust me, I?ve been wrong about linebackers before, but this guy doesn?t fit the bill of what I spend a high pick on.?

?[H]e?s not good enough in my view,? an NFC defensive coordinator said.

We don?t doubt for a second that these sources said what Cole says they said.? But without knowing which team they work for, it?s impossible to know whether they really mean it.

It?s a common reality of the pre-draft process.? Scouts and coaches knock certain players, possibly because the scouts and coaches believe what they?re saying ? and possibly because they have an agenda.? When it comes to the draft, everyone has an agenda.? When it comes to the strategy-driven NFL, everyone periodically (or more often) tells untruths to advance their agenda.

We?re not saying it?s right or it?s wrong.? That?s just the way it is.? But that makes it impossible to put much stock in the things being said by unnamed sources who may be secretly hoping that the player they?re knocking slides into their laps.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/27/raiders-to-release-tommy-kelly/related/

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T-Mobile's Sonic 2.0 mobile hotspot revealed, brings LTE-powered WiFi to the masses

TMobile's Sonic 20 mifi revealed, brings LTEpowered WiFi to the magenta loving massesT-Mobile's UnCarrier announcement event is taking place a little later today, but some bits of news have started to leak out ahead of time. First was the BlackBerry Z10, and now comes an LTE mobile hotspot, the Sonic 2.0. It's T-mo's first LTE mifi and can feed data to up to eight devices at a time. Not only that, it's compatible with both Mac OSX 10.8 and Windows 8, plus Microsofties get the added benefit of compatibility with the Win8 Carrier application so users can easily access real-time data usage info for every connected gadget. As for the hardware, the Sonic 2.0 has a 1.77-inch color LCD on the front, a 3,000 mAh battery, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and quadband LTE and 3G radios on board. There's also a MicroSD card slot for simple file sharing of up to 32GB cards. It'll be available by the end of the month, though we don't yet know how much it'll cost. Guess you'll have to tune into our liveblog to find out.

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Via: Laptop Mag

Source: T-Mobile

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0gRL3Jx9L6c/

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Exclusive: Hulu board contacts possible buyers of video streaming site - sources

By Ronald Grover and Jennifer Saba

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hulu's board has approached potential buyers to gauge their interest in buying the online video service, three sources close to the company told Reuters, as owners News Corp and Walt Disney weigh what to do with their interests in the five-year-old company.

The board sounded out several possible buyers as part of an internal strategic review begun recently, but it has not received a formal offer, one of the sources said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private. It was unclear how many parties Hulu had contacted.

Hulu spokeswoman Elisa Schreiber and News Corp's Nathaniel Brown declined to comment. Disney had no immediate comment.

News Corp and Disney are also considering other options, including buying each other out, one of the sources said on Monday on condition of anonymity.

Finding a buyer will be difficult because most of Hulu's contracts with networks for programs are short term, according to Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles who follows Hulu competitors Netflix and Coinstar .

"Nobody will buy them unless they can fix content costs in a long-term agreement," said Pachter. "The value is based on the profit potential and without certainty about costs no rational bidder will step up."

The two media companies have for years pondered the direction of a service that now has more than 3 million subscribers to its premium service and last year generated revenue of about $700 million.

A third owner, NBC parent Comcast , gave up corporate control as a condition of buying NBC Universal.

The owners shopped Hulu before, rejecting bids in 2011. It also considered an initial public offering in 2010.

In October, Hulu paid hedge fund Providence Equity Partners $200 million for its 10 percent stake in the venture.

(Reporting by Ron Grover and Jennifer Saba)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-hulu-board-contacts-possible-buyers-video-streaming-000441979--sector.html

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NPR goes rogue (Powerlineblog)

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