Month: May 2018
MPEG-4 for Multimedia Streaming
Wael Badawy, “MPEG-4 for Multimedia Streaming” Circuit Cellar, December 2001, pp. 36-40.
Beverage Company Sponsors Teen Games
As part of an effort to contribute to the community that has added to its success, Fire Mountain Beverage Co. recently sponsored this year’s L.A. Watts Summer Games, the largest high school athletic competition in the nation.
“Our goal here is to support elite high school athletes by giving back to the same markets that support our sales,” said Anthony Miller, chief executive officer of Fire Mountain Beverage. “This event helps to accomplish one of our objectives by promoting healthy living through education.”
Since the passage of the Pupil Nutrition, Health and Achievement Act of 2001, California schools have banned the sale of sugared, carbonated beverages and are moving toward juices, certain sports drinks, diet sodas and bottled water. And recently, major beverage distributors have followed suit, agreeing to stop selling sugary drinks to the nation’s public schools.
Fire Mountain’s Five O2 oxygenated bottled water is enriched with vitamins A and C, niacin, potassium and calcium, making it a more nutritious alternative to beverages containing sugar, caffeine, sodium and carbohydrates. Five O2 also comes in fruit flavors that are appealing to consumers of any age. By sponsoring the games, the company hopes to show teen athletes that they have healthier options with which to quench their thirst.
The L.A. Watts Summer Games started in 1968, three years after racially charged riots tore the Watts neighborhood apart. The goal was to foster understanding and camaraderie among the area’s high school students. The games now include competitions for both boys and girls in soccer, track and field, volleyball, tennis, cheerleading, music, art and poetry and more. Nearly 200,000 young people have participated in the games to date.
To promote the achievements of high school students in areas other than athletics, scholastics were added to the mission of the games. In 1992, a scholarship program was established for youth dedicated to serving the community through volunteerism.
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Why Business Credit Is A MUST For Every Business Owner!
As an entrepreneur, youíre hardwired to enjoy a greater level of risk than the average person. But do you enjoy the thrill of business and investing so much that youíre willing to risk:
-Being hounded by creditors?
-Declaring bankruptcy?
-Being denied a mortgage?
-Paying more than your fair share of interest on your loans?
-Losing your house?
If you answered ìnoî to one or more of these questions, this may be the most important report youíve read in a long time.
Because, if youíre like most entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners Iíve met over the past 28 years, youíre in danger of facing all of these horrific problems.
And itís all because of your business.
You see, entrepreneurs typically make one or more financially devastating mistakes when financing the launch, operation and/or growth of their businesses. In most cases, they donít realize that theyíre making a mistake.
And to tell the truth, even when they do realize theyíre making a mistake Ö they lull themselves into thinking that the consequences will be a minor annoyance.
Until, one day, they canít qualify for a mortgage. Or they canít get the to-die-for financing offered on the new car theyíre buying. Or theyíre hounded by creditors and eventually have to declare bankruptcy.
And it is all because they use their personal finances to fund the launch or expansion of their business. They then use personal credit cards to pay for business expenses. If you are in business or thinking about starting a business, business credit is a must.
Let me explain, most business owner have no idea that they can establish business credit and even fewer know how to how to establish business credit. If owners would take the time necessary to educate themselves about establishing credit they would no longer have to use their personal funds for start up capital or working capital.
They would also be able to use business credit cards which donít report to their personal credit reports, therefore, not lowering the personal credit scores.
The most important goal of business credit though is to obtain unsecured business lines of credit, which can be done once the business credit profile is set up properly. Once a business obtains unsecured business lines of credit, they then have the working capital they need to start a business or expand their business. The business owner has check book control to use the business lines of credit as they wish. And best of all, the business lines of credit donít report to the business ownerís personal credit report.
If you have set up your business profile correctly there are a number of banks that will lend to brand new start up business. That is right, brand new start up business with no track record whatsoever. The banks will extend unsecured business lines of credit so they can have the start up capital they need to finance the business of their dreams.
Make no mistake about it; business credit is a MUST for every business owner. Donít put your personal assets at risk finance or fund your business!
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3 Essential Boundaries for Mom Entrepreneurs and Their Husbands
In the beginning, I thought it was going to be a breeze when my husband, Terry, joined me working full-time in my business. If anyone could do it, we could! We already had a healthy relationship built on trust and respect. We communicated well. We both strongly believed in what we were doing. We understood the need to help each other with the children, keeping the house, and with the business. We planned to allow for fluctuations in income to keep stresses over money to a minimum. Yet I still wasnít prepared.
For anyone considering working with your spouse, here are 3 Essential Boundaries for Entrepreneurial Couples to help to ease your transition:
1. Clarify expectations for work/home.
Nothing can prepare you for the blurring of boundaries and turf that occur as you transition into working together. When you join together with your spouse, most likely, both of you have experienced success throughout your careers, and have developed your own working style. Suddenly you have a whole new dynamic in your relationship with your spouse you must learn to work through. I always knew that we had different gifts and talents: Terry is very techie and he loves to write, and I am a people person who is an administrative whiz. Even though I should have probably seen it coming, I was still surprised at the difference in our work styles. I multi-task all day long, and he prefers to work on one project at a time. Just like being newlyweds all over again, we had to put some effort into getting to know each other on a whole new level to be able to work well together.
Beth Butler, creator of the Boca Beth Program has some helpful tips for clarifying expectations with your spouse. ìI make us lunch each day and we try to talk about BOCA BETH items that are pressing. It’s our time to reconnect – he works from home for the wine company he represents and I work from home sharing my passion for second language learning with young children. A funny mix, but it works! We talk about what each of us has planned the next day so there are no surprises – and I use that time to ask for his help. I can’t expect him to guess what I need so I have learned to be very specific.î
2. Schedule time for love.
Most entrepreneurial couples complain they have less time together than before. It is possible to work beside your spouse in the same office all day long and barely speak on a personal level. How difficult is it to turn off your cell phone and talk a walk with your love? It is imperative to make it a point to schedule time for your relationship so that the business does not overtake it. Terry and I plan ahead to sneak away for lunch or to take a break at Starbucks. We have found if we donít take the time to schedule in these lunch or coffee dates, then they are less likely to happen as we work to meet deadlines or get a project done. We havenít yet been able to master scheduling ìregular datesî, but its next on our list of priorities in order to help keep our close relationship.
3. Schedule time for yourself.
It can be a shock when you suddenly have so much time with your spouse. In your previous life, they left at 7 AM and came home at 6 PM, and then you discussed your day during dinner. Now you spend most (if not all) of the day with them, and during dinner, there is nothing new to discuss. Where is the time for you? Karyn Fagan, Founder of Team Women, tells ìWe both have hobbies that we love outside of the house so we have that important away time.î
Terry and I certainly have a long way to go as an Entrepreneurial Couple, but we have made it through our entrepreneurial ìhoneymoonî period. Each day, we work together to reach our goals and dreams. We understand when we help each other we will reach our dreams sooner, so we help each wherever its needed!
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Be Single Minded
Youíve read about the importance of being courageous, rebellious and imaginative. These are all vital ingredients in an effective advertising campaign. However, they must be tempered with the most important ingredient of allóstrategy.
As long as the advertising industry has been in existence there has been debate about whether advertising is art or commerce. Quite frankly, this kind of divisive argument is a waste of time and has only helped to diminish what little respect the industry has earned through the years. Besides, the answer is simple. Advertising is the art of commerce.
It canít be pure art because pure art wonít engage the consumer on behalf of the brand. Art can certainly get peopleís attention, but it rarely causes them to take action. If the consumer is not actively engaged, the brand wonít grow. If the brand doesnít grow, the company wonít profit. And if the company ceases to make a profit, it dies and takes its brand with it.
On the other hand, advertising canít be mere commerce because capitalism, in and of itself, is not pretty. It doesnít make people sit up and take notice. Pure commerce deals with the exchange of money for goods and services. How boring is that. Besides, you donít want to encourage simple commerce. You want to promote branded commerce. That is what makes strategy so important.
Letís be clear. Weíre talking advertising strategy. Advertising is not marketing. Marketing involves several disciplines including product, pricing, packaging, distribution, customers and promotions (which encompasses public relations, advertising, point-of-sale, direct marketing, e-marketing, etc.).
If your ad agency canít tell the difference between marketing and advertising strategy, run like hell. Youíre liable to waste a lot of money. Now some agencies do understand the balance between the broader marketing picture and the narrow, targeted advertising scope. If they are capable and comfortable operating in both realms, they will be a very valuable partner to you.
The importance of a strong ad strategy canít be stressed enough. Creating ads without strategy is like throwing a ping pong ball at a speeding car in a wind storm. There is little chance you will hit your target.
With a sound advertising strategy, however, even a company with a limited budget can compete against deep-pocketed competitors. Such is the power of the single idea that remains constant over time. This, my friend, is the essence of long-term branding.
You must start by knowing to whom you are speaking and to whom you should be speaking. What are their hot buttons? What kinds of things are they paying attention to (art)? What would make them want your product or service (commerce)? What kind of life do they lead? What are some of their daily hassles? Can your product or service help with any?
The key, of course, is to begin thinking about your customers and potential customers. Focus on their needs instead of your own. By offering solutions to their needs, you will fulfill your own profit needs. It doesnít work the other way around. Trust me.
Only after you know your audience, should you start thinking about how to communicate with them. Because only then will you know how and where to reach them.
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Best Result For Pay Per Click Advertising Search Engine Advertising Internet
You will find ideas and articles on pay per click search engine advertising or pay per click internet advertising as it is also called. Cybertegic, a PPC internet search engine marketing company, specialize in building pay per click advertising campaign for ebusiness. Our pay per click internet advertising follows special practices to achieve the best result for PPC search engine web marketing campaign. So check out Mamma’s Internet marketing solutions, including pay-per-click advertising, graphic ad network, xml search feeds and the branded search box.
Cybertegic, a PPC internet search engine marketing company, specialize in building pay per click advertising campaign for ebusiness. Our pay per click internet advertising follows special practices to achieve the best result for PPC search engine web marketing campaign. Our staff can setup your pay per click Internet advertising campaign. You will find ideas and articles on pay per click search engine advertising or pay per click internet advertising as it is also called. On this site, I will show you how to make money on the internet using affiliate programs and pay per click advertising. I tried almost every internet money making opportunities that exist and my biggest find was pay per click advertising.
This is the reason why pay per click advertising returns are far better than banner advertising – the internet user is looking for you! Internet advertisers can select from a variety of performance-based advertising alternatives, including pay-per-click, banner, e-mail, and pop-up campaigns. With Pay-Per-Click Advertising an advertiser only pays when an Internet user clicks on their keyword-targeted ad and gets transferred to their website. This allows the Internet Marketing company the scope of reducing pay per click advertising spend and of increasing significantly the number of target keywords.
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System On Chip: Trends and Challenges
The increase in the number of transistors that can be integrated on a single chip allows the integration of more functions. On the other hand, time-to-market pressures require novel techniques for developing integrated circuits. System on chip is a methodology that allows the integration of several third-party cores with an embedded processor. This paper presents a tutorial for the system- on-chip methodology and presents the design tasks that are involved in developing a system on chip.
L’accroissement du nombre de transistors qu’il est possible d’inte ́grer sur une puce permet d’offrir plus de fonctionnalite ́s. D’autre part, les pressions de la mise en marche ́ rapide de celles-ci exige l’e ́laboration de techniques nouvelles de de ́veloppement de circuits inte ́gre ́s. Les syste`mes sur une puce repre ́sentent une me ́thodologie de de ́veloppement qui permet l’inte ́gration de com- posantes provenant de plusieurs de ́veloppeurs et de les combiner a` un processeur embarque ́. Cet article pre ́sente un tutoriel sur la me ́thodologie de conception de circuits sur une puce et pre ́sente les taˆches de design implique ́es dans le de ́veloppement de tels systemes.
Wael Badawy, “System On Chip: Trends and Challenges,” The Canadian Journal on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vol. 26, July/October 2001, pp. 85-90.
Best Advertising For Small Business
The best advertising, whether for a small business or large, is advertising that works. The price a small business owner pays for advertising would not be an issue if the outcome of the ad was known.
If a small business owner had a choice of paying $1000 a month for advertising that brought in a guarantee of at least $2000 a month profit, or paying $500 a month for advertising that brought in $750 worth of profit a month, there would be no hesitation. That savvy small business owner would gladly shell out $1000 each month for the advertising.
Small business advertising has no such guarantees however. Itís not like buying a refrigerator that is guaranteed to keep the milk and eggs cold. $1000 of advertising might bring $8000 of profit, or it might bring in zero. So, whatís a small business owner to do, especially if faced with a limited budget?
The best answer is to use small business advertising that only charges the owner when and if it works. There are several ways of doing this.
The primary method is called pay per click. This Internet option is available with numerous online merchant sites as well as hundreds of newspapers across the country and the globe. Simply put, a small business agrees to pay a specified amount to the publisher, or the merchant site, for each ad that entices a consumer to come to the small business site. The price paid is generally an amount that the small business owner has bid on. More and more newspapers are offering this option as they struggle to maintain competitive online with eBay, Craigslist and other pure play classified and marketplace sites.
Another option for pay per click and inexpensive advertising for a small business that wants to concentrate on local customers is with regional publications or some of the larger metropolitan newspapers and groups that are introducing citizen media sites. These zoned products offer a much less expensive buy because the small business advertiser is buying the local neighborhood instead of the total metropolitan circulation of the metropolitan paper.
Companies such as YourHub, a product of the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, are licensing these citizen media sites to other newspapers in other areas and those welcome small business advertising and discount the price. They also encourage citizen journalism. The small business owner can contribute articles, photos and local stories, although the paper will undoubtedly edit something too unabashedly self-serving. This is still a great way for a local entrepreneur to introduce himself or herself to the neighbors in a friendly, casual and soft sell way.
Algorithm-Based Low Power VLSI Architecture For 2d-Mesh Video Object Motion Tracking
The new VLSI architecture for video object (VO) motion tracking uses a novel hierarchical adaptive structured mesh topology. The structured mesh offers a significant reduction in the number of bits that describe the mesh topology. The motion of the mesh nodes represents the deformation of the VO. Motion compensation is performed using a multiplication-free algorithm for affine transformation, significantly reducing the decoder architecture complexity. Pipelining the affine unit contributes a considerable power saving. The VO motion-tracking architecture is based on a new algorithm. It consists of two main parts: a video object motion-estimation unit (VOME) and a video object motion-compensation unit (VOMC). The VOME processes two consequent frames to generate a hierarchical adaptive structured mesh and the motion vectors of the mesh nodes. It implements parallel block matching motion-estimation units to optimize the latency. The VOMC processes a reference frame, mesh nodes and motion vectors to predict a video frame. It implements parallel threads in which each thread implements a pipelined chain of scalable affine units. This motion-compensation algorithm allows the use of one simple warping unit to map a hierarchical structure. The affine unit warps the texture of a patch at any level of hierarchical mesh independently. The processor uses a memory serialization unit, which interfaces the memory to the parallel units. The architecture has been prototyped using top-down low-power design methodology. Performance analysis shows that this processor can be used in online object-based video applications such as MPEG-4 and VRML
Wael Badawy and Magdy Bayoumi, “Algorithm-Based Low Power VLSI Architecture For 2d-Mesh Video Object Motion Tracking,” The IEEE Transaction on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 12, No. 4, April 2002, pp. 227-237
Be Rebellious
In order to get consumers (whether they are retail or service customers or business-to-business audiences) to notice an advertising message, many companies resort to loudness and one-upmanship. Neither of these tactics works in the long run.
If your competition is talking loudly and you decide to yell louder, what do you think they will do? Yep. Theyíll start to scream. Nobody wins a shouting match when it comes to advertising. And usually youíll find you even lose a few customers in the process because they canít stand the noise.
Itís the same with one-upmanship. If you have to compete on more and better coupons or more and better discounts, giveaways or incentives unrelated to your core product, your revenue per sale decreases as well as your number of sales.
Customers see these types of games as gimmicky, fake and disingenuous; and they leave. The ones who do stay now view you and your competitors as commodities with no difference except your price. That is a dangerous place for a company to find itself.
The answer to clutter is not more clutter; itís finding who wants to hear you and speaking to them. So how do you compete if you canít out shout or out discount your competition? You get rebellious and radical with your advertising.
Do those words scare you? Thatís okay. Remember, youíre being courageous now. You can handle it. Besides, rebellious and radical arenít dirty words. They will help you draw attention away from your competition without resorting to screaming and insulting your customers.
Itís not about being outrageous just to get attention; itís about being remarkable. An advertising campaign with a strong rebellious strategy is, by its very nature, different from anything your audience will find from your competitorsí marketing efforts. Itís unexpected. Itís surprising. Itís effective.
There are two keys to creating a successfully rebellious advertising campaign. The first is the big idea. This idea comes from a strategy that is derived directly from your customers and their relationship with your brand. You arrive at this idea through a discipline called account planning. Weíll get into the details of both the big idea and account planning in later articles.
The second key to a successfully rebellious advertising campaign is attention. You canít gain attention if you donít learn to identify and then steer clear of the norm. It doesnít matter how great your product or service is or how large your potential market, if your target audience doesnít pay attention to your message, your ad budget has been wasted.
Think about these two keys while you flip through the newspaper or a magazine. Ponder them while you watch TV. You should notice something almost immediately. Most ads today donít seem to be based on any big idea. Many are so boring that you flip right past them without noticing them. Others get your attention but the ads donít have much to do with the product so you quickly forget the brand the ad was supposed to sell you. What an opportunity for your brand!
Now, there is a caveat to being rebellious. Your ads should never be different just for difference sake. The difference should be derived from your brandís uniqueness
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