Take a Look: Bluetooth Keyboard Made of Bamboo - Earth911.com

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Take a Look: Bluetooth Keyboard Made of Bamboo Earth911.com by Christina Caldwell 03/30/12 No Comments Between staring at pixels and typing on plastic, living your work life behind a computer keyboard can make you feel far from nature. But one Kickstarter campaign is out to reduce plastic landfill waste and get ... Looking for a Bam boo Keyboard? Of Course You Are, & iZen's Got One CleanTechnica  »

Beale considers $1B proposal to redevelop some Air Force land - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Their estimated $1 billion proposal include an industrial park with a concentration on new research and development or lightgindustrial space, and $125 million in improvements to the base’ss wastewater facility that could increase the capacityy for additional commercial uses. The Air Forc considers the property to be excess and not needed for its The base includes an underutilized rail spur that could be put back into servicre to cut down ontruck traffic. The thred Sacramento-based firms that are partners in the ventured are Construction and supplyfirm , Californias lobbyist and real estate developer and manager Negotiations are schedulec to wrap up within the next month.
Disaster evacuation kits were distributed this weekto 8,000 familiew in the Natomas Unified School District and 3,00o0 employees of in Roseville. Gary president of the Sacramento-based nonprofi , came up with the idea for the SAFELY OUT kits afte r volunteering with the American Red Cross to help in the recoverty efforts following Hurricanes Katrinaand Rita. The kits are meantt not only to help families protect themselvesx in the event of a natural but to aidemergency responders.
The kits include itemss such as a door hanger thatsays “needd help” on one side and “safelty out” on the other, a refrigeratod magnet booklet for recordinfg essential contact and evacuation and storage bags for settintg aside spare medicines and medicak insurance information in the refrigerator — a placw that is air-tight, water-tight and fire-resistant. So far, Pride in partnership with Citizen Voice, have assembled 35,0090 of the Safely Out kits. The 11,00 kits distributed Wednesday were made possible by a gran t from the and the sponsorshil of inWest Sacramento. Safely Out kits can be orderedrthrough citizenvoice.org.
A $10 donation per kit is Artwork made from the stately old treesof Sacramento’s downtown is goingg to be sold, auctioned and raffled off to raise moneu for the Legacy Trees The project is sponsored by the , whicgh is working with the city, propert y owners and the state to obtainh wood from trees that are more than a century old that make up the canopy over downtownm and midtown Sacramento. The group harvests heartwood from diseased ordying trees, and gives it to Some of the wood SEEART has harvesterd includes wood from a 129-year-old tulip poplar on the grounds of the statee Capitol, as well as black walnut and sequoia redwoodse harvested around town.
Three of the piecews to be raffled are on displayat , 2508 J St. The piece will be sold at a free Secondc Saturday Art Walk partyy on the upstairs patio at 1801L St. on June 13. Rafflew tickets are $20 each and available at Art Ellis, a sponsotr of the Legacy Trees Project.

Gates Foundation, MDC give $1M grant - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Valencia will get $743,000 over three years to creatd a centralizedremedial program, used acrosw four campuses. It planw to align high school, remedial and college-level standards, expand its remediapl learning communities, and embed reading skills into remedialmath courses. The announced June 22, will support remedial programe developed by Valencia through Achievinhthe Dream: Community Colleges Count, a multiyear national initiative aimed at increasing college graduation rates among disadvantaged students. The statr will get also get $300,000 over threwe years to collaboratewith K-12 to reduce the need for remediap education.
Connecticut, Ohio, Texas and Virginia also got the which will be used to develolp new policies acceleratingthe states’ remediao education programs. The Florida grantsa are part ofa $16.5 millionm effort to improve remedial education at community collegesz in five states, reaching about 45,000 students Four states and 14 other collegea received similar Gates grants for their Achieving the Dream program. Each community college will receive $743,00o over three years to expand its programs. Lumina Foundatiom for Education has alsocommittex $1.5 million to this initiative for evaluationb and communications.
About 375,000 Florida degree-seekinfg students annually attend a localcmmunity college, with nearlyu 40 percent of them takingv remedial classes to build basic academif skills. National studies have shown nearly two-third s of those taking remedial classesneveer graduate, but successful programs at several college s demonstrate these numbers can be

White Sox rally from four down to beat Brewers - Boston.com

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Iridium earnings fall 42%; revenue up - Portland Business Journal:

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The Bethesda-based provider of satellite telephone services, which expects to become publicly traded this summer througuhan acquisition, posted a 42 percent decline in net income in the first quartet ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.7 millionh a year ago. Th company attributed the declind to costs related toits next-generatiomn satellite program. “Iridium continued to grow, althougbh the pace slowed given the currenteconomic climate,” said CEO Matt “In addition to the impact of phasingg out equipment amortization, we believe the economic climate is affectingb equipment sales, as is the transition of newlg introduced products into the distribution channel as our partnera move existing inventory to make way for new product.
” Companyt officials say either Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin or Thaleas Alenia Space will be selected as the program’s lead contractodr this summer. The program’s new network of satellites called Iridiujm NEXT is expected to be deployexin 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide higherdata speeds, greater bandwidth and the potential to delive r new data services and applications to The company says its EBITDA, or earnings beforre interest, taxes, depreciation and increased 4.9 percent to $27.6 millio n in the first quarter, up from $26.3 million a year ago, thougn most analysts do not use that as a reliablwe financial measure. Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percent to $75.
98 million for the quarter, compared to $74.3 milliojn for the first quarterd 2008. The slightly higheer revenue came from increased commercial services revenueof $36.8 million but was offset by a declins in subscriber equipment revenued to $20.5 million for the Iridium’s commercial markets include maritime, aviation and land mobile which grew by 11.5 percent for the The company’s sales to government customers, including the Department of grew 31 percent.
Despite a 31 percen increase in subscribersto 328,000, compares to 250,000 in the first quarte of 2008, a $2 million amortization of equipmenf related to prior year equipment added to the decline in subscriber equipmenrt revenue. The company is planning to go public this summer, but it is not taking the initiakl public offering route. It is acquirin a publicly tradedinvestment group, GHQ), an affiliate of Greenhilll & Co. Iridium has retainecd Deutsche Bank as its financial advise r forthe transaction.

Streamline jumps into black for 1Q - Portland Business Journal:

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The software company reported net income of or zero centsper share, compared to a net loss of or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues grew to $3.8 million from $3.6 The one analyst who coverws the company expected a net loss of 2 centz on revenuesof $3.5 million. Systems sales and maintenance and support revenues both rose 12 percenft duringthe quarter, whilwe application hosting services revenues fell 23 the company said in a news “We continue to make progress in moving this business forwarxd to the point of becoming consistently profitable; that is our main strategic said CEO Brian Patsy in the release.
In earlhy June, Streamline won a contrac t valued at morethan $1 million to integratwe its document workflow solutions into an electronic medicapl records system at a Canadian health care Patsy said. It is the secondr Canadian contract the company has won in the past Despite thebetter news, shares of Streamlinwe (NASDAQ: STRM), followed most tech stocks down on Wednesdahy morning, losing more than 8 percent, or 26 to $2.89. Streamline Health Solutions, based in is a supplier of workflow and documengmanagement tools, applications and services to specifically health-care organizations.

Ex-Aveda specialists

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Minneapolis-based , founded last year by former executives Davi d Adams andVirginia Meyer, provides extensivr hair-color training for salon groups, promising to boost color sales and, in turn, overalp revenue and profitability. The company works closelyy with stylists and managers to enhancew every aspect ofa salon’s color service, from client consultations and advanced coloring techniques to pricing and wast reduction. Salons that have completed the trainingprogram — which included six days of training spread out over a few weeksd — report that their hair-coloe sales have increased at least 5 said Meyer, the company’s chief operating officer. Some see much St.
Petersburg, Fla.-based Missio Aveda Salon & Spa reportedc that hair-color services now account for nearlgy 58 percent of allservice revenue, up from 42 percenty before. Those gains can have a major impact ona salon’d bottom line because colorintg services are a highly profitable piece of the The salon industry grew at a rate of 2.8 percentg in 2008, according to a market stud by Plano, Texas-based Professional Consultantxs & Resources (PCR). That’s down from 4.2 percent in 2007 and representss the lowest growth rate inthe 20-plus years PCR has tracked the Hair-color service grew at 3 percent in down from 5.
6 percenrt in 2007, largely due to increasexd use of at-home coloring products. Red Chocolate’s core training “Creating Confidence and Success withHair Color,” costs $2,9090 per participant, but the training more than pays for itself, Meyer said. “Understanding how to strengthen our relationships with existing guestes and use them to send in new guests is more importanytthan ever,” she said. “Salon ownersz know that and that’s why they’red making the big investment.
” Adams and Meyer developedr the Red Chocolate program in early while still workingat Blaine-based Aveda, a subsidiarh of New York cosmetics giant The Estée Laude r Cos. Inc. Adams was the company’s technical artisticc director and Meyer was vice presidentof education; Adams remains under contract with serving as the face of its hair-colodr business. Red Chocolate now has completed fivetrainingf sessions, attended by hundreds of participantsd from salon groups across the country, and the companyu expects to complete at least threw more by the end of the Two local salons — Plymouth-based New Reflections SpaSalonn and Eden Prairie-based Sanctuary Salonspa — were among six Midwestern salon groups that attended a session in New Reflections president and owner Diane Keller said she was so impressed with the initial resulta from the six stylists she sent to the Februarh session that she now plans to have anotherf 20 stylists go through the traini ngv this summer.
Then some of those participants will attenda “train the program this fall, so they can teach the Red Chocolate program to the rest of the New Reflections’ 46 stylists by the end of the “This is bringing us up to that next levek — the master’s level,” Kellert said.

Conference Board's employment index dips - Portland Business Journal:

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The index declined in June, but its decline was only according to arelease Monday. The indes for June is 88.4, a decreasse of 0.8 from the revised May number of 89.1, and a declinee of 21.6 percent from a year ago. “Compared to the beginninv of the year, the decline in the Employment Trendsx Index hassignificantly moderated, and we therefore expecrt job growth to resume around the end of the year,” Gad senior economist at the Conference Board, said in the “However, over the last month, leading indicatorsa of employment were mostlhy disappointing, suggesting the Employment Trendd Index is still seeking a bottom.
” The Employment Trenda Index aggregates eight labor-market indicatorss to show underlying trends more clearly. For the June index, the indicatorws that declined were the percentage of respondentw who said theyfoune “jobs hard to get,” the numbedr of employees in the temporary-helpl industry, industrial production, real manufacturinh and trade sales; and job The other three indicators that make up the inde x are: initial claims for unemployment insurance, percentags of firms with positions they are not able to fill righf now, and part-time workers for economic reasons.

Slashed film incentives send production crew to Michigan - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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When the reduced film incentiveswfrom $25 million to just $5 millionb last May, it was like a tree fallinfg in the forest with no one around to hear it. Film producersz in Italy got their way. Berluscon i quickly put the film incentives back intothe budget. Florida, is now feeling the burn. Tamp Bay has lost a higher-profile movie projec t ready to roll inthe area, and there’w even talk a popular USA network seriez filmed in Miami called “Bur n Notice” could be next.
“We had bookedx about 90 percent of our locationz and just about had everything ready to go whenit happened,” said Jasonh Weinstein, development director for a psychological horror film beinv produced by New Castle Entertainment that had planneed to use various locations in Tampa’s Hyde Park and a vacangt high school in Sarasota to create Ohio-likd street settings. Called “Intent,” the film alreadyt had attracted actors like Betty Whitesfrom “Golden Girls,” Steve Schirripa from “The and Eric Roberts, who most recently player gangster Salvatore Maroni in the blockbuste r hit “The Dark Knight.
” But when the Legislature reduced incentives, the chances of receiving a $1 million budget incentivs washed out. Weinstein and crew were forced to pack up and move production to Michigan where morethan $20 million in tax credits are available for infrastructure investments alone. It’s a story that will likely play out agaibn soon as Florida seeks to compete with otherr states that have increased already sizeable film incentive enjoying the estimated return of between $6 and $7 for every dollar invested. “Now is not the time for us to bow saidLindsey Norris, film commission manager at Tampa Bay & Company. “This one hits close to home.
Tampa has been on the cusp of some reallyy big productions in the past coupleof years, and we’vee been ever so close. But for one reaso after another, we seem to be missinvg the boat.” Gov. Charlie Crist had sought an increasseof Florida’s film incentives to $40 millionb this year, but a $2 billion budgert shortfall meant some line item s not considered essential would be cut. Even with the Tampa had an uphill battle attractingt film projects away from other popular locationsw like Miamiand Jacksonville, but now local officialw are working hard to keep some 500 film-relatedf jobs in Tampa alone from moving where the work is.
It’a been hard for Bob “Smitty” The owner of , Smith provides food and drink s for actors and crews of film project s all over the countryincluding 2005’s “Thse Dukes of Hazzard,” local film and Tampa’s most recent major production, “The Punisher” in 2004. While he’d like to stay as closer to his Odessa homeas possible, it’xs hard when very little filming takes place in his backyard. “I was only here for three weeks last and that wasa vacation,” Smitu said.
“I understand it’s all about money, but I wouldc rather my friends around here be makingf money that they can spend closde to home rather than having it sent someothefr place.” Not much can be done about 2008, but Norriz said there’s still hope for 2009. Next members of the statewide lobbying group Film Floridaw will gather in Sarasota to hash out strategies for increasing incentivews in the next budget cycle inthe “There are people who live and work here who depene on this industry,” Norrise said. “We want thosew people to stay here.
If they go somewherw else, we may never see another productionhere

Commercial real estate deal drought in Silicon Valley stuns industry - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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All told, a mere $9 million in offices transactions traded during the firsyt quarter inSilicon Valley, a 98 percent drop compareds with the first quarter of 2008 when $716 million was sold. The star performer was the industriall market, with $67 million Still, that was down about 65 percenrt from ayear ago. The other two sectord — retail and multifamily were off by 56 percent and 96percentg respectively, as reported by LoopNet Inc. in partnershipo with Real CapitalAnalyticas Inc. LoopNet tracks sales of $2.5 million or more. The Southb Bay was not alone — the market “virtually across the country, with some regions registeringgzero transactions.
“It was worse than anyone saidHessam Nadji, managing director of research servicee for Marcus & Millichap. “It was almost impossible to predict the freezing of the Experts hope the low numbers mean the bottom is A LoopNet survey released May 27 revealed that 40 percenyt ofits 1,500 members who responded to the questiomn when the market will turn believe it will happenj in 2010, but more than a quartert said it may not happen until 2011. The survet reveals an interesting skew, said Mike LoopNet’s marketing vice president. “In the breakdown betweehn ownersand investors, the owners are far more he said.
“That’s partly why transactions have groundr toa halt, there are differen expectations.” Don Little, senior vice presidentt of Opus West Northern California, said the gap between buyersz and sellers is unbridgeable in the current Sellers are not willing to come down in and buyers do not have access to capitakl that will support the future value of the property. will trade for the cost of or less,” Little said. “That means the top 20 or 30 percenty of value will getknocked off. We will have blowj through the equity and will be in the Not much has changed as the secondf quarter draws toa close.
Eric Fox, senior vice presideny for CPSCorfac International, said the handfu of properties on the market have gotten very little interest. “Sales will be relativelyy stagnantuntil there’s a point of distress,” he “I don’t know when that will The market is not there yet. Ownera remain in control of their properties with foreclosureas in the commercial sector a rarityso far. “There’zs not a lot of desperatioj onthe sellers’ side,” Little said. Whilew that could be read as agood sign, it reallyt only perpetuates the situation.
Fox said that owners aren’ft willing to discount on performing properties, meaning tenantsx are paying their rent and the debt is being to ensurea sale. “If properthy is performing at a high thebuyers aren’t there,” Fox As the recession deepens and job losses accelerate, Nadji said ownera will reconsider their options. “Hanging on doesn’t fit what they need to he said. “There’s a lot of owners with maturing debt that with the credig crunch will not be able to refinance with favorablseenough terms. So they are decidingb to sell the property.
”

Board narrowly backs Seminole water plan - Orlando Business Journal:

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million gallons of water a day fromthe St. Johnx River was approved April 13 ina 5-4 vote by the . Accordinh to a release, the district’s board approved the permit forthe $42.5 million project, which included: Up to 1 million gallons of watere per day would be used to augmengt Seminole County’s reclaimed watef system in place of • Up to 4.5 million gallons of watedr a day — starting in 2014 to supplement potable groundwater Representatives from Jacksonville-area governments and the St. Johns Riverkeepedr contributed to an overflow crowd in Palatka atthe hearing.
The Riverkeepet organization sponsored a bus ride to transport opponents of the permit tothe district’s offices in Palatkz for the hearing. Originally, Seminolde County submitted the permit application in 2004 requesting the ability towithdrawq 7.25 million gallons of water per day for 20 years. The projecy already has support fromthe , and U.S. Fish and Wildlifre Service. However, the permit has also faceed oppositionfrom St. Johns Riverkeepe r Inc., a private, nonprofiyt watchdog formed in 1999 to protectthe St. John River. “The district’s Governin Board, like many people throughoug the region, is committe to protecting the St.
Johnsx River, and it was the board’s determination, as it was for district staff and the administrative law that this withdrawal will not cause detrimentao impacts to the saidSusan Hughes, governing board chairwoman, in a preparedc statement. St. Johns Riverkeeper a private, nonprofit watchdog group formed in 1999 to protectthe St. Johnsz River that has fought Seminole'sw plan, vowed to fight on. “We are preparedd to do whatever it takes to stop this permity frombeing issued,” Neil Armingeon, who headss the Riverkeeper group, told Aprilk 10.
Armingeon said the group will meet with its legaol team within the next 25 days and considef filing legal action to blockthe

Neilson leaving Visit Milwaukee - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Neilson plans to returj to the San Francisco area to pursue new He joined Visit Milwaukeein 2001, when it was knowh as the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors after previously serving in an executive post with the . “Durintg Doug’s tenure, Milwaukee has seen unprecedentedd investment and growth in its tourism saidLynda Kohler, Visit Milwaukee’s board chair. “Milwaukees is a better destination today for meetings andleisure travelers.” Neilson said he is proud to have been part of the growthg and improvement in the offerings the Milwauke e area provides to visitors, includinbg the Midwest Airlines Center, restaurants, arts and cultural venues.
Kohler said a searcj committeefor Neilson’s replacement will be formee from members of the VISIT Milwaukee board’s executive

JE Dunn completes work on patient tower at Medical Center of Aurora - Denver Business Journal:

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The 128,351-square-foot tower is part of a $53 milliojn hospital upgrade that also includes the remodelingof 20,00 0 square feet of othe r space and a 539-space, four-leveol parking structure. The new tower is part of the Medical Centeeof Aurora’s campus at 1501 S. Potomac St., near Interstatse 225 and Mississippi Avenue. It’s home to the hospital’d new cardiac center and an expandedd intensivecare unit. The private medical center, owned by LLC of has three campuses — its main one at 1501 S. Potomac St., a neighboringv south campus at 700Potomac St. in Aurora and a Centenniak campus at14200 E. Arapahoe Road.
Opene in 1974, the cented currently employs morethan 1,200 JE Dunn, a specialist in health-care still is working on finishing shelp space at the medicalo center. The company also is working on projectes forother health-care groups, includint Banner Health System, Penrose/St. Francis Health System and Memoriall Hospital ofColorado Springs.

'Miracle Baby' welcomed back to Winchester Hospital for birthday celebration - Wicked Local

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'Miracle Baby' welcomed back to Winchester Hospital for birthday celebration Wicked Local By Anonymous On Monday, Kerry and Paul Kawai walked through the doors of Winchester Hospital, this time for a very different reason than what brought the family here last January. Today's visit was to celebrate the first birthday of their daughter Ava, ...

$2B write-down hits Apache

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billion first-quarter net loss for The nearlg $2 billion after-tax write-down stemmedx from lower natural gas prices duringy thefirst quarter, the Houston exploration and production company said Thursday. The $1.8 billionh net loss, or $5.25 per share, for the three montha ended March 31, 2009, compared with net incomee of $1 billion, or $3.03 per for the same period a year earlier. Revenue was down 49 percentt to $1.6 billion from $3.2 billion in the 2008 firstg quarter. Excluding the write-down, Apache’s first-quarter adjusted earnings would havebeen $218 million, or 65 cent per share, compared with adjusted earningws of $1 billion or $2.99 per shar in the prior-year period.
Analysts polled by Thomsonh Reuters expectedApache (NYSE: APA) to have net earningw per share of 35 cents. In a separater matter, the company announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquirew nine Permian Basin oil and gas fields with current productiobof 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day from Houston-bases (NYSE: MRO) for $187.4 million.