Connected Cars And Bio-Acoustical Transmission: A Peek Into AT&T?s Research Lab

Screen shot 2012-04-20 at 11.48.29 AMYesterday, I was lucky enough to venture into the depths of AT&T's New York offices and check out the Research Lab. In essence, AT&T has about a zillion APIs that relate to cloud computing, navigation, translation, and a plethora of other fun technology, and its researchers then take those platforms and create really interesting products.

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Jennifer Love Hewitt Goes Makeup Free on Twitter


Planking is so 2011.

Tebowing is so early 2012.

The latest craze, heating up Hollywood at least? Makeup-free Twitter photos, as both Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato have gone all natural over the social network over the last few weeks. And now Jennifer Love Hewitt has joined the trend.

What do you think of her bare look?

Jennifer Love Hewitt Without Makeup

If you aren't a fan, have no fear. There's always this Client List promo, in which Hewitt is made up... but seriously dressed down. Watch and drool over the video now.

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'Magic Mike' Trailer: Stripping Down The Clip

We take a closer look at the teaser for Channing Tatum's upcoming flick.
By Amy Wilkinson


Channing Tatum in "Magic Mike"
Photo: Warner Bros

Hide your kids, hide your husband, and stuff your purse full of $1 bills, because the trailer for Channing Tatum's stripper movie "Magic Mike" has shimmied onto the Web!

The film stars Tatum as an exotic dancer named — what else? — Magic Mike, who takes an up-and-coming young performer named the Kid (Alex Pettyfer) under his tutelage. But, as strippers are wont to do, Mike is hoping for more from life than body oil and G-strings. He hopes to build furniture! And date the Kid's sister!

You'll have to pony up $10 come June 29 to find out if his dreams come true, but in the meantime, check out what else your eagle-eyed experts at MTV found noteworthy in the tawdry trailer:

Channing Tatum's Acrobatics
Co-star Matt Bomer already warned us about Tatum's "sick" moves, and of course we've seen "Step Up" about 20 times, but it's easy to forget how adept the Chan-man is on the dance floor, seeing as he's most frequently cast as an action hero ("G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," "Haywire") or a romantic lead ("Dear John," "The Vow"). All we have to say is, get this guy into toe shoes more often, Hollywood!

Cody Horn Hits the Scene
Tatum's love interest is likely a new face to many a moviegoer. Her name is Cody Horn, and this could be her big, ballsy breakout role. The actress' résumé is largely filled with television credits in series like "Rescue Me" and "The Office." Her next big-screen role is in September's "End of Watch," which also co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera.

But Where Is Matt Bomer?
Tatum, Pettyfer, Horn and Matthew McConaughey (who plays the strip club's owner) all get good looks in the trailer, but there are several beefy babes missing in action — most notably "White Collar" star Matt Bomer. An appearance (preferably shirtless) by the blue-eyed stunner is at the top of our wish list for trailer #2. "True Blood" star Joe Manganiello's blink-and-you'll-miss-it performance was also much too short. Maybe a little less Mike in the next tease, huh, guys?

Click on our expert video commentary above to hear what else we were cheering and jeering in the trailer!

Check out everything we've got on "Magic Mike."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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'Dancing With The Stars' Gives Gavin DeGraw The Boot

Pop singer had to participate in a dance-off with Jaleel White before getting the bad news.
By Kelley L. Carter


Karina Smirnoff and Gavin DeGraw on "Dancing With the Stars"
Photo: ABC

The savvy producers at ABC's hit reality dance competition switched things up for fans during Tuesday night's "Dancing With the Stars" elimination show. Instead of making fans sweat it out until the final minute to find out which celebrity dancer and his/her professional partner would be given the boot based on a combination of judges' scores and fan votes, they turned the tables a bit.

The bottom two couples — pop singer Gavin DeGraw and his partner Karina Smirnoff and child actor Jaleel White and his partner Kym Johnson — had to duke it out on the dance floor. The couples danced side by side in a duel of cha-chas, with the judges having the final say about who would be saved and who would be going home.

In the end, it really wasn't much of a shocker. DeGraw was told he'd danced his last dance on the show — he'd been the bottom scorer on Monday night, as was pretty much the case since the competition began. Monday night's theme was Latin night, and his samba failed to impress the judges.

That said, the judges told DeGraw that they based their decision solely on the dance he turned in Tuesday night, however, and not what he'd done in previous performances.

"It's been amazing to be part of the show," DeGraw said after learning that he'd be going home, adding that Smirnoff was a great mentor.

Next week, the celebrities take on Motown week.

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Sovereign Wealth Funds Investing in Private Equity

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have seen their total assets under management grow significantly over the past few years. In 2008, the aggregate assets under management of SWFs worldwide stood at $3tn, whereas now in 2012, the figure stands at over $4.6tn. These institutions typically take a long-term approach to their investments and therefore alternative asset classes, such as private equity, continue to appeal to this investor group.

Over half (57%) of SWFs are known to invest in the private equity asset class, with 46% of SWFs gaining access to the asset class through funds commitments, while a further 11% choose to make strategic direct investments. An additional 3% of SWFs are considering making a maiden allocation to private equity, as a means of diversifying their existing investment portfolios. Forty percent of SWFs do not invest in private equity. There are various reasons for this including issues with liquidity requirements and a lack of expertise and resources to operate effective private equity programmes.

In general, the larger the SWF, the more likely it is to invest in private equity. Eighty-three percent of SWFs with total assets under management?? of more than $250bn invest in the asset class, compared to just 14% with total assets of between $1bn and $9bn. The five largest SWFs that invest in private equity have combined total assets under management in excess of $2.2tn, three of which are based in Asia and two in MENA. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is the largest sovereign wealth fund known to invest in private equity, with total assets of approximately $627bn and an allocation to the asset class of between 2% and 8% of total assets.

Buyout funds continue to attract a great deal of attention from SWFs with 79% of those investing in private equity stating a preference for this fund type. Recently, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), China Investment Corporation (CIC) and Future Fund reportedly committed a combined total of $900mn to Apax Europe VIII, which held a first close last month on ?4.3bn and has an overall target size of ?9bn. State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) is understood to have made one of the largest known commitments to a global buyout vehicle, when it committed $2.5bn to TPG Partners VI. Fifty-nice percent of SWFs investing in private equity have an appetite for venture funds, while distressed private equity is appealing to 38% of SWF?s investing in the asset class given the continued volatility in the financial markets of late.


Geographically, North America is a popular region for SWFs, with 76% of those investing in private equity having a preference for this region. Despite the fact many SWFs are based in MENA, the region is a less favourable investment choice; 34% of SWFs investing in private equity have a preference for this region, the majority of which are also based in MENA.

It is evident that SWFs consider the private equity asset class to present favourable long-term opportunities as they seek to hold diverse investment portfolios. Such institutions represent a significant amount of capital invested in the asset class and although financial markets remain turbulent, SWFs are likely to maintain a strong interest in private equity and continue to allocate further capital to the asset class going forward.

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A Very Powerful Weapon In Business Is Self Improvement | welcome ...

One of the constants of life in business is dealing with problems. Typically problems like this will arise which must be handled immediately before they go too far. Personal issues, which should be dealt with very quickly, are usually the ones that show up. Attaining what you want in life may often require handling your personal concerns before success will come your way. In order to succeed, you need to realize that there is a connection between your job performance and how you feel. Strangely, the two of these are very closely related. To improve your business situation, and to not allow personal challenges to be detrimental to your goals, set a specific plan of action that includes personal and business improvement goals.

To succeed in life, or at business, your mindset needs to be upon the foundation of success principles that motivate your every decision. The first thing you need to do is to create a state of mind within yourself that can easily overcome obstacles. What we want to attain is solely based upon what we?re able to overcome as the road blocks come our way. It is important to never stop trying to reach your goals and fail because you simply stopped believing. When faced with any problem or obstacle, figure out what is needed to get from point A to point B. By outlining your plan of action on paper, you will have an exact strategy to help you succeed. By specifically doing what needs to be done for each objective, you accomplish what you want to do. It is important to realize that the more relationships that you build in a healthy manner will help improve your ability to succeed. On the Internet, this is a very common aspect of everyday interactions. Although this may be something built into our DNA, interacting in like-minded groups is seemingly part of human nature. By meeting someone in a social setting, it may be one of the most important aspects of your business building career which is why social networking is important. This is not to say that your affinity toward a nonsocial everyday life is bad; you need to consider that being social can actually help you achieve your dreams.

You are not quite finished learning about lawn mower reviews and all that it means in your life. More than anything else, analyze what all the main points are in terms of applicability. We do make the effort to help you as much as possible since this is all about you. There is no doubt that you need to view this from as many sides as you can. If you are really pressed for time, then choose quality information over quantity, always. We all have the same amount of time each day, but we think what normally occurs is people learn to focus. As always, take care of your self or perhaps someone else if you are helping them with this research. One place that is a clear example of where business can become ruthless is in the arena of pay per click advertising. You can also find the same level of competition for organic searches as people try to gain the top search position. In the online world, this is very common and something that you simply need to deal with as you try to succeed. If you want to succeed, you are going to have to just enter the arena and do your best, take some punches, and come out fighting. By moving forward, with your head down ready to fight, you will persevere as these obstacles come your way. Success can only be achieved if you keep moving forward, otherwise, you will fail.

Whatever is in your mind you should not be afraid to face it as it may be causing worse problems. Self improvement, if you put your mind to it, can be an effective and powerful tool.

The scope of what people experience with camping tent reviews and in terms of numbers of people is pretty impressive. It is completely normal for all of us to just go along with life until problems begin to arise, and then we take notice.

Probably the best defense against such situation is paying attention to your thoughts and keeping your eyes wide open. We all know the saying about an ounce of prevention, but still that holds true in very many situations. Even when there are just a few hints about a potential situation, it can be easy to overlook it and others simply ignore it. I am sure that way before reading this you intuitively knew that the smartest course of action is taking in the right information so you can act on it.

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The VoIP Phone System: A New Era In Business Telecom | Profit Pro ...

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By Gordon Q. Diehl

Modern businesses require VoIP phone system technologies for call traffic management, voice sound quality and IP phone expandability for profitable operations. Anything Internet related such as emails, sms, fax and video operates on VoIP as well as voice calls and voice mail on business WAN/LAN. The latest VoIP phone systems combine cloud-based CRM or ERP platforms for improved call productivity, business processes and communications management.

A leading alternative to outdated PBX systems, VoIP providers can transform your business communication. The unique difference is call quality because of the difference between digital and analog transmission. IP phone tech-companies have researched and developed improved technology that clears up lost sounds during international calls because of accent differences. Language obsticles and challenges will be reduced with this new technology.

IP phones also provide more features than the traditional analog telephone. Traditional telephone features included voice, voice messaging, fax, call hold, waiting, forwarding, 3-way calling and limited caller identification. IP phones exponentially add upon the traditional with integrated software for call recording, conference center, intercom, DSS/BLF, voicemail to email, automated attendant, marketing tracker, mobile extension, simultaneous ringing, fax to desktop and E911 compliant features.

Modern IP phone units come loaded with multiple features for cloud services. Cloud suites will be accessible through executive styled IP phones with touch screen LCDs. Directories, multiple ring tones, multiple services such as stock quotes, weather, currency exchange rates and any web-based XML data are executive IP phone features. ADA recognized headset and microphone as well as ether net switch ports are normal features. A non-executive wireless IP phone will provide on-and off-network distinctive ringing, multilevel precedence and preemption (MLPP), auto detection of headset and auto answer from headset, malicious-caller ID, message-waiting indicator, quality report tool, and voice-quality enhancements.

VoIP presents the best practices for cloud-scaling your company communications needs for the best amount of telecom assets. Common IP phone suppliers own and maintain all equipment that is lent to you under monthly lease to include all your local calls, long distance calls and Internet connection. Unified access to email, voice mail, fax, video and collaboration is possible through this system. Maintain your old business number into your VoIP suite. As your business structure changes, VoIP can support up to one thousand IP phones or as few as three, depending on the service host. Technology usage training should be a standard support service. VoIP will provide a logical and effective communications system to rival any competitor with similar telecom strategies.

Some more interesting topics on voip phone system and don?t forget to check telephony.

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Positive Customer Support Attracts More Business From Existing ...

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A joint venture marketing partnership gets a business and their line of products and/or services in front of new customers, but failure to execute satisfactorily will kill the deal. If you are unable to properly service the inflow of customers and ensure satisfied clients than the partnership flow of hot leads will dry up and many partners may walk away from the deal if they feel customers have been impacted negatively.

The biggest fear of any joint venture partner is how there customers will be treated from the start of the sales cycle to the delivery of the goods or services and any issues that may arise in between. No one wants to be the person that recommends a company only for that person to have an unpleasant experience. This needs to be a number one priority for heavily sales focused organizations that have teams constantly pushing for the next deal to close. Create processes in the exchange between partners to make sure customers are followed up with on specific time intervals post sales transaction to ensure any issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.

Ticket System for Issues

Depending on the size of the partner businesses and the number of potential customers it is wise to have a ticket system in place for reporting issues. This system should be made available to all partners for the purpose of responding to customer service issues as they arise in order to make sure they?re handled in an efficient and timely manner. There?s nothing worse then being a customer with a problem and feeling like you are contacting a black hole. Create an online email form where customers can fill out requests or ask questions. Make sure the online ticket system has an automated response to reassure the customer that their issue has been received and will be addressed soon.

Log Problems & Update During Meetings

Logging all customer problems should be mandatory in the partnership agreement so that both parties can improve the customer experience. Both partner companies should be seeking clients that will actively refer their business based on a smooth and professional customer service experience. During meetings with partners resolving customer complaints and problems with service should be addressed without delay and if there is a string of issues that stem from a single problem do not wait to address the problem at a later date get it fixed immediately. It can be easy to avoid making changes to personal or procedures, but that?s why any partnership needs to start slow and work out any kinks between the two companies servicing the customer together.

Reward Excellent Customer Service

If you have an employee that is repeatedly acknowledged by customers as especially helpful, make sure to reward that employee in a way that fits your company?s culture. Whether it?s a small bonus or gift certificate, employees that go above and beyond to provide excellent service deserve recognition for the work they?re putting in. Resolving customer problems and dealing with issues that the sales team may have not been clear about can be difficult on a customer support team member. For this reason it?s extremely important to do everything possible to make sure the marketing and sales pitches are consistent across the board.

Take the time to make consumers feel special and you?ll be rewarded with long term customers that ultimately assist you in attracting new business by their referrals. Failure to provide consistent and excellent customer service will only cost your business in the long run by losing crucial customer referrals. Spend time with your front line of customer support team to understand the issues that they?re facing repeatedly to try and resolve them from occurring altogether in the future.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability. To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

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