A brave new world ahead for machine-to-machine communications ...

By Mike Wereschagin

Published: Saturday, December 29, 2012, 10:34?p.m.
Updated 3 hours ago

There?s another Internet on the way, and you?re not invited to take part.

Direct, online machine-to-machine communication could transform industry in the next 10 years, much in the way that online person-to-person connections transformed retail and social networking, executives and entrepreneurs predict.

This industrial Internet, sometimes called the ?Internet of things? or the ?Internet of everything,? could allow jet engines to monitor themselves and request maintenance before they break, or a locomotive to process geography and train schedules to pick the perfect speed for a cross-country journey.

According to General Electric, one of the world?s largest manufacturers, the efficiencies could be worth as much as $15 trillion to the global economy ? or about as much as the gross domestic product of the United States.

?The music industry, the book industry, retail have been foundationally changed because of the Internet and software,? said Bill Ruh, vice president of GE?s software division. ?What we see happening now is those Internet-based technologies are having the same disruptive effect on industry.?

Fix it before it breaks

Already it fundamentally changed the way one North Fayette manufacturer does business.

Industrial Scientific began making gas detectors in 1985. In 1999, it gambled on the burgeoning online market and established iNet, a computer system for customers to calibrate and maintain the detectors.

That experiment became a business model.

?We now have about 70,000 instruments in 21 countries on the iNet platform,? said Justin McElhattan, the company?s CEO. ?We?ve basically turned our company inside-out.?

Customers buy the device and subscribe to iNet. At the end of a workday, workers put the detectors into docks to charge batteries and send information to a data center.

The volume of data and ability to process it distinguishes the industrial Internet from the more-familiar consumer Internet, and companies are only beginning to figure out what to do with this vast trove of information.

Industrial Scientific added a software division to analyze iNet?s data. McElhattan believes it can predict for a customer when something is about to go wrong.

The company?s data center can calibrate and run diagnostic checks on the gas detectors and if one appears ready to break, it can send a replacement before it fails. That potential ? to make the aphorism ?if it isn?t broke, don?t fix it? obsolete ? prompted McElhattan to set a lofty goal.

?We?re dedicating our careers to eliminating death on the job this century,? McElhattan said, by flagging companies when something could cause an injury.

Small tweaks, big savings

The technology could save trillions of dollars in the meantime.

Among GE?s forays into the industrial Internet is a trip optimizer for locomotives.

The system allows trains to connect to a rail system network. An onboard computer analyzes GPS data about terrain and the location, direction and speed of other trains. With this information, the train can use downhill stretches to accelerate and plan its cruising speed so it won?t have to stop for other trains.

?We could end up saving anywhere from 2 (percent) to 10 percent of fuel ... on that locomotive,? said Ruh.

Another system connects wind turbines, allowing their computers to measure wind speed and direction and share that information. The windmills ?begin to work together,? tweaking their direction. Power generation in some wind farms increased as much as 10 percent, Ruh said.

Even small savings can add up. Airlines could earn $3 billion by saving 1 percent of fuel costs through more efficient operation, Ruh said.

In an industry that made $7 billion last year, that would be a 40 percent increase in profit.

Improving health care

What works for machines might work for human bodies. Technology startups such as San Francisco-based Fitbit and Oakland-based PHRQL allow people to use watch-size devices and mobile phones to monitor, transmit and analyze data about their bodies and behavior.

People with diabetes, for example, can use PHRQL?s software to send health care providers information about meals or trips to the gym, enabling them to monitor their health in real time instead of waiting until a doctor?s appointment.

The technology gives them access to a social network of people with the disease, said Jeevan Pendli, one of PHRQL?s founders.

PHRQL found that diabetics who take advantage of information from peers controlled the disease better than loners.

?They connect with each other and make friends with each other and share their pains, and share how they?ve overcome some situations,? Pendli said.

The country spends $2.8 trillion on health care, a figure that could double in five years, Pendli said. Manageable, preventable chronic diseases drive that increase more than anything else, he said.

Ruh predicts this model of real-time, online health care will become as commonplace as shopping online.

Security concerns

As with any system, however, the larger and more connected it gets, the more dangerous it can become.

A tech-savvy burglar could mine data from appliances sharing information about their use online and determine when a homeowner is away. A fully-connected field of wind turbines could allow a hacker to sabotage an entire wind farm.

Such concerns must be dealt with, Ruh said, because the marriage of the industrial and Internet revolutions is inevitable.

With potential to save trillions of dollars, Ruh said, ?It?s not like you can stop this.?

Mike Wereschagin is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7900 or mwereschagin@tribweb.com.

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Source: http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/3158073-74/internet-industrial-data

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Police: Five dead, about 20 wounded in Oregon tour bus crash

LA GRANDE, Ore. (AP) ? A tour bus careened through a guardrail on an icy Oregon highway and several hundred feet down an embankment Sunday, killing five people and injuring about 20 others, authorities said.

The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon, according to the Oregon State Police.

Lt. Greg Hastings said the accident happened on the west end of the Blue Mountains, and west of an area called "Deadman Pass," where stretches of the highway tend to be icy in winter months.

I-84 is a major east-west highway through Oregon that follows the Columbia River Gorge.

Police did not say where the vehicle was traveling to or from, or information on the company that owns the bus.

Rescue workers were using ropes to help retrieve people from the crash scene.

The bus crash was the second fatal accident in Oregon on Sunday morning. A 69-year-old man died in a rollover accident

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-killed-oregon-tour-bus-crash-84-215107655.html

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Some call it ?grumpy old man complex.? Other experts label it: ?irritable male syndrome,? a spike in the outward crankiness of guys of a certain age. As more baby boomers hit 60? be ready for more grouchy outbursts, like a Donald Trump rant set to explode.

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Man pushed to his death on NY City subway tracks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The death of a man who was shoved in front of an oncoming New York City subway train spurred a police hunt on Friday for the woman seen pushing him, as the second such violent death this month left its imprint on the city's millions of subway riders.

The woman appeared to be mumbling to herself and pacing, witnesses told police, before she approached the man from behind on the platform of an elevated station in the borough of Queens and shoved him onto the subway track Thursday evening.

She ran from the station to the street in a scene caught on video footage that the police released on Friday as they searched for the unidentified woman, who, they said, was last seen wearing a ski jacket along with red and gray Nikes.

The death in Queens was the second time this month that a New York subway rider was killed after being pushed onto the tracks - a chilling notion for anyone who uses the city's transit system - and came just ahead of the New Year's holiday in a city choked with visitors.

"To say that it's only two in, you know, a long period of time doesn't help either person," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday on WOR Radio 710 AM's "The John Gambling Show."

Police said it remains unclear whether the woman being sought knew the victim, who they initially had trouble identifying because his body had been so badly mangled by the train. He has yet to be named.

In New York's subway stations, some took added precautions Friday, standing a few extra feet away from the platform edge. Commuter Chloe Morris, traveling from New Jersey, said she prefers to sit on a bench rather than stand on the platform while waiting for a train.

"I don't come close to the edge until a train comes," Morris said as she waited in the Times Square station. "There's too many crazy people in the world."

On December 3, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved onto subway tracks in Manhattan as a train entered the 49th Street station near Times Square. A suspect, Naeem Davis, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Including Thursday's incident, 139 people were struck by New York City subway trains so far in 2012, 54 of them fatally, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said on Friday, adding that the tally was preliminary and subject to change.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly indicated the department would not be adding more police to platforms anytime soon.

"We think we are properly deployed in the transit system," he said at a news conference on Friday.

One solution might be installing safety doors along subway platforms that block access to the tracks until a train arrives, something in use in several major cities around the world, said New Yorker Tom Walker as he waited for a subway.

New York's subway system, which is more than 100 years old and is one of the world's busiest, does not have barriers between the platforms and the tracks.

"It's an antiquated system. Of course people are going to fall in," Walker said.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-pushed-death-ny-city-subway-tracks-234656114.html

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Desert Storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf dies

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.

The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 of complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."

That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.

He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he'd served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.

Schwarzkopf capped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 ? but he'd managed to keep a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq, saying at one point that he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and the Pentagon predicted.

Schwarzkopf was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 1988, overseeing the headquarters for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia, plus Pakistan.

When Saddam invaded Kuwait two years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.

At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf ? a self-proclaimed political independent ? rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.

While focused primarily on charitable enterprises in his later years, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000, but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In early 2003 he told The Washington Post that the outcome was an unknown: "What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan."

Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.

He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004 he sharply criticized Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included erroneous judgments about Iraq and inadequate training for Army reservists sent there.

"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.

Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Trenton, N.J., where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case. That investigation ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for murdering famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son.

The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H."

As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the Iran's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.

Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master's degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.

In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army's Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valor ? including one for saving troops from a minefield ? plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.

While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.

After Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Schwarzkopf played a key diplomatic role by helping persuade Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to allow U.S. and other foreign troops to deploy on Saudi territory as a staging area for the war to come.

On Jan. 17, 1991, a five-month buildup called Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as allied aircraft attacked Iraqi bases and Baghdad government facilities. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb. 24-28, routing the Iraqis from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.

Schwarzkopf said afterward he agreed with Bush's decision to stop the war rather than drive to Baghdad to capture Saddam, as his mission had been only to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.

But in a desert tent meeting with vanquished Iraqi generals, he allowed a key concession on Iraq's use of helicopters, which later backfired by enabling Saddam to crack down more easily on rebellious Shiites and Kurds.

While he later avoided the public second-guessing by academics and think tank experts over the ambiguous outcome of the first Gulf War and its impact on the second Gulf War, he told The Washington Post in 2003, "You can't help but ... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'"

After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a best-selling autobiography, "It Doesn't Take A Hero." Of his Gulf War role, he said: "I like to say I'm not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.

Schwarzkopf was a national spokesman for prostate cancer awareness and for Recovery of the Grizzly Bear, served on the Nature Conservancy board of governors and was active in various charities for chronically ill children.

"I may have made my reputation as a general in the Army and I'm very proud of that," he once told The Associated Press. "But I've always felt that I was more than one-dimensional. I'd like to think I'm a caring human being. ... It's nice to feel that you have a purpose."

Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.

___

Stacy was the AP's Tampa, Fla., correspondent when he prepared this report on Schwarzkopf's life; he now reports from the AP bureau in Columbus, Ohio. Associated Press writers Richard Pyle in New York and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/desert-storm-commander-norman-schwarzkopf-dies-024850776--politics.html

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Husband charged in Wis. officer's shooting death

Ben Sebena is brought into intake court in Milwaukee, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Sebena, 30, was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his wife, Jennifer Sebena, who was found dead in front of Wauwatosa's fire station by her fellow officers before dawn on Monday. She had been shot five times in the head. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Ben Sebena is brought into intake court in Milwaukee, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Sebena, 30, was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his wife, Jennifer Sebena, who was found dead in front of Wauwatosa's fire station by her fellow officers before dawn on Monday. She had been shot five times in the head. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

This undated booking photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff?s Department shows Ben Sebena, 30, of Menomonee Falls, Wis. Sebena was charged Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012 with first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting death of his wife, Wauwatosa police officer Jennifer Sebena, 30. (AP Phoito/Milwaukee County Sheriff?s Department)

This undated photo provided by the Wauwatosa Police Department shows officer Jennifer L. Sebena, who was found shot to death Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. Police on Tuesday released a statement saying they're pursuing multiple leads. (AP Photo/Wauwatosa Police Department)

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? An Iraq War veteran charged with ambushing his wife Christmas Eve as she worked as a Milwaukee-area police officer told investigators he shot her in the head repeatedly because he didn't want her to suffer before she died.

Benjamin Gabriel Sebena, 30, acknowledged to detectives that he was a jealous husband, police said. Still, they declined to speculate on a motive for the killing, saying Thursday their probe was ongoing.

Investigators said Ben Sebena told them he had been stalking his wife, Jennifer Sebena, for a few days. He said he waited a few hours near the fire department where officers often take breaks, and when he saw her squad car he rushed her and opened fire. They said when the officer reached for her weapon, her husband grabbed it from her holster and used it to shoot her three or four times in the face.

"Benjamin Sebena stated that he wanted to make sure she was dead so she wouldn't suffer," the criminal complaint said.

He was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Jennifer Sebena, who was also 30. During a brief court appearance, Ben Sebena was ordered held on $1 million cash bond. He wasn't required to enter a plea, and his attorney, Michael Steinle, didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Two hours after Jennifer Sebena was found dead, police monitored her husband on closed-circuit TV as he stood in an empty room at the police station. A detective heard Ben Sebena ask himself "How could I do that to her," after all the help she gave him, the criminal complaint said.

Officers went to check on Jennifer Sebena about 4:30 a.m. Monday after she didn't respond to radio calls. Sebena, who joined the Wauwatosa police force two years ago, was patrolling alone on the night she was killed.

"She was everything I could hope for in a young police officer: intelligent, energetic, willing to be of service and wanting to be a great police officer," Wauwatosa Chief Barry Weber said at a news conference.

Investigators said they found a number of details tying Ben Sebena to the killing. Surveillance video showed a vehicle that matches his in the area near the time of the shooting, and detectives who searched the couple's home found a gun in the attic that fires ammunition matching the bullet casings found at the scene. They also found Jennifer Sebena's service weapon hidden in the attic.

The investigation began when Ben Sebena called police Monday about 6:30 a.m. asking them to check on his wife's well-being. A police sergeant called him back five minutes later telling him to come to the station because his wife had been involved in an incident.

Ben Sebena didn't ask what happened, the complaint said. Later, when he was told at the station that his wife had been killed, he still didn't ask what happened to her.

During the interview, Ben Sebena "stated that he had been jealous of other men with regards to his wife," the complaint said.

Jennifer Sebena told a colleague earlier this month that her husband had acted violently toward her and put a gun to her head, prosecutors said.

The police chief said he wasn't aware of issues that would have been a cause for concern for Jennifer Sebena's safety. The state Justice Department is assisting in the investigation, and the director of the department's criminal investigation operations, Dave Spakowicz, said authorities are not speculating on what motivated the shooting.

Ben Sebena served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged in 2005 after suffering severe arm and leg injuries in a mortar attack that year. The 10 medals or commendations he was awarded include a Purple Heart, a Good Conduct medal and a rifle-expert badge.

In a 10-minute video for his church made in 2010, Ben Sebena described his transformation from an angry teen into a decorated war veteran who rediscovered his faith in God.

"Before I went in I was pretty much a hippie. I was very laid back but the anger was there ? it was just very hidden," he said.

He said he joined the military because he felt unloved and unimportant and that even though the Marines helped him centralize the anger, the rage persisted when he returned to the U.S. He said he would ignore red lights and tear down the freeway on his motorcycle at 150 mph.

He also discussed his blossoming relationship with Jennifer, whom he knew from high school and with whom he exchanged emails during his recovery.

"Our love flourished. We became actually infatuated with each other," he said in the video for Elmbrook Church in nearby Brookfield. The church's pastor, Scott Arbeiter, confirmed to The Associated Press that it was Ben Sebena in the video.

Jennifer Sebena's funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

___

Associated Press writer Carrie Antlfinger contributed to this report.

___

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-28-Wisconsin-Officer%20Slain/id-167b9120c543469fadf1f09e65297f57

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More Ideas for Making Extra Money | MomsGetReal

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Getting Real With +Shadra Bruce, Owner of +MomsGetReal

The economy might be getting better?or we might all fall right off the fiscal cliff. While the best approach to surviving tough times is to live more simply, spend less, and learn to reuse and recycle what you have, sometimes you just need a little extra cash.

Sell Stuff

Whether you have valuable collectibles sitting around or a talent for making beautiful things, you can make extra money by selling your stuff. Open an Etsy shop to showcase your talent making afghans or knit caps, or dust off those boxes of comics and list them on eBay.

Join an Existing Company and Market their Products

From Shaklee to Shakeology, Mary Kay to Melaleuca, there are existing companies with excellent marketing platforms and built-in support that can help you make extra money. Be cautious, however, in choosing a company. Most will require some level of investment and there is a great deal of work required to achieve success and recoup that investment.

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If you have a computer and an internet connection, you can turn your talent into money. From web design to article writing, programming to graphics design, you can register an account with Guru.com or eLance.com and bid for projects to make money working from home on your computer.? When I first escaped the clutches of cubicle slavery, it was Guru.com where I found my first clients (some of whom I still work with today, six years later).

When jobs are hard to find and employment is precarious at best, it forces us all to take a deeper look at what our priorities are. If you value financial independence, freedom, and the flexibility to live life on your terms, you can use these second income ideas to help get you out of debt and on the road to financial freedom.

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Little time left to head off longshoremen's strike

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2012 file photo, a truck driver watches as a freight container, right, is lowered onto a tractor trailer by a container crane at the Port of Boston in Boston. The crane and a reach stacker, left, are operated by longshoremen at the port. The longshoremen's union may strike if they are unable to reach an agreement on their contract, which expires Dec. 29, 2012. A walkout by dock workers represented by the International Longshoremen?s Association would bring commerce to a near halt at ports from Boston to Houston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2012 file photo, a truck driver watches as a freight container, right, is lowered onto a tractor trailer by a container crane at the Port of Boston in Boston. The crane and a reach stacker, left, are operated by longshoremen at the port. The longshoremen's union may strike if they are unable to reach an agreement on their contract, which expires Dec. 29, 2012. A walkout by dock workers represented by the International Longshoremen?s Association would bring commerce to a near halt at ports from Boston to Houston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Shipments of products as varied as flat-screen TVs, sneakers and snow shovels could sit idle at sea or get rerouted, at great time and expense, if more than 14,000 longshoremen go on strike as threatened ? a wide-ranging work stoppage that would immediately close cargo ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to container ships.

Commerce could be brought to a near standstill at major ports from Boston to Houston if the strike takes place on Sunday, potentially delivering a big blow to retailers and manufacturers still struggling to find their footing in a weak economy.

"If the port shuts down, nothing moves in or out," said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. And when the workers do return, "it's going to take time to clear out that backlog, and we don't know how long that it's going to take."

The 15 ports involved in the labor dispute move more than 100 million tons of goods each year, or about 40 percent of the nation's containerized cargo traffic. Losing them to a shutdown, even for a few days, could cost the economy billions of dollars.

In addition to transporting goods, U.S. factories also rely on container ships for parts and raw materials, meaning supply lines for all sorts of products could be squeezed.

"The global economy moves by water, and shutting down container ports along the East and Gulf coasts while the national economy remains fragile benefits no one," Deborah Hadden, acting port director at Massport, the public agency that oversees shipping terminals in Boston. It is not a part of the contract dispute.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said "the livelihood of thousands of Florida families lies in the balance."

The master contract between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, a group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port associations, expired in September. The two sides agreed to extend it once already, for 90 days, but they have so far balked at extending it again when it expires at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

The union said its members would agree to an extension only if the Maritime Alliance dropped a proposal to freeze the royalties workers get for every container they unload. The Alliance has argued that the longshoremen, who it said earn an average $124,138 per year in wages and benefits, are compensated well enough already.

Federal mediators have been trying to push negotiations along, but there has been no word from either side on the progress of the talks since Dec. 24. As recently as Dec. 19, the president of the longshoremen, Harold Daggett, said the talks weren't going well and that a strike was expected.

The work stoppage would not be absolute. Longshoremen would continue to handle military cargo, mail, passenger ships, non-containerized items like automobiles, and perishable commodities, like fresh food.

Joseph Ahlstrom, a professor at the State University of New York's Maritime College and a former cargo ship captain, called container ships the "lifeblood of the country."

"We don't fly in a lot of products. It's just too expensive," Ahlstrom said. "The bulk of the products we import come in inside containers."

The White House has weighed in on the issue, urging dockworkers and shipping companies Thursday to reach agreement "as quickly as possible" on a contract extension. Obama spokesman Matt Lehrich said the administration is monitoring the situation closely.

If it happens, the walkout could be the biggest national port disruption since 2002, when unionized dockworkers were locked out of 29 West Coast ports for 10 days because of a contract dispute.

The ports only reopened after President George W. Bush, invoking powers given to him by the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, ordered an 80-day cooling-off period. Some economists estimated that each day of that lockout cost the U.S. economy $1 billion. It took months for the retail supply chain to fully recover.

An East Coast port freeze would have its biggest impact at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where 3,250 longshoremen handled 32.3 million tons of cargo in 2010. The authority is not a party to the contract dispute.

Other major ports affected would include Savannah, Ga., which handled 18 million tons, and Houston and Hampton Roads, Va., which each handled more than 12.5 million tons.

Thousands of other jobs would be directly affected by the shutdown. Truck drivers might not have any cargo to transport, tug boat captains no ships to guide and freight train operators nothing to haul.

Simultaneously, another labor dispute involving dock workers was playing out on the West Coast.

Longshoremen at several Pacific Northwest grain terminals worked Thursday under contract terms they soundly rejected last weekend. The owners implemented the terms after declaring talks at an impasse. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has yet to announce its next move.

Workplace rules, not salary and benefits, have been the obstacle to a new deal.

The dispute involves terminals in Portland, Ore., Vancouver, Wash., and Seattle, where longshoremen have been working without an agreement since the last contract expired Sept. 30.

___

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas in Washington and Tamara Lush in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-28-Longshoremen-Contract/id-8a175f42476f4b7999fd73b47273105a

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Richard Griot Shares His Collection and Philosophy Towards ...

16 hours ago ?
Lifestyle ?
Max Gibson ?
961 Views

Sharing his passion for collecting cars, car enthusiast Richard Griot touches on the mindset that has led to his success in the automotive industry. Collecting, repairing, rebuilding and driving classic cars is Griot?s life. An automotive haven for car care and maintenance, Griots?s eponymous shop, Griot?s Garage, has been revered as one of the premiere destination for car enthusiasts. Acknowledging that his interest and curiosity for cars has led to his success within the industry, this short video details his unwavering passion for his craft. Labeled an ?Automotive Renaissance Man? for his ability to revitalive and rejuvenate cars, this video offers a window into the life and career of a true car enthusiast.

Source: http://hypebeast.com/2012/12/richard-griot-shares-his-collection-and-philosophy-towards-collecting-cars

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Samsung doubles down on its web-based messaging app with ChatON 2.0

If you like to let your fingers do the talking but basic text and smileys alone don't cut it, Samsung has just released version 2.0 of its ChatON internet-based messaging app. It works on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Bada and even web browsers to let you send missives to your besties -- alone or in groups -- with video, audio or images. The updated app / website works in over 200 countries and 60 languages, and now includes a multiscreen feature to let you chat with over five separate accounts at once along with the ability to conscript new chat-ees via Facebook or Twitter. You'll still be able to post messages to the "trunk" for friends to see before they hit social networks or create a personal profile with status updates -- so, hit the source for more info, social butterflies.

[Image credit: Samsung Tomorrow]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Aop-lRmLoY8/

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Freebie: 2013 Nonprofit Communications Trends Preview

Happy Holidays! We love our readers and think you deserve some goodies.?This week, we are highlighting free downloads and resources from Nonprofit Marketing Guide that are all FREE.

Earlier this month I held a webinar that gave attendees a sneak peek at the 2013 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report that we will release in January.

Now, for those who did not register in time, you can get a preview of what nonprofits will be doing with?their?communications in 2013.

During this webinar you?ll learn what your nonprofit friends down the street or across the country say about:

• Their most?important goals?for?communications strategy in 2013.
• Their most (and least)?important communications channels.
• How?often email and direct mail communications?will be sent.
• Types of content?that nonprofits will spend the most time producing in 2013.
• Which?social media sites?nonprofits will fully embrace and which ones they will experiment with 2013.

I also shared the?biggest challenges?nonprofits will contend with while implementing their communications plans, and what excites?and?what scares?nonprofit communicators about the coming year.

Those who request this recording and handouts will also receive a copy of the full 2013 Nonprofit Communication Trends Report when it is released in January.

View this webinar now.

Source: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2012/12/26/freebie-2013-nonprofit-communications-trends-preview/

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5 Healthy Eating Tips to Banish Acne - Health News and Views ...

Getty

Think you are the only person in the universe dealing with adult acne? Well, you?ve got company. Clinical acne affects?45% of women ages 21 to 30, 26% of women ages 31 to 40, and 12% of women ages 41 to 50, according to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Why do blemishes continue to linger post-puberty? Stress, hormones, cosmetics, and interestingly, diet have been speculated as potential causes. While the link between food and acne is still controversial?studies linking diet to acne are small and not conclusive?dietary changes may help; they seemed to work for me.

After suffering a severe and persistent bout of acne during college, I began researching alternative treatment methods and stumbled upon several small studies and natural healing books that discussed how changing your diet could help acne. Frustrated and willing to try anything, I adjusted my diet. I cut back on dairy, sugar, and wheat, and ate more raw fruits and vegetables. To my surprise, it really did improve the condition of my skin.

If you have blemishes way past your teenage years, try these diet tips to help calm your complexion.

Eat an avocado: A study in Lipids in Health and Disease suggested that food rich in healthy fats (think omega-3s) could help reduce acne lesions in addition to improving mental outlook. Snack on avocados, raw nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil, and fish, such as wild Alaskan salmon and sardines, to up your intake.

?Limit dairy: One hotly debated hypothesis says that dairy can aggravate acne; there are strong opinions on both sides. In the September 2011 issue of Dermatology World, the?magazine?of the American Academy of Dermatology, William Danby, MD, division of dermatology at Dartmouth Medical School, said, ?In patients who have no genetic background for acne, dairy plays no role whatsoever. It will?not give them acne. But for those who have a propensity for acne and are susceptible to the effects of dairy, it can make their acne much worse.?

For me, cutting out dairy seemed to play the biggest role in reducing my blemishes, which incidentally do run in my family. Curse you Mom and Dad! Either way, try your own personal two-week trial and see if it makes a difference for you.

?Amp up zinc:?Zinc is vital for the structure and function of cell membranes. A small Turkish study found that participants with acne were more likely to be zinc-deficient than those without acne. Good sources of zinc are meat, eggs, mushrooms, whole grain products, and oysters.

?Pick the right carbs: Refined grains and white flour in breads, pastas, bagels, and muffins can cause a quick spike in blood sugar, which may contribute to acne. On the other side, eating low glycemic index foods could improve your skin. Eat quinoa, brown rice, barley, and sweet potato to satisfy your carb cravings without aggravating your complexion.

Focus on vitamin A:?This fat-soluble vitamin is necessary for healthy skin and a study in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology suggests that vitamin A supplementation can improve acne conditions in patients. Fill up on sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, and carrots to reap the benefits.

Source: http://news.health.com/2012/12/26/5-healthy-eating-tips-to-banish-acne/

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Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday

The last full moon of 2012 will rise into the night sky this week in a year-ending lunar treat.

The full moon is actually an instantaneous event when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the Earth's sky, and this month that occurs on Friday morning, Dec. 28, at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). But, to the naked eye, the moon "looks" full for a couple of days on either side of that time, so the exact date doesn't matter.

1. Space news from NBCNews.com

   1. Grasshopper rocket takes 12-story-high hop for SpaceX

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: SpaceX's prototype Grasshopper rocket takes one giant leap, rising to a 12-story height and settling back down safely with a dummy cowboy riding along.

   2. Updated 109 minutes ago 12/26/2012 7:25:07 PM +00:00 Last full moon of 2012 rises Friday
   3. Telescope-toting balloon lifts off from Antarctica
   4. 'Star of Wonder' leaves lots to wonder about

Many owners of new telescopes are disappointed when they look at the planets. At its largest, the planet Venus is just barely one arc minute in diameter, about 1/30th of the diameter of the sun or the moon, and all the other planets appear smaller than that.

Telescope owners complain that the planets don't look any larger with a telescope than they do with the naked eye. That isn't true of course, because any telescope will magnify everything dozens or hundreds of times. But when something is as small as a planet, even a lot of magnification won't make it look very big.

[ Amazing Moon Photos of 2012 ]

Moon size comparison
The reason why the sun appears 30 times bigger than Venus is because the sun is very large. Its true diameter is more than 100 times that of Venus, or of Earth, for that matter, since Venus and Earth are about the same size. The moon appears 30 times bigger than Venus not because it is large, but because it is very close to us. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter (3,475 kilometers), as compared to the Earth's 7,926 miles (12,756 km) and Venus' 7,521 miles (12,104 km).

In other words, the moon is just slightly more than a quarter of the diameter of the Earth or Venus. Mercury is the planet closest in size to the moon at 3,032 miles in diameter (4,879 km), about 40 percent larger than our moon. One of the reasons that Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet" status was its small diameter of only 1,485 miles (2,390 km), two-thirds of the diameter of our moon.

Our moon is very large in proportion to its planet, Earth, more than any other moons in the solar system except for Pluto's moon Charon. But because other planets are much larger than Earth, several of their moons are much larger than ours, including three of Jupiter's moons (Io, Ganymede, and Callisto) and one of Saturn's (Titan). Of these, Ganymede is the largest at 3,270 miles (5,262 km), slightly larger than the planet Mercury.

The moon as a planet
Even if you don't own a telescope, looking at the moon with the naked eye can show you the challenges faced by planetary observers.

Earlier this week we saw Jupiter shining brightly alongside the moon. It would take a telescope magnifying about 40 times to make Jupiter appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye. When Mars was closest to Earth in 2003, it took a telescope magnifying 75 times to make Mars appear as big as the moon with the naked eye. At present Mars on the far side of the sun, and requires a telescope magnifying 430 times to make it appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye.

So, if you want an observing challenge similar to trying to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot or Mars' polar cap, try observing detail on the moon with your naked eye.

The man in the moon
What most people see when they look at the moon is " the man in the moon." This is a pattern of light and dark caused by the albedo markings on the moon. ?Albedo? is a measure of how much light gets reflected by an area on a planet.

Darker areas on the moon's surface, which the early astronomers called "seas," although we now know that they are dry and airless, form the face of a man, in our mind?s eye. Or, they may form a woman, or a rabbit, depending on your culture. These are very similar to the dusky markings which astronomers observe with telescopes on Mars and Mercury, also called albedo markings.

If you try to sketch the markings you see on the moon, you will find, as experienced planetary observers do, that you can see much finer detail than the man in the moon. You should be able to see some of the smaller seas, such as the Mare Crisium, on the eastern limb of the moon, and one or two of the brighter craters, such as Tycho towards the southern limb.

Once you have tried to sketch the moon with your naked eye, try observing it with a small binocular. You will be amazed at how much more detail you can see, and will begin to experience the wonder Galileo must have felt when he first turned his primitive telescopes on the moon. There really is another world out there.

If you snap an amazing photo of the year's final full moon on Friday and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a potential story or gallery, submit photos and comments, including your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education , the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu .

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50297762/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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5 stores with great return policies

16 hrs.

Dana Dratch , Bankrate.com

What makes a great return policy?

Enough time to get that mistake back to the store? Recouping your money without having to dig through a pile of receipts? Receiving that return in whatever form is most convenient for you? And, if you're buying online, how about free return shipping?

These days, with a lot of merchants, you have to pick and choose which points are most important to you. When it comes to returns, very few retailers offer it all.

Some stores might give a full return within a certain window of time -- but you need a real receipt, not a gift receipt. Others have a very short time window but might not require much paperwork. And some are lenient on time but might limit you to a store gift card.

Don't forget that rules can also change depending on what you bought or how you paid for it. And a handful of stores also assess those pesky restocking fees.

It's enough to make even a veteran shopper dizzy.

During the holidays though, many of the major retailers will offer more liberal return policies, says Teri Gault, co-author of "Shop Smart, Save More."

Here, in no particular order, are five stores that are earning a reputation for making returns easy.

Nordstrom
The return policy is that there is no return policy, says Colin Johnson, spokesman for Nordstrom. "You won't find one posted at the cash register or on your receipt. We're just going to stand behind our merchandise. The bottom line is that we work with the customer."

The highlights to this kind of thinking for a consumer are that there's no time limit, no receipt required and no paperwork. And you get treated the same whether you have a gift receipt or purchase receipt.

If you bought online from Nordstrom.com, the store provides free return shipping, he says. Or you can take the item back to a local store.

"The way it works is we ask our people in the stores to use good judgment," Johnson says. "The ultimate objective is taking care of the customer. It really depends on the situation. You really can't have a rule book that takes into account every scenario."

The chain's discount store, Nordstrom Rack, operates a little differently with respect to returns because items come from closeouts and special purchases, says Johnson. There, you'll have 30 days to return items, and receipts and tags are preferred, he says.

Bottom line, Johnson says, is that employees "try to remove the clutter -- the policy-type stuff that can get in the way of taking care of the customer."

Zappos.com
You'd think an online shoe store would be a tough sell, since shoes are all about fit.

But Zappos.com has built a business around making returns easy so that customers can order several pairs, try them on and ship back the ones that don't work. As a result, the retailer is as famous for its return policy as it is for its shoes.

"The return policy for Zappos.com is if you're not 100 percent satisfied with your purchase, you can return it for a full refund," says Corey Schreiber, content developer for Zappos Insights.

The highlights to Zappos.com's policy are that you have one year to return merchandise. Because you're shopping online (and orders are tracked), you never need a receipt. Shipping is free for orders and returns. And for returns, you can print out shipping labels at the Zappos site, or the company will email or snail mail them to you, he says.

One cool feature is the company's "advanced exchange." If you need a different size or color, the company will ship it to you for free. All you have to do is send back the first item within the next two weeks, he says. All the shipping is free, and you don't have to worry about carrying two items on your credit or debit account.

"We use it as a 'wow' tool," says Schreiber.

L.L. Bean
Just what every consumer needs: No time limits and no receipts required.

If you bought online from L.L.Bean, you can return the merchandise to your local store, or you can send the item back using prepaid labels you can print from the site.

It's all part of the Maine-based retailer's "100 percent satisfaction guarantee," says Carolyn Beem, an L.L.Bean spokeswoman. "We are one of the few companies out there that lets the customer define what 'satisfaction' is," she says.

Return shipping is $6.50 (deducted from your refund) or free if you have an L.L.Bean credit card or are sending back the item because it's defective, she says.

During the lifetime of a product, if you find you're not happy, "We encourage you to return it for a refund, store credit or replacement," Beem says.

"It's a pretty simple policy," she says.

Costco
Membership club Costco is another retailer trying to make returns easy.

Shoppers are members who pay fees to join, so "We will refund in full at any time (if) a member is dissatisfied," says Franz Lazarus, an executive vice president with Costco. Members generally get the refund in the same form they paid, while nonmembers would likely get cash or store gift cards, he says.

With consumer electronics, which tend to have a shelf life, there is a 90-day window to return, he says. "That's the only exception."

And that's been the only change to the return policy over the years, says Lazarus. "We felt at one point several years ago that we had to initiate that because technology was changing so rapidly."

You also don't have to have a receipt, he says. "(While) we like for there to be a receipt because it makes the process easier, we would not refuse a refund because there was no receipt."

Buying online? "Anything that's purchased online can be returned to one of our locations," he says. And return shipping is free.

Target
If you paid via credit card, debit card, gift card or check, the store can track your purchase and refund the full amount without a receipt, says Jessica Deede, spokeswoman for the retailer.

The store's return window is 90 days. The one exception is consumer electronics, which have a 30-day return window.

Target even offers shoppers a generous "gift" during holiday time. For holiday purchases (anything bought in November or before Dec. 24), that 30-day clock doesn't start until Dec. 26, she says. That way shoppers "don't have to hold off or wait," to buy, Deede says.

With the actual receipt (or searchable purchase record), you'll get all of your money back. If you have a gift receipt, you'll get a gift card or exchange, she says.

If you paid by check, consult a calendar. If it's been less than seven days, you could be offered cash or a gift card, says Deede. But if the store has had at least a week to clear the check, then you'll get a cash refund, she says.

Buying online? Most products can be returned to your local store, says Deede. (To be sure check the "shipping & returns" tab before you buy, she advises.)

And if you want (or need) to ship it back, shipping costs are deducted from your return, says Deede.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/5-stores-great-return-policies-1C7657748

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Don't be fooled by January pay -- higher taxes loom

9 hrs.

Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press

Workers probably won't feel the full brunt of next year's tax increases in their January paychecks, but don't be fooled by the temporary reprieve.?

No matter what Congress does to address the year-end fiscal cliff, it's already too late for employers to accurately withhold income taxes from January paychecks, unless all the current tax rates remain unchanged, which is an unlikely scenario.?

Social Security payroll taxes are set to increase on Jan. 1, so workers should immediately feel the squeeze of a 2 percent cut in their take-home pay. But as talks drag on over how to address other year-end tax increases, the Internal Revenue Service has delayed releasing income tax withholding tables for 2013.?

As a result, employers are planning to withhold income taxes at the 2012 rates, at least for the first one or two paychecks of the year, said Michael O'Toole of the American Payroll Association.?

If employers don't withhold enough taxes in January, they will have to withhold even more taxes later in the year to make up the difference. Otherwise, taxpayers could get hit with big tax bills, and possibly penalties, when they file their 2013 returns.?

The tax increases could be steep. If Congress fails to act, workers at every income level face significant tax increases next year as part of the year-end "fiscal cliff."?

A taxpayer making between $50,000 and $75,000 would get an average tax increase of $2,400, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group. If the worker is paid every two weeks, that's about $92 a paycheck, on average.?

Someone making between $75,000 and $100,000 would get a tax increase averaging nearly $3,700. If the worker is paid every two weeks, that's about $142 a paycheck.?

O'Toole said it would take most employers two weeks to four weeks to update their payroll systems, once new tax withholding tables are released. For some small businesses, it could take longer.?

"Employers can't really just come up with withholding tables on their own, depending on what the rates are," O'Toole said. "The smaller companies that do not use a payroll processing service probably would have more problems than anyone else."?

On Friday, the IRS said it plans to issue guidance by the end the year, though it won't be early enough to affect paychecks in early January.?

"We are aware that employers have questions with respect to 2013 withholding," the agency said in a written statement. "Since Congress is still considering changes to the tax law, we continue to closely monitor the situation. We intend to issue guidance by the end of the year on appropriate withholding for 2013."?

About three-quarters of taxpayers got tax refunds this year, averaging $2,707, according to the IRS. That gives most taxpayers some leeway to manage their income tax withholding. However, many people rely on tax refunds to pay bills or make major purchases.?

"The reality is, the vast majority of Americans do live paycheck to paycheck and that tax refund is their most significant payday of the year," said Bob Meighan, vice president of TurboTax, an online tax preparation service.?

Most of the expiring tax breaks were first enacted under President George W. Bush and extended under President Barack Obama. Obama campaigned for re-election on extending the tax cuts on incomes below $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples. Obama would let the tax cuts expire on incomes above those amounts.?

Boehner's offer
In negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner, Obama offered to raise the income threshold, limiting tax increases to those making more than $400,000. Boehner, who has argued for years that the tax cuts should be made permanent for everyone, responded by trying to push a bill through the House that would have let many of the tax cuts expire on incomes above $1 million.?

Many Republicans revolted and Boehner, R-Ohio, shelved the bill, sending lawmakers home for the Christmas holiday and leaving the outcome of talks in doubt as the new year approaches.?

If Congress and the White House cannot reach a deal, income tax rates would go up, estate taxes and investment taxes would increase and the alternative minimum tax would hit millions of middle-income people. A temporary payroll tax cut that has benefited nearly every wage earner in 2011 and 2012 expires, costing the average family an additional $1,000 a year by itself.?

In addition, dozens of other tax breaks for businesses and individuals that are routinely renewed each year already expired at the end of 2011. Congress was expected to renew many of them by January, so taxpayers could still claim them on their 2012 tax returns.?

If Congress doesn't act on those tax cuts, businesses would lose a popular tax credit for research and development as well as generous tax breaks for investing in new plants and equipment. Individuals would lose federal tax breaks for paying local sales taxes, buying energy efficient appliances and using mass transit.?

In all, taxes would go up by about $536 billion next year.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/dont-be-fooled-january-pay-higher-taxes-loom-1C7660248

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Codecademy Launches ?Cards? To Teach You How To Program Your Own Holiday Greetings

Sorry, procrastinators -- if you waited until today to put your homemade holiday cards in the postal mail, it would take a Christmas miracle for them to make it to your recipients by December 25th. Sure, you could go to a site like Hallmark.com to send a canned e-card, but where's the fun in that? But all's not lost. The enterprising folks at Codecademy have been at work these past few days and this morning launched a pretty nifty new product called 'Cards' that lets you build, remix, and send your own custom holiday greetings in HTML and CSS.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wjZzKO0VkCs/

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Small Business Web Hosting ? Which Top Web Host is Reliable ...

As a small business owner, starting out your online presence, hosting is something that?s prominently on your mind at this time, then there?s something else that needs to be on your mind as well. That something else is reliability!

The bottom line is that the most important thing about having a website online, is having your website online all the time. Another name for reliability in this case is uptime. Uptime is hugely important, and you?ve got to think of that when you?re choosing a top hosting company.

Here?s why reliability and uptime are so very important. Chances are your website is built around your business. Your website is out there working for you 24/7 as a prospecting and sales tool. Therefore hosting reliability is hugely vital.

For instance, what if you had a first page ranking in Google for your main keyword? If that is a highly searched keyword, then that?s a lot of potential traffic for you, perhaps up to one-hundred searches per day or even much more!

So what if your web hosting reliability was poor, and for one or two hours during prime traffic time, your website was down. Who knows how many people had tried to come to your site, and how many of those prospects would have either bought your products, used your service, or read your content giving your more exposure.

What if you had a huge product launch, and right at the time your product launched, your site was down. This is why it?s very important to be sure that you?re choosing hosting with high reliability and uptime guarantees.

People Have Short Attention Spans and Therefore Web Hosting Reliability is Vital?

You have to remember that those surfing the internet have very short attention spans. Therefore you really only get one chance to get their attention! If they come to your site, and it happens to just be down even for 30 seconds ? at that time ? then you?ve lost that potential customer, client, or fan for life.

People don?t come back to your site. They?re off within seconds?running to the next site that?s not down, and therefore likely giving your competition the business.

What to Look for When it Comes to Reliability and Uptime With a Top Hosting Company

Most of the top hosting companies out there have from 99% and above in uptime guarantee. Nobody of course offers a 100% uptime guarantee, but certain ones get very close. For instance HostGator has a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Therefore going with this company gives you a very good sense of security that your website will be up and running when you need it to be.

That being said, here?s something very important to keep in mind. A company can say anything that they want virtually when it comes to website uptime and reliability. It?s very difficult in actuality to verify any claim of uptime. 99% uptime still means that there?s 1% of downtime.

So it?s important to do your best to verify their uptime as best as possible. One of the ways is to read reviews of hosting companies. Reading these reviews you?ll get a good indication of whether or not people are raving or complaining about uptime.

If you?re looking for two hosting companies with great reliability and 99.9% uptime guarantee you can see our reviews on Hostgator and iPage.

About Robert Bradshaw

Being an internet marketer for around 10 years, I've seend everything, I've done everything and i'm always willing to share my latest tricks and tips on my blog! I hope you enjoy my weekly content. Thanks for reading!

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Source: http://www.indepth-network.net/small-business-web-hosting-which-top-web-host-is-reliable/

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