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New Briggs & Riley Family Backpack

jessica — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:41:38 -0500

Parents often get overwhelmed when traveling with children: how can they organize everything, have it accessible and keep the kids happy in the process? Briggs & Riley has the solution: the Family Backpack from its signature Baseline collection. Until now, storing diapers, toys, snacks, and cameras all in one place has been somewhat difficult. Not anymore! The Briggs and Riley Family Backpack contains perfectly sized compartments that makes carrying children's essentials a dream come true - no more spilled juice, wrinkled outfits or lack of spare diapers!

The features of the Baseline Family Backpack include:

Large side pockets on either side for diapers or action figure toys
Compartment for Blu-ray or DVD player
SpeedThru pocket for fast and more secure security checks
Insulated hot/cold bag perfect for snacks, bottles, juice boxes, etc.
Strap on outside pocket for sippy cup or water bottle
Organizer compartment that fits MP3 players, cell phones and hand held phones
Large main compartment holds change of clothes, extra shoes, a blanket or extra books
Slip pocket perfect for storing a favorite stuffed toy

The Briggs & Riley Baseline Family Backpack is available now for $199. For more information visit www.briggs-riley.com.

Now Hear This: Sifting Through Home Theater Sound Systems

jessica — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:38:28 -0500

You've got your new large-screen HDTV set up, and you have plenty of your favorite DVDs waiting to be viewed. Now all you need is the right sound. When you sit down to watch a movie -- or live music concert -- in your own home theater, you want to feel as though you're in a real movie theater. The audio is just as important as the picture quality, which means you should take great care in shopping for the right receiver and speaker pieces. As you shop for audio components for your home theater, first check out "HDTV – A beginner's guide." Then, consider the following points:

The AV receiver
Most average home theater users don’t need to buy separate tuners and amplifiers for the different channels. The easiest and perhaps most cost-effective way to get several pieces all in one package is to go with an audio/video receiver, which lets you plug in most, if not all, of the pieces in your system, including your television.

Because your surround sound receiver drives your speakers, it should offer at least 100 watts of power per channel. Your receiver should support all the surround sound and multiple channel audio formats you want to hear, such as Dolby Digital EX and Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

You will have your choice of systems with 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels, but obviously the 7.1-channel system allows for more speakers, which typically means a better overall sound.

The speakers
For a high-quality room-filling sound, look for three-way speakers that include a woofer, tweeter and midrange. Most audio system dealers recommend systems with 7.1 channels, which means you’ll be placing two speakers in front, two on the sides, two in the rear and one underneath the television, along with a subwoofer in a corner.

Speakers come in all kinds of sizes, and while some systems can get a decent sound out of a small speaker, generally the bigger tower speakers provide more range and better sound. If you intend to use the speakers for movie viewing as well as for listening to CDs or watching live concerts on DVD, it may be worth your while to spend more on larger-sized speakers.

For the best sound, consider placing the speakers at about four or five feet off the ground, near ear level. However, if you’re planning to use the home theater room for a lot of non-movie entertaining, you may want to place the speakers lower so the music you play during parties doesn’t compete with your guests’ conversations. In some of the more expensive speakers, the tweeter can be moved in different directions depending on where the listener wants the sound to go.

If having so many speakers around the room seems a bit much, you can have them installed behind the walls – or you can choose to keep the speakers out but hide the wires inside the walls.

The subwoofer
The subwoofer is the speaker that carries the lowest frequencies, those deep bass sounds that almost seem to shake the room and grab hold of you when you’re watching a movie.

Subwoofers may be sold along with other speakers, they may be bought separately or they may even be built into the same tower as the conventional speaker – which means you would have one less box you would need to add to the room. However, when a subwoofer is included inside another speaker, it is often so small that it can’t produce the deep bass sounds you may want.

Home theater-in-a-box systems
If you're having trouble deciding which pieces to choose, check out this advanced home theater checklist. If the cost is skyrocketing as you add up the prices of each component, you might consider buying a home theater in a box system, which packages together most -- and sometimes all -- of the components you need, including a receiver, speakers, DVD and CD player. Sometimes these packages even include DVD and VCR combination players or DVD recorders.

While a salesperson will likely tell you that these box systems don't compare in sound to a system made up of components sold separately, many are pleased with the sound they get from home theater-in-a-box systems.

Many of these systems are reasonably priced --some as low as a few hundred dollars – plus the components tend to run smaller, and installation is often easier.

Test the sound
The best way to test the sound of home theater components you're considering is to listen to your favorite CD or DVD through the system. So when you shop around, bring your own disk from home and don’t be shy about asking a salesperson to slip it in.

By Dina Gerdeman, writer for Digital Landing

A Hilton Getaway for the Whole Family

Natalie Gomez — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:43:04 -0500

If you have been waiting around for a reason to take a family vacation, consider this a sign. The Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort is offering a Family Fun Promotion great for parents and kids. The promotion spans from June 29th to October 19th 2008. The hotel promises a fun-filled family vacation from the very start with a “Welcome Cabo Cooler” and surprises for the children, daily “Vacation Station” activities, family Drive-in movie, and Mexican cooking classes twice a week. Other relaxing offers include a 10-minute kids spa treatment discounted with a purchase of a 50-minute treatment and 10-minute pool side massages. Guests can also enjoy complimentary use of the Hilton shuttle and wireless Internet access. The starting rate for the duration of this promotion is $229 a night, including tax.

Once there, the hotel offers a myriad of tours and activities like unlimited golf at Palmilla Golf Course for $130 plus tax, per person, per day. Guests can also enjoy Cabo Dolphin activities that include Canopy Tours, Dessert Safari, and America’s Cup. Promotion guests qualify to save on these activities. All of this in addition to the built in amenities of the hotel that feature an infinity pool, Spa & Fitness Center, and ocean view dining. For more information guests can call 1-800-HILTONS or visit www.hiltonloscabos.com.

How to Green Your Commute

jessica — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:20:54 -0500

Do you often sit in rush hour traffic, engine idling, going nowhere fast? Is your commute taking longer than it used to because of all the other cars on the road? America's urban commuters now waste an entire workweek each year -- some 38 hours -- stuck in traffic, according to a traffic study released late last year by Texas A&M University's Texas Traffic Institute.

Not only is that wasted time you could have spent doing something constructive, it's a major problem for the health of our planet. Idling car engines are a significant contributor to the greenhouse emissions leading to global warming which has become, in the last 15 years or so, a major issue of international proportions. But there are steps commuters can -- and should take -- to reduce their impact on the environment.

Use mass transit. If you live in an area where bus or train service is available, use it as often as possible. The more cars removed from the roads, the better.

Make your route more direct. If you will be commuting by car, take steps to make sure your route will be more direct. Before you head to someplace new, take out a map, or utilize the Internet to plan the most direct route.

If you have a newer vehicle, you should use your in-dash navigation aid. According to statistics kept by NAVTEQ, a leading global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation (and location-based solutions), since 1999 nearly 18 million U.S. and Canadian vehicles have been equipped with either in-dash or portable electronic navigation systems. Not only do they offer the benefit of a hands-free map, there's also the time-savings, as you'll be far less likely to get lost while trying to reach your destination. By driving a more direct route, you may use less gas.

"But it's important to keep in mind the starter maps that come with these systems gradually become outdated. Commuters should get into the habit of updating them every year or two," advises Cliff Fox of NAVTEQ. His company offers map updates that will further enhance the experience drivers have with their navigation system's map. The updates include new roads, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and more. Log on to www.NAVTEQ.com to see if maps are offered in your city.

Avoid sitting in traffic. Some newer models of navigation systems have real-time traffic, which provides the latest and most comprehensive traffic information available.

Before you head out, use a resource like Traffic.com to get the most up-to-date traffic information along your planned route. If you find the way you usually take is congested, plan another route. If you don't have access to a computer before leaving on your trip, you can access the Traffic.com mobile Web site from your Web-equipped cell phone at http://mobi.traffic.com, or by calling the (866) MY-TRAFC (866-698-7232) traffic hotline.

Make the trip worth it. As long as you're out and about anyway, complete multiple tasks, such as visiting the bank, shopping for groceries and dropping off the dry cleaning, all on the same trip.

Weather permitting, make a pledge to ride your bike on short trips. On average, a third of trips are a mile or less.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Big Things Come in Small, In-Wall, Packages

Natalie Gomez — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:27:22 -0500

It has been a long standing American tradition of bigger is better. This association comes from the intuition that bigger also means more powerful. But modern technology has been steadily working to disprove this common perception, giving consumers the power they demand through space saving mediums. It seems that everywhere you look products are getting smaller by the minute, laptops, cell phone, iPods, and now even Atlantic Technology’s In-Wall Subwoofer has gone mini.

The IWTS-8eSub is a THX Ultra certified in-wall subwoofer system. It is not the first subwoofer system that the Atlantic company has released, breaking new ground in 2001 with their first in-wall bass installment, but the new format and design of the IWTS-8eSub promises better performance in a smaller package with easier 3 step installment. First the IN-WALL-8e is installed beneath the Sheetrock, after the structural build is complete, the duel woofer 8e Subwoofer module is installed at floor level, lastly the SA-380 subwoofer amplifier is installed to the component rack for optimum sound quality.

New features also include an increase in output power of 380 watts, reduced distortion at high output levels, improved detail and articulation of sound, and single unit (1u) rack height for minimal use of rack space. Front controls also offer two-position phase control, level adjustment and THX level click stop. The system is priced at $2,220 but individual parts are available to be sold separately. For more information on the pricing of these products and others please visit www.atlantictechnology.com.

A Kid’s Phone That Parents Will Love

Natalie Gomez — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:35:10 -0500

If the topic of cell phones leads to tears and tantrums in your family you may want to consider the Kajeet service for kid cell phones. Kajeet understands the reservations parents may have about giving their children their first cell phone. A major concern is that they will lose or misplace the phone, but the Kajeet GPS Phone Locator gives parents and children easy to read web-based maps to help locate the phone.

Other than a locator service provided by, the Kajeet phone offers parents and children features geared towards learning responsibility in those critical transition years. Parents can schedule automatic location checks at specific times of the day. The phone also comes with a TimeManager option that regulates when the phone can and can’t be used for calls or texts. A WalletManager is a feature that divides up wallets to allow parents and children to decide who pays for calls and texts. It allows parents to create a phone allowance and teaches children budgeting. A ContactManager allows parents to screen the Kajeet calls and determine which numbers are and aren’t allowed to contact the Kajeet phone and decide which wallet will pay for which calls. A FeatureManager allows families to decide which features are best for them and allows the feature to be turned on and off at any time from the Kajeet Web site.

Starting April 13th Kajeet will offer the GPS Phone Locator with a free three-month trial to all Kajeet customers who subscribe to the service. After the trial the service will cost $9.99 a month per phone. To subscribe or activate service or for more information please visit www.kajeet.com.

New Grills from Weber

Natalie Gomez — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:08:24 -0500

Weber has had great success in the past with its top-of-the-line grills in 2007. In keeping with the reputation the company has released a new line of 2008 grills that give the old design a run for its money.

The new Summit S-470 has four primary burners at 48,000 BTUs and is priced at $2,049. The new S-670 grill has six burners at 60,000 BTUs and costs $2,599. Both designs feature a large cooking area, Snap-Jet individual burner ignition with infinite control burner valves, flush-mounted side burners, smoker burners with stainless steel smoker boxes. Both Summit models boast a key feature of Sear Station technology which dedicates an area located in the middle of the grill which reaches temperatures up to 900 degrees. When the center burner and flanking burners are on high the result is restaurant quality sear marks and caramelized flavor. Unlike other grills, the center burner can be turned off and comes with lighted control knobs for night time cooking.

The “E” series Summit models are now more cosmetically pleasing. They come in porcelain-enamel in either black or copper and have a polished trim. The design comes with a flush-mounted side burner. The E-450 and E-650 come with a smoker burner with stainless steel smoker box, infrared rear-mounted rotisserie burner and a spit fork rotisserie attachment with heavy duty motor. The design options and prices are as follows:

four-burner Summit E-420 (natural gas grill offered only in black) is $1,499
the E-450 is $1,699
six-burner Summit E-620 (natural gas grill offered only in black) is $1,949
the E-650 is $2,249

The last of these new designs is the Weber Spirit SP-320 which has three primary stainless steel burners at 36,000 BTUs, stainless steel shroud, stainless steel cooking grates, stainless steel Flavorizer bars and 12,000 BTU side burner and is priced at only $649.

For grilling tips, techniques and recipes or more information on these products visit www.weber.com or call 1-800-GRILL-OUT.

Girl’s Weekend Getaway

Natalie Gomez — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:55:42 -0500

Bring back the days of girl-talk, sleepovers, and girl’s-night-out. Sheraton Cable Beach Resorts is giving all girls the perfect excuse to get away. From May 1st to December 31st, 2008 you can indulge your best friends, sisters, daughters, mothers in a Girlfriend Getaway Package. Take your best girls to Nassau, Bahamas. The Sheraton Cable Beach Resort sits on 1,000-foot stretch of Nassau’s Cable Beach. Enjoy the freshwater pools with cascading waterfalls and in-pool bar along with oversized Jacuzzis.

The hotel hosts six restaurants and lounges serving island specialties and international cuisine. Enjoy an ocean view room with balcony, daily breakfast at the Bimini Market restaurant, one welcome cocktail per person at the Telegraph Bar, one snorkeling trip per person at the Stuart Cove, and wine and cheese delivered to the room on the day of arrival.

Taxes and fees are not included in the price of $309 per night with a minimum of three-night stay. Request the rate code GIRLPKG when making the reservation. Restrictions and blackout dates may apply. For more information please visit www.sheraton.com/cablebeach or call 1-866-716-8106.

Turn All Your Photos into Digital Photos

Natalie Gomez — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:48:42 -0500

Who would have thought that those Polaroid pictures would ever be outdated? These days everything is digital and if the inconsistencies between the shoe boxes of photos and the files on your hard drive have been bothering you, this is a product for you. A perfect gift for Mother’s Day, the Photograph to Digital Picture Converter from Hammacher Schlemmer is an easy solution to the age-old shoe box problem. It’s faster and easier than any scanner on the market. All you have to do is place the photos on a tray that slides into a converter and with the press of a button you have files instead of shoe boxes. And with a 5MP CMOS sensor with up to 1,800 dpi resolution, 10 bits per color channel, automatic exposure and color balance, you can be sure that your pictures will translate with the same digital quality you’re used to.

The Photograph to Digital Picture Converter comes with a USB cable that plugs into your PC for power and runs with Windows XP/ Vista and is available now for $149.95. Software is included that allows you to edit, crop and resize your photos.

Also available from Hammacher Schlemmer is the Slide and Negative to Digital Picture Converter which converts your 35mm slides and film negatives into digital images right at home. It retails for $99.95. For more information on these products please visit www.hammacher.com or call 1-800-227-3528.

The New Communications Tools…Listening, Helping

jessica — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:36:27 -0500

Marketing and communications "experts" like to tell us how the Internet and Web 2.0 have opened up new opportunities for the industry to reach out to and influence people in new, exciting, more effective ways.

Instant information web sites, 10s of thousands of ready for your news bloggers, almost free social networks in which you can embed your news. Unique opportunities for the company to tap directly into the consumer before he/she makes a purchase.

How much better can it get? Marketing is fired up.

In unison they ask:

Did you send them the well crafted release we approved?
How many clips/hits did you get?
Why are you working with XYZ user community group? How many buyers are there?
Why did you send product to him/her to review…it's just an ego, self-expression blog? They are important…but. Managers and communications people talk the talk when it comes to blogs, podcasts, UGs, social sites.

At the same time they:

Emphasize spending their time on "tier one," media
Measure performance and results on the volume of media clips/hits
Question the reach/influence of specialized user groups/communities
Ask how many people will an existing customer influence/sell
Question the ROI is of a blogger who might have 500 readers a month
Wonder how to handle it when a blogger writes something negative about the company/product

Social networking really isn't anything new. It has just taken its individual and collective voice online.

The Audience(s)
Social networking locations are roughly described as:

rating, review sites – expressing an individual's self-esteem and providing information/assistance/guidance
video, content sharing sites – is all about expressing your identity (10s of thousands of new segments posted for viewing/sharing every month)
blogs – a way people express their identity, focus on showing their status or improving their self-esteem, providing unique information, insights, assistance (thousands are brought online each month). The community is loosely defined with paid bloggers, ego bloggers, helpful or venom bloggers. Most every editor, reporter, analyst has his/her own blog where he/she puts down information/ideas/ thoughts that don't fit in their publication, editorial guidelines or simply need to be said.
specialty groups – individuals/organizations that come together because they share a common interest and want to share/learn from like individuals (you say a subject, there's an online community)
social networks – these can be profile-driven (audiophiles, videophiles, Jaguar enthusiasts, etc) – affiliation/belonging – or purpose-driven (video post production groups, home theater specialists, auto restorers). Again it is subject, sharing a common interest/value, being part of a community.

What we have to get past is the focus of tier one, tier two locations/individuals.

Everyone who wants information/assistance is important.

Each can influence the image of the company and its products.

They're all part of the new media frontier.

Fading Importance
In the brave new communications world, less importance is being placed on the basic public relations tool – the news/press release – and greater attention on relationships.

Increasingly members of the media view the well-crafted, thoroughly reviewed announcement sent out over the wire or distribution service as old news by the time it arrives. They receive the information but everyone receives the information.

News people – print, radio/TV, web, blog – now have new sources. They are very adept at searching the web -- scanning white papers, event listings, price changes, job openings, use lists, special interest portal sites, user forums and online newsletters.

They find two or three disconnected ideas and piece together their own story lines.

Despite what many believe the release is the beginning of the process, not an end product in today's always on online world.

New Platforms
Finding, tracking and handling social media coverage of company/product news, information/misinformation and issues is a significant challenge for PR/communications people.

Social media isn't traditional media these are usually personal discussions. Old-fashioned media service email/telemarketer pitches may get you in print…negative print but print just the same.

Bloggers come in all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds.

Some are non-journalists.

Some are seasoned professionals.

Some are people passionate about a company, product, technology, subject.

Some are simply passionate about seeing their ideas/opinions read.

Some have made up their mind before they talk with you, some have an axe to grid, others (most) are open to discussions, ideas.

Listen, gain insights, develop ideas before you launch your blog/podcast program.

Next to getting product and service recommendations from user review sites or from friends or other authorities, blogs are almost as credible as word of mouth recommendations.

Value Proposition
One of the greatest opportunities for companies, the most challenging and the most difficult to quantify are user reviews – user groups, blogs, social nets.

It is impossible for public relations to point to a circulation of 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 and show any true ROI (return on investment) for someone writing a review or talking about a company/product/service.

Study after study shows that consumers today go online to research a subject, product, solution before they buy.

The first thing the prospective customer searches out is user reviews followed by comparison charts and expert reviews.

Conventional news media may make the consumer aware of the product/service but people make their buying decisions from peer recommendations. Not from the manufacturer's web site or literature, not from the retail clerk, not from the expert's recommendations.

Social Nets – Common Interest
Social networks like MySpace, YouTube, Plaxo, Facebook, LinkedIn and thousands of niche interest, professional and avocation site members come together because of a common interest. They are also superior avenues for reaching influential decision makers and consumers.

People around the globe are members of these sites because they are able to exchange information, ideas and problems/solutions on specific business, personal or professional topics. Locations like DigitalMediaNet, OcModShop, Tom's Guide, AnandTech, CDFreaks, audiophile, digitalmediathoughts and hundreds of horizontal and vertical interest sites have forums, blogs and news available in one community location.

They represent fantastic opportunities for people to get a quick understanding and indoctrination into the tight social network community where common goals, common problems are shared/resolved. They are such rich locations that many public relations/communications and marketing individuals look at the locations as narrowcast goldmine opportunities.

Wrong!

Sit on the sidelines. Listen. Observe.

There will be times and opportunities for company representatives – openly identified – to add information and ideas.

But regardless of how the online discussion flows, these social sites are one of the best product/service focus groups in the world. They have free and open discussions. Even negative statements can yield positive returns for the company in the shape of new policies, new products, new ways of thinking and new methods of working with consumers.

In the new Web 2.0 environment communications people have to understand, appreciate and embrace the idea that:

there is no local market or territory any more. We work and live in a global market and information community
we must have open and continual conversation with our consumers and partners as a group and individually
the company may have 10 million customers but each is an individual with unique wants and needs
once you step into the Web 2.0 world you have to take the good with the bad and win one customer, one user at a time

Public relations thinking that encompasses message management, branding and compunctions distribution pipelines is broken. It will never be as it was before.

Professionals have to understand the power and influence word of mouth, blogs, social networking communications has in the digital world.

There is no clear cut ROI but the dangers of ignoring these communities are obvious.

Public relations or communications people who ignore customer issues because "it isn't my job," are missing a golden opportunity to get personal inputs on the person's image of the company, why the individual bought the product/service, what they like/dislike and what they feel should be improved. It doesn't take many of these discussions to see a market pattern.

Certainly it can be a dangerous when you begin your digital world trip. Safety in the trip depends on your ability to shut up…listen…help.

It is the only way your company and you can be certain both make the trip successfully.

By G.A. "Andy" Marken
Marken Communications Inc
andy@markencom.com