Louisville Soup

Writers Wanted for Local Creative Writing Class

Writer, blogger and author Laura Zinn Fromm, will teach creative writing in her dining room starting next week.

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will present a series of events in May, June and July focused on celebrating lifelong learning.

On May 10 Sheila Wilensky, associate editor of the Arizona Jewish Post, will moderate a local authors panel, Between the Lines: A Conversation with Local Authors.

The panel discussion will start at 1:30 pm and focus on the writing process and how to write autobiographical work.

Authors participating in the panel are Edie Jarolim, author of Am I Boring My Dog; Edna San Miguel, artist, illustrator and author of Mission San Xavier: A Story of Saints and Angels, Art and Artists; and Bill Broyles, author of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: Where Edges Meet and Our Sonoran Desert.

The panel will include a glimpse inside the writers mind as well as an overview of the process for autobiographical writing. High tea will be served following the panel.

On June 8 at 1:30 pm New York Times bestselling author Rhody Cohon Downey will present a Writing Your Legacy workshop. The class will focus on how to capture personal life experiences in writing. Putting life stories and anecdotes in writing can help participants preserve special memories and experiences for future generations.

Ending the series in July, artists from PaperWorks: The Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists will lead a workshop on making handmade books. On July 13 at 1:30 pm participants will create a small photo scrapbook using their own photos. Participants will learn basic book-binding techniques and complete a project at the workshop.

All three events are free and open to the public. Reservations are requested; call Lori Riegel at 322-7006 or email lriegel@handmaker.org

Submit a story online at www.azstarnet.com/east

If you had to sum-up what were the biggest change drivers in 2011, SoLoMo would be a no brainer. Social media and mobile devices have definitely changed the way we use the internet. Numerous successful online services are based on social media or/and mobile. Instagram and a new wave of “mobile first” companies are redefining the market. And despite what you can read on Groupon, local is also a strong success enabler.

ToDaClo = Touch + Data + Cloud

This being said, is SoLoMo still a relevant path to success? Not really, since nearly all low-hanging fruits has been collected (The Truth About SoLoMo). The truth is the following: First movers still have a lot to do with SoLoMo, but new comers will have a hard time trying to catch-up their delay. To make a long story short, you need more to standout and seduce customers.This is where ToDaClo comes on stage.

As SoLoMo is the contraction of social, local and mobile, ToDaClo is the contraction of three change drivers: Touch interfaces, data exploitation and cloud computing. I strongly believe, and you probably already have witnessed it, those three factors will define 2012?s winners and losers. For the record, the ToDaClo idea came to me during last year’s edition of LeWeb in Paris, while I was discussing what will be next year’s buzzword.

Don’t get me wrong: ToDaClo is not a success recipe, it is a memotechnic way of remembering what are the biggest change factors for the ongoing year. In order to benefit from them, you will have to sharply understand the way each of them transforms users’ habits and expectations. Launching an iPad app to access data collections stored in the cloud will not help. Studying how touch interfaces, data exploitation and cloud-based services are redefining the (supposed to be) established order would be a much better way to achieve success.

Tablet is the new PC

Tablets are definitively hot. From 60M units sold in 2011, Gartner is forecasting a 98% increase for 2012 with 118M units to be sold. This projection is still lower than the desktop / laptop market, but the market trend is clearly explicit: Tablets will become mainstream and outsell traditional personal computers. We all agree on the fact that tablets cannot be compared to computers as for what they can do, but they cancover the large majority of users’ needs through native or web-based apps.

To really understand the value of tablets, you should not look at what they can do better than computers, but what they can do differently. We have been using computers for decades, as a matter of what, those devices does not surprise or seduce us anymore. We simply see them as productivity / necessity tools: we use them to gather news, buy plane tickets, update our status… But do we take pleasure of doing so? Not anymore. This is where tablets are very good at: Making us enjoy anew everyday online activity.

Whether it is to play, to socialize, to read content, to educate ourselves or to use a business application, tablets are fun. There are many examples of existing content or services, which have been re-enchanted by tablets:

• Casual games (Angry Birds,Fruit Ninja…) as well as traditional games (from pinball to board games) ;
• News reader (Flipboard, Zite…) and digital books / magazines (Is it a tablet app or a digital magazine? Yes) ;
• E-commerce sites (Are You Ready For Couch-Commerce?) ;
• Educational content (iBooks textbooks and alike)
• Business applications (business dashboards, rapid prototyping…)

Tablets are definitely here to stay, and we only begin to scratch the surface of their potential regarding content, services, education, entertainment, application…

The future is in the data

Data are everywhere. To be more accurate, data has always been there, but the amount of available data have never been this high thanks to various factors:

• Social platforms, which are huge providers of personal data from their users (company like Hunch can help you get the most out of interest graphs) ;
• Mobile and connected devices are also big providers of data, with or without users’ consent (from your fridge’s electrical consumption, to the length of your run to the duration of your sleeps) ;
• Cities andgovernmentsalso provides us with numerous data thanks to the open data philosophy (from weather stats to public expenses) ;
• Finally, data brokers can helps you gather as much data as you can afford (Socrata, Windows Azure Data Marketplace…).

The Moneyball movie is a great way to illustrate the power of well exploited data, and dedicated services like GapMinder or Google Correlate can show you an even greater potential. Following this idea,big data might sound like vaporware to you, but this concept relies on a very simpleassumption: the ones with the more data (and the tools to analyze them) will have a greater chance to anticipate the future and find correlations. As the proverb says: “If you didn’t find any interesting findings, it’s because you didn’t gather enough data”.

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on the Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) markets. The global market for Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) is projected to reach consumption volume of over 648 thousand tons by the year 2017. Market prospects are primarily determined by strong GDP growth, positive demand from manufacturing, industrial and automotive sectors and stable raw material supply. Long-term growth will be driven by development of infrastructure and construction projects in emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) May 03, 2012

Follow us on LinkedIn – Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) or nitrile rubber finds omnipresent uses in a wide variety of applications ranging from automotive, aerospace to industrial and consumer goods. Demand for NBR is closely tied to GDP growth. Strong growth in GDP, reflective of gains in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, pushes up demand for synthetic rubber as a whole and vice versa. This is primarily because synthetic rubber constitutes a primary source of raw material for numerous rubber-based products. While developed countries slowdown as a result of increased competitive pressure and soft domestic demand, developing countries led by BRIC countries will turbocharge growth in the upcoming years. Although, the NBR industry displayed dormancy in recent years owing to poor economic conditions, the industry displays tremendous growth potential, with NBR continuing to be a part of the complex family of workhorse elastomers.

Consumption of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) in automobile parts is poised to grow in the upcoming years. Demand is expected to especially in the developing countries as a result of auto manufacturers steadily shedding full line production processes and stepping up outsourcing to low cost countries in attempts to free up investment capital. For instance, global OEMs and Tier I auto parts suppliers are increasingly adopting outsourcing of auto parts and accessories to effectively tackle escalating production costs and plummeting sales volume. Growing outsourcing trend by the OEMs and Tier I suppliers over the past couple of years has been accelerating auto parts exports from the developing countries. Auto parts manufacturers from low-cost countries are expected to address over 40% of the global auto parts market by the year 2015. The long term prospects are comparatively healthy for the industry with the development of transport means as well as highway construction and auto industry in developing countries such as China propelling the demand for seals, gaskets and other NBR products.

In the medical industry, NBR is increasingly becoming popular as the preferred choice in the manufacture of medical gloves, since nitrile gloves are puncture-resistant in comparison to gloves made from natural rubber. The risk of latex allergies and its identified role in triggering post-surgical complications among patients is creating a dire need for powder free surgical gloves, which interestingly is creating lucrative opportunities for NBR in the manufacture of non-latex medical gloves. Of late, production shortages in raw materials like vinyl and the declining role of latex, which until now was the dominant material used in the manufacture of medical gloves, is helping trigger demand for NBR in this end-use sector. Malaysia is one of the leading manufacturers of latex and nitrile glove products.

METHUEN Three students from Tenney Grammar School took top spots in an essay contest on the Holocaust, continuing a run of Tenney kids who placed high in the statewide contest.

The three eighth graders, Jazmin Encarnacion, Isabel Ould-Sfiya and Ella Sheehan, will get a private tour of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, in November and were part of the Yom HaShoah service, memorializing the Holocaust, in Boston on Sunday.

Encarnacion, 14, and Sheehan, 13, tied for third place out of more than 500 entries from around Massachusetts. Ould-Sfiya, 13, was a runner-up. The girls said that writing an essay on the Holocaust as part of a unit in class was a sobering experience.

I was putting myself in Ann Franks shoes, Sheehan said. Kids like in our school today could have been in the Holocaust. That really inspired me to write.

Encarnacion and Sheehan said another class project, where students wrote diary entries imagining themselves in the Holocaust or in some similar modern situation in America, made them grateful for the tolerance here.

The contest, open to sixth through 12th graders in Massachusetts, asked how students could act today and in the future to prevent the killing of others based on race, ethnicity or religion. Encarnacion and Ould-Sfiya said the prevention of bullying in school is a cornerstone for promoting tolerance.

That (silence) is why so many bad things happened and still happen in our world. Nobody is willing to stand up for each other, Ould-Sfiya wrote in her essay entitled Teaching Tolerance.

I witness it every day when people are getting bullied and even I dont speak out. But I think we should change that, she wrote.

Sarah Calla and Tom Mullings, the girls English teachers, said the project was designed to teach them about the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as writing skills such as organization.

Over the years, Ive found the kids really attach themselves and are really interested in knowing what happened, Mullings said. I never met a student who wasnt touched by this.

Elyse Rast, the senior program director and Holocaust educator with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, which coordinated the contest, said Tenney students have either placed or been runners up for five consecutive years now.

The contest is named after Holocaust survivor Israel Arbeiter, born in Poland in 1924, who has worked over the years to promote awareness as a means to prevent future genocides.

The three girls were among 70 Methuen students who, along with teachers and parents, attended the Yom HaShoah service in Boston last Sunday. Rena Findler, a Holocaust survivor who was rescued by Oscar Schindler, talked about her ordeal and how Schindler showed the difference one man can make.

On Veterans Day, the Tenney girls and five other winners and runners up will tour the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and hear from either Arbeiter or his son.

The other contest winners were Tovya Goodwin, of the Kehilla Schechter Academy in Norwood, who took first place, and Lauren Davies, of Norwell middle school, who took second.

Follow Douglas on Twitter under the screen name EagleEyeMoser. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.

Jack Tramiel dies at 83; founder of Commodore computers

The Holocaust survivor brought millions of people into the world of personal computers in the late 1970s and early 80s with his low-cost PCs.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 02, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
International Rectifier, IR(R)

/quotes/zigman/230267/quotes/nls/irf IRF
-0.67%

, a world leader in
power management technology, today introduced the automotive qualified
AUIRS2334S 600V IC for 3-phase inverterized motor drive applications
such as high-voltage compressors (HVAC) and fans.

The AUIRS2334S features an advanced input filter to improve the
input/output pulse symmetry of the signals processed by the device.
Other key features include integrated fixed deadtime protection
circuitry, shoot-through protection circuitry and under-voltage lockout
protection on both the VCC low-side and all VBS high-side floating power
supplies. The new device is also fully characterized for negative
transients on the switching node (NTSOA) that may occur during normal
operation and protection mode.

“With its compact package, high level of integration and comprehensive
set of protection features, the AUIRS2334S offers a smaller, robust
solution for 3-phase inverterized motor drive applications used in
vehicles compared to alternative solutions that use three half-bridge
drivers,” said Davide Giacomini, Product Marketing Director, IR’s
Automotive Products Business Unit.

Proprietary HVIC and latch immune CMOS technology enables ruggedized
monolithic construction. Logic inputs are compatible with CMOS or LSTTL
outputs, down to 3.3 V. The output drivers feature a high pulse current
buffer stage designed for minimum driver cross-conduction. Propagation
delays are matched to simplify use in high frequency applications. The
floating channel can be used to drive N-channel power MOSFETs or IGBTs
in the high side configuration up to 600 V.

IR’s automotive grade IC products are subject to dynamic and static part
average testing combined with 100 percent automated wafer level visual
inspection as part of IR’s automotive quality initiative targeting zero
defects. The devices are qualified according to AEC-Q100 standards,
feature an environmentally friendly, lead-free and RoHS compliant bill
of materials.

More information is available on the International Rectifier website at

http://www.irf.com/whats-new/nr120502.html

Availability and Pricing

Pricing for AUIRS2334S begins at US $1.30 each in quantities of
10,000-units. Production quantities are available immediately. The
devices are lead free and RoHS compliant.

Prices are subject to change.

About International Rectifier

International Rectifier

/quotes/zigman/230267/quotes/nls/irf IRF
-0.67%

is a world leader in power management
technology. IR’s analog- and mixed-signal ICs, advanced circuit devices,
integrated power systems, and components enable high-performance
computing and reduce energy waste from motors, the world’s single
largest consumer of electricity. Leading manufacturers of computers,
energy-efficient appliances, lighting, automobiles, satellites,
aircraft, and defense systems rely on IR’s power-management benchmarks
to power their next generation products. For more information, go to
www.irf.com .

Trademark Notice

IR(R) is a registered trademark of International Rectifier
Corporation. All other product names noted herein may be trademarks of
their respective holders.

SOURCE: International Rectifier

International Rectifier
Sian Cummins, 310-252-7148
scummin1@irf.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

/quotes/zigman/230267/quotes/nls/irf

Add to portfolio

IRF

International Rectifier Corp.

US

: U.S.: NYSE

$
19.24

-0.13
-0.67%

Volume: 394,418
May 14, 2012 4:01p

P/E Ratio25.20
Dividend YieldN/A

Market Cap$1.34 billion
Rev. per Employee$223,204

/quotes/zigman/230267/quotes/nls/irf

Add to portfolio

IRF

International Rectifier Corp.

US

: U.S.: NYSE

$
19.24

-0.13
-0.67%

Volume: 394,418
May 14, 2012 4:01p

P/E Ratio25.20
Dividend YieldN/A

Market Cap$1.34 billion
Rev. per Employee$223,204

Financial Glossary

Words used in this article:

And here is thy corporate future… two years from now, personal computer will take a back seat. The personal cloud will be the new sun of the corporate solar system. It will be the everyone’s most important possession… which is strange because it’s not tangible. That, however, is beside the point.  Gartner’s scientific crystal ball has revealed what the corporate world will look like in 2014… and it’s cloudy.

This needs clarification.

Gartner is not saying people will not be needing personal computers anymore. It is only saying that it will not be a center of business operations. People are going to be more flexible, mobile and limitless by 2014 and they will not let a piece of hardware to limit what they can do. Ultimately, people will be mobilizing every available resources to do what they need. Those devices include smartphones, tablets, and even barrowed devices.

The expectation of consumers is to be able to move seamlessly between devices as if all these devices are one. In essence, that is already beginning. Apple is promoting heavily the benefits of owning Apple devices. Updating your calendar, for example, on your iPad will automatically update your calendar on your iPhone and macbook.

By 2014, that seamlessness will cut across devices, all brands, and all countries through the cloud.

They are labeling it the post-pc era. This may be a little inaccurate because the transition is not about hardware or software. It’s about the change in lifestyle and culture.

1.  Power to the Consumers

This may be a little predictable but it is important to mention. Consumers being content makers and trend drivers are all the rage but Gartner is saying ‘that is nothing compared to what is coming’. Essentially, the trend will continue but they will be more aware of what they have, how powerful they are, and what they can accomplish given all the devices and resources at their disposal. They will still set trends but more importantly, it will be a trend where they are the center. It will be about what they want and need.

2.  Intangibility is the Key

Things are going to move to the clouds. To supplement the expectations that consumers have in a couple of years, everything has to be moved to the cloud. This is the only way processing, systems, and applications are going to be product and brand agnostic. Companies will move all they can to the virtual world. This, in the end, will also allow them to buy low power phones, PCs, and tablets and expect everything to run as smoothly. Hardware will be nothing but a bridge that will connect the user to their contents.

3.  The Change that Apps Brings

In about two years, apps developer will realize just how much they are changing the market. One important influence is the way they are training people to expect portability. Simple and free applications are now being used for important functions like changing the setting of servers or tap into contents housed in the cloud.

4.  Customer Self Service

Google started it when they made available a free email service with a space so big, it blew everyone’s mind, especially that of Yahoo. Users suddenly realized they can turn their emails into a personal cloud. They have been doing it since. They followed it up with training their users to help themselves find solutions to their own problems, set up their own accounts, develop their own systems, and fix their own bugs. They did this by giving their users the “raw materials” they can use to build what they need. It is now the norm. Companies are expected to give their consumers the option to access the utilities they need to build their own infrastructure and see their progress as it happens.

5.  “What I Want, I Get… Right Now”

Consumers are done waiting. They don’t want to hear the “We’ll get back to your line”. They know that the internet has no limits. They access it anytime and anywhere. They don’t see any reason there should be a delay between them and what they are trying to accomplish. That is only possible if and everything is in the cloud. Their main device is the device they are using at the moment of need.

Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, said that “cloud services will become the glue that connects the web of devices that users choose to access during the different aspects of their daily life the specifics of devices will become less important for the organization to worry about. Users will use a collection of devices, with the PC remaining one of many options, but no one device will be the primary hub. Rather, the personal cloud will take on that role. Access to the cloud and the content stored or shared in the cloud will be managed and secured, rather than solely focusing on the device itself.

Enough said.

Americans wary of interminable waits in highway traffic and at the TSA. security checkpoint have dreamed for years of high speed trains like Frances TGV or Germanys so-called ICE train. But as reported in Sundays Times, from Italy comes news that two high-speed rail lines are competing on features like design, quality of cuisine and the feel of the luxury-brand leather on their seats.

Service began April 28 on Italo, the high-speed line billed as the Ferrari of the railroad. The phrase is inevitable, given the sleek trains are red and their managing company, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, is headed by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the chairman of Ferrari. His co-investors include the French state rail agency SNCF and Diego della Valle, the fashion entrepreneur whose firm, Tods, is known for creating shoes well-suited to the Ferrari driver.

Mr. Montezemolos venture competes with Trenitalia, the state-controlled railroad, which has inaugurated its own high-speed line and upgraded its food service, highlighting its star chef, Gianfranco Vissani.

Italos first eight routes will grow to include other cities on a Y-shaped map, with Naples at its base and Turin and Venice on its arms.

The Ferrari-red cars represent the latest generation of high-speed equipment from Alstom, which also builds the TGV. They distribute motors to individual cars rather than concentrating them in a locomotive. There are three ambiances, or classes: Club, Prima and Smart.

Interiors were styled by Italdesign Giugiaro, among whose automotive-design credits include the Volkswagen Mk1 Golf and DeLorean DMC-12. Passengers are afforded wireless Internet service yes, even in tunnels live television and meals served by primly dressed attendants. There are cinema cars with large screens. Dining services are catered by Eataly, the food emporium known for its giant markets in New York and Tokyo, as well as Italy.

Seats are swathed in high-end leather from the luxury furniture maker Poltrona Frau, another firm with which Mr. Montezemolo shares links. His son, Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo, is vice chairman of the group that owns the brand. The hides are commonly found in Maseratis as well.

Service on the Italo trains is tier-priced in the manner of airlines, varying with time of day and week. Tickets can be booked online or purchased from vending machines at facilities called Casa Italo part offices, part clubs, in rail stations designed by the architect, Stefano Boeri.

For all the care put into design, there may be one flaw: the Italo logo is no prancing stallion.

Presumably intended to represent a rapid rabbit, it instead suggests an abstracted kangaroo or wallaby, sooner befitting an Australian transport outfit.

Looked at from the perspective of workflow and time management, my job might appear to be less about writing about music and more about sifting through a relentless deluge of press releases that keeps my inbox in a state of constant ridiculousness. Most of them are utterly useless to me. Todays haul so far includes news about this months beer specials at some north-side jock bar, lineup confirmations for a few small music festivals on the other side of the country, and an extremely in-depth notice about the front man for a North Carolina-based Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band, whos recovering from a bout with pneumonia—which on one hand I guess Im glad for the guy, but on the other hand I dont know what Im supposed to do with this information or why its being sent to me, aside from the fact that e-mails dont cost money. Even messages that seem potentially useful on the surface are often rendered worthless by a publicists attempts to get too cute at the cost of actually imparting any meaningful information, which result in me having to read through several hundred words of ersatz Pitchforkiana only to realize that the release doesnt say where the band is from or what date their album comes out.

But every once in a while a press release comes along that does its job perfectly. It offers an intriguing but informative headline such as, PHILIP ANSELMO Releases Exclusive Vocal Ringtones – Available Now! I know what a Phil Anselmo is, but Im not sure what a vocal ringtone is. So now I want to open the e-mail. Inside the information is presented plainly and succinctly: PHILIP ANSELMO, known as heavy metals most notorious vocalist, is releasing several ringtones for fans to grace their cell phones with. Ten individual ringtones have been created using Philips voice, ranging from hilarious to seriously badass! Which, OK, here I would have dropped in the information that Anselmo sang for Pantera and still sings for Down. But on the other hand, way to trust your audience.

Then maybe add a quote from whoever made the product that youre pushing (Grab one of my new Craptastic ringtones and be the first one on your block to be full of it!) to add a bit of salesmanship. Then wrap up with the information on how one would go about purchasing your product.

While Im a strict vibrate-only kind of phone user, I can also appreciate the considerable allure of having your phone yell at you in Phil Anselmos voice every time someone calls you. After a brief reminder of what a singularly ferocious thing that voice is, Ill reproduce the info on how to purchase the ringtones. I cant speak to the relative quality of the individual ringtones, but I will say that Bbbbbb and Ding Dong both look intriguing.

To download the ringtones, just text the keywords below to 69937 and your ringtone will be sent to your phone. Charges apply per ringtone.

Ringtones:

Title: Ring
Keyword: Phil1

Title: Ring Inhale
Keyword: Phil2

Title: Ding Dong
Keyword: Phil3

Title: Bbbbbb
Keyword: Phil4

Title: Pick Up the Phone
Keyword: Phil5

Title: Theres Someone Calling
Keyword: Phil6

Title: Answer
Keyword: Phil7

Title: Whaaoo
Keyword: Phil8

Title: Ill Keep Calling
Keyword: Phil9