Emerson develops scroll unit calculator.(internet news)

Emerson Climate Technologies has developed an online calculator that allows contractors to determine how much energy they can save by using the company's XJ Series scroll units.

The XJ Energy Savings Calculator for Copeland Scroll outdoor condensing units compares the XJ scroll to other standard offerings.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"The XJ Energy Savings Calculator will be a useful tool for a wide variety of people and businesses that are looking to save money and energy on their refrigeration systems," said Jon Lazarow, director of food service marketing at the company. "We've done the legwork so that they can simply fill in a few parameters and find out which unit delivers the best payback."

To use the XJ Energy Savings Calculator, businesses fill in the following information, including box temperature, geographical location, designload basis and local electricity rates.

Once those fields have been populated, the calculator displays the annual operating cost and unit savings of a XJ unit versus alternatives. The final display includes units ranging from 1.5 to 6 horsepower, and includes savings for hermetic, scroll and semi-hermetic units.

For more information on the online calculator, visit www. Emersonclimate.com/copelandoutdoorunit.

LITTLE BEAVER STATE PARK HAS A HOLIDAY SURPRISE FOR CAMPERS.

BEAVER, W.Va. -- The following information was released by the West Virginia State Government:

Long in the works, a campground at Little Beaver State Park will open 30 of the planned 46 total campsites on July 1, just in time for the Independence Day holiday weekend. The 30 campsites will be first-come first-served. The location is minutes off I-64 in Raleigh County. From I-64, take Exit 129A, It is two miles south on WV 307.

"It will quickly become one of our most successful campgrounds in our state park system," said Ken Caplinger, chief of West Virginia State Parks. "It is a welcome addition to our outdoor recreation offerings at state parks."

"These 30 sites have water and electricity," said Erik Evans, park superintendent. "The remaining 16 sites, when completed, will have water only. All sites currently have gravel based pads and access and can accommodate up to a 40-foot RV. The campground features a central dump station, check-in building with camp store. The camp store offers wireless Internet."

A large bathhouse with laundry facilities is also open. "As we bring the campground into full operation, I know campers will appreciate the on-site services and amenities," said Evans. The remaining 16-sites are forecast to be open by mid- to late-fall in 2011. Site paving is planned.

Camping rates are $28 for sites with water and electricity and $25 for sites with water hookup only. "Although these first sites are first-come first-serve for now, we expect to begin taking reservations next year. Our system will mirror the state park campground reservation guidelines," Evans said.

Until now, Little Beaver State Park has been a popular 562-acre day use park featuring Little Beaver Lake for fishing, paddle and row boating. The five reservable picnic shelters, playground, geocaching, activity building and game room are popular with families, reunions and day visitors. Eighteen trails are open to hiking and bicycle riding.

"The campground adds another layer of service at Little Beaver and to our state park system. We're glad to have these 30 sites available and look forward to completing the full site inventory," said Evans. Little Beaver is near Grandview National Park and Theater West Virginia summer productions. Grandview became part of New River Gorge National River in 1990 after more than 50 years as one of West Virginia's state parks.

Campground construction costs at Little Beaver are reported to be less than a million dollars, with work performed in-house by state park employees and other entities. For information about Little Beaver State Park, call 304-763-2494 or visit online www.littlebeaverstatepark.com.

Find all of West Virginia's state parks and state forests at www.wvstateparks.com.

TURKISH VILLAGERS WATCH SYRIAN CRISIS UNFOLD.

GA1/4VEAs.As.I, Turkey -- The following information was released by the Voice of America (VOA):

As the Syrian government continues its violent crackdown on protestors, thousands of people are fleeing across the Turkish border. In the village of GA1/4veAs.As.i, Turkish residents have been watching the refugees stream across. The villagers have a unique vantage point on the events taking place across the border.

At the bottom of the valley lies the border dividing Turkey and Syria.

From their rooftops, the residents of GA1/4veAs.As.i gather in a daily vigil - searching for any glimpse of what is unfolding in the Syrian hills beyond. Many have relatives living there.a [umlaut]

In the late afternoon hundreds of people begin to gather over the border. As the crowd swells they hold a body aloft wrapped in a white sheet.

They carry it to an area of open ground among the orchards.

Locals say the body has been brought here to show the atrocities taking place in Syria to the watching media.

Muhammed is among those watching from the village. He arrived here 2 days ago from Syria. He says there are around 2,000 refugees hiding next to the border among the orchards. He said the Syrian security agents are targeting people who tried to leave the country.

"They are attacking peoples houses and trying to stop them escaping. They break in to people's houses and arrest them there. They even attacked them where they are hiding among the trees and took their children away from them. One woman has given birth hiding in those trees. The area where they're living is completely open to attack. They drink only river water. They wash their clothes in the river and they wash their food with the river water and they drink it," he said.

Muhammed says the body is one of four shot dead by the Syrian security force in the villages just over the border.

Long-time GA1/4veAs.As.i resident AbdullahA[+ or -]n has seen the numbers of people gathering on the border steadily grow in the past few days. "They are scared to be killed that's why they're here. But maybe they don't let them come in. I don't know if they want to come to this side or if they stay there I'm sad, of course I'm sad. We are all brothers, we are all Muslims," he said.

Ambulances and Turkish military patrols pass by along the border. Villagers say some refugees are being housed at the local border post.

Locals on the Turkish side say that 2 days ago a group of several hundred refugees came over the border and were picked up by the Turkish military. The Syrians won't let any foreign journalists in and they're shutting down mobile phone and internet networks which means it's impossible to say if more refugees are on their way.

Preparations are being made for more arrivals - like a refugee camp in the nearby town of YayladaAA[+ or -].

Turkish officials say 4,300 people have now fled across the border. The true number including those who slipped across undetected is likely to be much higher.

Back in GA1/4veAs.As.i, the crowd of mourners has disappeared from view. Syrian refugee Muhammed says the protests will go on until the Assad regime is finished. "All they want is to have democracy and freedom. They don't want anything else from Bashr al-Assad. They want to live in a civilised way like all other countries in the world," he said.

Like the rest of the outside world, the people of GA1/4veAs.As.i will continue to watch and wonder exactly what is happening in the lands beyond the border.

Turning "Like" to "Buy": Social media emerges as a commerce channel.

Now that social networking has become embedded in the fabric of everyday life for millions of consumA[degrees]ers globally, social network sites promise to be the next generation of e-commerce engines and are moving rapidly in that direction. Marketers and strategists are smart to feel a sense of urgency in understanding and experimenting with direct commerce within these platforms; early movers will have a solid foundation on which to build their social commerce capabilities as the platform evolves. As always, learning what doesn't work will be as important as learnA[degrees]ing what does.

Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and maintain relationships. Globally, Internet users now spend more than four and a half hours per week on social networking sites, more time than they spend on e-mail. There is a public quality to how communicaA[degrees]tion happens on social networks--people are, to use the Facebook analogy, sharing their thoughts on "a wall" for others to see. As more and more of what people think and do ends up getting communicated on these new-age bulletin boards, it is inevitable that social networks will start to affect what consumers buy and how they shop. In a way that has never before been true, consumers are determining which products and services succeed and are shaping the messaging.

The era of social commerce

If the new medium of social networks is creating challenges for companies, it is also handing them an opportunity. Retail, consumer electronics, and media companies are among the many types of organizations that have followed consumers into the social arena, creating Facebook fan pages, sending microblog messages, and building communities. Lead generation--the ubiquitous "likes" of Facebook--will not be the most important activity for long, however. The next phase will go beyond mere communication and influencing. Consumers will transact commerce inside social networks--selecting products, adding their selections to shopping carts, and completing purchases through payA[degrees]ment with credit cards and points. As they do so, the era of social comA[degrees]merce will commence in earnest.

Companies that are pursuing social commerce regard it as a distinct channel underpinned by a significant new aspect of consumer behavior. This new channel represents the merger of e-commerce and social media, as transactions are actually performed within the platform rather than at the retailer's e-commerce site. How ready are consumers to buy products through social media? A 2010 survey by Booz & Company of consumers who spend at least one hour a month on social networking sites and who have bought at least one product online in the last year provides some insight. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would be willing to purchase physical goods through social networking sites. Moreover, 10 percent said their buying through social networking sites will be incremental to other buying they do--that is, they will end up buying more physical goods overall. The 73 percent who said they would not purchase goods through social networking sites largely cited concerns related to security and privacy, two areas that many big social networking sites are already working to improve.

"These emerging attitudes make it unlikely that social commerce--a cousin, after all, of the more familiar e-commerce--will face hurdles related to its newness. And as companies find ways to embed their e-commerce engines within social media, the market for social commerce will skyrocket, helped in part by new models for buying and by the availability of products developed specifically for social networking sites," said Ramez Shehadi, Booz & Company Partner leading the IT Practice in the Middle East.

Social commerce opportunities

Today, companies already see opportunities to use social commerce at every moment along the path to purchase--awareA[degrees]ness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty and service--and also to meaA[degrees]sure the success of their efforts. Each step along this path--generating awareness, enticA[degrees]ing customers to buy, and cultivating their loyalty--presents its own opportunities. Companies should be considering targeted efforts all along this path, while integrating social commerce as part of an overarching multi-channel strategy. Developing an integrated and comprehensive strategy for gathering customer data and mining it for insights, imagining new methods for customers to decide and buy together, and building a compelling customer experience will be essential to succeed in this new era of socially powered commerce.

Mastering social commerce

But for most companies, social comA[degrees]merce represents a new channel, with much to learn and master. There are four imperatives that every company should keep in mind.

Imperative 1: Jump in soon and learn by doing. It is usually a good idea to study a new opportunity closely, but given the fast pace at which social commerce is evolving, companies must be willing to learn while doing.

Imperative 2: Develop a strategy for getting the data you need. Companies should develop a "wish list" of information relating to social commerce and then segA[degrees]ment it by how hard it is to get.

Imperative 3: Define what the customer experience should be. Companies should use tests, pilot projects, and sociographic data to map out different social commerce strategies to get a sense of what their customers will see, how they will respond, and what they like best.

Imperative 4: Integrate social commerce into an overall multi-channel strategy. As social commerce becomes a bigger part of the overall sales mix, it is important to underA[degrees]stand its position in the company's broader multi-channel strategy, and in particular to determine the impact social commerce will have on other channels.

A sales channel in its own right

"The market for social commerce has been embryonic to date, but that will change over the next five years as companies race to establish stores, pushing up social commerce revenues sixfold, to US$30 billion globally. As this growth surge happens, social commerce will take its place alongside stores, telesales, and the more tradiA[degrees]tional Web to emerge as a significant sales channel in its own right," concluded Shehadi.

2011 CPI Financial. All rights reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

UNIVERSITY DEBATE DIRECTOR ARRESTED FOR SOLICITING MINOR ONLINE.

LANSING, Mich. -- The following information was released by the office of the Michigan Attorney General:

Attorney General Mike Cox announced today the arrest of Joshua Blake Hoe, 42, of Ypsilanti, for using the Internet to solicit minors for sex after communicating and making advances toward who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

"This arrest should remind parents that predators are using the Internet to target our children," said Cox. "I can't emphasize enough that parents must be vigilant in monitoring their kids online because child predators are constantly looking for their next victim."

Hoe, the University of Michigan's Debate Program Director, used the screen name "okape40," to communicate online with at least one "girl" he believed to be 14 years old. He allegedly engaged in graphic sexual conversation and propositioned the undercover persona to engage in sexual activity. Additionally, Hoe provided what he thought to be a 14-year-old girl with Internet links to pornographic websites. His conversations with the undercover persona originated in a chat room, which led to private instant messaging conversations. During the private conversations, Hoe informed the "girl" he was an administrator at the University of Michigan.

The Defendant is charged with:

One count of Accosting, Enticing or Soliciting a Child For Immoral Purposes, a 4-year felony,

Three counts of Using the Internet to Accost a Child for Immoral Purposes, a 10-year felony,

Three counts of using the Internet to Disseminate Sexually Explicit Matter to a Minor, a 4-year felony.

Hoe was arraigned today in Ypsilanti at the 14A-2 District Court, before Magistrate Camille T. Horne. The Magistrate set bond at $15,000, and Hoe will appear back in court for a Preliminary Hearing scheduled for May 6, 2010.

Parents are encouraged to check their children's "buddy lists" for the screen name, "okape40". If they believe their child had contact with Hoe, or to report other suspected Internet sex predators, parents should contact the Attorney General's office at (313) 456-0180. Parents and schools may also contact the Attorney General's office for information on our award-winning educational program, the Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative (Michigan CSI), which has been taught to more than 550,000 Michigan children.

Since Cox restructured the Child and Public Protection Unit, 256 Internet sexual predators have been arrested. Attorney General Cox encourages parents to visit www.michigan.gov/csifor tips on safe Internet usage for children.

A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Thunderstone Offers Migration Path for Customers of Verity Products

CLEVELAND, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Thunderstone Software, a prominent supplier of information management and retrieval software, announced today a migration and support program for current Verity (Nasdaq: VRTY) customers. This program provides customers with price discounts and migration assistance to Thunderstone's stable and well established Texis Information Server RDBMS.

"We want to ensure that current Verity customers have a stable, robust, high performance solution set into the future," said Bart Richards, Thunderstone's CEO. "Being privately held and operating at a profit for many years has provided us with the luxury to develop products that are well thought out and functional. Customers who take advantage of the program will benefit greatly from Thunderstone's longevity and proven track record."

Discounts of up to 50% on Thunderstone's Texis, Texis Webscript, and Webinator Web indexing products will be made available to any customer replacing a Verity product purchased within the last two years. Migration consultants will provide telephone support at no charge, and on-site engineering at a 25% discount.

About Thunderstone:

Thunderstone-EPI Inc., a privately held California corporation with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio was founded in 1981. It develops and markets a suite of software applications and tools that search, manage, filter and retrieve information. Thunderstone's products are licensed to corporations, government agencies, Internet publishers and developers worldwide.

Thunderstone partners include Advance Publishing, Associated Press, Dow Jones, Hewlett-Packard, IDD, ILX, Novell, SCO, Telos-C3, Silicon Graphics, and Ziff Davis.

For more information contact Thunderstone at 216-631-8544, or send email to info@thunderstone.com. Thunderstone's World Wide Web site can be viewed at WWW.THUNDERSTONE.COM.

SOURCE Thunderstone-EPI Inc.

     -0-                             11/10/97 

/CONTACT: Susan Reynolds of Thunderstone-EPI, 216-631-8544/

/Web site: http://www.thunderstone.com/

(VRTY)

CO: Thunderstone-EPI Inc.; Verity ST: Ohio, California IN: CPR SU: PDT

MG-LA -- CLM018 -- 1274 11/10/97 15:42 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

TREASURY INTERNATIONAL, INC. SIGNS LETTER OF INTENT FOR SECOND ACQUISITION

TORONTO, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Treasury International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TREY) announced today that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire a manufacturer/exporter of diversified plastic products in the food, pharmaceutical and health & beauty industries (the "proposed subsidiary"). This acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 1996.

Based in Ontario, Canada, this proposed subsidiary has achieved profitability and growth, with 1995 sales of US$5,570,000 (unaudited) and projected sales of US$7,500,000 for 1996. The proposed subsidiary would be acquired for a total purchase price of US$2,600,000, financed by a combination of cash and the issuance of a promissory note payable over three years. Treasury International intends to retain certain members of the existing management and certain employees, and to continue operations at the acquisition's present facilities. Completion of this transaction is subject to the satisfactory completion of the Company's due diligence review, securing financing and obtaining all requisite regulatory approvals, including the approval of its Board of Directors.

This represents the second planned acquisition for the Company to date, and is part of Treasury International, Inc.'s aggressive expansion strategy to establish itself as an industry leader in the international distribution of consumer and industrial products. "We feel this acquisition will significantly increase Treasury International's global customer base, and expand its already diversified product lines," said James Hal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Treasury International, Inc. is an import-export company primarily engaged in the distribution and marketing of consumer products to South America, Africa and other targeted emerging markets, at competitive prices. The Company operates as a representative and distributor for numerous consumer and industrial products to major third world countries. Treasury International, Inc. offers clients custom-tailored services by combining and integrating product packaging, private labeling, warehousing facilities, national/international marketing networks and a specialized team of multi-lingual sales representatives.

     -0-                             4/24/96 

/CONTACT: Monica Park or Richard Margulies, Vice President Financial Public Relations, of Creative Media International, Inc., 908-225-1234, fax: 908-225-1230, or Email: NYCMI@AOL.com /

/Information is available via the CMI Corporate News Network Information Retrieval System, 800-775-7583, or on the Internet: http://www.prnewswire.com/cmicnn /

(TREY)

CO: Treasury International, Inc. ST: Ontario IN: REA HOU SU: TNM

AS-HD -- NYW088 -- 5041 04/24/96 11:44 EDT

A8Media Introduces SavingsAccounts.com: New Site Compares Interest Rates and Online Banking Services.

NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers will never again have to settle for low interest rates on their savings account. They can now compare the best online banking rates and financial services offers available through SavingsAccounts.com, the new easy-to-use online banking site introduced today at http://www.savingsaccounts.com/.

SavingsAccounts.com reviews the direct-to-consumer online banking industry, specifically high yield savings accounts. Rates for Internet savings accounts are as high as 6% now while many consumers are receiving less than 1% for savings at conventional brick and mortar banks.

"SavingsAccounts.com helps consumers compare interest rates, product features, fees, and sign up cash bonuses," explains Scott Spielberger, EVP, Consumer Marketing for A8Media, the online performance-based marketing network that operates SavingsAccounts.com. "Consumers can learn how to earn more money with their savings deposits now that Internet banking has gained widespread public acceptance."

Consumers visiting SavingsAccounts.com learn about much more than just savings accounts online. The site provides valuable financial services information and education on such topics as checking accounts, home equity, credit cards and other banking products. This allows easy side-by-side comparisons between banks so consumers can determine the best product for their needs.

One of the first advertisers on SavingsAccounts.com will be FNBODirect, which offers a competitive 6% interest rate and is looking to build national awareness of its products.

SavingsAccounts.com is partnering with Reactrix, a leader in interactive out-of-home advertising, to develop 6'x 8' ads projected on the floor of high- traffic areas in 175 major US shopping malls and movie theaters. SavingsAccounts.com uses Reactrix proprietary technology to engage audiences with immersive and entertaining digital advertisements that react to movement. Consumers interact with SavingsAccounts.com piggy banks that change into rate information when users step on them. The groundbreaking ads integrate live RSS feeds into the content. A video sample of the ad can be viewed at http://savingsaccounts.com/commercials/. The ads reach 23% of adults in the top 25 markets with 89 million impressions per four week flight.

"People love playing with Reactrix, so ads simultaneously educate, entertain and involve audiences. Research shows this level of engagement means consumers remember the message ten times more often than they would from a TV commercial," said Sue Danaher, President of Reactrix.

New York-based A8Media is headquartered at 119 West 23rd Street NYC 10011, telephone: 212.989.8808; website: http://www.a8media.com/.

CONTACT: Aaron Biller, +1-212-663.9319, abiller@BillerPR.com, of Biller Communications for A8Media

Web site: http://www.a8media.com/ http://www.savingsaccounts.com/

THE EYES HAVE IT.(BUSINESS)

The squeamish may want to keep their eyes closed during the Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce's business-after-hours program to be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Dr. John Kearney will give a live demonstration of corrective laser eye surgery to the assembled group.

A lucky participant will even win a free procedure on his or her own eyeballs.

For those who don't win, though, Novartis Pharmaceuticals will supply the refreshments and hors d'oeuvres.

It's all part of an open house for the new Crystal Vision Laser Center, located inside the Cataract Care Center on South Kingsboro Avenue Extension in Gloversville.

``People are getting more creative with these after-hours,'' said Lisa McCoy, president of the chamber.

For the record, McCoy said her own eyesight is fine, and she does not need laser correction.

Considering Cohoes?

Price Chopper has been checking out a number of sites in Cohoes as a possible location for a new supermarket, says city planner John Scavo. Among them is a space on New Street, off Ontario Street, currently used as a Department of Public Works garage.

Mona Golub-Ganz, manager of community and government relations at Rotterdam-based Golub Corp., Price Chopper's parent company, said Golub doesn't comment on new stores until leases are signed. Besides, the company's schedule for new stores is chock-full for at least the next year, she said.

But the company would have reason to want to build a new store in Cohoes. The store it currently has in the city at 240 Congress St. was built in 1961 and is only 16,000 square-feet, making it the smallest and one of the oldest in the 102-store chain.

Number 10, with a bullet:

This is one year-end list that local business backers won't be pointing to.

Internet-services company PSINet Inc., which got its start in Troy 13 years ago, made it to No. 10 on 2001's list of big bankruptcies, according to BusinessWeek.

The company, which listed $4.5 billion in assets when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of May, couldn't hold a candle to the year's biggest filing: Enron Corp., which claimed $63.3 billion in assets at the time of its filing in December.

Other big losers included Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., in second place at $21.5 billion, and broadband provider 360Networks Inc., at eighth place with $5.6 billion in assets.

Start your engines:

Murray Inc., the lawn-mower maker that bought the Chipper Shredder and Chipper Vac product lines once made by Garden Way Inc. for $1.5 million last week, apparently keeps track of such things as where men most want to mow the lawn, and which celebrities women most want to see cut theirs.

The answers would probably not surprise you.

Men want to cut the White House's grass most, with Pebble Beach in second place and the Rose Bowl in third.

Women want Tom Cruise to do their yard work. If he's busy, Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt are next in line.

No word on who or where they'd like to handle the wood-chipping chores.

Even with price erosion, U.S. Internet access market continues to grow.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)

The total U.S. Internet access services market will have strong single-digit growth for the next five years, according to In-Stat/MDR.

The high-tech market research firm estimates that the market was $35.1 billion in 2003, and of that total, consumer access services generated nearly two-thirds of the revenue.

Broadband access services revenues for both the consumer and business market remain the largest drivers of Internet access service revenues.

A common theme found across both the consumer and business markets is the continuing decline in dial-up services.

Both markets are continuing to migrate away from this lower-bandwidth service towards broadband.

In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

--Despite the growth in the number of dedicated Internet access (DIA) connections and bandwidth used, DIA services revenues are declining. DIA services continue to face downward pricing pressure from the growth in broadband and the oversupply of DIA service providers.

--Consumer access services generated approximately two-thirds of all Internet access service revenues in the U.S. for 2003.

--Broadband generated 50 percent of revenues in 2003, and will account for over 71 percent by the end of 2008.