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Internet of Things in Retail: What’s in it for Retailers

Internet of Things is transforming and revolutionizing every aspect of our lives. Be it leisure, business, retail or healthcare, almost every industry is settling to adopt new technologies and IoT is no exception. According to McKinsey an estimated of 20 to 30 billion connected devices will be available by 2020 with a total worth of $17 billion.

The above statistics clear all the doubts regarding the adoption of IoT in various industries. The growth seems to be undiminished and the overall adoption will be on par. With the competition on the rise, retailers are striving to take necessary steps to offer unique shopping experience and be more profitable, unique and efficient.

There is a lot to discuss on IoT in retail, but first, let’s have a brief overview of what Internet of Thing is all about.

What is the Internet of Things (IoT) and Use in Daily Life?

When we talk about the Internet of Things, it is the term used to describe Machine-to-Machine connectivity, where hardware devices and sensors interact with each other on their settings and whereabouts.

Knowingly or unknowingly, many of us have used IoT devices or seen it somewhere. For instance, Nest Thermostat is widely adopted by homeowners to set the temperature at the desired level. After reaching the set temperature, it will turn off automatically, saving you cost on electricity.

Moreover, IoT devices have been widely integrated into home appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators dryers, ovens and what not.

Talking about the retail sector, IoT allows retailers to track customer behavior and collect data to use it in the future for business decisions. If you are looking forward to implementing IoT in your retail business, make sure to go through this article to know what IoT has to offer to the retailers.

IoT in Retail Industry

Before we discuss what is in IoT for retailers, let’s have a brief overview of benefits reported by early adopters.

  • 77% of retailers see IoT as a mean to change the customer’s experience
  • 89% of early adopters in retail benefited from the insights about customer preferences and behaviors from an Internet of Things.
  • 77% of early adopters of IoT in retail offered better opportunities to interact with new partners in delivering products and services to the customers.

Digital Signage to Reach Consumer Device

With the rise in online shopping trend, retail has been largely affected by the way consumers are been affected. People tend to buy more online because the goods are offered at a cheap price. Moreover, comparison-shopping is also one of the reasons to shop online.

Due to this, the traditional retailers are prone to a number of challenges. With the ability to save some money, convenience, and comparison-shopping, people still need the help of sales assistant to save some time in researching the goods they tend to purchase.

The retail war is increasing at a rapid pace and brick and mortar shop owners have to set the prices to match online prices. This is quite a challenging task for traditional retailers to attract customers to the store.

IoT can rescue in resolving this issue. For instance, the traditional retailers can incorporate digital signage that connects with social networks and customers feedback for the customers in the store. It would help customers to view the information about the product instead of using a mobile device.

Digital signage as discussed before can also be helpful in displaying related goods, which might be of customer’s interest. Moreover, it can lead the customers in the direction of goods that would complement their purchase.

Another aspect of marketing is to understand the customers’ behavior. To attract more customers, an advertisement can be displayed in the mobile phone’s notification bar when they pass the store. Retailers can also use this feature for the customers who are present in the store by displaying the products in real life and introduce them in the best possible way through sales assistant.

Sales assistant, on the other hand, can check whether the product is available in stock and complete the transaction seamlessly. This is where IoT can be helpful, offering sales assistant to check the availability of product instore through their smartwatch.

The smartwatch is connected to the database of all the products connected to the sensor. Moreover, the sales assistant can also show how the product works using a tablet. In the end, sales assistant could use the same tablet to complete the transaction in no time.

Directing Customers to Locate Goods

Retailers have to employ staff to assist customers with all that is present in the store. Supermarkets are flooded with products and searching for specific product is not an easy task. This means that customers will have to spend much of their time in the supermarket to search for products they need.

However, IoT can help save the time of customers as well as retail owners to save money by hiring extra staff. For instance, by equipping the store with sensors can assist sales person and customer to locate a specific product. Moreover, digital displays with the ability to read sensors can inform the customers about the product description, its benefits and in case of the food item, the nutritional level.

In case of food items, many of them have short shelf life. IoT can prove to be helpful by ensuring that the due date is correct before delivering it to the customer.

Ecosystem Opportunities

Most of the home improvement, general merchandise, and electronics retailers are opting for home automation or smart home sections in their store. Not only IoT is needed by enterprises, but open the opportunities for general consumer as well.

Retailers are already availing this opportunity to be players in the ecosystem with service support, sales support and automated orders generated by IoT sensors in consumers’ homes. For instance, Amazon is currently working on the order method of choice for anything you might ask Alexa.

In this technological era, retailers need to understand the importance of implementing the IoT to stay ahead of the competition, grow revenue and build customers base. However, if you are not well versed in the technology, many IoT Solution providers will help you devise the strategy, plan it and deploy it.

The post Internet of Things in Retail: What’s in it for Retailers appeared first on ReadWrite.

This article was written by Ray Parker from ReadWrite and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.


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After 12 Years Away, JPI Returns to Austin

Austin has seen consistent economic growth for the past several years, turning its multifamily industry into one of the most aggressive markets in the nation. National developer, builder, and investment manager of Class A multifamily assets JPI took note and announced the opening of its new office in Austin.

Austin has enjoyed consistent growth for the past several years, turning its multi-family market into one of the most aggressive in the nation. The newest entrant in the market is JPI, a national developer, builder and investment manager, which now has an office in Austin for the first time in a dozen years.

JPI hired industry veteran Dustin Slack as vice president and development partner for the regional office, which is located at 1250 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. His focus will be on multi-family development in the Austin, San Antonio, and Houston markets for JPI’s Southern Region development group. Slack will be responsible for all operations, from acquisition to disposition.

JPI’s Austin multifamily portfolio totals 906 units in three complexes:

  • Cielo – a 326-unit community completed in April 2014 in the Bee Cave/ Lake Travis area;
  • Madrone – a 228-unit community completed in April in Bee Cave/Lake Travis;
  • Sur512 – a 352-unit community scheduled to be completed by April 2016 on South Congress.

“While we have an extensive and successful history in Austin dating back to 1990, acquiring and developing 31 communities totaling 9,900 units, we have not had a local office in Austin since 2003. With the positive investment catalysts driving the Austin economy, the opportunity for growth is apparent and long-term,” said Ben Montgomery, managing regional partner for JPI’s Southern Region.

Slack is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the National Multi-Housing Council and the Real Estate Council of Austin. Prior to joining JPI, he led teams at McShane Development Co. and Forestar Real Estate Group, overseeing development of more than 3,500 multifamily units. At Trammel Crow Residential’s South Central Division Slack developed more than 2,500 units.

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Deer hat for kids and adult

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A hat that you can make for yourself or as a gift, great to wear during fall, autumn, winter and spring. It can be worn even in summer without the fleece and ear flap, just make it as a beanie. Sizes are available in the pattern for all kids and adult. How to add the fleece is also included in the instruction.

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    Love it how can we get the pattern?


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Dinosaur Toy Planter

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  • Cut an opening of at least 2-inches by 2-inches on the top of the creature. Do this with a Dremel tool (preferred) or, depending on the hardness of the toy, you may be able to do it with a sturdy craft knife.
  • Depending on the size of the toy, and what parts of the body are hollow, you may want to block off a part so water doesn't get trapped, despite the drainage holes. I used some Dollar Store modeling clay to keep water out of the tails.
  • Sand the edges.
  • Empty out the body of any dustings and clean it well.
  • Give your creature some punch with spray paint!
  • Pop in your plant, (succulents are best because they don't mind tight spaces,) top it off with fresh soil, give it a little water, and enjoy!

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Cream City Caramels & Confections

Makers of Buttery-Delicious Sweet & Salty Handcrafted Caramels

For more than thirty years we've been making caramels for friends and family. Now they are available to everyone! We use the finest ingredients, sourced locally whenever possible, to handcraft our Sweet and Salty Caramels in a variety of flavors. You'll enjoy their melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness and smooth creamy texture. Our caramels are soft and creamy, not hard and chewy.

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Old World Christmas Market

Old World Christmas Market

Reminiscent of the centuries-old Christkindlesmarkt of Nüremberg, Germany, the 20th annual Old World Christmas Market at The Osthoff Resort offers the warmth and merriment of this Old World tradition. The Osthoff Resort's Old World Christmas Market was named one of the 2012 American Bus Association's Top 100 Events in North America (Click here to read the press release)! For ten consecutive days, guests stroll the aisles of a grand heated tent bedecked with fragrant boughs of fresh evergreens and the tantalizing scents of roasted almonds and Nüremberg bratwurst as they browse for unique and specialty items among international and regional artisans. Czech blown-glass ornaments, Russian nesting dolls, German hand-carved smokers and nutcrackers, fine apparel, handmade amber and silver jewelry, Turkish pashmina scarves and shawls, stained glass art, Russian hand-painted Santas, fresh green wreaths, kissing balls and centerpieces, alpaca products, Estonia woolens, fine chocolates, Plauen lace, fine woodwork, fur products and much more!

The Old World Food Court offers shoppers space to relax and enjoy delectable German fare, such as, Nüremberg bratwurst, hot glühwein, sauerbraten, dumplings, wiener schnitzel, potato pancakes, red cabbage, pulled pork and apple strudel. Father Christmas, the venerable old gentleman in his berry red, fur-trimmed suit, roams the market merrily greeting children of all ages. So be sure to bring along your camera for some memorable photo opportunities.

Cream City Caramels & Confections will have an assortment of Handcrafted Caramels in a variety of Seasonal Flavors as well as a special seasonal selection of Fine Imported European Candies.

The 2017 Old World Christmas Market is open daily from 10 AM - 5 PM, December 1 - 10, 2017. Admission is $6 per adult, children 14 and under are complimentary with an adult ticket holder.

The Osthoff Resort, 101 Osthoff Avenue, Elkhart Lake, WI

Earlier Event: December 2
2017 West Allis Christkindl Markt
Later Event: December 4
Old World Christmas Market


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John Bead Semi Precious Bead 8 in. Mixed 8 mm Rondelle 1

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Sulyn Glitter Shakers Princess 5 pc 1

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Description: Sulyn Glitter adds Sparkle to all your projects! Perfect for all craft applications - including fabrics. This premium quality glitter is easy to apply - just sprinkle glitter over wet craft glue, fabric glue or fabric paint. Let dry thoroughly and shake or brush off excess glitter. To accent rubber-stamping and other stationery and paper projects, use any clear-drying adhesive. Safe and Non-toxic. Shakers Princess 5 pc- Pack of 5 plastic bottles with shaker lids containing .38 ounces each. Color are silver, green, pink, blue and purple.. Non-toxic, recommended for ages 6 and up.

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AN inquest has returned a verdict of accidental death on a elderly woman who fell and broke her hip.

The hearing at Crewe was told that Margaret Brierley, 88, of Salander Crescent, Wistaston had resisted all of her daughter’s attempts to make her go to the doctors on January 26 after she had hurt her hip.

Her daughter, Vanessa Brierley, said that the day before her mother died, both of them had been feeling unwell.

She added: ‘My mother had been in bed all day. The next day she said she had fallen in the night. She had hurt her hip when she fell. I said we would go to the doctors but she wouldn’t have any of it. She hated them.’

Later that day, her mother had slipped out of bed on to the floor and refused to get up.

Miss Brierley said that later that afternoon she started to become concerned about her mother as she was still on the floor. She called for an ambulance.

Paramedic Roger Jones said that when he arrived Mrs Brierley was not breathing and was cold. He believed that she had been dead for some time.

Mrs Brierley had been suffering with heart disease but died from her fractured hip. Cheshire coroner, Dr Nicholas Rheinberg, recorded a verdict of accidental death.


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Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5 Notebook (Black) - Price, Specifications & Features | Croma
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Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5" Notebook (Black)

Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5 Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5 Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5
  • Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 15.5

Pay by

  • Cash
  • Card available for Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad only
  • Wallets (PayTM, Freecharge, Citrus, Payu Money, MobiKwik, MoneyonMobile)
  • Pay on Delivery available at additional charge Rs. 50

Cardless EMI with Snapmint

  • Instant Approvals. No credit card required.
  • 3 Months at 0% EMI and 6 Months at 0.5% Interest rate per month, no processing fees.
  • Interest rate starting from 1% per month.
  • Available for order value of 5.000 & above. Terms & Conditions

Pay using EMI

  • EMI stands for Equated Monthly Installment.
  • Pay in easy 3, 6, 9,12 18 or 24 months.
  • Available for order value 2,500 & above.
  • Customer can select Issuing Bank and pay via respective bank's card only.
  • No Processing fees charged for Bank EMIs
  • Bank charges annual interest rates according to the reducing monthly balance.
  • Interest charged will not be refunded.
  • EMI transactions are at the discretion of your card issuing bank. Please contact your issuing bank for any clarifications.

Pay using No Cost EMI by Bajaj Finserv

  • Pay in easy 6,10 months
  • Available for order value Rs.5,000 and & above
  • Only for Bajaj Finserv EMI Card.
  • Applicable on selected products; please check the product page

SKU: 170275

Key Features
  • Intel Core i3-2350M, 2.3 GHz Processor
  • 4 GB DDR3 RAM
  • 500 GB Hard Disk
  • Windows 7 Home Basic OS

MRP  37,990

This product is currently Out of Stock.

Home Delivery[?]This product can be delivered to 5000 plus pincode locations.

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+Technical Specifications

 Brand Sony

Category Type

 Model Number VPCEH36EN/B

 Processor name Intel core i3
 Processor variant 2350M

Operating System

 Chipset Intel HM65 Express
 Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic

 speed 2.3 GHz

 System Memory 4 GB DDR3
 Expandable upto 8 GB
 Memory card slot yes

Card Support

 Memory slot 1

 Hard disk capacity 500 GB

 Hard disk speed 5400 rpm

 Hard disk type SATA

Optical Drive

 Optical drive DVD RW

Graphics Processor

 Graphics processor 512 MB / NVIDIA GeForce 410M GPU

Input Output Devices

 Webcam 0.3 Megapixel

Input Output Ports

 Mic-In Yes
 USB Interface Yes
 LAN Interface Yes

Speaker Features

 Speaker Yes

Audio Accessories

 Audio chip Intel High Definition Audio

 Ethernet Yes
 Bluetooth v3.0
 Wireless Yes
 HDMI Interface Yes

Battery Features

 Battery backup Up to 3 hours
 Battery Li-ion

 VGA Interface Yes

Audio Device Height Dimensions

 Height (mm) 31.3

Headset Width

 Width (mm) 369.8

Audio Device Depth Dimensions

 Depth (mm) 248.4

Dimension and Weigth

 Weight (kg) 2.7

Expert Reviews Section
Product Description
Turn on the Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN notebook to stay connected in this digital world. The Intel Core i3-2350M processor at the heart of this Sony Vaio E Series delivers results within the blink of an eye. You can store ample amount of digital data in the 500 GB hard disk drive of this Vaio E Series Notebook. Besides, Windows 7 Home Basic operating system lets you access documents conveniently and quickly. The 4 GB DDR3 RAM of this Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN makes for a faster and error free performance. With NVIDIA GeForce 410M graphic card, this Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN 36 cm Notebook breathes life into your gaming or movie watching experience.

The Intel HM65 Express Chipset provides faster results by bringing about effective communication between the various internal hardware components. You can enable Bluetooth connectivity of this Sony Vaio VPCEH36EN notebook to transfer media files instantly to external devices.

Copyright © 2015 Infiniti Retail Ltd. All rights reserved.


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How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Social media gives small businesses a platform to amplify their voice and visibility among prospective customers. For many small businesses, this is a rich opportunity, as you can see in the following infographic – a look at social media use by small businesses (click image for full size version).

Want to embed this infographic into your own blog or website? Just copy+paste the following code:

Crowdsourced Logo and Graphic Design by crowdSPRING

We’d love to hear in the comments below how your small business is leveraging social media. Have questions? We’d also love to hear from you.


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Background - News & Events (Landing) 2016
All Alerts & Newsletters

To Show Nonobviousness, Commercial Success Must Be "Direct Result" Of Patented Subject Matter

In In re DBC (No. 2008-1120; November 3, 2008), the Federal Circuit affirms a final decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences ("the Board"), which affirmed the examiner's rejection of all pending claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious during ex parte reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 6,730,333. The Federal Circuit holds that: (1) DBC waived the argument that the decision of the Board must be vacated because two of the administrative patent judges on the panel were appointed unconstitutionally by failing to raise it before the Board; (2) contrary to the assertion of DBC, the Board's prima facie case of obviousness is based upon a substantial new question of patentability, and the reference newly cited during the ex parte reexamination, together with the other references cited, is substantial evidence fully supporting the Board's finding of a prima facie case of obviousness; and (3) the evidence of commercial success presented by DBC was insufficient to overcome the prima facie case of obviousness of the claimed subject matter.

Regarding commercial success, the Court explained, "We have held on a number of occasions that evidence of commercial success alone is not sufficient to demonstrate nonobviousness of a claimed invention. Rather, the proponent must offer proof 'that the sales were a direct result of the unique characteristics of the claimed invention - as opposed to other economic and commercial factors unrelated to the quality of the patented subject matter.'"

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For more information, please contact the professional(s) listed below, or your regular Crowell & Moring contact.

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Skip Navigation

Tech Terms Demystified: DIN and Double-DIN

DIN and double-DIN are  terms you hear thrown about all the time by car installers. They're used to describe what size radio will fit into a particular dashboard opening, but I've never heard an expanation of what DIN actually stood for. I decided to look it up.

Here's an interesting bit of trivia to whip out at the office Christmas party: your car's radio size is controlled by the Germans. More specifically, it's controlled by the Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN), A.K.A. the German Institute for Standardization. It's a non-profit organization that goes way back: they've been developing the norms and standards commonly used in all sorts of industries since 1917.

ISO 7736 is the international standard that defines car audio head units, also known as DIN 75490, or "DIN car radio size". It measures the panel length x the panel height (head unit depth can vary). These measurements were adopted as the international standard in 1984, and continue to this day.

A single DIN head unit measures  7"W x 2"H. A double DIN head unit measures 7"W x 4"H. In other words, a double-DIN head unit is twice as tall as a standard-size aftermarket head unit. Most aftermarket head units will be either single or double DIN. There's a third type - the DIN-and-a-half - which is commonly seen in some factory head units. It's simply a 3" high receiver.

Single DIN head units typically contain a radio tuner and a CD player or DVD player with a slide out screen, while double DIN headunits, with their built-in viewing screens,  commonly include DVD players and navigation.

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Southeast Asia's next tack on terror

Security officials killed a key Indonesian militant last week, as others are traced in the Philippines.

After killing one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorists last week, Indonesian security officials face a daunting task in catching remaining militants who have grown more independent or moved to the Philippines to regroup, recruit, and share skills.

Azahari Husin, who was killed Wednesday in a gunbattle, had been accused of involvement in most major bomb attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including the 2002 Bali blast that left 202 people dead. Indonesia's president said police found bombs and plans for more attacks in the home where they cornered Azahari.

But the same day, another senior member of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network, Noordin Mohammad Top, escaped authorities elsewhere on Java. And Philippine security officials, meanwhile, say they detect the hand of two other top Indonesian militants in recent terrorist strikes on Manila and the conflict-torn island of Mindanao.

Moving against the remaining JI leaders will test Indonesia's new antiterror capabilities, including a revived village-level network of informants and newly set up military antiterror units, as well as the ability of regional governments to cooperate as militants find safe havens in spots like Mindanao.

"For an actual terror network that has been actively conducting attacks, [Azahari's death] clearly will have a great impact," says Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia's antiterror chief. "But we all know that terrorism is a crime based on ideology and politics, and will not stop just because of the death of a certain figure."

Mr. Mbai says intelligence shows that extremists are recruiting and working in small independent groups, each capable of launching attacks. "Each is not tied to a hierarchy," he says. Azahari, for instance, was a leading bombmaker for the group but he is not believed to have held a formal role in JI.

Azahari was located after police followed a series of leads arising from the terrorist attack on Bali last month.

In an effort to harness more such leads, the Indonesian military in the last month has restarted a village-level network of noncommissioned officers and civilian spies that had gone dormant with the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998. The military has also set up a dozen special antiterror desks to coordinate efforts with the police.

After last month's Bali bomb attack, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the military to "get more involved on the war on terror."

The Indonesian government is also reportedly considering the formation of a regional counter-terrorism task force, something that may be proposed at a meeting of regional police chiefs this week.

Greater regional cooperation is of growing importance as security officials in the Philippines notice the handiwork of two Indonesians in recent attacks there. The two men, Dulmatin and Umar Patek, are among the most wanted in Southeast Asia. The US government has offered a $10 million reward for the capture of Dulmatin, who uses the alias Joko Pitono, and $1 million for Patek.

Dulmatin is an Afghan-trained expert in explosives whom Philippine officials say primed a concealed bomb that ripped through a passenger ferry off the coast of Manila in February 2004. Over 100 people died in the attack, which was claimed by Abu Sayyaf, a ruthless militant group that was seeded in the early 1990s by Al-Qaeda.

Philippine officials initially ridiculed the idea that Abu Sayyaf, a group that had become notorious for kidnappings and banditry, had plotted the attack. But forensic tests and confessions from detained suspects confirmed its involvement and pointed to the threat of an alliance between Abu Sayyaf and Indonesian fugitives seeking to ignite a regional firestorm.

"This is the dangerous nexus. You take an indigenous movement and graft it onto an international movement with technology transfer," says a Western diplomat. "Abu Sayyaf has moved from piracy to being part of the jihadist movement."

Mindanao has long provided sanctuary for Indonesian and other foreign extremists who used personal ties to Islamic rebels to run terrorist training camps. Jemaah Islamiyah used these camps to train Indonesians and other Southeast Asians in battlefield skills, handling explosives, and building bombs.

A crackdown by the Philippine Army has disrupted the larger camps and forced the JI operatives underground, say officials. But intelligence reports indicate that mobile trainings have continued and are capable of producing new crops of operatives who imbibe JI's fanatical worldview and ruthless terrorist tactics.

Complicating the task for investigators is the shifting identities of terror suspects, with considerable overlap between JI, Abu Sayyaf, and other extremists. Even Dulmatin, who reportedly helped Azahari build the truck bomb used in Bali in 2002, may be relying on his own network outside of the JI structure, say officials.

This would mirror events in Indonesia, where Azahari and Noordin Top are believed to have led a breakaway faction dedicated to anti-Western violence, rather than JI's original goal of fighting for an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia.

But such internal fissures are unlikely to end immediately the terrorist threat and may instead spawn splinter cells that feed off Muslim extremism in pockets across multiethnic Southeast Asia. That makes Mindanao a crucial part of the equation.

"If we hit them here, they adjust. If they're hit in Indonesia, they adjust," says Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine police official.

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Review roundup: Kindle on the iPhone

Screen grab from iTunes

It seems Amazon is willing to play with others. Today, the company extended the Kindle brand beyond its stylish new model and released an ebook app for the iPhone. The free application allows users to read books already purchased through their Kindles, buy new ebooks from their phones, and access Amazon's 240,000-title catalog even if they don't own a $359 Kindle. So, is it any good? Here's what the critics think:

The convenience factor:

Kindle for iPhone also supports Whispersynch, grabbing updates over the air and letting you read your books on various devices. It even supports auto-bookmarking, so you can put down your Kindle, head out to the shops and seamlessly continue reading on your iPhone as you wait at the checkout. [via Wired]

The ownership question:

The experience highlights both the pros and cons of the "digital locker" approach taken by Amazon with Kindle content. Although some have criticized the fact that one can't resell or give away their Kindle books, the site does provide other aspects of true ownership. In this case, I didn't need to re-buy anything and as soon as I entered my account information, I had access to every book I had purchased for the Kindle. [via CNET]

The down sides:

Let me note the key features of the hardware Kindle that aren’t carried over to the iPhone app. It doesn’t support periodicals. It doesn’t read books aloud. It doesn’t allow you to enter notes or highlight text, look up words in a dictionary, or perform searches. [via All Things Digital]

The naysayer:

While Amazon might be able to find a market for $9.99 books on the Kindle, the iPhone/iPod Touch world is a very different place. Very few people are willing to pay that kind of money for any sort of application, let alone an e-book. In the Apple app world, the sweet spot for selling anything seems to be less than $4.99 -- and more like $.99 or $1.99. Sure, you're going to get some best-selling series with almost cult-like followings (read: "Harry Potter" and "Twilight"), but the vast majority of books being "sold" on the iPhone are very cheap -- and rightly so because the overall iPhone reading experience doesn't justify spending $10 (or even $5) on an e-book. [via David Carnoy on CNET]

The last words:

Today's move could cut into sales of the Kindle device, but it also greatly expands the number of customers who can buy Amazon's books. Amazon has declined to disclose its Kindle sales, but analysts peg that number at fewer than half a million devices. Apple, by comparison, sold more than 13.7 million iPhones in 2008.... [via LATimes]
Reading on the device was easy. You turn pages using the iPhone’s horizontal swiping gesture, and you can change the font size on the fly, and create bookmarks, which then can be synced back to a Kindle device. You can view any notes you made on a hardware Kindle. And there’s a slider to quickly go back and forth through chunks of the book. [via All Things Digital]
As for reading on the iPod Touch (or iPhone), I found it quite acceptable for my 15-minute public transit commute to work. The iPod's small size makes it easy to read on a crowded train. One can even hold the iPod and flip pages in one hand while hanging on to a handrail with the other hand. That said, I'm not sure I won't go out and buy a Kindle 2 eventually. The iPod Touch reading experience, while fine for short bursts, isn't the easy-on-the-eyes phenomenon I had with the Kindle. It's harder to buy books and I can't read newspapers or magazines. Also, I suspect it will do a number on my iPod's battery. [via CNET]
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Android now world's most popular phone OS

Google's Android leaves Nokia's Symbian in the dust. Apple still has a long way to go if it wants to beat out the Android Army.

Android has conquered the world. Among the devices powered by the Android operating system is the Samsung Galaxy Tab, pictured here.

Android is now the most popular mobile operating system in the world, surpassing even Nokia's Symbian OS, which had long held the top spot on the smartphone market thanks to a strong presence outside the US. According to the British research firm Canalys, shipments of Android-powered handsets reached 32.9 million in Q4 of 2010, an astonishing achievement for a piece of software released less than three years ago.

By comparison, Canalys says Nokia shipped 31 million Symbian-powered in handsets in the same quarter. Apple's iOS – the operating system that runs on the iPhone – ranked third on the Canalys report, with approximately 16 million units shipped; the RIM BlackBerry operating system placed fourth, with 14.6 million units shipped.

Usual disclaimer: "Shipped" is different from "sold." It's possible that stores are overstocked with unsold Android units. That's unlikely, however. This Android trend has climbed steadily over the years, showing that stores (and therefore shoppers) want more and more of Google's OS.

RELATED: Motorola Atrix: Smartphone or laptop? You decide.

Tech industry insiders have repeatedly drawn attention to the growth of Android, as has Google itself. Last summer, for instance Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that 200,000 new Android devices are sold every day. "People are finally beginning to figure out how successful Android is," Schmidt said, calling Android's growth rate "phenomenal."

Still, the smartphone market is a volatile place, and some analysts have argued that the arrival of the Verizon iPhone could shake things up all over again.

Verizon is going to sell so many iPhones that "it's going to make people's heads spin, but it's not going to kill AT&T," Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, told the site recently. Instead, Greengart predicts that the Verizon iPhone will make things difficult for for Google, the reasoning being that many users will dump their Android-powered Verizon phone for an Apple handset.

ALSO SEE: Verizon iPhone versus AT&T iPhone: The top three differences

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Two solutions for opioid epidemic: Can they be resolved?

A Congressional committee meets Wednesday to work out a compromise between House and Senate bills to deal with the opioid epidemic – and the bipartisan split.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Rep. Evan Jenkins (R) of West Virginia is joined by other House Republicans as he talks about legislation passed to combat opioid addiction on May 13 on Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are putting together compromise legislation addressing the nation's opioid abuse crisis.

Lawmakers hope to finalize a package with federal solutions for the opioid crisis on Wednesday, but even a problem with widespread consensus will need bipartisan agreement to pass.

Two separate, but similar, versions of legislation were passed with bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate. As the White House, and many public health advocates, urge more funding, however, Congressional Democrats in particular have wrestled with whether inaction now, in favor of holding out for more funding, means they are holding to principled ground – or sacrificing the good to the perfect.

On Wednesday, lawmakers from both houses will come together to try to smooth out differences between the two bills, one day after the White House requested increased funding for its opioid package.

The administration has asked for $1.1 billion, as The New York Times reports, plus an increase on the caps for how much of the anti-addiction drug buprenorphine doctors can prescribe. Because buprenorphine, an opioid, also has addictive potential, only specially authorized doctors can prescribe the drug, and only to up to 100 patients at once. The White House plan increases that cap to 275 patients, in an effort to stymy a growing black market for the drug.

“We need our partners in Congress to do their part and fund the president’s budget request,” said Sylvia Burwell, secretary of Health and Human Services, told reporters in a conference call. “In the absence of congressional action we’re taking every step forward we can.”

Some legislators had hoped to increase the cap to 500 patients per doctor, Sarah Ferris reported for the Hill. The cap disappeared last week after an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office showed the new cap would increase costs to $2.3 billion by 2026.

Michael Botticelli, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, presented a $1.1 billion plan on Tuesday, while Democrats in Congress asked for a more compromising budget of $920 million, The New York Times reported. In a letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R) of Michigan, chairman of the committee that convenes Wednesday to converge the bills from the House and the Senate, the Democrats took the unusual step of proposing cuts to other areas of the federal budget to pay for the increase.

Wednesday's opioid debate highlights Congressional frustration over the decreased level of bipartisanship in recent years – an issue that infuriates not only many voters, but their politicians, as The Christian Science Monitor's Francine Kiefer reported in March:

Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, . . . let loose when asked at a recent Monitor breakfast whether a gridlocked Congress has played a role in the rise of the anti-establishment.

“I think the American people have every right to be angry. I tell them I think they ought to be angrier than they are,” he said. “Have we addressed the major issues of our nation? Not one! Not one! I mean, people should be upset.”

He ran through three long-simmering issues – the national debt, the wealth gap, the Islamic State – and pointed to the missed opportunity in this divided government to find the kind of common ground that Republican President Ronald Reagan could find with Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

The opioid epidemic, which has hammered both blue states and red states alike and killed some 47,000 Americans in 2014 – a larger number than car accident deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control – offers a similar opportunity.

“How can we just let a number of people die from overdoses just so we can make a political point that Republicans are wrong on funding?” Patrick Kennedy, a former Democratic representative from Rhode Island, told The New York Times.

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Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry honored with 'Hope Award'

Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight escaped from a house of abuse in Cleveland a year ago. On the anniversary of their escape, the courage of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry was recognized with the 'Hope Award.'

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
On the one-year anniversary of their escape, Cleveland, Ohio kidnapping survivors Amanda Berry, right, looking on and Georgina DeJesus, center, speaking, are honored at the annual National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Hope Awards dinner in Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2014.

One year ago yesterday, three women escaped from a house of horrors in Cleveland.

On Tuesday night, Gina Dejesus and Amanda Berry were among those given 'Hope Awards' by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which annually recognizes "individuals whose efforts have contributed to making the world a safer place for children."

Dejesus, Berry, and Michelle Knight were held captive and subject to abuse for years in a home owned by Ariel Castro.The women were kidnapped separately between 2002 and 2004. Berry was 14, DeJesus was 16 and Knight was 20. On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry realized that Castro had failed to lock the home's "big inside door," and she screamed for help. A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, heard her cry.

"She said help me get out," he said. "I figured it was a domestic violence dispute," he told The Associated Press. The door would only open a crack, so he told her to kick out the screen.  "She comes out with a little girl and says 'Call 911.'

The three young women, along with Amanda's 6-year-old daughter, who was born in captivity, were finally rescued from their prison.

"Amanda and Georgina, who were children when they were captured, will receive NCMEC's 2014 Hope Award for their tremendous courage and resilience and for giving hope to so many families still searching for their children," according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children website.

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts of rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder and was sentenced to prison with no chance of parole. One month into his sentence, he hanged himself with bedsheets in his cell.

On Tuesday, members of Gina DeJesus' family were out in the streets of Cleveland along with police and the Guardian Angels, knocking on doors and handing out flyers about missing children.

“I’m out here today to get this message out that we need to pay attention and get these girls home,” said Jackie Roman, second cousin to Gina DeJesus. "We need to pay attention and wake up because these people are missing and they don’t need to be missing,” she told Newsnet5, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland.

Amanda Berry issued the following statement Tuesday:

"I would like to thank all the people who have helped and supported my family and me. You have changed our lives in ways you'll never know. On this day, we decided that the right place for us to be was with other families who have gone through what our family has gone through. I want these families to know they will always have a special place in our hearts. So much has happened this past year. I have grown. I am strong. And I have so much to live for, to look forward to. The future is bright."

Gina DeJesus issued this statement on the anniversary:

"I want to thank everyone who donated to the Courage Fund and sent gifts to me. You have made such a difference in my life. This past year has been amazing, full of healing and hope. I am spending time with my family and working with Amanda on a book that we are really excited about. I have also been enjoying new experiences, such as learning how to use new technology and how to drive. Thanks for continuing to respect my privacy and that of my family."

And Michelle Knight, interviewed Monday on NBC's "Today" show, said Castro deserves forgiveness because she'd want to be forgiven if she did wrong, and "that's the way of life."

She added, "he is a human being and every human being needs to be loved," even if he did wrong.

Knight told CNN that she never lost hope.

After being starved, chained and repeatedly raped, after being brutalized physically and humiliated psychologically, Knight said that she actually got stronger.

It might not have helped her in Castro's eyes, but Knight stayed defiant -- so much so that it became a source of pride.

"All my life, I was made to feel insecure, like I was worthless," she recalled. "And for the first time in my life, I stood up to a person that was a demeaning person."

"And it felt good to stand up for myself, (because) I never did before."

Knight – who released a book on Tuesday “Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed” – said she's a singer who just recorded a song, and she's also training to be a boxer.

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Canadian shake-up: Conservatives win but opposition makes head-turning gains

Monday's national election gave the Conservative Party a big victory but the socialist-rooted New Democratic Party showed surprising strength.

Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press/AP
Prime Minister Stephen Harper gives the thumbs up after giving his victory speech in Calgary, Alberta, May 2. Harper won his coveted majority government in elections Monday in Canada.

Canadians woke up to a strikingly changed political landscape today, largely because of one national politician’s charisma and another’s lack of it.

National elections yesterday produced Canada’s first majority government in seven years. At the same time, it all but wiped out Canada’s traditional ruling party, the centrist Liberal Party, and propelled the historically marginal socialists to the important role of official opposition. Observers are already talking about the permanent demise of the Liberals, which has governed the country for most of the past century.

“This is a huge defeat. It’s almost as if the Democrats were elected in only three States, and it changes the map of Canadian federal politics,” said political scientist Stephen Clarkson.

Pollsters had predicted a poor showing for the Liberals since the start of the campaign five weeks ago, but no one expected it to do as badly as it did. It lost half its seats and for the first time in history, finished in third place. That gives its leader, former Harvard scholar and internationally reputed journalist Michael Ignatieff, the dubious status of the man who sank the Liberals to new depths. Mr. Ignatieff, who also lost his own seat, resigned as party leader this morning.

The New Democratic Party (NDP), a party with socialist roots, and its cheerful leader Jack Layton secured 103 seats, nearly tripling its strength in Parliament with a historically strong showing in Quebec. The NDP has played the role the role of Canada’s social conscience for decades but has never won more than 44 seats.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party won 167 seats, well past the 155 he needed to win a majority. After overseeing a series of weak coalition governments, Mr. Harper now has a strong mandate to push the traditionally centrist Canadian political agenda further to the right. He has promised to spend billions of dollars to build new jails and get tough on crime, and has been a strong defender of the environmentally unfriendly Alberta oil sands project.

The Liberal Party's fall

Observers are still unsure how the NDP party will use its new status in Parliament or what lies ahead for the Liberals, but they agree that the surprising election results largely came down to personality.

Ignatieff returned to Canada to enter politics six years ago, with a stellar reputation as an author, journalist, and head of Harvard’s Carr Centre for Human Rights. Party faithful hoped he could use his intellect and international experience to create a sort of Trudeau-mania – the craze that swept the nation in 1968 when former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau became leader. It was a tall order, considering the Liberals were still struggling to rebuild after a major political funding scandal in Quebec.

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Ignatieff ran a textbook perfect campaign that targeted middle class concerns and featured spontaneous question and answer sessions during which he talked about everything from brain surgery to agriculture. He related well to ordinary people on the campaign trail but still came across as wooden and unapproachable during nationally televised leaders debates, where most Canadians got to see him.

“He was smart but he wasn’t charismatic,” said Mr. Clarkson. “He was brought in as a magic bullet and all he did was shoot the party in the foot.”

In the end, Ignatieff could not overcome the Liberal’s internal struggles or the effects of aggressive preelection attack ads run by Conservatives that questioned his motives for coming home and suggested his loyalties lie with the United States.

Layton's charisma

Mr. Layton, on the other hand, surprised everyone with his energy and optimism – qualities that helped win over many voters who would normally have favored the Liberals. His party started out in third place. Layton was recovering from hip surgery and prostate cancer, walked with a crutch and looked so unwell when he started the campaign that there were questions about whether he could withstand the pressures of campaigning across such a vast country. But after two impressive performances in nationally televised leaders’ debates Layton starting whipping voters into what passes for a frenzy in Canadian politics.

“He had the best lines, he didn’t hector the way Ignatieff did, and he didn’t repeat himself,” said Nelson Wiseman, an expert on Canadian politics at the University of Toronto.

Layton, who grew up in Montreal, particularly impressed Quebec residents who appreciated his Quebecois-sounding French, use of street language and promises to pay attention to Quebec’s regional concerns.

As Layton’s momentum grew across Canada, he replaced his crutch with a cane, which he sometimes waved around for emphasis and supporters starting coming by the hundreds, sometimes standing in the rain to get a glimpse of him.

Layton’s showing in Quebec, where he won all but three seats, is especially significant for two reasons. He wiped out the Bloc Quebecois, which no longer has the status of an official national party, and because his is the only party that can claim to represent both English and French-speaking Quebec.

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Brigid Meints

Washington State University
PhD candidate with Stephen Jones
Mount Vernon, WA

Brigid Meints grew up in Corvallis, Oregon and developed a love for plants at a young age. She earned a BA from Scripps College in Anthropology and Gender & Women’s Studies, but found her way back to plants after graduation when she began working for the barley breeding program at Oregon State University with Pat Hayes. She earned her Masters of Science from OSU in Crop Science with a focus in Plant Breeding & Genetics.

In the Fall of 2014, she began working towards a PhD under the direction of Dr. Stephen Jones. Her project focuses on breeding and trialing barley and dry beans for production in northwestern Washington.


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Champ Zip Hood Navy
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The Crooks and Castles mens knit Champ hooded zip-up sweatshirt is brand new as part of this seasons new collection to Culture Kings. With a tough build, logo's to match and so much style, this piece demands respect and will match perfectly with any outfit you have in mind, secure yours today.

- 80% Cotton 20% Polyester fabric
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Never worry again about leaving dangerous devices on when you’re away. With Currant, you can check the status and turn devices off remotely, or set rules to automatically disable outlets after a set amount of usage.

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Download the Currant App for iOS or Android to get started. The app will automatically detect your smart outlet and begin showing you real-time information on your energy usage.

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The Currant WiFi Smart Outlet works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, so you can control anything that is plugged into your smart outlet using just your voice.

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Board of Trust

For Your Information

2018-19 Officers

Board President
Steve H. Kroeger
1st Vice President
Susan H. Hammer

2nd Vice President
Frank J. Haraf, Jr., M.D.
William R. Frist
Molly E. Rollins
Past President/Ombudsman
G. Miller Hogan, II

2018-19 Trustees

Amy Burrus
Kimberly Douglass
Helen Duhon
Carol H. Hewitt
Stephen J. Heyman, M.D.
James Hobbs
Brad Locke
Heather C. Loden
Adrienne McRae
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Other Important Numbers CLICK HERE

About Us

Currey Ingram Academy is an exemplary K-12 day school that empowers students with learning differences to reach their fullest potential. Since 2002, the school has been located on an 83-acre campus in Brentwood, Tenn., just miles from Nashville and Franklin. Families from 33 states and eight countries cite the school as their primary reason for moving to Middle Tennessee.

Currey Ingram Academy is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and AdvancEd/Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).


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More Six Sigma Basics

Six Sigma as we discussed in our earlier post is not intended to as a quick fix but is rather a systematic process and procedure that is focused on ongoing quality improvement. The ultimate goal of a Lean Six Sigma project is continually improved and sustained quality through an improved and more efficient process.

Six Sigma delivers these improvements by focusing on reducing and removing defects and eliminating waste. This is accomplished through research and data collection so it's not a quick process but rather one that requires time. Organizations can over time reduce errors and rework saving the company time, lost business opportunities and money. The real goal like other quality improvement projects is to ensure that the product or service meets the standards of the customer!

To accomplish this, organizations need to meet several deliverables under the DMAIC model.

  • Build a project team capable of actually accomplishing the objectives & committed to solving the problem(s). Ensure that management buy-in includes all the necessary resources to actually solve the issues.
  • Identify the issues that actually matter & develop a project charter which should include the known business processes.

  • Identify the key measures and come up with a plan to ensure that this information can be obtained. Create an initial baseline and communicate this to all parties.

  • Probably the most critical stage, but also the most difficult. Define and develop possible solutions, along with an implementation plan.

  • Standardization is the key with control. Standardize the processes, document procedures and implement the monitoring plan to ensure that the improvements have had the desired effect.

How to Land the Perfect Job - Part 1 (Job Boards & Recruiters)

While this post is not specifically customer service or operations related, it is something you've probably experienced or will experience at least once in your career so it's worth exploring. I've talked a bit about interviewing and using LinkedIn and other job boards in some previous posts.

I've also talked about job searches, resumes and how to be effective at finding a new role.

In the next set of posts though I thought I'd bring it all together.

Benefits of Using Job Boards

If you are stuck in the middle of a job hunt, you should try searching on job boards. Job boards are quite convenient when it comes to being updated with the latest job positions available.

One of the major benefits of job boards is that employers can find you instead of you searching for them. In job boards, you can post your resume under your profile such that employers can see your qualifications and contact you. A better resume will attract more employers.

With job boards, you can customize your searches regarding the specific job you want. This means you can get a job that fits your exact qualifications. Unlike other job searching methods, job boards allow you to spread your resume across different employers without physically presenting it. This increases your chances of landing a job

Job boards can modify or arrange your resume and cover letter to make it more appealing to the employer. They have professional writers who can write you a winning resume that is sure to impress the employers. Job boards are a simple and affordable way of job searching.

Working with a Recruiter

When you’re searching for a job, a recruiter can be very important in getting a brilliant job. A good recruiter with a number of connections with employers can be what you need when looking for a senior level job.

For most recruiters to provide their services, they will probably require that you have strong credentials that will no doubt land you a job. The advantage of having a recruiter is that they will ensure that you get a job whatever it may take. Since they are paid on commission, landing you a job is their main goal. With their experience in the hiring field, you can learn helpful information that will help you sell your role to the interviewing firm.

You should know that the recruiter doesn’t disclose every detail to you. After receiving the company’s hiring requirements, he can determine whether you are fit for the role by looking at your present skills. The company may not be after your profile but it may be after your skills.

Recruiters usually have a broad network of employers through which they can easily connect you to. If you haven’t had any fruitful results lately, you can try searching for a recruiter.

You can take the easy approach and ask your friends for a recruiter they know or you can search online through the Advanced People Search Page on LinkedIn. Through this channel, you can get a wide array of recruiters including those who have been hired by specific companies.

Nonetheless, recruiters are inclined to accept strong profiles so don’t be offended when they refuse to contract their services. It simply means you should build your career profile some more.

The Basics of Six Sigma

Six Sigma's goal is process improvement and variation reduction. By improving processes and reducing defects, customer satisfaction is naturally improved.

Minimizing defects in production through continuous improvement. Six Sigma focuses on measuring the impact of an improvement project and uses the following phases:

  • Defining
  • Measuring
  • Analyzing
  • Improving, and
  • Controlling

We've seen this before in the DMAIC process that we discussed when talking about KPIs & the Importance of Measurement.

A sigma is a measurement of variance and denotes the variance from a mean average of an event. "Six Sigma" assumes a failure rate of 3.4 parts per million or 99.9997%. Six Sigma focuses on efficiencies and reducing costs. It also accounts for the "cost" of poor quality and works to reduce it.

Reducing Poor Quality

We've talked about Quality and Customer service before, but it bears repeating again. To reduce poor quality, there are certain actions that need to be taken:
  • Understand who your customers are and what matters to them.
  • Understand customer feedback (the Voice of the Customer) and see how that applies to your product/service & then prioritizing resolution based on the issues related to your product
  • Understand your internal processes and what causes variation
  • Understand the right metrics to measure and how to standardize
  • Understand what causes a defect and how it can be addressed
Once you realize that every process can be measured and analyzed, it's not too far a leap to understand improvements based on the analysis are possible. By continuing this process of improvement (continuous improvements) you can gradually reduce variations and improve the final product.

The Meaning of Six Sigma

I talked in an earlier post about 99% uptime and how great that sounds but in reality, it's pretty horrible. 99% uptime actually equates to -

  • Unsafe drinking water almost 15 minutes each day.
  • 5,000 incorrect surgical operations per week.
  • Two airplane accidents at most U.S. major airports each day.
  • 200,000 wrong drug prescriptions each year.
  • No electricity for almost 7 hours each month.
As you can see, that's a pretty dire state of affairs. By contrast:
  • At the 1st Sigma level - 690,000 defective parts/million occur
  • At the 2nd Sigma level - 308,538 defective parts/million occur
  • At the 3rd Sigma level - 66,807 defective parts/million occur
  • At the 4th Sigma level - 6,210 defective parts/million occur
  • At the 5th Sigma level - 233 defective parts/million occur
  • At the 6th Sigma level - 3.4 defective parts/million occur (99.9997%)
Business success depends on improving business process and results in combination with great customer service. Some tangible and realistic benefits based on implementing the methodologies promoted by Six Sigma include:
  • Reduced repair times
  • Increased customer satisfaction
  • Reduced order delays
  • Reduced defects
  • Increase productivity
  • Decreased Measurement Error

History of Continuous Improvement

Shewart and Deming helped define quality in the early 1900s. In 1920 Walter Shewart explained that three sigma is the point at which a process needs to be corrected. This is where a product would need to be remade as it would fail a quality audit. Edwards Deming, on the other hand, pointed to management and made it clear that it is their responsibility to improve the systems so that workers can work more effectively. Based on his research, management owned 80% of the quality problems and the workers could only influence 20% ... by the way, any chance you've seen that ratio before?

If that name sounds familiar then you've probably heard of the Deming Cycle before (pictured above). Deming taught something called the System of Profound Knowledge which had four related parts. The theory of (1) Optimization, (2) Variation, (3) Knowledge, and (4) Psychology.


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Linux bash shell command shortcuts and tips

last updated in Categories Shell scripting, Sys admin, Tips

Bourne-again shell (BASH) is default shell for most Linux distro as well as on Mac OS X Tiger, and it can be run on most Unix-like operating systems. It has also been ported to Microsoft Windows within the Cygwin POSIX emulation environment for Windows, and to MS-DOS by the DJGPP project.

This article covers bash shell command line shortcuts and other utilities that will speed up your work:
Ease your system administration tasks by taking advantage of key parts of the Bourne-again shell (bash) and its features. Bash is a popular alternative to the original Bourne and Korn shells. It provides an impressive range of additional functionality that includes improvements to the scripting environment, extensive aliasing techniques, and improved methods for automatically completing different commands, files, and paths.

The typical UNIX or Linux administrator has a key range of utilities, tricks, and systems he or she uses regularly to aid in the process of administration. There are key utilities, command-line chains, and scripts that are used to simplify different processes. Some of these tools come with the operating system, but a majority of the tricks come through years of experience and a desire to ease the system administrator’s life. The focus of this series is on getting the most from the available tools across a range of different UNIX environments, including methods of simplifying administration in a heterogeneous environment.

=> System Administration Toolkit: Get the most out of bash

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.


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Campus and Irvine police today were investigating the discovery of the body at UC Irvine of a man who possibly killed himself by asphyxiation.

There was no confirmation of the dead man’s identity. Friends of missing UCI student Mahesh Mahadevan came to the scene late Thursday, but authorities could say only that 23-year-old Mahadevan was still considered missing.

The body was discovered with a plastic bag over the head at 7:42 p.m. near the campus observatory at California Avenue and Gabrielino Drive, UC Irvine’s Laura Rico said.

The plastic bag obscured the man’s identity and suggested he died of asphyxiation, Rico said, adding the coroner will determine the cause of the man’s death.

The Irvine Police Department was assisting UC Irvine police with the death investigation, Rico said.

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COMMERCE – When Alvin Turner decided to join the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he had his three daughters in mind.

“I fought to make sure I was the last uneducated person in my family,” Turner said Friday during a tribute to King.

Turner’s fight was not in vain. All three of his daughters hold advanced degrees and one serves as a member of the administration of Spelman College in Atlanta.

Turner, 76, and former co-worker Baxter Leach, 70, were guests of honor at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast hosted by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Commerce. More than 1,000 labor organizers, union employees and politicos including California Attorney General Kamala Harris converged on the union hall to celebrate King’s legacy.

Turner and Leach were celebrated as heroes by Rev. James Lawson, a civil rights activist and close friend of King.

“You can’t celebrate King without celebrating the millions who supported King,” Lawson said.

The crowd erupted in applause that at times turned from scattered hand claps to a syncopated rhythm.

King brought national attention to the the plight of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn. during the spring of 1968. The protests were part of a larger movement to advocate for the eradication of poverty in what King called his “Poor People’s Campaign.”

The sanitation employees wanted fair wages and better work conditions and King’s protest helped earn those concessions from the city of Memphis, but not without sacrifice. King was assassinated on April 4, while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

“He came there for a good reason,” Leach said. “Not just to help the sanitation workers, but to help workers everywhere.”

The struggle endured by Turner and Leach has been immortalized in a documentary film titled “I Am A Man,” which recounts the story of the Memphis sanitation workers strike. The two retired sanitation workers received a regional Emmy Award in the Mid-South division for their part in the documentary.

In the 42 years since their strike, Turner and Leach have marveled at the distance traveled by black Americans and the nation itself.

Pointing to King’s prophetic “Mountain Top” speech the night before the night before his assassination, Turner asked whether King had actually seen into the future.

“In Dr. King’s speech when he said he had been to the mountain top and peeked over and seen the promise land, I wonder whether had he seen my three little girls along with our leader President Obama,” he said.

Leach said the accomplishments of contemporary blacks represent the fulfillment of King’s aspirations for America.

“If Martin Luther King was here today and could see our black president, he would say my dream has come true,” Leach said.

Harris offered the keynote address and told the audience of the debt she owed to Leach, Turner, Lawson and all those who had fought for civil rights.

“I would not be here if it were not for the fight waged by them and others,” she said.

Harris explained her notion of justice, to shift the state’s resources away from its prison complex to its schools and said such an effort would to do “the work of Dr. Martin Luther King.”

“To fight for justice is to fight for the rights of working people,” she added.

While much has been accomplished during King’s life and in the 42 years since his assassination, Lawson offered a reminder to the crowd that the struggle to uplift the poor and working class continues.

“The biggest injustice that continues to plague the world is structural poverty,” said Lawson. “We must work to better the conditions of the poor to end structural poverty.”

626-578-6300, ext. 4494

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• A photo of Legendary Dodger Announcer Vin Scully is projected on the screen above right field as it was announced in 2nd inning that he would be returning to the broadcast booth for another year. The Los Angeles Dodgers played the Chicago Cubs in a regular season MLB Baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles, CA 8/28/2015 (photo by John McCoy Daily News)

  • The voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully, places his hand over his heart as the crowd cheers before he received the opening pitch for the home opener at Dodger stadium Tuesday, April 12, 2016. At left are former Dodger owner Peter O'Malley and current owner Magic Johnson. (Photo by David Crane Southern California News Group)

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Vin Scully, 88, Dodgers Announcer

Last year’s rank: 6

In what he says is his 67th and final season announcing Dodgers baseball, the debate is only intensifying: Is Scully larger than the game he broadcasts? The L.A. icon finally relented to having a street named after him in January. Three months later Dodger Stadium resided on Vin Scully Ave. << Previous | Next >>

Top 50 Most Powerful in Southern California Sports

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  • Euro may fall on soft PMIs but follow-through may be lacking
  • US Dollar down in APAC trade, PMI surveys may be a lifeline
  • Yen down, NZ Dollar up as markets eye risk appetite recovery

Sentiment trends appeared to define FX market price action in Asia Pacific trade. Markets looked beyond a selloff across regional bourses that seemed to echo a negative lead from Wall Street to look forward, responding to signs of improving risk appetite on display in FTSE 100 and S&P 500 index futures.

The New Zealand Dollar led commodity currencies higher, with corrective flows following yesterday’s outsized selloff probably amplifying upside pressure. The anti-risk Japanese Yen underperformed. The US Dollar also fell, tracking a pullback in front-end Treasury bond yields.

Looking ahead, Eurozone PMI data headlines the data docket in European trading hours. The regional composite gauge is expected to show the pace of manufacturing- and service-sector activity growth slowed for a fifth consecutive month in June.

A downside surprise echoing recent disappointments in data outcomes relative to consensus forecasts might weigh on the Euro. Follow-through may prove lacking however considering such results’ limited implications for an already broadly dovish ECB monetary policy outlook.

Later in the day, the analogous US PMI figures enter the spotlight. Unlike the single currency area, news flow from the US has tended to top analysts’ projections, hinting their models underestimate the economy’s vigor and opening the door for another rosy outturn. That may help revive the greenback’s fortunes.

See our free guide to learn how to use economic news in your trading strategy!

Euro and US Dollar May Take Divergent Paths on PMI Data

European Trading Session Economic Calendar

** All times listed in GMT. See the full economic calendar here.

--- Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Strategist for

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Mail Online Videos

Video: Police footage of bungalow owned by traveller Rooney family

Nine members of the Rooney traveller family who were convicted of running a 'truly shocking' modern slavery ring that saw them force vulnerable men to work for virtually nothing were jailed for more than 79 years...


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Ronnie O'Sullivan fights off boredom to blitz Jimmy Robertson in Welsh Open

Ronnie O'Sullivan revealed his boredom at waiting for his Welsh Open last-32 clash to get underway - but the five-time world champion showed no signs of sluggishness in routing Jimmy Robertson 4-0 in 55 minutes at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena.

O'Sullivan, who earlier this week drew consternation from the snooker fraternity for deliberately spurning the chance of making a maximum 147 break in protest over prize money in his match against Barry Pinches, had breaks of 94 and 131 en route to sealing his place in the fourth round and a clash with China's Yu Delu.

The 40-year-old, a three-time winner of this event, has lost just one frame in his three matches so far, also whitewashing Tian Pengfei on Tuesday in just 39 minutes - although he admitted he is still working at conquering his impatience.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, pictured, needed just 55 minutes to beat Jimmy Robertson

Ronnie O'Sullivan, pictured, needed just 55 minutes to beat Jimmy Robertson

The world number five said in quotes on "These events leave you with a lot of time on your hands, waiting around for one match a day.

"Maybe they should stick an adult creche here to entertain us because I get so bored. Today I've had a haircut, been for a Chinese, been for a coffee, been to a cafe, went to the shops to buy some food, had a sleep and then played a game of snooker. I'd rather play two matches a day.

"I wasn't born with a great temperament in the way that John Higgins, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson were. We all have weaknesses and I have to work on that.

"Coping with the mental challenge is a skill and I wish I had learned that 20 years ago because I would have won a lot more titles. It was a good professional performance today, I was happy with my mindset. It started scrappy but I was able to keep my cool."

World number one Mark Selby won the final two frames to beat Fergal O'Brien 4-2 and set up an intriguing clash with Mark Williams, who defeated Kurt Maflin by the same scoreline.

Last year's winner John Higgins, world number three Neil Robertson and Judd Trump, sixth in the rankings, all advanced but world number four Shaun Murphy was knocked out after a 4-2 loss to Luca Brecel, while another former world champion Graeme Dott lost by the same margin to Marco Fu.

Ding Junhui edged out Matthew Selt 4-3, while Northern Ireland's Mark Allen eased past Ryan Day 4-1.

Ronnie o'sullivan fights off boredom to blitz jimmy robertson in welsh open

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'War' at demo ban hearing

HARARE - It was war in court yesterday as lawyers locked horns over the police ban on protests in Harare’s central business district, with the case spilling to today.

Tendai Biti,  who is representing 18 opposition political parties, told the Daily News that it was war in yesterday’s case in which the organisations are challenging a police ban on demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe’s 36-year rule.

The matter which was heard before judge president George Chiweshe will proceed today, after parties could not finish making submissions yesterday.

“It was not finished, so we will continue tomorrow (today) at 2:30. It was war,” Biti said.

The National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera), a grouping of the 18 political parties, Democratic Assembly for Restoration and Empowerment, Combined Harare Residents Association and Sten Zvorwadza, are the applicants in the legal challenge in which they are seeking the ban to be declared null and void.

Their request is being heard together with another demand by Zimbabwe Devine Destine (ZDD) leader Bishop Ancelimo Magaya, in which he is also challenging the demo ban.

Biti is representing Nera, while ZDD is represented by Dzimbabwe Chimbga from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who instructed Fadzayi Mahere.

The opposition parties argued that the ban was a backdoor imposition of a State of emergency, while ZDD argued that it is not a political organisation and must be allowed to hold its gatherings freely.

In the application, officer commanding Harare central district Newbert Saunyama, commissioner general of police Augustine Chihuri and Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo are cited as respondents.

“The net effect of the ban of September 16 is to take away the rights that have been given and provided by the Constitution. It is a backdoor imposition of the State of Emergency,” the lawyers argued.

The applicants further accused the police of violating the law and snubbing Nera legal secretary Douglas Mwonzora, who visited Saunyama’s offices to make presentations against the ban.

“The right to be heard was not respected before and after issuance of the notice of prohibition on September 12 and 13 and after.”

The applicants argued that Saunyama failed to follow laid down procedures.

“The ban is invalid to the extent that it does not comply with Section 3 of the Administration of the Justice Act, in that no reasons on the face of it of why the ban is being imposed… in other words, up to now, we do not know why the ban has been imposed,” Zvorwadza said in his affidavit.

Comments (5)

this ban is a controversial one , but if it should be allowed to continue , who will protect the properties of other citizens which have been destroyed and shops being looted because to there is a high possibility that cars and shops will be destroyed by the people partaking these demos .the courts must carefully look into these issues and responsible authorities find ways to protect people's properties from any harm and also ensure that the demos does not affect the conduct of business .i suggest that people staging the demo must do it somewhere close or at the state house .

isaac a.k.a dzenga - 28 September 2016

The ban is clearly politically motivated. Zanu pf is afraid that these demonstrations will catalyze a peoples united movement to remove Mugabe's failed government. Although I do agree, they're going to be opportunistic people who will loot and steal during demonstraters confrontations with the (brutal police forces)

Young Zimbo - 28 September 2016

"Opportunistic people who will loot......." the police know who they are, and they (the police) are fuelling the violence. However, collateral damage is always a sure thing. Let the demos continue.

Homo Erectus - 28 September 2016

Remove the ZANU PF element and we won't have to demonstrate.

Pieter Herbst - 29 September 2016

Let the demos continue! I agree. It is our right.

Young Zimbo - 29 September 2016

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Todd Heap

Ravens QB Tyrod Taylor to play most of preseason opener vs. Eagles

Quarterback Joe Flacco is scheduled to play the first quarter of the Ravens' preseason opener at the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. Backups Tyrod Taylor and Hunter Cantwell know how much playing time they will get, too.

Taylor, a rookie from Virginia Tech and Hampton High, is expected to play as much as 2 1/2 quarters, while Cantwell, a practice-squad player with the Ravens last season, is slated to play the rest of the contest.

"It's just a lot of work for me to go out there, and it's a great opportunity for me to go out there and show what I'm capable of doing," Taylor said after Tuesday's practice at the...


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My Developer Productivity Talk at .NET Oxford

UPDATE: Since doing this lightning talk, I have also done an extended hour-long version at a couple of the DDD conferences. The full blog post about the hour-long version of the talk can be found here. That includes everything that is in this post, plus a lot more. So probably worth reading that one instead of this!

In November, we had another lightning talk event at .NET Oxford, where I did a talk on Developer Productivity. I summarised the talk, in my blog post about the night, but promised that I'd do a full blog post about my talk - so here it is!

It was only a 20 minutes talk, so I didn't have a huge amount of time. It was broken in to the following three sections ...

  • The Power of Compound Learning
  • Snippets and Note Taking
  • Tools and Automation

It always surprises me that if you take a room full of developers, the deviation between each developer's productivity level is huge. And I mean, seriously huge! A task that might take one developer half an hour, might take another developer an entire day. And the quality of the solution will also be wildly different.

A lot of it is of course down to experience, but it isn't as closely tied to the number of years the developer has been developing for as you might think...

You might have a "20 year" developer who has been working for the same company throughout, the same technologies - hasn't the foggiest about the latest technologies - no idea about design patterns and best practicies. No idea about writing maintainable, testable code. Never written a unit test in their life.

And you might have a "2 year" developer, who actively studies every day - reads blog posts and books, listens to podcasts, watches Pluralsight, has side projects, dabbles with other technologies and programming languages.

The two year developer is probably going to be a better and more experienced developer. I'd certainly rather hire a developer with this mindset.

Now imagine the twenty year developer had had the same mind-set as the two year developer! Activity studying every day throughout those twenty years! Imagine the difference!

The Power of Compound Learning

I touched on this in my blog post about National Coding Week (see the 3rd question) "What advice would you give others wanting to get into coding?" So rather than repeating myself, I'm just going to quite my answer from that blog post ...

My biggest piece of advice would be to never stop learning! And also to actually embrace learning, as it's something that as a developer, you'll be ongoing doing a lot of. If you embrace it; actively study daily - read books, watch Pluralsight, listen to podcasts, read blog posts - then you'll very quickly put yourself ahead of the average developer.

I don't know the official term for it, but I think of it as incremental learning, where learning a little bit every day, over a long period of time, becomes huge. You could also think of it as compound learning because in the same way as with compound interest, where you earn interest on your interest, on your interest, on your interest - you also get the same concept with learning. The more you learn, the more underlying knowledge you have to build upon. So basically, the more you learn, the faster you learn, so the more you learn, so the faster you learn! This is a very powerful concept to appreciate and take advantage of.

You also learn and retain more by being motivated - so it's important to make sure you enjoy what you're doing and never get stuck in a rut. There are so many great technologies to play with - even if this is a side project or getting involved in an open source project - make sure you play and have fun with different technologies and programming languages. There's a lot of very cool stuff going on - especially nowadays.

Snippets and Note Taking

As developers, we repeat ourselves a lot! More than we realise. And I don't mean as an industry - I mean individual developers repeat themselves a lot. How many times have you Googled the same problem multiple times; spent half an hour searching for the same Stackoverflow answer more than once; written code that does the same thing, more than once. It's a tremendous waste of time.

This might sound really obvious, but it's surprising by how many developers I've seen who don't have a centralised place to put their code snippets.

I personally use Workflowy for this. You can read a blog post I wrote about this here. But the tool you use isn't the point. The point is that you have a centralised place you can quickly store snippets and notes. It could be Workflowy, Evernote, OneNote, GitHub, even text files in Dropbox. It's the concept that matters, not the tooling.

There are a few points I'd recommend though when choosing a tool...

  • Make your snippets and notes sharable. And I don't mean sharable with other people - I mean between your home PC and work PC - and anywhere where you'd need to access them.
  • They should be easily searchable and well structured. As this gets bigger, you still want to be able to very quickly find what you're looking for.
  • Centralised. Most IDEs have some form of snippet extension. The problem this this is, you're limited to using them just in that IDE. I have lots of things in mine - code snippets, command line snippets / reference, step by step instructions on how to stuff, build script references, regedit hacks, etc, etc.
  • Private / Personal (see below)

I want to expand on the final "private / personal" bullet point. Your snippets / notes should be personal. Now, one might argue that you should share it, let others contribute. The problem with this is that everyone's minds work differently. One person will write and structure their notes completely differently than the next. So if multiple people are contributing, then you need to have some form of moderation and standards as it gets bigger. It also raises the barrier to entry. One of the hardest things about this is consistently contributing. Everything you do, ask yourself if it could be of use to your future self. If so, spend a couple of minutes adding it to your snippet repository. If multiple people are contributing, then you're even less likely to contribute as frequently.

Now, after saying that - please bare in mind that I'm talking about non-project specific snippets and notes. It's not company or project specific. However, if you work in a team, then it's very important to have a internal development documentation. Ideally a wiki of some form. I've worked with quite a few teams that don't take time to document properly, and it's not good. Document is very important. If a key developer gets knocked down by a bus - the company shouldn't be screwed! However, this is not what I'm talking about in this talk. I'm talking about your own personal snippets and notes which you can take with you from company to company, as well as side projects.

Obviously, the true benefit to this is when you start using your snippets and notes. I've had tasks before which have taken me an entire day to do the first time I've done it. And once in my snippet repository - I've done the same task next time in a fraction of the time. It's a massive time saving.

Tools and Automation

The final section of my talk, discussed tools and automation. As developers, everything we do revolves around tooling. From small tools like the clipboard, to massive tools like Visual Studio. We've all heard of both the clipboard, and Visual Studio. But there's plenty of other tools that can help us be more productive that are less common. Also, there's plenty of functionality even in those tools we already use that we probably don't use. Think of all the functionality in Visual Studio that you don't use, or don't even know exists. And even speaking of the clipboard - most people put up with a single-entry clipboard - copy something, and you lose your previous entry! Using a simple tool like Ditto can transform the way you use the Clipboard, and be a big productivity boost.

One example of a tool that I find a lot of .NET developers don't use, which every .NET developer should be using - is LINQPad. I've written quite a few blog posts on this, and also did a 20 minute lightning talk at .NET Oxford dedicated to this.

This is a fantastic tool with so many different use-cases. Rather than me detailing what it does in this post - I'd recommend checking out both their website, and my list of tips and tricks blog posts about it.

In the talk, I demoed LINQPad briefly, but obviously didn't have enough time to cover it fully like I did in my previous lightning talk.

Resharper is a Visual Studio extension which literally saves me hours each week. I should point out that Jetbrains are a prize-draw sponsor of .NET Oxford - but my reason for talking about and praising Resharper are completely unrelated. I genuinely find it that useful.

I demoed a bit of functionality of Resharper, wanting to focus on areas where I think developers who already use R#, perhaps don't know about. Some examples which spring to mind are Incoming Calls, the Stack Trace Explorer, pulling members up and down into base/derived classes, changing signatures, etc. I also showed the standard functionality for members who weren't Resharper users already.

I didn't spend too much time on this one, as Stuart Leeks was doing a lightning talk on PowerShell at the event. I did want to demonstrate the fantastic tool ConEmu though. As I feel that the stock command line in Windows might well put a lot of potentially CLI users off using the command line.

I mentioned earlier about the power of tools. Well, if you're not a command line user, then you're missing a large percentage of tooling that can make you more productive. Obviously there are GUI tools - but you should have both the GUI and CLI tools in your toolbox - otherwise you're limiting yourself from the get-go.

For more about the CLI - you can read my recently blog post about Getting more from the Windows Command Line.

Todo Lists

I also briefly discussed todo lists. I recently wrote a blog post: Todo lists: The right way, which I'd definitely recommend reading. However, that post focuses on non-based-project tasks. I also recommend using todo lists for project-based tasks too. Break what you're working on into smaller actionable chunks, then work from that list. And as you think of things whilst you're working, just quickly add them to your list, so you don't forget them. I find that working from a list like this, minimises procrastination and also stops you from forgetting the smaller details.

I'd also recommend every time you stop working - eg. for the night, or when you stop for lunch - write a couple of sentences reminding yourself where you're up to. This means that when you start the next day - you're starting hitting the ground running.

This was just a 20 minute talk - so quite a lot of content to attempt to cram in. I managed most of it - but I didn't get chance to demo as much of R# as I'd have liked. I did cover most of the things I wanted, so not too bad!

Since doing this talk, I've also started trying the Pomodoro Technique, and have seen a big difference! So perhaps in my next productivity talk, I'll discuss this too. I definitely have a blog post in the pipeline about this!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the different tips and tricks you've found along the way to make you more productive as a developer.

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