With Mother's Day right around the corner, I have been searching high and low for a personal (yet, affordable) gift idea. I came across a couple cute options that I thought I'd share incase you might find yourself in a similar struggle during this time:

1. Mom's Personal Coffee Blend: A company called Dean's Beans allows you to make your mom her own custom blend coffee out of certified organic, fair trade and kosher whole beans. Each 1 pound bag can be packaged and labeled with a custom name. Price: $8.99 per pound of coffee.

2. Mom's Signature Wines: On a bottle of mom's favorite red, white or rose wine comes with a custom label designed just for her. Signature Wines & Beverages enables you to load pictures and create your own personalized label. Wines come from all over the country, as well as non-alcoholic sparkling wines. Price: $8.00 and up per bottle.

3. Mom's Spruce: A tree is a gift that will last long into the future and provide for generations to come - just like mom. The Arbor Day organization "Give the Gift of Trees" lets you choose either a redwood, pine or spruce for your mom, along with a custom label with a quote, saying or personal message. Price: $3.00 per tree.

4. Mom's Memory Book: Make the perfect brag book gift for mom with photos from past vacations, holidays and cherished moments through Blurb/Tiny Prints. As an added bonus, the company also offers up a line of premium recycled paper as a printing option for the eco-friendly mom. Price: $4.95 and up per book.

Here's to a truly happy Mother's Day!



-posted by Shawnna

The Master of Communication in Digital Media program at the University of Washington is sponsoring the first PocketMedia Film Festival, open to all UW faculty, staff, students and alumni. The program is currently accepting video submissions  based around the theme "What do you do at the UW?" as long as the video is recorded on a pocket-sized device, like a mobile phone. Submissions are due by May 13, 2009.



-posted by Shawnna

Despite the recent push from the U.S. House of Representatives to delay televisions switch to digital until June 12, Comcast has already begun the transition in parts of Washington, Western Oregon and the San Francisco area. According to Comcast, expanded basic customers are eligible for one free basic set top box and two smaller "DTA" converter devices which will enable customers to view all previously available channels. The downside, these free boxes will no longer receive high definition signals and require an additional $6.95 per month to upgrade to an HD service that was once free... Ah, capitalism at its best.

Here's the most recent schedule for the Puget Sound region and a list of affected channels.

-posted by Shawnna

@VoxusPR is currently one of the top 50 elite profiles in Tacoma, Wash., according to TwitterGrader.com, with an overall rank of 100,543 out of nearly 2 million Twitter profiles. TwitterGrader allows Twitter users to enter in their screen names (and the names of others) into its algorithmic generator and find out how each user ranks on the Twitter scale. According to Mike Volpe, vice president of marketing for HubSpot (TwitterGrader's parent company), the grades are generated by taking the following into account:

1. Number of followers
2. Number of followers that your followers have (the power of your network)
3. Quantity and pace of updates
4. Additional proprietary analysis

Find out how you rank!

-posted by Shawnna

According to a recent article in the Tacoma News Tribune, Dell reached a deal in January with attorneys general from 34 states that, without admitting fault, they would pay up to $1.5 million in restitution to customers who experienced a repeated pattern of communication breakdowns. Dell owners who’ve had issues with financing, technical support, warranty repairs or cashing in a rebate must contact the attorney general’s office before April 13 to be reimbursed for money they can prove was lost. Consumers who have filed so far have received an average of $250 per claim, totaling $10,680 in Washington.

-posted by Shawnna

Sometimes (although rarely), I like to be healthy. In those rare, fleeting moments, I often pick up a copy of Seattle's Conscious Choice magazine to learn about the latest health fads. This month's issue had a particularly interested (and disgusting) topic: Shmeat. What on earth is shmeat? Well, its also known as virto meat, cultured meat, victimless meat, vat-grown meat and various other terms to describe meat that was basically grown in a test tube. Shmeat is grown from cell culture (harvested cells from an animal) and placed in a nutrient-rich medium (like blood). Once the cells multiple, they are attached to a spongy scaffold (or sheet) that has been socked with nutrients and stretched to increase cell size and protein content. Sheet + Meat = Shmeat. While this type of meat obviously has its pros and cons,  according to Jason Matheny, director of New Harvest, a nonprofit working to develop meat substitutes, “a single cell could theoretically produce the world’s annual meat supply.” That's one pro that's hard to overlook in a world still stricken with starving third world countries. Read on to learn more.



-posted by Shawnna

Seattle's Pet Holdings is skyrocketing! According to a recent TechFlash article, the company's comedy sites currently get more than five million page views a day.  The company's multiple sites include I Can Has Cheezburger, I Has A Hotdog and Engrish to name a few, and aims to exceed two billion page views this year. Quite a success if you ask me!




-posted by Shawnna

Everyone has heard of the term "Facebook Fired", a "verb" used to explain being fired for something you post on Facebook. Now, it’s Twitter's turn... In a recent article on MSNBC, it was uncovered that a recent tweet cost a would-be Cisco employee his potential job after posting:

"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco Alert, tweeted (responded) back:

"Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web."

Though the would-be "Cisco Fatty" immediately set his Twitter account to private and deleted everything from his page -- it was too late and the job offer was withdrawn. Ouch!



-posted by Shawnna

"What should I read next?" is a question the often stumps me going in to the local library. Luckily, this very question became the answer thanks to WhatShouldIReadNext.com. The site produces book recommendations based purely on collective taste - you enter the title and author of a book that you've enjoyed reading in the past, and the site pulls together a list of 10 recommended books that are considered similar based on mass opinion. I only spent a few minutes on the site, and already have a decent list of 'to read' books for my next library excursion.

-posted by Shawnna

ATTENTION ALL WOMEN! Have an innovative business idea in the consumer technology, wireless, Internet or biotech industry? Entries are now being accepted to the third-annual Women 2.0 Pitch 2009: Startup Competition. The competition is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web 2.0 to mobile and biotech, consumer clean tech to consumer hardware. Applying companies must be in beta-stage and have not received significant funding. Teams with at least ONE FEMALE in the founding team are invited to compete for a chance to win! Entries are due by April 10, 2009.

-posted by Shawnna

MySpace and Citi are partnering up to offer a Citi Forward/MySpace credit card! The credit card is marketed towards a younger generation (MySpace's target audience) and rewards responsible card holders by lowering the purchase interest rate by a quarter of a percent if used wisely. Card holders also receive "MySpace points" that can be redeemed for music downloads, contests, concerts, shows and other events. And card holders can accumulate additional points by participating in socially responsible acts such as using energy efficient light bulbs or volunteering. Who'd have thought one day you'd be using MySpace to get your next credit card!

-posted by Shawnna

The Daily Show tries to tackle Twitter: 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy

Hilarious! 

-posted by Shawnna

Here's another 'green' blog for you -- the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of protecting the environment and strengthening the economy, recently released its list of America's top 12 greenest cars of 2009.

According to a recent ACEEE release: Despite the beating taken by the industry in 2008 and more tough times ahead, this continues to be an exciting time for green vehicle technology. Manufacturers are fine-tuning their engines and transmissions, improving materials, and adding emissions control technologies to complete the phase-in of Tier 2 tailpipe standards and get a head start on meeting tightened federal fuel economy standards. Worries over the economy and future gas prices are driving interest in high fuel economy vehicles as well. “The economic downturn may put the brakes on technology investment in some sectors,” noted ACEEE Transportation Director Therese Langer. “But unstable fuel prices and a domestic auto industry in danger of being left in the dust by its foreign competitors make fuel efficiency technologies an essential investment in this business.”



-posted by Shawnna

At the Connectathon conference (2/23-27, Chicago), Nextrials will participate in an integration demonstration between clinical trials’ electronic data capture (EDC) technology and electronic health records (EHR) used within healthcare systems. The integration of EDC and EHR is currently one of the hottest topics in both pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. By integrating EDC products with EHR platforms, researchers will obtain a more efficient, more readily available solution for identifying and enrolling patients in new trials.  For example, case report forms can be pre-populated with data coming directly from existing electronic health records at diverse sites.  This increases performance and efficiency of data capture while also minimizing the potential for bad data related to re-entry into multiple systems. This type of environment also enables sponsors to test hypothetical enrollment trends and spot recruitment problems even before the study protocol is finalized -- ñ saving time and money. 

Nextrials’ award-winning Prism® melds sophisticated clinical trial management functionality with EDC in a single, integrated package. By receiving a constant flow of data, Prism enables sponsors and sites to fully utilize real-time integration of disparate information and data sources, such as a hospital’s EHR or patient records, to better provide a continuum of care for patients enrolled in clinical trials.

Connectathon, being sponsored by IHE, is a major milestone in the industry's progress towards integration and will redefine patient recruiting efforts and costs for clinical trials in the future. Those interested in learning more about the Connectathon or in attending the event can visit http://www.ihe.net/Connectathon/index.cfm.

-posted by Shawnna

On Friday (2/13), Nextrials pledged support for the American National Standards Institute’s (www.ansi.org) latest initiative to facilitate the use of electronic health information within global clinical research activities. One of the industry’s leading proponents for the integration of electronic data capture technology and electronic health records platforms, ANSI began the initiative last year at the request of the U. S. Department of Health and Human services; Nextrials joined the effort to provide support and to help develop the emerging standard.

ANSI is now seeking funding to continue its work to promote the development and adoption of a standard that advances the continuum of patient care through the use of electronic health records to further future research and clinical decisions. In addition to Nextrials, organizations participating in the effort so far include Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Digital Infuzion, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Research and Development, Partners HealthCare, PharmaNet, Inc. and Quintiles.

-posted by Shawnna

In 2009 and 2010, it is estimated that 140,000 U.S.-based jobs will be moved offshore, and more than 50% of those jobs will be in IT, according to the Hackett Group, a global strategic advisory firm. Fortunately, President Barack Obama has made keeping jobs in the U.S. one of his top priorities, and has already proposed tax breaks and initiatives geared towards creating jobs through spending. According to a recent article in Business Week, the proposed stimulus package would direct $20 billion at health information technology and the building of an infrastructure to promote the electronic exchange of health records. That investment will create or retain 86,820 jobs for one year in high-paying industries such as computer hardware manufacturing, software, and IT services. Additionally, the package also includes another $6 billion to improve broadband Internet access in the U.S. That amount would create or retain 29,892 direct telecom jobs for a year and 8,304 capital equipment jobs. If the package passes through Congress, it would definitely be a significant step towards keeping IT jobs here at home.

-posted by Shawnna

"Photo books is the most lucrative product category in photo merchandise, both in terms of revenue and growth opportunity, and is already generating more revenue than photo cards in both the U.S. and Western Europe,” said David Haueter, associate director of InfoTrends’ Photo Printing Trends Service.

On Wednesday (1/21), RPI announced that it set an industry record through the production of more than 1.3 million photo books in 2008.  This brings RPI's overall production tally to three million photo books since the product’s launch, representing a 60 percent year-over-year growth. With its recent expansion of corporate and manufacturing space, RPI is positioned as the largest digital printer on the West Coast and is capable of scaling to meet the increasing manufacturing and fulfillment demands of the rapidly growing photo products market.

Congratulations, RPI!

-posted by Shawnna

Looking for a token of love for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day that wont leave you feeling more robbed than romantic? VOXUS' client, RPI, which handles the manufacturing and fulfillment for consumer print-on-demand products for many of the leading ecommerce photo product websites, provides tips on how to create personalized gifts that are quick to create, fun to give and receive, and affordable for even the most frugal of us.

“Cupid might have to cut costs, but that doesn’t mean sweethearts should be showered with less meaningful gifts,” says John Perez, CEO of RPI. “This year, photo and memory books are extremely popular, and can be created for under $5. What could be more affordable than that?”

Perez points to four fabulous gift finds for under $10:

• Personalized Stationery Packs: Choose coordinating designs for notebooks, notepads and note cards to create a personalized stationery gift pack. Spiral bound notebooks come with a personalized cover and page options including designs for a wedding planner, baby book and a day planner. Snapfish by HP offers notebooks and notepads for $7.99-9.99, and note cards for as little as $1.08 apiece.

• Photo books: Make the perfect memory book for your partner by pulling together photos from exciting escapades and romantic rendezvous that have taken place during your relationship. Create a mini photo book with 12 double-sided full-photo pages at Walgreens for $5.99 per book.

• Memory books: Make a softbound memory book with your everlasting love letters or poetry at Wal-Mart for only $3.88.

• Calendars: Mark the dates for birthdays, anniversaries or other significant events with photos from throughout the year. Not only will personalized calendars help recipients remember special occasions, but will also remind them that you’re thinking of them 365 days a year. Calendars are available at Costco for $9.99 each.

• Stickers & Seals: With personalized photos and/or text, adhesive stickers add a personal touch to love letters as envelope seals or to decorate gift packages. Buy one sheet of 20 stickers from Costco for only $2.99.

-posted by Shawnna

I recently upgraded to a new cell phone (okay, it's an iPhone -ed) , and one of my favorite features is that it is a touchscreen. It makes the phone so sleek and stylish looking, and really makes it much easier to maneuver around on the Web. However, I absolutely distain the tiny touchscreen keyboard -- whoever created it must have had tiny hands or used only their pinky fingers to type -- its nearly impossible to properly type out a message on that thing! Luckily, a local Seattle-based company, Jott Networks, has come to the rescue with a service that allows you to capture notes, set reminders and calendar appointments, text message contacts and even transcribe your voicemail messages... all with your voice! I really wish I had this feature on my new phone...

Hands-free Email & Text Messaging:


-posted by Shawnna

Work with Word documents a lot? Ever get frustrated with Track Changes (or lack there of)? Ever wish there was an easier way to collaborate with your colleagues and/or clients on documents? Check out Writeboard, created by 37signals a developer of web-based applications for businesses. Writeboard is free, and allows you to invite multiple people to make edits and revisions to an online version of your document. Writeboard makes it really easy to view track changes, as well as compare past and present versions of your document.

Thanks go out to Mark Uehling, editor at ClinPage, for bringing this great site to my attention!

-posted by Shawnna

Technology is always more fun when you can use it to make mischief! VoIP is now taking prank phone calling to a new (and improved!) level. The new Disney’s Hannah Montana Wake-Up Call allows users to enter a phone number and the delightful Miley Cyrus’s voice will wake them up or send them a reminder: “Dear [name], don’t forget that today you have [activity].” There is no authentication of the user, which allows the user to enter any source phone number they want -- enabling the user to make the calls look like they are coming from someone else. Naughty, but fun!

Read more about this new service in Alistair Croll's blog entry in GigaOM.

-posted by Shawnna

Seattle has always been a 'green' city -- and now its taking it one step further. Right now, Seattle is currently considering putting into effect a bag fee and foam/plastic ban.

The bag fee, if passed, would charge shoppers 20 cents for each disposable plastic or paper bag used at grocery, convenience and drugstores starting in January 2009. Stores would keep a nickel to cover the cost of administering the fee. Small stores that gross less than $1 million annually would keep the entire 20 cents. Each household would receive at least one free, reusable shopping bag.

The foam/plastic ban, if passed, would require restaurants and grocery stores to switch from Styrofoam or other polystyrene containers and cups to plastic or biodegradable alternatives in January 2009. In July 2010, the ban would expand to include plastics, such as utensils and deli containers. Businesses would have to use all biodegradable containers.

Personally, as much as this may take some getting use to... This is an initiative that everyone in Seattle, and perhaps all of Washington, should support for a cleaner city and for future generations.

-posted by Shawnna

Within the telecom expense management (TEM) field, the issue of mobile device management has recently begun to take center stage. In a recent report from ABI Research, mobile device management services are predicted to grow from $583 million in 2007 to a whopping $20 billion by 2013 (a statistic recently highlighted in Gadget Network’s blog entry “Mobile Device Management Services, a $20 Billion Opportunity by 2013. But Who Will Manage?”). Our friends at Perlego Systems have secured a large corner of this market by offering a hosted, over-the-air solution that enable enterprises, carriers, device manufacturers and resellers to quickly deploy and control an entire fleet of mobile devices – regardless of OS platform or carrier.

-posted by Shawnna

Apple hasn't always caught my eye... making the MacBook Air a rare exception. Every time the commercial comes on, where the MacBook Air is pulled out of a manila envelope, the longing to own one intensifies. Recently, reviews for the MacBook Air have highlighted a few negative aspects. Including faults like the MacBook Air doesn't include a built-in optical drive, FireWire, Ethernet, mobile broadband, and the fact that it only has one USB port. And like with its other laptops, Apple refuses to outfit the Air with a media-card reader or an expansion card slot. There has even been controversy surrounding MacBook Air's claim to be the "world's thinnest notebook." Some say the Mitsubishi laptop from 1997 was even thinner. Still, none of these faults have stopped my wishful thinking that someday a trade will be made for my iBook G4 to a slim and sleek MacBook Air...

Find more info on one of MacBook Air's latest reviews.

-posted by Shawnna

Sprung from The Music Genome Project which assembled literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.
Check it out!

-posted by Shawnna

How often do you open your email and find the majority of the mail is spam?

Under a Washington state law enacted in March 1998 and amended in May 1999, it is illegal to send a commercial e-mail message that uses a third party's domain name without permission; that contains false or missing routing information; or with a false or misleading subject line. The law applies if a message is sent from within Washington; if the sender knows that the recipient is a Washington resident; or if the registrant of the domain name contained in the recipient's address will confirm upon request that the recipient is a Washington resident.

Read on to find out how one Washington resident made $31,575 by suing spammers.

-posted by Shawnna

Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is preparing one of its biggest updates of the toy's image; this summer, it will start selling plastic "Barbie Girls," a handheld MP3 player that can be accessorized like a doll and used to unlock special animations, make friends and shop in a virtual world on the Web. The toy is likely to test Mattel's ability to stay relevant in a Digital Age that has changed the way little girls play and socialize.
Read on...

-posted by Shawnna