Retirees burdened with mortgage payments


(PRWEB UK) 13 July 2012

Research by http://www.TheRetirementCentre.com reveals a staggering 21% of retirees are still paying off their mortgage each month, placing a significant strain upon their retirement income whilst they continue to make their monthly repayments.

The research revealed an average outstanding mortgage balance of

San Francisco, CA Modern Architecture Firm Hart Wright Architects Opens New Office in the Mission District to Expand Opportunities For Collaboration


San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 13, 2012

San Francisco modern architecture firm Hart Wright Architects has moved their office to a new location. The firm is a growing success and they decided it was time to move to an office that reflected their growth. Their new place of business is now in San Franciscos Mission District, a neighborhood well known for its restaurants, cultural venues and artist studios. There is ample public transit nearby and the location is central to the San Francisco downtown and other well-known neighborhoods.

This is what architect and urban designer Eliza Hart had to say about the move:

We are excited to be in a space shared with creative professionals and we can’t wait to collaborate and share ideas.

Principal Eliza Hart has separate masters degrees in both Architecture and Urban Planning from UCLA. Before forming HWA, Eliza was employed at S.F. Bay Area firms Studio Bergtraun Architects and Sagan Piechota Architecture. She has worked on a variety of residential and commercial projects, including remodels as well as new construction; with extensive experience spanning the full range from schematic design to construction documents to construction administration. Eliza also has a background in urban design and worked in Los Angeles with urban designer, architect and author, John Kaliski on a variety of projects. Her B.A. is from the University of Pennsylvania.

Principal and architect, Stuart Wright, has worked on a broad range of architectural projects and he bridges the gap between design and building. Prior to forming HWA, Stuart worked at Studio Bergtraun Architects, and before that at Sagan Piechota Architecture, specializing in modern residential projects. He is attentive to detail and knows that details are his best architectural expression. Stuart received his Master of Architecture at UCLA and studied at the Technical University in Vienna, Austria and at Studio Daniel Libeskind in Berlin, Germany. He holds a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan.

Hart Wright Architects’ new office is in The New Black or NWBLK, (http://www.thenwblk.com/) an American design and build headquarters with a 6000 square-foot retail gallery featuring an edit of relevant contemporary furniture, applied arts, and the objects of utility defining the 21st Century. The NWBLK brings to San Francisco a roster of yet to be seen designers, and products international in scope. With an in-house fabrication workshop, the NWBLK prototypes furniture and products for clients, and builds custom environments for events and exhibitions.

The NWBLK design offices provide a collaborative work environment for Hart Wright Architects, Lindsay Chambers, Hazel.wood Design Group, Steven Miller Design Studio, and more. Eliza Hart and Stuart Wright are looking forward to all the collaborative opportunities the NWBLK will have to offer.

About Hart Wright Architects

Hart Wright Architects is a green architecture, urban and landscape design firm based in San Francisco serving clients in Palto Alto, Atherton, Napa, Mill Valley and most of the Bay area. Through all phases of design and construction, HWA is committed to excellence in architectural design solutions, active problem solving, and the highest standards of client service. They recently became certified DBE for being a woman owned architecture business.

Hart Wright Architects

1999 Bryant Street

San Francisco, CA

(415) 503-7071

http://www.hartwrightarchitects.com

http://www.hartwrightarchitects.com/blog

This press release was prepared by Bobrow Consulting Group (BCG) for Hart Wright Architects. BCG works with building design professionals to build their business by optimizing their online strategy, teaching marketing for architecture firms as well as offering web design and SEO consulting services.







ThreatMetrix Named an AlwaysOn Global 250 Winner


San Jose, CA (PRWEB) July 12, 2012

ThreatMetrix, the fastest-growing provider of integrated cybercrime prevention solutions, announced today that it has been named one of the AlwaysOn Global 250 winners. ThreatMetrix was selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

This years AlwaysOn Global 250 companies have been shaken up by the recent surge in on-demand and mobile innovation, said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. This years winners are driving the technology market into new, uncharted territory, representing the highest-growth opportunities weve seen in the private company marketplace in the history of the Global Silicon Valley.

ThreatMetrix and the AlwaysOn Global 250 companies will be honored at the tenth annual Innovation Summit at the Computer History Museum on July 23th, 2012, where Alisdair Faulkner, chief products officer, ThreatMetrix, will join a panel of fellow executives from 4:20 5:00 p.m. to discuss The Challenges and Opportunities in Big Data. Faulkner will also present in the CEO Showcase on Tuesday, July 24, from 9:45 a.m. 10:30 a.m. where company executives are given the opportunity to share their business plans with potential strategic partners, customers, investors and business media.

ThreatMetrix is honored to be recognized as an AlwaysOn Global 250 company at the Innovation Summit, said Reed Taussig, CEO, ThreatMetrix. This opportunity further validates ThreatMetrix as a technology leader in Silicon Valley while we maintain our position as the only integrated provider of device identification and malware protection.

A full list of all the AlwaysOn Global 250 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn website at: http://www.aonetwork.com/AOStory/Announcing-2012-AlwaysOn-Global-250-Top-Private-Companies\ .

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand networking the Global Silicon Valley. AlwaysOn helped ignite the social media revolution in early 2003 when it launched the AlwaysOn network. In 2004, it became the first media brand to socially network its online readers and event attendees. AlwaysOns preeminent executive event series includes the Silicon Valley Innovation Summit, OnMedia, OnHollywood, IMPACT Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic, Venture Summit East, OnDemand, Venture Summit Silicon Valley, OnMobile, and GoingGreen Silicon Valley. The AlwaysOn network and live event series continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, and advertisers like no other media brand.

About ThreatMetrix

ThreatMetrix is the fastest-growing provider of integrated cybercrime prevention solutions. The ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Defender Platform helps companies protect customer data and secure transactions against fraud, malware, data breaches, as well as man-in-the browser (MitB) and Trojan attacks. The Platform consists of advanced cybersecurity technologies, including TrustDefender ID, which is cloud-based, real-time device identification, malware protection with TrustDefender Cloud and TrustDefender Client, as well as TrustDefender Mobile for smartphone applications. The company serves a rapidly growing global customer base across a variety of industries, including financial services, e-commerce, payments, social networks, government, and healthcare.

For more information, visit http://www.threatmetrix.com or call 1-408-200-5755.

New Teen-Run Company Takes the Spotlight


Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) June 30, 2012

Unlimited Ltd. Clothing is a relatively new clothing company based in the Los Angeles area which focuses on modern graphic designs on high quality clothing. Their new ‘Shapes’ Collection took over the Unlimited website about a week ago and has been doing extremely well. The new company is made up of two teenage students and their team of international artists.

Using crowd-sourcing these two students have been able to harness the international creativity of up-and-coming artists and use their graphic designs on high quality clothing. They currently have an Indiegogo campaign and will soon have a Kickstarter campaign as well. You can check the company out on Facebook, Instagram @UnlimitedLimited, or the company’s website.

In the future this underground company will have collections in partnership with bigger companies such as Alternative Apparel, American Apparel, and Brandy Melville. After their first collection with American Apparel selling out extremely quickly in June 2012, they plan on doing collaborations with big companies as well as small starting companies in the near and far future.







FusionRMS Launches New Scheduling Module for Point of Sale

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) July 13, 2012

FusionRMS announced today the release of a new scheduling module for their integrated Retail Management System. Fusion Scheduling targets single and multi-store retailers looking to better manage resources.

This new scheduling functionality dramatically simplifies the process of scheduling resources for our customers, says Mike Gill, President of FusionRMS. Our customers battle big box retailers every day. This new functionality continues our mission to equip them for that fight.

Fusion Scheduler provides an easy to use interface to define a resource and establish its basic availability. Whether it is a salon technician, a delivery truck or a hotel room, availability for the client defined resource is quickly and easily handled form the managers dashboard.

With availability defined, end users can, in real time, schedule tasks which consume user defined intervals, for the resources. These tasks (non inventory billable charges) can then be easily converted to a FusionPOS transaction with one key stroke for additional charges or final settlement. No need to enter any information twice. Further, because of the integration with FusionPOS all client information including historical purchases, special pricing, and demographics are at the operators fingertips. Finally, FusionPOS offers seamlessly, out of the box, integrate with many of todays accounting packages including SAGE 100, SAGE 500, SAP Business One and Acumatica.

Fusion Scheduling will be available for all FusionRMS clients on August 1, 2012.

For information on how FusionRMS can help grow your retail business, please contact their office at 214-420-5144 or go online to learn more at http://www.fusionrms.com

About FusionRMS

FusionRMS, is a division of Point Solutions LLC a Dallas, Texas based software publisher that focuses on providing integrated point of sale software systems custom designed for the retail environment. Their unique architecture integrates into most major accounting systems, and can be hosted in the cloud for maximum flexibility. Their strong and growing customer base in multi-store retail markets are spread throughout North America. For more information, please visit http://www.fusionrms.com.







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Blekko Debuts ROCKZi, the Visual Platform for Fresh Content Curation

Redwood Shores, CA (PRWEB) July 12, 2012

blekko today unveiled the all new ROCKZi, a social environment that delivers the power of curation to the everyday internet user. ROCKZi brings communities of likeminded people together to discuss and comment on timely and relevant news.

The new curated social platform features news boards with popular topic categories like sports, politics, fashion, tech, recipes and more. Users simply click on one of the news boards to view timely, quality content from top sources on the Web in an easily digestible format. In addition, on the news boards ROCKZi users vote stories up, share articles and comments with friends and, in the process, collect their own favorite content. ROCKZi users can contribute relevant content from any place on the Web through an easy to use browser bookmark.

ROCKZis great content, its state of the art design, and its very intuitive, low touch set of tools, creates a social platform that brings curation to the masses, said Rich Skrenta, CEO of blekko. Everyone reading content from anywhere in the web can now also be curating it.

The site is launching today with an initial 33 news boards and plans to expand to several hundred in the next few weeks and thousands by the end of the year. ROCKZi users will eventually have the ability to create their own custom news boards which they can share with their Facebook network and the ROCKZi community.

ROCKZi is blekkos initial effort at taking a different tack on the social and search divide. Rather than the traditional approach of adding more social features to the search interface, ROCKZi creates an independent, low-touch social environment that utilizes search assets and allows users to engage in the content they care about most.

As the number of news boards expands and we introduce more customizable Boards, this has the very powerful potential to revolutionize the way we discover good content on the increasingly cluttered Web, added Skrenta.

Social signals generated by the ROCKZi user base will eventually translate into search signals that blekko can use to identify the highest quality content and curate search results while pushing spam to the bottom.

The introduction of ROCKZi comes as blekkos audience continues to grow. Blekko was founded in 2007 to seek innovations that would eventually eliminate spam from search. In 2010 the company introduced its search engine and unveiled slashtag technology that essentially allowed experts to create vertical search so that results were curated to focus on the best sources on the Web. Users created 100,000 plus slashtags on topics as diverse as college football to gluten free. In May 2012, blekko recorded 5.5 million unique visitors who made more than 110 million searches.

For more information, visit: http://www.rockzi.com

About blekko

Founded in 2007, blekko has pursued technology innovations that would eliminate spam in search results. The company’s investors and strategic partners are Yandex, MLC Private Equity, U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital, PivotNorth Capital, and leading angel investors including Ron Conway, Mike Maples, Jeff Clavier, and Marc Andreessen. blekko has 44 employees, including former Google and Yahoo! Search engineers.







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The New Office Space Is All About Lifestyle


Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 30, 2012

Office space has been undergoing a major cultural revolution ever since post WWII. Directly after WWII, the office space became a reflection of self-worth. Then in the 80s it became a sharing open floorplan of cubicles. By the 90s, the high-tech start-ups pulled down the walls and the office space was wherever you could set down your laptop. We now live in a knowledge economy and lifestyle plays an important role in the office environment.

Small Army, a boutique ad agency, located in Bostons old Horticultural Hall, directly across the street from the Boston Symphony Orchestra tapped into this new trend in a big way. According to Steve Kolander, EVP/Creative Director of Small Army, We consider ourselves storytellers instead of ad guys, and we wanted an office space that felt more honest and less manufactured. In an effort to bring this unique direction to life, Small Army hired a young team of designers called The Makers Co. to make a space that was collaborative, free-thinking, imaginative and self-reflective.

Senior art director, Christian Williams of Small Army happened to be one of the Makers, and so with an intimate knowledge of its personality, Christian and his team began to sketch out ideas for the new space.

Leveraging the 30 ceilings, the initial concept began with dreams of a tree house. But, costs and a rapidly approaching move date quickly turned that plan into a phase 2 initiative.

Perhaps one of the more interesting and unique experiences about entering the Small Army workspace is the absence of a receptionist. Instead, graphics and unique architectural details serve as a guide into the space. The walkway is like falling through a rabbit hole into a storytelling factory. You pass through an editing bay room, and two phone rooms until you find yourself in a large living room with couches, chairs and 15-foot high windows with massive amounts of sunlight pouring in. Above the conference rooms sliding barnyard doors reads the moral to the Small Army story: The strongest relationships are built on shared beliefs. This is the centerpiece and rallying cry of every Small Army employee. According to Williams, The idea of working at a desk all day is antiquated thinking. Our goal was to create a variety of non-traditional spaces where people could break free of their desks and work in a setting that is most efficient to them.

As a result, The Makers created a caf

No Small Parts: The Role of Scale Models in Theater Set Design Opens at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures on September 18, 2012

Tucson, AZ (PRWEB) July 12, 2012

No Small Parts features the works of talented local scene designers whose masterful maquettes were created for productions by Arizona Opera, the University of Arizona School of Musics Opera Theater, the University of Arizona School of Theater, Film and Television and Arizona Theater Company.

A scene designer must interpret the script under the guidance of the director and define that world as it will appear on the stage. To be tasked with representing fearsome forces of nature or conveying deeply wrought emotions with little more than light and a few well placed scenic elements are creative challenges that can best be reworked and resolved in miniature. says The Mini Time Machine Museum Executive Director, Nina Daldrup. This exhibit will allow the viewer a glimpse of the artistic problem solving that happens behind the scenes.

In addition to full-color scale models, this exhibit will also include the designers scale drawings, white models and theatrical production photographs, illustrating the progressive phases of set design and the final outcome of the process in full scale on the stage. The work of scene designers Sally Day and Clare Rowe will be featured, among others.

Artists Biographies:

Sally Day is a freelance scene designer based in Tucson. Productions include Arizona Operas 2004 production of Il Tabarro / I Pagliacci and 2012 production of Cavalleria Rusticana / I Pagliacci. Ms. Day has designed nearly a dozen presentations for the U of As School of Music Opera Department. Other companies she has designed for include: Arizona Repertory Theatre Company, Borderlands Theatre, Bloodhut Theatre, Southwestern Ballet Company Dance Festival, New Articulations Dance Company (as Lighting Designer), a.k.a. theatre and Pima Community College. Ms. Day has trained outside of Tucson as both a scenic artist and design assistant at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington, Illinois.

Clare Rowe has worked professionally as a scene designer and painter for over 25 years. Rowe is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Theater, Film and Television. She teaches scenic painting, theatre graphics and scene design and supervises scenic production in properties and paints for all department productions.

About The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures:

Located in Tucson, Arizona, The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures is a nonprofit organization with the mission of sharing the artistic, historic, architectural and creative aspects of miniatures in an entertaining and interactive way. Since opening in September of 2009, the museum has welcomed more than 110,000 visitors. For more information about the museum and this exhibit, please visit http://www.theminitimemachine.org or call 520-881-0606. Photos available upon request.







Falcon Containers Awarded C-IED Mout Training Complex Project by the Department of the Air Force, Air Force Special Operations Command

Austin, TX (PRWEB) July 12, 2012

Falcon Containers, a leading provider of repurposed shipping containers, announced their recent military prime contract award to provide training systems and structures for the Department of the Air Force, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), 27th Special Operations Wing (27 SOW), Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico.

The Military Operations program and Urban Operations Department at Falcon Containers will be responsible for the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training site development, which will allow full mission profiles, designed to defeat the tactical challenges of improvised explosive devices (IED) as well as the strategic challenges of defeating the network that emplaces the IEDs.

We are excited and honored to be working with the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and to be part of this effort that enhances MOUT training for our warfighters. Training increases the success of their missions and their safe return home, said Mario Ravelo, VP Military Training Programs, Urban Operations Training at Falcon Containers.

This military project will give Falcon Containers the opportunity to bring together much of our expertise in repurposing shipping containers, including self fabrication, design and installation. The end result will be a simulated city made of containers, said Stephen Shang, CEO, Falcon Containers. This prime contract exceeds $ 13 million worth of military training structures and will consist of the design, fabrication, installation and integration of more than 570 containers into more than 350 buildings and associated instrumentation, control and after action review facilities. Falcon Containers will be locating these structures on Melrose Air Force Range (MAFR) in Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico.

The training system is funded by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and procured by 1st Lieutenant Kyle J. Gagnon, Flight Commander of the Commodities section for the 27th Special Operations Contracting Squadron (27 SOCONS), Cannon AFB. It is essential as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) and enemy tactics continue to evolve, the training facilities offered at MAFR must also evolve to ensure the highest level of training support, said 1st Lieutenant Gagnon.

Several Department of Defense Special Operations Forces (SOF) Components to include AFSOC, United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), Marines Special Operations Command (MARSOC), and interagency organizations will train on MAFR in joint operations designed to enhance their skill sets in support of their missions. The dynamic capability of this requirement allows changes to the complex layout; thereby providing updated scenarios based upon the ever-evolving IED tactics, techniques and procedures employed by todays insurgents. All of the environments include extensive C-IED problem sets and simulators as well as realistic environmental additions such as sight, sound, and smell generators configured in a way to provide the utmost realistic tactical situations encountered in the deployed environments. Specific areas in each environment contain audio and visual sensors to digitally record and play back the actual scenarios performed by ground and aircrews for after action review on how they communicate with each other to establish lessons learned through synchronicity of operations.

Completion of this requirement will bring a tremendous capability to Cannon AFB. Falcon Containers proposed a high level of technical capabilities and cost-effective value to this project. We are very confident Falcon Containers will do a great job and we are thrilled to get started, said 1st Lieutenant Gagnon.

About Falcon Containers:

Founded in 2003, Falcon Containers repurposes shipping containers to simplify their customers operations. Applications include portable storage containers, military training assets, customized conex containers, and shipping container homes. Falcon has served numerous customers in the Central Texas area and the US Department of Defense throughout the United States. More information can be found at http://www.FalconContainers.com.

About Canon Air Force Base and Melrose Air Force Range:

Cannon Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Clovis, New Mexico. It is under the jurisdiction of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The Melrose Air Force Range (MAFR) is the primary training range for the host unit at Cannon -the 27th Special Operations Wing (27 SOW) assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The 27 SOW plans and executes specialized and contingency operations using advanced aircraft, tactics and air refueling techniques to infiltrate and supply special operations forces (SOF) and provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and close air support in support of SOF operations. More information can be found at http://www.cannon.af.mil.







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