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Newport Helps “Usher in New Era” of Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure

Posted: May 30, 2012 at 6:14 pm


ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Newport Group, a leading provider of retirement and executive benefit plans, has been in the forefront of helping financial advisors and plan sponsors prepare for new DOL fee disclosure regulations.

The Newport Group, a leading provider of retirement and executive benefit plans, is helping educate financial advisors and plan sponsors about new Department of Labor (DOL) regulations which will require retirement plan recordkeepers to disclose service fees and investment expenses differently than in the past.

Newport has been preparing for these new fee disclosure requirements for over a year, in advance of final regulations issued this spring. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Newport has conducted a well-received communications campaign to both retirement plan sponsors and their financial advisors, through a series of newsletters, webcasts, sample disclosures, and online presentationsas well as a special presentation during its annual Advisor Conference. The firms longstanding practice of full fee disclosure fits well with the new requirements, noted Rob Schaffernoth, Newport Vice President, Retirement Services.

At Newport, we fully support the DOLs efforts to help plan sponsors and participants understand the true costs of their retirement plans, said Schaffernoth. For many years, Newport has led the industry in fee transparency, and our plan sponsors have consistently recognized this by naming us best in class for both fee disclosure and fee fairness.

Deadlines for the disclosures are drawing near, Schaffernoth noted. The deadline for providers to disclose fees to plan sponsors is July 1, 2012. Sponsors themselves must begin to provide full fee information to their employees beginning August 30, 2012.

For plan sponsor fee disclosure, service providers must provide sponsor fee disclosures not just by the deadline, but as any changes are made to service agreements, investment menus, or fee structures. Newport will deliver its disclosure to each associated financial advisor and subsequently to each plan sponsor. It will also be available online through the firms plan management website plandestination.com.

Plan sponsors must provide participant fee disclosure when employees initially become eligible for the plan and at least annually thereafter, after initial disclosures in August. Newport will support sponsors and their advisors by providing a draft participant disclosure delivered to advisors and plan sponsors. Newport has redesigned its quarterly retirement account statements to show any administrative and transaction expenses incurred by the plan participant.

Schaffernoth added that Newports in-house experts are available on a consulting basis to support advisors and plan sponsors in understanding the new regulations.

Clearly, compliance with the DOL regulations entails a significant marshalling of resources, Schaffernoth commented. Were encouraged by the feedback weve received from plan advisors, who have been very complimentary about the amount of information weve provided, and the guidance offered by our in-house legal staff. We look forward to helping to usher in a new era of openness about plan fees in the retirement services industry.

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:14 pm

Posted in Retirement

How Well Is Dell?

Posted: at 6:13 pm


By Rita Chattaraj - May 30, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, DELL, HPQ, RIMM | 0 Comments

Rita is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Worlds third largest PC manufacturer, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), came out with its fiscal 2013 first quarter earnings last Tuesday and the results fell short of the expectations. The company is facing intense competition from all angles and is attempting to manage them through restructuring and repositioning itself. Here is all that has happened and all that is happening.

A look at the numbers The PC maker delivered a top line of $14.4 billion, reflecting a 4% fall from the year ago period. The revenues from its security and services businesses were up 31% and 4%, while that from the software and peripheral business plunged 7%. The most disappointing performance was delivered by the notebook business which fell by 10%.

Lower than expected sales along with poor economic conditions were responsible for the relatively poor performance of Dell in the first quarter. Another factor that negatively affected the top line was the availability of substitutes. Consumers are prioritizing the purchase of other mobile devices over personal computers. However, Dell is not the only player who is facing these issues. Its peer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), which reported results similar to that of Dell, is also in a similar soup.

What else is going on? Among the major IT players who are seeking to gradually shift their business focus from the relatively low-margin personal computers and peripherals, Dell is surely walking the talk. The IT giant seeks to position itself as an end to end IT provider.

But, what is the need for this diversification and what is Dell doing about it? Lets look into these.

The market environment in which Dell functions is a mature and a saturated one. The demand for personal computers is shrinking every day as more and more people are actively shifting to tablets from manufacturers such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Samsung, Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), HCL and many others. In such times it is risky to be stuck with the personal computers business. Dell needs to adopt itself to the changing environment and be flexible.

Now we come to how Dell is trying to deal with the diversification strategy. Dell is trying to take a more service-oriented structure. The company is looking at enhancing its portfolio of cloud-based solutions, security and software solutions through inorganic growth. This IT giant has announced five acquisitions out of which three deals have already been closed this year. The most recent merger, which took place in the last week of May, was that of Wyse Technology, a leading cloud-based service provider. With more than 180 patents under the belt of Dell Wyse, Dell is now the market leader in Thin Clients. Dell is also in talks with Quest Software, a network security software provider, to acquire the later. Apart from Quest, Dell is eying BMC Software, as another target.

The bottom line Its very clear that a lot is going on in the IT M&A space and Dell seems to be a pretty active participant. However, the Company needs to act fast on its plans as its competitor Hewlett-Packard is also active in this space. Being just fit wont ensure survival anymore. Survival of the most adaptable is the new rule of the game. Dells strategy seems to be logical, but how soon will these moves start paying off is what actually matters. Dell first needs to find synergies among its core business and those it is acquiring and then it needs to sync them together if it wants to become an end to end IT provider.

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:13 pm

New Technology from Momentive Performance Materials Focuses on Fastest Growing Trends in …

Posted: at 6:13 pm


ALBANY, N.Y. - Momentive Performance Materials Inc., a leading global provider of silicones and advanced materials, focused on some of the fastest growing trends in personal care products with new additive technology exhibited at NYSCC Suppliers' Day in Edison, New Jersey, May 15-16. These trends include enhanced color protection, as more and more consumers with different hair types are coloring their hair; advanced thermal protection, as the popularity of thermal hair styling continues to grow; more effective sun protection, with continued consumer concern over the harmful effects of ultraviolet light; and improved sustainability, with increasing consumer interest in products that have minimized or eliminated the use of such ingredients as parabens and ethylene oxide.

Momentive's celebrated history of innovation in personal care technology traces back more than 25 years with the introduction of the first commercialized silicone for 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner in 1986. Since then, the company has helped many of the personal care industry's leading brands bring competitively differentiated products to market that address key consumer preferences in hair care, sun care, skin care and color cosmetics.

"Over the years, the science behind feeling beautiful has grown increasingly complex, as the range of benefits offered to consumers has become more diversified and personal care products themselves becoming more versatile or more specialized," said David Cohon, Global Marketing Director, Personal Care, Momentive Performance Materials. "At Momentive, our job is to help our customers continually create and feed consumer demand by providing additives that help their formulations do more. It's hard for consumers to see, but there's a lot of science that goes into helping them look and feel their best. And because these are consumer products, formulators want to work with companies they can trust - companies, such as Momentive, that have been in the business for years and have the global bandwidth to develop and deliver products anywhere they are needed."

Recent product introductions that offer some of the most sought-after product performance and processing benefits are highlighted below.

o Silsoft* AX-E conditioning agent - can promote excellent thermal and color protection in hair products, as well as smoothness and shine without greasiness. o Silsoft Q PF cationic silicone terpolymer - can help enhance volume and body while providing outstanding softness to the hair. o SME253 PF amine functional silicone microemulsion - can help hair care products deliver excellent conditioning in addition to color protection. o SilForm* 60-A emulsifier - can act as a highly stabilizing water-in-oil (W/O) emulsifier for a broad spectrum of oils. Through a significantly higher concentration of polyether silicone copolymer than standard products of this type, this emulsifier can achieve high levels of actives in a gentler carrier, while improving wash-off resistance and remaining aesthetically pleasing. o SilForm EOF emulsion - is manufactured without the use of ethylene oxide (EO) and propylene oxide (PO). Formulators can use this EO-free, W/O emulsifier at low usage levels to formstable emulsions with many cosmetic oils. o SilForm FR-10/SilForm FR-5 fluids - can be used to help form a highly flexible film on the surface of the skin for typically longer lasting comfort, greater water and oil resistance and extended durability in sun care, skin care and color cosmetics formulations.

For more information about Momentive's solutions for the personal care industry, please call 800.295.2392 in North America (+1 614 986 2495 everywhere else), email 4information@momentive.com or visit http://www.momentive.com.

About Momentive Performance Materials Inc. Momentive Performance Materials Inc. is a global leader in silicones and advanced materials, with a 70+ year heritage of being first to market with performance applications for major industries that support and improve everyday life. The company delivers science-based solutions, by linking custom technology platforms to opportunities for customers. Momentive Performance Materials Inc. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Momentive Performance Materials Holdings LLC. Additional information is available at http://www.momentive.com.

About Momentive Momentive Performance Materials Holdings LLC is the ultimate parent company of Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. (collectively, "Momentive"). Momentive is a global leader in specialty chemicals and materials, with a broad range of advanced specialty products that help industrial and consumer companies support and improve everyday life. The company uses its technology portfolio to deliver tailored solutions to meet the diverse needs of its customers around the world. Momentive was formed in October 2010 through the combination of entities that indirectly owned Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. The capital structures and legal entity structures of both Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. (formerly known as Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.), and their respective subsidiaries and direct parent companies, remain separate. Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. file separate financial and other reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Momentive is controlled by investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC. Additional information about Momentive and its products is available at http://www.momentive.com.

*Silsoft and SilForm are trademarks of Momentive Performance Materials Inc.

Media Contact Nancy Pitts +001-203-801-0836 Nancy.Pitts@momentive.com Ed Farris +001-518-533-4735 Ed.Farris@momentive.com

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Citi Awarded Mandate to Provide Fund Administration Services for Phoenix Personal Provident Funds

Posted: at 6:13 pm


TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Citi (C) was awarded a mandate to provide fund administration services for Phoenix Pension & Provident Funds, Limited (Phoenix), to support their new personal provident fund offering, a form of retirement savings through defined contribution schemes.

Phoenix is one of the leaders in the industry of personal provident funds in Israel. Motti Dahan, CEO, Phoenix said: We selected Citi to provide administration services because of its robust operational platform, its global network and ability to leverage the best practices of its fund services business in support of our new funds. Citis profile matches the needs of our clients and the high standard of service we provide. Phoenix is leading the industry of personal provident funds and I am convinced that the cooperation with Citi will bring great benefits to our clients and maintain the leading edge position of our company.

Citi launched fund administration services in Israel in March 2012 and this mandate represents Citis first fund administration agreement with a local institutional asset manager. With a local presence since 2000, Citi currently has over 150 employees in Israel.

One of Citis strengths is our ability to offer a wide range of products and services to support the needs of our clients and provide them with tailored solutions, said Ralph Shaaya, CEO, Citi Israel. We are pleased to announce this first mandate for fund administration services and look forward to continuing to grow our business.

Sanjiv Sawhney, Global Head of Fund Services, Citi Transaction Services added: This deal illustrates Citis ability to combine global resources and practices with local expertise to offer our clients best-of-breed solutions. I am confident that this will prove to be a valuable fund administration model for our clients in Israel.

Citi is a leading global service provider to the fund industry with over $1.5 trillion in assets under fund administration. In addition to its award-winning fund administration services, Citi offers fund and partnership accounting, transfer agency and distribution support, alternative investment services and a full suite of asset manager solutions through Citi OpenInvestorSM.

Citi OpenInvestor is the investment services solution for todays diversified investor, combining specialized expertise, comprehensive capabilities and the power of Citis global network to help clients meet performance objectives across asset classes, strategies, and geographies. With an on-the-ground presence in over 95 countries and over $13 trillion in assets under custody, Citi offers award winning service and unmatched scale. Citi provides complete investment services for institutional, alternative, and wealth managers delivering middle office, fund services, custody, investing and financing solutions focused on clients specific challenges, customized to their individual needs.

###

About Citi

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Gramicci Sets New Industry Standard for Performance Wear

Posted: at 6:13 pm


AGOURA HILLS, CA--(Marketwire -05/30/12)- As the outdoor industry's sole manufacturer of truly all natural, organic performance wear, Gramicci recently received independent testing confirming the brand's Natural Performance Technology (NPT) apparel performs as well, or better than, chemically-treated cottons or petroleum-based synthetics.

SGS (www.sgs.com) testing compared Gramicci NPT shirts against popular market leaders' chemically-treated performance cottons and petroleum-based synthetic performance knitwear. Test results conclusively established that Gramicci products excelled in areas of moisture absorption, breathability, dry time, comfortable body-temperature maintenance and odor elimination.

Three years after launching Natural Performance Technology, Gramicci regularly hears from hundreds of climbers, hikers, runners, endurance racers and other athletes who say NPT is their new go-to performance apparel of choice.

"The retailer doesn't know or doesn't believe performance wear can be natural or organic. We are the only brand making performance apparel that is truly all natural and organic," said Gramicci President Marty Weening. "Consumers don't have to settle for active wear that's been chemically treated to add performance -- nature has already provided us with hemp and organic cotton. Our proprietary weave results in, a tested, outstanding all natural, organic performance wear."

Gramicci introduced NPT fabrics with a modest selection of men's and women's separates in 2010. Now NPT collections have been further refined and expanded by 160 percent. The active wear collections are geared at anyone from a high-performance sports enthusiast to a consumer looking for fashionable, sustainably produced lifestyle clothing.

The raw materials for Gramicci NPT garments are grown without pesticides or insecticides that poison the earth, water sources and the humans that harvest it. There is little to no shrinkage, no twisting or torqueing of side seams. The NPT series is dyed with Gramicci's low-impact Bastion dye process creating Gramicci's signature "perfectly imperfect" look, and now, complete with performance that is all natural.

Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) research confirms Weening's thoughts, showing some $290 billion spent annually for goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living in the U.S.

Gramicci's organic products have received certification from GOTS, OE Blended and OE 100 certified. Gramicci is also a fair labor manufacturer assuring fair wages, clean work environments and zero-tolerance child labor policies. http://www.gramicci.com.

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Breno case clouds Bayern success

Posted: at 6:13 pm


Bayern Munich were probably the most impressive team in the Champions League this week but as any pessimist will tell you, every silver lining has a cloud, or in the Bavarians' case a roaring fire.

Bayern outplayed Premier League moneybags Manchester City, their 2-0 win a just reward for an outstanding display at the stadium that will host this season's final.

In England, the result was overshadowed by Carlos Tevez's one-man strike, but Bayern fans were aghast this week after defender Breno was held in police custody, accused of burning down his own house.

The Brazilian defender, who has played more than 20 games since being signed for 11 million, was alone in his luxury villa in the swanky Munich district of Gruenwald when a fire ripped through the property, causing more than a million euros of damage.

Forensic tests suggest that the fire was set deliberately.

So the 21-year-old Breno, or plain old Herr Vinicius Rodrigues Borges as he is now known to Munich police, is the prime suspect.

Considered a flight risk, he remains in a police cell.

With the suicide of German national goalkeeper Robert Enke a recent memory, the country is sensitive to players' mental health. Breno's psychiatrist rushed to the player's defence.

"Professional football is not just a question of injured muscles or knees," declared Professor Florian Holsbauer. ''We must also deal with the psyche, the injuries in the brain."

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Posted in Personal Success

Pets Best Insurance Offers MyMedicalRecords.com Personal Health Record to 600,000 Veterinarians and Pet Owners …

Posted: at 6:12 pm


LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire -05/30/12)- MMRGlobal, Inc. (MMRF) ("MMR") today announced that Pets Best Insurance (www.petsbest.com), a nationwide organization dedicated to insuring the health of America's millions of dogs and cats, is now offering MMR's flagship MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record (PHR) as part of its BestWellness Program. MyMedicalRecords is the only Personal Health Record that covers all members of a family including pets at no additional cost. The offer appears in more than 600,000 e-mails to vets and consumers starting this week, and is featured on the Pets Best website http://www.petsbest.com/community/special-offers. Pet owners can also access the offer at https://www.mymedicalrecords.com/petsbest.

Considering that more than 60% of Americans own a dog and 34% of American households have a cat, MMR believes this offer and others like it will ultimately be seen by millions of pet owners. The Company has already offered its Personal Health Record products through Dancing Paws (www.dancingpaws.com), a company partially owned by MMRGlobal's CEO Bob Lorsch.

MyMedicalRecords is MMRGlobal's premier consumer-controlled Personal Health Record product designed to allow families to maintain all their medical records for up to 10 family members, including their pets, in one secure online location and access them anytime from anywhere in the world over an Internet-connected device. MyMedicalRecords is the only PHR that can store actual copies of patient files in their original format from any healthcare professional and connect patients to their providers via a patented telecommunications platform which seamlessly integrates Internet, fax and voice. MyMedicalRecords also comes with a MyEsafeDepositBox in which important documents such as copies of birth certificates, advance directives, mortgage documents, marriage license, passport information, precious family photos and more can be stored at no extra charge.

Users who sign up for a MyMedicalRecords account can also receive a personalized Emergency Wallet Card featuring a picture of themselves with their pet that connects doctors and emergency personnel to potentially life-saving information accessed through MyMedicalRecords' special Emergency Login portal.

About MMRGlobal, Inc.

MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., provides secure and easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare professionals, employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, and professional organizations and affinity groups. The MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and families to access their medical records and other important documents, such as birth certificates, passports, insurance policies and wills, anytime from anywhere using the Internet. MyMedicalRecords is built on proprietary, patented technologies to allow documents, images and voicemail messages to be transmitted and stored in the system using a variety of methods, including fax, phone, or file upload without relying on any specific electronic medical record platform to populate a user's account. The Company's professional offering, MMRPro, is designed to give physicians' offices an easy and cost-effective solution to digitizing paper-based medical records and sharing them with patients in real time through an integrated patient portal. MMR is an Independent Software Vendor Partner with Kodak to deliver an integrated turnkey EMR solution for healthcare professionals. Through its merger with Favrille, Inc. in January 2009, the Company acquired intellectual property biotech assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies and data and samples from its FavId/Specifid vaccine clinical trials for the treatment of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about MMRGlobal, Inc. visit http://www.mmrglobal.com. View demos and video tutorials of the Company's products and services at http://www.mmrtheater.com.

About Pets Best InsurancePet insurance plans offered and administered by Pets Best Insurance are underwritten by Independence American Insurance Company, a Delaware Insurance company. Independence American Insurance Company is a member of The IHC Group, an insurance organization composed of Independence Holding Company, a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and its operating subsidiaries. The IHC Group has been providing life, health and stop loss insurance solutions for nearly 30 years. For information on The IHC Group, visit: http://www.ihcgroup.com. In states in which Independence American Insurance Company's new policy form has not yet received regulatory approval, Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut will underwrite policies. To determine the underwriter in your state, please call Pets Best at 1-866-929-3807.

For more information, visit Pets Best Insurance at http://www.petsbest.com or phone 877-PetsBest (738-7237). You may also follow them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/petsbestinsurance.

Forward-Looking StatementsAny statements contained in this press release that refer to future events or other non-historical matters are forward-looking statements, and some can be identified by the use of words (and their derivations) such as "need," "possibility," "offer," "development," "if," "negotiate," "when," "begun," "believe," "achieve," "will," "estimate," "expect," "maintain," "plan," "help" and "continue," or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. MMRGlobal, Inc. disclaims any intent or obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on MMRGlobal, Inc.'s reasonable expectations as of the date of this press release and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. The information discussed in this release is subject to various risks and uncertainties related but not limited to changes in MMRGlobal, Inc.'s business prospects, its results of operations or financial condition; current uncertainty and instability in financial and lending markets including global economic uncertainties; the risk the Company's products and services are not adopted or viewed favorably by the healthcare community; new programs and distribution channels for our products; the ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; competitive product offerings and promotions; government regulation and changes in healthcare initiatives; maintaining, developing and defending our intellectual property rights; licensing and exploitation of our patent portfolio both in the U.S. and internationally; and such other risks and uncertainties as detailed from time to time in MMRGlobal, Inc.'s public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:12 pm

The environment and pharmaceuticals and personal care products: What are the big questions?

Posted: at 6:12 pm


ScienceDaily (May 30, 2012) Researchers at the University of York headed a major international review aimed at enhancing efforts to better understand the impacts of chemicals used in pharmaceuticals or in personal care products, such as cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, deodorants and toothpastes (PPCPs), on the natural environment.

Over the last two decades, scientists and regulators have raised concerns over the potential environmental effects and risks of the 4,000 pharmaceuticals and substantial number of personal care products that are used by society.

Following use, these substances can be released to the sewer system and can end up in rivers, aquifers and soils. Many PPCPs have been detected in the natural environment across the world. Though reported concentrations are generally low, some people are worried that, due to the biological activity of these substances, they could be adversely affecting the health of the environment and may also be getting into drinking water supplies.

The researchers in the University of York's Environment Department, working with academic, government and industry colleagues in the USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, S. Korea and Argentina identified key outstanding issues regarding the effects on human and ecological health in order that future resources will be focused on the most important areas. Their findings are published in the latest issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

They developed a 'Top 20' list of questions about issues that need to be addressed to better understand and manage the risks of PPCPs in the environment. An international expert workshop reduced an initial list of 101 potential questions to a final 20 ranked by importance.

The top 20 questions fell into seven categories:

Professor Alistair Boxall, of the Environment Department at York, who led the review, said: "A large body of information is now available on PPCPs in the environment. This exercise has prioritised the most critical questions to aid in development of future research programmes and policy development on this important topic The development of the 'top 20 list' should mean that researchers, regulators and industry can begin to work more closely together to answer the most pressing questions in a coordinated and timely manner."

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:12 pm

Music to Our Ears: How Headphones Changed Our World

Posted: at 6:12 pm


A short philosophical history of personal music

If you are reading this on a computer, there is a 50% chance that you are wearing, or are within arm's reach of, a pair of headphones or earbuds.

To visit a modern office place is to walk into a room with a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of workers listen to music on their headphones, and the vast majority thinks it makes us better at our jobs. In survey after survey, we report with confidence that music makes us happier, better at concentrating, and more productive.

Science says we're full of it. Listening to music hurts our ability to recall other stimuli, and any pop song -- loud or soft -- reduces overall performance for both extraverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music with lyrics to lower scores on concentration tests for college students, and other research have shown music with words scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. "As silence had the best overall performance it would still be advisable that people work in silence," one report dryly concluded.

If headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have headphones? And why are our bosses letting us drive ourselves to distraction?

There is an economic answer: The United States has moved from a farming/manufacturing economy to a service economy, and more jobs "demand higher levels of concentration, reflection and creativity." This leads to a logistical answer: With 70 percent of office workers in cubicles or open work spaces, it's more important to create one's own cocoon of sound. That brings us to a psychological answer: Evidence that music relaxes our muscles, improves our mood, and can even moderately reduce blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety. What music steals in acute concentration, it returns to us in the form of good vibes.

That brings us finally to our final cultural answer: Headphones give us absolute control over our audio-environment, allowing us to privatize our public spaces. This is an important development for dense office environments in a service economy. But it also represents nothing less than a fundamental shift in humans' basic relationship to music.

A SHORT HISTORY OF PRIVATE MUSIC

In 1910, the Radio Division of the U.S. Navy received a freak letter from Salt Lake City written in purple ink on blue-and-pink paper. Whoever opened the envelope probably wasn't expecting to read the next Thomas Edison. But the invention contained within represented the apotheosis of one of Edison's more famous, and incomplete, discoveries: the creation of sound from electrical signals.

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:12 pm

Connectyx Announces Life Line Screening Healthy Rewards(TM) Program Powered by MedFlash(R)

Posted: at 6:12 pm


SOURCE: Connectyx Technologies Holdings, Inc.

Connectyx's Development of White Label MedFlash Platform Enables Companies to Build Own Brand Utilizing MedFlash Personal Medical Record Back End

STUART, FL--(Marketwire - May 30, 2012) - Connectyx Technologies Holdings Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: CTYX) ("Connectyx"), http://www.connectyx.com, manufacturer and distributor of the MedFlash, a Personal Health and Wellness Management System (ePHM) designed for maintaining personal health records (ePHR), announced today the rollout of Life Line Screening's white label personal medical record pilot for Life Line Screening's new Healthy Rewards program powered by Connectyx's MedFlash platform.

The Life Line Screening Healthy Rewards program offers members unlimited access to MedFlash's Personal Health Manager, a simple-to-use web-based electronic personal health manager to store health, lifestyle and medical information securely and confidentially. Personal Health Manager comes with user friendly web-based software which enables members to quickly enter their information and access it anywhere an Internet connection is accessible or to print out before a doctor's visit. Plus, personal health information can be accessed in five different ways, allowing a first responder, healthcare professional or family member access to your health information in an emergency. Prescription information can be stored, thereby reducing the potential for drug interactions and medicine errors. As an added benefit, members will have access to a toll-free number, 24/7 Nurse Advice Hotline so members can speak to a health professional anytime.

"Portability and security of personal health information is important to our customers. We are pleased to be providing access to the MedFlash platform as part of our Healthy Rewards program," Joelle Reizes, Communications Director for Life Line Screening, said.

Ronn Schuman, President & CEO of Connectyx Technologies, said, "We are excited to work with Life Line Screening as they are advocates of health and wellness and have many benefits that we can also pass on to our general membership. This synergy coupled with the release of our white label platform which allows our strategic partners to customize and brand MedFlash to fit the needs of their specific customer relationship-retention programs, tracked with our affiliate administrative program will be a win-win partnership for both companies."

To be added to the corporate e-mail database for corporate press releases and industry updates, investors and shareholders are requested to send an e-mail to investorrelations@connectyx.com.

About Life Line Screening

Since 1993, Life Line Screening's corporate mission has been to enable people to be aware of unrecognized health problems and encourage them to take a pro-active approach to their own wellness. Life Line Screening is the leading provider of community-based preventive health screenings in the United States. Life Line Screening uses advanced ultrasound equipment identical to the equipment found in hospitals and medical centers. Screenings are performed by highly trained healthcare professionals and all scan results are reviewed by board-certified physicians to ensure the highest standards. The company has screened over 7 million people since 1993, and screens over 1 million people each year at over 16,000 screening events nationwide. Life Line Screening has often identified serious health issues and has helped save thousands of lives. For more information about Life Line Screening, please visit http://www.lifelinescreening.com.

About Connectyx Technologies

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May 30th, 2012 at 6:12 pm


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