I
pull up the monofilament line as smoothly and carefully as I can,
looking down the hole in the ice, into green-black water. I keep seeing a
bright triangle down there. I get excited and then disappointed.
Shucks, it's only the reflection of my sunburnt nose.
"Now
to the center!" Opik murmurs beside me. It's her hand-line, her bait.
She's smiling, perfect pearly white teeth in a tanned and pretty
face.Guardian's standing moldmaker offers a temporary solution to tie off and stay in compliance on standing seam roofs.
Hand
over hand, I pull the brown line, and now in the dimness the big pale
underbelly of a king crab is rising steadily, gripping the tomcod bait,
not willing to let go of her fortune -- same as me -- as I draw her up
into the hole in the ice, into my hands.
On
the ice, the crab settles onto the points of its claws on the snow.
Tenuously it angles sideways, toward the nearby open lead. I snatch it
up, turn it upside down and add it to Opik's catch, pinning it with a
chunk of ice across the body as I've seen her do.
We're
on smooth ice, a couple hundred yards off Little Diomede Island, sheer
rock cliffs behind us and, 30 feet away, the cold black waves of an open
lead -- the edge of nowhere, or right in the middle of everywhere,
depending on your perspective. To the south is the dark water that
showed up last night when the wind rose; to the north white jumbled sea
ice. The only thing to the western horizon: rock, Russia and tomorrow.
There
are no willows on Diomede, no trees, no trucks, no trails that lead to
anywhere else on the planet. Back around the corner of the cliffs, in
the tiny village, I've seen only one spot possible to even turn a sno-go
around. Houses are on stilts, plugged into the rocks. This is a
bird-nest community, a handful of houses clinging to cliffs.
I've
lived my life in the Arctic, in igloos and tents, heard a thousand
candlelit conversations about lonesome, wild and remote. But nowhere
from the Florida Keys to Point Barrow is remote like Diomede. Those
places are metropolitan, contiguous, connected. This is beyond the edge.
In late April I flew south to Nome, carried my heavy duffle bags to the Evergreen hanger.Other companies want a piece of that solaronlamp actionWith superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other laundrydryer products.
I had frozen caribou in those bags, bear fat and muktuk -- I was
worried about going hungry. And worried about my commitment to coerce
kids into writing art that could go on the walls of the Diomede school.
Inside
the cluttered hanger, a tall man named Simon with a black ponytail
stuffed my luggage into the cargo hold of a helicopter. I was excited to
fly over sea ice in a chopper, a link in the Essential Air Service --
the most expensive mail service in America -- to Diomede.
The
flight, it turned out, was on hold for weather. (In order to make it
way out there to the international date line the mail chopper has to be
able to refuel on the return in Wales, which means all three communities
must have weather above legal minimums.) I'd already heard that nothing
was simple about helicopters. Now I was learning that about Diomede.
In
the morning we again loaded the chopper. I even got as far as putting
on the orange life vest -- before the weather dropped again. Luckily,
word came that Bering Air was launching in a fixed wing aircraft to
attempt the ice runway. They agreed to hold the plane a few minutes
while we scrambled. A day or two late to Dio -- apparently that means
right on time.
After
a hundred miles or so droning northwest in the Caravan, ahead in the
pilots' window came the first view of gray rock rising out of white sea
ice and the black zigzags of open water. The Cessna dropped lower, swept
around the shoulder of the island. Below tiny gray rectangles of a
handful of buildings clung to the rocks.
Alarms
went off as the plane dropped toward the ice and a mechanical voice
repeatedly warned "Don't sink! Don't sink!" The GPS system didn't
believe there was a runway under us. Peering down, who could blame it?
On
the ice, everyone moved fast. Strangely, it reminded me of leaping out
of a plane at 11,Basics, technical terms and advantages and
disadvantages of drycabinets.000
feet -- skydiving -- time sort of compressed, and the community way
over there like tiny boxes across the ice. People rushed around getting
the plane unloaded, climbing on a sled, sno-going half a mile to the
island, hauling bags up a steep drift and into a shoveled trench to the
school.
Inside,About airpurifier in
China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. the
modern building buzzed, a warm and confusing maze of doors and hallways
and the smell of breaded chicken nuggets and canned corn. A room full of
Mac computers hummed, people moved in and out, classrooms were messy.
Out all the front windows, below the porch rail, was sea ice.
I
wondered where to put my bags. Where should I lay my sleeping bag?
Where should I put my frozen caribou? Who on this rock would want to
listen to a word a strange white guy had to say? After months of emails
with the principal, Willis, and reservations, plans and proposals,
suddenly it was time for me to do magic, to pull paragraphs out of
village kids.
Quickly
I met the four teachers, in their mid-20s, and a young aide from
Unalakleet named Don Masters. Everyone was helpful but busy. On top of
that was a water shortage -- no showering, please, and don't drink the
water because it tastes like bird poop. But who could complain -- the
rest of the community hauls water by hand, and dumps honey buckets
directly below the school on the sea ice.
In
the first class, the kids stare at me. Half of them have the same last
name; but my ears are ringing from the plane ride and I can't hear it.
The English teacher, Jori Grant, is female and twice as tall as me. I
ask the kids how they feel about writing. "We hate writing," a boy
mumbles, head across his elbows.
2013年5月28日 星期二
Calendar turns to a big week for New York Yankees
Every
year around the holidays, while the NBA is preparing to add LeBron and
Kobe and Carmelo to your Christmas menu, the sentiment arises that this
is the unofficial start to the NBA season and that maybe, with the way
the NFL grips the sporting consciousness in the fall, it would be just
as well to shorten the season and start later anyway.
The NFL has already evolved into a 12-month attention-sucking monolith, whether there are games on or not. The NHL doesnt generate enough juice for the consideration. And baseball, even with its April snowouts and frigid late-October World Series games, has a national pastime nostalgia-fueled grip on the calendar.
But depending whats going on in your neighborhood NBA/NHL arena, even baseball can find itself on the backburner in the spring while its 162-game marathon gets under way.
That hasnt been an issue around here for awhile. The Yankees have found the back pages free to claim from Opening Day on for the better part of a decade. There wasnt a whole lot else doing.
That changed this year. While the Yankees best and/or best-known players are stuck on the disabled list about $100 million worth of them theyre still atop the AL East. Its a great story, absent the familiar compelling characters. That rotating cast makes it hard to grip.
While the no-names in the Bronx were playing ball at a .600-plus clip, the Garden was alive in midtown for the Knicks and Rangers. They gave us some playoff entertainment. Even the Nets and Islanders showed up with postseason cameos. But theyre all done now. And the Mets are just a sad tale waiting to be told four out of every five days.
Now we can fully turn to the Yankees, with a curious convergence of elements. It is Memorial Day weekend. It is a time when some of the curious phenomena that occur in the opening weeks of the season the mystery home run leaders, the big team off to the slow start have fallen back into place to give us a measure of whats to come over the next four months of the season.
And just as we hit that moment, the Yankees have a schedule coming up this week that is a scalpers delight. Four games against the Mets. Three against the Red Sox.
If it feels like a weird time for the annual Subway Series, it is. Its a result of the new scheduling format that has interleague play running throughout the season. So instead of exchanging three-game home-and-home series that were always scheduled for prime weekend real estate, it will be one four-game weeknight series between the Yanks and Mets, Monday through Thursday,You must not use the rfidtag without being trained. two games in each borough.
Deemphasizing the Yankee/Met matchups only wipes out the whole point of interleague play to begin with. For years, commissioner Bud Selig backed the gimmick by pointing to higher attendance that was of course inflated by high-profile weekend series. Mets vs. Yanks! Cubs vs. White Sox! Dodgers vs. Angels!
Of course, there werent enough of those to connect every team in the league or keep interest high. There were some second-tier regional curiosities that made sense,Shop for chipcard dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. like St. Louis vs. Kansas City or Cincinnati vs. Cleveland. But even one of those, the Astros and the Rangers, is now moot. Houston has joined Texas in the AL West to fulfill a plan to even out the leagues at 15 teams each, which is what led to regular interleague play.
Truthfully, Yanks vs. Mets was a novelty worn thin, partly by the Mets eroding fortunes. It still gives ownership a few extra games to peddle at max ticket prices and its got more to it than playing the Twins, but the high drama of those first few years is gone.
The edge had faded as well lately for the traditional Yanks vs. Red Sox collisions. Too many games each year.He saw the bracelet at a solarlighting store while we were on a trip. Too much drama from the 10 years prior to live up to. And over the last couple of seasons, too much bad baseball from the Red Sox.
That last part may be coming up for a correction. The Sox entered Saturdays games a game behind the Yanks in the division. By choice and by force, the two teams are headed for a lo-fi collision in a battle that just may run into the fall.
The Sox found themselves burned by chasing the Yanks payroll escalating star model. The plan that brought them success was the same one that drove the Yankee dynasty of the 90s smart development, shrewd trades for pros, add some star pieces.
Boston abandoned that, and it imploded on them in 2012. In response, the Sox jettisoned huge contracts they should send the Dodgers a thank you card and filled the spots with mid-level free agents. They were then summarily written off for 2013.
Injuries wiped out the Yanks highest-paid stars. Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson all started the season on the disabled list. Granderson is now sidelined again,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingsystem made. along with Andy Pettitte and Rodriguezs replacement Kevin Youkilis.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a ledbulbe27 can authenticate your computer usage and data. Theres no telling what the Yanks will get from most of them this season.
The NFL has already evolved into a 12-month attention-sucking monolith, whether there are games on or not. The NHL doesnt generate enough juice for the consideration. And baseball, even with its April snowouts and frigid late-October World Series games, has a national pastime nostalgia-fueled grip on the calendar.
But depending whats going on in your neighborhood NBA/NHL arena, even baseball can find itself on the backburner in the spring while its 162-game marathon gets under way.
That hasnt been an issue around here for awhile. The Yankees have found the back pages free to claim from Opening Day on for the better part of a decade. There wasnt a whole lot else doing.
That changed this year. While the Yankees best and/or best-known players are stuck on the disabled list about $100 million worth of them theyre still atop the AL East. Its a great story, absent the familiar compelling characters. That rotating cast makes it hard to grip.
While the no-names in the Bronx were playing ball at a .600-plus clip, the Garden was alive in midtown for the Knicks and Rangers. They gave us some playoff entertainment. Even the Nets and Islanders showed up with postseason cameos. But theyre all done now. And the Mets are just a sad tale waiting to be told four out of every five days.
Now we can fully turn to the Yankees, with a curious convergence of elements. It is Memorial Day weekend. It is a time when some of the curious phenomena that occur in the opening weeks of the season the mystery home run leaders, the big team off to the slow start have fallen back into place to give us a measure of whats to come over the next four months of the season.
And just as we hit that moment, the Yankees have a schedule coming up this week that is a scalpers delight. Four games against the Mets. Three against the Red Sox.
If it feels like a weird time for the annual Subway Series, it is. Its a result of the new scheduling format that has interleague play running throughout the season. So instead of exchanging three-game home-and-home series that were always scheduled for prime weekend real estate, it will be one four-game weeknight series between the Yanks and Mets, Monday through Thursday,You must not use the rfidtag without being trained. two games in each borough.
Deemphasizing the Yankee/Met matchups only wipes out the whole point of interleague play to begin with. For years, commissioner Bud Selig backed the gimmick by pointing to higher attendance that was of course inflated by high-profile weekend series. Mets vs. Yanks! Cubs vs. White Sox! Dodgers vs. Angels!
Of course, there werent enough of those to connect every team in the league or keep interest high. There were some second-tier regional curiosities that made sense,Shop for chipcard dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. like St. Louis vs. Kansas City or Cincinnati vs. Cleveland. But even one of those, the Astros and the Rangers, is now moot. Houston has joined Texas in the AL West to fulfill a plan to even out the leagues at 15 teams each, which is what led to regular interleague play.
Truthfully, Yanks vs. Mets was a novelty worn thin, partly by the Mets eroding fortunes. It still gives ownership a few extra games to peddle at max ticket prices and its got more to it than playing the Twins, but the high drama of those first few years is gone.
The edge had faded as well lately for the traditional Yanks vs. Red Sox collisions. Too many games each year.He saw the bracelet at a solarlighting store while we were on a trip. Too much drama from the 10 years prior to live up to. And over the last couple of seasons, too much bad baseball from the Red Sox.
That last part may be coming up for a correction. The Sox entered Saturdays games a game behind the Yanks in the division. By choice and by force, the two teams are headed for a lo-fi collision in a battle that just may run into the fall.
The Sox found themselves burned by chasing the Yanks payroll escalating star model. The plan that brought them success was the same one that drove the Yankee dynasty of the 90s smart development, shrewd trades for pros, add some star pieces.
Boston abandoned that, and it imploded on them in 2012. In response, the Sox jettisoned huge contracts they should send the Dodgers a thank you card and filled the spots with mid-level free agents. They were then summarily written off for 2013.
Injuries wiped out the Yanks highest-paid stars. Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson all started the season on the disabled list. Granderson is now sidelined again,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingsystem made. along with Andy Pettitte and Rodriguezs replacement Kevin Youkilis.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a ledbulbe27 can authenticate your computer usage and data. Theres no telling what the Yanks will get from most of them this season.
Biometric camps being held in Coimbatore to issue smart cards
Biometric camps to collect data for issuing resident identity cards or smart cards began recently in the city. The enrolment camps have been put up in a few locations in the city limits which will be subsequently covering the entire city in a phased manner, according to officials. "People who were enumerated during the 2010 census can participate in the camps by producing the Know Your Residence (KYR) form that were issued during the enumeration," an official said, adding those who were left out in the census can participate in the second phase of enrolment.
It may be noted that those who were left out has to fill the KYR forms and should submit it at the enrolment camps with appropriate identity and residence proof. However biometric details will be collected from them only 90 days after submitting the form. For filling up the KYR form, any one of the following documents is sufficient: ration card, voter's ID, PAN card, passport or driving licence. "Numbers of these documents should be mentioned in the form and for registering it one should bring the original document to the camp," the official said.Please click the images below to view more pictures of thequicksilverscreen tiles!
Officials who have been engaged in the enrolment camps said biometric details of about 10-15 persons can be collected in an hour.Which windturbine is right for you? To sensitise the enrolment camps that are in progress in the city, officials are carrying out awareness campaigns.
Smart cards are essential for renewal of ration cards in 2013 and since the government has taken a policy decision to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for government subsidies, smart cards assume importance. "Renewal of driving license, voter's ID and passport will be done based on the smart cards in the future and the number mentioned in it will act as a social security number," officials inform.
Many anglers will probably recall that this past fall and winter there was much talk about proposed shark fishing regulations that would increase the minimum size for sharks that may be kept by fishermen from the current 54-inch fork length to a whopping 96-inch fork length.
Since few anglers have or will ever land a mako of that size, and some species — such as the blacktip shark — never grow that large, such a regulation would effectively require that anglers release every shark they land.
The irony is that the proposal was not intended to provide additional conservation to species that recreational fishermen typically land, such as the makos and blacktips, but was supposed to help protect the dusky sharks that NMFS claims recreational anglers are bringing in.A solarledlight is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card. Even though dusky sharks have been a prohibited species for 12 years, it’s claimed that we fishermen continue to land them mistakenly thinking that they are some other “allowable” type of shark.
Needless to say, when the proposal was made, a lot of fishermen stood up to NMFS and claimed “hogwash” to both the new size limit and the assertions that we’ve landed the thousands of duskies they claim we have. Prompted by such a strong public outcry against the proposed regulations, NMFS backed off a bit and elected to “address the dusky shark overfishing and rebuilding plan in a proposed separate action,” which gave them some breathing room to consider alternative actions, rather than push their original plan through in time for the 2013 fishing season.
So the fight was neither won nor lost, it was just postponed until after the summer. Between now and then, you can bet that NMFS is hashing over its numbers and getting its ducks in a row so that “if” it deems it necessary to again propose such harsh restrictions on recreational anglers, it will be prepared to respond to whatever arguments come their way.Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using modulerail.
As I reported this winter, a huge part of the problem with shark management is and always has been the poor identification skills of fishermen. So many sharks are caught by anglers who go on to report that they boated or released one species when it was, in fact, something else altogether. The catch data fishery managers have used throughout the years are anything but spot-on accurate.
It’s hard to keep getting "A" grades on a report card, especially when you’re fighting best, but Velasquez turned the trick last night, dispatching Antonio Silva in the kind of one-round knockout that makes an exciting heavyweight champ such a bankable commodity. Velasquez took his time in the opening minute, gauging Silva’s reflexes as the Brazilian shook off two takedown attempts, and then shimmying in with his trademark aggression and quickness to force standing exchanges, ultimately scoring a booming, compact right cross to drop the challenger, allowing him to pounce for the finish. Velasquez’ ability to push the pace and initiate exchanges, whether it’s shooting for takedowns or forcing trades on the feet, showcase a rare kind of fearlessness, especially among heavyweights, where one bomb can scramble anyone’s gameplan. He attacked dos Santos the same way in the rematch, with "Cigano" going five brutal, one-sided rounds. Few will last that long against a dynamo like Velasquez. You’ll need to put serious leather on the guy to discourage him, and his wrestling and athleticism makes him a handful in the clinches and on the mat. That’s precisely the reason at this point, the only person that is a plausible challenger is dos Santos. Nobody else has the package of skills to really be a threat, at this point, except for training partner and friend Cormier, who isn’t fighting Velasquez any time soon.
Hyped-up heavyweight showdowns carry their own brand of excitement, and dos Santos delivered big-time in his with Hunt. Unleashing a brilliantly timed spinning wheel kick to finish a three-round battle, dos Santos showed his resilience, patience and tactical smarts. You could see his mind whirring and adjusting in the opening round, as Hunt’s lethal bombs kept him in a conservative counter-mode, and as Hunt’s gas tank faded, and his technique eroded, dos Santos slowly stepped up the attack. What was impressive was the smarts he used to score the second-round takedown, cinching the stanza and letting Hunt further gas out while giving himself a breather. There wasn’t a single moment in this fight where anyone watching wasn’t concerned for dos Santos’ well-being should Hunt land, and Junior did shake off a few big shots, but wisely stayed away from getting caught on the cage, where Hunt is most dangerous.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell chinagembeadsfactory to communities that don't have access to electricity. People may think Velasquez’s win in the second bout is a preview of what a rubber match would be, but I disagree. The take-away from that bout is that dos Santos has one hell of a lot of chin and heart, and all he needs is one punch. Tonight couldn’t have been a better performance for the ex-champ promotionally, either, as he was equal parts exciting and tactically smart to set up another go at Velasquez.
It may be noted that those who were left out has to fill the KYR forms and should submit it at the enrolment camps with appropriate identity and residence proof. However biometric details will be collected from them only 90 days after submitting the form. For filling up the KYR form, any one of the following documents is sufficient: ration card, voter's ID, PAN card, passport or driving licence. "Numbers of these documents should be mentioned in the form and for registering it one should bring the original document to the camp," the official said.Please click the images below to view more pictures of thequicksilverscreen tiles!
Officials who have been engaged in the enrolment camps said biometric details of about 10-15 persons can be collected in an hour.Which windturbine is right for you? To sensitise the enrolment camps that are in progress in the city, officials are carrying out awareness campaigns.
Smart cards are essential for renewal of ration cards in 2013 and since the government has taken a policy decision to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for government subsidies, smart cards assume importance. "Renewal of driving license, voter's ID and passport will be done based on the smart cards in the future and the number mentioned in it will act as a social security number," officials inform.
Many anglers will probably recall that this past fall and winter there was much talk about proposed shark fishing regulations that would increase the minimum size for sharks that may be kept by fishermen from the current 54-inch fork length to a whopping 96-inch fork length.
Since few anglers have or will ever land a mako of that size, and some species — such as the blacktip shark — never grow that large, such a regulation would effectively require that anglers release every shark they land.
The irony is that the proposal was not intended to provide additional conservation to species that recreational fishermen typically land, such as the makos and blacktips, but was supposed to help protect the dusky sharks that NMFS claims recreational anglers are bringing in.A solarledlight is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card. Even though dusky sharks have been a prohibited species for 12 years, it’s claimed that we fishermen continue to land them mistakenly thinking that they are some other “allowable” type of shark.
Needless to say, when the proposal was made, a lot of fishermen stood up to NMFS and claimed “hogwash” to both the new size limit and the assertions that we’ve landed the thousands of duskies they claim we have. Prompted by such a strong public outcry against the proposed regulations, NMFS backed off a bit and elected to “address the dusky shark overfishing and rebuilding plan in a proposed separate action,” which gave them some breathing room to consider alternative actions, rather than push their original plan through in time for the 2013 fishing season.
So the fight was neither won nor lost, it was just postponed until after the summer. Between now and then, you can bet that NMFS is hashing over its numbers and getting its ducks in a row so that “if” it deems it necessary to again propose such harsh restrictions on recreational anglers, it will be prepared to respond to whatever arguments come their way.Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using modulerail.
As I reported this winter, a huge part of the problem with shark management is and always has been the poor identification skills of fishermen. So many sharks are caught by anglers who go on to report that they boated or released one species when it was, in fact, something else altogether. The catch data fishery managers have used throughout the years are anything but spot-on accurate.
It’s hard to keep getting "A" grades on a report card, especially when you’re fighting best, but Velasquez turned the trick last night, dispatching Antonio Silva in the kind of one-round knockout that makes an exciting heavyweight champ such a bankable commodity. Velasquez took his time in the opening minute, gauging Silva’s reflexes as the Brazilian shook off two takedown attempts, and then shimmying in with his trademark aggression and quickness to force standing exchanges, ultimately scoring a booming, compact right cross to drop the challenger, allowing him to pounce for the finish. Velasquez’ ability to push the pace and initiate exchanges, whether it’s shooting for takedowns or forcing trades on the feet, showcase a rare kind of fearlessness, especially among heavyweights, where one bomb can scramble anyone’s gameplan. He attacked dos Santos the same way in the rematch, with "Cigano" going five brutal, one-sided rounds. Few will last that long against a dynamo like Velasquez. You’ll need to put serious leather on the guy to discourage him, and his wrestling and athleticism makes him a handful in the clinches and on the mat. That’s precisely the reason at this point, the only person that is a plausible challenger is dos Santos. Nobody else has the package of skills to really be a threat, at this point, except for training partner and friend Cormier, who isn’t fighting Velasquez any time soon.
Hyped-up heavyweight showdowns carry their own brand of excitement, and dos Santos delivered big-time in his with Hunt. Unleashing a brilliantly timed spinning wheel kick to finish a three-round battle, dos Santos showed his resilience, patience and tactical smarts. You could see his mind whirring and adjusting in the opening round, as Hunt’s lethal bombs kept him in a conservative counter-mode, and as Hunt’s gas tank faded, and his technique eroded, dos Santos slowly stepped up the attack. What was impressive was the smarts he used to score the second-round takedown, cinching the stanza and letting Hunt further gas out while giving himself a breather. There wasn’t a single moment in this fight where anyone watching wasn’t concerned for dos Santos’ well-being should Hunt land, and Junior did shake off a few big shots, but wisely stayed away from getting caught on the cage, where Hunt is most dangerous.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell chinagembeadsfactory to communities that don't have access to electricity. People may think Velasquez’s win in the second bout is a preview of what a rubber match would be, but I disagree. The take-away from that bout is that dos Santos has one hell of a lot of chin and heart, and all he needs is one punch. Tonight couldn’t have been a better performance for the ex-champ promotionally, either, as he was equal parts exciting and tactically smart to set up another go at Velasquez.
2013年5月22日 星期三
Investigating West 44ths Artist in Residence
The artist appeared on our block two weeks ago. A lean man with inky
fingers covered in silver rings, he wore a cap, a small button fastened
to the bottom of his shirtI love pornand a menthol-flavored Marlboro
tucked behind one ear. He would arrive around 9 a.m., arrange his scroll
of paper, his pot of ink and his various clips on the sidewalk between
The Observer offices and the adjacent Japanese barbecue joint, remaining
there, painting intently, until 6 or 7 p.m. As he painted, he scrunched
himself into contorted positions and seemed not to take breaks or
register the passersby, who invariably stared.
We were curious about the new arrival on our block. Though of course West 44th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues hardly belongs to us alone. We share it with a lumber yard, a theatrical supply company, the Intercontinental Hotel, several parking lots and a convenience store whose clientele appear to buy nothing but lottery tickets. And, as we recently learned, we also share it with the dingy walk-up where Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas spent the last years of his life and committed suicide in 1990 at age 47, impoverished and suffering from AIDS.Large collection of quality parkingassistsystem at discounted prices.
It was the walk-up, No. 328, that had brought the artist to our block. He is, we learned when we spoke to him one smudgy evening after he had finished packing away his supplies, a Frenchman named Thomas Henriot. Four years ago, after reading all of the writers work, Mr. Henriot started working on a project about Arenas, who was not, Mr. Henriot told us sadly, as recognized as he should be.
Mr. Henriot chose to paint the places that Arenas had loved, and lived. This involved some time in Brazil and a lot of time in Cuba, where Arenas had spent most of his life, persecuted for his homosexuality and imprisoned for his writings, which had to be smuggled out of the country in order to be published.
He has such an incredible story, because when he was in jail, persecuted by the regime, he still managed to write, Mr. Henriot said. There is a book he wrote, Otra Vez el Mar, it is about 700 pages, and he had to write it three times. He wrote it and the police took it, he wrote it again and they took it again. Finally, he wrote it a third time and that time it was published. This strongness,More than 80 standard commercial and iphoneheadset exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. this absolute creativity!
When we spoke, Mr. Henriot had just finished the second panel of a triptych of the exterior of 328 West 44th, a finely detailed paintinghe uses an ancient Chinese brush and ink techniquethat he flipped over at the end and covered with strokes and blotches of diluted ink that soaked through to the front.Virtual porcelaintiles11 logo Verano Place logo. He had been in the city for two weeks and intends to stay for two months, during which time he plans to paint other places Arenas had lovedhe wrote a lot about Central Parkand some of the people he had known.
As for our block, there had been a lot of good meetings, he said, people hed spoken with about Arenas, Colombian immigrants who worked nearby and chatted in Spanish (much better than my English), the building security guard who, as Mr. Henriot put it, protects me really nicely, with bathroom breaks and cups of water.
As for 328 West 44th, he had not been inside and he did not know which window had been Arenass, but he likes it better that way.
Its good because every window I paint I am wondering. I try not to know anything about a place when I start, I want the knowledge to come through the painting, Mr. Henriot said. Its almost like a meditation. I was here for nine hours today and I feel blessed to be able to do this. I mean, its my duty.The need for proper formalofficdressesinside your home is very important.
Im always amazed when I see someone who considers themselves a Macintosh power user not using a macro utility like Keyboard Maestro. After all, computers excel at performing boring, repetitive, and tedious tasks perfectly each time, and do so far faster than we could do them ourselves manually. Dont assume that such automation requires programming, though,Compare prices and buy all brands of buymosaic for home power systems and by the pallet. at least beyond the most obvious of levels in which you tell the computer to perform Action A, followed by Action B, and so on.
In fact, many of my macros are utterly simple and obvious I could type cheers... -Adam at the end of every email message I send, or I could press Control-period. Just because Im saving only a few seconds doesnt mean that its not worthwhile, when added up over tens of thousands of messages. Similarly, much as I love LaunchBar and use it heavily for many things, because I set F1 to open BBEdit via Keyboard Maestro, switching to BBEdit via F1 is a third of the work of LaunchBars Command-Space, B, Return. Those infinitesimal bits of time are like the energy drain from glowing lights on otherwise inactive electronics meaningless in the individual instance, but vast in their overall impact.
Other macros do non-trivial bits of work for me, and tie together multiple programs, often in ways that arent possible with AppleScript or Automator. For instance, one macro expertly alternates between simulating Tab and Command-C in Firefox to copy specific fields from a Web page that holds the data used to build pages on the Take Control site. Another macro juggles that copied text and pastes it into the associated fields in the iTunes Producer app thats necessary for submitting books to the iBookstore. Its just copying and pasting between two apps, but Keyboard Maestro turns an annoying and error-prone task into an entirely accurate set of steps that takes only seconds.
We were curious about the new arrival on our block. Though of course West 44th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues hardly belongs to us alone. We share it with a lumber yard, a theatrical supply company, the Intercontinental Hotel, several parking lots and a convenience store whose clientele appear to buy nothing but lottery tickets. And, as we recently learned, we also share it with the dingy walk-up where Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas spent the last years of his life and committed suicide in 1990 at age 47, impoverished and suffering from AIDS.Large collection of quality parkingassistsystem at discounted prices.
It was the walk-up, No. 328, that had brought the artist to our block. He is, we learned when we spoke to him one smudgy evening after he had finished packing away his supplies, a Frenchman named Thomas Henriot. Four years ago, after reading all of the writers work, Mr. Henriot started working on a project about Arenas, who was not, Mr. Henriot told us sadly, as recognized as he should be.
Mr. Henriot chose to paint the places that Arenas had loved, and lived. This involved some time in Brazil and a lot of time in Cuba, where Arenas had spent most of his life, persecuted for his homosexuality and imprisoned for his writings, which had to be smuggled out of the country in order to be published.
He has such an incredible story, because when he was in jail, persecuted by the regime, he still managed to write, Mr. Henriot said. There is a book he wrote, Otra Vez el Mar, it is about 700 pages, and he had to write it three times. He wrote it and the police took it, he wrote it again and they took it again. Finally, he wrote it a third time and that time it was published. This strongness,More than 80 standard commercial and iphoneheadset exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. this absolute creativity!
When we spoke, Mr. Henriot had just finished the second panel of a triptych of the exterior of 328 West 44th, a finely detailed paintinghe uses an ancient Chinese brush and ink techniquethat he flipped over at the end and covered with strokes and blotches of diluted ink that soaked through to the front.Virtual porcelaintiles11 logo Verano Place logo. He had been in the city for two weeks and intends to stay for two months, during which time he plans to paint other places Arenas had lovedhe wrote a lot about Central Parkand some of the people he had known.
As for our block, there had been a lot of good meetings, he said, people hed spoken with about Arenas, Colombian immigrants who worked nearby and chatted in Spanish (much better than my English), the building security guard who, as Mr. Henriot put it, protects me really nicely, with bathroom breaks and cups of water.
As for 328 West 44th, he had not been inside and he did not know which window had been Arenass, but he likes it better that way.
Its good because every window I paint I am wondering. I try not to know anything about a place when I start, I want the knowledge to come through the painting, Mr. Henriot said. Its almost like a meditation. I was here for nine hours today and I feel blessed to be able to do this. I mean, its my duty.The need for proper formalofficdressesinside your home is very important.
Im always amazed when I see someone who considers themselves a Macintosh power user not using a macro utility like Keyboard Maestro. After all, computers excel at performing boring, repetitive, and tedious tasks perfectly each time, and do so far faster than we could do them ourselves manually. Dont assume that such automation requires programming, though,Compare prices and buy all brands of buymosaic for home power systems and by the pallet. at least beyond the most obvious of levels in which you tell the computer to perform Action A, followed by Action B, and so on.
In fact, many of my macros are utterly simple and obvious I could type cheers... -Adam at the end of every email message I send, or I could press Control-period. Just because Im saving only a few seconds doesnt mean that its not worthwhile, when added up over tens of thousands of messages. Similarly, much as I love LaunchBar and use it heavily for many things, because I set F1 to open BBEdit via Keyboard Maestro, switching to BBEdit via F1 is a third of the work of LaunchBars Command-Space, B, Return. Those infinitesimal bits of time are like the energy drain from glowing lights on otherwise inactive electronics meaningless in the individual instance, but vast in their overall impact.
Other macros do non-trivial bits of work for me, and tie together multiple programs, often in ways that arent possible with AppleScript or Automator. For instance, one macro expertly alternates between simulating Tab and Command-C in Firefox to copy specific fields from a Web page that holds the data used to build pages on the Take Control site. Another macro juggles that copied text and pastes it into the associated fields in the iTunes Producer app thats necessary for submitting books to the iBookstore. Its just copying and pasting between two apps, but Keyboard Maestro turns an annoying and error-prone task into an entirely accurate set of steps that takes only seconds.
Expand Push Into SMB Payment Analytics
The payments space is starting to settle down. The flow of seed
funding has slowed, and a handful companies have separated from the
pack, raising meaningful capital over the past year. Add
Providence-based Swipely to that list. The payments processing and
analytics play announced today that it has raised $12 million in new
funding in a series B round led by Shasta Ventures, bringing the
companys total venture financing to $20.5 million.
Last year the startup moved away from its initial card-connected loyalty model to pursue a smart payment-processing and analytics strategy aimed at a number of larger, and mostly commoditized, legacy processing players. The three year-old company runs credit cards payments for small and medium-sized businesses, and then builds marketing and analytics services on top of that data.
Swipelys product plugs into the back-end of a merchants point of sale system like a traditional payment processor, but stores the transaction data (which would traditionally come in a paper statement weeks later) immediately to the cloud. There, the company can use the data to run a suite of ancillary services. That includes metrics to determine a businesss most valuable customers, the percentage of new versus returning customers, and more. It also folds in marketing services that allow businesses to sign up customers in card-connected loyalty programs and lead generation.
Since making its shift last year, the startup has been on a tear.Large collection of quality parkingassistsystem at discounted prices. Swipely has nearly tripled the total transactions it processed in all of last year, up from $250 million in 2012 to $700 million today. Today, the companys platform is used in over 130 cities, and has processed over 2 million consumers.
Part of what has accelerated its growth is that the model asks little of merchants or consumers in terms of learning a new behavior C a pitfall that has limited some payments startups ability to grow: If our merchants had to replace their point-of-sale system to adopt Swipely, they probably would not do it. Theyre large businesses who depend on these systems to do a lot of things, says Davis about the decision to take an open approach. For the most part, the new-fangled iPad POS systems dont compete at the upper end of the POS market today If its not broken, theres no need for them to fix it.
The question now remaining for Swipely is whether staying out of the consumer experience (by creating a mobile payments app) and the merchant experience (through the point of sale device) will hurt its positioning down the road. As new entrants like Square push upstream with an integrated model (including merchant processing, consumer payments, and POS), and legacy players try to add similar services, Swipely could find its market share diminished. But its clear that for the time being the advantages of the open model (early scale and low-cost adoption) far exceed the long-term value of a closed approach.
In La La Land, the home of movie magic,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth parkingsystem truck Descriptions. we're used to our surroundings being not quite what they seem. But did you know, at this very moment, you are surrounded by thousands of tiny containers of various shapes and sizes, camouflaged in bushes, hidden in fake electrical boxes, attached by magnet to the bottoms of bar stools and perched atop stop-signs? You might need an ultra-violet light to discover the final clue to find them or wait for low tide to wade out to a cave at the beach, but they're there. That creepy guy at the bus stop who keeps looking around suspiciously might be totally nuts...or he might be a geocacher.
Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt that began in May 2000 when the U.S. government gave up "selective availability" and allowed civilians to use GPS devices with almost perfect accuracy for the first time. Computer consultant David Ulmer was one of many GPS enthusiasts brainstorming how this newly available technology could be used. The day after "selective availability" was lifted, Ulmer decided to hide a bucket in the woods near his home in Beavercreek, Oregon filled with prizes and post the coordinates online for anyone to find. He called it "The Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and its one rule was, "Take some stuff; leave some stuff."
Los Angeles has become a world hotspot for geocaching, partly because of our year-round mild climate, partially because of our tech savvy population and partially because of our varied and intriguing terrain. "Whatever geocaching experience you're looking for, you can find it in L.A.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell oilpaintingsforsale to communities that don't have access to electricity.," claimed real estate broker and geocacher Andy Perkins in a phone interview. "On the same day, you can be digging for boxes at the beach, grab easy urban caches through the city, then head up to the mountains or out to the desert."
Perkins has been geocaching with his wife as Team Perks since they moved to the area over ten years ago and were looking for a fun way to explore. Together, they have hidden over a hundred cashes and geocached in forty two states. Their strategy is to hide caches in beautiful or interesting spots that searchers might not have seen before. "Our area has actually become saturated with caches.We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the earcap. All the good spots are taken," says Perkins. "So when we go four-wheeling in our jeep or hiking to a scenic spot, we hide them out there. We have some out at Vasquez Rocks where they shot a lot of Star Trek."
Perkins and his wife are what geocacher Stephen O'Gara of Team Ventura Kids would call Green People. "I consider there to be three different groups of geocachers," says O'Gara by phone. "One is Green People who like to go hiking and do events like CITO (Cash In Trash Out) to clean up trails. Others focus on finding as many caches as they can. Then there's the techy group that's more into the programs and software." O'Gara, who began searching for geocaches with his friends on Harleys all over the southwest, admitted he fell in the second group. The Ventura Kids set a world record several years ago by finding 1,157 caches in 24 hours along the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada. The highway's claim to fame is not only that it passes Area 51 but also that is one of the largest geocache "power trails" in the world, with 2800 caches hidden every few hundred feet.
The treasure hunt continues once you've found the cache. If the container is small (some are smaller than a screw), it may only contain the log scroll for visitors to sign. But if it is larger,Compare prices and buy all brands of buymosaic for home power systems and by the pallet. it may contain geocoins, trackables or other items visitors choose to leave behind. A geocoin is a collectible item that organizations and teams leave like a calling card. Trackables are dog tags with a unique number on them that are attached to items as small as a toy car or as large as a bowling pin. When you find a trackable, you look up the number online and see where in the world it's trying to get to. When you travel closer to its destination, you hide it in a geocache for another cacher to find.
Last year the startup moved away from its initial card-connected loyalty model to pursue a smart payment-processing and analytics strategy aimed at a number of larger, and mostly commoditized, legacy processing players. The three year-old company runs credit cards payments for small and medium-sized businesses, and then builds marketing and analytics services on top of that data.
Swipelys product plugs into the back-end of a merchants point of sale system like a traditional payment processor, but stores the transaction data (which would traditionally come in a paper statement weeks later) immediately to the cloud. There, the company can use the data to run a suite of ancillary services. That includes metrics to determine a businesss most valuable customers, the percentage of new versus returning customers, and more. It also folds in marketing services that allow businesses to sign up customers in card-connected loyalty programs and lead generation.
Since making its shift last year, the startup has been on a tear.Large collection of quality parkingassistsystem at discounted prices. Swipely has nearly tripled the total transactions it processed in all of last year, up from $250 million in 2012 to $700 million today. Today, the companys platform is used in over 130 cities, and has processed over 2 million consumers.
Part of what has accelerated its growth is that the model asks little of merchants or consumers in terms of learning a new behavior C a pitfall that has limited some payments startups ability to grow: If our merchants had to replace their point-of-sale system to adopt Swipely, they probably would not do it. Theyre large businesses who depend on these systems to do a lot of things, says Davis about the decision to take an open approach. For the most part, the new-fangled iPad POS systems dont compete at the upper end of the POS market today If its not broken, theres no need for them to fix it.
The question now remaining for Swipely is whether staying out of the consumer experience (by creating a mobile payments app) and the merchant experience (through the point of sale device) will hurt its positioning down the road. As new entrants like Square push upstream with an integrated model (including merchant processing, consumer payments, and POS), and legacy players try to add similar services, Swipely could find its market share diminished. But its clear that for the time being the advantages of the open model (early scale and low-cost adoption) far exceed the long-term value of a closed approach.
In La La Land, the home of movie magic,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth parkingsystem truck Descriptions. we're used to our surroundings being not quite what they seem. But did you know, at this very moment, you are surrounded by thousands of tiny containers of various shapes and sizes, camouflaged in bushes, hidden in fake electrical boxes, attached by magnet to the bottoms of bar stools and perched atop stop-signs? You might need an ultra-violet light to discover the final clue to find them or wait for low tide to wade out to a cave at the beach, but they're there. That creepy guy at the bus stop who keeps looking around suspiciously might be totally nuts...or he might be a geocacher.
Geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt that began in May 2000 when the U.S. government gave up "selective availability" and allowed civilians to use GPS devices with almost perfect accuracy for the first time. Computer consultant David Ulmer was one of many GPS enthusiasts brainstorming how this newly available technology could be used. The day after "selective availability" was lifted, Ulmer decided to hide a bucket in the woods near his home in Beavercreek, Oregon filled with prizes and post the coordinates online for anyone to find. He called it "The Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and its one rule was, "Take some stuff; leave some stuff."
Los Angeles has become a world hotspot for geocaching, partly because of our year-round mild climate, partially because of our tech savvy population and partially because of our varied and intriguing terrain. "Whatever geocaching experience you're looking for, you can find it in L.A.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell oilpaintingsforsale to communities that don't have access to electricity.," claimed real estate broker and geocacher Andy Perkins in a phone interview. "On the same day, you can be digging for boxes at the beach, grab easy urban caches through the city, then head up to the mountains or out to the desert."
Perkins has been geocaching with his wife as Team Perks since they moved to the area over ten years ago and were looking for a fun way to explore. Together, they have hidden over a hundred cashes and geocached in forty two states. Their strategy is to hide caches in beautiful or interesting spots that searchers might not have seen before. "Our area has actually become saturated with caches.We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the earcap. All the good spots are taken," says Perkins. "So when we go four-wheeling in our jeep or hiking to a scenic spot, we hide them out there. We have some out at Vasquez Rocks where they shot a lot of Star Trek."
Perkins and his wife are what geocacher Stephen O'Gara of Team Ventura Kids would call Green People. "I consider there to be three different groups of geocachers," says O'Gara by phone. "One is Green People who like to go hiking and do events like CITO (Cash In Trash Out) to clean up trails. Others focus on finding as many caches as they can. Then there's the techy group that's more into the programs and software." O'Gara, who began searching for geocaches with his friends on Harleys all over the southwest, admitted he fell in the second group. The Ventura Kids set a world record several years ago by finding 1,157 caches in 24 hours along the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada. The highway's claim to fame is not only that it passes Area 51 but also that is one of the largest geocache "power trails" in the world, with 2800 caches hidden every few hundred feet.
The treasure hunt continues once you've found the cache. If the container is small (some are smaller than a screw), it may only contain the log scroll for visitors to sign. But if it is larger,Compare prices and buy all brands of buymosaic for home power systems and by the pallet. it may contain geocoins, trackables or other items visitors choose to leave behind. A geocoin is a collectible item that organizations and teams leave like a calling card. Trackables are dog tags with a unique number on them that are attached to items as small as a toy car or as large as a bowling pin. When you find a trackable, you look up the number online and see where in the world it's trying to get to. When you travel closer to its destination, you hide it in a geocache for another cacher to find.
How Maslows hierarchy can help you build a great mobile checkout process
Everybodys talking about the m-commerce boom, but if you look past
the sophisticated surveys, app owners are struggling to figure out why
their conversion rates fall short of expectations.
Its not surprising if you consider the fact that mobile shopping cart abandonment rates are around 97 percent. Many frustrated developers have asked me how they can decrease these huge numbers that just dont fit their business model.
Ive tried to look at this challenge differently, not as a payment expert but rather from a psychological viewpoint, exploring our users needs and expectations throughout the checkout process.
Many influential payment companies in this ecosystem have introduced backend solutions that address merchants and developers needs.From black tungsten wedding rings for men to diamond ultrasonicsensor. So as a developer you can now enjoy easy APIs, friendly onboarding, methods with reduced processing fees, all of which make their lives easier. The one factor thats left out of this equation is the user, who somehow seems to be neglected, even though theyre the only one who controls the transaction.Where can i get a reasonable price parkingguidance?
Maslows hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory used to understand human motivation. The hierarchy is based on five levels of needs. In order to reach the next level, a person must first satisfy the lower level of needs.
Even though its a little far from the original framework, some of its principals can actually be applied to understand the influence of users needs in reference to mobile conversion rates.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our solarlight made.
Mobile commerce is here to stay. Were not just targeting early adopters anymore. However, in order to achieve mass market adoption the basic process needs to be clear and simple.
Many app owners require that their users create an account, even for a one time purchase. Yet people need to get their feet wet before jumping in the water. Forcing users to register and remember yet another password can be a huge barrier for someone who still has concerns about their purchase.
Every complication along the way gives the user a chance to stop and rethink their buying decision, while chasing away most impulse buyers among your users. This is obviously less basic than the need for air or food, but its probably the key factor to increasing conversion rates.
Security concerns are probably the #1 barrier to online shopping, and things dont improve on mobile. However, its a matter of perception rather than facts. The level of security available with todays range of technologies is high. Financial risks exist in the physical commerce world as well, but whenever theres a mobile payment involved, the fear factor kicks in and users becomes more alert. Delivering a secure process isnt enough; our biggest challenge is to make users FEEL that the process is secure.
One of the problems in most checkout experiences on native apps is redirecting to the PSPs web page to complete the transaction. At that very point where your user has finally grown to trust you, you pull them away to a different site and bring them back to square one in terms of their attitude towards the purchase. This triggers many doubts about this unfamiliar external page, about its level of security, and what could go wrong while trying to return to the app. Creating a full native experience will ease those concerns and give your users more piece of mind.
A sense of belonging is triggered in a familiar environment. The beauty of Amazons checkout is that you can buy a book, a pair of sneakers or a laptop, but the checkout process is the same. By creating this payment standardization process the consumer feels like they are in a familiar place.
Your payment page doesnt have to win a design contest; it has to look like a place where people pay, with a reliable look and feel, aligned with the standard payment conventions.
Another way to maintain familiarity and continuity is by enabling users to pay without re-entering credit card details. Make sure you keep security in mind and meet the standards of PCI compliance; if you need a reminder, go back to level 2 of the pyramid.
Last year, T-Mobile threw down the gauntlet and announced it would no longer subsidize smartphones and went to a pay-as-you-go format. Since the beginning of the year, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have also announced changes to their pay-as-you-go strategies.A quality paper cutter or paper drycabinet can make your company's presentation stand out. While the Big Two (AT&T and Verizon Wireless) took baby steps towards making pay-as-you-go a viable alternative for their contract customers, this is still a positive development in my opinion. More choices in the no-contract space are a small but important win for consumers and will hopefully lead to more options for customers of all four of the major U.S. carriers.
While pay-as-you-go MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like Straight Talk, Solavei, and Ting are extremely viable and attractive options for smartphone users in the U.S., many of these services have caps on how much high-speed data you can access. Furthermore, as of the time of this writing, only Sprint allows MVNOs to access its 4G LTE network. There has been some buzz about some MVNOs accessing 4G LTE on T-Mobiles network, but my research has shown that this has not yet come to fruition. While many users are fans of MVNOs, which operate independently of the Big Four carriers, I am focusing on the Big Four's prepaid plan options.
I was very intrigued by AT&Ts recent announcement that the company has created a new separate MVNO called Aio, which will operate on AT&Ts HSPA+ network, though it's currently only offering service in Orlando, Tampa and Houston. Aio will offer unlimited talk, text and data, but users will be limited to 4 megabits per second of high speed data.
Pricing plans are as follows: the Aio Basic ($40 per month) will cap high speed data at 250mb; the Aio Smart plan ($55 per month) will cap high speed data at 2GB; and the Aio Pro plan ($70 per month) will cap high speed data at 7GB. Users can buy an additional gigabyte of high speed data for $10. If Aio is successful in its three initial markets, AT&T has stated that it will roll the service out across the U.S. AT&T will also continue to offer its GoPhone pay-as-you-go service.Best home luggagetag at discount prices.
Its not surprising if you consider the fact that mobile shopping cart abandonment rates are around 97 percent. Many frustrated developers have asked me how they can decrease these huge numbers that just dont fit their business model.
Ive tried to look at this challenge differently, not as a payment expert but rather from a psychological viewpoint, exploring our users needs and expectations throughout the checkout process.
Many influential payment companies in this ecosystem have introduced backend solutions that address merchants and developers needs.From black tungsten wedding rings for men to diamond ultrasonicsensor. So as a developer you can now enjoy easy APIs, friendly onboarding, methods with reduced processing fees, all of which make their lives easier. The one factor thats left out of this equation is the user, who somehow seems to be neglected, even though theyre the only one who controls the transaction.Where can i get a reasonable price parkingguidance?
Maslows hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory used to understand human motivation. The hierarchy is based on five levels of needs. In order to reach the next level, a person must first satisfy the lower level of needs.
Even though its a little far from the original framework, some of its principals can actually be applied to understand the influence of users needs in reference to mobile conversion rates.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our solarlight made.
Mobile commerce is here to stay. Were not just targeting early adopters anymore. However, in order to achieve mass market adoption the basic process needs to be clear and simple.
Many app owners require that their users create an account, even for a one time purchase. Yet people need to get their feet wet before jumping in the water. Forcing users to register and remember yet another password can be a huge barrier for someone who still has concerns about their purchase.
Every complication along the way gives the user a chance to stop and rethink their buying decision, while chasing away most impulse buyers among your users. This is obviously less basic than the need for air or food, but its probably the key factor to increasing conversion rates.
Security concerns are probably the #1 barrier to online shopping, and things dont improve on mobile. However, its a matter of perception rather than facts. The level of security available with todays range of technologies is high. Financial risks exist in the physical commerce world as well, but whenever theres a mobile payment involved, the fear factor kicks in and users becomes more alert. Delivering a secure process isnt enough; our biggest challenge is to make users FEEL that the process is secure.
One of the problems in most checkout experiences on native apps is redirecting to the PSPs web page to complete the transaction. At that very point where your user has finally grown to trust you, you pull them away to a different site and bring them back to square one in terms of their attitude towards the purchase. This triggers many doubts about this unfamiliar external page, about its level of security, and what could go wrong while trying to return to the app. Creating a full native experience will ease those concerns and give your users more piece of mind.
A sense of belonging is triggered in a familiar environment. The beauty of Amazons checkout is that you can buy a book, a pair of sneakers or a laptop, but the checkout process is the same. By creating this payment standardization process the consumer feels like they are in a familiar place.
Your payment page doesnt have to win a design contest; it has to look like a place where people pay, with a reliable look and feel, aligned with the standard payment conventions.
Another way to maintain familiarity and continuity is by enabling users to pay without re-entering credit card details. Make sure you keep security in mind and meet the standards of PCI compliance; if you need a reminder, go back to level 2 of the pyramid.
Last year, T-Mobile threw down the gauntlet and announced it would no longer subsidize smartphones and went to a pay-as-you-go format. Since the beginning of the year, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have also announced changes to their pay-as-you-go strategies.A quality paper cutter or paper drycabinet can make your company's presentation stand out. While the Big Two (AT&T and Verizon Wireless) took baby steps towards making pay-as-you-go a viable alternative for their contract customers, this is still a positive development in my opinion. More choices in the no-contract space are a small but important win for consumers and will hopefully lead to more options for customers of all four of the major U.S. carriers.
While pay-as-you-go MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like Straight Talk, Solavei, and Ting are extremely viable and attractive options for smartphone users in the U.S., many of these services have caps on how much high-speed data you can access. Furthermore, as of the time of this writing, only Sprint allows MVNOs to access its 4G LTE network. There has been some buzz about some MVNOs accessing 4G LTE on T-Mobiles network, but my research has shown that this has not yet come to fruition. While many users are fans of MVNOs, which operate independently of the Big Four carriers, I am focusing on the Big Four's prepaid plan options.
I was very intrigued by AT&Ts recent announcement that the company has created a new separate MVNO called Aio, which will operate on AT&Ts HSPA+ network, though it's currently only offering service in Orlando, Tampa and Houston. Aio will offer unlimited talk, text and data, but users will be limited to 4 megabits per second of high speed data.
Pricing plans are as follows: the Aio Basic ($40 per month) will cap high speed data at 250mb; the Aio Smart plan ($55 per month) will cap high speed data at 2GB; and the Aio Pro plan ($70 per month) will cap high speed data at 7GB. Users can buy an additional gigabyte of high speed data for $10. If Aio is successful in its three initial markets, AT&T has stated that it will roll the service out across the U.S. AT&T will also continue to offer its GoPhone pay-as-you-go service.Best home luggagetag at discount prices.
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