Techno Granny's Guest JoAnn R. Forrester, the Empress of Biz, Shares Award Winning Writing Tips

Techno Granny Talks 02-10-2014

Secrets Revealed on Winning Awards for You, Business, or Organization

Listen to the Techno Granny show online here

Blue Ribbon Award Winning Writing Tips

By: JoAnn R. Forrester, The Empress of Biz

Awards are an excellent way to position a client, business associate or oneself for recognition and FREE publicity.   The publicity received is often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The following tips will give you an overview of writing a nomination that will stand out and shout, “Pick me.”

1.  Preparation: Knowing the RIGHT steps to take, people to nominate and what awards to nominate your nominee for saves time, frustration and losing submission.

2.  READ, know and follow the guidelines exactly for the nomination.  If you have questions… ASK the organization sponsoring the award.

3.  Nominee’s Permission: It is essential to ask the intended honoree’s permission to nominate him or her for an award.     Explain the award and let the nominee know up front if financial data is required.  Some nominees are uncomfortable with disclosing financial information and will elect not to continue.

4.  Supporting material: If there are supporting documents required, start gathering them immediately.  The supporting documents and letters can be referenced in the nomination write-up to illustrate strong points of the candidate.

5.  Writing: Give yourself plenty of time to write.  Figure at least 10 hours for each nomination.  This covers research, interviewing, verifying material and writing.  List each criteria and answer that only.  Use short and brief sentences with strong follow-up points.   Long sentences and narratives are boring.  The committee soon gets tired of reading and will start to skim over material.

6.  Editing: Have the nominee review and verify what you have written.  If you are unsure of a fact, do not use it.  If it states no more than 5 pages, stick to that!

7.  Submission: Make sure All information requested is enclosed.  Do not guess on postage if mailing.  Get proof of mailing or delivery verification of nomination.  Make sure you have the name of the person who received it.

8.  Congratulate Yourself.   You did it!  Pat yourself on the back!  You deserve it and when your nominee wins…it will be a great time for all.

** Listen to Techno Granny's Interview with more Great Tips from JoAnn Forrester HERE **

Have a Nomination to Write?

JoAnn Forrester, of S. I. Business Associates, is an award winning business consultant, teacher, lecturer and writer. JoAnn has written over 300 award winning profiles for her clients, including the U.S. Small Business Administration National Small Business Journalist of the Year, U.S Small Business Administration National Small Business Person of the Year Award, YWCA Racial Justice Award, YWCA Tribute to Women, SBA Minority Business Advocate, Athena Awards, Stevie Awards and the PA Best 50 Award.

If you do not want to write your nomination she does.

JoAnn can be reached at 412-440-6969 or selfimagebz@aol.com. 

About the Author and Guest:

JoAnn R. Forrester is co-host of the Empress of Biz Talkcast and co-founder, president and partner in S. I. Business Associates, Small Business Solutions, LLC and Celebrate and Share.  She is an entrepreneur, writer, business growth specialist, teacher, columnist and award winning writer.  JoAnn specializes in helping small businesses grow and prosper.  She is the co-developer of the PRICE IT PERFECT™ cost management system for small business, and has secured over 40 million dollars in loans and investment for her clients.

JoAnn is a celebrated business author of two well received business books:  "Steps to Owning Your Own Successful Business©", and the "David vs Goliath Marketing Handbook©."  Her current project is "52 Dangerous Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make©."  JoAnn has been a featured business columnist for the Pittsburgh Business Times writing on Business Finance and for PPLMag.com.  In 2008, JoAnn started the Empress of Biz Talkcast Show, “Listen, Learn, Prosper!  The goal of the show is to provide inspiration, guidance and practical advice to business owners.

She is co-founder of The Women of Achievement Awards Dinner which has recognized over 250 prominent women in Pittsburgh while raising funds for Cribs for Kids®and other not for profit organizations.  JoAnn is also co-founder of the Pennsylvania Women’s Hall of Achievement and was elected President in June of 2012.The goal of the PA Women’s Hall of Achievement is to honor and highlight the accomplishments and achievements of the women of Pennsylvania.

In recognition of her contributions and championing of small and woman owned businesses, JoAnn has been recognized twice by the U. S. Small Business Administration as the Pennsylvania Women Business Champion (1989 and 2000). In addition she has been recognized as a Pennsylvania Best 50 Women in Business, an Honoree in the Pennsylvania Honor Role of Women, awarded the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners Founder’s Award, and recognized by the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2010, she was honored by the Greater Pittsburgh YWCA in their Tribute to Women Awards in the entrepreneur category.

© Joanne Quinn-Smith 2014 All rights reserved.

Techno Granny Show Reveals Hypno Dining Weight Loss Tips

Techno Granny Talks 01-20-2014

Secrets Revealed! How Hypno Dining Helps Weight Loss
Featured Guest: Sanna Carapellotti

Listen to the Techno Granny Show HERE

Sanna Carapellotti is a clinical hypnotherapist with a specialty in the energy approach for helping you change your life. She uses Hypnotherapy, EFT. Hellinger Constellion work and guided imagery. Sanna has been in private practice since 1993 and makes hypnotic audios. Her clients come to her for eating issues, surgery empowerment and stress reduction.



1. Eating issues is a specialty of yours. How did this come about? Did you ever have eating issues of your own?

Eating is ultimately within our control when we become more conscious of what we are doing when food is present.

It is also important to know that there are pushes and pulls that reinforce our habits, and we can change them when they no longer serve us.

2. Talk about Eating Habits, How are they formed? Reinforced?

Eating habits begin in early infancy, even in utero. And our immediate environment and culture support how we behave around food, until we or someone close to us increases our consciousness.

3. How do you help your clients with their eating struggles? You created two techniques to help clients. Please explain them.

I created HypnoDining and The Family Table to help with long standing rhythms and speeds and patterns of how we eat.

4. Explain HypnoDining? How did it come about? What is it?

HypnoDining is a structured eating experience designed to connect us with the gifts food offer. It is an actual eating experience.

5. HypnoDining has a special NEW YEARS bonus offering. Tell us about that:

Extended small group times with me between 9:30 and 10:00
Personalized half an hour phone consult with Sanna after HypnoDining to help you.

Hypno Dining class is held on every third Wednesday of the month at Orbis Caffe.
M-Powered over Junk Food... is every other month and through private sessions. Bring it on!

Sanna Carapellotti’s Life Changing Hypnotherapy
Emotional Freedom Technique  |  Family Constellations  |  Quantum Touch
412.344.2272  |  sanna@pahyp.com
Sanna-Carapellotti.com  | Sanna on PPLmag.com

© Joanne Quinn-Smith 2014 All rights reserved.

TEchnoGranny Show: TechPowr, Pittsburgh Women Unite Around Technology

Listen to this show archived at:  http://tinyurl.com/TechnoGrannyShow, November 30, 2009 Show

Liz DeWitt and Linda Richardson


founded TechPOWR back in March, 2009

Upcoming meetings – January, March, May

You can visit techpowr on www.techpowr.ning.com or our linked in group TechPOWR of Pittsburgh

Linda Richardson

Vice President

Business Development

NCS Enterprises, LLC

340 Mansfield Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15220

Tel.: 412 539 1410 ext. 104

Fax: 412 539 1415

www.ncs-pubs.com



Pittsburgh Organization for Women’s Roles in Technology



Mission Statement:

TechPOWR provides a noncompetitive environment to inform, learn among and enlighten women in technology fields.

Vision Statement:

We offer a forum for women to share the challenges and triumphs of success in their careers wherein technology is a key component. Executive-level networking, high-profile speakers, high-quality presentations and hands-on learning will be designed to provide tangible member benefits. We will continuously strive to offer experiences that prove worthy of our members’ time, money and energy.



Disclaimer: To maintain the vision of fostering relationships among women who work in technology and level of tech-networking we reserve the right to limit vendor participation. If you are a vendor looking for connections to grow your business we will offer specific meetings for you to promote your company, TechPOWR will approve each individual membership through linked-in. To become a member you must visit linked-in or www.techpowr.ning.com and register under the groups setting, TechPowr.







CONTACT:

Elizabeth DeWitt

DeWar Communications

p: 412.377.3546

f: 412.734.2969

lizdewitt@comcast.net



November Meeting TechPOWR Takes Care of Business with a Panel Discussion on Empowering Women through Negotiation



Pittsburgh, PA, 2009 – Prominent entrepreneurs will lead a panel discussion for TechPOWR on beefing up women’s negotiating skills in their business and personal lives. Whether the deal-making involves major purchases, employment or business issues, the panelists will cover the use of technology and ways to improve negotiating skills online and in person. Open to the public, the November 17th meeting is sponsored by Best Buy, NCS Enterprises and The Pittsburgh Business Times.



Panelists include Julia Bear, who is a Ph.D. Candidate in Organizational Behavior at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on gender and negotiation. Bear currently works with Linda Babcock, author of Women Don’t Ask.



Anne Fleming founded Women-Drivers.com to address the hesitation many women experience when purchasing a vehicle. Fleming’s work helps women to become more confident successful negotiators when purchasing a car. She also works with auto manufacturers and dealerships to certify “Women-Friendly Dealerships.”



Rebecca Harris is the Director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University. Harris is working to expand the strategic initiatives and alliances established since the Center's launch in 2005. Harris’s expertise is in developing strategic alliances and mentoring opportunities.



Once named One of California’s Most Effective Prosecutors, M.J. Tocci now focuses her legal acumen on helping law firms and other corporations increase their productivity and profitability through recruiting, retaining and promoting talented women. Tocce, the founder and President of Fulcrum Advisors, applies a multidisciplinary approach to identify both the opportunities for women to thrive and the obstacles to their success.



ABOUT TechPOWR - TechPOWR is a networking group that supports continuing education for executive-level women about existing and emerging technologies used in the workplace. For professional women who want to enhance their job performance, TechPOWR provides a non-competitive environment to learn about technology that can improve our professional and personal lives.



- END -





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:

Elizabeth DeWitt

DeWar Communications

p: 412.377.3546

f: 412.734.2969

lizdewitt@comcast.net



Women’s Networking Group TechPOWR Scores Best Buy as a Sponsor



Pittsburgh, PA, November 2, 2009 - TechPOWR, a networking group that provides education and peer support for women who use technology to improve their professional and personal lives, has found a like-minded sponsor in Best Buy. As a leading retailer of electronics, Best Buy’s annual sponsorship launches November 17 at a dynamic panelist discussion on how women can effectively hone their negotiation skills both online and off.

“Best Buy is committed to building genuine and sustainable relationships with organizations whose mission is to support the local communities it serves. We’re very excited about our partnership with Tech POWR and look forward to supporting their members’ goals.” says Paul C. Clymer, Best Buy, Project Manager, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives.

Best Buy company representatives attending the meetings will be available to discuss and sometimes display some of the newer technology that is of most interest to members. Best Buy General Manager, Danielle Lang notes "I want to help other women become more educated and comfortable using the latest and greatest technology. I am also anxious to learn what we can do to provide the products and services that will make life easier for professional women."

TechPOWR, co-founded by Linda Richardson and Liz DeWitt in March 2009, has over 80 members and continues to attract professional women from Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. For more information about the November 17 meeting or to join TechPOWR, go to LinkedIn groups (TechPOWR) or Ning.com.



ABOUT TechPOWR - TechPOWR is a networking group that supports continuing education for executive-level women about existing and emerging technologies used in the workplace. For professional women who want to enhance their job performance, TechPOWR provides a non-competitive environment to learn about technology that can improve our professional and personal lives.



- END -

TechnoGrannyShow, AnnelieseRN, Caring4You.com, NCLEX Help

Anneliese Garrison

I have a associates in nursing from cumberland county college

I have a bachelor's degree from Stocton State College ( both in New Jersey )

I am a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant from the Vicki Milazzo Institute in Texas. This means I help lawyers decide whether they have a mal practice case or not when called upon.

But my passion lies with helping nursing students. My web site is caring4you.net and was established in 1997.

I also travel and do live seminars when I can.


My website got started because I failed my NCLEX Boards 2 times. You have to get a license to practice nursing after you graduate but you have to pass the nursing national exam then get a license. I failed this twice. Devastated with nowhere to turn to help me, I made a web site to help nursing students who were in the same boat as me.
The current passing rate for first time test takers is 90%
For repeat test takers it is 73%
Internationally trained nurses 43%

My website taps into the the quite a large number of canidates that to not pass the boards.

I started the site in 1997 free

in 2003 I started doing live seminars on how to pass the NCLEX

In 2005, I had a baby and put my seminars on audio for sale. As the years went by and since I am just a small entity, I have lowered the cost of my seminars especially now due to the economy.

Trying to find a cheap economical way to interact with my students online and sell my material at the same time, I found an interactive whiteboard type classroom called wiziq
http://caring4you.net/liveseminar.html

I also use talkshoe both of which are free but I have utilized them on my website to generate some income.


in 2003 I started doing live seminars on how to pass the NCLEX

In 2005, I had a baby and put my seminars on audio for sale. As the years went by and since I am just a small entity, I have lowered the cost of my seminars especially now due to the economy.


anneliese,RN
http://caring4you.net
healing the community by caring 4 you

TechnoGrannyShow, 7-27-09, E-Mail, Control the Clutter

Is your e-mail making you crazy? Is it just one more thing in your long line of to do lists that never gets caught up? Do you worry that you have ignored a really important invitation or some wonderful You-Tube video from your cousin Lacretia of your Aunt
Vicki playing the harmonica? I just did exactly that. I am so overwhelmed with e-mails from organizations that I belong to and Linked In and twitter followers and radio fans that when I have someone who consistently sends me just silly things that I would love to read but haven’t the time for.

Increasingly e-mail has become a business necessity and is used for myriad communications: updates on projects, business conference calls, confirming appointments and requests for business information.

Well don’t feel bad if you have just had a family faux pas like I did with Aunt Vicki’s harmonica. I had just gotten so overwhelmed that I began deleting thins that looked unimportant and I am usually especially wary of videos. I rarely watch them. They require opening and there has been so much hype about viruses in them. So I missed a precious family moment because I just started deleting things that was not apparently about an urgent family matter or was not business. Bad move! Just went to family reunion, heard my aunt, you guessed it, playing the harmonica. I commented that I never knew that she played and one of our cousins piped up accusingly, “Well I sent you a video!” Yikes. So you are not alone in worrying about deleting those unread e-mails without opening them.

Some things to remember:

E-mail addictive and time stealing. So set a certain time limit on e-mail reading and usage and stick to it. If you have 30, 60 or 90 minutes, make the best use of your time. Set a time or schedule other important activities, if they are on your calendar with timer alerts then you will have to leave the e-mail or suffer the consequences of getting behind in other projects. Remember E-mail Expands to fill time available so set a realistic amount of time and remember when you are adding something to your schedule, you probably have to reduce the time spent elsewhere or take something off your schedule.
Stick to your e-mail time limit, if you let it, it can consume your day and make your day unproductive.

Delete messages that are no longer relevant especially if they are three months old or older, probably no one cares at this point that you did not read them and they are no longer relevant anyway so reading them would be a waste of time. To help with this,
put e-mails into “To read” folders. These are folders that require nothing other than to read them. Add a date stamp on these folders, like September, 08 or July 09. If in six to twelve months you haven’t read them, do you think it’s safe to assume that you no longer need or want to? Schedule 30 minutes each week to purge everything you can and then you will see how uncluttered your e-mal will soon become.

Use different e-mail addresses for various things. I have one that I use for business, one for each of my radio shows that all are forwarded to my business e-mail. I also have one for family and friends and things that I subscribe to and I have another just for newsletters that I may go to for inspiration.

E-Mail Musts for organization, respect from others and to others.

1. Be sure to fill in the subject line with a concise descrition andyes ther are sometimes ongoing discussions that will e-mail track the discussion but each time you add something be sure to differentiate it in the subject line. For instance if you are giving a Project update, please add the name of project. Then if the response adds a clarification, Please marke it, Marketing Project Update, Clarification and continue this on as the e-mail dialogue may have several responses. You will appreciate this subject line clarification later when you have to search for the e-mail with answers and your recipient will appreciate it also. This will also help yout to get a quick reply and keep your e-mail from delted. Even though I sometimes make this error myself, I almost always feel like deleting an e-mail that has “no subject” in the title. If I know the sender I am careful not to do that as everyone slips up now and then, but to make it easier to find, I will forward it with appropriate title to myself and the sender.
2. There is nothing more frustrating than getting an e-mail that says, “yes” and since you sent out forty the day before, you have no idea what the respondent is saying “yes” to, especially if there server does not re-send all replies and previous copy and some do not. So cut and paste the part of the message you are responding to and it is also a good idea to make it a different color from the senders e-mail so that they can quickly differentiate your reply. This will save both of you time and energy.
3. Please check your spelling and grammar and what you have written before you send the e-mail, this helps prevent embarrassments, misunderstanding and miscommunications. It also makes you look more professional and readers will take your messages more seriously. Also if you are sending an attachment, check before you send to make sure attachment is there.
4. Virus detection is not just a must to protect your computer but also a must to avoid sending viruses to others. NOTHING more embarrassing than having to apologize for sending a virus or worm to someone, if you get the chance to apologize.
5. Long winded e-mails are not polite or stylish. If you must give a good deal of information, add an attachment or at least bullet point the information so that your reader will find it easier to manage. Always avoid ranting, negative posts and stay on the topic and be brief as much as possible. One topic per e-mail is always a good idea.
6. Carefully target those you are sending an e-mail to, Reply All is not always a good option unless you have considered all the recipients first. Also remember, if you don’t want an e-mail to get into other hands, then don’t send it. Sometimes even marking it private does not help. If it is negative about someone else, there is an irrefutable copy of what you said. OOPS!
7. Never reply to an e-mail when you are angry. A wuick response is never a good one. A good rule of themb is to wait for 24 hours and then reply when you are calmer or how about making a phone call when possible?
8. Always include an e-mail signature with your address and phone number, reply e-mail and any other information you think is helpful, like your twitter, linked in and Facebook information. This will help your readers to know who you are and establish your credibility.
9. Be careful of attachments. Make sure it is something that your reader will want and also make sure it is virus free. In my observation readers do not like to open attachments, it’s an additional step so if you want your e-mail read unless it is lengthy put the gist of it at least into the body of the e-mail, then you can add the lengthy attachment with a note for them to peruse if they still need additional information or add a website address which is often even better.
10. Always consider what your reader will think when they get your e-mail. Is it clear, is it polite, is it consise, is it professional and especially how would you feel or what would you think if you received it?


This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information:
© Joanne Quinn-Smith, Techno Granny Show™ 2009,
Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15230, 412-628-5048
Listen at: http://tinyurl.com/TechnoGrannyShow
Or on its unique radio channel at:
http://tinyurl.com/pospittlivemag
Joanne Quinn-Smith is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and an expert on Web 2.0 Branding.
2009 SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year

Techno Granny Show Notes, Technology Teenagers Don't Know About the Sixties

This show was originally broadcast live from TAlkShoe at 7 AM EDT on June 22, 2009. You can listen to the archived version at:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/30986

The Answering Machine

Kazuo Hashimoto Invents the Ansafone sold in the USA as an Automatic Telephone Answering Machine

Weather Satellite

The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.

Chatty Cathy

First popular talking doll, spoke 11 random phrases at the pull of a string. The original voice was June Foray who also did the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons

Chatty Cathy

First popular talking doll, spoke 11 random phrases at the pull of a string. The original voice was June Foray who also did the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons

1960 Toys & Gadgets


The Brits successfully enter the American toy market with Legos.

Etch-a-Sketch

High tech toy writing and drawing instrument from France

More Gadgets


The Modem
Bell Telephone Laboratories invent the modem using the binary code patented by Jean-Emile Baudot in 1874.

The Laser
Theodore Maiman uses a synthetic ruby to build first true laser.

Teflon Non-sticking cookware goes on sale at Macy's in New York

The ATM
The Hologram
Heart Pacemaker
The Copy Machine

The Rank Xerox Standard 1385 copying machine went to market, Huge toner cartridges and took two men to carry at least.

The original See 'n Say required no batteries and was driven by pulling a string or lever. The most popular version of See 'n Say is probably the one entitled "The Farmer Says"


Mary Quant (far right) designs the Mini Skirt which appears in London and becomes the fashion statement of the 60's.


Operation - Invented by John Spinello. A battery-operated game testing hand-eye co-ordination. Made by Milton Bradley it is still in production.


Transistor Radios
In the sixties every teenager had to have a transistor radio. They were just like mobile phones are today - cheap, colourful and highly desirable. You could have music and news on the move. They were the passport to the modern world and showed that you were part of the "with it" generation. People in Third World countries would save hard to get one. Quality was often low, but you could not be part of the Swinging Sixties without one.
.
Phillips E3300 cassette tape recorder
This was the world's first cassette tape recorder. It came complete with a microphone so that you could record your own voice. The E3300 was a high quality and expensive product. I can testify to the quality since I still use one today

Samsonite Attache Case
In the sixties, the Samsonite Classic attaché case was one of the coolest business accessories out. It was definitely an attaché case and not a brief case. This case was carried by secret agents, including Michael Caine in "Funeral in Berlin" (1966) . No self respecting 60s executive could be without one.

Parker 61
This pen had a special capillary filling mechanism with no moving parts. You simply unscrewed the barrel and placed the filler upside down in an ink bottle and the ink soaked up. In practice they performed poorly and often clogged up. Go for a later model with a cartridge filler if you want a more usable pen.
Instant photography

The Polaroid Swinger provided instant pictures. You did not have to send them off to be developed. This camera was launched in 1966 in the UK. It must have been a hit at Christmas. The name was very much in keeping with the spirit of the decade. Photographs were only black and white, but then so was television. It also had a slot for flash cubes - remember those?

Bulova Accutron

They didn't have quartz watches in the sixties, although they did have electronic watches. The Bulova Accutron, which used a miniature tuning fork to regulate the movement, was one of the first. Some of the first models were made without the face so that salesmen could demonstrate the movement to customers. The idea was so cool that it caught on and Accutrons were sold without the face. These watches were known as "Space view". .



Money and Inflation 1960's

To provide an estimate of inflation we have given a guide to the value of $100 US Dollars for the first year in the decade to the equivalent in todays money
If you have $100 Converted from 1960 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $679.09 today

In 1960 a new house cost $12,700.00 and by 1969 was $15,500.00

In 1960 the average income per year was $5,315.00 and by 1969 was $8,540.00

In 1960 a gallon of gas was 25 cents and by 1969 was 35 cents

In 1960 the average cost of new car was $2,600.00 and by 1969 was $3,270.00



A few more prices from the 60's and how much things cost
Volkswagon beetle $1,769 From Car Prices in the 60's

Ford Mustang 2 door hardtop $2368

Misses Swinging Shifts Skirts $5.00 From Prices for clothes and fashions in the 60's

Oxford mens Shoes $12.95

Automatic Can Opener $8.88 From Electrical and Electronic Prices in the 60's


Cash Dispenser ----- 1969 Turkey by Luther Simjian
CCDs ----- 1969 USA Charge Coupled Device - to capture image
Communication Satellite ----- 1962 USA Telstar
Computer Mouse ----- 1964 USA by Douglas Engelbart
Fibre Optics ----- 1966 England by Charles Keo and George Hockham
Heart Pacemaker ----- 1960 USA by Wilson Greatbatch
Human Space Travel ----- 1961 Russia Yuri Gagarin - the first human in space
Hypertext ----- 1965 USA for linking text
Internet ----- 1969 USA US military
Kevlar ----- 1966 USA by Stephanie Kwolek
Laser ----- 1960 USA by Theodore Maiman
LEDs ----- 1962 USA Light Emitting Diodes - used for displays
Manned Moon Landing ----- 1969 USA Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on Moon
Moon Landing ----- 1966 Russia Luna 9 lands softly on the Moon
Optical Disk ----- 1965 USA by James Russell - now Compact Disk CD / DVD History of Hifi and Music Players and Media
Portable Calculator ----- 1967 USA Texas Instruments
Space Docking ----- 1966 USA Gemini VIII docks with an orbiting satellite
Space Walk ----- 1965 Russia Aleksei Leonov - first person outside space vehicle
Tape Cassette ----- 1963 Netherlands
Venus Probe ----- 1962 USA Mariner 2 - the first planetary probe
Weather Satellite ----- 1960 USA Tiros I

History of Hi-Fi Music Players and Media

Before MP3s….before compact discs…even before cassette tapes….there was hi-fi. Short for “high fidelity,” this is the term given to a high-quality reproduction of sounds or images. With a hi-fi recording, the sound that is reproduced sounds much like the original sound or recording with no excess noise or sound distortion. Hi-fi technology was most popular during the 1960s and 1970s, but the background for it began in the 1920s with the production of microphones and other electronic amplification devices. After World War II, companies began making improvements in sound quality and recording equipment. As a result, the hi-fi technology was the preferred (and basically the only) method for recreating high-quality sound reproductions.

One of the first hi-fi recorders was a reel-to-reel machine. Developed during the early 1940s, the reel-to-reel machine created high-quality recordings with a much better fidelity than any other recording instrument. The technology for reel-to-reel machines was found after World War II. Based on technology from Germany, the reel-to-reel machine was used to create superior copies of recordings to distribute to the public. It basically used a magnetic recording tape that was wrapped around one reel with the end attached to an adjacent reel. As it recorded, the tape was wound onto the second reel. You can think of it is a large cassette tape, but with better sound quality.

As a leader in the recording industry, Bing Crosby helped to market the reel-to-reel machine as a popular means to create quality recordings of performances. The need for hi-fi also arose because of movies with sounds – “talkies.” Audiences wanted high-quality sound to be pumped through the speakers in the theater to help them have a pleasant movie experience. Even today, many people praise the sound quality of the reel-to-reel machine and its ability to produce high fidelity recordings. During the first few years when it was popular, a reel-to-reel machine could cost consumers between $200-400 and they can still be purchased for approximately that amount today because of their collectible nature.

The next major breakthrough in the hi-fi technology was the long-playing record. Although the 12-inch discs were created by Peter Goldmark in the late 1940s, their popularity did not take off until the mid-1950s. One of the major advantages of this product was that it was made of vinyl rather than the other materials that they were previously made with. As a result of using vinyl, the grooves in the record could be smaller which enabled manufacturers and record companies to put more music on one side of an album. With vinyl records, you could enjoy a half hour of music per side. The vinyl also recorded and produced a much richer and cleaner sound that its previous counterparts. For this reason, it was very popular among classical music fans who enjoyed the lack of scratches and other fuzzy noises with their listening enjoyment.

These new larger discs played at 33 1/3 RPMs (revolutions per minute) which also helped contain more material on each side. With its popularity, it has become the primary use for recording and listening to music in the 20th century. Even today, many popular musical acts release vinyl LPs for people who continue to enjoy this medium. Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy album in the late 1990s is just one of many examples of this. Throughout the 1960s, you could buy a vinyl LP for less than $2.00. Today, however, most of them cost over $10.00 and some could cost thousands depending on how rare it is.

Techno Granny, Graphic Designers, Artists or Marketers.

This show was originally aired on the Techno Granny Show on June 8, 2009 at 7 AM. Archived version is available at:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/30986 or on Techno Granny Show unique radio channel at: http://www.positivelypittsburghlivemagazine.com


Susan is a graduate of The School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration. In her early career, she worked as a graphic designer and art director for many major book publishing companies in New York such as, Penguin and Macmillan.
In 1994 Susan established her own company, Susan Newman Design, Inc. Her work has encompassed corporate identity, web design, posters, book design and more. Her clients range from new small businesses to large corporations and span the United States. Susan has received numerous awards from organizations and publications over the years and most recently in 2008 from GDUSA.


Talking points to be discussed on the “Techno Granny Radio Show” June 8th, 2009.

1- What is a graphic designer?

A graphic designer is an artist, problem solver, conceptual artist. Someone who designs both for themselves and for their clients.

Whether starting a new business or trying to separate a business from the competition, these clients need an identity. I listen to what my clients say in describing themselves and the mission of their business, I look at what other companies like them have done or look like, I try to get my clients to show me by example what they like as far as design, looking at logos, color schemes, websites or whatever samples they may want to show. I then take this information and conceptually I decide what seems right for them. I usually show them a few different concepts, changing it up. 98% of the time I am on target and they usually cannot understand how I am reading their minds as far as designing just what they wanted.


Sometimes someone comes to me with a website that has no design at all, just content, or sometimes a company has no site and needs one. These companies might have a logo and business cards, which gives me someplace to begin. What does that look like, do they also have a brochure? Some companies have nothing and we begin with creating a logo and their corporate identity, then we move on to a brochure, product packaging, perhaps a presskit folder, perhaps sell sheets, and then the website.


1A: The most exciting project so far?
A few years ago a colleague who teaches software to companies, some are publishers, came to me with a website assignment. At the time she wasn’t designing websites and asked me if I was interested in designing a site for Simon & Schuster, she would be the liaison between us. When she told me whom the site was for, I was so excited I couldn’t wait to begin. The site was for Barack Obama’s newest book, The Audacity of Hope. I knew then he would be our next President f the United States and was thrilled to have been able to design that site. The site has changed somewhat since he was elected.

1B: Design that made a difference with a company or product?
I was asked to join the board of advisors for Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU last Fall. Since that time I have redesigned their logo, website and poster/signage for various productions, including The Three Musketeers, King Lear and Henry V. I negotiated a deal with NJ Transit to design and hang a 10 ft. banner in Hoboken Terminal for 35 days which dramatically changed the traffic to their website and helped sell more tickets as well as bring awareness to the theater company. I secured them a space as performers in the Everything Jersey City Festival which took place on May 16, 2009… they were the only theatrical performers and the buzz during and afterward was fantastic. I am now in the process of designing their next season’s brochures and will soon update their website with the new season’s schedule and build photo galleries of the past shows.


2 - What’s the difference between graphic design for books, magazines or other print marketing and websites/email marketing?

Designing for these two areas have some minor areas that are the same but mostly they are completely different. Something that’s printed has one face, one chance to capture someone’s attention. Imagine designing a book cover, which will be sitting amongst the shelves with many others in its category. What will make you choose one book over another, if it’s not an author that is famous? It will most likely be the cover that catches your eye that is pleasing or intriguing to you.

This explains the “concept” of design. Someone created that cover feeling that what they selected as far as the imagery, colors and the typeface was in their view representing a window into what that book is about, enough to get you to pick it up.

The “print” medium works in high resolution, 300-1200 dpi and the CMYK printing process, or flat Pantone (or other brands) colors, or both.

The web uses low resolution, 72 dpi and works in web colors and rgb.

When we think of websites, there is much more available to us. Audio, video, Flash animation, links, we have so much more to play with to attract attention, but here again people get overwhelmed by these options, and it takes a graphic designer to make sense of it all, not over use these things but to figure out ways to make everything work together so you’re not driving people away instead of gaining new customers.

Many websites scream for attention with either fast moving Flash animation or advertisements that are Flashing, look at me! They don’t realize that to some it’s annoying, and should be used minimally or moved off or down the homepage and into an advertising section.

When designing for the web one should always focus on the user. We must always remember that what matters most is that the site is pleasing to look at and the navigation, functionality is the key. If someone cannot find what they came for, they will leave and not return. So there are many areas to be considered, design, color palette, how much content, structure, and just using common sense.

3- Why use a graphic designer and not just design it themselves using templates, clipart or laying things out themselves?

It takes years of experience to understand how to listen to clients, gaining a window into what they’re saying and how that translates in a visual image for me… sifting through their copy, images, logos, and information and know just how best to represent them in print or on the web.

Just because someone has a computer, “Word” and perhaps “Photoshop” doesn’t mean they have any expertise in laying out information. Conceptualization comes from the creative, intuitive mind, processing the ingredients and coming up with “the right solution” for that client and no other.

This is why I hate the concept of templates. There are online companies who offer website templates, postcard and brochure templates, as if everyone just fits into a cookie shaped mold. Each client has their own unique idea, mission and business sense, and their print marketing and web presence should match that.


4- How do we pick one graphic designer over another, how are they different?

One more point I thought we could discuss is the challenge a businesses person might face when looking for a graphic designer. For example, I have many online profiles with portfolios, on styleapple, logolounge, guru, elance, and others. These are places where designers post their information and can look for new opportunities by responding to postings or clients can look through different profiles to find someone they may want to hire. So, if they are looking through these portfolios, what distinguishes one from another?

Well, first it may depend on the reviews other clients have written in, or how many samples they have up in their portfolio, or how many projects they have completed. Most important will be that they will look through the portfolio samples, at the work, and the style of that artist and they will know when a style matches what they might have in mind for themselves. They just see something that agrees with their aesthetic sense and it will follow through to their own project.


5- Keeping up with technology.

We could also touch on how a graphic designer and web designer must stay on top of software updates, stay tuned in to award shows, the latest news and trends.

Watching the news, reading the latest articles online, subscribing to various magazines, and keep the networking channels open to stay informed.



Also be sure to look at wikipedia on “graphic design” I found that page fascinating.

Thanks,

Susan Newman
Susan Newman Design inc.

Creative, award winning graphic and website design studio.

Jersey city, NJ 07307
Ph: 201-420-8205
http://www.susannewmandesign.com
Email: susan@susannewmandesign.com

Is Cuil Really Cool?

So I named this talkcast Episode 66—“Cuil, a better search engine or an old-fashioned pen!” That was before I found out that Cuil was pronounced Cool and was nothing like Benjamin Franklin’s quill that he used to write, I guess more than Ben Franklin’s quill pen is archaic, I think Techno Granny may be too because in this case I just don’t see the sense of one more search engine.

Cuil (pronounced "cool") is a search engine that organizes web pages by content and displays a paragraph with thumbnail pictures for many results. It claims to have a larger index than any other search engine, with about 120 billion web pages. It went live on July 28, 2008.

Cuil's privacy policy states that it does not store records of users’ search activity or IP addresses.
Cuil is managed and developed largely by former employees of Google: Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier. The CEO and co-founder, Tom Costello, has worked for IBM and others. The company raised $33 million from venture capital firms including to start the business.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia

Cuil or "Cool" is not Cool as far as Techno Granny is concerned. It claims to use different rules that are more relevant to real search and not just popularity but that “sexy” Russian Lady in a babushka dancing to Techno Music is still beating me out with her videos. If it were not for being listed on Zimbio and Zencast, I would not even have come up in my first search of even the Techno Granny Show. My first search did not even pick up TalkShoe, come on or Montana?!? So the Techno Granny thing is not just sour grapes.

Videos outstrip podcasts anyday in search ranking, so how is Cuil different? Let’s see, the Russian sexy senior citizen has one video that has been downloaded 100,000 times and I have 63 podcasts. What’s that tell you about the power of video and Cuil, very cooly claims that their search goes by different rules. Don’t think so!


Positively Pittsburgh Live, very concise look at what you are looking at but Hacking Live also comes up with Positivley Pittsburgh Live.
TalkShoe, on the other hand had several shoe stores in my first search and nothing about an audio host that has millions of users.

Carl Weisbrad of WDSL Library was on the line so I checked him out, nothing and he’s also a pretty prolific guy with shows on two networks, Talk Shoe and Blogtalk Radio and he is also a master with RSS feeds. What are the new cool rules for Cuil?

From the Cuil website: “Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.” Ah well, they did only just go live on July 28 and I am wrtiting this on August 4 so Techno Granny may soon eat her words.

But what did they spend 33 million dollars on. I did notice that by the end of the show the Search results looked a little better for Talk Shoe. Could they have used part of that money for Google Alerts Pro and “heard” me talking about them and gotten it together or am I just in the twi-light zone. The second on air search that I did on Talk Shoe, still had some shoe stores but had 5 references out of three columns about the REAL Shoe.

From the Cuil website: “Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek.” Oh is that what they were doing, excuse me their internet crystal ball told them that a 58 year old granny didn’t want to buy shoes but wanted to check out a Podcasting site called Talk Shoe. Well, that’s what they would have one believe.

From the Cuil website: “Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.” Think they spent some of that 33 mil on a spiffy by-line from a Madison Avenue Ad Agency. No, they are nothing like Google, Ask or Yahoo!

Well you asked for it, before I did this show listeners were e-mailing me and calling me about how Cool it would be for Techno Granny to scoop Cuil, so I did and I may “hide” that podcast after a while but in the meantime, what in the world do Eco Shoes (walking Shoes), Wooden Shoe Books and Records, Ontario Shoe Travelers Association and a Shoe made of Garbage, Niki Trash Talk have to do with our beloved TalkShoe ?

By the way a recent article in PC Magazine agreed with me that many searches on rather common items such as States either yielded nothing or were irrelevant. Guess that’s what happens when you go to a party and the fun people haven’t arrived yet. If you leave early because no one is there, you could miss all the fun! So Techno Granny is going to go back and check it out after the party gets going a little better.

You can listen to the actual talkcast on this topic at:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/30986

Just in case I decide to claim this blog at some later date:
This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information: © Joanne Quinn-Smith, TEchno Granny Show 412-628-5048
Listen at: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/30986
Blog: www.technogrannyshow.blogspot.com

Would you lend your child money but not your time?

This was sent to me in an e-mail by one of my listeners Carol Carmichael, who owns Carol's Restaurant and Hometown Sports Deli in the Historic West End of PIttsburgh. I thought, as a grandmother that it was important enough a parable to share.


For those of us with kids, something to ponder..........

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year
old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'
DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.
SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the
man said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an
hour?'
DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you
can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then
you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why
you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish
frivolities.' The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's
questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After
about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and
he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of
the little boy's room and opened the door. 'Are you asleep, son?' He
asked. 'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy. 'I've been thinking,
maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man 'It's been a long day
and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for .'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' He
yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up
bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry
again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up
at his father. 'Why do you want more money if you already have some?'
the father grumbled. Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the
little boy replied. 'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your
time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with
you.'

The father was crushed.. He put his arms around his little son, and he
begged for his forgiveness. It's just a short reminder to all of you
working so hard in life.. We should not let time s lip through our
fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to
us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of
your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily
replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave
behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
From my house to yours

Episode 64, Techno Granny for President or How to Start Your Own Talkshoe Show

10 EASY STEPS TO START A TALK CAST ON TALK SHOE

1. Purchase microphone and head phones
2. Create Account at www.talkshoe.com
3. Create editorial calendar
4. Do a Test Call to check out how your sound will be and get familiar
5. Schedule Your First Episode
6. Invite and promote ( People join via phone, pc or listen on computer later)
7. Be prepared for commitment
8. Start a blog of the same name for your show notes and any additional blogs
9. Always plan your show
10. When you schedule a show, be sure to observe your start time and BE THERE!

Helpful Hints:

Check out my show blog for ideas: www.technogrannyshow.blogspot.com
You can also change this to a domain name that does not use blogspot in it.
Make sure that you add a widget from Talk Shoe for people who discover your blog and want to listen to your show.

Technical support: support@talkshoe.com

After you have some following, probably about twenty shows, start your own social network for your loyal listeners. This will give them an opportunity to comment on your show.

List on as many pod cast hosting sites as possible:
Here’s a list of popular Pod cast Directories.
iTunes,
Yahoo,
Podcast Pickle,
Blubrry,
Podcast Alley,
Digg,
Podcasting News,
Pod-Planet,
PodZinger,
Zencast,
Podcast.net,
Podcast Bunker,
AllPodcasts, etc.

Many Helpful Hints In “Host Lounge” on Talk Shoe, also you will receive periodic Talk Cast Invites where Hosts Share Strategies on a Talk Cast that will be archived but if you are live you can ask questions.





This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information: © Joanne Quinn-Smith, TEchno Granny Show 412-628-5048
Listen at: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/30986
Blog: www.technogrannyshow.blogspot.com

Epsidode 50—Techno Granny and Chat Friends from Pittsburgh and Australia on Open Source Technology and Free Software

Epsidode 50—Techno Granny and Chat Friends from Pittsburgh and Australia on Open Source Technology and Free Software

Once again my chat room saved me when a guest did not show up. Guest was to be Joe Polk of Pennsylvania Technology Assistance Program. Penn Tap. I am sure there was some technological difficulty that prevented him from joining me but chat listeners once again saved Techno Granny from a talkcaster’s worst fate—dead air time.

My Knights in shining armor: Travis Knight, from Pittsburgh, (no really his last name is Knight, I think, internet anonymity, you know.)
Ben Wilson, Teen Talkcaster from Sydney Australia and his publicist Rodger, also from Sydney Australia.

Below I have included the chat and also a link and list of Open Source Technology that you can use.

Travis> Wordpress
Ben Wilson: mozilla and firefox are same thing
technogranny: Mozilla, Firefox, Wordpress,
Travis: yep blog
Ben Wilson: I use wordpress and it rockes!
Travis: i do think so
Travis: Wordpress is very flexible
Travis: Has thousands of templates
Ben Wilson: http://wabw.blogspot.com
Ben Wilson: My blogger
Ben Wilson: and my wordpress:
Ben Wilson: http://popcultureplanet.wordpress.com
Ben Wilson: There are good differences but I love em both!
Ben Wilson: Over 1000 downloads overall this month!
Rodger: cool
Rodger: Here we go...steelers.
Ben Wilson: Here we go!
Ben Wilson: I have that song on my ipod.
Travis: They are going to the superbowl again
Travis: hopefully this year
Rodger: www.ning.com
Travis: I love Firefox
Travis: so many plugins and extensions available
Travis: one sec and i will put some in the chat
Ben Wilson: I Love flamedog too!
Rodger: tehe, flamedog
Rodger: Falmedog. what we call firefox
Travis: https://addons.mozilla.org
Ben Wilson: Go travis!
Travis: addblocking, color checkers, fire ftp, blogging for wordpress etc
Travis: Firefox is the decendent of the Netscape browser using what they call the
Gecko engine.
Ben Wilson: wow, this is going great!
Rodger: Yeah, joanne, you don't need carl or any guest
Travis: oddly enough, it was owned by AOL for a while then they spun it off and it thrived
since nothing AOL ever held has done well.
Ben Wilson: Travis the brain
Travis: yep
Rodger: Joanne's knight in shining armour.
Rodger: get it, his last name is knight!
Travis: I wanna visit Bondi Beach in Austrailia
Ben Wilson: Ich hasse deusch!
Rodger: Ya, nein meine freind.
Travis: Here is a nice listing of open source
Travis: http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
Rodger: WHOOOOOO!!!! VLC ROCKS!
Travis: audacity is great
Ben Wilson: Cool, gimp, paint, audacty!
Travis: Good night Austrailia, Good morning Pittsburgh.
Ben Wilson: Goodnight pittsburgh!


List of open source technology which can be found at:

http://www.opensourcewindows.org/

Web Browsing
Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser.


Video Player / Video Podcasting

Miro
Beautiful interface. Plays any video type (much more than windows media player). Subscribe to video RSS, download, and watch all in one. Torrent support. Search and download from YouTube and others.


IM - Instant Messaging

Pidgin
Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber.


E-mail

Mozilla Thunderbird
Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.


RSS

RSSOwl
Solid cross-platform RSS client.

Peer-to-Peer Filesharing

Cabos
A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.

Gnucleus
A very good Gnutella search and download filesharing program.


Azureus
A powerful, but complicated BitTorrent client. So many features you'll lose your mind.


Video Playback

VLC
Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.



MPlayer
Similar to VLC-- plays loads of video formats.


Media Player Classic
Compact, but powerful media player. Plays anything under the sun. No install necessary.


DVD Ripping / Video Conversion

Media Coder
Great tool for ripping CDs, DVDs, etc and converting between tons of video formats.


Word Processing / Office Suites

OpenOffice.org
Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with and a free replacement for Microsoft Word documents. Also supports OpenDocument Format.


AbiWord
A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.


Podcasting

Juice
Solid podcasting client.


DVD Ripping

Handbrake
DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter.


Sound Recording

Audacity
Simple sound recording tool.

Graphics / Photo Editing

GIMP
Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features.


Paint.NET
Graphics editor with a very nice interface.

Inkscape
Vector graphics application.

FTP / SFTP

Filezilla
Excellent FTP program.


IRC

X-Chat 2
IRC client.

Episode 44--How to Raise Your on Line Visibility--Diane Corriette of Women Internet Marketers Alliance

Episode 44 How to Raise Your On Line Visibility with Diane Corriette of Women Internet Marketers Alliance

Diane Corriette runs the Women Internet Marketers alliance which is a collection of 3 businesses set up to support women who run an internet based business. The online magazine, social network and membership site offer women an opportunity to learn, share, connect and network. Diane is a mother of 3 children living in London England and a trained Life Coach and Master Practitioner of Neuro Lingustic Programming (NLP). Offline she spent her time reconnecting women to passion and purpose. Now Diane dedicates 100% of her time to building online businesses with user generated content and today she will provide us with 7 easy and low cost ways for women to raise their online visibility.

Major topic: What is user generated content and then we can take it from there.



7 easy and low cost ways for women to raise their online profile.



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