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Friday, May 10, 2013

Public Speaking Conference: Toastmasters District 83 Announces ...

Friday, May 17, 2013, All day

128 Frontage Rd, Newark, NJ | Get?Directions??
$125.00

Toastmasters District 83 Announces Award-Winning Writer Karin Price Mueller as Featured Keynote in Spring Conference

5th Annual Event Brings Together Toastmasters Members and Guests From Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania to Network, Learn, Mentor, Compete and More, From May 17-19 in Newark, N.J.

NEWARK, N.J.?(May 10, 2013)?? Attendees of the 5th annual Spring Conference hosted by Toastmasters District 83 will gain insights to refine their speaking and presentation skills -- and they also will network,
compete for public speaking awards and hear from leading experts. Award-winning writer Karin Price Mueller is this conference?s keynote speaker.

Mueller?s keynote will be delivered on Saturday, May 18, at 7 p.m. She will share highlights from her career and tips on how to be a better speaker. Mueller?s selection was based on the excellence of her work for her widely read weekly column, ?Bamboozled,? in New Jersey?s Star-Ledger, in which she fosters consumer awareness and advocacy.?

?I do think public speaking is a great skill,? Mueller said. ?It helps with anything from job interviews to communicating with co-workers and more. It will even help you at cocktail parties, or if you get that unusual chance to appear before a crowd, TV audience or radio show.?

During the conference, Mueller will be honored by Toastmasters District 83 with the coveted Communications & Leadership Award, which acknowledges individuals for their contribution of excellence and outstanding dedication in the fields of communication and leadership for community causes.

Over 12 workshops have been lined up for attendees to learn leadership skillsets, developing a vision statement, strategic communications and how to communicate to diverse audiences, all of which align with this year?s theme: ?Out Of Many Comes The Voice Of Excellence!?

Pamela Winter, DTM, Governor of District 83 said: ?This year?s Spring Conference theme is personally important to me. It is a celebration of our diversity, with its particular strengths, quirks and traditions. We all come from? someplace and to identify, embrace, share and acknowledge our roots creates a profound understanding and appreciation among those whose lives we touch. Toastmasters teaches us that with better communications skills we can be more comfortable and confident in our
vastly different cultures, allowing us to share and gain greater understanding and acceptance of others.?

The District 83 Spring Conference will take place May 17-19 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Newark Airport, 128 Frontage Rd. in Newark. This annual event is open to all interested. For more information or to register, please visit http://www.toastmasters83.org/district-conference/online-registration.html.

About Toastmasters International

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership
skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Founded in October 1924, the organization currently has more than 280,000 members in 13,500-plus clubs in 116 countries. Each week, Toastmasters helps more than a quarter million people of every ethnicity, education level and profession build their competence in communication so they can gain the confidence to lead others. For information about local Toastmasters clubs, please visit www.toastmasters.org. Follow @Toastmasters?International on Twitter.

About Toastmasters District 83

District 83 of Toastmasters International proudly serves over 4,000 members in 155 clubs throughout the
metropolitan area of New Jersey and includes
Staten Island and Rockland County,?New York.?

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Source: http://baskingridge.patch.com/events/public-speaking-conference-toastmasters-district-83-announces-award-winning-writer-karin-price-mueller-as-featured-keynote-in-spring-conference

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Mobile phones unleash farmers in Uganda

The information farmers in Uganda provide via mobile phones does more than just help them order and pay for supplies. It allows the collection of data that will help them sell their crops, build a credit history, and receive other services, such as crop insurance.

By Kyla Yeoman,?Global Envision / May 9, 2013

Achon Bernard, a farmer in northern Uganda, is happy about the possibility of using his mobile phone to order and pay for inputs like seeds and fertilizer, as well as get paid for his produce.

Kyla Yeoman/Mercy Corps

Enlarge

A powerful new mobile platform combining agriculture information and financial services specifically designed for smallholder farmers is going live in Uganda, helping farmers plow even more value from each acre.

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Based on AgriLife, a cloud-based platform, the platform will be accessible via mobile phone and provide two key, interconnected services: data collection and analysis about farmers? production capability and history. It will also be an integration point for financial institutions, mobile network operators, produce buyers, and their agents to more efficiently provide much-needed services to distant, rural farmers.

The data analysis will drive the growth of services and products that benefit smallholder farmers based on a better understanding of their production capability. The more high-quality, comprehensive data that can be collected, the more valuable an asset it becomes, as service providers can better understand farmers? needs and tailor their offerings?like crop insurance, input payments, and savings accounts.

For the first time, transaction data will enable each smallholder farmer to build a credit history that will be used by other value-chain actors to provide credit and access to other "easier access" purchases, like seeds, fertilizers, and pest-control chemicals.

Farmers Centre (U) Ltd. (FACE), a farmer-centric agribusiness enterprise based in Lira District in northern Uganda, is an AgriLife early adopter in Uganda. FACE is already uploading information about its 10,000 farmer clients, who travel long distances to purchase inputs and aggregate their produce at FACE warehouses for processing and sale. Previously, FACE collected this information on paper and stored the data on a computer that recently crashed, highlighting the need for a? farmer registration process via mobile and a cloud-based storage system.

?AgriLife will reduce the transaction time with our farmers because it?s all done online, quickly, and there?s less of a need to travel,? said Dr. Otim Bernard, CEO of the Farmers Centre. ?In the end, this will reduce our costs.?

The AgriLife platform was developed by Kenyan-based IT company MobiPay Kenya Ltd. Mercy Corps has supported the expansion of AgriLife to Uganda, while building relationships with other service providers who can be integrated into the platform so they can better reach rural clients, a new market segment for many companies. Mobipay expects to provide services to 10,000 farmers through the partnership with FACE, with a target of 100,000 by the end of 2013.

?If we can track our clients? acreage and their output, we can help them plan what to plant and get the inputs they need,? Bernard continued. ?Then we can link up with buyers and let them know more accurately that we have X farmers who can produce a certain amount of maize, and we currently have X tons aggregated at our warehouse for sale.?

During a farmer group meeting in March 2013, in a small village about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Lira?s town center, group members acknowledged using a ?wait and see? strategy. They have been observing the group president?s use of his mobile phone and plan to determine whether the benefits he?ll derive from the mobile connection to the Farmers Centre (via AgriLife) are enough to convince them to purchase their own phone and register individually.

Farmers are more interested in group loans due to the need for collateral, which is usually land. In northern Uganda, land is often owned communally by clans so individuals can't use it as collateral. MobiPay is tailoring the AgriLife platform for this region so that group credit scores are possible, and it is engaging financial institution partners that can provide group lending based on these scores.

Trust is typically a major obstacle in introducing new products to rural farmers. Working with local partners like FACE means farmers see AgriLife as just one more service provided by a well-known enterprise that has consistently provided quality services to them for many years, sharing and explaining all of the products available with its clients.

However, challenges remain: Low network coverage and instability of the network in the most remote areas can mean lower adoption, the high cost of phones (about $20) and calls (about $0.20 per minute), and difficulty in charging mobile phones constrain smallholder farmers from accessing services via mobile, getting on the platform, and enjoying its associated economic benefits.?

There is hope, however. Based on a survey Mercy Corps conducted in October 2012, 65 percent of households in the region own mobile phones while 90 percent have access, and some are already using mobile money services to send remittances. Farmers have shown a gradual but steady uptake of mobile money services beyond remittances, and focus groups revealed interest in using more mobile services. Currently growth is limited largely because of farmers? incomplete understanding of the products available and their associated economic benefits.

Mercy Corps is providing this support under a three-year Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) funded program called Agri-Fin Mobile, simultaneously being rolled out in Indonesia and Zimbabwe with a target of raising farmer incomes by 30 percent by bundling agriculture-related services and delivering them via mobile.

Mercy Corps expects that improved crop yields and increased income resulting from this holistic, mobile platform will have a significant impact on the food security of poor families, maximizing their production and profit potential.

? This article originally appeared at Global Envision, a blog published by Mercy Corps.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/L-W_-g6x98Y/Mobile-phones-unleash-farmers-in-Uganda

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Food prices rise but 2013 cereal crop looks strong

ROME (Reuters) - Global food prices rose in April for a third straight month as surging dairy costs kept upward pressure on the United Nations food agency's index, but cereal output is expected to be strong this year.

Food prices spiked during the summer of 2012 as the United States was hit by a severe drought and dry weather plagued other producers. After falling at the start of 2013, prices have been rising again in the past three months.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 215.5 points in April, up 1 percent from a revised 213.2 in March.

A sharp rise in dairy prices was the main reason for the increase, while meat prices rose marginally and other commodities fell, FAO said.

The agency said global cereal production would increase 6 percent to 2.708 billion tonnes in 2013 from the previous year, led by an expected 9.3 percent rise in coarse grains output and a 5.4 percent gain in wheat.

Whether the production increase lowers prices will depend on weather and demand over the next few months, FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.

The cereal forecast is still "very much at the mercy of mother nature", he said. "If demand accelerates in 2013, the increase in production would be offset by higher demand."

Production of course grains in the United States is expected to drive this year's increase, FAO said. Producers of maize in the United States, the world's largest producer, intend to plant the largest area since 1936, FAO said, citing survey data.

Crops in Europe and the Black Sea region are expected to contribute to higher wheat output, and producers in India and Indonesia are expected to drive a 10 million tonne increase in rice output this year, FAO said.

The estimate of world cereal output in 2012 was 2.306 billion tonnes, about 4 million tonnes lower than last month's figure.

Global cereal stocks at the end of this year are seen at 505 million tonnes, 5 million tonnes higher than previously forecast, FAO said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-food-prices-rise-2-pct-april-082244148.html

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Internet sales tax bill faces tough sell in House

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., president pro tempore of the Senate, right, and Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., left, walk to the floor of the Senate during a vote on legislation to collect sales tax on Internet purchases, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 6, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Chart shows U.S. online sales and projections

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, left, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., right, leave the Senate floor after voting on legislation to collect sales tax on Internet purchases, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 6, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Traditional retailers and cash-strapped states face a tough sell in the House as they lobby Congress to limit tax-free shopping on the Internet.

The Senate voted 69 to 27 Monday to pass a bill that empowers states to collect sales taxes from Internet purchases. Under the bill, states could require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes when they sell products over the Internet, in catalogs, and through radio and TV ads. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

Current law says states can only require retailers to collect sales taxes if the merchant has a physical presence in the state.

That means big retailers with stores all over the country like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target collect sales taxes when they sell goods over the Internet. But online retailers like eBay and Amazon don't have to collect sales taxes, except in states where they have offices or distribution centers.

"This bill is about fairness," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the bill's main sponsor in the Senate. "It's about leveling the playing field between the brick and mortar and online companies and it's about collecting a tax that's already due. It's not about raising taxes."

The bill got bipartisan support in the Senate but faces opposition in the House, where some lawmakers regard it as a tax increase. Grover Norquist, the anti-tax advocate, and the conservative Heritage Foundation oppose the bill, and many Republicans have been wary of crossing them.

Supporters say the bill is not a tax increase. In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales tax when they file their state tax returns. However, states complain that few taxpayers comply.

"Obviously there's a lot of consumers out there that have been accustomed to not having to pay any taxes, believing that they don't have to pay any taxes," said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., the bill's main sponsor in the House. "I totally understand that, and I think a lot of our members understand that. There's a lot of political difficulty getting through the fog of it looking like a tax increase."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has not commented publicly about the bill, giving supporters hope that he could be won over. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over the bill, has cited problems with the legislation but not rejected it outright.

"While it attempts to make tax collection simpler, it still has a long way to go," Goodlatte said in a statement. Without more uniformity in the bill, he said, "businesses would still be forced to wade through potentially hundreds of tax rates and a host of different tax codes and definitions."

Goodlatte said he's "open to considering legislation concerning this topic but these issues, along with others, would certainly have to be addressed."

Internet giant eBay led the fight against the bill in the Senate, along with lawmakers from states with no sales tax and several prominent anti-tax groups. The bill's opponents say it would put an expensive obligation on small businesses because they are not as equipped as national merchandisers to collect and remit sales taxes at the multitude of state rates.

Businesses with less than $1 million in online sales would be exempt. EBay wants to exempt businesses with up to $10 million in sales or fewer than 50 employees.

"The contentious debate in the Senate shows that a lot more work needs to be done to get the Internet sales tax issue right, including ensuring that small businesses using the Internet are protected from new burdens that harm their ability to compete and grow," said Brian Bieron, eBay's senior director of global public policy.

Some states have sales taxes as high as 7 percent, plus city and county taxes that can push the combined rate even higher.

Many governors ? Republicans and Democrats ? have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales.

The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, up nearly 16 percent from the previous year, according to government estimates.

States lost a total of $23 billion last year because they couldn't collect taxes on out-of-state sales, according to a study done for the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has lobbied for the bill. About half of that was lost from Internet sales; half from purchases made through catalogs, mail orders and telephone orders, the study said.

Supporters say the bill makes it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States must also establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don't have to send it to individual counties or cities.

Opponents worry the bill would give states too much power to reach across state lines to enforce their tax laws. States could audit out-of-state businesses, impose liens on their property and, ultimately, sue them in state court.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-07-Internet%20Sales%20Tax/id-d0b290613bae49ec92ce1c85089cf0cc

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Updated Gmail for iOS links directly to Chrome, Google Maps and YouTube apps

The official Gmail app for iOS has been available since 2011, but up until now, links to Maps and other Google utilities have directed users to the browser rather than to the respective programs. A just-released update to Gmail for iOS lets you jump into Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube and other native programs directly from links in your inbox. Those who prefer to keep things browser-based, however, can turn off this new functionality via the app's setting menu. Version 2.2.7182 (granular, much?) also lets you sign out of a single Gmail account rather than having to sign out of them all -- a boon to those of us juggling work and personal identities. Hit up the source link to download the update.

Filed under: Software, Apple, Google