Microsoft will put Windows 7 on store shelves and computer makers will have systems ready to sell with Vista's successor on Oct. 22, the company confirmed today.
Microsoft will also offer discounted or free upgrades to Windows 7 to users who buy PCs in the months leading up to the operating system's launch in a program dubbed "Windows Upgrade Option," a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. Although the name is new, the program had been reported as early as January, when a usually-reliable Web site leaked information about the deal, including its July 1 kick-off.
Until today, Microsoft had been coy about naming a release date for Windows 7, although it edged toward a timetable last month. Both Bill Veghte, the senior vice president who runs the Windows Business unit, and Steven Sinofsky, the senior vice president of the Windows engineering group, said then that Windows 7 was on track for the holiday selling season, and would make the final milestone -- called "release to manufacturing," or RTM -- in mid-August. Today, however, other company spokespersons said Microsoft is shooting for RTM by the end of July.
Details on the Windows Upgrade Option were not immediately available, but analysts have assumed that it would resemble Vista Express Upgrade, a program that gave people who purchased Windows XP PCs between Oct. 26, 2006, and March 15, 2007, free or inexpensive upgrades to Vista.
Vendors were allowed to set the price, if any, of the XP-to-Vista upgrades, and it's believed that they will have the same flexibility for Windows 7.
This isn't the first time that October has been named as the likely ship date for Microsoft's new OS. In an interview last month, an Acer executive based in the U.K. said "October 23 is the date that Windows 7 will be available." The executive, Bobby Watkins, the managing director of Acer's U.K. operations, also confirmed that customers who bought a Vista-powered computer from the company in the 30 days leading up to Oct. 23 would receive a free upgrade to Windows 7.
Also last month, Computerworld used Sinofsky's mid-August RTM date to predict that Windows 7 would go on sale sometime between Oct. 11 and Nov. 4, based on the actual timetables of Windows XP and Vista, respectively.
source : Gregg Keizer - computerworld
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Low-Fat Dairy Products Can Help to Reduce High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure (or hypertension) is a serious health problem of modern times. It is estimated that currently, every third person above 50 suffers from hypertension, however, only 30% of such people are actually aware about high blood pressure as a reason of their poor health. Nowadays, hypertension becomes a malady of the people at much younger age than it was a century ago. Therefore, the results of a recent study carried out by a group of British and Dutch specialists, should not slip the attention of us all.
About 2245 people over 55 took part in this continuous experiment. They were grouped according to the type of dairy products they had to consume: high-fat dairy, low-fat dairy, cheese and cheese products, milk and milk products, fermented dairy. Every 6 years, the health condition of the participants was closely monitored by the scientists. It turned out that those people who followed a low-fat dairy diet (650 g a day) and regularly consumed milk products (651 g a day) had 7% lower risks of having hypertension. At that, positive changes in blood pressure could be noticed over 2 years of regular low-fat dairy consumption.
“Dairy provides minerals such as calcium and potassium which are important for blood pressure regulation. This study is an extra building block to an increasing body of evidence which suggests that dairy proteins and minerals play an important role in maintaining a healthy blood pressure,” Dr Judith Bryans, one of the leaders of the research explains. It is important that eating a low-fat dairy on a regular basis can also assist in maintaining a healthy weight and lower the risks of having high levels of bad cholesterol. The results of the Rotterdam Study were published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2009.
by : Carla
source : guide2herbalremedies
About 2245 people over 55 took part in this continuous experiment. They were grouped according to the type of dairy products they had to consume: high-fat dairy, low-fat dairy, cheese and cheese products, milk and milk products, fermented dairy. Every 6 years, the health condition of the participants was closely monitored by the scientists. It turned out that those people who followed a low-fat dairy diet (650 g a day) and regularly consumed milk products (651 g a day) had 7% lower risks of having hypertension. At that, positive changes in blood pressure could be noticed over 2 years of regular low-fat dairy consumption.
“Dairy provides minerals such as calcium and potassium which are important for blood pressure regulation. This study is an extra building block to an increasing body of evidence which suggests that dairy proteins and minerals play an important role in maintaining a healthy blood pressure,” Dr Judith Bryans, one of the leaders of the research explains. It is important that eating a low-fat dairy on a regular basis can also assist in maintaining a healthy weight and lower the risks of having high levels of bad cholesterol. The results of the Rotterdam Study were published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2009.
by : Carla
source : guide2herbalremedies
How to get the best price on a used car
There's alot more anxiety in the purchase of a used car then there is when purchasing a new car. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when going used car shopping.
Instructions
Step 1
Knowledge is the key when purchasing a used car. When looking for a used car, I always recommend taking along someone who has real knowledge of the workings under the hood. You might consider asking a mechanic that you know and trust, perhaps a parent or a friend who has enough knowledge that they will know a problem car when they see it.
Step 2
Do your research. In order to get a great price, you need to have an idea of what the car you are looking to buy is currently going for on the market. Kelley blue book is a great tool. You can search by year, make model and it will spit out the car value based whether you buy from a private seller or a dealership. It even adjusts the price based on the condition of the car such as fair, good, excellent. Makes sure you take the print out of the reports to the dealership wth you as a negotiating tool.
Step 3
Be prepared to walk away. Even if you fall in love with a car, you may just have to say no and walk out of the dealership if they refuse to budge on the price. Believe it or not, that's exactly what I did and the dealership actually called me an hour later and offered me a better price. Remember, sometimes it all comes down to who's the better bluffer. You or the salesperson.
source : ebnickiea - ehow
Instructions
Step 1
Knowledge is the key when purchasing a used car. When looking for a used car, I always recommend taking along someone who has real knowledge of the workings under the hood. You might consider asking a mechanic that you know and trust, perhaps a parent or a friend who has enough knowledge that they will know a problem car when they see it.
Step 2
Do your research. In order to get a great price, you need to have an idea of what the car you are looking to buy is currently going for on the market. Kelley blue book is a great tool. You can search by year, make model and it will spit out the car value based whether you buy from a private seller or a dealership. It even adjusts the price based on the condition of the car such as fair, good, excellent. Makes sure you take the print out of the reports to the dealership wth you as a negotiating tool.
Step 3
Be prepared to walk away. Even if you fall in love with a car, you may just have to say no and walk out of the dealership if they refuse to budge on the price. Believe it or not, that's exactly what I did and the dealership actually called me an hour later and offered me a better price. Remember, sometimes it all comes down to who's the better bluffer. You or the salesperson.
source : ebnickiea - ehow
How to Cut Marketing Costs without Endangering Business Growth
As business owners and/or marketers, we're all under pressure to cut costs. Unfortunately, many business owners get so intent on reducing costs, they lose sight of what it's going to do to the business. It's hard to grow - or even survive - if you don't have any customers.
Reducing marketing costs without screwing up your ability to grow is easier than you might think.
Here are five ways to do that.
Eliminate waste
Over the years I've looked at hundreds of marketing programs, and I can tell you honestly that nearly all of them have some kind of hole that either drains money directly or allows leads to be lost.
Before you cut anything, take a good hard look at what you're doing. Are there programs that aren't delivering the results you anticipated? Fix them or get rid of them.
Is there anything that can't be traced to increasing sales opportunities? Unless you have a pile of extra money, now is not the time to be spending money on marketing efforts that don't generate more leads or develop the ones you have.
Make fewer mistakes
Another way to say this is: turn to people who know what they're doing.
Marketing - which has never been exactly simple - has changed a lot in the past few years. Customers and prospects are in charge now, and they're looking for you online. If you're not on the internet, you're not in the game.
While I admire business owners who try to figure marketing out for themselves, it wastes a lot of time and it leads to mistakes that could be avoided with some experience.
You may not need a proven marketing pro on staff, but if you don't have one somewhere on your team you're probably wasting money.
Nurture what you've got
Successful lead generation programs bring in people in different stages of the buying process. Some are ready to commit more to you than others are. Some are ready to talk to a sales person and some aren't.
Think of any lead generation activity you've ever done: search marketing, email, advertising, telemarketing, networking, trade shows - it doesn't matter. Were all of the people who responded ready to schedule a two-hour demo of your product? Of course not.
But that doesn't make those people any less likely to buy from you in the future as long as you maintain a relationship with them.
If you're one of those businesses that has a bunch of inactive prospects sitting in a database (or on your desk), you may be better off nurturing those people than paying to find new ones. And nurturing leads can be a lot less expensive than generating them in the first place.
Increase conversions - not just inbound leads or traffic
This point is similar to the one above it, but it's important enough to look at from a different angle.
Let's say you have 2000 visitors a month going to your website and 60% of them leave your homepage without going anywhere else. Which do you think would be cheaper, changing your website so that an additional 20% (400 visitors) stay on your site or doubling traffic to the site? The results are the same.
(Hint: if you picked the first option, you're right).
Complex purchases - such as technology, high ticket goods, and ongoing services - are made up of many different conversion points where the buyer decides whether or not to spend any more time with you. Each of those conversion points can be tweaked to pass more prospects through and provide a better return on your investment.
Consider outsourcing
To have a successful marketing program today requires skills in multiple disciplines - some of which didn't even exist a decade or so ago. For example, you need website strategy and development, search engine optimization, paid search marketing, prospect conversion optimization, lead nurturing and web marketing - just to name a few.
Staffing an in-house team with all of this expertise would cost more than most small to mid-sized businesses are willing or able to invest. Yet you can easily - and cost effectively - get this expertise from an outside firm or group of individuals.
source : Susan Tatum - businessknowhow.com
Reducing marketing costs without screwing up your ability to grow is easier than you might think.
Here are five ways to do that.
Eliminate waste
Over the years I've looked at hundreds of marketing programs, and I can tell you honestly that nearly all of them have some kind of hole that either drains money directly or allows leads to be lost.
Before you cut anything, take a good hard look at what you're doing. Are there programs that aren't delivering the results you anticipated? Fix them or get rid of them.
Is there anything that can't be traced to increasing sales opportunities? Unless you have a pile of extra money, now is not the time to be spending money on marketing efforts that don't generate more leads or develop the ones you have.
Make fewer mistakes
Another way to say this is: turn to people who know what they're doing.
Marketing - which has never been exactly simple - has changed a lot in the past few years. Customers and prospects are in charge now, and they're looking for you online. If you're not on the internet, you're not in the game.
While I admire business owners who try to figure marketing out for themselves, it wastes a lot of time and it leads to mistakes that could be avoided with some experience.
You may not need a proven marketing pro on staff, but if you don't have one somewhere on your team you're probably wasting money.
Nurture what you've got
Successful lead generation programs bring in people in different stages of the buying process. Some are ready to commit more to you than others are. Some are ready to talk to a sales person and some aren't.
Think of any lead generation activity you've ever done: search marketing, email, advertising, telemarketing, networking, trade shows - it doesn't matter. Were all of the people who responded ready to schedule a two-hour demo of your product? Of course not.
But that doesn't make those people any less likely to buy from you in the future as long as you maintain a relationship with them.
If you're one of those businesses that has a bunch of inactive prospects sitting in a database (or on your desk), you may be better off nurturing those people than paying to find new ones. And nurturing leads can be a lot less expensive than generating them in the first place.
Increase conversions - not just inbound leads or traffic
This point is similar to the one above it, but it's important enough to look at from a different angle.
Let's say you have 2000 visitors a month going to your website and 60% of them leave your homepage without going anywhere else. Which do you think would be cheaper, changing your website so that an additional 20% (400 visitors) stay on your site or doubling traffic to the site? The results are the same.
(Hint: if you picked the first option, you're right).
Complex purchases - such as technology, high ticket goods, and ongoing services - are made up of many different conversion points where the buyer decides whether or not to spend any more time with you. Each of those conversion points can be tweaked to pass more prospects through and provide a better return on your investment.
Consider outsourcing
To have a successful marketing program today requires skills in multiple disciplines - some of which didn't even exist a decade or so ago. For example, you need website strategy and development, search engine optimization, paid search marketing, prospect conversion optimization, lead nurturing and web marketing - just to name a few.
Staffing an in-house team with all of this expertise would cost more than most small to mid-sized businesses are willing or able to invest. Yet you can easily - and cost effectively - get this expertise from an outside firm or group of individuals.
source : Susan Tatum - businessknowhow.com
