Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Deal of the Day: Seidio SURFACE Case for Motorola Droid Bionic

Deal of the Day The May 1 ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day is the Seidio SURFACE Case for Motorola Droid Bionic. Crafted from a hard yet flexible material, the Seidio SURFACE Case provides an amazingly thin layer of protection without adding the excessive bulk of other cases. This case consists of interlocking top and bottom pieces that fit your Bionic snugly, and features a soft touch coating. Available in black, blue, burgundy, and amethyst.

The Seidio SURFACE Case is available for just $15.95 today only, 47% off the regular price. Get yours while they're in stock!



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Tumblr Finally Wants To Make Some Money, Launches Its First Ads

tumblr logoTumblr, the immensely popular but profitless blogging platform, just turned on its first set of paid "sponsor products" (Tumblr doesn't like to call them "ads"). Even though the company resisted running ads on its network for a long time, it announced that it would launch this platform about two weeks ago at Ad Age's Digital Conference in New York. For the most part, the new ads don't intrude on Tumblr's users blogs. Instead, the company is using its Radar and Spotlight features to highlight content from its advertisers/sponsors.

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Salesforce Acquires YC-Backed Collaborative Text Editor Stypi

stypifeatIt looks like the team from Y Combinator-backed Stypi is heading to Salesforce, according to this blog post. UPDATE: We've confirmed that Salesforce has acquired Stypi. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. As we reported last year, Stypi develops lightweight, real-time collaborative text editor. It's similar in many ways to fellow YC alum Etherpad, which was acquired by Google. You can create documents in Stypi and edit it just as you would any other document, and you can invite new collaborators simply by sending them the URL.

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Microsoft Ponies Up $300 Million Investment in Nook Spinoff [Nook]

In what some may consider an odd move, Microsoft has just announced that it's investing $300 million into a "strategic partnership" with Barnes & Noble to develop the future of e-reading. More »


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Apple and Samsung to meet, discuss settlement on May 21

A date has been set for Apple and Samsung's court-ordered settlement talks -- May 21 and 22, 2012.


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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Idaho case shows midwife tension with hospitals

This April 23, 2012 photo shows The Baby Place, the birthing center in Meridian, Idaho, owned by Coleen Goodwin. Goodwin and her daughter, Jerusha Goodwin, had their licenses to practice midwifery suspended by the Idaho Board of Midwifery after three babies died. A former employee says the Goodwins' hostile relationships with doctors at a local hospital caused them to delay transporting mothers and babies during emergencies. (AP Photo/John Miller)

This April 23, 2012 photo shows The Baby Place, the birthing center in Meridian, Idaho, owned by Coleen Goodwin. Goodwin and her daughter, Jerusha Goodwin, had their licenses to practice midwifery suspended by the Idaho Board of Midwifery after three babies died. A former employee says the Goodwins' hostile relationships with doctors at a local hospital caused them to delay transporting mothers and babies during emergencies. (AP Photo/John Miller)

In this April 18, 2012 photo, Rachel Rabey and her children, 3-year-old son Owen, left, and 3-week-old daughter Hadleigh sit in Ann Morrison Park in Boise, Id. In 2010, Rabey, in the throes of a difficult birth, let paramedics drive past two nearby hospitals to a third facility in Boise, adding precious minutes to a journey that ended in the death of her newborn child. Conflict between doctors and the Baby Place, the midwifery business Rabey used, is said to have preceded the death of Rabey's child and two others. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Chris Butler) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this April 18, 2012 photo, Rachel Rabey holds her 3-week-old daughter Hadleigh at Ann Morrison Park in Boise, Idaho. In 2010, Rabey, in the throes of a difficult birth, let paramedics drive past two nearby hospitals to a third facility in Boise, adding precious minutes to a journey that ended in the death of her newborn child. Conflict between doctors and The Baby Place, the midwifery business Rabey used, is said to have preceded the death of Rabey's child and two others. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Chris Butler) MANDATORY CREDIT

(AP) ? Midwives and doctors are longtime rivals in the politics governing where women should give birth: Home or hospital.

But that tension, typically played out privately between pregnant women and their health care providers, was laid bare this month in the case of two Idaho midwives suspended by the state after three babies died during a 14-month period between 2010 and 2011.

The Baby Place in Meridian remains open, but its midwife owner, Coleen Goodwin, and her daughter, Jerusha Goodwin, are barred for now from practicing, in part over decisions allegedly influenced by their distrust and frayed relationships with doctors in hospitals where they felt mistreated or disrespected.

A former employee who trained at The Baby Place said hostility the Goodwins developed for doctors ultimately led to delays in emergency transports to hospitals.

Dani Kennedy told The Associated Press this antagonism caused them to make decisions against the best interests of mothers and babies, broadening the historic midwife-doctor divide to a wide gulf ? with tragic consequences.

Coleen Goodwin "did hesitate to transport, and that was really upsetting to me," said Kennedy, who trained at The Baby Place between 2007 and 2010. She left to open a practice in Hawaii, in part over these concerns.

"I wanted to work in an environment where I was able to make my own decisions about the care of my clients," she said.

Kennedy was interviewed by Idaho investigators who began scrutinizing the Goodwins after one of the three mothers who lost babies lodged a complaint with the state.

The Goodwins, whose website indicates they've helped 1,400 women give birth, declined interviews, including on Monday. A receptionist who answered the phone declined to say who is providing services to women following the Goodwins' March 23 suspensions.

St. Luke's Health System spokesman Ken Dey in Boise declined to comment specifically about the Goodwins' interactions with doctors at the hospital's facilities in Meridian or Boise.

"The message we want to get across is, we're not anti-midwife," Dey said. "Women have the option to choose where they have their babies. But we want to make sure all the safety regulations are in place."

OB/GYN Associates, the Idaho business that provides doctors to St. Luke's, didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Though more than 99 percent of U.S. women give birth in hospitals, home births are increasing, accounting for 0.72 percent of deliveries in 2009, up from 0.56 percent in 2004, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Significantly more Idaho women have a midwife-assisted birth or home birth than the national average. About 3.2 percent of the 92,000 total births between 2008 and 2011 were midwife-assisted, either at birthing centers or home birth.

Given that, remedying feuds like the one Kennedy said influenced the Goodwins' decision-making is growing more important, said Oregon State University professor Melissa Cheyney, a medical anthropologist and certified midwife.

Midwives often feel disrespected by the medical establishment, Cheyney said, while doctors' objections to out-of-hospital births may harden with every traumatic transport.

This comes on top of the already-existing divide between the two views of childbirth, with midwives emphasizing the safety of natural births in a familiar, comfortable setting, while the American Medical Association contends women are best off in a hospital, where life-saving technology is nearby if something goes awry.

"You're having this compulsory interaction between two value systems," Cheyney said. "A transport means these two systems have to come together ? and work together."

The Idaho Board of Midwifery probe that preceded the Goodwins' suspensions highlights numerous instances where investigators said that didn't happen.

In August 2011, Jerusha Goodwin waited 11 minutes to call paramedics after a baby was born "limp, unresponsive and pale," investigators wrote. The mother labored for more than 48 hours, prompting the Meridian Police Department to launch an ongoing criminal negligence investigation after the baby died.

"There were some questions about the length of labor," Deputy Chief Tracy Basterrechea told the AP.

On Oct. 11, 2010, a student midwife improperly cut an infant's umbilical cord, resulting in significant blood loss before the baby died. Jerusha Goodwin failed to provide medical personnel at St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center with relevant records, investigators wrote.

And on June 30, 2010, Coleen Goodwin delayed paramedics from entering The Baby Place for four minutes. When they were finally allowed in, Coleen Goodwin instructed them to drive past two nearby hospitals to St. Luke's in Boise, adding precious minutes to a journey that ended in the infant boy's death.

The mother, Rachel Rabey, said in an interview Coleen Goodwin whispered to her, "If we go to Meridian, they won't let me stay with you." Rabey said she was perplexed.

"I didn't care where I went, or if Coleen could stay with me," remembers Rabey, who recently had her third child, a girl, at St. Luke's in Boise. "All I cared about was getting to a hospital."

The Baby Place's web site does indicate negative feelings toward hospitals, with one employee writing in a testimonial to prospective clients that she began her midwife studies after a hospital birth where she felt "cheated out of the birth experience."

The Goodwins do have troubled relationships with doctors, said Alison Hunter Stucki, who planned her eighth child's delivery at The Baby Place in 2007 but was forced by complications to transfer to nearby St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center.

Stucki said her family witnessed hostile doctors force Coleen Goodwin from the delivery room.

Still, Stucki, an ardent Baby Place supporter, doesn't believe those experiences led Goodwin to endanger women or their babies.

"What I've experienced is nothing but professionalism," said Stucki, who gave birth to her ninth baby at The Baby Place in 2009. "I do believe the doctors are upset with her. Every baby she delivers in her birthing center is one baby they don't get."

In addition to the three babies that died, the Goodwins were hit by a separate 2010 lawsuit, filed by the parents of a baby that suffered permanent brain damage. Last week, the midwives agreed to pay $5 million to Adam and Victoria Nielson, the couple that sued.

The Nielson's attorney, Eric Rossman in Boise, said he pursued the case pro bono because he couldn't "in good conscience dismiss the case as long as they continue to practice in this facility."

Objective measures of Idaho's midwife-doctor relationships ? and their impacts on babies ? are difficult to come by, because the state doesn't keep comprehensive records of the outcomes of midwife-assisted births requiring hospital transports.

A private effort, the Idaho Perinatal Project run by St. Luke's, documented 138 instances between 2005 and 2011 where mothers who planned a home birth were transported to a hospital.

Though its records are also incomplete ? reporting is voluntary; there are no reports for 2012 ? they do point to the trauma that accompanies a planned out-of-hospital birth where something goes wrong. There were at least nine cases where infants died at or before arriving at the hospital and several instances of birth asphyxia, fractures, post-partum hemorrhage and unexpected twins.

For many doctors who don't see the cases of successful home births, these tense interactions add to already deep misgivings about midwifery.

"There were also 34 cases which had no infant outcome listed," said Dr. Scott Snyder, medical director of St. Luke's Newborn Intensive Care Units. "The data is not an overestimation of what we're seeing. It's an underestimation."

Snyder does believe standards set by Idaho's midwife licensing that took effect in 2010 have fostered communication between most midwives and doctors, despite problems investigators found at The Baby Place. Midwives now visit St. Luke's, attending some staff meetings. Doctors' appreciation for midwives' services has grown, he said.

Snyder is also hopeful when the Idaho Legislature reviews the state's midwife rules in 2014, when the existing licensing law expires, they'll make it mandatory for midwives and doctors to track outcomes of transfers.

Associated Press

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Effective Post Card Marketing For Real Estate Investing | Real Estate ...

The easiest way to reach motivated sellers in real estate investing is targeted direct mail. Post cards are the easiest to use and also the most cost effective.

In this article, we explore how to effectively launch a winning post card marketing campaign on a tight budget.

Of course we assume that your leads are already in place.

Creating the effective post card
Majority of people like to use a local designer and print shop for their post cards. This Is fine, but you can also create your own in a short time with little to no expertise.

Nowadays there are online companies that provide the tools to create your own post card from scratch. And if your designer already created one for you, you can upload it to their website for printing.

I like overnightprints.com and printsmadeeasy.com for this. They are created for the novice internet user to create post cards among other things so that anyone can create their own postcards.

I like to place my orders when they are running specials. In general, I spend only $200 to $300 on 5000 high glossy, double sided post cards. If you did this through your local print shop, you would probably run over $1500.

Catchy is better
i) Color ? ever wondered how your mail piece would be noticed in the middle of all the junk mail we receive? You must have your post cards sticking out from the junk to be noticed. I like bright colors like yellow, red, green and blue.

ii) Graphics - house or dollar notes catch instant attention when used as graphics. And communicate your message fast. This is a must have component in your marketing post cards.

iii) Content ? always make sure you have a catchy opening like a heading. It must be brief and to the point. People are not interested with tons and tons of text.

Highlight the benefits of what you can do for the motivated seller. Brief and to the point in a few words brings the best results.

iv) Call to action ? a call to action is a must. They must provide a strong reason to call or visit your website NOW. Of course, it follows you must have a real estate investor website that tells your story for you and delivers leads for you. Website leads come pre-sold, pre-screened and pre-negotiated saving you lots of time and effort.

Marketing labels
Address labels and postage stamps make the post cards stick out.

I like bright luminescent labels with their color contrasting with the rest of that card.

I know some people prefer to order those cards that are sent directly by the printer with pre-sorted postage, but these look too commercial and you lose the uniqueness of the cards, hence their effectiveness.

Learn how to increase your effectiveness with a website for buying houses that is interactive and automated, and that also attracts leads with effective search engine optimization. The leads you receive come pre-negotiated and pre-screened saving you lots of time, money and effort.

Tags: Real estate direct mail, real estate investor website, Real estate marketing, real estate post cards, search engine optimization, SEO

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