Jared Newman, PCWorld

Jared writes for PCWorld and TechHive from his remote outpost in Cincinnati. More by Jared Newman

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 have more than just a numeral in common. Take one look at the two operating systems, and you can tell that Microsoft wants to unify Windows Phone devices, Windows 8 tablets and PCs, and its Xbox game console.

If looks aren't proof enough, consider the words of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who trumpeted the company's newfound synergy at its Build conference this week. If you want the best experience with your Windows computer, youll own a Windows Phone, he said.

But just how unified are Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8? Is this really a huge step forward in Microsoft's vision for the "three screens," or is the grand Windows ecosystem still an empty promise? Here's a close look at how Windows 8and by extension, Windows RTand Windows Phone 8 tie together, and what you can expect when using both.

In Microsoft's attempt to redefine itself, the company has rolled out a modern visual style across its products, featuring hard-edged rectangles, solid colors, monochromatic icons, and the repeated use of one classy-looking font.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 both invoke this modern lookformerly known as Metromost notably through live tileson their home screens.

Through these tiles you get a glimpse at photos, text messages, unread email counts, weather forecasts, and other information, all without opening their respective apps.

In both operating systems, you can customize your Start screen by pinning and resizing app tiles, and by deciding which ones should update with live information.

Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, says that the common design elements are an advantage for users of both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

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Is Windows Phone 8 the secret to greater Windows success?

NEW YORK Like many men, Martin Greenfield ordered a new suit when his life was about to change: He placed his order just after he was liberated from a concentration camp.

In 1945, he left Buchenwald and arrived at a German warehouse, where Allied soldiers let Greenfield pilfer four cuts of English wool. The freed captive carried the fabric to a Prague tailor, who made a suit for Greenfield from two of the cuts, with the other two as payment.

Two years later, an uncle helped Greenfield cross the Atlantic, and a fellow Czech immigrant guided him to a job as a floor boy in a Brooklyn garment factory. Within a few years, Greenfield became a tailor, assigned to the factorys famous clients actors, athletes, politicians. By the 1970s, he had amassed enough skill and capital to buy the factory. And today, at 84, Greenfield can count among the tens of thousands of men he has dressed, three presidents, a vice president, Cabinet secretaries and countless senators and representatives.

Through the decades, Greenfield constructed made-to-measure suits that customers ordered at special sales at Brooks Brothers and Neiman Marcus stores nationwide. Such trunk shows brought him often to the capital of the country that saved his life, where he suited up many of the men who run it.

There appears to be a fourth president among his clients. In February 2011 and then again one year later, Greenfield and his two sons now his business partners made trips to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The White House logs reveal that the Greenfields visited a personal aide in the official residence. The tailor doesnt talk about any well-known client, until the client talks about him first.

By all accounts, the president doesnt focus much, if at all, on clothes. He wears the same outfits into disrepair. When asked about his suits during the 2008 campaign, Sen. Barack Obama looked inside his jacket and said he was wearing an off-the-rack suit from Burberry. For his inauguration ball, he wore a tuxedo by Hart Schaffner Marx, the storied Chicago suit maker.

Greenfields bespoke suits fit the bill for White House wear. They can range from $1,800 to $2,700, depending on fabric and features. The tailor works simply, as he always has and in a way that few competitors still do, showing up six days a week in a union shop that employs more than 100. The plant has stayed open in a rough neighborhood during bleak decades. Greenfields factory has been burglarized 11times.

On a recent visit to Greenfields office, before conversation could begin, his sons removed two framed photographs from the walls and shelves from among the signed photos of Paul Newman and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. If President Obama belongs in this gallery, the father and sons and the White House arent saying.

* * *

At Auschwitz, the prisoners were sorted by gender, and Martins 5-year-old brother, who had been hanging on him like I was a hero, went with his father. His younger sister was pulled away from his mother and other sister and sent in another direction because she had blond hair and blue eyes. When the registrars asked if anyone knew a trade, his father offered up Martin as a skilled mechanic.

Originally posted here:
Holocaust survivor tailors an American success story

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Pickie, a recent graduate of the New York TechStars program, today announced it raised $1 million in venture funding. The investment, led by DFJ Gotham Ventures with participation from Betaworks, Liberty City Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, MESA+ and angel investors including Jon Steinberg, David Tisch, and Steven Rosenblatt, represents the companys first institutional funding.

Pickie, designed for use on the iPad, is a shopping app that is part magazine, part catalog. All the products featured in Pickie are buyable, and the products and content shown are tailored to each persons interests and tastes. Each person who uses Pickie will access a unique, automatically-customized experience that takes into account their personal style, their favorite brands, and the latest trending products from across their favorite retailers and social feeds.

Social commerce is a big opportunity and there are a lot of smart folks working on figuring out how we will shop, explained Danny Schultz, a founding partner and Managing Director of DFJ Gotham. Sonia and her team are an exceptional group of people the right mix of experience, skills and deep consumer insight to crack the code. Discovery and purchasing through Pickie is easy and delightful.

We spend a lot of time at Betaworks thinking about how data might be used to inform social discovery, stated Nicholas Chirls, an investor at Betaworks. We love how the Pickie team is applying this method to commerce, and believe there is a huge opportunity to tie this to a consumer's purchasing intent.

We are thrilled to have the support of investors of the caliber of DFJ Gotham, Betaworks, and the others who participated in this round, said Sonia Sahney Nagar, Pickies co-founder and CEO.

About Pickie

Started in 2012 by Sonia Sahney Nagar, formerly of Amazon, and two technical founders Abhijit Rao and Ryan Weber, Pickie provides users with a a unique, automatically-customized shopping application that takes into account their personal style, their favorite brands, and the latest trending products from across their favorite retailers and social feeds.

About DFJ Gotham Ventures

DFJ Gotham Ventures (www.dfjgotham.com) invests in technology companies that are revolutionizing their industries. DFJ Gotham partners with extraordinary teams of entrepreneurs to build strong and successful businesses that make a huge impact in their markets. DFJ Gotham takes pride in being an active partner, leveraging its experience, knowledge and relationships to provide substantial value to its portfolio companies. DFJ Gotham Ventures is proud to have backed such category leaders as Massive (acquired by MSFT), XOsoft (acquired by CA), Ingenio (acquired by AT&T), Pivot (acquired by the CME Group), Single Platform (acquired by Constant Contact), Drop.io (acquired by FaceBook), and Mimeo.com, among many others. For more information, please visit http://www.dfjgotham.com.

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Pickie Raises $1 Million to Fuel Expansion, Following Success at TechStars Spring Demo Day

31 October 2012 Last updated at 12:00 ET By Kevin Peachey Personal finance reporter, BBC News

Technological advances have again influenced the toy industry's top picks for success this Christmas.

A hand-held tablet computer for youngsters and a dance mat that can be connected to a digital music player are among those tipped for success.

They appear in the Toy Retailers Association annual Dream Toys parade.

While some battery-free toys have been highlighted, a separate campaign has offered an alternative list for traditional toys.

The cheapest toy on the Dream Toys list is a Barbie for older children called Monster High Ghouls Rule Dolls, which has a recommended price of 22.99.

The most expensive is the LeapPad 2 - a child-friendly tablet computer - which has a recommended price of 89.99.

"We continue to see technology being woven into toys to add extra dimensions to the play experience - whether this is the use of apps, interactivity, touch screens or integrated multi-functions such as e-readers and cameras," said Gary Grant, chairman of the Dream Toys selection panel.

The list also includes Nerf guns, that fire foam darts, toys with links to films such as the Web Shooting Spiderman, and new versions of older toys such as the Cabbage Patch Kids doll.

The majority of the toys in the top 13 picks require batteries or need to be charged up.

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Hi-tech toys tipped for success

Coral Gables, FL (PRWEB) October 28, 2012

Woodys Way has helped people all over the world achieve lasting success by helping them identify very clearly what they are deeply passionate about and to align their lives with that so that they can make the right life decisions and achieve enduring success. Implemented by Woody Lippincott in workshops and in private one-on-one sessions, Woodys Way has worked with universities, private wealth management firms and small business owners. Now, due to increasing demand, Woodys Way will now provide services to HR departments, in order to help maximize their employees focus, motivation, productivity and happiness.

Woodys Way is launching this expansion with a workshop for over twenty HR department heads at the Wayne Huizenga School of Business at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL on November 2, 2012. The event is nearly sold out.

The expansion of Woodys Way into the HR arena was driven by numerous inquiries from HR departments. They talked, we listened and responded, stated Woody Lippincott, founder and CEO of Woodys Way. Woodys Way is excited to be a part of the HR community and we are very encouraged by the level of interest we have received from both national and multinational companies.

We are thrilled to be a part of Woodys Way because it has so much to offer, from the top levels to leadership to every level of employee. Your facilitation of the process was fantastic and I look forward to seeing the impact on my leadership team to establish deliverables, said Worth Carson Ph.D.

Find your passion, live your purpose, love your life. That's what Woody Lippincott does. Considered a catalyst of personal success through his use of Woodys Way, a highly sought after process that allows people to find and fulfill their true passions.

The result is the ability to make the right life decisions and achieve lasting and deeply satisfying personal success.

A highly acclaimed and very successful trial lawyer, Woody has dedicated his life to helping people in many ways. Whether through his legal representation or unselfish contributions in the community, his giving of himself was seemingly unlimited, until a few years ago.

While trying a multimillion dollar case he hit a proverbial wall and realized that he finally needed to make some changes. This was the beginning of Woodys Way and his discovery the life-changing benefits of truly embracing your passions. Facing overwhelming demand, he decided to take Woodys Way public.

While motivational speakers all encourage people to achieve their goals, Woody Lippincott has a slightly different perspective. Though he knows that goals are invaluable, he has found that the value and efficacy of goals is directly related to how clear one is about their passions.

Excerpt from:
Woody’s Way Expands To Support Human Resources Departments

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lKS_LAcgno

Brian Tracy - The Science of Positive Focus - Part 1
Love Personal Development? Want an Executive Income? Get Paid to Grow! To find out how, visit: MyPlatinumLife.biz Brian Tracy shares with you the invaluable secrets of how you can bull; Eliminate the negativity that keeps you down bull; Unlock your positive mind and your true potential bull; Create Supreme Focus on what is important to you - YOUR Future bull; Increase your income in record breaking time bull; Reach YOUR goals faster than ever before FREE 7-Day Success Strategies E-Course MyPlatinumLife.biz FREE Social Media Training MyPlatinumLife.biz Disclaimer: This channel is not in any way associated with Brian Tracy or Brian Tracy International.From:MyPlatinumLifeTVViews:4 2ratingsTime:57:28More inEducation

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Brian Tracy - The Science of Positive Focus - Part 1 - Video

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Brian Tracy - The Science of Positive Focus - Part 2
Love Personal Development? Want an Executive Income? Get Paid to Grow! To find out how, visit: MyPlatinumLife.biz Brian Tracy shares with you the invaluable secrets of how you can bull; Eliminate the negativity that keeps you down bull; Unlock your positive mind and your true potential bull; Create Supreme Focus on what is important to you - YOUR Future bull; Increase your income in record breaking time bull; Reach YOUR goals faster than ever before FREE 7-Day Success Strategies E-Course MyPlatinumLife.biz FREE Social Media Training MyPlatinumLife.biz Disclaimer: This channel is not in any way associated with Brian Tracy or Brian Tracy International.From:MyPlatinumLifeTVViews:1 1ratingsTime:01:04:37More inEducation

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Brian Tracy - The Science of Positive Focus - Part 2 - Video

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The Unexplainable Store Review | Astral Projection Binaural Beats | Binaural Audio Recordings
binauralbeatmp3.info This brain entrainment review will focus on Pure Binaural Beats, a company founded by Michael Mackintosh and Wayne Hoover, who both have extensive experience in meditational practice. Michael himself has been a personal development coach since 1997 and so has extensive experience within the field. The practice of meditation itself causes changes in the brain pertaining to an alteration in frequency wave patterns. These can be defined as either theta or delta frequencies. Brain entrainment effectively streamlines the process by employing a scientific approach to altering brain-waves. Therefore, a wide range of brain states, including that of deep-focused meditation can be reproduced. In the case of meditation, binaural beats can either speed up the process for those who are already adjusted to it, or assist those who have a hard time focusing on the present moment without the constant distraction of mental chatter. Over time, the mind will become adjusted to the entrainment frequencies, and reaching that peak will become much easier. As well as spirituality and metaphysics, PBB provide assistance with the more mundane aspects of life such as studying, motivation, memory improvement, sleep-aiding, improving confidence etc. Each MP3 possesses a high quality bitrate of 320kps, and is 30-minutes in length. I feel this is the perfect length for a brain entrainment session, as anything less is usually not as effective, while anything which exceeds it can be ...From:DanielMcPherson4Views:0 0ratingsTime:02:07More inFilm Animation

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The Unexplainable Store Review | Astral Projection Binaural Beats | Binaural Audio Recordings - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CJF-ySzxhM

Brainwave Entrainment FAQs - 5 Common Questions About Brainwave Synchronization
binauralbeatmp3.info This brain entrainment review will focus on Pure Binaural Beats, a company founded by Michael Mackintosh and Wayne Hoover, who both have extensive experience in meditational practice. Michael himself has been a personal development coach since 1997 and so has extensive experience within the field. The practice of meditation itself causes changes in the brain pertaining to an alteration in frequency wave patterns. These can be defined as either theta or delta frequencies. Brain entrainment effectively streamlines the process by employing a scientific approach to altering brain-waves. Therefore, a wide range of brain states, including that of deep-focused meditation can be reproduced. In the case of meditation, binaural beats can either speed up the process for those who are already adjusted to it, or assist those who have a hard time focusing on the present moment without the constant distraction of mental chatter. Over time, the mind will become adjusted to the entrainment frequencies, and reaching that peak will become much easier. As well as spirituality and metaphysics, PBB provide assistance with the more mundane aspects of life such as studying, motivation, memory improvement, sleep-aiding, improving confidence etc. Each MP3 possesses a high quality bitrate of 320kps, and is 30-minutes in length. I feel this is the perfect length for a brain entrainment session, as anything less is usually not as effective, while anything which exceeds it can be ...From:DanielMcPherson4Views:0 0ratingsTime:02:07More inFilm Animation

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Brainwave Entrainment FAQs - 5 Common Questions About Brainwave Synchronization - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIfqj8H_hhk

The Unexplainable Store | Binaural Beat Mp3 | Astral Projection Binaural Beats | How To Be Spiritual
binauralbeatmp3.info This brain entrainment review will focus on Pure Binaural Beats, a company founded by Michael Mackintosh and Wayne Hoover, who both have extensive experience in meditational practice. Michael himself has been a personal development coach since 1997 and so has extensive experience within the field. The practice of meditation itself causes changes in the brain pertaining to an alteration in frequency wave patterns. These can be defined as either theta or delta frequencies. Brain entrainment effectively streamlines the process by employing a scientific approach to altering brain-waves. Therefore, a wide range of brain states, including that of deep-focused meditation can be reproduced. In the case of meditation, binaural beats can either speed up the process for those who are already adjusted to it, or assist those who have a hard time focusing on the present moment without the constant distraction of mental chatter. Over time, the mind will become adjusted to the entrainment frequencies, and reaching that peak will become much easier. As well as spirituality and metaphysics, PBB provide assistance with the more mundane aspects of life such as studying, motivation, memory improvement, sleep-aiding, improving confidence etc. Each MP3 possesses a high quality bitrate of 320kps, and is 30-minutes in length. I feel this is the perfect length for a brain entrainment session, as anything less is usually not as effective, while anything which exceeds it can be ...From:DanielMcPherson4Views:0 0ratingsTime:02:07More inFilm Animation

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The Unexplainable Store | Binaural Beat Mp3 | Astral Projection Binaural Beats | How To Be Spiritual - Video