Click photo to enlarge

** FILE ** A Hewlett Packard Company worker walks into HP headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in a file photo from July 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) swung to an $8.9 billion quarterly loss as personal computer sales shrank again and it swallowed a huge write-down linked to its $13.9 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems.

The No.1 personal computer maker, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, is undergoing a multiyear restructuring aimed at focusing the sprawling corporation on enterprise services, in the mold of IBM. The plan calls for reducing its employee base by 8 percent.

HP will have gone through about half of its targeted job reductions by the end of the fiscal year, HP's Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said in an interview. The Palo Alto company cut 4,000 jobs in fiscal third quarter and will likely have shorn 11,500 jobs by end of fiscal 2012, she said.

"HP is definitely showing progress in terms of turning around the company," said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. "One of the clear signs is a better predictability of earnings."

The company was plagued by poor forecasting during former CEO Lo Apotheker's brief tenure.

CEO Meg Whitman has urged investors to be patient as she works to jumpstart revenue and cut costs.

"We are still in the early stage of the turnaround. There will be

The world's largest PC maker posted a 5 percent slide in net revenue in its fiscal third quarter to $29.7 billion, slightly below the average Wall Street estimate of $30.1 billion as compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Continue reading here:
Hewlett-Packard misses analysts' revenue expectations, posts largest quarterly loss of all time

The newly formed North Bay Educational Foundation, which is trying to open a pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade charter school in Novato, is extending its deadline for intent to enroll to Aug. 31 after receiving an outpouring of community interest.

Robert Verhoeff and Mary-Jayne Lonson, parents of Novato schoolchildren and directors of the group, hope the Novato Unified School District approves their request to open a charter school by fall of next year.

The proposed charter school will offer a curriculum supplied by the Core Knowledge Foundation, which holds that an explicit, grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary for a good education.

The Core Knowledge curriculum model is an innovative, research-based program that has a proven record of equipping all students with the academic skills and personal values they need to compete in the areas of communication, fine arts, technology, mathematics and scientific innovation, Lonson said.

The number of preliminary intent-to-enroll submissions gathered in such a short time reflects the excitement parents feel when they learn about the charter schools curriculum and methodology, Lonson said.

Ideally, with this data, NBEF will be able to accommodate all interested students on the first day of school, Verhoeff said.

The NBEF began accepting preliminary intent-to-enroll forms July 15 in order to provide data for budgeting and facilities planning when the charter petition is presented to the NUSD for review in September or October. Extending the deadline also reduces the potential for a lottery enrollment process, which according to California law, is implemented if too many people want to apply and the facility is too small.

If the NUSD denies us, we have to go to the county, Lonson said. If the county denies us, we have to go to the state. In order to open in August 2013, NBEF will submit its petition, including signatures, with intent to register with NUSD as early as September.

The official intent-to-enroll form will be available for signature as soon as the petition review process is complete.

Lonson and Verhoeff teamed up after years of active participation in their childrens educational upbringing.

Read this article:
Proposed Novato charter school a success so far

MELBOURNE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Paxen Learning Corporation, a premier provider of outcome-based educational programs and print and digital materials that build academic and employability skills for at-risk learners, announces the launch of Career Pathways, its dynamic new series of work-readiness titles. Designed for youth and adults alike, Career Pathways helps learners seek, secure, and succeed in high-demand occupations and fields.

A total of seven print titles comprise the Career Pathways line:

In addition, the web-based course EmployMentor helps learners develop a spectrum of skills in a robust online environment.

We designed Career Pathways to equip todays job seekers with a contemporary set of knowledge and skills that will allow them to competeand succeedin our 21st-century workforce, said Steve Jacoby, Chief Publishing and Program Officer at Paxen. Already, were seeing a strong appetite for the series among our partners at K-12 schools, adult education centers, community colleges, correctional facilities, and workforce programs.

The series includes an engaging, accessible narrative with an average readability level of Grade 8. In all, the Career Pathways series fully correlates to a host of national workforce competencies, including: Secretary of Labors Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS), Equipped for the Future (EFF), National Career Development Guidelines, National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education, Pathways Essential Knowledge and Skills, 21st Century Skills, and Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 10 elements.

In addition to Career Pathways, Paxen offers a diverse library of nearly 40 print and electronic titles. These materials enable learners to develop and master essential academic, career, and life skills, helping them pave the way to future and lasting success. Paxen also features an emerging library of electronic content, led by its nationally renowned GED Prep Xcelerator series.

For more information on Career Pathways, contact either Deanna Crosson (251.233.5598, dcrosson@paxen.com) or Susan Stead (321.217.8179, sstead@paxen.com), or visit Paxens bookstore at http://www.paxen.com/bookstore.

About Paxen Learning

Paxen Learning Corporation (www.paxen.com) specializes in developing and delivering outcome-based educational programs that build academic and employability skills for at-risk youths and adults. Each year, thousands graduate from Paxen programs on their journey toward meaningful employment. The company currently operates more than 30 programs in 10 states. Its clients and partners include the National Guard Bureau, The Florida and Hawaii National Guards, state Departments of Labor, local Workforce Investment Boards, Department of Defense, Department of Juvenile Justice, American Hotel and Lodging Association and the Home Builders Institute. The 25-year-old privately-held company is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida.

Excerpt from:
Paxen’s New Work-Readiness Series Career Pathways® Aligns with National Standards to Better Prepare Learners for Success

SHREWSBURY, N.J., Aug. 22, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - For the first time ever, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) is offering its exclusive Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Program (CCLEP(TM)) in the Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York markets this fall as part of its new regional format debut. Previously, the highly sought after program, which helps build energized and engaged organizations for innovation and growth, was only available to corporations, governments, and law enforcement agencies.

The Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Program is a unique form of leadership training designed to assist leaders in realizing their full potential through the use of coaching, and helps drive organizational development. As a powerful result, organizations shift to a culture of collaboration, teamwork, and continuous learning that delivers a higher level of engagement among employees.

"In 2011, we conducted a tremendous amount of research on happiness in the workplace and, to our surprise, uncovered a remarkably high level of employee dissatisfaction," said Zack Lemelle, Managing Partner, Corporate Engagement Services for iPEC. "We found the unhappiest employees felt disengaged from their place of work; and key to turning that around was to deliver a reinvigorated work environment."

The Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Program helps develop Coach Centric Leaders(TM) that respond, instead of react, to events in the workplace in an effort to create a more energized work environment, and to literally see the world in a different way. A key aspect of the training is Energy Leadership(TM), a process that has the power to shift thoughts and perceptions to create an energized culture of engagement, collaboration, and innovation. Energy Leadership can help trained leaders bring awareness to, and interrupt, behavioral patterns that are not beneficial. The training also helps executives consciously create their own image of an ideal leader, and gives them the tools to succeed in that role.

"We have seen dramatic organizational shifts take place within companies following private trainings," said Lemelle. "Common outcomes have included employees arriving eager and ready to work, sidelining any preconceived egos, replacing office politics with genuine cooperation, focusing on bolstering 'what's right' and even developing innovation and service breakthroughs no longer requiring the creation of special 'task forces' to address challenges."

The carefully crafted regional Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Programs are designed to be intimate educational sessions that answer the call for companies searching for new methods to create a culture of high engagement. Additionally, the Coach Centric Leadership Engagement Program provides Human Resource professionals with HRCI credits.

Program Components and 2012 Fall Dates

The Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Program is broken into three basic components. The first is designed to assess employee engagement levels and reveal strengths that align with organizational values and enable change. The second is designed to build upon revealed strengths, and restore cohesion and purpose. The third and final phase is designed to develop the Coach Centric LeaderTM, while renewing energy, creativity, and performance.

As part of the program, candidates will participate in a pre- and post- Energy Leadership Index Assessment(TM) to gauge progress. Once the assessment is complete, candidates will attend two in-person modules, scheduled for October 16th thru 18th and December 18th and 19th in New Jersey, October 24th thru 26th and January 24th and 25th at California State University-Long Beach and November 7th thru 9th and February 6th and 7th in Chicago. Both in-person modules are followed by a series of executive mentor coaching sessions to ensure the values and learnings are assimilated into leadership practices.

The full program tuition is $5,600 per participant with group discounts available. For additional information on the Coach Centric Leadership(TM) Engagement Program, and to sign up for the regional trainings, visit http://www.iPECLeadership.com or follow iPEC's Leadership Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/iPEC_Leadership.

Read more:
Training From Coaching Experts to Develop Engaged and Energized Leaders

CLINIC Thursday Free Medical Clinic, 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.

Tuesday Free Medical Clinic, 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.

Free Medical Clinic, 6 to 8 p.m. The Bridge Ministries, 1002 E. 29th St., Bryan.

Ongoing Brazos County Health Department immunization clinics. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays; to 10:30 a.m. (19 and older) and 2 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. 201 N. Texas Ave., Bryan. $5 per child, $30 per adult. http://www.brazoshealth.org, 361-4440.

Move Wednesday Seniors Golf Tournament, 7:30 a.m. Bryan Golf Course, 206 W. Villa Maria Road in Bryan. $5 entry.

Thursday Sit and Fit Chair Exercise Class, noon to 12:45 p.m. Southwood Community Center. mrodgers@cstx.gov or 764-6371.

Friday Senior Ladies Tennis, 8 a.m. Gordons Tennis at Aerofit, 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan. 846-8925.

Line Dancing for Senior Adults, 10 to 11 a.m. Southwood Community Center. No partners needed. mrodgers@cstx.gov or 764-6371.

Line Dancing/Stretching for Senior Adults, 10 a.m. Lincoln Recreation Center. 764-3779.

Monday Seniors Golf Tournament, 7 a.m. Texas A&M University Golf Course, College Station. $5 entry. No advance registration; just show up and play.

Continue reading here:
Health & Fitness Calendar for Aug. 22 to 28

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f65fpw/young_mens_attitu) has announced the addition of the "Young Men's Attitudes Towards Health, Fitness and Wellbeing: Global Survey Strategic Analysis" report to their offering.

While today's under 30s are bombarded with health messages and pressured to conform to the ideal body images portrayed in the media, it is harder than ever for them to adhere to a healthy regime faced as they are with time constraints, sedentary lifestyles and an array of unhealthy foods. This new global report analyses young men's attitudes towards health and wellbeing and the implications for marketers.

Strategy Briefings offer unique insight into emerging trends world-wide. Aimed squarely at strategists and planners, they draw on Euromonitor International's vast information resources to give top line insight across markets and within consumer segments. Written by some of our most experienced analysts, they are designed as provocations for senior management to use in their own forum, allowing them to stand back and reflect on the behaviour and motivation driving global markets today and tomorrow

Why buy this report?

- Get a detailed picture of the Strategy Briefing market;

- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;

- Understand the competitive environment, the market's major players and leading brands;

- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Key Topics Covered:

Original post:
Research and Markets: Young Men's Attitudes Towards Health, Fitness and Wellbeing: Global Survey Strategic Analysis

Photodisc | Getty Images

The odds of success aren't great, of course but even first time entrepreneurs know that on some level. Startlingly few of the ones who do make it think forward to their golden years, however, which could present a big problem when they're ready to retire.

Those who do consider retirement options often consider selling their company as the sole exit strategy, and investment option. A big buyout, after all, is likely to top whatever they can squirrel away in IRAs and mutual funds. Reality has a way of squashing those dreams, though.

Dun & Bradstreet reports small business failure rates rose by 40 percent between 2007 and 2010 and some states had it even worse. California, for instance, had a failure rate of 69 percent. For owners who were counting on those companies to set them up for life, it's a devastating figure.

[MORE ON CNBC.COM: Too Many Start-ups to Survive?]

"It's been my experience that most entrepreneurs think of their business as their retirement," says Rick Rodgers, author of "The New Three-Legged Stool: A Tax Efficient Approach to Retirement Planning" and president of Rodgers & Associates. "At some point, they think 'I'm going to sell the business. I don't need to do anything else unless I need a tax advantage.' So most of their disposable income goes into their business. I don't think that makes sense. One of the founding principles of investing is diversification."

Even among those entrepreneurs who aren't betting the farm on the sale of their business, there's still concern. An October 2011 Gallup poll found 67 percent of small business owners are worried about not being able to put enough money away for retirement. And a survey in February by the American College, a nonprofit educational institution that focuses on financial services, found small business owners particularly unprepared for retirement.

"The lack of retirement planning by so many people is stunning, especially since business owners have no one else to rely on when it comes to putting their retirement plans in place," said Mary Quist-Newins, director of the State Farm Center for Women and Financial Services at The American College. "When you consider that the mean age of our respondents is just over 50 you have to wonder: 'What are these individuals waiting for?' Retirement will be upon them before they know it. Small business owners need to start preparing for retirement now."

The best way to do that is to force yourself to put away a minimal amount each month even in the insane start-up days.

[MORE ON CNBC.COM: How a Vacation Turned Into a New Swimwear Business]

Read the rest here:
Entrepreneurs and the Retirement Trap

Tom Grill | Blend Images | Getty Images

When we asked this same question in 2011, 15 percent said they were saving more than the previous year not a significant difference.

But the same proportion of people, 18 percent, say they are saving less than they did last year. That's actually much better than last year, when 29 percent of Americans said they were contributing a smaller amount to retirement savings than the previous year.

"The fact that people have stopped saving less is good but are they saving enough? The data (are) showing, in aggregate, no," says Certified Financial Planner David Littell, co-director of the New York Life Center of Retirement Income and professor of taxation at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

The combined retirement income deficit for baby boomers and Generation Xers is estimated to be $4.3 trillion, according to a May 2012 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, or EBRI.

Starting younger is better

Ideally, people would increase retirement contributions every year, but they don't because it's very likely that most people have no idea how expensive 30 years of retirement will be.

According to a March 2012 report from EBRI, 56 percent of workers say they haven't calculated how much they need to save for retirement.

Calculating retirement income needs is the first step to establishing an effective retirement savings rate. It may be higher than you think, particularly if you're older than 30.

For instance, with 30 years to save for a 30-year retirement, someone with an investment portfolio split between 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds would need to save 16.62 percent of her income per year in order to replace 50 percent of her income in retirement. Those numbers are from the work of Wade D. Pfau, an associate professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

Link:
Boomers, Gen X Down $4.6 Trillion on Retirement Income

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Transamerica Retirement Services announced today that it has received awards and recognition from leading industry organizations during the second quarter of 2012, including several awards celebrating its efforts to increase employee awareness about retirement readiness.

Transamerica strives to provide an excellent customer experience, and effective marketing campaigns and materials are critical in inspiring workers to save for retirement, said Stig Nybo, president of Transamerica Retirement Services. We remain focused on helping people transform their tomorrows by being retirement ready, and we are honored that these expert marketing organizations have recognized us for so many of our communications materials.

Recognition of Transamerica during the second quarter of 2012 includes:

Hermes Creative Awards

The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media. Hermes Creative Awards recognizes outstanding work in the industry, while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals. Transamerica received five separate honors, including:

Integrated Marketing Materials: 2011 401(k) Day Campaign

Website Element/Web Based Multi-Media: RetireTrackSM

Video/Marketing (Service): Annual Retirement Plan Review Tutorial

Integrated Marketing Materials: RENEW Your Commitment to Retirement Planning Brochure

Read more:
Transamerica Retirement Services Announces Second Quarter 2012 Industry Accolades Celebrating Marketing Initiatives

Everton defender Phil Jagielka was pleased with his performance in victory over Manchester United.

He was individually praised by Sky's analysts for his excellence at centre-half as United's multi-million pound strikeforce was blunted.

Jagielka told evertonfc.com: "We knew it was going to be hard but it was a game we were all up for and all ready for. It was nice to have a goal going into the last 20 minutes to give us something to hang on to and we defended really well.

"It was hard with the amount of people they had popping into holes, but fortunately we had enough people in the right places making blocks and tackles and we managed to keep them out.

"We won't get carried away," he added. "The game was perfect for us with everyone expecting us to lose like we normally do first game of the season, so it was nice to get three points. We have now got a hard game at Villa where hopefully we can get a point or three."

Read more:
Everton defender Jagielka proud of personal performance for victory over Man Utd