What exactly does technology have to do with cake? I realize you must be wondering...
Really, nothing. But I thought I'd write a bit about my search for a red velvet cake recipe and of course, my first engine of choice was Google.
My fiance and I are thinking of having a red velvet cake for our wedding since the colors are red and white. To have a red cake would be, well, perfect. But I have to be honest -- I've never had red velvet cake. Ever. So earlier this week I hopped on my iMac and searched hi and low for a decent recipe for red velvet cake.
I noticed that most of the red velvet cake recipes call for either 1 or 2 tablespoons of cocoa, and to get the red effect, you add 2 full ounces of red food coloring to the cocoa which you then add to the flour mixture.
After staining most of my counter top, my bowls, spoons and such, I finished what I presumed to be red velvet cake -- and it was basically a red chocolate cake.
We ate the cake and I was mildly satisfied. Afterall, who doesn't like chocolate cake?
So last night, I attended Westchester Magazine's 'The Best of Westchester", an annual gathering of local businesses, restaurants and bakeries for the public to visit and to my surprise, a vendor had red velvet cake for sampling. "Lucky me!", I thought, and ran to the table and grabbed myself a plate.
After the first bite, I learned that red velvet cake is not, in fact, chocolatey. It was buttery. It was velvety. It was delicious and my cake had nothing on the red delicacy that I picked at. Nothing. So I took a picture with my camera phone (because it was so pretty) and I thought about finding the perfect recipe for the remainder of the evening.
Back to Google: I searched yet again for "real red velvet cake" and turned up with almost exactly the same recipes I had been gathering. So I e-mailed a friend who happened to know someone who was a cookbook editor, who I then e-mailed, who then e-mailed me with two recipes that had......cocoa. (Except one has a coconut frosting on it...I think I have to try this!)
I should have asked the baker last night - exactly how does one make red velvet cake so velvety and not so chocolatey?
My quest continues. Then again, I could just wait until I get married and let the baker worry about it. But I'm on a mission for the perfect red velvet cake. And I won't stop until I've accomplished said mission.
Perhaps I should take some search tips from Tom Keating....
Russian Broadband Wireless Access Vendor to Expand R&D for IP-Based WiMAX Solutions for Global Markets Moscow, Russia, July 27, 2005 - InfiNet Wireless announced that the company has signed an investment deal with Baring Vostok, Intel Capital, and Boston-based investment fund Russia Now. After closing, the funds will be used for R&D work on IP-based WiMAX solutions, as well as to fund regional and worldwide sales and marketing expansion programs. In addition to the company’s financial contribution to the recent funding round, Intel has signed a business agreement with InfiNet Wireless. The contract outlines the collaboration of Intel and InfiNet Wireless in the areas of 802.16 WiMAX technology development, public relations support and joint marketing initiatives in the Russian and CIS markets. "InfiNet Wireless’ vision of broadband wireless networks everywhere is consistent with how Intel sees growth in this field," said Dmitri Konash, Intel Russia Sales and Marketing Group. "Their commitment to developing and building products based on the Intel 802.16-2004 roadmap will help expand the use of WiMAX in InfiNet Wireless designs, manufactures and markets scalable, robust, and cost-effective fixed broadband wireless access solutions for carrier-class networks around the world. The company’s wireless routing equipment is designed to implement and expand carrier-class networks for high-speed Internet access, enterprise campus networks, virtual private networks (VPNs), primary links for the Last Mile and backhauling traffic between cell towers and multiple access points. “More than 300 large carrier networks across the world have been built with InfiNet's proven technology,” said Robert Stubblebine, CEO of InfiNet Wireless. "Working with Intel Capital and Baring Vostok provides the funds that may help InfiNet Wireless’ growth and facilitate the introduction of new IP-based WiMAX systems to global emerging markets. "Baring Vostok Capital Partners is pleased to be working with InfiNet Wireless to quicken the pace of wireless voice and data communications in
Motorola Accelerates Development of WiMAX End-to-End Solutions; Introduces Moto Wi4 Product Portfolio
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - 25 July 2005 - Motorola Inc. has expanded its strategic focus to bring comprehensive WiMAX (802.16e) solutions quickly to market to fulfill the rapidly growing demand for fixed and mobile wireless broadband solutions. The initiative includes a combination of increased R&D, resources, and technology relationships; and the introduction of the Moto Wi4 product portfolio that will take operators to the 4th generation of mobile wireless networks.
"Motorola has aligned our Networks business to support a companywide initiative to develop WiMAX and other mobile broadband wireless solutions that provide an effective means for carriers to give their customers broadband services when and where they want them at an affordable cost," said Dan Coombes, senior vice president, general manager of Wireless Broadband Networks, and chief technology officer for Motorola Networks. "With our longstanding history as a top provider of both broadband wireless access systems and cellular networks, a portfolio of technology innovations from all businesses, and the focused efforts of our engineering teams, Motorola is well on the way to delivering WiMAX solutions."
According to Maravedis, a research and analysis firm focusing on broadband wireless access technologies, the global market for fixed and mobile broadband (including WiMAX) is expected to reach up to $1 billion in 2007, and to potentially hit $4 billion by 2010. Under Coombes' leadership, Motorola will build on its highly successful Canopy(tm) wireless broadband business and utilize its expertise in the underlying technologies - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM); IP internetworking; its all-IP based, flat Carrier Access Point (CAP) architecture; and IP-enabled handsets - to develop fixed, nomadic, and mobile solutions that will be suited to meet the various needs of Motorola's customers in its consumer, enterprise, and government markets.
"Motorola's intensified focus on 802.16e development will have a significant impact on the standard's progress into the mainstream. A company of Motorola's scale needs to lead, not follow in key technologies, and its latest moves show that it aims no less than to create another inflection point in the telecoms industry, as it did with the introduction of the world's first mobile handset in 1983," said Caroline Gabriel, research director, Rethink Research Associates.
The Moto Wi4 portfolio of WiMAX solutions includes a "light infrastructure" solution for rural areas and developing countries that offers very low cost of deployment and ownership, and a carrier-class solution. The carrier-class solution embodies Motorola's CAP architecture that uses all-IP access technology to put intelligence into the base station itself, thereby eliminating several hardware elements from the radio access network. This peer-to-peer architecture offers carriers the opportunity to lower capital and operational costs while also reducing footprint requirements.
Motorola recently announced a major joint technology development agreement with Sprint for wireless broadband WiMAX 802.16e technology testing and equipment trials. The agreement spans lab testing of the Moto Wi4 portfolio of WiMAX base stations, smart antenna technology and multimedia handsets. Motorola's breadth of experience also includes delivering high quality, fully mobile wireless solutions for more than 20 years and deploying wireless broadband products in more than 100 countries.
Motorola, a key participant in the WiMAX industry, has been a principal member of the WiMAX Forum since 2004, and has been an active contributor to the IEEE 802.16 committees, especially those focused on mobility and internetworking. Universal standards will be a key element in the delivery of timely WiMAX solutions to market.
Business Risks
Statements about WiMAX wireless broadband technology, its development and acceptance in the marketplace, are forward-looking and involve risk and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward- looking statements include unforeseen events or market conditions that influence the rate of adoption of this technology, its commercial deployment, and other factors in Motorola's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and other filings made periodically by the company.
Interesting report issued today across the AP Wires....
It seems the iPod sales have skyrocketed this last quarter, and who knows who we have to thank for that. It probably is all of those psychadelic commercials -- blaring songs such as "Jerk It Out", watching blacked out people dance in front of neon colored backgrounds, white wires hanging from their ears. (oh admit it - it's catchy!)
Even the Big Apple, Mr. Jobs said this is the 'best quarterly performance.'
Whilst shares and earnings are up - one fact caught my eye and that is the 'halo effect' - where iPod'ers are leaning towards buying a Macintosh computer, thanks to their recent purchase of the highly coveted audio device. Good job, Apple!
From a marketing perspective, you have to give these guys mad props. Since the inception of the newly renovated iMac back in the day ('she comes in colors everywhere.....') Apple's sales have slowly climbed the earnings ladder -- then there was eMac, Power Macs, so on and so forth. Leave it to a listening device to drive people to purchase these monsters -- (and they are monsters. Have you seen the new G5s? The gorgeous monitors? Tiger? The new dashboard tool? Outrageous!) -- who would have guessed something so small could drive consumers to actually *gasp!* buy an Apple computer?
I've contributed to many an argument over Mac versus PC and I'm always losing my battle. I'm not set out to recruit Mac gurus, but being a Mac user, I have to defend what I think works. I'm not saying PC's are bad. I'm not saying Mac's are great. I understand it's a matter of preference. But let's give Apple a round of applause. They've managed to stay in the audio device game a lot longer than some of the contenders.
And congrats to them for boosting their sales, all because of a little listening device.
In case you haven't heard the news today....directly from the WiMAX Forum.
The WiMAX Forum Showcases Equipment and Breadth of Applications, Opens Test Lab
WiMAX technology has taken a bold step onto the proving grounds this week in Vancouver, BC, and Malaga, Spain. During the WiMAX Forum
“We’re excited by the opportunity to show off the capabilities of WiMAX technology in Vancouver and prove that WiMAX is real,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “At the same time, the fact that much of the equipment running successfully in Canada is the same equipment going through certification in Spain is extremely encouraging and bodes well for the future of WiMAX and the advent of true personal broadband.”
More than 400 participants from WiMAX Forum member companies are attending the event in Vancouver, where there have been keynote speeches from Nortel and KT (Korea Telecom). Also at the event, demonstrations from Nortel, Microsoft, Disney, Logitech, Cisco, AT&T, AudioCodes, Kencast, Ixia and Skype are running on a variety of WiMAX technology vendor systems from companies including Alvarion, Proxim, Redline and Wavesat. The demos, which support the message that WiMAX is real, represent the five key WiMAX application types: VoIP, streaming media, interactive gaming, Web browsing and file transfer/media download. The success of the demos indicates that WiMAX systems are efficient at running multiple classes of applications simultaneously.
As a leading sponsor of the event, Nortel is providing wired and wireless LAN connections and IP phones to attendees at the Vancouver event. Nortel also presented its findings on the business potential of 802.16e in a keynote speech on July 12. Nortel, a global telecommunications leader in wireless infrastructure and advanced 3G technologies, has been contributing to the 802.16 standard by helping to develop underlying technologies like OFDM and MIMO for more than six years.
“Participating in the WiMAX Forum event in Vancouver is an ideal opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise of advanced wireless broadband technology with leading business organizations from across the globe,” said John Hoadley, vice president, next generation wireless access, Nortel. “The successful demonstrations at the WiMAX Forum event further exemplify the strength and viability of this technology and its role in the future evolution of wireless broadband networks.”
Another leading event supporter, KT, presented a keynote speech concerning its vision for wireless broadband service and mobile WiMAX, known as “WiBRO” in Korea. KT, a leading service provider in Korea, has committed resources toward developing services and applications that will support mobile WiMAX/WiBRO implementations. Supporting mobility for wireless broadband is one of the key goals of the WiMAX Forum.
“KT is committed to the mobile future of WiMAX technology, not just in Korea, but all over the world,” said Dr. Hong, Won-Pyo of KT’s Mobile Internet Business Group. “The WiMAX Forum event in Vancouver gave us an ideal opportunity to offer our insight on the advances in mobile WiMAX and the business case for the technology, enabling us to drive greater understanding of the goals of mobile WiMAX and helping us to increase interest in the success of the technology.”
Also at the meeting in Vancouver, the Yankee Group presented its report, “The Role of WiMAX in a World of Ubiquitous, Personal Broadband Services.” The report places WiMAX in the context of existing broadband and mobile trends and offers insight on WiMAX business models, WiMAX positioning and current and future challenges for WiMAX, while addressing those challenges and future application and deployment scenarios.
“Broadband wireless solutions like WiMAX will play a critical role in the market as end users become increasingly accustomed to broadband services and expect anywhere, anytime broadband access,” said Yankee Group Director of the Wireless/Mobile Technologies Decision Service Phil Marshall. “Proof-of-concept demonstrations like those at the WiMAX Forum event in Vancouver are vital to the increased understanding and success of WiMAX technology, especially as the technology moves toward mobility.”
WiMAX Forum Certification testing will continue at Cetecom labs in Spain, and the first WiMAX Forum Certified
™ products − those that are certified as conformant to the standard and interoperable with other vendors’ products − are expected to be available in the November/December timeframe.quarterly members’ meeting in Canada, several application demos – ranging from Xbox wireless console gaming over WiMAX to WiMAXbased streaming media – are being showcased. Half a world away in Spain, the WiMAX Forum Certification test lab at Cetecom has opened and begun testing some of the same equipment in use at the members’ meeting in Canada....and so are the purchases of 7-inch singles.
That's right. Vinyl isn't dead.
AFP reported that while there were 5.7 million music downloads (legal, of course) from sources such as iTunes and the newly installed Napster, vinyl 7-inch singles rose a whopping 87 percent.
The article lends us a quote: "The bands which are proving to be popular at the moment, their fans like to buy vinyl," a BPI spokesman said.
Based on my own personal research, vinyl hasn't been dead for quite some time. Underground scenes, such as those in punk, psychobilly, rockabilly, goth and the like still remain faithful to their turntables. No surprise that this research comes from Britain - the punk capital of the world. What surprises me is that this is being issues as new news. Pay a visit to CBGBs for any good show and you'll likely chat it up with a scenester who has recently purchased band XYZ's 7-inch, or you'll have met a band who is about to issue their latest and greatest on vinyl. In fact, just this past weekend, a favorite NYC band of mine announced that their new single will be released on (surprise) a 7-inch for interested parties with a record player.
Music will go digital. You will download it (legally). You will proudly wear your mp3 players as you play air guitar to AC/DC's For Those About to Rock....but for you real music junkies, you'll still purchase your vinyl for those vintage turntables. Because it's still cool, and nothing beats a round of good rock and roll with the added scratchiness of the needle.
Scanning iPod news lately can be a bit depressing, especially since someone was murdered on Saturday in an iPod robbery.
In an article posted by AFP, the Big Apple (not NYC, Steve Jobs...) spoke with the bereaved father of the 15 year old who was the one who perished in the first murder ever in iPod theft history.
The rise in subway crime has NYPD and authorities warning iPod users to be more careful when it comes to traveling and sporting the obvious white ear buds. Some have suggested switching to less-noteable ear phones -- regardless, some eager person wanted the iPod bad enough that someone had to die.
The article reports:
"The Times said Christopher and three friends were set upon by a gang of up to a dozen youths on Saturday afternoon who beat them and stole their valuables, including an iPod.
During the fight, one of the teenagers stabbed Christopher twice in the chest, killing him. Darran Samuel, 16, of Brooklyn, is being held without bail on charges of second-degree murder and attempted robbery, it said."
Is an iPod really worth a human life? I am utterly disgusted, but mostly sad for the family of Christopher. My heart and my condolences go out to the family.
To the rest of you iPod'ers out there: let this be a lesson to always watch your back and take the utmost caution when commuting via public transportation!
The new MAX on the street according to TechWhack is not WiMAX, but xMAX -- a "new modulation and encoding technology that allows the deployment of broadband services using lower frequency bands."
A company based in Florida is taking the credit for introducing the new wireless technology and it is the next contender up against WiMAX.
While we're only beginning to see WiMAX, especially in the United States, this new MAX supposedly has the capability to power connections up to 22 KMs away (you go right ahead and figure out the mileage....I haven't had my coffee yet) but I will mention (according to the article) this surpasses the distances in which WiMAX can perform.
From 'xMax to challenge WiMAX' : 'Joe Bobier is credited to inventing this new technology and he said in a statement: xMax is trespassing radio frequencies, although trespassing is not the right word, because we’re allowed to transmit a signal if it doesn’t interfere with other, stronger signals.” With xMax, a city as large as London can be covered by just four base stations! However, a lot is needed to be done before it can be used in real world scenarios.'
I'll say. Stay tuned for more WiMAX/xMAX news....