Getting the Story on Brooklyn's Ad High School
Brooklyn is the home to the nation's first public high school for advertising. If there's another one preceeding it, please tell me. It's name is
High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and it will open September 2008 within
Canarsie High School. I'm pleased to be third to break the story in NYC. The first publisher of the story is the NY Daily News. I had a writing embargo until after Feb. 8 when Advertising Age would publish it. This news is fantastic. The people with whom I connected are equally fantastic.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is on a drive to have Brooklyn realize being "the 4th largest city in the US," although it is a borough of NYC. Markowitz knows a school like this will do so much for Brooklyn's reputation and real power. Imagine, your borough grooms the next advertising executives and managing staff. It's quite possible that in the future Brooklyn and Manhattan will be America's centers of advertising and media genius. College students may run to Brooklyn for that "great copy or art job."
Advertising Week, Inc executive director
Matt Scheckner tried to pass himself off as an average Joe dropping some lines to me but, humility to the side, top ad people like
Ron Berger,
Michael Roth,
Byron Lewis and
Rosemarie Ryan wouldn't have just any Joe working their show. Rather, someone who serves as Yahoo's marketing director and previously headed American Association of Advertising Agencies and ADWEEK magazine would admirably run Advertising Week.
As a reporter getting quotes, one should remain objective but, after the second quote, "The kids will get dipped into the advertising and media sauce via a combination of..." I commended him on his great sound bites. Don't get me wrong; it was tough going getting a telephone interview with him. Possibly the embargo was being extended--it's all in the game of news reporting.
This high school is shot in the arm for Brooklyn. It's a feather in Markowitz's cap.
Labels: advertising, media training, society, technology
Meeting Up
Brooklyn 2.0 is a MeetUp group I recently joined. We gathered at Mooney's Pub on Flatbush Avenue, Weds., Feb 13. Nice crowd. The organizer Eric Rochow is an amiable sort. Then, of course the draft beer had everyone mellow and sociable. Rochow does podcasting about easy green practices for people. Check out
Real World Green.
My personal agenda was hunting for tech stories and learning to blog more effectively. I was ecstatic with my finds. There are many developers living in Brooklyn. Of the plus 10 who showed that night, I was the only nondeveloper. Yuri Niyazov described an app to rival Google Reader. Another man tipped me
Bar Camp, a developers conference held at Polytechnical U. This conference is free and requires that all attendees present an application or assist in a presentation of a new app.
People encouraged me to use other 'Net browsers like Firefox and Safari because of the great add-ons. Then, what I couldn't get from Deli.cio.us FAQ: how to get authority. You've got to submit your blog entry's URL with tags so that it can be read by others.
Meeting Up is great because life is all about experiences. What's better than a face-to-face experience?
Labels: PR, social networking, society, technology
Safekeeping
Experts say this generation of African Americans has the most educated, affluent and influential in society compared to previous ones. An unobtrusive scan into some homes reveal the luxury vehicles, outdoor grills, wine collections, oriental rugs, original artwork and home entertainment systems. In fact, many unmarried women own homes, whether they are condos or detached, single-family corner houses.
Any investment requires securing it. Consumers seek security measures that are not as costly as the items that they want guarded. People have options in home security systems. The state-of-the-art security systems use the home’s electrical system to transport electric signals from a control module to another module attached to a lamp or other electrical appliance in another part of the home. Others feature “redundant”, wireless and web-enabled components. Redundant means each component can detect breaks and transmit a notice to the online or remote center. These are significant innovations since the introduction of safes, deadbolt locks, alarms, motion sensors and closed circuit TV monitoring. State-of-the-art doesn’t trump time-tested security measures, however. So if the LCD intercom system permits sight and communication with people at your doors, keep it.
This product review foregoes describing market giants ADT, Brinks, Slomin and GE to highlight other effective market leaders.
InGrid Digital Home Protection
The co
mplete system consists of My InGrid software, two-piece sensors, a tabletop console, a wireless handset with base, a keychain remote control, and a grid extender. All pieces are decorative yet discretely fit into any décor. The Basic kit secures homes that are no more than 1,500 s.f. It comes with three sensors, My InGrid software, the tabletop console and wireless handset with the base. Its retail price is $199 with a one-year surveillance contract, billing rate at $29.99 / month. The Homes kit is for homes and businesses under 2,500 s.f. It contains eight sensors, My InGrid software, the console, handset, grid extender and keychain remote control. It retails for $299 with a one-year surveillance contract. Visit
http://www.ingridhome.com/ to buy direct.
Visonic Pow
erMax Smart Home Security and Control System, retails for $209.00. The package consists of a keychain, Door/Window Wireless Contact, Table Console Dialer System and Transmitter. One lithium battery is provided. This package not only serves as intrusion detection but also notifies of gas, flooding, and smoke. The heart of the system is the PowerMax Table Console Dialer System and Transmitter. Similar to the InGrid Digital Home Security, it offers remote, mobile and in-house control.
Skylink Complete Deluxe Wireless Security Kit (model SC1000) retails for $232.95. Emergency
Dialer Unit, Control Panel, Motion Sensor, 2 Door/Window Sensors, Keychain Transmitter, Emergency Dialer, 2 adaptors, three 9V alkaline batteries and three 12V alkaline batteries (no monthly service fee)
The Emergency Dialer Unit holds up to 9 telephone or pager numbers in memory as well as a emergency voice message. The numbers in memory will be rung up to 9 times.
CCTV
Star 4 CH Complete DVR Security System for Office / Home, retails for $995.00.
Digital Video Recorders (DVR) are replacing VCRs and multiplexers in the closed circuit TV monitoring world. CCTV Star’s security systems comes a DVR, four IR color cameras, four 75-foot cables, wireless remote control and power supply. This monitoring system is designed for live play over the Internet. The DVR has 250 Gb disk drive storage capacity.
X10
Home Security System, How to set up a low-cost home security system using X10 by Michael Maikowski, Jefferson Technology Press, 2006. ISBN 0-9678917-1-X. $24.95
This book describes the detection system that uses a residence’s electrical system that’s called X10. Subjects covered are steps to construct a progressively more complex system which at its core includes modules, a controller box, video camera, motion sensing and remote monitoring.
Home Security, 2nd edition, by Vivian Capel, Newnes, 1997. ISBN 0750635460, $48.95.
This book describes the common ways burglars break in and measures to thwart them. Topics covered include space protectors, alarms and sensors
To learn about other security options and read consumer critiques and ratings visit such retailer Web portals as
http://www.consumerreports.org/,
http://www.popularscience.com/, or
http://www.amazon.com/.
Labels: affluence, African Americans, home security, InGrid Digital Home Protection, motion sensors, society, technology
Is the President’s Economic Package Up for Public Scrutiny?
President George Bush aimed to start 2008 with a shot in the arm when he proposed a $150 million economic growth package, on January 18. The package is a one-year disbursal of personal tax rebates and business tax incentives.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson believes the package “will counter the effects of higher gas prices, the capital market downturn,”
subprime mortgage lending terms, tanking housing prices and nationwide home foreclosures. Key to the package’s impact is immediate release of money, specifically, “sixty days after the legislation is enacted.” The House and Senate must vote quickly in its favor and the IRS must process both tax filings and rebate checks. Middle-income individuals and families look forward to $800 and $1,600, respectively.
House Majority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (CA 8th District) and House Minority Leader
John Boehner (OH, 8th District) made separate triumphant statements about the January 24 bipartisan House approval. Pelosi described it as “an agreement to immediately jumpstart the slowing economy. Over 100 million households will soon receive ‘recovery’ rebates.” Boehner concedes, “The economic growth package will put money in the hands of middle-income families and give small businesses incentives to create new jobs.”
President Bush used the 2008 Congress of Tomorrow Luncheon, held January 25 in West Virginia, as an opportunity to press the Senate “to move quickly on the economic growth package.” The Senate shares the concerns of average Americans and wants add-ons for unemployment benefit extensions and increases in food stamps. Senate Democrats recognize roughly 65 million working Americans would get partial to zero rebates.
One college administrator who requests anonymity asked, “Are you talking about the money that they [IRS] were supposed to be giving back as a rebate but found a way to keep it?” She suggests a reprisal of the effects of the 2001 tax rebate. Councilwoman
Letitia James (35th District) said simply, “It’s too little, too late.”
Americans riddle the “Ask the Whitehouse” page on the Whitehouse Web site with questions about the package’s soundness. Here in New York, Brooklyn resident Audrey Taitt-Hall remarks, “I have reservations about the package. What will we have to give up to get this money? Presently, childcare centers and senior citizen centers are either closed or significantly cutback. There are many cuts in education programs like music and sports. Is this the price to get these rebates?”
Labels: business tax incentives, economic stimulus package, George Bush, Henry Paulson, John Boehner, Letitia James, Nancy Pelosi, subprime mortgages, tax rebate
Brooklyn is the home to the nation's first public high school for advertising. If there's another one preceeding it, please tell me. It's name is High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and it will open September 2008 within Canarsie High School. I'm pleased to be third to break the story in NYC. The first publisher of the story is the NY Daily News. I had a writing embargo until after Feb. 8 when Advertising Age would publish it. This news is fantastic. The people with whom I connected are equally fantastic.
