At Mobile World Congress, a preview of a central way to manage washing machines, parking meters, and glucose sensors.

According to booth-manning reps at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, IBM is announcing an Internet of Things Cloud with free enrollment of the first 10 connected gadgetswhether washing machines or parking meters. Its the kind of teaser more closely associated with, say, file storage on Dropbox. While this IoT Cloud will be for businesses, it will provide tools for those businesses to write apps for ordinary folks, such as for health-monitoring and home-management systems.

Such offerings stand a strong chance of massively accelerating the arrival of the ubiquitous computing era, with examples on display throughout the cavernous conference halls in Barcelona.

The Connected City section gives a visceral sense of what this era will be like, and the deep involvement of major carriers and IT companies in making it happen. City is just part of the story, with systems to tie together emergency reports, infrastructure sensors, and even parking meters. Major automakers from Volvo to GM are showing off connected cars, with the latest systems for avoiding crashes, helping drivers, and delivering information from home and office with platforms such as AT&T Drive. And so on, through a litany of home, health, and educational applications. Korea Telecoms display bristles with the wireless systems enabling it all. Elsewhere a man rode a stationary bike with a wireless glucose sensor taped to his arm and a wireless heart monitor taped to his chest, his vital statistics displayed on a nearby screen. He was doing this in behalf of the telecom Orange, which makes the back-end system.

Such visions have been around for many years. But the displays and talks in Barcelona, and interviews with major technology executives (see Nokia CTO on How the Company Will Reinvent Itself), shows just how fast all this is coming. Sensors and processing power are now extremely cheap, and the wireless infrastructure is increasingly in place. But there are some major barriers from here: making sure these systems stay secure, are easy to adopt, and truly add value. But just as free e-mail services made e-mail ubiquitous and services like Dropbox made cloud storage easy, IBMs Internet of Things Cloud and other such services stand a strong chance of doing the same. Just a few clicks, and youve registered your devices, and started getting analytics and management dashboards and tools for everyday users. As one rep told me, there will be no hurdles for quick startup.

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How the "Internet of Things" Will Become as Mainstream as Dropbox

Granite Countertop Alternative | Commercial Countertops Nashville - Durazzo
Metro Nashville Middle TN Architects Designers...meet Durazzo #39;s custom countertops. Durazzo is a unique and enduring countertop that is capable of bringi...

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Granite Countertop Alternative | Commercial Countertops Nashville - Durazzo - Video

Panama City Beach, FL (PRWEB) February 26, 2014

Emerald Coast Fabrication is proud to announce that they are opening a new design center. This design center will sell all types of flooring and backsplash for kitchens and baths.

The new facility will be located at 17756 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach, FL 32413, right next door to their current location. With this new design center, Emerald Coast Fabrication can offer a total solution and complete every job, from countertops to cabinetry to flooring, whether it is a new build or a remodel.

The showroom in the new design center will have 4500 square feet of flooring, including hardwood, natural stone, mosaic, high end carpet and tile. It will also feature two custom kitchens with working appliances, featuring Sub Zero, Wolf and Thermador products. Custom countertops will also be on display in marble, granite, quartz and glass.

Emerald Coast Fabrication also has a bathroom vignette, featuring all marble in the shower, floor and wall display, including the wainscoting. The marble is done in a variety of patterns to suit any customers needs. It is completed with a custom white shaker vanity and a white quartz countertop.

Emerald Coast Fabrications design center will eventually feature some cooking classes, product knowledge classes, wine and cheese gatherings, as well as open houses. Emerald Coast Fabrication is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call them at (850) 588-8194 or visit their website at http://emeraldcoastfabrication.com/.

About the company: Emerald Coast Fabrication was founded by Jim and Wendy Tatanish in 1994. Their mission since day one has been to provide the highest-quality, all-wood custom cabinets, as well as quartz, marble and granite countertops imaginable to Florida Panhandle builders and home owners. Upon arriving in Bay County from Charlotte, North Carolina, where they co-owned and operated a similar business, Jim and Wendy opened up their original shop on 23rd Street in Panama City. The company has grown consistently through the years. Adding an impressive state-of-the-art facility and key employees every step along the way, Emerald Coast Fabrication has attained their early goals. Today, Emerald Coast Fabrication is the premier provider of granite, marble and quartz countertops in the Florida Panhandle. Their new state of the art facility on the west end of Panama City Beach spans 25,000 square feet, and Emerald Coast Fabrication now proudly employs 47 skilled employees many are 14-year veterans at the company.

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Emerald Coast Fabrication Announces Opening of New Design Center

Living Room Project #1 - Casual Beach Living Room Design in Blue and Taupe by Interior Designer
Check out the first of 8 makeovers from a traditional North American living room to a casual beachy airy space of designer quality. At Windsor Decorating and...

By: Windsor Interior Decorating and Design

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Living Room Project #1 - Casual Beach Living Room Design in Blue and Taupe by Interior Designer - Video

Published:Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Updated:Wednesday, February 26, 2014 22:02

The revenue raised by student fees allows the university to operate several programs and offer students certain amenities.

Student fees are listed collectively on student account statements as the program service fee.

The current program service fee for full-time students is set at $672.50. This fee does not include specialized class fees.

David Collins, vice president for finance and administration at ETSU, said that the program service fee is a broad term used to comprise several individual fees.

The program services fee consists of many parts, such as the TAF fee that is used to ensure that students have the top technology available, athletic fee to help support the intercollegiate athletic program, debt service fees to pay for student areas such as the Center for Physical Activities and the Culp Center, student activity sees to help support student activities such as SGA, health clinic, provide concerts, etc., parking fees, sustainable campus fees, and other such areas, Collins said.

Collins also said that each of the different fees is allocated for the purpose for which it was approved.

The student activity fee is allocated for various purposes through Student Affairs; fees such as TAF and Sustainable Campus fee are allocated to various projects by committees that include significant student participation, Collins said. The athletic fee supports all athletics, (not just football); and the parking fee supports parking operations including the construction of the new parking garage.

One of the newest additions to the program service fees will be the $5 student fee implemented in the fall to fund Little Bucs, an on-campus child care program.

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Student fees fund university programs

The Planada Community Center will soon get a face-lift and become the home of several community programs, the Merced County Board of Supervisors decided this week.

County supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved allowing the Human Services Agency to fully manage the building and use it for programs for parent education, senior citizen programs and nutrition services.

The HSA will fund about $100,000 in upgrades, including interior painting, bathroom remodeling, new flooring installation and Americans With Disabilities Act-required improvements. HSA will run programs, such as All Moms Matter, All Dads Matter and other support services.

The community hall was previously managed by the countys Public Works Department and was most often used for community meetings by various organizations. However, a cutback in public works staff made it difficult to keep up with maintaining the building.

We used to run that particular facility, but with all our cutbacks with parks and staff reductions, weve always had a difficult time getting the hall open and making sure it was ready for people to rent, said Public Works Director Dana Hertfelder. This is the first time weve done something like this with the community halls.

The building will still be available for community events, Hertfelder said, but will no longer be available for private events. My understanding is we didnt have a lot of demand for private use, Hertfelder said, noting the building was rented less than 10 times a year for private parties.

Human Services Agency Director Ana Pagan said she believes in bringing programs to the outlying parts of the county to make it easier for people to access services.

We represent the whole community, Pagan said. A couple of years ago, some of the residents of Planada contacted me and said theyd like for us to come out here. The opportunity came up, and now well be able to have more community events and classes.

The benefit is we can do more community development and outreach, she said.

Irene De Le Cruz, a longtime Planada resident, said bringing services to the community is a big step because some residents might have trouble getting to Merced.

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Planada community hall to be remodeled and offer new services

Cambridge, MA (PRWEB) February 26, 2014

Arcbazar announces a creative web resource to redesign and transform attics in additional living spaces.

Attics are often favorite but neglected home spaces. They are simultaneously charming and trendy and are full of hidden potential. However, vaulted layouts can be daunting to remodel and decorate. Making the best of these additional home spaces by creating extra bedrooms or bathrooms, cosy living areas, offices and studios, or maximizing storage areas is a top challenge that requires a clever design. Many homeowners need help to recreate and personalize this great space canvas. Arcbazar comes to the rescue with an innovative crowdsourcing approach that let homeowners connect with architects around the globe for out-of-the box creative design.

Arcbazar runs international architectural and interior design competitions. Each project is launched online and designers worldwide compete and submit solutions for the new space. Clients can then choose the solution they like most based on their initial evaluation criteria. We want to bring high-end design to everyday small-scale home remodeling projects. We want our clients to be able to create their dream spaces in an easy, affordable and fun way," says Imdat As, founder of Arcbazar.com. Hundreds of clients around the globe have already used Arcbazar for successful home remodeling, landscape and interior design projects. We have helped clients build great kitchens, bathrooms, living space, basements, or outside patios, balconies and landscapes.

Paul L., from Saint Paul, MI, had a colonial three-story house with an ample attic and needed help with creating a beautiful master suite while maximizing the space. "The space is very challenging as the ceiling is vaulted. Our house is tradition to the era. We would like the master suite to have this same sort of personality." Paul run a design competition on Arcbazar and received seven proposals, ultimately opting for a design from MG Architect Studio in Italy. James T., from Wauwatosa, WI, had a similar project and wanted to transform his Victorian attic space into a master bedroom and create a quite library space. James received ten creative entries, with the first award going to Hyde Park Interiors, a design firm based in Chicago. Michelle B., from Cleveland, OH, also had a great experience. The homeowner had a small attic that she wanted to convert into an office that could double as a live-in area for guests. Michelles competition received nineteen great entries with the winning proposal coming from Lawrence Martin, a designer from Colorado. Arcbazar also introduced a new estimator tool for its clients to give them an instant quote for their remodeling projects.

About Arcbazar Arcbazar.com, Inc. is the first-of-its-kind online crowdsourcing platform for architectural design projects. The company connects clients with designers worldwide, and allows clients to run competitions for their remodeling, home, commercial and interior design projects.

To learn more and see all these great projects, visit http://www.arcbazar.com.

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Attic Remodeling: Recreating Charming and Functional Spaces with Online Design

If youre wondering where that whole man cave thing got started, it might have been in a 1992 book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Author John Gray didnt exactly talk about man caves, but his theory was that when things get tough, the tough guy gets going into a cave to think things over and maybe watch a basketball game.

But since then, the man cave has become a synonym for a guys retreat; maybe it could be a spare room, a den or a basement.

If youre single, of course, the man cave usually becomes your whole house or apartment.

The man cave concept has always seemed a little tough in Arizona because almost none of us have a basement and many of us dont have a whole lot of extra living space.

So for some homeowners, the man cave is in the home theater or an office. But somewhere along the way perhaps boosted by the DIY Network it has also become something that network calls the Garage Mahal.

The garage idea can be tricky, but here is how it could work if you have a basic garage to work with.

To start, clean out the garage. Haul all the old golf clubs, boxes of holiday ornaments, and high school yearbooks to a storage unit somewhere.

Then, have cabinets built in the garage to store the old tax returns and whatever needs to be close by. You can even build a nook for a flat-screen.

Then it gets complicated.

For one thing, theres the space issue.

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Rosie on the House - Man cave: Where should it be in your house?

Franklin Home Remodeling Center I Kitchen Remodeling Contractor Franklin
http://kitchenshowroom2you.com/ 615-800-7999 1229A Lakeview Dr. Franklin, TN (just off the I-65 Hwy 96 Exit) Let us bring the showroom to you!! Just one phon...

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Franklin Home & Remodeling Center I Kitchen Remodeling Contractor Franklin - Video

Best Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Company Nashville TN
http://kitchenshowroom2you.com/ 615-800-7999 1229A Lakeview Dr. Franklin, TN (just off the I-65 Hwy 96 Exit) Let us bring the showroom to you!! Just one phon...

By: Alan U

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Best Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Company Nashville TN - Video