Mediaboss Marketing

By Richard Nieva, reporter

FORTUNE -- It's cleverly counterintuitive: a social networking service to help kids spend less time on Facebook and Twitter. Afterschool.me, an online directory of educational, artistic and athletic programs, uses social networking elements to help parents find extracurricular activities for their children.

The Los Angeles-based startup currently allows parents to search for activities by zip code. Starting this fall -- in time for the upcoming school year -- Afterschool.me will launch a profile feature where parents can list their children's' specific interests and set other filters such as cost, transportation requirements, and language. What Yelp (YELP) has done for local businesses and Match.com (IACI) for relationships, Afterschool.me wants to do for after school programs. There was no such service, says founder and CEO Evan Fieldman, 30. The company is also planning Facebook (FB) and LinkedIn (LNKD) integrations to better connect parents and organizations.

Fieldman, a lawyer, became interested with what he calls the "afterschool crisis" after working for Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, researching the privatization of public services. He's also been a Big Brother mentor for six years. In 2011, he founded the company as a full-time gig with software engineer Alex Riabov, and received funding from StartEngine, an accelerator fund in LA. It hasn't been the glitziest cause, but the stakes are high: Out of the 60 million students in the United States from kindergarten to high school seniors, only about 14% participate in after school activities that often keep students out of trouble. (By contrast, the national drop out rate is 24.5%, according to nonprofit America's Promise Alliance.)

MORE: The death of cash

But lofty goals don't mean Afterschool.me is non-profit. "We wanted to prove it is possible to address a societal challenge, generate revenue and be sustainable without relying on donations," Fieldman says. Once usership grows, the company plans to monetize through premium listings and by taking a percentage of revenue from certain programs. The goal is also to become a major enough presence that Afterschool.me creates extracurricular activity opportunities as well. Fieldman wants to put the onus on Fortune 500 companies. For example, the company would like to goad companies to follow the leads of giants like Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), who already have youth programs of their own.

That will almost certainly be a difficult task. For one, the site is still small. (For example, a search for a suburban Bay Area zip code didn't return any programs within 10 miles.) And there are sensitivities around services that involve children -- even if parents are involved. Of course, it may also take a lot of work to convince organizations and school boards to cooperate in a field where adoption is notoriously slow.

Still, Fieldman is used to fighting through dire circumstances. At 22, he was a field operations manager for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign. On election night 2004, he spent the evening in front of a church in Columbus, Ohio -- a key battleground state -- encouraging voters to stay in line at 11 p.m. despite the pouring rain, even when grim returns were coming in for Kerry's camp. "We wanted people to remain inspired," he says. Same as it ever was.

Excerpt from:
A better after-school social special

I'm not what you would call the most "tech savvy" person on the planet. Both my iPod Touch and smartphone are several years old, and I'm still really not sure what a Klout even is. When I was told about KYCK, which was described to me as "Facebook and Twitter combined, but for soccer fans," I was largely "meh" regarding the service. After all, I already have Facebook and Twitter. Do I really need another social networking tool, one specifically related to soccer?

Yes. It turns out that I do.

On the surface, KYCK really is like a combination of the best parts of Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. You can choose your favorite teams and get news articles regarding those clubs posted onto your feed, follow and interact with players, friends and random fans, and even "check in" at live matches. In short, KYCK is an ideal tool for soccer fans who also use social networking services on a daily (hourly) basis.

Mac Lackey, KYCK founder and company CEO, has soccer in his blood. "I've been a lifelong soccer enthusiast," Lackey told me during a brief chat on Tuesday. "I grew up playing, played my whole childhood, and my dream was to play for a career." He went to college on a soccer scholarship before playing in the USL League, formerly the USISL. With Major League Soccer not yet in existence and a move to Europe "not a realistic option," Lackey found other ways to make a living via the beautiful game. Prior to KYCK, he built and sold four separate companies, including InternetSoccer.com, a "global (soccer) news portal" that he created in the late 90s. With KYCK, Lackey is now looking to bring the world soccer community together like never before.

KYCK, technically in private beta at the moment, is set to (hopefully) officially launch at the end of July 2012. After being tested by a small group, the service was opened up to a larger but still limited audience. After receiving over 500 requests from roughly 26 countries, KYCK reentered a test phase. It is now in the "request process," meaning those looking to join KYCK can either request an invite or be added by a friend who is already using the service.

One KYCK application that I find especially interesting is the "Events" option, which allows users to "check in" at a game. Such event pages list starting elevens and other information regarding that particular match. KYCK users who have linked their Facebook and/or Twitter accounts with the service will share that event page via their other social networking accounts, allowing individuals not on KYCK to view the event page. KYCK users will also have the opportunity to discuss the match with other fans via the event page. Potential users worried about spamming their Facebook and Twitter feeds with KYCK links should know that users can choose which non-event check-in posts are shared via their other social networking accounts.

Current KYCK users should notice two major improvements to the service in the near future. Videos that are shared via KYCK will be embedded on account feeds, allowing users to watch that video without having to navigate to that file's home website. The biggest change that's coming is what Lackey referred to as "media layers." "Right now, if you're on KYCK, there is your feed...a very traditional feed (comparable to what you'll see on Twitter), and this area called Top KYCKS," Lackey explained. "That is based upon your preferences (teams and user accounts you follow on KYCK). Right now, you have to switch between the two feeds. In the upcoming Version 3, the screen is split 60-40. 60 percent will be your feed, but 40 percent is your real-time content." The 40 percent portion will include both content that deals with teams you have selected to follow, as well as news items that are trending on KYCK.

The mobile KYCK application is a must for users who also own an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Photos and videos can be uploaded to your account directly through the mobile app. Coming soon, the app will also be taking the check-in feature to a new level. Upon checking in via the app (once the latest version of KYCK is launched), you will be informed of other KYCK users who are also attending that match. Lackey told me that he's also interested in working with pubs and other establishments that are close to stadiums in order to inform users of the KYCK app about soccer-related food and drink specials in a particular area, as well as about meet-ups occurring before and after a match. The KYCK app is currently free, although there may eventually be an "enhanced version" sometime down the road.

KYCK isn't just for fans. Lackey told me that several players, such as Jozy Altidore and Omar Cummings, have accounts, and that the company will be reaching out to more players once the service is officially launched.

After playing around on the KYCK website for a brief amount of time, I have to say that I'm both very impressed with the current product, and that I'm also looking forward to the launch of Version 3. Social networking websites are how soccer fans from all over learn about breaking news and how they locate articles, and it's very useful to have one place to find such posts without having to scroll past comments regarding somebody's lunch or pictures of my friend's dog. It doesn't matter if you support a club that plays in Major League Soccer, the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga or any other professional organization. There's something for all soccer fans on KYCK.

Continue reading here:
KYCK: The Social Networking Tool for the Soccer World

11-Jul-12, 6:25 AM | Philippine News Agency

InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday reminded the public, especially mothers and caregivers, on proper hygiene after changing babies' diapers to avoid the spread of EV-71 virus or enterovirus 71, which has killed tens of babies in Cambodia.

Dr. Eric Tayag, DOH assistant secretary and spokesman, said that caregivers who change diapers (pertaining to children's feces) and do not properly wash their hands after could spread the EV-71 virus to children.

"Proper disposal of baby diapers or human waste, strict personal hygiene, and regular hand-washing prevent viral spread. The virus is known to be excreted in the feces since it is found in the human intestine," Tayag said.

Other precautions

Tayag urged parents and day-care personnel to clean and disinfect toys and teaching tools that are easily shared with other children. This can prevent EV-71 infections as there are no known effective drugs or vaccines.

According to Tayag, the DOH and the World Health Organization have clarified that the Cambodian EV-71 infection was of the encephalitis type and not HFMD (hand, foot and mouth disease).

Affected Cambodian children generally had fever followed by rapid respiratory deterioration and impaired conciousness. Death occurred 24 hours from hospital confinement, DOH and WHO said.

Tayag explained that EV-71 causes different diseases of varying intensity. These include the often mild hand, foot and mouth disease, acute respiratory disease, acute flaccid paralysis (polio-like) and the deadly brainstem encephalistis. HFMD is characterized as self-limiting illness and accompanied by skin lesions or rashes.

Visit link:
DOH reminds moms on proper hygiene vs baby killer disease

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Comm100, the leader in customer service and communication software, has just announced the launch of live chat plugins for WordPress and Joomla, the two most widely used Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world. As Comm100's flagship product, Comm100 Live Chat can now be quickly installed on WordPress or Joomla based sites, which satisfies the needs of numerous WordPress or Joomla users who are looking to provide live chat on their websites or blogs.

As the leading global provider of customer service and communication solutions, Comm100 is growing at an unprecedented rate and has won the trust of over 192,800 businesses from all over the world. Comm100 Live Chat is the enterprise-grade live chat software that features a powerful feature set, friendly user interface and stable system performance. Working on over 20,000 websites, Comm100 Live Chat helps businesses increase sales, boost customer satisfaction and reduce operating cost.

Since it first launched on August 5th, 2009, Comm100 Live Chat has been embraced by thousands of businesses around the globe with continuous positive feedback. "Comm100 Live Chat has definitely increased our sales and we tend to think that our website before was like having a shop with no staff; we can now help customers at any point during their visit to our website and track their progress. Comm100 Live Chat has become vital to our business," said Keziah Edwards, Travel Consultant at Beach Club Resorts.

Based on customers' feedback, Comm100 finds that a large number of business websites are built on Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress and Joomla. "We offer the WordPress chat plugin and the Joomla chat module to make it easy for businesses to integrate Comm100 Live Chat onto their WordPress or Joomla based sites and to improve their website conversion rate by providing instant support to the visitors," said Amy Gu, VP of Comm100.

"Besides WordPress and Joomla, there are also many other popular content management systems or ecommerce systems in the market. WordPress and Joomla are just the start. Easy integration with other third-party systems or applications will be realized one by one in the near future," said Amy. "To better meet our customer needs, we are also planning to seamlessly integrate our products with CRM systems like Salesforce and SugarCRM as well as social media platforms such as Facebook."

WordPress and Joomla are both free and open source content management systems for publishing content on the Internet. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1 million" websites and as of August 2011 manages 22% of all new websites. Joomla has been downloaded over 30 million times as of March 2012. It is estimated to be the second most used CMS on the Internet after WordPress.

About Comm100

Comm100 is the leading global provider of enterprise-level customer service and communication solutions, including Live Chat, Support Ticket, Email Marketing, Help Desk, Forum and Knowledge Base. Powerful, integrated and hosted, Comm100 gives businesses an unmatched power to communicate effectively with their customers through multiple channels and deliver superior customer experience. Learn more at: http://www.comm100.com/.

Media Contact

Amy Gu Vice President Comm100 Network Corporation

Original post:
Comm100 Live Chat Plugin for WordPress & Joomla Hits the Market

July 11, 2012, 9:02 AM PDT

Takeaway: Editing text is tedious work. Use these two shortcuts to delete whole words instead of single characters.

Many users delete text the hard way-character by character. Fortunately, there are many editing shortcuts, and Id like to share two that transform [Backspace] and [Delete] into deleting machines.

Pressing [Backspace] deletes the characters to the left of the insertion point, one at a time. When you need to delete an entire word, press [Ctrl]+[Backspace]. This shortcut deletes text to the left of the insertion point one word at a time instead of one character at a time. For instance, to delete the last four words in a paragraph, including the ending period character, youd hold down [Ctrl] and press [Backspace] five times. (Word counts a punctuation mark as a word.)

Pressing [Delete] removes the characters to the right of the insertion point, one character at a time. To delete several characters to the right, at once, press [Ctrl]+[Delete]. This combo deletes all the characters to the right of the insertion point in the current word. For instance, to remove cut in the word shortcut, youd position the insertion point between the t and the c, and press [Ctrl]+[Delete].

What deleting shortcuts do you use?

See the original post:
Two useful Word shortcuts for quickly deleting text