Archive: Business & Technology

Dr. Digit 'Splains It All

Within the next week or so the Lansing Star will be coming to you from a different Web host.  If all goes well you won't even know it.  The fact is that many people I have talked to recently about Web hosts don't know what one is.  If you don't have a Web site I guess you don't really need to know.  But since I am in the throes of switching ours I thought this would be a good time to explain.

You could say there are three pieces that make a Web site work.  They are the same things that make a house work.  You need a plot of land.  You need an address.  And you need a house.

Web sites are the same.  The plot of land is space on the hard drive of a Web server, a computer that is configured to store everything you need for your site plus send a copy of your pages to other computers when tell it they want to see your site.  Domain names (like lansingstar.com) are the address.  That's how people find your house, and it is the same for your Web site.  And the house -- that is all the text and code and pictures and everything that makes up your site.

As Americans, we take great pride in our country's history. It's our history that teaches and helps define us. And as the author Pearl S. Buck once said, "One faces the future with one's past."

The U.S. General Services Administration, a federal agency usually thought of as the government's procurement arm and landlord, in fact plays a critical role in preserving the legacy buildings that stand as symbols of our national ideals, and indeed, reflect the sprit of America.

 

Core-value commitments to the community and their employees, and helping people realize the American dream of home ownership highlight the achievements of the Tompkins Trust Company, Satori - A Salon / Spa / Shopping Experience, and Better Housing For Tompkins County.

The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce has named the Tompkins Trust Company as its 2008 Large Employer of the Year. Satori - A Salon / Spa / Shopping Experience has been named the 2008 New Business of the Year and Better Housing For Tompkins County as the 2008 Not-For-Profit Organization of the Year. The Chamber will recognize all three at a luncheon from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at the Country Club of Ithaca.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and The Pilates Room of Ithaca plans to donate part of its proceeds for the month to the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes (formerly known as the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance)

Specifically, The Pilates Room will be donating all October proceeds from its "mat classes" to the Cancer Resource Center. "Mat classes" are one of several types of classes The Pilates Room offers and are designed for everyone from beginners to advanced students. With more than 35 of these classes scheduled in October, and a location in the Island Health and Fitness Center, The Pilates Room will also be asking its many clients to consider making an additional small contribution to the Cancer Resource Center.

Rimland Equities announced today that the new $25 Million boutique hotel being planned for downtown Ithaca will be managed by Gemstone Hotels and Resorts. Gemstone is a full-service hotel management company that specializes in managing and operating luxury and upscale hotels. It currently operates, manages or provides asset management services to hotels in cities such as New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills and Lake Tahoe and was ranked 22nd among the top 100 hotel management companies in 2007, according to Hotel Business Magazine.

The "Hotel Ithaca" will be located at the corner of State and Aurora Streets at the edge of the Ithaca Commons. The name for the hotel was chosen by Rimland Equities and Gemstone, and is a reference to the landmark Ithaca Hotel, which stood on the same property for decades, before being torn down as part of urban renewal in the 1960's.

Community Service and a commitment to helping others are what stand out about La Tourelle Resort & August Moon Spa and The Computing Center. The two Ithaca-based businesses have been named co-recipients the 2008 David R. Strong Small Business of the Year by the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. They'll be recognized for their accomplishments at a noon luncheon, Thurs., Oct. 2, at Watercress, located at 2 Hickory Hollow Lane just off Triphammer Road in Ithaca. Tickets are available by calling the Chamber at 607-273-7080 or online at tompkinschamber.org.

This is the first time in the history of the award that a pair of businesses have been named co-recipients.

 

"We were absolutely delighted by the high quality and quantity of all of the nominees for this year's award," said Tompkins Chamber President, Jean McPheeters. In the end, these two businesses were tied at the top of the Awards Committee's rankings."

Dr. Digit 'Splains It All

The fan had been going bad on my computer for a long time.  It got very noisy, and as it turned out it was not cooling the inside of the case as it was designed to do.  That's probably why my hard drive died.  Moving parts don't really like heat.  So after replacing the hard drive and restoring Windows and all my software -- the programs I could still find -- I started thinking about replacing the fan.

Well, one of the fans.  My computer has three: one cools the CPU deep in the bowels of my computer, another is attached to the back of the case, and the third is part of the power supply.  A power supply -- you guessed it -- supplies power to the various components inside your computer.  It is a metal box with a fan inside and tons of wires and plugs that connect to your hard drive, DVD player, and the other components.  You can't replace that fan without replacing the whole power supply.  Guess which fan broke?

(Ithaca, NY) The Downtown Ithaca Alliance Board of Directors voted 9-0-2 Monday to pass a resolution supporting the reconstruction of the Ithaca Commons. The Board’s vote formally puts it on record with both the City of Ithaca and the community, as supporting the City’s tentative plans to redesign and reconstruct the pedestrian mall in the year 2010.

Among other things, the resolution points to the state of disrepair of the walkway, areas of the Commons that do not have sufficient fire lanes in the event of emergencies, aging infrastructure such as lighting, benches and the pavilions, concern about the age and condition of the water and sewer lines underneath the walkway, and poor sight lines due to the current design, as reasons for the city to move forward with the reconstruction.

Alison Helmetsie, PT, and James Cunningham, DPT, have recently joined the practices of McCune, Ainslie and Associates Physical Therapy and Dryden Sport & Spine. Ms. Helmetsie is a 2007 graduate of Ithaca College's Physical Therapy program with additional coursework done with the McKenzie Institute for spine physical therapy. Ms. Helmetsie returns to Ithaca after practicing at an orthopedic clinic in Albany this past year.

(Ithaca, NY) Downtown Ithaca is about to be the recipient of five new or expanded businesses. Three downtown Ithaca businesses are moving into larger quarters… one of them into a building the owners just purchased, a locally-owned business is expanding into downtown, and one new business is set to soon open… all in the next few weeks. The businesses represent restaurants, clothiers, sports/recreation and an art and gift gallery.

The news of these additions to downtown is especially welcome to Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson, who says, “While downtown has experienced more vacancies this year than in the past, reflecting the soft national retail climate, the downtown economy remains surprisingly strong. This type of investment activity is an indicator that many entrepreneurs see downtown as a strong, vibrant location and a place where they can succeed. When locally owned businesses expand and when they move into larger quarters, these are indicators of the underlying strength of the downtown marketplace.”

ITHACA, NY, August 27, 2008 — Watch video on the go. Surf the wireless Internet at lightning speed. Share live video during a wireless call. These are just a few of the things you can do with AT&T’s third-generation (3G) wireless service, now available in Ithaca. Today, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced the launch of the company’s third-generation (3G) high speed wireless network in the greater Ithaca, New York area, giving consumers and businesses mobile broadband-like speeds and access to the latest interactive voice, video and data applications.  AT&T operates the nation’s fastest 3G network, according to data compiled by leading independent wireless research firms.

AT&T’s high speed 3G network, now available to the Ithaca market, brings mobile broadband capability to customers in Ithaca, East Ithaca, Cayuga Heights, Forest Home, South Hill, Lansing, Enfield, Cornell University, Ithaca College and Cayuga Lake.

LONG BEACH, NY-Lancer Insurance Company has announced that Executive Limousine and Sedan of Cortland, New York has received its prestigious Gold Safety Award. The award recognizes the safety excellence of Executive Limousine and Sedan for the 2007 policy year.

Lancer, the nation's leading provider of liability and physical damage insurance coverages to passenger transportation companies, instituted its Gold Safety Award program over 15 years ago to single out for recognition companies that clearly demonstrate the highest commitment of safety to their customers and employees - - a commitment that is manifested in a superior claims record.