Archive: Business & Technology

	All the pictures in this article were made using two originals taken from our Lansing Harbor Festival article, then manipulated using Repligator.

Using Repligator is a lot like partying -- it can be a lot of fun when you are out of control.  Repligator is a graphics program that manipulates pictures with a seemingly endless menu of effects.  And while you can use it for serious graphic manipulation, it is very easy to use -- if you can click a 'Next' button and find the F7 button on your PC you don't need to know much more to come up with some stunning effects.

First, the fun stuff.  Use File > Open to pick a picture file, just as you would in any Windows program (sorry- no Mac version).  The program takes you through a simple wizard that lets you adjust the original picture for brightness and contrast, or to crop it, or rotate or flip it.  Now the fun begins. 

Read more ...

Two local businesses were recognized last Friday at Lansing's Lakewatch Inn when the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce named Warren Real Estate of Ithaca the 2007 David R. Strong Small Business of the Year, and the Ithaca Coffee Company was named the 2007 New Business of the Year.  The guest speaker was Tompkins Trust Company President and C.E.O. Greg Hartz, who lauded the recipients' accomplishments and commitment to their businesses.  "Some of those are a tremendous amount of hard work," he said.  "A healthy dose of risk taking, a willingness to pursue dreams, a great commitment to many stakeholder around them, and the ability to get a lot done without a lot of sleep."

Does your employer offer a pension? If so, you'll want to be familiar with your payout options before it's time to start taking money out - because your choice can have a big impact on your retirement income.

If you participate in a pension (also known as a "defined benefit" plan), you'll receive, upon retirement, a specific amount of money based on your salary history and years of service. But how you take that money is up to you.

You have two basic options: You can accept the pension as a series of annuity payments, spread out over your lifetime or a certain number of years, or you can take the money as a lump sum. (Not all pension plans offer the lump-sum option, however.)

(Ithaca, NY)  The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce announced a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, September 19th at 11:30 AM at The Center for Health.  The Center For Health is a community resource for information and treatment options in acupuncture, massage therapy, Chinese herbs and therapeutic exercise.  It is a joint practice of licensed healthcare professionals who specialize in comprehensive solutions for pain and stress.

The mission of the Center is to provide an intelligent approach to natural therapies with a commitment to professional excellence. The practitioners work together to offer comprehensive care that includes treatments onsite as well as support and planning for lifestyle changes that patients make at home. All of the practitioners at the Center for Health are dedicated to community education with regard to the safe and effective use of the natural and holistic therapies. For people seeking to improve their health, The Center offers an informed and individualized approach to achieving that goal.

ITHACA, NY - Kristin McGee, renowned fitness professional best known for her work on the MTV Power Yoga and Pilates DVDs, will be in Ithaca on Saturday, 22 September. Sponsored by Rasa Spa, in conjunction with The Pilates Room and Island Health & Fitness, the day-long visit will commence at 10am with an informal talk on balancing physical and mental fitness, followed by two yoga classes, and one Pilates mat class.

The day will showcase the ease of accessibility to fitness that McGee incorporates into her own work with people of all backgrounds and ages. It will to introduce the local community to the many facets of health care and maintenance that the Island Health Center has to offer. Attendees are encouraged to spend the day getting to know the sponsoring partners at Island in between participating in classes with Ms. McGee. Offerings of 10% off Spa treatments and massage therapy will be in effect for all attendees on the day, lunch is available for purchase at Cafe Carpineto, and tours are available for interested parties.

The Legislature, by unanimous vote (Legislator Tyke Randall was absent) approved $28,700 in supplemental funding from the County’s Room Tax Reserve Fund for the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau (ITCCVB) to support four special tourism projects during the 2007-2008 program year.

As part of this effort, $1,200 was allocated to improve the signage and add a sidewalk kiosk for the bureau’s Downtown Visitors Center, to increase its visibility and make it an even more effective and accessible local resource.

It's that time of year when college students across the country reach for their backpacks and head back to campus - while their parents reach for their checkbooks and head for the Tylenol. If your children are still quite young, though, you can take steps now to reduce the headaches that may come from those big college bills.

Just how expensive is it to send a child through college these days? It's pretty expensive. In fact, it costs more than $16,000 for one year at a four-year public college or university, according to the College Board. And college costs have been rising considerably faster than the general rate of inflation, so the high costs of higher education are, in all likelihood, only going to get higher.

(Ithaca, NY) The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce announced that Warren Real Estate of Ithaca has been named the 2007 David R. Strong Small Business of the Year, while the Ithaca Coffee Company was named the 2007 New Business of the Year. Both businesses will be recognized for their accomplishments at a luncheon on Friday September 14th, 2007, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Lakewatch Inn on East Shore Drive in Lansing.

"Warren Real Estate has made several strategic changes over the past few years", says Laurie Linn, the chair of the Chambers' Awards Committee, "and has also been deeply rooted in the Ithaca community for three generations. Warren built a brand new building in 2006, taking advantage of new technology and innovation to make the facility state-of-the art. The company has also doubled in size, growing from 34 agents to 68 active brokers and sales people, all of which makes the company very deserving of this impressive award."

Many people rely on their IRAs and 401(k) plans to help them pay for their retirement years - and for good reason, because IRAs and 401(k)s are excellent retirement-savings vehicles. But once you reach the point where you are contributing the maximum amount to your IRA and 401(k) each year, what else can you do to build resources for retirement? You might want to consider annuities and cash value insurance.

Fixed and Variable Annuities
When you buy a fixed annuity, the insurance company puts your funds into fixed income investments, such as bonds. Your principal is guaranteed, and the insurance company pays you an interest rate that is also guaranteed for a certain period of time. At the end of the guarantee period, the insurer adjusts the guaranteed interest rate upward or downward. These guarantees are backed by the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance companies.

Greg Thomas, president of Performance Systems Development and Performance Systems Contracting, announced today a financial partnership that will allow the Ithaca company to grow in response to expanding opportunities in the green energy industry. Performance Systems recently reached an agreement with Laurel Ridge Asset Management, a New York City-based firm that manages over $120 million in investment funds.

You may have heard that "real estate is always a good investment." However, that's a "blanket" statement and not terribly useful. In fact, it raises many questions: Does real estate really go up in value all the time? What type of real estate should I invest in? What percentage of my portfolio should be devoted to real estate? Once you know these answers, you'll be in a much better position to decide if, and how, you should incorporate real estate into your investment picture.

Of course, real estate investing has been a hot topic over the past several years, as housing prices soared in many areas around the country. Even though the market cooled considerably in 2006, nationwide home prices are up 29.2 percent over the past three years and 64.3 percent over the past five years, according to Business Week magazine. And of all the homes purchased in 2006, 22 percent were bought for investment purposes, according to the National Association of Realtors. While that 22 percent figure is down from 28 percent in 2005, it indicates that plenty of people are still buying properties in hopes of achieving a source of income, capital appreciation or a combination of both.

(Ithaca, NY)