(January 30, 2012)--Taylor Swift has more power than Lady Gaga and Simon Cowell, according to Billboard's new Power 100 list on which Swift is ranked number 78.

Lady Gaga comes in at 84 and poor Simon Cowell brings up the rear at 100.

More embarrassing for Cowell, perhaps, is that Billboard considers Ryan Seacrest far more powerful at number 64.

Those who make Billboard's Power 100 list are typically producers and record executives and it's a big deal for any performers to make the list.

Along with Swift and Gaga, the others are Jay-Z and Beyonce together at 13, U2 at 27 and Jon Bon Jovi at 50.

The AGT Partner Program enables service providers and top-tier partners to release mobile video conferencing apps via the app store that can integrate into their existing or new service offerings.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) January 17, 2012

AGT partners will quickly generate more revenue in the expanding UC video market by immediately extending their service offering to include the universal standard mobile pathway. The Mobile Pathway protocol leverages secure, already open standard web ports to enable video communication between HD video conferencing systems, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. This provides true video mobility for any mobile device regardless of whether or not it's tethered to an enterprise network.

The program will enable partners to deliver the ENCORE UC Video Platform- (which provides a complete suite of telepresence and UC conferencing capabilities), and FATHOM HD- (which provides exclusive IP video testing, certification and call quality monitoring). Together these UC technologies provide un-paralleled innovative managed service and cloud based offerings.

The formalized partner program is multi-tiered to accommodate a diverse range of partners and addresses levels and commitments for product/technical support, training, lead generation, marketing support, and discount structures.

Bob Wood, EVP, Global Sales and Marketing, Applied Global Technologies, said, "Required telepresence competency within the UC partner eco-systems is now a reality. Adding or seamlessly integrating HD video conferencing solutions to existing environments will be a differentiating factor between UC partners. It's more than just selling hardware or cloud services. A partner will have to provide turnkey solutions that accommodate universal mobility, hybrid integrations, managed services, and network monitoring. AGT provides all of this and more, with a Partner Program that provides the competitive edge necessary to meet market demands, and accelerate both revenue growth and partner profitably."

About Applied Global Technologies, LLC

AGT is the leading managed services and UC technology provider for interactive and mobile video conferencing solutions. Sponsored by Georgia Tech, one of the nation's top research universities in software development and engineering, AGT designs and builds award winning UC technologies and services. AGT technologies improve the quality and performance of video conferencing across IP networks and deliver the highest level of interoperability between smartphones, tablets, laptops, and HD video conferencing systems. With innovative Managed and Cloud based Services, AGT provides enterprises with a cost effective scalable way to implement unified communications. Since 1993, AGT has been developing a wide range of solutions for Distance Education, State Government, Federal/DOD, Fortune 1000, SMB, and Service Providers. Learn more at http://telecomadvisors.biz/www.appliedglobal.com

Mark Cray
Applied Global Technologies
321-635-2453
Email Information

Organic produce is no longer just for Birkenstock-donning, flannel shirt-wearing, long-haired hippies from San Francisco.

That stereotype is long gone.

What isn't gone — and doesn't appear to be going away any time soon — is a burgeoning group of consumers throughout the world who desire fresh fruits and vegetables that are free of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

John France, a local farmer and businessman, is one of many who has answered consumers' call for these crops, which can be labeled and sold as "organic" only if they meet certain federal regulations and criteria.

France, a certified grower of organic crops since 1989, is the president of Porterville-based Homegrown Organic Farms, which markets and sells 15 different organic commodities for 45 farmers throughout California and Oregon.

Last year, Homegrown administered the sale of more than 1 million cartons of organic produce for its growers. The company's cold storage and main distribution center, from which the organic goods are shipped nationwide and to Canada, is located in the small Kern County town of Arvin.

"There's not a market in the world that I can't access," said France, whose own ranch, which is managed by Strathmore-based farm agriculture management company Agricare, is home to about 650 total acres of organic citrus, grapes, walnuts and blueberries in southern Tulare and Kern counties.

For France and other organic producers, the markets are certainly there. The only potential obstacle is one of logistics.

Unlike conventional farmers, organic growers don't apply post-harvest fungicides to their produce. These fungicides, in some years, can drastically extend the shelf life of some fruits and vegetables.

So France said he and his organic brethren "have to be on top of [their] game," making doubly sure that the crops are picked, packed and sold when the time is absolutely right. If not, the growers could suffer badly by losing out on adequate returns for their commodities.

"We can't just park stuff in a cold storage," France said. "We have to know what's in the cooler, how old it is, the condition of the fruit and when it comes out."

In this way and others, organic farming is different from conventional farming.

Organic producers have to grow organically for three years before they can become certified by federally accredited California Certified Organic Farmers. Their handling costs are higher, and they have to be more "proactive" rather than "reactive" to make sure certain problems — ones that would be handled by traditional farmers with pesticides or other chemicals — don't arise in the first place.

In a lot of ways, though, organic farmers are the same as their big brothers on the conventional side.

Organic producers, just like traditional growers, have to keep their yields as high as possible. They have to know soils and climates, too. Most importantly, they have to deliver a quality product that consumers want.

"If you're not prepared and don't know what you're doing," France said, "you can get upside down really quick."
But France hasn't gone upside down — not even close. That's because he's made the proper investments, he's developed a solid business model and he's immersed himself in a market that seems to be growing by the day.

"You have to be willing to spend money to make money, just like in any business," he said.

Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1050 or aschultz@portervillerecorder.com.

Follow him on Twitter @AlexKWSchultz.

US News

Fiorina: Cut Small Businesses Some Slack

CNBC.com | January 26, 2012 | 10:28 AM EST

Carly Fiorina told Squawk Box this morning that the playing field might not be level when it comes to big business vs. small business, but higher taxes will not solve the problem.

The former CEO of Hewlett Packard [ HPQ 27.88  +0.00 (+0.00%) ] was referring to President Obama's proposal in his State of the Union speech earlier this week to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000.

"His solutions were all about more government, more regulation and more taxation," she said.

She went on to say that higher taxes will not reduce the deficit, nor will they encourage entrepreneurship and business growth. "If you want to put more capital to work, you don't raise taxes on it," she said.

While she conceded that small businesses do not always have the same advantages as big ones, she believes in a free market economy. "I think it's also accurate to say that we have a market that doesn't work for everyone. Our economy works better for big businesses, because big businesses have big money to pay lobbyists to influence regulation. Little businesses don't. So we need to fix the things that are making it hard for the people who create jobs, starting with small business."

They were media events par excellence, which thousands of journalists from around the world tried to convey: Natascha Kampusch's abduction and the incest story involving Josef Fritzl, both in Austria. But journalists couldn't really explain the inconceivable stories, in which basement rooms were used to imprison and rape young girls and children for years, without neighbors, authorities or acquaintances even noticing.

Austrian Markus Schleinzer, a long-time casting director, chose characters for Oscar-winning films such as "The Counterfeiters" and "The White Ribbon." But the cases involving Kampusch, who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held captive for over eight years before escaping in 2006, and Fritzl, who held his daughter prisoner for 24 years until 2008, raping her and conceiving seven children with her, preoccupied Schleinzer so much that he decided to make a film on the topic.

"Michael," the name of the movie, was nominated last year for the European Film Award and just won the Max Ophüls Award at the Saarbrücken Film Festival, where Michael Fuith - who plays the leading role - also received the Best Actor award. "Michael" opens in German theaters on January 26. Deutsche Welle spoke with director Markus Schleinzer and actor Michael Fuith.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Director Markus Schleinzer

Deutsche Welle: You have been casting director for some 60 different films. That you were interested in making your own movie is understandable. But why did you choose such a tough topic for your debut film?

Markus Schleinzer: At the end of 2008, I was seriously considering making my first movie and I asked myself: What are the topics you're really interested in? What's happening right now? Then I worked out three different story ideas and presented them to a few friends. The story that caused the most intense debates was "Michael." After that, there was no doubt about it for me, especially because the topic is so omnipresent. 2008 was the year of Madeleine McCann, the little girl who disappeared in Portugal. By then, in Austria, the public has distanced itself from Natascha Kampusch because she wasn't willing to depict her kidnapper as a monster in the way the media had.

I was surprised that so-called "high culture" wasn't willing to take a different approach from the tabloids, which are not interested in content but in selling more papers. But I also have to admit that I was also part of this voyeuristic society, and followed all this horrible news. So I thought, how could one report on this topic differently?

How did producers and film sponsors respond to your movie idea?

Austria does not spend a lot of money on filmmaking. Many filmmakers have to vie for a share of the pie. And people always want to make sure they are on the safe side. The question that people always asked was, okay, but are we really allowed to do that? But that wasn't a question for me. For me, the question was, should one do it? And there was a clear answer to that. So, we got the money right off the bat, hands down. It amazed me how easy it was to get funding for this film.

You say that Natascha Kampusch was one of many missing children. In Germany, some 1,800 are considered permanently missing. That is what prompted you to make your film. How did you go about doing your research to create a profile for such a perpetrator?

I did not allow myself to do any research. I had, of course, read and seen a lot in the media. But I didn't want to end up finding something that was so interesting or fascinating that I would end up using it or abusing it to "make art." The stories of real suffering belong to the victims. They can decide what they want to do with them. Do they want to flood the publishing world with them? Do they want to process it all with experts?

For the film, I created a main character who - and this is perhaps the shocking thing - wants what most of us want: He wants a relationship, wants to be happy, wants to experience love. That's what it's all about - even with this disposition. But what's it like being a pedophile? When do you realize that about yourself? Probably in the late years of puberty, when you see that the people you are attracted to stay the same age, even as you get older.

Then the questions start coming from aunts and grandmothers: 'When are you bringing home your girlfriend?' That must be horrible. Then many, many lonely years. Then he gets a house, and all these coincidences and this disposition come together in a very unfortunate alliance.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  The character in the film 'Michael' was held captive in a basement

But not every pedophile is a criminal. Pedophilia is only the disposition. There are people who do not act on that, but instead, seek out help or discuss it publicly. It becomes criminal when one indulges those inclinations. For them, it's then about how to organize their life, and create as "normal" an everyday life as possible. And there's nothing better for covering up crime than normality.

You use the camera in such a way as to make the images appear rigid or frozen. Did the subject matter inspire that, or is that perhaps a product of the Vienna film genre? After all, one sees similar use of the camera in films by Austrian Ulrich Seidel…

A lot of people feel that way. But two-thirds of the filming was done with a hand-held camera. I think this apparent fixed feeling of the camera has more to do with the very slow narrative style. We edited only a few scenes. I come from the casting world. People and actors are my occupation and my passion. I think there's nothing more beautiful than watching people who can develop something over a period of time. Purely from their own talent, and not because something is underscored with dramatic or emotional film music, or through various camera positions or effects. Providing distance and maintaining a sense of calm have been important to me from the start.

The film opened in Austria in September. How were the reactions?

Very good, and I'm quite happy about that. I don't think Austria could have really afforded pushing these things to the side anymore. It was almost bizarre. Every time I had an important appointment for this film, some scandal broke out - either the stories of abuse in the Catholic Church, or a horrible crime from the 60s was brought to light, one in which an orphanage in Vienna was run like a brothel. That case is now being clarified. I was almost embarrassed by it all, because it seemed like some advertising campaign was going on.

Michael Fuith, actors typically scramble to play unusual characters. But how was it for you with this film?

Michael Fuith: At first, of course, I didn't want to play the part. But when I read the script, I realized that this was the only real, intelligent way of addressing the topic.  What I really liked was that the screenplay did not rely on effects that would more or less exploit the victims.

What I noticed doing my research was the general silence of everyone - the silence on the part of the perpetrators, the victims, the family members. Therapists and psychologists have great difficulty in helping out because few people are willing to talk, which creates a kind of wall of protection around the perpetrators. That irritated me.

Then I decided I wanted to give a face to it all - so that people can talk about it, not just find it in the tabloids and the headlines. So that people become aware enough about it to talk about it. So, I just bit the bullet and said, Okay, I want to do it!

Interview: Bernd Sobolla / als
Editor: Kate Bowen

Over the past decade, however, the route has been inundated with up to 1,200 nature lovers a day seeking to experience the iconic mountain that is stamped on the California quarter, stitched on a line of outdoor clothing and painted on the side of the park's vehicles.

Now officials want to permanently limit access to the granite monolith, frustrating both hikers who journey there for a transcendent experience and advocates who say the plan doesn't go far enough to protect a place in a federally designated wilderness area.

"At the end of the day, if the visitors and users of wilderness aren't willing to make sacrifices to preserve the wilderness character of these areas, then we just won't have wilderness. We'll have some Disney-fied version of it," said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch.

"If people want solitude in Yosemite, there's another 12,000 square miles to do that," counters hiker Pat Townsley, a Bay Area resident who has been to the top nine times.

This past week the park released its environmental assessment of options for the future of the Half Dome trail, which studies show is the busiest by far of any in the National Park's designated wilderness areas. The aim is to improve safety on the Dome and make the trail to get there less crowded.

Options range from doing nothing to removing the cables that hikers use to pull themselves up the 45-degree final climb, rendering it inaccessible to all but experienced climbers.

Nickas calls them "handrails in the wilderness," and says his agency might sue to have them removed if park officials don't choose that option.

"There is often an attempt by agencies to make wilderness all things to all people, and they can't do that and still be wilderness," he said.

The park's recommendation is something in between a complete ban and the free-flowing days of the past when hikers packed together on the cables like cars in rush hour traffic. It would allow 300 people a day past a check point two miles distant beginning in 2013.

"There's some subjectivity to this decision," said park spokesman Scott Gediman. "But we considered how wilderness is managed and personal interviews with people about their experience on the trail. Finding balance is something we have to do."

In 1874 the slick dome that rises 5,000 feet above the valley floor was described as "perfectly inaccessible." But in 1919 the Sierra Club installed the first cables along the 400-foot final ascent so that visitors without rock climbing experience could hoist themselves to the summit —the size of 17 football fields— to drink in stunning views of Little Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, endless Sierra and the Valley floor.

"Once you get up there it's like 'holy cow.' It's just one of those moments in your life when you go 'wow' and you question your existence and space and time and everything else," said hiker Townsley, who thinks everyone should be allowed the experience.

There is no doubt that if the decision were made today, there would be no braided steel cables and stanchions drilled into Half Dome. Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, and 20 years later designated 95 percent of Yosemite, including Half Dome and the well-worn eight-mile trail leading to it, as land that should not be altered by the hand of man.

Over the decades the number of visitors to the park has steadily climbed, topping 4 million last year— in part because the park is an easy drive from Los Angeles and the Bay Area. And the idea of scaling Half Dome in a day as measure of personal fortitude also began to grow.

At least five people have died on the cables since 2006, nearly all with rain as a factor, officials say. Rangers want visitors to be able to descend the slick granite in 45 minutes if they have to escape the fast-forming storms that make footing precarious, and limiting numbers is the only way to do that, they say.

Last year park officials instituted a temporary 400-permit lottery for daily access, which is roughly from Memorial Day until the first snow in October.

"I think they're doing a fine job, but I think they've got a hairball that they're dealing with trying to come up with something that works," said Rick Deutsch, who wrote the book "One Best Hike: Yosemite's Half Dome." He says 400 permits is a more workable number that accounts for no-shows.

The increase in visitors is a challenge to park officials who must balance access with the system's mandate to protect resources for future generations. The park already has been struggling over whether to limit the number of cars allowed in the gates to protect the Merced River that cuts through the heart of Yosemite Valley and is federally protected as Wild and Scenic.

The chance for the public to weigh in on all of the options in the Half Dome Trail Stewardship Plan ends March 15.

"Climbing Half Dome is iconic and we understand that," spokesman Gediman said. "But at the same time we're having to preserve and protect the park for future generations and provide for a positive visitor experience, because the National Parks belong to the American people."