In-Depth Review: Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510

The Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510 is what the company calls “the most advanced gaming audio system Turtle Beach has ever created.” I ran the unit through a vigorous gauntlet of cross-platform testing on console and mobile to test out this high claim about the company’s latest offering in high-end gaming audio. After a month’s worth of immersive testing, tweaking and observing the XP510 in action, I have a full report of what I discovered about the latest headset from Turtle Beach.

Features

The Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510 comes in a fancy boutique box with a full complement of components: the XP510 Headset with Removable Microphone, Digital RF Wireless Transmitter, XBA Bluetooth Chat Adapter, Transmitter Power, Headset Charging Cable, Mobile Device Cable, Digital Optical Cable and USB Data Cable.

The headset itself is equipped with the familiar Turtle Beach headband and earcups. The signature Turtle Beach fabric mesh on the headband and ear cushions were a comfortable fit on my head and ears. The mesh covering of the ear cushions feels cooler than that of industry counterparts and doesn’t seem to overheat (allowing for longer, more comfortable gaming sessions).

The left earcup has a Mode button, Power/Pair button, Game Presets button, Chat/Mic. presets button and the Programmable Control button, which functions as the default Mic. Monitor control button. It also has an Xbox Talkback Cable Jack and the Game Volume Control button. The right earcup has the raise and lower Bluetooth Volume Control button, Bluetooth Multi Function Button (and Pair function), the Mic. Mute button, the Charge Status LED button and the USB port.

The front of the base station has a Power/Pairing LED and Button, a Digital Input LED, a Dolby Digital LED, the Surround On/Off button and the Surround Angles Button. The back has a digital in / out jacks, line in (left/right) jacks and line in volume control.

Setup

Setting up headsets and pairing them to base stations can be a needlessly time-consuming and frustrating experience, but setup for the XP510 was quick and without incident. Just connect your optical cable to the Digital In port and power cable to your game console of choice. Insert the mic boom and power on the headset. Press and hold the power button until the LED turns solid. You’re done when the pleasant Siri-like voice says, “Powering on”. Note that connecting to an original Xbox 360 model will require an Xbox 360 HDMI Audio Adapter Cable.

The headset and transmitter are handily pre-paired out of the box. If the pre-pair sequence was lost somehow you can still connect by (starting with headset powered off) repeating the standard sequence of base station-to-headset pairing steps.

The way this technology works is that it maximizes network workloads. The Turtle Beach digital RF wireless transmitter is dual-band wifi-capable. It automatically scans for the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, selecting the band with an optimal wireless connection and the least interference. Many people experience interference from household electronic devices (and nearby, overlapping wireless networks) on the 2.4 GHz band. You can easily verify your wifi settings and set the channel on your router for relatively interference-free broadcasting with this tool. With today’s wireless device-populated wifi channels, it can be challenging to find wifi solace. Dedicated gamers who still have interference problems might purchase a dual-band router and port their gaming permanently to the 5 GHz band.

The XP510, when it comes to wireless connections, offers a bonus. You can connect your Xbox controller wirelessly without the bothersome controller cord  (aka the Xbox Talkback Cable) that dangles down to your controller. Just insert the XBA Bluetooth Chat Adapter and easily pair it with the base unit. The PS3 setup process involves enabling the console to “find” your PS3 controller. Setting up the pairing is a matter of following the prompts on the XMB under PS3 Settings/Accessory Settings.

Performance

I found that the headset offered a combination of features that I was specifically on the hunt for. The headset’s batteries have a good lifespan. The rechargeable batteries are LiPo (lithium polymer), an advanced long-lasting battery type. After the initial charge, my headset lasted a full 15 hours. Theoretically, you could game on a Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 AM the next day and just recharge them overnight.

The Bluetooth functionality on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 functioned flawlessly, and pairing both the controller and a second device was easy (see below).

Overall, I like the sturdy design of the headset. One particularly excellent innovation is that the XP510 has 180 degree fully-rotating ear cups. This feature is very useful for when you need to rest your headset on your shoulders! The ear cushions act like clamps and hold the headset steady when you need to take a break from your gaming session. I’ve used some of the better Tritton AX Pro models with rotating earcups, but I shouldn’t like to suffer the stickiness and heat of pleather ear cushions again during marathon gaming sessions.

Other headsets such as the Razer Chimaera have detachable mics that are made of poorly-constructed rubber material and couldn’t bend properly for good voice delivery in chat sessions. The detachable mic on the XP510 has a quality micro-gooseneck boom that flexes easily. The XP 510′s mic is also detachable to prevent dust buildup, and has a slick aluminum cover that prevents the mic’s felt tip from falling off.

The Bluetooth double-pairing option seems frivolous at first — until you try it. Just pair the device with your phone and you can receive calls without ever taking the headset off. It’s a good example of multi-tasking at it’s best that makes your gaming and the usage of your time more efficient.

Sound wise, the XP 510 offers lots of customization. The bottom of the base unit has a surround sound option. After turning this on, you can select various configurations of how the sound is angled to your headset, a matter of personal preference of course. It’s as simple as choosing a Surround Sound Angle on the base unit, which changes the game sound’s front angle and rear angle vector — so you can hear those rearwards-coming footsteps you missed or the enemy radio transmitter you didn’t hear during your last Battlefield 3 game.

The headset’s mic monitor adjusts the volume of your in-game chat voice when you can’t hear yourself talk over, for example, sudden ambient noise interruptions. The game volume control button raises or lowers the volume of the game sound with a separate control. For game sound and game chat, there are presets you can choose using the Game Presets button to change your preference for game sound. When changing both game and chat presets, you are notified by a Siri-like voice about what preset you are on (instead of having to count out the series of beeps on older Turtle Beach headset models) to easily change over to your preferred game or chat setting. The headset’s Dolby surround sound processing regulates various bass, treble and special effects combinations for different configurations of the environmental/game soundscape. The Chat/Mic. presets button also changes your chat’s focus, expansion, volume, pitch and special effects like a robotic voice.

For those who like to tinker with sound, the ASE (Advanced Sound Editor) software allows the option of fully modifying and programing your own collections of sound audio paths, or presets. The headset’s digital signal processor (DSP) can cycle through the main / 8 standard audio presets for game, chat and mic,  or you can upload community-made presets and even create a custom one of your own. After you create a profile on the Turtle Beach site, just sign in and attach your headset via the USB cable. Firmware and drivers of the headset are checked automatically. You can download Turtle Beach’s presets and upload them to your headset, use presets made by the Turtle Beach community or upload your own custom ones. I downloaded and now am using an awesome preset called “Black Ops – Covert Operative” that raises quiet sounds like footsteps and lowers loud sounds like explosions, so you never miss those sneaky opponents creeping up to backstab you among the shredding, exploding shrapnel.

The XP510′s sound quality that is delivered after all this tinkering is, in a word, astounding. It’s a powerful sound — with rich and crisp tones. After uploading the Community preset (I’m still tweaking my own preset with the ASE software), the delicate sounds were augmented and the powerful sounds were attenuated just enough to provide my preferred gaming audio experience for Battlefield 3. Playing FPS games on both consoles was a high-quality audio experience. But there’s more.  I tested out several iPhone games, but my favorite mobile test game was Zombieville. The creepy zombie organ music, woman’s screams and arcade-Vincent Price-techno background music never sounded this alive.

Observations

The Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510 is a pricey gaming audio headset, at close to $300. It is geared towards avid gaming enthusiasts who are looking to take the technology of sound performance to the highest level. But I recommend it for all who are looking to tweak and refine their personal gaming sound experience. The headset has a sturdy design, but also provides maximum comfort for the gamer. The setup is brisk and easy to complete. And the XP510 offers the extra functionality (combined with customizable sound programming) to literally fine tune exactly how you want your game to sound. Whether you’re a Call of Duty: Black Ops, Battlefield 3 or Dust 514 player, the Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510 is a headset for all seasons of gamer.

Score: 10/10

The Turtle Beach Ear Force XP510 has a superior, integrative design with sturdy components, a form factor with excellent comfort, great sound editing software with several sound customization options and wide cross-platform portability to console and mobile. Serious gamers have several options to highly personalize their audio experience by configuring minutely-tuned settings for various game environments from FPS, RPG, sports to RTS game genres.

This article can also be found on the external website “Forbes”.

Sandata Technologies, LLC, an industry leader in technology solutions to the Home Care market, and Home Care Personal Services, a locally recognized provider of outstanding in-home services to clients across northern Illinois, announced the signing of a Letter of Intent for Sandata to provide its Electronic Visit Verification™ (“EVV™”) solution for Home Care Personal Service’s various home-based programs. By designating Sandata as its EVV partner, Home Care Personal Services is confirming its corporate focus of increasing consistency, improving quality of service for their patients, and increasing overall program efficiency across their multiple office locations.

Sandata’s Electronic Visit Verification solution validates visit information at the point of care with 24/7 accessibility. With Sandata’s solution, caregivers can provide real-time visit information using multiple modalities, including the patients’ telephone, mobile phone technology, or through the use of patented technology, Fixed Visit Verification™. Using this system, caregivers will be able to capture critical information during home visits, including arrival and departure times, location of service delivery, client and care provider IDs, tasks performed during a visit, and overall client status.

According to Laura Bishop, Vice President, Home Care Personal Services, “We have selected Sandata’s system to help us better manage our business through consistent and streamlined visit processes across our multiple locations. We are confident that Sandata’s Electronic Visit Verification will not only help Home Care Personal Services to increase overall organizational efficiency, but will support our model of providing high quality care for our patients”.

According to Tom Underwood, Sandata’s Chief Executive Officer, “We are proud to expand our footprint in Illinois. Home Care Personal Services offers valuable programs and services to those in need and we are excited to provide them with the right technology to effectively and efficiently support their multi-location business and enhance the quality of care.”

About Sandata Technologies, LLC

Sandata provides a complete package of information technology solutions, which includes scheduling, time and attendance, billing, payroll, compliance and clinical applications for the home healthcare industry. Sandata’s suite of products includes Santrax® Electronic Visit Verification, the market leading time and attendance product, Santrax® Agency Management and Santrax® Payor Management, web-based software solutions with features including voice biometrics to perform speaker verification, and a jurisdictional view dashboard solution for states and other payors, municipalities and the home care agency market, and Santrax® Point-of-Care, mobile assessment capabilities provide support for face-to-face clinical and non-clinical in-home assessments.

Sandata’s solutions enable home healthcare agencies, whether Medicare, Medicaid, Commercial or Private Duty, government or managed care payers as well as any organization with a remote workforce to realize administrative cost savings, streamlined operational procedures, and significantly reduced paperwork burdens. Sandata has over 4,500 customers in all 50 states using its products in more than 500,000 homes and processes over 110 million telephone calls annually.

About Home Care Personal Services, Inc.

Home Care Personal Services, Inc. offers a variety of non-medical services from short-term help during an illness or recovering from surgery, to long-term care. With multiple locations across northern Illinois, Home Care Personal Services’ staff of well-trained employees has helped tens of thousands of people in over 25 counties throughout Illinois live at home and lead independent lives with grace and dignity. Home Care Personal Services’ Corporate headquarters is located in Naperville with three branch offices in Crystal Lake, Bourbonnais and Peoria.

Freelancer earnings for the quarter amounted to $60M, up approximately 40% over Q1 2012.

Elance also reported that “freelancers hired” in Q1 2013 grew 60% over Q1 2012.

Elance commented on very robust growth in technical types of skills being offered/supplied, saying:  “Experts in STEM (Science, Technology. Engineering, and Math) industries are experiencing an unprecedented level of growth on Elance; freelancers with STEM skill sets have increased 153% year-over-year.”

According to CMO Rich Pearson, these high growth rates in talent joining the platform are partly the result of Elance’s shifting freelancer marketing/recruiting approaches:   “We are focusing on the bringing the premier freelance talent to Elance.  Everything we say (e.g. freelancers vs contractors), do (policies that prevent bids below a living wage, not forcing all workers to bs subjected to random screenshots in order to get paid) and build (enabling search by portfolios, reducing time to payment) caters towards attracting and retaining high-quality talent on Elance.”

Clearly, the Elance platform is supporting a global marketplace for advanced technical skills.  Elance reports: “The demand for mobile and cloud talent continues to soar: job posts calling for expertise in Windows Azure (+248%,…, iOS (+97%) and Android (+71%) have all surged in Q1 2013 versus a year ago. Cross-platform HTML5 keeps up with a 72% growth, and job posts for software languages like Python and C# have grown 132% and 117%, respectively.”  Elance also notes the emergence and extraordinary growth in the supply of very new technical skills and expertise (such as BitCoin, 3D Printing, et al).

Clearly, demand for online workers has been very strong at the start of 2013.  Overall, 300,000 jobs were posted on Elance in Q1 ’13, up significantly from just the previous quarter, Q4 ’12, when jobs posted came in at about 230,000.  Given the fact that jobs on average are filled at Elance in about 3 days, such a jump in jobs posted may suggest a commensurate rise in freelancer earnings/billings in the coming months, especially if most of this work is higher skilled/higher pay rate work.

No doubt much of this growth is comprised of demand for highly technical, skilled work.  This would not be surprising given overall demand trends and supply constraints, especially in the US.  As we have pointed out in prior reports, IT-related work is also a natural candidate for “online work arrangements” that can be established globally and completed in virtual work environments (and without immigration visa issues).

How demand for work in one part of the world can be met with supply in another (less economically active) part is captured in this observation: “Eurozone’s unemployment rate hit a record high in Q1 2013 and many young professionals are taking the matter into their own hands, escaping their local economies and working online. In particular, Spain with a youth unemployment rate surpassing 55% has shown 100% growth in freelancer registrations. And with youths facing near 40% unemployment in Italy, online work offers an escape plan, with freelancer registrations growing 126%.”

This Q1 ’13 report certainly seems to indicate that the Elance platform is being successful in capturing both the supply and demand sides of—increasingly global—labor markets for highly skilled, technical professionals.  More information can be found at the Elance website in the Online Employment Report or in the press release.

Posted by Daniel Weisbeck on May 7, 2013 at 10:30amView Blog

The Web is not going mobile; it is mobile. The time for experimentation is over and brands need to deliver a strategic mobile Web experience based on their customers’ behavior, user preferences and devices’ technical capability. Understanding where a user is, at what time of the day and what kind of device they are on gives a company unlimited delivery options to stand out from the competition and improve customer engagement. And the only way to solve that problem of “how do I stand out” is by testing out your company’s design approach and strategy across a Device Information Service – the key to solving infrastructure and architecture complexity with regard to the experience and features that consumer can only dream of using and interacting through with your brand.

Think about this scenario: Your customer comes across a free standing ad that your company has displayed in a high traffic area with a call to action to visit your site or engage with your branding campaign.  Say that ad is in Times Square in New York City, and consider the volume of people that pass by that advert daily as well as the number of varied devices those people are carrying in order to interact.  If you’re locking into only Android or Apple, and limiting share feature to just the camera and, say Instagram – how many people could you be missing out on that can be engaging with your brand regardless of the device they’re on let alone its feature set? The permutations of that are astounding when you consider translating lost opportunity to shear potential revenue lost.

Earlier this month, IDC forecasted that worldwide mobile Internet users will surpass PC Internet users by 2015. Now the question is: How can brands effectively reach out to these customers? I’ve listed out five steps that companies can take to develop a comprehensive and executable mobile strategy:

1. Research your customer. Did you know that 90% of consumers use multiple screens to complete a task over time? That increases the likelihood of your customers visiting your website on their tablets, smartphones and Web browsers at the same time. Find out how your customers are accessing your website, and set clear objectives for your mobile strategy.

2. How discoverable is your brand? What types of devices are being used the most to access your website? Your website should be built with that questions in mind – for example, devices with 4G capability still only take up 17.5% of the market share as of January 2013. Depending on the functionality of these devices, you can either build a more data-intensive mobile website or stick to a simpler one. As quoted by Joe Lalley, VP of Digital Products at Viacom, your goal is to “create experiences that make it easy to find and browse content regardless of the platform.”

3. Plan your user experience based on their needs, not yours. Users view 70% more pages per visit when browsing with a tablet compared to a smartphone. However, 74% of users will leave an unresponsive mobile website after 5 seconds. Try planning different user experiences based on standards such as device capabilities, user context and network connection. Netbiscuits’ Device Context Service facilitates this process by combining device and server-side information to provide the most accurate profile of the connecting device and thus enabling more targeted content to any device.

4. Look ahead to the future. With new phones announced and released every quarter, your mobile strategy should not only cater to current devices, but also the ones coming out three and six months from now. For example, a quick search on Google Play for “Web browser” will lead to a long list of results, including Google Chrome, Firefox and more – a list that continues to grow every day. The Web browser is still, and will continue to be, the most important vehicle to access and engage with customers. The next big task for web developers is to develop a mobile Web experience that works across multiple browsers, as well as other device-specific features like GPS and NFC

5. Evaluate. Fix. Repeat. Now that your new mobile page is up and running, keep an eye out on how your visitors are responding to your website. 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience, so it’s critical to refine user experience as user demographics change. Evaluate what is working and what is not working, then analyze data to bolster your mobile Web strategy.

Whose job is it to get this done? The whitepaper produced by Netbiscuits and IDC found that less than 5% of global firms currently have an official and centralized internal mobile department. To build and maintain an effective mobile Web experience that successfully drives traffic and revenue, it’s important to establish an internal Mobility Center of Excellence that could build and execute a mobile Web strategy.

Netbiscuits is committed to delivering a consistent browsing experience by developing new solutions for brands, such as the recent Device Context Service. We believe that the ability to recognize device-specific capabilities and catering to each user’s needs is key to building a universal Web strategy. The mobile space is becoming more diverse and crowded than ever. It’s time for brands to embrace mobile and provide a seamless mobile Web experience that customers deserve.

Most notably, both male and females respondents reported that a lack of “female role models” in the tech community is the top deterrent for why more women aren’t pursuing tech-related careers. Only 18 companies from last year’s Fortune 500 list boasted female CEOs at the list’s release. (Eight female CEOs ran companies in the top 100, four of which were tech companies.) Another major deterrent observed by both genders: programming and technology stereotypes.

Elance CEO Fabio Rosati says his company pursued the topic of women in tech after discovering that female freelancers’ earnings were growing 20% faster on Elance than mens’ earnings. “For women in tech, online work is a level playing field,” he says. “It provides access to jobs purely based on merit and results and really, in some ways, neutralizes some of the gender discrimination that exists around the world.” Elance posts nearly 1.2 million jobs per year, according to Rosati, over 50% of which are classified as tech postings. The site fills just over half of its postings, and has a user base that is 45% women. Of the nearly 3,000 women surveyed, 74% of them said that online sites like Elance that eliminate factors like gender, location, and an applicant’s physical appearance offer more work opportunities for women. Close to 60% of women also said that working online allowed them to spend more time at home with their families.

Overall, both males and females showed optimism for the future of women in tech. Here are some of the survey’s key findings:

What do you think are the top deterrents for women NOT going into technology-related careers today? (More than one response allowed)

Lack of female role models or encouragement to pursue technology-related careers:

Women: 45.1%                      Men: 43.3%

Programming/technology job stereotypes:

Women: 30.8%                      Men: 36.1%

Geek technology culture not appealing:

Women: 20.6%                      Men: 34.3%

What do you think it will take for women to be successful in the technology field? (More than one response allowed)

Equal pay for men and women with same skill sets:

Women: 65.5%                      Men: 46.8%

More inspiration from parents and teachers at a young age:

Women: 54.9%                      Men: 48.1%

More women in technology role models (i.e. Facebook’s (FB) Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer):

Women: 46.7%                      Men: 45.4%

Dispel stereotypes that boys are better than girls in math and science:

Women: 48.9%                      Men: 31.0%

How optimistic are you about the future of women in technology?

Women:               Men:

Extremely Optimistic               32.0%                          24.8%

Optimistic                                     47.9%                           52.0%

Somewhat Optimistic              17.6%                            17.6%

Not very optimistic                  2.5%                              5.6%

How has online work helped grow your career? (More than one response allowed)

I am judged more by my skills than my gender:

Women: 39.1%                      Men: 33.7%

I am able to stay home with my family:

Women: 59.8%                      Men: 53.4%

By QUENTIN HARDY

Global networks make it possible to obtain work anywhere, enabling companies to hire many specialists for specific tasks at fixed amounts. Chances are this is only getting started, and there are profound implications for things as diverse as corporate structure, employment, job skills and even taxation.

On Wednesday, Elance, a company that brokers often sophisticated short-term work online, released a survey of its customers’ hiring plans. The company asked what percentage of their work force would, in five years, consist of online temps. On average, the customers projected that more than half of their work force, 54 percent of all workers, would be these outsiders from around the globe.

The survey was unscientific and polled mostly small companies. Only 2.3 percent of the 1,500 companies surveyed had more than 100 employees. It is, however, another indicator that cloud-computing-based employment brokers like Elance, ODesk and Freelancer.com are gaining acceptance.

These companies allow easy hiring and collaboration between, say, a software developer in Russia and a marketing specialist in England on a project for a firm based in the United States. Job candidates present portfolios of past work, bid on listed jobs and are rated, much like the sellers of goods on eBay.

“The network transforms the locus of work from the desktop to the human,” said Fabio Rosati, the chief executive of Elance, which has over 500,000 active contractors worldwide. “You don’t need physical infrastructure to be anywhere. You need a new workplace.” By 2020, he thinks, one in three workers will be hired online, perhaps never to meet an employer or work in a company building.

The customers also indicated they were acting on their intentions. Seventy-three percent said they would hire more contractors in 2012 than in 2011. Web programming, graphic design and content development continue to remain the top three skills sought and 40 percent of customers said they had gone online because it gave them a better pool of potential hires.

Another big driver is probably economic necessity. Companies in Europe, now among the most troubled of the world’s major economic regions, were even more aggressive on both short-term hiring and longer-term revamping. The companies thought that by 2017, 58 percent of their staff would be freelancers. In addition, Greece and Spain have had some of the biggest increases in the number of potential contractors seeking work over the last year.

Mr. Rosati said the small companies, in particular, also liked Elance because it enabled them to look, and act, like bigger companies, without the cost of taking on full-time staff. That would indicate that these shops, in turn, are meeting their customers in a virtual space. “They are mini-multinationals,” he said, “able to work anywhere in the world.”

The companies also liked the speed with which they could get things done; 70 percent of the respondents in the survey said this was an important factor.

While the trend is still small, the notion that employment in the cloud will become a big way to organize work has dramatic implications. If teams can be organized around the world to execute specific tasks, then be reconfigured or dissolved for the next job, tax collection could be increasingly challenging. So could the financing of programs that rely on the steady extraction of taxes from a weekly paycheck, since workers would be paid on a less-regular basis and might not report all of their jobs.

This article can all so be found on the external website “NYTimes”.

First App For Mass Deployment at Brick and Mortar Grocery Stores

Winooski, VT (PRWEB) May 02, 2013

MyWebGrocer, a leading provider of digital solutions to the grocery and CPG industry, has launched a new mCommerce app, bringing mobile grocery shopping to consumers nationwide. This builds upon MWG’s existing app technology, letting customers complete an entire grocery order from their mobile phone. Capabilities include searching the weekly circular, placing an order and selecting a time for delivery or pick up. With this app, any retailer can offer the convenience of online shopping from a mobile device, and the app is customizable to highlight a retailer’s specific offerings.

MWG’s first retail client began using the mobile commerce solution in January 2013. The new mCommerce app will be available for iPad tablet users, in addition to traditional Android phones and Apple iOS platforms.

Campbell Soup Company is the exclusive mobile advertising launch partner for the mCommerce app. This is an extension of Campbell’s four-year relationship with MWG and another indication of the company’s commitment to digital consumers and its strong understanding of all aspects of a multi-channel path to purchase. Campbell will be advertising a number of products on the mCommerce app, including Campbell’s Skillet Sauces, Campbell’s Go soups, and V8 V-Fusion beverages. In addition, Campbell’s Kitchen will be featured, an online resource that provides recipes, tips and inspiration to help keep things fresh in the kitchen.

With the new mCommerce app, shoppers can scan barcodes at home straight from the kitchen or pantry and start building their next grocery order. The app is synchronized to their particular retail store with updated in stock information, specific to the consumers’ preferred store location. Shoppers can build a cart directly from a mobile device or desktop computer and the cart follows the consumer from computer to phone.

Tools in the existing app include, creating and editing a shopping list, clipping digital coupons, browsing and adding recipe ingredients to a list, and store locator maps. Shoppers will also be able to take advantage of the following new features of the mCommerce app:

Research nutritional information on many products.

Filter by brand or price, in addition to predictive search capabilities.

Look at past purchases to easily duplicate previous cart orders.

Manage and review orders, both past and current, from one location.

Specify pick up or delivery preferences.

“Our new mCommerce app makes it even easier for today’s busy shopper to complete all of their grocery related activities from their mobile phone,” said Rich Tarrant, CEO of MyWebGrocer. “Mobile is growing at such a fast pace and consumer adoption continues to climb, with 75% of the population currently owning a cell phone. We’ve built this app to handle everything a shopper may need to do and we are thrilled to have Campbell’s as the first partner in this mCommerce launch.”

“The expectations of today’s digitally savvy consumers are evolving quickly, and to keep pace, you have to understand how the consumer engages with mobile,” said Tim Hassett, Senior Vice President of Sales for Campbell Soup Company. “Campbell is creating a larger presence in the mobile arena and we are excited to be a part of MyWebGrocer’s mCommerce app. It is the ideal platform for showcasing our wonderful brands, while providing meal solutions for shoppers and delivering value to retailers by making the shopping experience easier.”

The new MWG mCommerce app is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

About MyWebGrocer:

MyWebGrocer drives digital connections between consumers, grocery retailers, and Consumer Packaged Goods brands, offering a breadth of shopper marketing services supported by a comprehensive technology platform. MWG manages digital solutions for more than 140 retailers nationally, representing more than 10,000 stores, and 200+ major consumer packaged goods brands.

This article can also be found on the external website “PRWeb”.

Port Washington, NY (PRWEB) April 29, 2013

Sandata Technologies, LLC, a leading national provider of information technology solutions to the home care industry, announces that Help at Home, a home care agency committed to enhancing the quality of life for their clients, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to enter into an enterprise strategic partnership to use Sandata’s advanced solutions. Help at Home has locations in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Help at Home will initially deploy Sandata’s market-leading Santrax® Electronic Visit Verification™ to help create operational efficiencies, support fiscal management and ensure the delivery of quality care for all their patients across their enterprise. Looking to improve efficiencies and reduce costs associated with manually intensive and inefficient processes, Santrax® Electronic Visit Verification™ (“EVV™”) solution offers the scalability and competitive advantage to meet Help at Homes’ business model.

Ron Ford, Help at Home’s Chief Executive Officer, states “We are excited about entering into this strategic partnership with Sandata. Sandata is the pioneer in Electronic Visit Verification and we are delighted to be working with an organization that provides the experience, scale and expertise needed to support our growth model”.

According to Tom Underwood, Sandata’s Chief Executive Officer, “With this new strategic partnership, we have further demonstrated the value that Sandata brings to large, nationally-based home care agencies. More importantly, Help at Home will now be in a better position to ensure the five rights of care: the right member, at the right location, at the right time, with the right caregiver, receives the right plan of care”.

About Sandata Technologies, LLC

Sandata provides a complete package of information technology solutions, which includes scheduling, time and attendance, billing, payroll, compliance and clinical applications, for the home care industry. Sandata’s suite of products includes Santrax® Electronic Visit Verification™, the market leading time and attendance product, Santrax® Agency Management, an innovative data collection and remote chart access tool giving field workers the ability to collect both clinical and non-clinical information at the point-of care, Santrax® Point of Care, and Santrax® Payor Management, a web-based software solution with features including: voice biometrics to perform speaker verification, and a jurisdictional view dashboard solution for states and other payors, municipalities and the home care agency market.

Sandata’s solutions enable home care agencies, whether Medicare, Medicaid, Commercial or Private Duty, government or managed care payors as well as any organization with a remote workforce to realize administrative cost savings, streamlined operational procedures, and significantly reduced paperwork burdens. Sandata has over 4500 customers in all 50 states using its products in more than 500,000 homes and processes over 100 million telephone calls annually.

For additional information about Sandata, please visit: http://www.sandata.com.

Sandata Contact: Rich Clark - rclark(at)sandata(dot)com - 516-484-4400 x1197

About Help at Home, Inc.

Help At Home, Inc. is a home care agency committed to enhancing the quality of life for our clients and providing a viable alternative to living in a nursing home or long-term care facility. Help At Home, Inc. is committed to being a quality employer. Offering competitive compensation and attractive benefits allows us to employ the best staff available. In business for over 35 years, we employ a large staff of trained Homemakers, Nursing Assistants, and Registered Nurses who are readily available to provide homecare services for you or a loved one -in the comfort of your home. We can provide care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - holidays and weekends included! We will customize a care plan to meet your needs.

With our sister company, Oxford HealthCare, we currently provide services in twelve states - Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Technology innovation is overturning traditional work structures. Businesses are extending their workforces by hiring record numbers of freelancers, consultants and other non-traditional workers. By supplementing core staff with online talent who lends skills and knowledge just-in-time, these companies are able to access more workers and get work done with increased agility. Meet 36-year old Alexandra: In a typical month she works with five different employers, bids on seven new jobs, is a member of two virtual teams and attends many virtual meetings — including a few in the middle of the night for a client in Stockholm and another in Tel Aviv. She describes herself as a 21st century worker. To the rest of us, she is the new workforce.

Growing at twice the rate of traditional employees, America’s new workforce – freelancers, consultants and temps – now make up 25% of the workforce. A decade ago, many of them were working 9-5 jobs close to home. But as technology innovation opened new possibilities and the economy slowed, they had to invent jobs of their own instead of waiting for job markets to return to “normal.”

Freelancers once relied on business cards and handshakes at networking events, often leaving flyers at local shops and mailing postcards to nearby businesses. Their reach was limited to how far they could drive in a day. Work was inconsistent at best, and getting paid was a constant nightmare. The risk of leaving steady employment kept all but the most fearless workers from striking out on their own.

To say the least, things have changed immensely. Today the opportunity for freelancers is exploding, as is the development of tools allowing people to work independently. A freelancer today can monitor job demand online, connect with businesses anywhere with a few keystrokes, and completely automate payment collection through online freelance platforms like Elance. Shared workspace can be rented through NextSpace and emerging new skills can be learned on General Assembly or Lynda.com. It is an exciting time for those hiring and those ready to adopt a new way of working, and the future only looks brighter.

Finding Work (or Workers) in Any Economy

However, the 21st century worker also faces new challenges. Since work can be done anywhere, global competition is everywhere. No longer does one region have a leg-up on skills. But in a world where millions of businesses and freelancers can find each other and collaborate online with just a few clicks, being located in a region with dwindling economic opportunity no longer means you’re out of luck. It actually can be the opposite.

Armed with a laptop, web connection and skills in demand, the best online freelancers find work around the corner and across the globe. From designers to coders and app developers, creative writers and editors, researchers and social media marketers, customer service agents, data analysts and myriads of other specializations, freelancers are marketing their services, landing jobs and making money faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Similarly, businesses in regions with a limited supply of skilled professionals can now easily go online to find and hire talent with high-demand skills. This applies also to businesses located in areas with a booming job market, such as the Silicon Valley (where there’s little or no chance for some upstart companies to vie for the attention of local workers). But online, even a small business can compete for the best freelancers.

Generation X and Millennial Workers

Perhaps more surprising than people who work online by economic necessity, is the growing number of workers who freelance online by choice. Highly skilled, connected and mobile, Millennial and Gen Xers are moving to independent online work at record pace. They want to work differently. They want flexibility and freedom to choose their work, their time, their pay and their place of work. Unlike their parents who were content with a lifetime of 9-to-5, these Millennials and Generation X workers grew up craving more independence and flexibility and wanting little or nothing to do with traditional employment. Those who are lucky enough to have the most-demanded skills being sought after by everyone from Fortune 500 giants to red-hot startups, also find that freelancing can be more lucrative.

A quick look at industry statistics validates the tremendous employment opportunities and earning potential for 21st century freelancers. Many larger companies report that 30% of their procurement spend today is on contingent workers. Similarly, an estimated 30% of those in today’s job market (or roughly 42 million workers) are either self-employed or part-time. Conservatively this number is expected to grow to over 40% by the end of the decade. In other words, online freelancing is turning into one the hottest segments of our economy. As technology advances and mind-sets change, more and more people will work online regardless of their location, time zone, demographic or ability to travel.

Fabio Rosati is CEO of Elance.

This article can also be found on the external website “Wired”.

Twitter Inc. is growing up faster than expected.

Research firm eMarketer Inc., whose advertising forecasts are closely tracked, is set to revise higher its estimates of advertising revenue for Twitter, the short-messaging service that is among the highest profile companies on investors’ IPO watch list. From just over $288 million in 2012 ad revenue, eMarketer expects Twitter’s ad revenue to more than double to $582.8 million this year. The 2013 revenue figure is about 7% higher than eMarketer’s $545.20 million prior revenue estimate released in September.

Next year, eMarketer expects Twitter to pull in $950 million in total ad revenue, about 18% higher than the $807.5 million estimate in eMarketer’s September forecast.

A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on the eMarketer estimates. The research firm’s forecast is expected to be released as early as later Wednesday.

The latest eMarketer figures are further evidence Twitter’s ad business is taking hold as the company continues on a path towards an IPO in the next year or so. Even so, real questions remain about how lasting and big Twitter will prove to be among consumers and among marketers grappling with the best ways to pitch their brands and products.

Twitter started sales three years ago of what it calls “promoted products,” or ads. Twitter executives say one of the benefits of its business model is many of the ads look just like typical, 140-character posts on the service. Through an automated auction, a marketer can opt to pay to circulate its message, or tweet, to a wider audience, or only to a select group of people who, for example, are college basketball fans or fashionistas.

Twitter is a private company and doesn’t publicly disclose its financial performance. That makes estimates from eMarketer and others the best available public gauge of Twitter’s sales. Twitter executives also haven’t confirmed the company is on route to an IPO, though people familiar with the company say that is the likeliest path for Twitter.

Twitter executives have said more than half of the company’s ad revenue regularly is

generated by ads seen on mobile devices, on which a majority of Twitter’s users access the service. The eMarketer figures bear that out, with 53% of estimated 2013 revenue expected to come from ads served on mobile devices.

Big digital-ad sellers, such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., have been working to increase the percentages of revenue generated from the rapidly growing numbers of their users on smartphones and other connected on-the-go gadgets.

The eMarketer estimates are an amalgam of resources that track usage of Twitter and revenue of the service, plus interviews with executives at advertising agencies, major marketers and others.

The firm’s digital media forecasts were also closely watched when Facebook was a private company and didn’t disclose revenue figures. When Facebook filed for its IPO last year and revealed its revenue for the first time, the eMarketer estimates were reasonably close to the company’s actual results.

This article can also be found on the external website “WSJ.com”.