Russ McCutcheon

Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT) said late Tuesday it will cut 1,600 positions in North America in 2012 as it prepares to split its business into two parts.

The job cuts represent about 1.26 percent of the companys total workforce and will primarily be in sales, corporate and other business units in the US and Canada.

Kraft said it wont reduce its manufacturing, but two of its four US management centres for its grocery business will be eliminated.

Kraft Foods chairman and CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, said: When we announced our decision to create two world-class companies last August, we said both would be leaner, more competitive organizations.

For the past year, the North American team has been working to streamline operations to deliver sustainable top-tier performance and continue to invest in our iconic brands. Were confident that this transformational work will improve effectiveness and fuel the future growth of both companies.

Last year, Kraft announced it would split its snack and grocery business into two companies to improve effectiveness.

Kraft whose products include Oreo, Philadelphia cream cheese and Oscar Mayer meats plans to spin off its North American grocery business into a separate company from its snacks and candy division which includes UK chocolate maker Cadbury.

Kraft also said fiscal 2011 net revenue would be up by about 10 percent and expects to report 2011 operating earnings per share of at least $2.28.

Previously, Kraft had forecast operating earnings per share of at least $2.27, excluding any potential currency impact.

Analysts, on average, had expected Kraft to earn $2.27 per share this year, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company plans to release its financial results on February 21.

This article is part of a series of excerpts from the fifth annual State of Green Business Report, looking at trends in corporate sustainability. Download the free report from GreenBiz.com, and see all of our trends here.

Also, be sure to register for a free webcast taking place on Tuesday, February 7: The State of Green Busines 2012 – The Good News and Bad is hosted by Joel Makower and dives in to all the findings of the report. Click here to register.

If you think of the corporate sustainability movement as a ship — a huge, hulking, slow-moving and still-polluting ship — new research shows that the ship is still moving forward, but is taking on water and struggling to pick up steam.

The fifth annual State of Green Business report, published today by Joel Makower and the editors of GreenBiz.com, finds that while progress is still happening in some areas, for the first time corporate sustainability has slowed, stopped and in some places even reversed.

Whats to blame? Simply put, sustainable business is suffering a recessionary hangover, writes Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com and principal author of the report.

People expected green investing and corporate sustainability efforts to grind to a halt with the global recession in 2011. While some key indicators such as cleantech investments and energy efficiency are flattening or declining for the first time, were seeing that companies are more committed than ever to making sustainability a part of their everyday business, Makower explained. Theyre integrating green practices into all levels of their company, and looking to sustainability to drive innovation, reduce operating costs and in many instances unlock new revenue opportunities.

The report tracks year-over-year data for 20 different areas of corporate sustainability, ranging from overall carbon emissions to corporate reporting to LEED green building certifications to the use of toxic chemicals in manufacturing.

Theres good and bad news in this years report; the good news is that companies continue to dedicate time, money and staff to setting and meeting ambitious environmental goals — the kind of news that we cover every day on GreenBiz.com.

The bad news is that, despite this, our research shows a slowing of momentum — or even backwards motion, in some cases — on some of the indicators. Among the downgraded topics include investments in clean technology innovations, overall energy intensity, certifications of LEED buildings, and paper use and recycling.

In addition to a close look at each of the indicators — swimming, treading and sinking alike — the report features the 10 trends that will shape corporate sustainability in 2012. Among them:

• Sustainable Consumption Gets Buy-in — mainstream companies are promoting smarter consumption, while mesh companies offer services instead of products.
• Green Gamification Scores Points — companies are using the power of games to reward customers and employees and highlight green practices.
• Cleantech Survives a Crisis of Confidence — cleantech investments are predicted to increase despite some big name failures in 2011.
• Energy Efficiency Gains Star Power — high-profile energy efficiency projects demonstrate potentially huge savings.
• Big Data Creates Big Opportunities — tsunami of information associated with the internet of things can yield insights and improve technology efficiency.
• Sustainable Cities Take Center Stage — cities are setting sustainability goals and investing in green infrastructure and technology.
• Non-News is Good News — sustainability has become less newsworthy as it is integrated into business as usual.

And for the first time this year, the State of Green Business Report features contributions from global experts on sustainable business. Among the contributors to the report include Amory Lovins, discussing Energys Two Revolutions; Jigar Shah on Carbons Rising Costs, and Sinks; Jonathan Koomey on ICT and the Future of Low-Energy Computing; and Paul Simpson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project, writing about Whats Next for Carbon Reporting.

The 2012 report is the centerpiece of GreenBizs upcoming Green Business Forums. The one-day events will take place in Minneapolis on January 19, New York on January 24, and San Francisco on Jan 30. For more information on the Forums, or to download a free copy of State of Green Business 2012, visit GreenBiz.com.

Jan 18 (Reuters) -
JAPAN CORPORATE HOUSING SERVICE CO LTD
CONSOLIDATED EARNINGS ESTIMATES
(in billions of yen unless specified)
Full year to Full year to
June 30,2012 June 30,2012
LATEST PREVIOUS
FORECAST FORECAST
Sales 6.13 6.26 Operating
475 mln 490 mln
Recurring 473 mln 491 mln
Net 214 mln 236 mln
NOTE – Japan Corporate Housing Service Co Ltd is engaged in
company-owned housing administration services.. For
latest earnings estimates made by Toyo Keizai, please double
click on 8945.TK1.

Social Robotics has its roots in the mid-20^th century work of William Grey Walter, a neurophysiologist and roboticist who constructed autonomous electronic robots to demonstrate that complex behavior could arise from robust connectivity between just a few neurons. As robots became more sophisticated and animations more realistic, it was found that our empathy for these human analogues grew with their similarity to ourselves. But theres a catch: As robots become increasingly humanoid in appearance and behavior past a certain point, a phenomenon known as the uncanny valley emerges.

A phrase introduced in 1970 by robotics professor Masahiro Mori, the uncanny valley is best described as the reaction we have to robotic appearance or behavior when it is perceived as almost human. The gap between barely human and fully human leaves us feeling uneasy as a result of the way evolution has shaped our brains when perceiving familiarity especially that of anthropomorphic forms. As Mori wrote in his original paper about a prosthetic hand that is lifelike o the eye but not to the touch (and as translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Takashi Minato), In mathematical terms, strangeness can be represented by negative familiarity, so the prosthetic hand is at the bottom of the valley. So in this case, the appearance is quite human like, but the familiarity is negative. This is the uncanny valley.

This experience of strangeness or even revulsion in turn prevents us from experiencing empathy for the robot or animation and empathy is essential for optimal human/robot social interactions. In terms of robot behavior, this means that social robots must successfully operate with the complex web of societal rules that humans learn primarily through implicit experience rather than explicit programming.

At a recent New York Academy of Sciences event, Familiar but Strange: Exploring our Relationships with Robots, two exceptional speakers roboticist extraordinaire Heather Knight and motion capture, computer vision and animation wizard Christoph Bregler explored this mysterious space in considerable depth.

Enlarge

Geminoid Research. Copyright Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory, ATR

Heather Knight currently conducting her doctoral research at Carnegie Mellons Robotics Institute approaches social robotics in innovative ways. Founder of Marilyn Monrobot Labs in New York City, which creates socially intelligent robot performances and sensor-based electronic art, one of her more engaging projects is the integration of robot design and theater as demonstrated by her creation and production of Robot Film Festival, which took place in New York City on July 16-17, 2010. (The next Robot Film Festival is scheduled for 2012; submissions will be accepted for consideration starting in January.)

As we go about designing our future, Knight says, some of the things I think about are creating intelligent machines, building relatable robotic characters, and creating companions that can exist and help us in our everyday lives. Knight sees the integration of robotics and theater and a key pathway to that future.

Robots and theater have a long history together, Knight points out a history beyond the legacy of RUR. Artists tend to use the medium of their times and right now, that medium is technology. Moreover, she observes, making robots responsive to their audience, as well as applying physical theater techniques through gestural communications, allows emotion to infuse the entire robotic form. Knight illustrates this point with the example of look-step-reach-grab behavior: Even without a word being spoken, every such sequence and its associated timing profile embodies and communicates a robust amount of specific but distinct intentional, emotional and cognitive meaning.

However, Knight whose previous work includes robotics and instrumentation at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, interactive installations with Syyn Labs, field applications and sensor design at Aldebaran Robotics, as well as being an alumnus of MIT Media Labs Personal Robots Group cautions that its not a matter of simply taking existing templates already successful in acting and embedding them in robots. I think actual collaboration the procedural knowledge of working with performance, performers and directors is really important, because not everything can be codified in words.

When discussing the uncanny valley, Knight cites how culture influences not only how we react to a robot perceived as being almost human, but also the way we represent robots and other technology in the world, as well as how we select the types of robotic research we fund and pursue. I think that if we create modern narratives, perhaps we can reshape some of the current emphasis of where were going with technology.

Chris Bregler, Associate Professor of Computer Science at NYUs Courant Institute and director of the NYU Movement Lab, inhabits the world of animation and entertainment, focusing on Hollywood robots virtual characters and actors without physical embodiment. Conducting interdisciplinary research in the virtual world of motion capture, animation, computer vision, graphics, statistical learning, gaming, biomedical applications, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence work that has resulted in numerous publications, patents, and awards from the National Science Foundation, Sloan Foundation, Packard Foundation, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Google, US Navy, US Air Force, and other sources – he has a visually demonstrable take on the uncanny valley.

Final Fantasy image. Copyright 2001 FFFP All rights reserved.

Hollywood robots were previously played by human actors, Bregler notes, commenting on the film AI: Artificial Intelligence. Over the last 10 years, however, theres been a huge revolution in Hollywood. Today those same Hollywood robots would be played by virtual robots due to advances in animation, special effects, and live action and, he adds, Everything changes every year.

For Bregler, the uncanny valley is also evident in motion capture as applied to virtual actors, such as the animated characters in Final Fantasy which have achieved astounding realism as stationary images but all familiarity is lost once theres facial movement. Due to technological limitations, body and face motion capture cannot reproduce subtle small-scale movements that communicate essential real-world information. Without these present, viewers immediately enter the uncanny valley.

Bregler points out another problem with virtual characters: Theres no weight or force in their virtual body or captured movements. When you do animation, there are reverse kinematics a bit like a puppet. In other words, the force is externally applied rather than being an intrinsic component of the characters physicality. This was perfectly fine with the aliens in Avatar, Bregler illustrates, but if the same performance was applied to people, the illusion would have dissolved and the same holds true for more ephemeral issues, such as the way evolution has enabled us to tell, for example, if someone may be lying from facial, gestural and tonal cues we may not be explicitly aware of (familiarity) until theyre absent (uncanny valley). Surprisingly, even higher primates have an uncanny valley regarding others of their species.

Moreover, he adds that The uncanny valley is now a common problem everywhere In the game industry, in the motion capture industry and while there are movies that dance around the uncanny valley, others fall right into it. Bregler sees The Incredibles, which was hand-animated, as being in the former category but the precisely motion captured Polar Express in the latter.

Were not there yet with primary human motion and behavior, he explains. Were also very far away from being able to simulate the human brain even the spinal cord. We need a shortcut.

More information: Masahiro Mori, The Uncanny Valley. Energy, 7(4), pp. 33-35, 1970, Translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Takashi Minato

Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science, Vancouver, Canada, 26 July 2006

Heather Knight, Eight Lessons Learned about Non-verbal Interactions through Robot Theater. SOCIAL ROBOTICS: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011, Volume 7072/2011, 42-51, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25504-5_5

Heather Knight: Silicon-based comedy. TED Initiatives, TED Women, December 2010

Christoph Bregler, Next Generation Motion Capture: From the Silver Screen to the Stadium. MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, March 2-3, 2011

Christoph Bregler et al., Squidball: An Experiment in Large-Scale Motion Capture and Game Design. Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2005, Volume 3814/2005, 23-33, DOI: 10.1007/11590323_3

Copyright 2011 PhysOrg.com.

All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of PhysOrg.com.

Although President Obama has silenced the SOPA hearing, at least for a month, there are over 7,000 blackouts scheduled across the Internet for January 18^th. From Wikipedia to Major League Gaming (MLG), Internet companies are taking a stand against legislation that could hamper the freedom gamers and Internet users currently enjoy online. With PIPA (the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act) scheduled for a January 25^th Senate hearing, there’s now a growing concern from the same people who stood up against SOPA.

Sundance DiGiovanni, co-founder and CEO of MLG, took some time to talk about why the leading eSports game organization is taking a stand and blacking out its sites in this exclusive interview.

What are your thoughts on the SOPA/PIPA legislation and why is MLG participating in the blackout?

My point of view on it is, I encourage everybody to read up on the bills and what the impact of the bills, as written, could be to all of us. It’s not something that I want to go around and preach, but I think if we’re informed, we can have a conversation and express why people might want to go and read up on it and educate themselves; that’s the most effective thing we can do to help avoid these bills from being passed.

As currently written and constructed, we think that they’re not anything that we’d like to see passed, because they would actually do more harm than good. We do not advocate piracy in any way, shape, or form; we just believe that there are better ways to prevent the behavior that’s trying to be prevented then what’s drafted in these bills.

It seems like the streaming of gaming content would be impacted through these bills. When you look at the success that streaming has had, would MLG still be able to stream gameplay at competitions?

Yeah, we get a license for the right to stream everything. The issue is that we don’t necessarily oppose the bills because of what they would do to MLG directly, but it’s more about what they would do to the ecosystem within which we operate. The community-based sites that cover our content and put video pieces up, they’re incredibly important to what we do. Anything that would threaten them, threatens our lifeblood and their success.

Would MLG be okay? Would we be able to work something out where we would be in a position to stream everything? Absolutely, we don’t doubt that for a second. We do think there will be more red tape, and more oversight, which I don’t think is a good thing for anybody. I think our money and efforts are better spent elsewhere.

Again, it’s not so much a question of what the impact to MLG would be, but to the broader community, and to something which we view as incredibly important. Players being able to stream their gameplay and talk about what they’re doing is a really important part of what we see the future of not just the competitive gaming landscape, but gaming in general. We think both SOPA and PIPA threaten that way too much.

The Golden Globes Ceremony signifies without any doubt that were right smack in the thick of it — awards season. This is where the rubber meets the road on that slippery slope that leads us straight up to the Main Event: The Academy Awards on Feb. 26. One of the most important pieces of the entire puzzle is red carpet fashions and who better to ask about this than couture designer Randi Rahm, who first opened her successful Fifth Avenue atelier 14 years ago. Rahm is a classically trained conductor and concert pianist who studied music and art history in school. When her son was born in 1976 she designed a baby quilt for him and found that she was really, really good at it. So good that she began producing quilts for an upscale childrens boutique. The proprietors asked her to design little girls dresses for their customers and she ended up starting her own business. And the rest is history.

I asked Rahm what were the biggest challenges during awards season in getting her outfits seen on the red carpet.

There are so many factors! Great working relationships with stylists is paramount to having a celebrity consider your line, and consider is the operative word. Just because a celebrity pulls one — or 10 — of your gowns, until she shows up wearing it you just never know. The anxiety can be tremendous, but its nothing compared to the elation you feel when you see a star walking in one of your creations.

With that said, are there particular designs she is deliberately holding back? I believe the Oscars are the most formal of all award shows and like to hold my collections big guns for this event.

Rahms clients have included BeyoncÃ, Edie Falco, Mariah Carey, Halle Berry, Carrie Underwood, Joy Behar, Sharon Stone, Vanessa Williams, and Jennifer Hudson. What was it like designing for celebrities? Did it sometimes…well…suck? Every day I design is a gift to myself, so even the bad is just part of the overall experience, Randi responded. Its always a disappointment if a dress is pulled and then not worn but thats part of the game. On the other hand, did she have a favorite celebrity experience? I have so many favorite celebrity experiences its hard to pinpoint just one. Working with my diamond gown collection, attending the Vanity Fair and outstanding Oscar parties, meeting so many great celebrities and industry icons are all a part of my best experiences. She noted that at the beginning of her career she designed for Joan Rivers, who continues to be a client to this day. I knew each meeting would be met with nothing but fun and laughter, as its continued all these years! Who would have known shed head up the Fashion Police someday?!

What was the process of working with clients such as these, I was curious to find out. Did the client have any role in the fabric or beading of a custom gown? In the case of a custom made gown, I consult with the celebrity client to get a feel for their personal sensibility of design. Together we review material swatches and beading. Generally, the celebrity stylist plays a key role in the selections. And, naturally, did she have any favorite among the many couture looks she has created over the years? I design what I love and love what I design. Just as a mother loves her children, its impossible to choose one over another. You love them equally, but each one for special reasons.

Now that the Globes are over, Rahms focus is of course the Oscars. But did she have further plans for this year she could reveal? Im anxious to expand the Randi Rahm brand throughout the US, as well as internationally. She is currently contemplating several licensing deals within the fashion industry with an emphasis in bridal gowns. Designing that perfect dress for the most memorable day in a girls life brings me such joy and a personal sense of accomplishment. Her gowns were stunningly featured last summer in Brides Magazine, in Inside Weddings last fall, and in this years January/February issue of Bridal Guide.

Long range plans?

Ever present and consistently on my radar screen are my endeavors to assist childrens charities. More than ever, we need to protect, mentor and provide for children in these uncertain and tenacious times. I will encourage any industry Im a part of to help safeguard the wellbeing of these precious kids who are all a part of our collective lives.

Randis next charity endeavor is Rahms Prom at the Essex House on April 12th, which will benefit The Childrens Storefront, an independent tuition-free school in Harlem.

SIC chief executive Alistair BuchanSHETLAND Islands Council has received a pat on the back from local government watchdog the Accounts Commission for its progress since receiving a stiff reprimand 18 months ago.

The SIC came under heavy criticism in 2010 after a public hearing exposed major flaws in the way Scotland’s wealthiest and most northerly authority was run, highlighting a breakdown in working relationships within the organisation.

That year the council handed its chief executive David Clark £250,000 to leave after just eight months in the post, arousing fury in the local community.

In a follow up report published today (Wednesday), the Commission says the council has a long way to go to become a best value authority and highlights “significant concerns” about its finance section.

However it praises the SIC for its achievements since Orkney Islands Council’s chief executive Alistair Buchan was appointed on a temporary contract in August 2010.

Mr Buchan said the council had already addressed the Accounts Commission’s main criticisms concerning staffing levels and weak management in the finance department.

This week, he said, the council hopes to announce the appointment of a new finance director following the recruitment of a new senior accountant recently.

For the past two months the department has been run by Brian Lawrie, the former finance chief at Fife Council, on a temporary contract after two rounds of interviews failed to secure a replacement for Hazel Sutherland.

He added that it was shame the council’s failure to submit a complete set of accounts on time last year had overshadowed the “good work” that had been achieved by finance staff.

“I think the council has made considerable progress on its financial management and we are well on track to achieving savings of £9.7 million this year, which is a major achievement for this council. It’s a shame the specific problems last year overshadowed that,” he said.

Mr Lawrie plans to present advice to councillors next month which could resolve The Accounts Commission’s other main concern, the failure to group the SIC’s accounts with the councillor-controlled £220 million Shetland Charitable Trust, which has led to them being qualified six years in a row.

Accounts Commission chairman John Baillie: “We welcome Shetland Islands Council’s prompt action and the progress it has made. It is encouraging that the council now has in place many of the basic but essential building blocks needed to provide best value.

“This positive direction and change needs to be continued and the council needs to ensure it has the capacity to do this. This is especially important as it faces considerable challenges in the future.

“Although good progress has been made and the council is improving, there are still problems that need to be addressed.”

These challenges include maintaining progress following the May local authority elections, and appointing a permanent replacement for Mr Buchan when his contract ends in October, though there is a strong possibility he will stay on for a further six months until April 2013.

The Commission has asked the Controller of Audit to prepare a further progress report in 12 months time, which reflects they still have concerns.

The full report can be read here. 

will probably come from solar and wind-energy projects.

Shouldnt PGamp;E customers have a right to know this before their newly increased bills arrive? Nope, says the utilities commission. If people knew the price of the new power, criminals might game the market as they did during the energy crunch early last decade.

Other utility authorities pronounce that reasoning absurd, guessing that it has political rather than practical reasons, postulating that state legislators and PUC members dont want the public to know the costs of their renewable-based energy policy.

But secrecy extends into other areas of PUC regulation, too. Not a good thing from an agency set up explicitly to keep utilities from overcharging their customers.

One recent example came when BrightSource Energy, now building two huge solar thermal plants to supply customers of Southern California Edison Co., added a large amount of heat-exchange energy storage capacity to its projects.

The aim is to allow energy produced during sunlit hours to be stored for later use during darker periods, thus making the plants into steadier suppliers of power.

Thats probably a good idea, and the PUC quickly approved it. But once again, there was no mention of cost. No one knows how much consumers will pay for that improvement, so no one outside the utilities commission can judge whether the gigantic storage units — and the power plants themselves — will be worth the money theyll cost.

As with PGamp;E customers using Mojave Solar power, Edison customers wont learn how much this will cost until they get the bill. The price confidentiality will last three years, right up until the time the BrightSource plants are due to start producing power.

PUC secrecy, authorized by a 1950s-era law, also keeps reports on investigations of natural gas pipeline safety under wraps indefinitely. So persons living on or near natural gas pipelines anywhere in California cant be absolutely certain they are not at the same kind of risk as people who lived in San Bruno before a disastrous pipeline explosion there in September 2010.

The pipeline secrecy so far has aroused more public ire than the PUCs similar keep-the-records closed practices on solar power pricing.

Such confidentiality might make some sense if there were any serious competition for the utilities that run gas through the pipelines or those that will be passing on to their customers the costs of power from renewable sources.

But there is no competition for companies like PGamp;E, Edison, San Diego Gas amp; Electric or Southern California Gas.

That means secrecy can only serve their corporate interests, while leaving customers figuratively in the dark.

The first glimmer of a possible change for the better in all this comes from Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco. Hes introduced a bill to repeal the 60-year-old secrecy law and let the light shine in on all aspects of utility regulation.

Any legislator who opposes that measure will have demonstrated more loyalty to corporate priorities than public safety and well-being. The same for Gov. Jerry Brown if this bill reaches him and he doesnt sign it.

Thomas D. Elias is a syndicated columnist who writes about state issues. E-mail him at tdelias@aol.com.

HARROGATE, England, January 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

Managed network services from InTechnology delivers guaranteed network connectivity and enhanced IT productivity

The Cumberland Building Society has turned to cloud services provider InTechnology to upgrade its existing wide area network (WAN) to deliver improved performance and free up IT resource so it can focus on delivering customer service excellence.

InTechnology will now provide the equipment, management and support for the Cumberlands corporate network which serves 33 branches of the building society and two Cumberland Estate Agent branches in the North West of England and South West of Scotland.

InTechnologys proactive approach to managing and supporting the network has proved particularly beneficial outside of business hours as the building societys cash machines have to be available around the clock, seven days a week.

Gary Richardson, assistant general manager for IT at Cumberland Building Society said: Right from the initial pilot study, InTechnology knocked the socks off everyone else. They understood our needs, provided a commercially viable solution and have offered stellar support throughout our partnership.

InTechnology ticked every one of our boxes. They were cost-effective, offered improved bandwidth, gave us excellent support and future-proofed the service.

Natalie Duffield, sales director, InTechnology said: With our team looking after the network, the Cumberlands IT staff are free to concentrate on front-end operations. The Cumberland now has the high quality, resilient network service it needs to deliver better connectivity and support its customer service goals.

These improvements have also been implemented while achieving cost savings over the building societys previous network.

Following a rigorous tender and pilot project, InTechnology was contracted by Cumberland to supply and manage an MPLS-based WAN incorporating its branches and head office, an Internet pipe to the head office offering 24×7 high-speed broadband access, and ADSL circuits to the core network.

Looking to the future, the Cumberland plans to enhance its network yet further by installing a new router from InTechnology with 3G fallback capability to help improve network recovery at all sites.

About InTechnology:

InTechnology (http://www.intechnology.co.uk) is one of the UKs leading service providers and delivers Cloud-based services to over 800 public and private sector businesses across the UK. It has an unrivalled mix of skills embracing Network, Hosting, Data, Voice and Unified Communications. InTechnology is also the first UK provider to integrate hosted IP Telephony with Microsoft OCS and offer it as a fully managed, hosted service. Weve now added Hosted Exchange to the solution and to provide a complete, unique and fully managed Unified Communications package. With 25 years experience as leaders and innovators in the managed services market, InTechnology continue to be ahead of the curve in the solutions they bring to their customers.

SOURCE InTechnology

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The Smithsonian American Art Museum is announcing details of its
first major exhibit exploring the art and evolution of video
games.

The unusual exhibit opens March 16, and will be on view in
Washington through Sept. 30. The Art of Video Games will focus on
the graphics, technology and storytelling of some of the best games
for systems ranging from Atari to the PlayStation 3.

It will include 80 video games that were selected with help from
the public who voted online last year.

The museum announced Tuesday that the exhibit will also tour to
several sites across the country, including Boca Raton, Fla.;
Seattle; Yonkers, NY; Flint, Mich.; and Memphis, Tenn.

Chris Melissinos, former chief evangelist and chief gaming
officer for Sun Microsystems, is guest curator for the exhibit.