Author: Serkadis

Garden State native son Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to the guidos and guidettes of MTV’s Jersey Shore in the hilarious parody from Barely Political Media, the folks who brought us Obama Girl.

Thanks Alexis…..

Highway Improvement will Spur Job Growth in Pekin Area

Gov. Pat Quinn was joined by Pekin city officials today to announce plans to complete a section of Veterans Drive in Pekin.

The $30 million project, which is funded by the “Illinois Jobs Now! plan, is expected to create approximately 250 construction jobs.

“Illinois Jobs Now! is doing exactly what it was designed to do – it is improving our roads and schools while creating jobs across Illinois,” said Gov. Quinn.

“With this funding, the important Veterans Drive project can get underway, bringing with it new jobs and private investment to the area.”

In 1996, the city became interested in diverting IL Route 9 traffic to the VFW Corridor.

Though the project was not feasible at the time, funding through the “Illinois Jobs Now! program will enable the city to proceed with diverting IL Route 9 traffic to the VFW corridor, creating a more direct route for motorists travelling in the Pekin area.

The first phase of the project, researching the preferred alignment for the improvement, has been completed.

The second phase, which includes land acquisition, is currently underway. Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2011.

“This project is a great example of the difference that the “Illinois Jobs Now! program is making in communities around the state,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig.

“This project has been talked about for over a decade and with this new funding it will soon become a reality, improving traffic flow and creating jobs for the area.”

In addition to the $31 billion “Illinois Jobs Now! program, signed in July 2009, Gov. Quinn signed the $3 billion Jump Start capital plan, which is also designed to help revive the state’s ailing economy and create and retain hundreds of thousands of jobs during the next six years.

Remember the Lulabelly prenatal belt with speakers we wrote about awhile ago? Well Ritmo is an Advanced Pregnancy Sound System, which delivers the same results but on a much more higher technological level that is safe for both mother and child and looks a lot more space-agey. Ritmo connects to most audio devices such as iPods, MP3 players, iPhones and Blackberries and has four speakers and a controller, the size of a deck of cards, which fits comfortably into a tiny pocket. Ritmo utilizes Nuvo’s patented Safe & Sound Technology to regulate the output of sound to a safe level for a baby to hear in-utero, regardless of how loud the sound was recorded or the volume that it is played.  But besides music, with Ritmo, a baby in the womb can hear their future brothers or sisters talking, a book being read, or hear how much of a Housewives of Orange County addiction you have. Ritmo retails for $129.99 and certainly prepares the baby for the world ahead…

You may have come across a leaked list of the Robot Masters in Mega Man 10 over the past few days, but if you’re looking for something more official then look no further. Capcom has officially unveiled

Check out this new take on the traditional Android soft keyboard. Rather than just changing the color or general shape of the buttons, qwerted changes the actual size of them based on the probability that they’ll be hit next.  For instance, if you type a ‘c’, the letter ‘h’ will be larger than say, a ‘z’.  All Android users will be happy to know that it was designed for 1.5 or higher.

qwerted was created and developed by Moritz Haarmann who expects to have the app available later this month.  No word on pricing just yet.

qwerted for android – basic example from Moritz Haarmann on Vimeo.

Features found in qwerted:

• Punch-through recommendations – Depending on the individual probability, an accented or uppercase key is shown by default instead of the normal, downcase, key.
• Self-learning –  remembers the words you type, and knows them the next time you want to type them. So it’s always up-to-date with your vocabulary.
• Customizable  – Set up the size of the keys depending on your preference. Later versions will also allow skins and custom keyboard layouts ( e.g. dvorak ) to be used.

Last week there was a big controversy over the fact that some stores in NY were caught destroying unsold garments rather than donating them to charities. After people got upset, the main store in question, H&M promised that this wouldn’t happen again. This week we’ve got a related, but somewhat different story, as the NY Police have admitted to shredding and burning the counterfeit clothes they’ve confiscated, rather than giving them to the homeless, as had always been done in the past. When asked to explain why, the police claimed “no one asked” for the confiscated clothing — but many charities insist they had, in fact, made many requests for the clothing. Apparently, the destruction is being felt at clothing banks, who say they have many fewer clothes on hand this year than in the past.

Not surprisingly, a lawyer representing various clothing designers was quite happy with the news, saying that they don’t want those clothes “back on the street,” which suggests that the designers may have pushed for the police to destroy the clothes rather than help the needy. Of course, it’s worth pointing out — yet again — the recent study that showed most people are not fooled by counterfeits, and they rarely represent a “lost sale.” In fact, many counterfeit purchases lead to real purchases later on. So the idea that they act as a “substitute” or somehow “harm” a brand is not actually borne out by the research. And, of course, some companies have learned that there are ways to embrace counterfeiting to their own advantage, as a form of price differentiation.

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In a statement from Washington on Wednesday, President Barack Obama vowed to aggressively send aid to Haiti in the wake of the devastating 7.0 earthquake that ravished the island on Tuesday.

The American Red Cross has also pledged its help. The organization will provide $1,000,000 to the relief effort and is preparing to move relief supplies to the affected areas as soon as transportation becomes possible. If you’d like to help with the relief effort, visit RedCross.org or Wyclef Jean’s YeleHaiti.com. Some of you spend more than five bucks at Starbucks every morning, so surely most of us can spare at least that. Please donate what you can!

Merely two hours after I got off a plane and arrived at CES 2010, I sat down in a private meeting room with Stan Glasgow, COO/President of Sony Electronics USA. The interview took place about a hour before the CES 2010 press conference. It was the first time I’d ever interviewed someone on this level, and while mainstream press enjoy such exclusives, these types of interactions are still relatively new for bloggers. It didn’t take long for Stan’s warm demeanor, infectious smile and cool personality to make things comfortable and soon enough we were laughing together during some of his answers – it had turned from an interview into a simple conversation. It became quickly apparent to me how this is one of the best businessmen and speakers I’d ever encountered, and why he is perfect for the title he currently holds. Read on and you’ll learn some interesting things about Stan’s path to his current position, his daily routine, predictions for 2010, his favorite Sony product, how the BRAVIA Internet Video Link service is coming to the PS3, and no new OLED in 2010.

SI: Why don’t you tell us how you got started at Sony, and eventually became the Chief Operating Officer and President today?

Stan: I had built a company, Capetronic Computer Products Holdings Ltd., a global display manufacturing company primarily centered in Asia with factories in Taiwan, China, Thailand, and in California. I started that company in the beginning of computers with the original Apple Macintosh, the original PS1, and worked with Steve Jobs, Rod Canion and other beginning people (in computing). I helped design and and build power supplies, deflection technology, and other products for them. Eventually I took Capetronic public when it was close to a billion dollars.

I had worked with Capetronic for close to 20 years, and was 46 at the time; I hadn’t spent much time with my family. I said, “Now is the time to truly retire.”

I got bored in about three months – the retirement lasted about two and a half years. I wasn’t good at retirement. I started doing some consulting work with several Asian companies, and said to myself, “At this point in my life, I am not motivated by money anymore, but I am motivated to work with great people, and to make a significant contribution that would excite me personally.”

With this in mind, I thought about all of the companies I had worked with in my career, and Sony came to the top of my list since they have great people. I had the fortune of having meetings with Akio Morita and other people on that level over the years. I called up people I knew inside Sony, and asked “Can I help you guys? Consulting? Anything?”

So they gave me a consulting deal in display marketing, and I did that for about six months and after that they wanted me to formally join, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work again. I said, “Let me think about it,” and we negotiated for several months. The salary they offered was about a tenth of what I used to make. It wasn’t a money thing – so we negotiated a little more and I finally joined Sony and took over as VP of Display Marketing in June 2001; it was in the transition phase between CRT and LCD. I was very happy doing that.

I did that for about a year – meanwhile, Hideki (Dick) Komiyama (seen above accepting the Best Mobile Handset Award at the 2008 Global Mobile Awards) came over from Japan to take over the President and COO role at Sony Electronics USA. Dick and I worked together at my prior company; I bought products from Sony, and negotiated some deals with them. He took a look at me and I took a look at him, and it was like old friends of course.

He said, “What are you doing for the company?”

I said, “I am running display marketing for you.”

He responded, “That’s ALL your doing at this company?”

I said, “I don’t need a senior position anymore in my life.”

The next thing I knew I was SVP of Information Technology Division, running VAIO and several other products at the time. Less than a year after that, the move took place from Park Ridge, NJ to San Diego, CA and Dick asked me to take over consumer sales. It was typical – I get a call on a Friday, and on Monday I take over the new job. I got a call from Dick again on a Friday in 2006 and said he was, “leaving back to Japan and take another position, and everyone wants you to take over.”

I said to him, “Dick, I don’t really know this time if I really want that in my life right now.”

He said, “Just do it and help us out.” So I did, and that’s how it happened.

What is the average day for you like at Sony, from start to finish? I understand it varies greatly, but if you can, something detailed for our readers.

Every day is very different. I have a program – every night, I plan out what I want to accomplish the next day – it takes me ten minutes, and is not a huge exercise – I know the tasks, certain e-mails I haven’t responded to, or projects I need to check on and follow-up. I build all of that into it, and then I get interrupted constantly; emergencies, phone calls, and whatever else goes on – Sir Howard will call..

The day usually starts very early, I get up at five and take a walk; I used to run most of my life, but at my age I don’t run anymore – the knees don’t hold up to well, so I walk for about 45 minutes to a hour. At 6 o clock, I get ready, and I’m in the office from 7:00 to 7:15. I start my day – I originally try to get through e-mails very quickly (several hundred per day). Joan, my main assistant helps me as well as Debbie in Park Ridge, who starts earlier. They sort out the junk, and things they can take care of. I dig into my e-mails, and get that going – I speak to the East Coast initially, because no one is in our office that early. And then the office starts coming in at 8:30 to 9:00, people start rolling in.

Generally, meetings are heavily booked; 50% of my schedule is already in meetings. Some of that is due to SOX, and the new rules we have where I have to be involved on at least a monthly basis, in all major activities of the company. It has to be formal and documented and in meetings – every step of the way. I get the complaints about so many meetings, but a large portion of them today are not done because we want to do them, or because we think they’re 100% necessary..they’re done because there is compliance issues now. We’re going to be changing accounting systems in the future to a new worldwide system, rather than the US system we have today. That will also make us do some further changes. I think they’ll be better though – those changes.

So the day is interesting – it usually ends somewhere between 6 and 8 PM, half the nights I probably have dinner with somebody, such as guests in town, or some customers, or something. Then the phone calls from Japan will start – because they’re waking up. So that’s a typical kind of day.

How often do you travel to Japan for Sony in an average year? Tell us about your most recent trip there.

Because of the economic meltdown, it was more over the last year. About a year and a half ago they made me group executive of the Sony Corporation. That gets me involved in a little more activity in Japan than I was previously. I probably go about 6-7 times a year, for about a week to ten days. Maximum is two weeks. Usually in a week I can get everything accomplished.

Tell us about your most recent meeting with Sir Howard Stringer, or the Sony Board of Directors in Japan.

Let me tell you a funny thing that just happened – we had CES all programmed for this press conference, and there’s always timing issues of people, etc. We have Taylor Swift performing – she’s on a deadline because she has to get to LA tonight for the People’s Choice Awards. She was sorta at the end of the program, but the program was running long and we were trying to figure it out, so we had to turn the whole program on its ears. Sir Howard was working on it out there, and we ended up changing everything instantly – they’re all rewriting it right now. Poor Dave (Migdal, SVP of Corporate Communications), he’s going crazy.

Howard is very engaging, decisive – he really understands the world of entertainment, PR, and communications better than anybody I’ve ever seen or worked with in my life. It’s very cool. The interactions with the Senior Japanese Executives – they’re good. These are a whole different group than we’ve ever had before, they’re younger, they’re a lot more aggressive. Good backgrounds – it’s much more fun now than it was, quite honestly. They’re willing to try new things, and really be open to ideas. It’s a lot of fun.

The other thing I do that’s really interesting is we have an advisory council, where we look at the future of Sony. For some reason they’ve asked me to be a part of that, I don’t know why I was selected – I don’t ask questions anymore. I go to the meeting, and there’s some interesting people – Louis Gerstner (the Ex-CEO of IBM), Nobuyuki Idei (the past chairman of Sony), past chairman of IKEA, Peter Peterson and some of the outside directors of the board are on this advisory board – we look at future business opportunities, what major things we could do, we have people come in and present to us, and it’s fun being a part of that.

In November 2009, Sony held an investors/analyst meeting in Japan that outlined a new Sony Online Service, where any Internet connected Sony product could access a vast library of applications, music/video content, services and the ability to buy products. Sony labeled this as a new business model, and said that it would create TV’s that would “evolve even after point of sale.” Can you please tell us your thoughts on this evolution, and what your impressions were of it so far?

I think we’re making good progress – to date, I believe we have 33 million users of the Playstation Network. We’re beginning to port that network to other Sony products. We’re doing BRAVIA Internet Video Link – which is more of a streaming service than a downloading service. We’ve got that growing at a fantastic rate in our televisions right now, we added it to Blu-ray players, and we’re adding it to the PS3. We have two different delivery systems of content now ongoing. I think consumers will make the choice what’s easier for them, and then we have to also understand the business models of each of them and decided which is better for the company also. That is ongoing and going very well.

What does make.believe mean to you?

To me, it has a couple of meanings – the main meaning is that we have not had a worldwide project, a worldwide branding effort inside Sony in probably decades. Every region does its own advertising promotion, we’ve had a few things certain regions have done, other regions have not done. It was time to unite the company, from a branding perspective. Make.believe is an interesting way to do it because it gives our engineers the ability to look at creating consumer experiences that are very unique. It gives us the ability to rally our people around something new, a tag line that’s simple, yet very inspiring. The more we can personalize that for consumers in addition to our own people, I see that being a huge win for Sony around the world.

It’s got multifacets that people inside the company to rally together, getting our technical community a little more active – they’re a good community, and I’m not putting them down, but activating them because that’s a core resource of Sony.

What are your major consumer electronic predictions for the second half of 2010?

I think the adoption of 3D may be a surprise in the second half. I think the excitement of Avatar, it’s success, and the 13 other 3D films slated over the balance of the year. I believe that 3D is going to take off possibly more quickly than we’re all thinking. That could be a surprise. I think a product like Dash could be a surprise product. The Reader and our strategy of being totally open, and not having a proprietary type of software system and the fact that we’ve got a broad line moving forward positively being strong in the second half. I believe Blu-ray, now that it’s got a 3D spec, now that the prices have calmed down, I see that potentially surprising us in the second half. I like some of our digital imaging projects, I like Transfer Jet technology, I like being able to proximity – just by putting two cameras together and move pictures from one to another. And eventually move that technology to Televisions, VAIO’s, and other products.

There could be a hope that the US economy is a little better than we think in the second half.

How many 3D channels do you predict there will be by the end of 2010?

I’m aware of one network slated for 2011, one slated for 2010 – this is not easy stuff. This is complex, we don’t have it all figured out yet. I think ESPN’s going to be a pioneer in the world of sports in figuring out camera placement and what to do there. I think it’s going to take some time. I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of broadcasting of 3D in 2010; I think it will start heavily in 2011. We’ll have some that begins, but I don’t think it’s going to be pervasive.

The theatrical side is moving well, but now we’re working on the TV side of this, broadcasting, and the personalized content, getting camcorders that work in 3D, getting digital still cameras that can take a 3D picture. There’s a lot of work to be done there.

What is your favorite Sony product of all time (perhaps one you used when you were younger)?

I would have to say only because of my interest and engineering background in TV, I think the 55″ BRAVIA XBR8 that we introduced about 18-24 months ago was the best LCD TV in the world at that point, and remains the best LCD TV in the world. We did a very special type of back-lighting technology in that product that was super expensive – it was Triluminos, 3 color back-lights, directly into the back of the screen’s back-lighting. A lot of the LED back-lighting today, nearly all of it is Edge-lit, so you’re using LED’s, but you’re firing across the back of the screen and you’ve got some uniformity issues, hot spots, and cold spots. That 55″ XBR8 sits in my main family room, it’s the TV I watch most of the time, and I still gawk at how good that picture is. It was a strong seller; we’re running out of it right now, and we didn’t anticipate the final demand as well as should have because it’s a really expensive product.

Sony is releasing several 3D capable televisions featuring a new Monolithic design – what would you say to the consumer who is skeptical about this new line of 3D display products?

We’re offering consumers an option, I’m not sure how companies many are doing what we’re doing – we’re fully integrating 3D TV’s to 60″ that we’ll sell. We’re also selling a line of 3D capable TV’s, with basically no increase in price. You can add the emitter later on, and the glasses later on. So we give the consumer the option of buying a capable set that they can then make the investment later on to bring it up to full 3D.

Many television manufacturers added support for SkypeHD, and Toshiba promised some sort of video communication for its TV’s. Can we expect Sony to offer this capability as a BRAVIA add-on in 2010?

No comment.

Can we expect to see 3D Cameras (point and shoot or DSLR) from Sony in 2010?

I can’t answer that. You can see them, but when, I don’t know.

Can we expect any new OLED televisions from Sony in 2010?

We’re working on all sorts of prototypes, but I don’t see production of product in 2010. There’s a wonderful 3D OLED prototype here at CES; that’s the real way to do 3D and TV – because you’ve got direct transmission, rather than back lighting and all the other reflective ways of doing it. But getting it to be commercially reasonable in price, we’ve got a long way to go. That’s the whole problem in OLED, great technology, great feature set, but it’s really hard to get the costs down. Smaller form-factors are easy to do.

Thanks to COO/President Stan Glasgow for sitting down with us and entertaining our questions, and a special thanks to the Sony Corporate Communications team.

Morgan Stanley’s Joachim Fels points out that China latest hike for its banks’ reserve requirement ratio says a lot about what’s to come for other major economies.

Basically, he agrees with us that the Fed has been replaced by the PBOC.

Central banks will try to mop up excess reserves in a similar fashion prior to actually hiking rates. Note in the chart to the right, we have G10 major developed economies’ interest rates vs. those of Asia Ex-Japan (AXJ).

Morgan Stanley: Second, the Chinese move is in line with our view that many central banks are likely to start soaking up some excess reserves in the banking system in 1H10 before raising official interest rates in 2H.

Third, we continue to think that central banks will crawl rather than rush towards the exit, and will thus slow but not derail the powerful global ‘AAA liquidity cycle’ (ample, abundant, augmenting), which is still in full swing.

Thus in a sense, Chinese actions foreshadow U.S. interest rate policy rather than vice versa.

Likewise, in advanced economies like the US or the euro area, the banking system is awash with excess reserves (though for different reasons – QE rather than a currency peg), some of which the Fed and the ECB will want to drain before embarking on rate hikes. In the US, we expect the Fed to soak up some excess reserves – through reverse repos and/or term deposits – once the MBS purchases have been phased out at the end of this quarter. In the euro area, the ECB is already phasing out some of its non-standard longer-term financing operations. In both cases, as in China, these measures will set the stage for a smoother exit from monetary easing, though they do not constitute an outright tightening by themselves.

While liquidity mop-up operations might not, technically, be monetary tightening per se, they’re at least heading in that direction, which is what matters most in the end. Still, by claiming that the ‘AAA liquidity cycle’ isn’t threatened yet, Morgan Stanley seems to be saying we shouldn’t be heading for the liquidity exits just yet.

(Via Morgan Stanley, The China Cracker, Joachim Fels, 13 January 2010)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• SAVING AFRICA: China Has Done Much More For Africa Than Bono, Live Aid, And Oprah Put Together
• $123,000,000,000,000*
• January 12, 2010: THE DAY BERNANKE GOT REPLACED

La marca gala Peugeot acaba de presentar una nueva versión de su mítico logotipo más moderno debido a que se acerca el 200 aniversario de la existencia de la marca. Además, han presentado un nuevo lema llamado “MOTION & EMOTION“.

También han confirmado que entre el 2010 y el 2012 pretenden sacar a la venta 14 nuevos modelos. Por otra parte, Peugeot se han marcado el ambicioso objetivo de subir tres puestos en el ranking de marcas donde actualmente se encuentra en la décima posición.

A continuación os dejo con un vídeo que han adjuntado en la nota de prensa:

Related posts:

1. Peugeot Partner Tepee contará con un nuevo motor de gasolina
2. Peugeot 207 y su lavado de cara
3. Fotos espía del Peugeot RC-Z

Jessica Simpson has taken to Twitter to confirm her rumored relationship with Smashing Pumpkins rocker Billy Corgan – revealing the odd couple has teamed up for a new song.

The singer/actress was alleged to be dating Corgan after they were snapped on a night out together last month. The longtime pals remained mum on the rumors, but Jess has decided to go public with the union.

“I am blessed. Going over a song w (with) @billy…” Jess Tweeted last Tuesday. She accompanied the message with images of the couple in the studio.

German Tuner RDX RACEDESIGN has created a subtle aerodynamic package for the Peugeot 207 hatchback and the 207 CC.

The complete kit includes a new front bumper lip, headlight masks, redesigned side skirts, a rear apron attachment and a roof spoiler.

The modified front bumper lower part is available for all pre-2009 facelift models. It costs EUR 143  and it comes in a paint-ready form. The headlight masks come in a black colour, they can be installed this way or painted in the car’s colour… (read more)

Air hockey tournaments scheduled across the state to highlight new ticket and give players additional chances to win cash and prizes

The Illinois Lottery recently launched the Chicago Blackhawks® Cash scratch-off ticket, and is kicking off 16 air-hockey tournaments across the state through February.

The winner at each event will win $500 in cash and a Blackhawks jersey.

“Air hockey is one of those all American games that most people have experienced in their lives at one point or another” said Paul Arnell, director of promotions for the Illinois Lottery.

“The Lottery loves to give people the opportunity to have fun, play some of their favorite games, and possibly win money at the same time.”

At each event, participants aged 18 years or older will place their name on an entry form when they arrive.

At the beginning of the tournament thirty-two players will be randomly selected and placed in a bracket style format in the order in which they were picked.

The contestants will face-off until the last person standing is crowned the Air Hockey Star. Below are dates, locations and times of each event:

About Chicago Blackhawks® Cash Ticket

Each ticket costs $2 and is available for purchase at Illinois Lottery retailers across the state. Winners can win a variety of prizes ranging from a Chicago Blackhawks® jersey up to $20,000 in cash. The ticket also offers second-chance opportunities where players can submit five non-winning Chicago Blackhawks® Cash tickets for the chance to travel with the team, including:

• Roundtrip travel for two with the Blackhawks on a team charter flight
• One room in the Blackhawks team hotel
• 2 tickets to the game
• A ride on the Blackhawks team bus to the morning skate and the game
• 2 Blackhawks replica jerseys
• $500 spending money

For more information about the second-chance promotion visit illinoislottery.com.

About Illinois Lottery

Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery is a state agency with annual sales over $2 billion. Since its inception, the Lottery has contributed more than $14 billion to the state Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools. Players must be at least 18 years old.

For more information on the Illinois Lottery please visit our Web site at illinoislottery.com.

The Premium Package enhances durability and performance by offering all the features of the value package plus a number of additional features that provide increased reliability, lower maintenance and an overall higher quality of performance.

The additional features include an air-cooled aftercooler, low oil level switch and an auto-condensate drain (on receiver mounted units) that make the Premium Package ideally suited for manufacturing and more heavy duty industrial applications. Premium Packages are available from 2.2 kW to 22 kW in 11 bar and 14 bar configurations.

Features

– Wall mountable Star Delta starter wired included with 3.5 meters of cable, ready to use
– Auto start/stop regulation by the pressure switch through the starter for 4.0 and 5.5 kW models
– Dual control redulation on 7.5 kW to 22 kW models
– Integral motor overload protection included in the starter
– Automatic unloaded start-up included: compressor depressurises automatically on shut-down with a blowdown solenoid
– Low oil level indicator
– Auto-condensate drain on receiver mounted units
– Belt guard mounted air cooled aftercooler
– Anti-vibration pads
– Receiver and base mounted options available

The Board of Directors of Industrial Scientific Corporation has elected Justin McElhattan, 37, as President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2010. In this position, Mr. McElhattan will have full and direct responsibility for day to day operations, and for profitably growing all worldwide business units and subsidiaries.

McElhattan has served as President and Chief Operating Officer since February, 2008, and as a member of the Board since 2006.

“Industrial Scientific is fortunate to have so many talented, passionate people around the world committed to highest quality and best customer service. Their relentless dedication to eliminating injury and death in the workplace is a constant source of inspiration for me. I am delighted for the opportunity to serve our employees, customers, and stakeholders through the next phase of what has already been an impressive story,” McElhattan said.

After completing a BS degree in Environmental Science at Penn State University, McElhattan was based in Philadelphia, PA as a sales representative for Sheridan Safety, followed by two years as a district sales manager for Safeco. He joined Industrial Scientific in 1998 as Manager of Commercial Systems. In 2000 he was promoted to Field Sales Manager, North America and in 2003 to General Manager, Service Operations. In 2005 he was elected Vice President, Operations and in 2007 elected President and Chief Operating Officer.

McElhattan earned an MBA with a concentration in operations from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business in 2005.

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA – 05 Nov 2009 – Industrial Scientific, the global leader in Gas Detection as a Service, is pleased to announce that Tom Cunningham has joined the company as Vice-President, Global Operations.

In this role, Tom will have responsibility for Industrial Scientific’s operations, including manufacturing, supply chain, quality, manufacturing engineering and operational excellence. He will have direct-line responsibility for the Americas operation team and dotted-line responsibility for the EMEA and Asia-Pacific operations teams.

Tom most recently held the position of Director of Design and Manufacturing for Medrad’s Cardiovascular Disposable products. While at Medrad, Tom also held positions of Manufacturing Engineering Team Leader and Project Manager of New Product Introductions.

Tom has a B.A. in Physics from Hiram College, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Tom is an ASQ-certified Six Sigma Black Belt and a certified Project Management Professional (P.M.P.).

Industrial Scientific, the global leader in Gas Detection as a Service, is pleased to announce that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has assigned Approval No. 22-A090001-0 to the MX4 iQuad™ multi-gas detector. The MX4 is now permitted for use in U.S. mines under Title 30 CFR, Part 22.

Configuring the MX4 to detect carbon monoxide, oxygen, and 0-5% of volume methane makes the instrument ideal for most mining applications. Adding a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sensor customizes the unit for mines where diesel-powered equipment is used.

Small, rugged and simple to use, the MX4 is ideal for harsh underground mining environments. A rubber overmold covers its polycarbonate housing to protect the MX4 from high-impact bumps and drops. The housing has also been third-party tested and certified IP66 and IP67. This ingress protection rating indicates that the MX4 is dust-tight and resistant to both water jets and submersion. The MX4 uses a combination of three alarms. Ultra-bright LEDs, a 95 db audible alarm and a powerful vibrating alarm all warn users of hazardous gas levels.

The MX4 is also compatible with iNet™ to simplify maintenance and data management. iNet offers an alternative to the traditional model of buying gas detectors. It is a software-based service that increases safety by providing visibility into gas detector alarms, exposure and usage. It keeps gas detectors working without costly and time-consuming maintenance. And with iNet, customers do not have to buy the gas detectors. Instead, they subscribe to iNet and receive Gas Detection as a Service.