Say goodbye to the old-school, paper-based mystery shopping business model. Slow, cumbersome and fraught with fraud and subjective feedback of dubious value, the emergence and proliferation of Smartphone technology has given rise to iSecretShop - and destroyed the old paradigm overnight - by giving the 'Power to the People with the App that Pays!'

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/isecretshop/paidtoshop/prweb4331064.htm

Autorun MAX v2.1 is designed to make it easy for software developers to create autorun menus for use on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and USB drives. From Indigo Rose Software, the developers of the industry-standard AutoPlay Media Studio.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/autorun/software/prweb4327734.htm

Water and energy utilities throughout California convened yesterday at one the first Water and Energy Sustainability Summits sponsored by the Water Research Foundation to develop solutions to avoid a statewide water-energy crisis that would mean shortages and increased costs for consumers.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/WaterResearchFoundation/water-energy/prweb4333284.htm

The City of Battle Creek and Battle Creek Unlimited are updating the plans for the downtown infrastructure construction and installation of a new water-history themed streetscape.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/battle_creek/construction/prweb4333184.htm

Scottie Pippen, six-time NBA world champion and seven-time NBA All-Star and one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, will partner with Market America

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4333124.htm

A new, remote, online erectile dysfunction (impotence) diagnosis and treatment service has been launched by London?s Private Sexual Health Clinic, Freedomhealth. Freedomhealth has partnered with the UK?s biggest dedicated online registered pharmacy, ChemistDirect to provide this new service.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4331994.htm

getRESTreport.com makes the facts and figures used by the banks in determining eligibility for HAMP and other programs available to homeowners. Proprietary software system generates reports so millions of borrowers can access net present value (NPV) data before contacting their bank.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4331704.htm

Serious Pimp Chairman of the Board Bishop Don ?Magic? Juan and President Snoop Dogg welcomed Jersey Shore break out star Mike ?The Situation? Sorrentino to the Serious Pimp board to oversee the Northeast and Miami operations.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4331644.htm

The rapid growth of online school enrollment is heavily influenced by Latino and African-American students, two historically underrepresented groups in the traditional higher education community. While campus-based U.S. colleges and universities continue to shut out a majority of qualified non-Asian minority students, accredited online schools unequivocally extend an open door to all those who meet eligibility requirements.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/online_schools/online_degree_programs/prweb4331324.htm

Burglars use these 5 signs to quickly scope apartments. Many renters don?t know that apartments are 85% more likely to be robbed according to the National Crime Prevention Council. The checklist below will help renters achieve greater apartment security.

(PRWeb July 30, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4330954.htm

Lookout Inc., a mobile-phone security firm, scanned nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones built around Google Inc.'s Android software. It found that many of them secretly pull sensitive data off users' phones and ship them off to third parties without notification.

That's a major concern that has been bubbling up in privacy and security circles.

The data can include full details about users' contacts, their pictures, text messages and Internet and search histories. The third parties can include advertisers and companies that analyze data on users.

The information is used by companies to target ads and learn more about their users. The danger, though, is that the data become vulnerable to hacking and use in identity theft if the third party isn't careful about securing the information.

Lookout reported its findings this week in conjunction with the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas.

Lookout found that nearly a quarter of the iPhone apps and almost half the Android apps contained software code that contained those capabilities.

The code had been written by the third parties and inserted into the applications by the developers, usually for a specific purpose, such as allowing the applications to run ads. But the code winds up forcing the application to collect more data on users than even the developers may realize, Lookout executives said.

"We found that not only users, but developers as well, don't know what's happening in their apps, even in their own apps, which is fascinating," said John Hering, CEO of the San Francisco-based Lookout.

Part of the problem is smart phones don't alert users to all the different types of data the applications running on them are collecting. IPhones only alert users when applications want to use their locations.

Privacy advocates haven't launched any missives yet, but Amazon was nonetheless quick to stress that it will not share any user account information or purchase history with Facebook. Amazon also promised not to try to contact anyone's friends on the social network.

Intro To Social Shopping?

When you connect Amazon and Facebook, the Internet book-selling giant said it will improve your shopping experience via an Amazon Facebook page. Amazon offers three reasons why shoppers should make the Amazon-Facebook connection.

First, the company said it helps shoppers discover recommendations for movies, music and other products. Second, you can see upcoming birthdays of your friends and buy them a gift they'll enjoy because you can see their Amazon wish lists. Finally, you can explore your friends' profiles to see who has similar interests.

Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said the Amazon-Facebook deal could significantly improve product recommendations that Amazon offers, as well as increase frequency and engagement with the site.

"Ultimately it could help Amazon incrementally sell more stuff to people," Sterling said. "This was not an explicit part of the deal, but I also wonder whether Amazon will become a product data provider to any 'social shopping' initiative that Facebook might consider doing. I'm not sure, but it's interesting."

Will Facebook Be Regulated?

However, it continued to lose the most lucrative customers, those who sign two-year contracts, and posted a wider loss for its second quarter due to tax effects.

Sprint shares rose 6 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $4.90 in morning trading. In pre-market trading, shares were up as much as 10 percent before investors fully digested the numbers.

Sprint gained a net 111,000 subscribers in the April to June period, compared to a loss of 257,000 in the same quarter last year. It said it expects to keep adding wireless subscribers for the rest of the year, and reduce the number of contract customers who leave.

Sprint still lost 55,000 subscribers under its own brands -- which include Virgin Mobile and Boost -- in the latest quarter, but made up for that by adding 166,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers, who buy access to the network through resellers.

It lost 228,000 contract subscribers, a figure much improved from the 991,000 it lost in the same quarter last year.

Sprint has been hemorrhaging subscribers nearly constantly since its 2005 acquisition of Nextel. That network, incompatible with Sprint's, is valued for its walkie-talkie-like push-to-talk function, but is poorly suited to smart phones, and more than a million subscribers have been leaving every year.

The rate of contract subscribers canceling service every month was 1.85 percent in the quarter. That was Sprint's lowest figure ever, though it's still higher than the corresponding figure at AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Wethers, who travels at least 50 days a year, likes to check into his room quickly and bypass the front desk. Van Carmichael, who's on the road 150 days a year, likes dipping into decorative wire baskets on the lobby counter for fresh, free apples.

Once a hotel company known mostly for its upscale downtown hotels and resorts, the Hyatt Hotels group today is transforming itself into a larger, cutting-edge company that serves a broader array of travelers such as Wethers and Van Carmichael who seek lodging at a midrange price (about $130 a night) with amenities such as fast check-ins and free fruit.

Hyatt has been changing during the hotel industry's biggest downturn since the Great Depression, which has hammered upscale hotels particularly hard. The company has started to show success, reporting increases in occupancy during the first quarter. But the real test will come when travel rebounds and hotel rates are likely to rise.

Hyatt -- which operates about 430 hotels compared with Starwood's 1,000, Marriott's 3,500 and Hilton's 3,600 -- didn't focus in the past on expanding.

For its 53 years, Hyatt has been controlled by the billionaire Pritzker family and didn't operate under the same financial pressure that its larger rivals did, says Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University's hotel school. Efforts by Hyatt to break with the past were sometimes stymied by feuds about control of the family's holdings.

Although consumers in some markets have already witnessed short iPad supplies, there are indications that the growing demand for the tablet devices may make the shortage worse before it gets better. One of Apple's suppliers, LG Display, is admitting it may not be able to keep up with the demand for LCD components.

LG Display said it may cut production of LCDs next month as demand from TV makers wanes. But that's not necessarily good news for Apple. Less focus on TV LCDs doesn't equate to more availability to produce iPad screens. The bottom line: LG said it's not able to meet the rising demand for Apple's iPad.

"We are now running at full capacity, but we are considering production cuts in August," Reuters reported LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo as saying. "The level of reduction will be smaller than the industry average."

LG Needs Pinch Hitter

Apple has sold nearly 3.5 million iPads since the tablet device made its market debut in April. But the next 3.5 million may depend on Apple finding an additional supplier.

"Demand [for iPad screens] keeps growing and we can't meet it all," Young-soo said. "Apple may have to delay launches of the iPad for some countries due to tight component supplies and strong demand. We are considering increasing production lines for iPad products, but overall supply is likely to remain tight until early next year."