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Let’s face it – tobacco was popular long before cigarettes existed, and it has only increased in popularity with the widespread availability of tobacco products. Today’s smokers, however, have a much harder time enjoying the cigarette smoke after work or a meal because of all the social and medical attention smoking receives. Not only are there always new medical studies showing the Serious health risks of tobacco, but the concerns about second hand smoke have driven tobacco cigarette smokers into their homes and cars, away from public areas. As a result, some have been experimenting with safer and milder cigarettes since they first became aware of the potential health risks associated with smoking tobacco cigarettes.

http://www.smokelessdelie.com

Filters and Light Tobacco Cigarettes

The first major step toward chemical free cigarettes was decreasing. Decrease in the amount of nicotine and tar a smoker inhales. While filters were instituted largely to enhance the pleasure of smoking, they do help reduce the amount of chemicals that reach the lungs. For primarily the same reason, smaller and milder tobacco products were marketed by traditional tobacco companies such as Marlboro and Camel and are known today as “lights” or “ultra lights.” While light cigarettes do contain fewer dangerous chemicals, there are still enough to cause health problems in smokers. Many smokers claim that it takes longer to become addicted to light cigarettes, but this means nothing in the long-term. Unfortunately, it is the long term scenarios where tobacco products really take their toll. Though lights remain popular among smokers simply because they are less harsh, most scientists maintain that the small difference in composition between light and full-flavored cigarettes does not necessarily result in a safer smoking experience.
Other Alternatives

Chewing tobacco and other kinds of tobacco products that do not require smoking are thought to be slightly safer than traditional cigarettes because users avoid the risk of cancer associated with regularly inhaling smoke into one’s lungs. Just as cigarettes can lead to heart and lung cancer, though, chewing tobacco multiplies the likelihood of contracting mouth, tongue, or throat cancer, so it is difficult to honestly call it a safe alternative to cigarettes. Rolling one’s own natural tobacco cigarettes has also undergone a surge in popularity because natural tobacco contains no additives. Of course, very few people who smoke natural tobacco use filters, as they are used to regular cigarettes that usually contain more nicotine. This means that smoking natural tobacco, while safer in that it doesn’t expose the user to synthetic chemicals or additives can still increase the risk of heart disease and lung cancer simply because of the harsh nature of unprocessed tobacco.
A Different Approach to Chemical Free Cigarettes

While people have known about and been concerned with the medical issues associated with smoking and tobacco for a long time, a truly chemical free cigarette seemed impossible. Enter the electronic cigarette. Considered to be the safest alternative to tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes are as good as they sound. Essentially, they’re cigarette-shaped devices that do not require a flame. While electronic cigarettes do contain nicotine, it is the only chemical that users inhale, allowing them to satisfy their cravings while avoiding most of the health risks of smoking. Smokelessdelite is the world’s largest distributor of electronic cigarettes and is committed to providing smokers with the nicotine sensations they are used to without the added social and medical problems.

Smokelessdelite electronic cigarette is safer than tobacco for two reasons. First, there is no smoke involved, which reduces the risk of heart disease and lung cancer. Secondly, and most importantly, electronic cigarettes contain only one chemical — nicotine. Many do not consider these chemical free cigarettes a viable option because they recognize their psychological dependence on the actual inhalation and exhalation of smoke. Most smokers would simply go back to tobacco cigarettes rather than live without the feelings associated with traditional tobacco smoking. Smokelessdelite electric cigarette recognizes this problem. In addition to nicotine, electronic cigarettes contain water vapor and propylene glycol, a common ingredient in food coloring that gives the water vapor enough color to be seen by the smoker as he inhales and exhales. These chemicals are only added to give one the illusion of smoking. This technology increases the pleasure of using electronic cigarettes.
A Breath of Fresh Air

Perhaps the biggest improvement on traditional smoking offered by electronic cigarettes is the freedom from smoking bans. It is getting more and more difficult to smoke in public places, so those who need nicotine at work, while shopping, or while dining out often risk negative perceptions. Smokelessdelite e-cigarette offers people the ability to smoke anywhere. As electronic cigarettes do not actually require a flame and users exhale little except water vapor, officials in parts of Europe have deemed the electronic cigarette a public-friendly tobacco product. For those who are tired of walking twenty feet away from a restaurant just to have a cigarette after dinner or driving around town during lunch to have a chance to smoke, Smokelessdelite e-cigarette may be the safest and most socially acceptable chemical free cigarette on the market.

Smokelessdelite e-cig is also likely to go over well with your budget because electronic cigarettes are cheaper than tobacco products. Instead of smoking a pack a day, or about twenty cigarettes, you can get just the right amount of nicotine with only one Smokelessdelite electric cigarette cartridge, which is equivalent to about thirty cigarettes, or a pack and half. As you will essentially be smoking the same cigarette until it runs out or starts to taste weak, this may mean actually smoking less. If you aren’t dependent upon a certain number of cigarettes, but rather a specific amount of nicotine, it is far easier to satisfy your cravings while going about your day. Even if you continue to use the same amount of nicotine, the cartridges come in groups of five for fifteen dollars, which works out to approximately one dollar per pack. If you combine the health benefits with the invaluable worth of being able to enjoy a cigarette whenever or wherever you want, it is clear that Smokelessdelite electronic cigarette is indeed a safer alternative to regular cigarettes and tobacco products. While there is no such thing as a completely safe amount of nicotine, chemical free cigarettes come close.

Anytime from mid to late June, my diary is normally reserved for attendance at HITEC, undoubtedly the world’s leading hospitality technology event. This year was no exception so I found myself in Austin, Texas. What a great place – with hotels close to the Convention Centre, this ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ also enjoys being one of the world’s technology innovation capitals. This year I came away excited by the evidence that the global hotel industry and its technology providers are working on the right issues.
HITEC offers a unique combination of highly rated educational sessions, a huge technology exposition and many, many sponsored evening parties for those ever valuable networking opportunities and conspicuous consumption of margarita cocktails! Sessions are led by industry peers and experts whilst the expo showcases the latest industry products and services from over 300 companies. Combined with the opportunities to connect with fellow hotel technology professionals, HITEC has everything to keep me current in my thinking for today and the future. This year I came away excited by the evidence that the global hotel industry and its technology providers are working on the right issues.
Innovation
Today’s connected world allows for businesses to be structured in very different ways, with innovation being accessed from both inside and increasingly outside the organisation. In some ways of course this is the trend that Hotel Solutions Partnership is part of – enabling clients that engage online to import expertise that can be delivered in person and/ or on-line. There are many examples of hotel companies distributing and networking to garner a higher level of thinking and innovations in service, experience, design, creation and execution than that which is available within the four corporate walls.
I’ve written in these columns before about how technology is allowing the customer to be the innovator of the bedroom experience and once again I saw the Guestroom of the Future at HITEC. Such has been the interest that Guestroom 2010 is looking much further into the future by recently re-branding as Guestroom 20X. At this years show I also noted that progressive hotel brands are increasingly willing customers to engage online with one another and with the organization. The goal is to tap into this new type of guest engagement for shareholder gain. Brands are engaging with guests to design, test and market different elements of the guest experience. With improved insights into the guests needs, such brands should be better equipped to quickly reconfigure the hotel product, service and overall experience.
As my associate Larry Bowman points out later, technology allows employers to tap into the pool of talent in very different ways than in recent years. And I think we will see an increasing willingness to outsource more and more essential but non-core processes leveraging the web as hotel companies drive toward further and further productivity gains.
Business information
My hobby horse for a number of years has been the opportunity that BI (business information) systems offer; Take a look at the tools provided by such vendors as Datavision and Aptech. Systems are becoming more and more interconnected through common standards (think of HTNG’s efforts in this regard) for exchanging data – providing not only better, deeper and wider information for decision making but also enabling new levels of automation.
But its also unbundling that is a trend – using other companies and entrepreneurs to enable rapid scaling (up or down) whilst keeping balance sheets light and tight. This is more and more enabled by technology (e.g. Saas) where hotels and hotel companies are more trusting of security and bandwidth reliability and are making better use of web services and related technologies.
These columns have previously drawn attention to the role that technology tools have played, are playing and will play, in transforming revenue management. Predictive technology tools are increasingly available and used – bringing more and more discipline into many aspects of hotel management. Sometimes I sense the balance has gone a little too far (don’t lose sight of the hotelier in us!)but there can be no doubt that the hotel industry is a much more effective user of productivity and performance enhancing technology tools than it was even a few years ago
Evolution
Finally in this rapid scan across the technology available to the 21st century hotelier it is worth also remembering that some businesses have evolved that are essentially accumulating pools of data and making revenue by providing access to selected data or the entire data. TravelCLICK is perhaps the most obvious example of a business based on this premise, but so too the newly emergent STR Global.
I wonder what the technology landscape in 2020 will be like. Any suggestions? You can bet your last dollar that the new and inventive landscape will be badged as addressing “Generation Z’s” “must haves”. It’s a little scary to be a member of the Baby Boomers – now there is something I can’t change.

The Nicocig electronic cigarette is a revolutionary smoking alternative. If you have tried inhalators or nicotine patches, and they haven’t worked, take a look at our smoking alternatives page.

The Nicocig electric cigarette is Health and Care’s best selling electronic cigarette. Everyone who tries it can’t believe how much it looks, tastes and feels like a traditional cigarette. You can even blow smoke rings with the Nicocig.

The Nicocig is a rechargeable electronic cigarette. The Nicocig refill cartridges contain nicotine solution which is turned into a vapour inside the Nicocig’s vaporisation chamber. You can’t see this happening as the technology is all contained within the Nicocig itself. This is inhaled in the same way as smoking a normal cigarette. When you inhale, the tip of the Nicocig lights up red, in exactly the same way as a traditional cigarette. The vapour is a dense mist which looks almost exactly the same as cigarette smoke. It even behaves in the same way – you can inhale and exhale the vapour, breathe it out through your mouth or nose, and even blow smoke rings with it.

The Nicocig electronic cigarette is approximately the same length as a long cigarette, such as a Superking cigarette. It is also very slightly chubbier than a normal cigarette. The great thing is that nobody will be able to tell the difference between a Nicocig and a normal cigarette unless they look very closely. The Nicocig is incredibly realistic.

As nothing is being burned by the Nicocig e cig, this electronic cigarette can be used indoors in public places as it is unaffected by the smoking ban. As the Nicocig looks so realistic, we suggest you ask the management before “lighting up” as they will not be able to tell the difference between a Nicocig and a normal cigarette when they see you smoking it. That’s how realistic it looks!

The fantastic thing about the Nicocig electronic cigarette is that you are not breathing in smoke, but a nicotine vapour. This nicotine vapour does not contain the harmful smoke substances created by burning tobacco. The Nicocig does not burn anything, but vaporises the nicotine solution to make a smoke-like vapour. It looks just like real smoke and can be exhaled in exactly the same way as traditional cigarette smoke.

We sell the Nicocig for £39.95 including free postage and packing. This is a money saving investment. You receive 6 cartridges with the Nicocig, which is the equivalent of 60 traditional cigarettes. This would normally cost in the region of £20. So you’ve already recouped half your money. Each set of 6 refill cartridges for the Nicocig only costs £5.95 including free postage and packing, and once again this equates to approximately 60 cigarettes. That works out at less than a third of the cost of traditional cigarettes, and you will save hundreds of pounds every year. For example, if you smoke 20 cigarettes per day every week, that would normally cost in the region of £50. Over the course of a year, that would amount to £2600. With the Nicocig, the equivalent number of cigarettes would cost approximately £14 every week and only £700 per year, which is quite a saving!

In the Nicocig Starter Kit you will receive 2 rechargeable batteries, a mains socket battery charger, a vaporisation chamber, a velvet carry case and 6 refill cartridges ranging from high to low nicotine strength so that you can assess which strength suits you best. It’s a fantastic starter kit, and is not only perfect if you are looking for a smoking alternative, but makes a fantastic gift for anyone trying to kick the habit.

Choosing a manual or an electronic door opener for your commercial property doors is usually a matter of preference.  Both perform well and do the job that they are required to do.  Commercial property owners who decide to install electronic door closers are faced with another question: single-point or multi-point models?

This question applies in particular to fire doors.  Fire doors protect commercial properties in the event of a fire emergency.  They are made of materials which are highly resistant to flames and heat.  During a fire, the door will prevent the spread of fire from one part of a commercial building to another.  By containing a fire to the smallest possible area of a building, more property and possibly even lives are spared.

Door closers are an essential part of commercial doors.  They are, in fact, a requirement in almost every industrialized country in the world.  However, commercial property owners have a great deal of discretion when it comes to the type(s) of door closers they choose. 

Property owners must maintain the integrity of fire doors.  But in choosing electronic door closers with single or multi-point holding features, owners have the option to leave fire doors open (depending on the type of facility/business) while still having the assurance that doors will close automatically in the event of a fire, thus maintaining the building’s fire integrity. 

The prevention of the spread of fire from building compartment to compartment can only be maintained if fire doors are closed when a fire breaks out.  Local laws and building codes vary in regard to the status of fire doors.  Some regions specify that fire doors must remain closed at all times.  Others state that fire doors must be closed in the event of a fire.  Still others may actually require fire doors that automatically close when a building’s fire detection system is activated.

To bring this into perspective, take a typical office building as an example.  An individual lessee whose door has been equipped with an automatic door closing device can leave its entrance door propped open, even if the door is a fire door.  Should a fire or an interruption to power occur, the door closer will be automatically activated.

Electronic door closers may come in single or multi-point holding models.  A single-point holding electronic door closer, has the capability to hold a fire door open in a single position.  Typically, single-point door closers hold a door in a fully-opened position.  Multi-point holding models can hold a door open in multiple positions according to preference (i.e. fully, half or partially opened.)

In the event that power is interrupted (i.e. power failure) the door will close manually like a rack-and-pinion closing device.  Electronic hold-open door closers may also be outfitted with smoke/fire detectors.  These devices will automatically close the door when particles of combustion are detected.

Either way, commercial property owners can count on electronic door closers with hold-open function to protect their properties, employees and customers in a fire emergency.  Plus, they offer the convenience of choice in allowing fire doors to stay open as desired without compromising safety integrity.

 

 

Miami is well renowned for its beach culture. First time visitors to the city usually head straight to South Beach to check out the beautiful people alternating on improving their tan or physique. But those in the know have associated Miami with something else for some time now; electronic music.

When the lights go out in Miami the parties start, and this has been the springboard for the electronic music scene to really take off. South Beach and Ocean Drive at night transform from beach culture to club culture, and throughout Miami bars and clubs play a mix of house, salsa, jazz and techno loud into the night.

The dance scene in Miami is really setting the standards for the rest of the world to follow. This is typified by the growing success of festivals such as the Ultra Music Festival. This legendary dance festival is now in its 11th year – which attracted more than 55,000 revellers in 2008 – winning the coveted accolade of Best International Dance Event. Some of the biggest names in dance music have performed the festival over the years, including Tiesto, Underworld, Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold.

The Ultra Music Festival was the closing event in 2009 for another of Miamiâ??s milestone electronic music events; the Miami Winter Music Conference. The WMC as its known is the place to be for anyone connected to electronic music. It brings the electronic music world together for a series of events aimed at showcasing what this type of music has to offer, as well as providing an unrivalled concentration of top artists and promoters.

The Miami culture, coupled with the energy, drive and enthusiasm shown by music producers and promoters within Miami have really placed the city at the centre of the electronic music scene, not just in North America but throughout the world.

And as party destinations go, Miami is sure to offer visitors to the city a great night out. But there are a few ground rules to consider before stepping foot onto the Miami club scene. Firstly, Miami nights usually last well into the following morning, and typically donâ??t get into full swing until midnight, so be prepared for a long night. Secondly, dress for the occasion, as Miami clubs expect a well dressed clientele. And finally, have fun. Itâ??s what itâ??s all about.

What’s more, regardless of the time of year you may choose to take your flights to Miami, it is good to know that you are sure to find a suitable club or festival that showcases the best in electronic music.

Background to electronic forms

You’ve decided you need electronic forms or have a feeling they should be implemented.

“An electronic form” is a transaction between a user and the form provider. The form can be pre-filled with data from a backend database system before it is presented to the user. When the form is submitted to the provider the data is saved to be used in a business process.

The most common reasons for using electronic forms are:

Cost savings by avoiding re-keying of data

Faster customer service resulting in better customer satisfaction

Comply with a government or industry regulation.

No tool will turn a bad form into a good one, and automating a bad form simply collects bad data more quickly – or alienates your users.

Following these ten tips will make sure your new forms are a success.

Choose the right approach

Deciding which form format to use depends on what it will be used for.

If your form is very short, such as a two-box login form, then we suggest an HTML form.

You may be required to comply with regulations such as Section 501 or similar where your target users could be blind or disabled. HTML forms are typically more user friendly when complying to such regulations.

PDF forms are likely to be the best approach if:

There is some advantage to your users in keeping the layout of an existing paper form, such as if they are likely to be copying from paper to screen.

The form previously existed only on paper and now you want to make it electronic.

2. Skills Availability

Creation of an electronic form and its deployment needs specific skills. Most of the time it is found that companies struggle with a skills shortage and work overload to implement technology even after buying the necessary computer hardware and software.

Creating an electronic form requires different skills:

Working with software installation and databases.

Ability with words and understanding of business processes.

Ability to design field names, preferably with some knowledge of how the fields will be used in the database.

Working with field lengths, descriptions and validations.

Understanding of business processes; ability to find and correct errors; working with word processors.

Working with the web.

Most organizations find that they have these skills available but not necessarily in one person. For example, there may be someone who is good with databases, the web, and validations, and someone else who is good with word processors and understands the business processes.

You’ll get the best results, quickly, if you identify people with the right skills to work together from the start.

Check that each form has the basics

Make sure that each form has these essential pieces of information:

A logo, crest, or something else that identifies who issued the form.

A title that says what the form is for.

A note at the end saying what to do with it when it is filled in.

Contact details for how to get help with the form.

4. Adapt the form for on-screen completion

Remove instructions and formatting that is only relevant to paper: For example:

“write neatly in black ink”, or “use CAPITALS”.

“please tick the box” (can’t do it on-screen – say “please choose” instead).

“use a separate sheet if more space is needed” (can’t do it on-screen – consider offering an “add another page” button instead).

ruled lines, underlined spaces and boxes.

Think about where to put the SEND or SUBMIT button. The best place is usually at the end of the form.

Decide whether you really need a button that throws away all the user’s input. If you think that your users will definitely want to do this, then create a button that clearly states “THROW AWAY ALL MY ANSWERS”.

Edit the instructions

Most forms have far too many words.

Aim to cut half of them.

Establish rules for frequent questions

If you’re only working with one form then skip this tip.

Most of us have to contend with lots of forms. If you compare a selection of them, you’ll find that there are some questions that come up frequently.

For example:

Personal details such as name, address, telephone and email address.

Declarations and consents.

Requests for dates such as the start date of a service.

Official information such as a reference number from a bill.

Your work will be quicker, and it will be easier for your users, if you establish some standards for how you ask for these repeated questions. For example:

Decide on the order that you ask for names e.g. title, first name and last name.

Decide whether to ask for an address in a single multi-line block or whether to split it up into three or four lines.

Decide whether to ask for the postcode first (and consider using an address lookup product) or last in the address.

Decide if you need a portal model of personalization for forms whereby the user gets a pre-filled form with basic details already filled for him automatically.

Cut your declaration to the absolute minimum that your lawyers will agree to, and then use it consistently.

Work out how many characters you will accept in standard questions such as names. These will become your field lengths when you automate the form.

It saves time if you make a ‘template’ form that has the basic information and your most frequently asked questions set up in it. You can use the ‘template’ feature in Word, or just have a basic starting document that you copy for each form.

Manage the forms in their life cycle

Forms can change over a period of time due to various reasons. It can be a legal reason, usability reason or a specific business reason.

Make sure you have a simple to use strategy to manage the versions of each form published.

Think about the business reasons for validation

There are three possible levels of validation:

Strict – the computer will not allow the user to proceed until correct data is entered.

Soft – the computer warns the user that the data is missing or incorrect, but the user can proceed.

None – there is no warning and the computer accepts any input.

Think about the business reasons for each validation. Paper forms allow users to enter whatever they think they need to fulfill the purpose of the form. This means that if their particular answer happens to be unexpected, they can still fill in the form and proceed.

If you have strict validation, then you may lose some users whose circumstances are a little different to whatever you anticipated.

Soft validations are the most challenging to program, but can deliver the best user experience because users find out about genuine slips but can still enter data where their answer doesn’t quite fit with your pre-defined ideas.

Opting for no validation is the easiest to program, but may confuse your users if they inadvertently make minor errors.

Tidy it up

Forms that look tidy are easier to fill in.

Check that you have used capitals consistently. Sentence case (like this) is easiest to read. Title Case Like This Is The Next Best Choice. ALL UPPER CASE LIKE THIS IS HARDEST TO READ – AVOID IT.

If you decide to put colons after your questions, then make sure that you have them for every question.

Try to make all the boxes line up neatly, both horizontally (in line with the questions) and vertically.

Run a spell checker and a grammar checker.

Test it with real users

Ask some real users from the target audience to try your form. Watch them as they fill it in, and ask them to tell you what they think about it as they work through it.

Watching a real user work on your form is the single best way of finding out whether it is successful.

For detailed information on electronic forms and their implementation, visit http://www.primeapple.co.uk

Women are taking a greater interest in, and have a more sophisticated understanding of electronics than ever before.
Women actually spent more on technology last year than men, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It says women accounted for $55 billion of the $96 billion spent on electronics gear (statistic from a January 6 CEA press release).
Women are increasingly interested in gadgets, from DVD players to digital cameras, for themselves or birthday gifts for their families.
Almost a third of women consider themselves early adopters willing to buy cutting-edge consumer technology.
CEA reported that women in the United States are becoming more likely to use consumer electronics. CEA’s study provides detailed information about the attitudes, purchase considerations, decision influences, purchase channels, current product ownership, and future purchase intent. Here are some of the findings:
• Women are involved in 89 percent of all consumer electronics purchase decisions.
• 84% of women believe that new technologies can improve their lives.
• 48% of women age 18-34 own a digital camera.
The CEA survey noted that women have very positive reactions to specific technology areas, like HDTV, cell phones, and digital photography.
Women have more buying power and they increasingly use technology to manage their busy schedules. Women’s comfort level with technology is at an all-time high.
Women want products that make it easy to connect and make it easy to operate; limited wiring or no wires at all; slim, well-designed products; making electronics available in different colors is not very important; low on setup and high on usability. Usability often is an important factor to women when they buy technology;
At CES, organizers hung big pink banners saying “Technology is a Girl’s Best Friend,” even though the group’s own research found a third of women surveyed don’t like products with girlie colors.
Nearly three-quarters of women surveyed complained about being ignored or patronized by sales people when shopping for electronics.
A growing number of companies are starting to target their wares toward female buyers.
Sony is outfitting its electronics with features that many women seek and is designing Sony Style retail stores to appeal to women’s preferences by creating an environment where women feel comfortable. Many of Sony’s efforts are focused on functionality. Women are becoming informed and involved in technology areas where they once had little or no presence.