To support electric vehicles like the Leaf, which will be available in Houston toward year's end, the city and Reliant are working to create an infrastructure that places charging stations in convenient locations. Reliant will also be developing a system of support, including home assessments, for people installing home charging stations. The stations will be compatible with other plug-in vehicles as well.

Can't make it to SoHo anytime soon or in this lifetime? Then you should head over to StyleCaster to get a sense of what ambitious, smart fashion is walking the streets of NYC South of Houston. New York is teeming with this apparel and footwear clacking away to catch a cab.

StyleCaster is most definitely a Big Apple property, which is only to its benefit as they grow their site. The city is a fashion and media capital.

With the new boom of startup activity on the East Coast they find themselves in a great position to gain users, make partnerships (both tech savvy and with traditional media) and to be in the epicenter of the next fashion trends. Think what Portfolio.com used to be, but for fashion.

Fashion sites often suffer from a lack of depth, see content, or lack of tech to make them accessible. They often rely heavily on motion graphics in Flash and a business model based on revenue from affiliate sales. Not StyleCaster. They have mixed all the ingredients and a some other special sauce to create a complete user experience.

It would be hard to write this review if I didn't break their site down from the beginning. StyleCaster is three distinct properties that have been plied together with one smaller cousin: Fashion Recommendations, Social Network, News/Blog and Shopping (the smaller cousin).

Fashion Recommendations

This is the core value proposition for StyleCaster. They deliver a tailored interface for weather and season with 360 degree model views.

Earlier this summer they took this concept and created an iPhone app that was just as robust as their site. The experience that they are able to deliver with their Daily Looks section should make retailers jealous. They have merged seamless cross-selling with the common sense that your friend might recommend and item to you.

Social Network

Everyone wants on this bandwagon for many reasons and the number one being to get funded. I'm not sure if this is what got StyleCaster $4 million but this is how it is done right, in case you were wondering.

They first look to a larger network, in this case Facebook, and integrate with their API through Connect. Second, they take this data and create an onsite profile each registrant. Third, and final in this process of hooking user into their community, they make it drop dead simple to engage with other users based on contributor types, cities, at random and a 15 minutes of fame section. A simple horizontal navigation that tracks users onsite fashionista moves.

News/Blog

Fashion Recommendations might be the awesome wow factor that you need to attract the fashion forward and a Social Network to get users connected and spending time on your site but the most impressive feature of this site isn't really a feature. The Newsroom and Blog sections of StyleCaster are destinations for an insiders perspective on fashion. This is where the magic of this site is made.

This is content that matches the ambition and smarts of the fashion they follow . . . delivers and then some. My only gripe is that the IA and taxonomy is lacking lacking and it can be difficult to find much of the great content that is buried in the site.

StyleCaster's headlines can be seen on other fashion/celeb sites around the net but smart money would probably say that there are more partnerships in the works to deliver full content. I'm not smart money, so I can't say for sure.

Shopping

Well, what would a fashion site be without shopping? I called this the one smaller cousin' and I mean it. Simply put, the focus of this site is obviously to build a company and a brand based on high quality content, technology and a great user experience. It wasn't built with shopping at its core. And that is awesome! There is a solid enough foundation in place that if StyleCaster went down this road they would find success but not as much as they will find by having all of other components in place.

I've gushed quite a bit here over what is just another startup. They are just another startup that needs to prove itself in the marketplace. I believe they will. And even if they don't, this business, with any one of the three aforementioned sections would make any entrepreneur very happy with the traffic they could bring. Kudos to the team that are making this happen. They're getting done the right way.

It wouldn't be right to do a post about a fashion startup without some snark, now would it?

If you have ever wanted to release that inner hater, head to The Daily Looks section and spin them tall skinny models round and round until your petty little heart is content. Not that I did or would want to do this.

Tip if you do: Play house music to make it a party. Remember, you can't do this in SoHo!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

StyleCaster Is Your SoHo Connection is a post from: TechStartups.com

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Kidrobot has heard all about Taco Bell's Urban Vinyl' toys, and they're fighting back. In case you haven't heard, Taco Bell has decided to appeal to the designer toy market by including obvious Dunny knock-offs called BellHedz in their kids meals. Including designer toys is one matter, but these toys are knock-offs right down to the packaging and colorways. To let Taco Bell that this isn't okay, Kidrobot has been giving away real Dunnys, stickers, and t-shirts at Houston & Lafayette, just off Broadway in NYC since 11:30 this morning. A very awesome way of fighting back.

Source: SpankyStokes

MSNBC.com just announced that it has acquired EveryBlock, a 'hyperlocal' news and information site that has been publishing and aggregating data and news stories for 16 American cities for the last two years. EveryBlock aggregates local news stories, but it also makes publicly available information like data about restaurant inspections and crimes available in an easy to read format. EveryBlock had been funded by a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation. This is MSNBC.com's second major acquisition after it bought the social news site Newsvine in October 2007.

Sponsor

Neither MSNBC nor EveryBlock released specifics about the price of the acquisition, but the site's founder, Adrian Holovaty, and his team will remain based in Chicago. According to MSNBC.com's president Charlie Tillinghast, EveryBlock will remain an independent brand, though MSNBC will surely to try to integrate some of EveryBlock's data into the main MSNBC.com site, which doesn't feature a lot of local news at this point.

Local EveryBlock sites are currently available for Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. While a number of other companies, including Outside.in, for example, also aggregate local news from blogs and mainstream news sources, EverBlock stands out because of how well it displays local information from public records. The site, for example, aggregates data about everything from building permits and police calls to liquor license status changes and excavation permits - data that is generally hidden away on government websites that are often hard to navigate.

EveryBlock's source code is freely available under the GPL license. The site was built on top of the Django framework.

People often say that Kobe Bryant has no weaknesses to his game, but that's not really true. Before the game, Battier was given his special package of information. He's the only player we give it to, Morey says. We can give him this fire hose of data and let him sift. Most players are like golfers. You don't want them swinging while they're thinking.

If [Kobe] has 40 points on 40 shots, I can live with that, Battier says. My job is not to keep him from scoring points but to make him as inefficient as possible. The court doesn't have little squares all over it to tell him what percentage Bryant is likely to shoot from any given spot, but it might as well.The reason the Rockets insist that Battier guard Bryant is his gift for encouraging him into his zones of lowest efficiency. The effect of doing this is astonishing: Bryant doesn't merely help his team less when Battier guards him than when someone else does. When Bryant is in the game and Battier is on him, the Lakers' offense is worse than if the N.B.A.'s best player had taken the night off. [emphasis mine]

Bridal Expo produces the Bridal Extravaganza Show in Houston, one of the largest bridal shows in the US. Hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of prospective brides attend; the show has been in business for 25 years and keeps databases of attendees and potential clients. Defendant Wedding Showcase scheduled the Houston Wedding Showcase for Feb. 2009, a few weeks after the Bridal Extravaganza at the same location. The individual defendants van Florestein and Moore, were key to creating the Wedding Showcase and are former Bridal Expo employeesshow manager and assistant. They left Bridal Expo in July 2008, but not before Moore downloaded Bridal Expo's databases and other information.

Defendants used Bridal Expo's database to mail ads to vendors for Wedding Showcase's November 2008 seminar. They used Google to advertise the Wedding Showcase as Houston's #1 Bridal Show, and mailed a brochure to vendors using quotations attributed to our vendors and our brides that actually came from other bridal shows on the East Coast, produced by another company.

In an earlier state court suit, Bridal Expo brought claims for trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and related torts. The judge denied a TRO and after a hearing also denied a temporary injunction. Bridal Expo nonsuited the state case and sued in federal court, using the same claims along with a Lanham Act false advertising claim and a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim.

On the state claims, the district court refused to disturb the state court's ruling on the temporary injunction. All the elements of collateral estoppel were present, though this of course only affected the availability of temporary relief, not a final adjudication on the merits. Given that only a month had passed since the state court denial, and that plaintiffs had held a successful bridal show in the interim (thus suggesting lack of harm), the court found no reason to revisit the state court's decision.

On the false advertising claim, plaintiffs argued that Houston's #1 Bridal Show was literally false, since Bridal Extravaganza is, in fact, the largest bridal show in Houston by any number of measures, and that the statement wasn't puffery because it was unambiguous and needed no additional context to give it meaning. Also, they argued that the brochures were literally false because defendants have yet to produce a bridal show in Houston.

Defendants called the Google ads puffery, and argued that the use of our in the brochures referred to the principals of Wedding Showcase, who have produced many shows. Moreover, the brochures mentioned several times that the Houston Wedding Showcase is a new show.

The court held, based on Pizza Hut, that the Google ads were too ambiguous to be actionable, and were the kind of bald assertion or general statement of superiority on which no reasonable consumer would rely. See also In re Century 21-RE/MAX Real Estate Advertising Claims Litigation, 882 F .Supp. 915, 923 (C.D.Cal.1994) (holding that # 1 was too vague to be actionable and declared ... # 1 in the United States and the World" was puffery, because it was opinion and made no reference to what was #1). Anyway, defendants stopped running the ad.

As for the brochure, plaintiffs argued that the our statements were literally false, and also that the brochure made literally false claims that van Florestein and another defenant had a combined 25 years of experience. Moreover, they argued that, by scheduling their show shortly after Bridal Extravaganza at the same location, defendants were trying to confuse customers into thinking their show was the Bridal Extravaganza.

On this record, the court found no literal falsity. Our could readily, in context, refer to the show's owners, one of whom ran the shows on the East Coast from which the our statements came. The brochure explained that the Houston Wedding Showcase would be a new show with a long history. Likewise, more than 25 years of combined experience could refer to the sum of the two principals' individual experience, not 25 years each. The court concluded that it was unlikely that a sophisticated vendor audience, familiar with the Houston wedding market, would be misled into thinking that the quoted brides and vendors were from Houston.

The evidence of confusion between the shows was that one of plaintiff's employees heard from one vendor at the Bridal Extravaganza that he was confused about who was running the Wedding Showcase, but there was no evidence of any connection to the brochure, and this was insufficient to claim confusion overall, though this might be an issue for a jury.

The CFAA claim was based on 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(4), creating liability for a person who knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value . For a civil claim, there are extra requirements; here, the key was loss to 1 or more persons during any 1-year period ... aggregating at least $5,000 in value. Loss includes costs of responding to an offense and conducting a damage assessment. Here, the claimed loss was the confidential trade secrets.

Defendants argued that their access wasn't without authorization and didn't exceed their authorization. Van Florestein and Moore accessed their work computers and took files to which they were allowed access as employees. They argued that there's a difference between access to computers and use or disclosure of information obtained through that access.

There's a split over the meaning of authorization. Some courts say that using files to harm the employer violates the CFAA even if the employee technically has authorization to access the files in the scope of her duties. Contrary to that, other courts have noted that, when Congress wanted to prohibit things like communication and delivery, it listed them. If Congress wanted to reach all wrongdoers who access information they then use to the detriment of their employers, it could have omitted the statute's words of limitation altogether. Despite the conclusions of other courts, the district court determined that, given those statutory construction arguments and the rule of lenity (since the CFAA is also a criminal statute), authorization is not exceeded just because the employee breaches her duty of loyalty to an employer.

Here, the files were copied/downloaded on the defendants' last day of employment. They hadn't signed a confidentiality agreement or any other agreement restricting access to the files they'd been working on at Bridal Expo. It was within the nature of their relationship to use their computers and access the files at issue. Indeed, a key Bridal Expo employee saw them using the computer on their final day and didn't complain, even though it was after they'd turned in their keys.

Thus, the court found plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits. Moreover, even had there been a likelihood of success, a preliminary injunction would have been unwarranted, based on the Fifth Circuit's hesitance to grant injunctive relief against the use of information obtained through a past violation of the CFAA, where there was no potential for ongoing access.

The court stated, somewhat confusingly, that it would be willing to revisit the issue if defendants were continuing to use the vendor email list to advertiseeven if there's no likelihood of success on the merits? And then the court said that even if it had found likely success on the merits, it wouldn't have entered an injunction, because plaintiffs hadn't shown irreparable harmthat successful show they'd conducted since defendants entered the marketand defendants would suffer great harm if they couldn't produce their show: they'd have to cancel contracts, unwind arrangements on short notice, and pay cancellation fees. About that email list: It's unusual in a written opinion for a court to signal so overtly that, though it thinks there's no legal basis for some behavior, it nonetheless expects a party to engage in that behavior, but that seems to be what happened here.

www.emergenow.com

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008, Emerging Solutions was recently named to Microsoft's crme de la crme group of partners the 2008 Microsoft Dynamics Presidents Club! My best congratulations to all of my fellow colleagues in the Microsoft Consulting Group.

If you're looking for a reliable partner to help you with your business and technology needs, please visit the Emerging Solutions Contact Us page.

For more details about this prestigious status, see the press release below.

Microsoft Honors Emerging Solutions for Outstanding Customer Commitment and Sales Achievement

Chicago, IL - July 10, 2008 - Emerging Solutions has been named to the 2008 Microsoft Dynamics President's Club receiving recognition from Microsoft Corp. for its dedicated commitment to customers. This honor reflects the company's success in extending the Microsoft Dynamics platform to drive business advantages in companies worldwide.

This recognition came during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston. The elite club recognizes the top 5 percent of Microsoft Business Solutions partners worldwide and their constant dedication to delivering solutions that meet their customers' unique needs, active pursuit of product and technological advancement, and impressive sales performance.

Microsoft is proud to congratulate Emerging Solutions on being named to this year's Microsoft Dynamics President's Club, said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners. Emerging Solutions not only has demonstrated a high level of product expertise, but also has provided a superior level of service and commitment to our Microsoft Dynamics customers, ultimately contributing to the overall success of Microsoft Dynamics and companies worldwide.

We draw on a unique combination of competencies in Microsoft Dynamics. Our comprehensive coverage of these solutions and unique processes allow our consultants to better understand customer business needs and how technologies fit into the big picture of an organization. We will continue to work closely with Microsoft and the Dynamics suite of products to provide leading-edge solutions for our customers, said Don Sweeney, Emerging Solutions Co-Founder and Microsoft Practice Lead.

With applications experts focused in Microsoft Dynamics GP, AX, CRM and SL, Emerging Solutions' consultants provide the necessary guidance not only in individual application strategy and deployment, but also in complete rollout and integration of these diverse solutions.

About Emerging Solutions
Emerging Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is an established professional services firm that helps global and mid-market firms maximize the benefits of business applications through leading technology. We provide strategic guidance, implementation and innovative integration solutions for business and technology applications from leading software vendors. For more information visit Emerging Solutions at www.emergenow.com.

February 2008:

Four large newspaper companies are joining forces to sell advertisements on the Internet, hoping that the combined heft of their Web sites will encourage large advertisers to spend more money.

Each of the four companies the Tribune Company, the Gannett Company, the Hearst Corporation and The New York Times Company is transferring a portion of its online ad space to quadrantONE, a new company that will be announced Friday.

The purpose of the joint venture, which will be based in Chicago and will hire 17 people [commitment!], is to let national advertisers place ads on local Web sites with a single phone call [phone call!].

The sites belong to papers like The Los Angeles Times (which is a Tribune property), The Des Moines Register (Gannett), The Houston Chronicle (Hearst) and The Boston Globe (The New York Times Company).

Some of the companies' flagship sites, however, will not be included, because they are not considered local. These include the sites of USA Today, a Gannett paper, and of The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, which are owned by the Times Company. [These are also known as the ones that actually have reasonable numbers of readers.]

Executives involved said the newspaper companies understand [by which they mean, "used to have a local monopoly but don't anymore"] the local market better than Google, Yahoo and Microsoft...

The companies were also all part of the New Century Network in the late 1990s...

Source: New York Times.

March 1998:

[W]hen New Century Network was kicked off last April by nine [newspaper] giants teaming up to conquer electronic competition, even the launch party bombed...

In a ballroom at the Newspaper Association of America convention in Chicago, a thousand bottles of champagne emblazoned with ''New Century Network: The Collective Intelligence of America's Newspapers'' awaited the hordes expected to come to toast the watershed new-media joint venture. When fewer than 100 people showed up, Chief Executive Lee de Boer made an abbreviated speech before retreating...

The reception was the first public humiliation for New Century Network, but only one in a series of blunders that culminated in the company's abrupt shutdown on Mar. 10. Created in 1995 to unite newspapers against Microsoft Corp. and other competitors girding to woo electronically advertisers and readers, New Century Network came to embody everything that could go wrong when old-line newspapers converge with new media...

Started with $1 million each from Knight-Ridder, Tribune, Times Mirror, Advance Publications, Cox Enterprises, Gannett, Hearst, Washington Post, and New York Times, New Century seemed an entrepreneurial dream. The Internet had just opened to the world, creating vast new competition for readers--and for the advertisers that pump $40 billion into newspapers. But it also gave newspapers a chance to capture national accounts that favored the one-stop-shopping convenience of TV and national magazines...

[T]he [newspaper] companies had wildly diverging philosophies about how newspapers should make the electronic leap and what role the new venture should play. ''You had private companies and public companies and companies that were risk-averse and those that were risk-tolerant,'' says Harry Chandler, head of new media for Los Angeles Times. ''You had big-city papers and small chains. We shared a need. But it was frustrating trying to come together.''

While the wired world moved at warp speed, New Century spent 18 months hiring a permanent ceo and two years creating an electronic doorway to 140 newspapers... ''This [Internet] thing is really racing,'' says Al Sikes, the former Federal Communications Commissioner who is president of Hearst New Media. ''Organizations of a number of co-equals can't turn on a dime.''...

The partners ultimately invested more than $25 million in the virtual venture... The board decided... to pull the plug, coming to a remarkably quick agreement--for the first and final time...

Source: Business Week.