April 2, 2012

For Immediate Release

Contact Person: Ms. Brena Phelps
Organization: The Kingdom Builders’ Center
Phone: 713-726-2552
E-mail: biz@thekbc.com

An Evening with Michael A. Graves:
“How To CHANGE in Order to Survive… The Personal and Professional Challenges of Starting a Business in a Recession”

On Thursday, April 26, 2012, An Evening with Michael Graves: “How To CHANGE in Order to Survive… The Personal and Professional Challenges of Starting a Business in a Recession” will be held at The Kingdom Builders’ Center, 6011 W. Orem Drive, Houston, Texas 77085, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mr. Graves will be joined by a panel of business executives for a roundtable discussion, all committed to inspire, share and educate attendees. The event is free but advance registration is required to attend.

Mr. Graves is a leading sales, marketing, and media executive, and the Founding Partner of the Graves Advisory Group, LLC, located in New York City. Graves Advisory Group provides corporate clients access to integrated media and corporate relations across key industry sectors. He currently serves as a Principal and Board Member of his family’s media empire, Black Enterprise, in New York, where he was formerly the Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer. Graves was formerly the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Pepsi-Cola of Washington, D.C., then the largest minority-owned Pepsi franchise in the U.S.

To reserve a seat, register online at KBCHouston.com/Michael-Graves immediately or no later than Tuesday, April 24, 2012. For questions about registration, please email Ms. Brena Phelps at biz@thekbc.com.

This event is sponsored by The Kingdom Builders’ Center’s Entrepreneur Learning Center. The Entrepreneur Learning Center is dedicated to providing services and education to business owners of all types and aspiring entrepreneurs. The Kingdom Builders’ Center is a 183,000 square foot multi-purpose facility located in central Southwest Houston that offers exceptional space for business and personal meetings and events for groups of 10 to 2,500.

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The HP PhotoSmart eStation C510 Wireless All-in-One is a very versatile device for home users. Print, scan and fax through your home Wi-Fi network or print to the device from your iOS devices or anywhere you have Internet access.

Hewlett Packard’s new PhotoSmart eStation All-in-One C510 is the first multifunction device using HP’s ePrint that I’ve tested out, and I have to say that, all things considered, I like it.

HP’s ePrint technology lets you print from anywhere you have Internet access. It works by setting up an e-mail account for the printer, so all you have to do is be able to e-mail to that address to print on the device. You can send documents, pictures – a wide variety of different formats – to this e-mail address and the files will be printed out when you get back to the printer. This multifunction is also compatible with Apple’s AirPrint, so you can print directly to it from your iOS devices that are running on iOS 4 without needing to have your computer on like some other Apps require.

The one feature of this printer that physically sets it apart is the Zeen 7” Android-powered tablet that you attach to the front of the printer. The Zeen is a touchscreen tablet that you can take away from the printer and use as a stand-alone tablet or E-reader, although functionality is very limited because even though it’s an Android device you can’t connect to the Android Marketplace to download Apps to it. The Zeen,although a nice feature, isn’t something I would get a lot of use from.  As a tablet, it’s so limited that it’s not very useful, and as an E-book reader it’s not in the league of the Kindle or iPad. Because it also handles most of the controls for the multifunction it’s not something I’d want to have anywhere but onboard. I’m not sold on the whole Zeen idea and I’d like to see this device with all the present capabilities but without the Zeen.

Setup is a breeze and if you have a wireless network you’ll love this printer when all is said and done. Setup is in three parts and requires you to load software into your computer, and set the Zeen and printer up. That may sound intimidating to some, but it really is easy enough for almost anyone to do and doesn’t take very long at all.

The all-in-one C510 scans, copies, faxes and prints, all wirelessly, and it works on a 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi network. It’ll run at the speed of your home network, so it may print a page fairly quickly if the network is idle, or it might take a while if junior is using all your bandwidth playing WarCraft. It works with PCs running Windows XP and up, and Macs running OS X 10.5 and up.

The PhotoSmart C510 is a beautiful looking printer – it’s glossy black surface looks good on the desk, and it’s relatively quiet. Print speeds are rated at 33 pages per minute for black and 32 PPM for colour. It scans at 9600 x 2400-optomized DPI and has a duty cycle rated at 1250 copies per month. In my experience, a duty cycle is generally about 60% of that number, so this device will handle about 750 copies per month without too much trouble. It’s more a home device than for business use.

You can see the complete specs for the HP eStation C510 here.

It automatically duplexes, so for multi page documents you’ll use half the paper, and the print quality of both documents and photos is excellent. You can also print directly from a SD card – there’s a slot on the top of the Zeen, however that’s the only type of card it’ll accept.

You can scan to a number of different locations with this device. Scan directly to the SD card if you have one onboard; scan to a computer – when you select this function you can select any computer attached to your network for the scan to go to; or scan to an e-mail directly. It’s very convenient to use and I found myself using it a lot during my testing.

Faxing is done through a third party company that offers up to 20 faxes sent and 20 received in a month for free. After that it’s billable. That’s not a big deal for me because I can’t remember the last time I needed to fax something – usually I scan it and send it as a PDF. It’d be nice if HP provided that feature though. However if you like to use a fax a lot you will want to look into the possible extra costs.

The Zeen aside, the HP PhotoSmart C510 is a very nice multifunction. It might be a little expensive for a lot of home users with a MSRP of $399.99, but it also has a lot more features than many other printers have ,with the ability to print to it from anywhere and from iOS devices, along with the option of scanning and faxing wirelessly.

In addition to the price, there’s one other thing I don’t like about this device and that’s how the paper comes out of it. There’s no output tray, so if you print multiple page documents or a number of pictures they’ll end up in a pile on the floor.

Printing costs for the PhotoSmart eStation C510 will set you back $39.99 CAD for the 564XL Black cartridge, and $20.99 for the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Photo Black cartridges. The XL cartridges are the larger sized ones that offer 800 pages of black and 750 pages for all the other colours and 290 Photographs for the Photo Black cartridge. I’d only buy the XL cartridges because you get the most coverage for the lowest cost per page.

On Friday March 11, Apple’s iPad 2 will become available for purchase online and in retail stores. Early trade-in activity surrounding the original iPad suggests that that the iPad 2 will be in high demand.

As with last year’s original iPad and the iPhone 4, we anticipate crowds and long lines at various Apple retail stores across the United States. Are you interested in buying an iPad 2 this weekend? Here’s what you need to know.

Online or in-store

With the original iPad and the iPhone 4, Apple allowed individuals to place pre-orders online or to reserve a device for in-store pickup. With iPad 2, Apple is eschewing the pre-order game.

Instead, the iPad 2 will be available via Apple.com at some point early Friday, and in retail stores starting at 5:00pm. Online reports indicate that Apple.com sales will start at 12:01am PST on March 11, 2011. East coast buyers, set your clocks for 3am.

At Apple.com, users can choose between white or black variants in Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + 3G. Users can select either Verizon or AT&T for their Wi-Fi + 3G unit.

Apple promises “fast, free shipping,” which indicates they are using 2-day Fed Ex or UPS. Depending on when an order goes through, it’s possible users could get units on Monday March 14, 2011.

We’ll be realistic and expect that most users who place an order on Friday will receive their packages on Tuesday March 15, 2011. Like Caesar, you’ll need to watch for the Ides of March.

Apple retail stores will begin selling the iPad 2 at 5:00pm. Typically, Apple shuts down its stores for a few hours prior to launch in order to get signage, inventory and staff in place.

Lines may start at some outdoor Apple stores as early as Friday morning (if not Thursday night), but indoor mall locations may start later, depending on mall policies and general shopping traffic.

Retail partners

In addition to the Apple retail stores, the iPad 2 will also be available at Best Buy, Target, Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Verizon Wireless will also be selling the iPad 2 on Friday March 11, 2011. None of the retail launch partners have specified if sales will take place both in-store and online, but we expect that in-store sales will not begin until 5:00pm.

It isn’t clear if AT&T will be carrying the iPad 2 at launch (we’ve reached out to them for comment), but 3G variants from both carriers should be available at retail partners like Walmart and Best Buy. Neither AT&T nor Verizon will be carrying the Wi-Fi only models.

Models, colors, carriers

There are eighteen different iPad 2 units: the nine listed below, available in either black or white.

– iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi: $499.00

– iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi: $599.00

– iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi: $699.00

– iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $629.00

– iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $729.00

– iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi+3G Verizon: $829.00

– iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $629.00

– iPad 2 32GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $729.00

– iPad 2 64GB Wi-Fi+3G AT&T: $829.00

Unlike the white iPhone 4 debacle, Apple promises that white iPad 2 units will be available on launch day. It’s really anyone’s guess as to the breakdown between color choices.

Apple retail stores will likely have the most white units in-stock, with retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart carrying mostly black units.

Tips from iLine veterans

Having covered — and waited in — numerous iLines in the past, these are my suggestions:

– Best Buy, Target or Walmart stores near an Apple retail store are likely to be less crowded. Customers who want the fastest purchase experience should check the retail locations closest to the Apple Store.

– If you have a color/size preference, order online. Waiting in line for a few hours only to find out that the model you want is out of stock is no fun. If you want a specific color/capacity, reduce your stress level and order online.

– Plan for non-iPad 2 shoppers. Wireless stores get pretty busy on Friday nights even without the iPad 2 — keep that in mind before heading to the local Verizon or AT&T store.

– Avoid the Austin-area Apple stores. South By Southwest coincides with the iPad 2 launch, meaning thousands of geeks will be in town and may descend on the store. Locals and visitors alike should steer clear. Just thinking about it makes me queasy.

– Check Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare for line reports and information on how busy particular locations are.

– Wait for Saturday. It isn’t uncommon for stores like Best Buy and Walmart to get Friday deliveries. We imagine that at least some iPad 2 inventory will be delivered for the weekend, which means that Saturday mornings are a good time to try local stores — and if you’re brave — the Apple Store.