For many of the 12 former Arizona Wildcats players starting the season in the NBA, theres something to prove this year.

For rookie Aaron Gordon, whose Orlando Magic kicks off the season at the New Orleans Pelicans tonight at 5, its about showing the potential that made him a surprise No. 4 pick. For fellow rookie Nick Johnson, its carving out a role with the Houston Rockets and staying out of the D-League.

Then theres Derrick Williams, the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft, trying to find a more solid role with Sacramento before his lucrative rookie-scale contract runs out after the season.

Theres Solomon Hill, getting a chance to play regularly with the Pacers after a rookie year firmly on the outside of the rotation. Theres Chase Budinger, finally healthy in Minnesota after years of knee issues. And journeyman Jerryd Bayless, trying to find a home in Milwaukee.

Theres also two veterans in Richard Jefferson (Dallas) and Jason Terry (Houston) trying to show what they have left.

Overall, UAs 12 representatives counting Oklahoma Citys Grant Jerrett, who is out with an ankle injury are three more than the Wildcats had last season. Thats because Jerrett moved up from the D-League, while Johnson and Gordon joined the league in their first pro years.

Heres a look at each of the UA players in the league:

Years at UA (age): 2007-08 (26)

Last year: 9.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.7 apg

Whats new: After playing just his freshman season at UA during the Kevin ONeill interim season Bayless has wandered through the NBA. He split last season between Memphis and Boston, starting 14 of 41 games for the Celtics because of an injury to Rajon Rondo. Then he signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Bucks, his sixth NBA team over seven seasons.

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Former Wildcats littered across NBA landscape

By Morgan Swift | Published 21 hours ago

Maggie Morgan-Smith, a graduate anthropology student, commutes from Raleigh to campus due to a lack of available housing in Chapel Hill.

When it comes to finding a place to live, UNC graduate students are left with limited options that require a choice between affordability or convenience. But local developers are suggesting a solution in the form ofa proposed new apartment complex.

The Graduate is an apartment complex geared primarily toward UNCs graduate student population. The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a special use permit for the project Monday.

The Graduate is a seven-story complex that would be located downtown at 105 Kenan St.

Maggie Morgan-Smith, a UNC Ph.D. candidate in the anthropology department, said she encountered problems when she and her husband first made the move to Chapel Hill from Atlanta in 2008.

There were options, Morgan-Smith said. But we sort of felt like the apartment complexes were geared to undergrads and the rental housing market was difficult to navigate.

Many student apartments downtown have been designed to accommodate single bedroom leases to suit undergraduate students needs, said Jay Patel, project manager of The Graduate.

In grad student settings, theyre a little older and may have families, Patel said. They may prefer some privacy.

He said The Graduate would sign leases for entire apartments instead of single bedrooms.

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The Graduate apartment complex changes the housing landscape

How Much for New Kitchen Cabinets - Free Estimates
How Much for New Kitchen Cabinets http://youtu.be/hozmf7IG504 HOW MUCH FOR NEW KITCHEN CABINETS : 00:00:05 How Much for New Kitchen Cabinets 00:00:05 Kitchen Remodeling Estimates ...

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How Much for New Kitchen Cabinets - Free Estimates - Video

Why You Should Get a Residential Interior Designer
A residential interior design can give our home a distinct look, even if it part of a housing complex. Have you ever been to a big tour outside the city and ...

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Why You Should Get a Residential Interior Designer - Video

Rico. MindHelix

Rico is a cute, colorful dog-shaped device packed with motion, temperature, smoke, carbon monoxide and humidity sensors. The companion Android and iOS apps let you view sensor-related stats at-a-glance and receive alerts based on security, safety and environmental triggers.

There's more behind Rico's adorable facade than built-in sensors, though.

You can also stick an old smartphone inside this plastic puppy-hub to tack on HD camera, microphone, loudspeaker, 3G and Wi-Fi capabilities. Startup MindHelix says these features should work even if your phone has a broken screen.

Live streaming on the Rico app. MindHelix

Starting at $99 (at the current exchange rate, that's 60 in the UK and AU$110 in Australia), Rico is compatible with Android 2.2 and higher and iOS 6 and higher. And, supposedly, it's large enough to accommodate a max screen size of 5.7 inches. That's just enough space for the larger Note 3 and iPhone 6 Plus.

This blend of sensors and smartphone functionality takes Rico from a sensor kit to a more complete, Piper-like all-in-one home security system. But MindHelix isn't the first company to think up a smartphone-repurposing plan; we've seen a handful of other companies reuse Android and iOS devices for clever smart home applications.

The Manything app is one example. This free iOS app takes an old iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and converts it to a security camera in minutes, complete with "night vision" (thanks to your phone's flashlight), alerts with motion detection zones and an IFTTT channel -- features I wouldn't have expected to find in a free app.

The free Presence iOS app is pretty similar to Manything. It doesn't have its own IFTTT channel, but it does provide details on energy usage to help you save money on your monthly bill.

There's also Wise Labs' Bemo. If you have an old Android or iOS device collecting dust at home and happen to be in the market for a new thermostat, you can remove your current model and replace it with Bemo's wire port panel. Then you can mount your smart device over the panel to act as your new, touchscreen thermostat display.

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Turn your old smartphone into a new security system with Rico

Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. ( FBHS ) is scheduled to report its third-quarter fiscal 2014 results after the market closes on Oct 29. Last quarter, this home and security products providing company posted in-line earnings. Let's see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors Affecting the Upcoming Quarter

The U.S. home products market's growth for 2014 is now estimated at 6%-8%, hence the company has trimmed its forecast for the full year in spite of delivering in-line results for the second quarter. Moreover, based on this assumption and despite expected benefits from the Sentry Safe acquisition, the company trimmed its sales and earnings forecast for fiscal 2014.

The company now projects sales growth of nearly 9%-11% and earnings per share of $1.88-$1.96, respectively, as against 10%-12% and $1.90-$1.99 per share projected earlier. Based on the decline in the U.S. home products market projected for the rest of 2014, we expect the company to post soft results in the upcoming quarter.

Earnings Whispers?

Our proven model does not conclusively project Fortune Brands as likely to beat earnings this quarter. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 to surpass earnings estimates. However, this is not the case here due to the following factors:

Zacks ESP: ESP for Fortune Brands is 0.00% since the Most Accurate estimate stands at 56 cents per share, which is in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Zacks Rank #4 (Sell): Fortune Brands' Zacks Rank #4 when combined with a zero ESP makes surprise prediction unlikely. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Ranks #4 and #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some other companies you may want to consider as our model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

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Will Fortune Brands (FBHS) Disappoint This Earnings Season? - Analyst Blog

Nate Swanner

The do-it-yourself home security race is pretty well-heeled, with companies like iSmartAlarm or Skylinkstaking claim with their respective hardware. Then theres the smart home market, which typically offers no security, or at least very little of it. Home cameras are also involved, but they, too, fail to tie the connected home together, by and large (Nest/Dropcam are making inroads, there). The aforementioned iSmartAlarm is bringing two new devices to market that aim to tie your home up in a nice, neat little package.

The Smart Switch does what others like it (Belkins offering comes to mind) do, letting you have better control over your outlet and what may be plugged into it. The iSmartAlarm Smart Switch will work with their app, though, giving you a tighter all-in-one approach to controlling your home, even remotely.

As cameras go, lets be honest iSmartAlarms initial one was lacking. Their newest doesnt seem to be, though, rolling in jsut about everything youd want in a home security camera. The iCamera KEEP sits handsomely on a shelf, or mounted to a ceiling, but it also articulates 350 degrees side-to-side or 40 degrees vertically, letting you track the action in your home if need be (theres even night vision!).

All you need is access to a plug, and youre set! iSmartAlarm is also promising cloud and local storage in the future, and you can link up to four on your network. Of course, it also works with their existing home security hardware, too.

Both items are coming in December, but if youre sold on the iCamera KEEP, its best to head over to their Indiegogo campaign. Already fully funded, youre essentially buying an iCamera KEEP at a discount (as little as $129). You better hurry though; there are only about 62 hours left aswe publish this!

Source: iSmartAlarm

Originally posted here:
iSmartAlarms new camera, smart outlet bring full home automation

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ (PRWEB) October 28, 2014

October is National Toilet Tank Repair Month and Gold Medal Service, a heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical and waterproofing home service business that serves the New Jersey area, is reminding homeowners to get tanks checked before the holiday season.

Calls for toilet repairs pick up during the holiday season because it can be embarrassing when you have a house full of friends and family and the toilet wont flush, said Mike Agugliaro, co-owner of Gold Medal Service.

Homeowners and landlords should inspect toilets for leaks around the base, flapper and hoses, says Agugliaro.

Leaks can cause homeowners to lose more than 10,000 gallons of water each year, and a running toilet could waste up to 200 gallons per day. Most leaks require a quick and inexpensive fix than can save homeowners hundreds of dollars, with just a simple part replacement. Newer toilets are much more efficient and, depending on the model, can save up to 16,000 gallons of water per year, which will significantly lower water bills.

Not repairing a leak could cause devastating damage to the infrastructure of your home, said Agugliaro. Scheduling a service expert to come inspect for leaks ensures that nothing will be missed that could cause damage, and it decreases the probability of a costly mess that could interrupt holiday plans with friends and family.

About Gold Medal Service Gold Medal Service, rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau, was founded in New Jersey in 1994 with just two employees. Their vision was to provide homeowners with a reliable and trustworthy home service company customers could count on to fix just about anything that could go wrong in a home. Since then Gold Medal has grown to include more than 120 employees and technicians solving plumbing, heating, cooling, electric, drain, waterproofing, and sewer issues for homeowners across the state of New Jersey. Gold Medal Service is an Angies List Super Service Award recipient. For more information, call 800-576-GOLD or visit http://www.goldmedalservice.com.

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Check Toilet Tanks for Leaks Before The Holidays

Copper thefts from highway lights have cost Kentucky taxpayers $2 million over the last four years.

On Monday, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Kentucky State Police announced a joint effort to combat the problem. KYTC is offering a reward of up to $2,500paid from KYTC maintenance funds for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for copper wire thefts from highway lights. The agencies also made a public appeal to metal recyclers for assistance in identifying anyone trying to sell the stolen copper.

Metal theft has been a statewide problem for several years with many contractors fighting the issue at construction sites and property owners coming home to find their heating and cooling systems ripped apart by copper thieves who get a few dollars for the wiring found in those systems and do thousands of dollars in damage when they remove the wiring.

From Jan. 1 through Oct. 23, copper thieves have stripped the wires from 37 highway entrance or exit ramp areas, mostly around the Louisville and Lexington areas. None of the highway lights in this area has been targeted, officials said.

We know copper theft is not confined to our interstate lighting systems. Its been a problem in eastern and southeastern Kentucky for telephone lines, power lines (and) homes under construction,KYTC spokesman Chuck Wolfe said. In recent years, weve seen this shifting of attention to our lights out on the interstates.

Theyre almost exclusively at interchanges, although some are more isolated than others. We havent been able to catch anybody in the act. Our investigators think they know how these crimes are carried out. We think somebody in the daytime, when there is no current going through the light, they cut the wires and then they come back at night and strip the wires out.

Most of the wire that has been stripped goes from one light to another through a conduit underground. There are some thefts from the light pole itself, but mainly thieves are pulling the wiring that runs underground.

The costs associated with repairs to these lights varies; at one interchange in Grayson the repair cost was $37,000.

Were confident that what they get for the copper is a fraction of the damage they cause and what it costs taxpayers, Wolfe said. It comes out of my pocket, your pocket and anybody else who buys gas. The gas tax goes into the road fund, and the road fund is what supports the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and all of its activities, including its maintenance work.

Money we have to spend to remediate a crime scene is money that could have been going to other kinds of maintenance work that the public expects us to carry out, ranging from brush clearing on rights of way to snow and ice removal in the wintertime and repairing potholes, tree trimming, weed spraying, brush clearing, he said.

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Copper thieves cost taxpayers millions

After Dr. Craig Spencer fell ill with Ebola, two businesses he visited shut down temporarily, for cleaning. The experience of one of these businesses, The Gutter bowling alley, shows the disease can be hard to avoid, and expensive to respond to.

Biorecovery Corporation, which cleaned The Gutter on Friday night, estimated the cost at $10,000 to $25,000, according to Todd Powers, owner of The Gutter. Powers said that Biorecovery and his insurance broker are talking to his insurer, the Philadelphia Insurance Companies, and he is hopeful his policy will cover some part of his expenses.

But the Insurance Information Institute says most business insurance policies dont offer much help when it comes to infectious diseases.

Business interruption policies generally only cover weather and other events that cause physical damage to the business premises.

Liability insurance often excludes communicable illness.

In general, insurers are reluctant to pay for cleanup jobs that have not been ordered by the government. The Gutter was not under decontamination orders, but Powers felt he had little choice: his customers and workers expected it.

In one area, insurance does offer protection:almost all businesses are required to carry Workers' Compensation insurance. And if someone becomes sick in the workplace as happened to a nurse in Texas the cost of their treatment will be covered.

Originally posted here:
Ebolas Threat to Business