Halogen Software Inc., the leading provider of Web-based employee performance management (EPM) software announced today that it achieved record revenue in its third fiscal quarter. This marks the organization’s 16th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. The record quarter was highlighted by the release of Halogen’s newest EPM suite and the overwhelming success of the first annual Halogen Software User Conference.

Early in the quarter, Halogen released its Employee Performance Management Suite 7.1, which included new features such as on-target goal management, dashboards and Web-service tools for integration. Version 7.1 has proven very successful with the organization’s nearly 600 customers. A significant portion of Halogen’s customer growth this quarter comes as a result of its dominance in the healthcare space, where it now has more than 100 customers. The American Hospital Association’s exclusive endorsement of Halogen eAppraisal™ Healthcare further reinforces the organization’s leadership position in this space.

New workbook provides elevator pitch tips to help new entrepreneurs get more clients now.

In her new Workbook, "Is Your Elevator Speech Taking Your Business to the Top Floor?" public speaking and presentation coach, Laurelle Johnson helps startup entrepreneurs write a great elevator pitch to get new clients.

Says Johnson, "The elevator pitch is one of the most important sales strategies; it should be a part of every entrepreneur's marketing campaign. When someone asks you, 'So, what do you do?' you've got 20 seconds to provide a response. You've got to know how to spark their interest."

The ACH Network began as a low volume network transmitting large recurring transactions between well-established entities; however changes in rules and business models have brought about significant changes in the nature and volume of ACH activity.

More than 18 billion ACH payments were made in 2007, representing a 12.6% increase from the total number of transactions generated in 2006. Much of the growth in ACH volume can be attributed to fundamental changes in payment methods used by consumers and businesses with the network transforming into a high volume platform of relatively low-value, non-recurring transactions. These transactions are originated from a rapidly expanding number of merchants, aggregators, corporations, and financial institutions.

Red Bricks Media recently presented at Search Marketing Expo China, an honor which reinforces its global thought leadership and growing international presence. SMX China was held in Nanjing, China, on September 23-24, 2008.

In his session, Micah Fisher-Kirshner, one of Red Bricks Media's seasoned search strategists, focused on increasing the conversion rate of entry pages by studying the motives of its visitors and subsequently aligning the web page content with those motives. Attendees came away from this session understanding how to use analytics and keyword research to improve traffic, conversion and search engine rankings for their websites. Fisher-Kirshner's track record of consistently improving client ROI and ROAS and familiarity with the Chinese marketplace guaranteed a thought-provoking and highly intelligent session at SMX China.

Wendy Christoffel first started making her popular ice cream sandwich back in 1981 for her young sons and neighbors, and they all kept coming back for more. She never thought that one day she would attempt to take a bite out of the current $2.5 billion frozen novelty market. In 2009, Rice Creams, Inc. will begin to offer their patent-pending ice cream sandwich online in addition to vendors and direct-to-consumer by way of their custom pushcarts. Unlike the typical, generic ice cream combination sandwiches so commonly found in store freezers today, Rice Creams® ice cream sandwiches will offer consumers an extraordinary, new combination of wafers and ice cream. Rice Creams, Inc. was the first company to offer this confectionary combination since incorporating in 2005.

Since the age of 11, Wevly Wilson has wanted to be a shoe designer, and now, a couple of degrees and a career later, she is finally poised to achieve her dream. Wilson is using a Web site not only to raise funds for design school but also to inspire other people to follow their hearts.

"At one point, I had to forego my fashion dreams to enter health care, and while that was a great career, it was personally unfulfilling," says Wilson. "Now I have been accepted into the Parsons School of Design in Fall 2005 and the London School of Fashion (Cordwainers) in the UK, where Jimmy Choo, the famous shoe designer, studied."

Laura Betterly, President and CEO of In Touch Media Group, Inc. (ITOU.OB), is scheduled to appear on MN1.com, June 26, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. EDT to discuss In Touch Media Group's (www.itoustock.com) highly successful cutting edge approach to Internet public relations and marketing.

According to Betterly, "Businesses ranging from sole proprietorships to Fortune 500 companies recognize that the Internet is an essential tool in their branding, public relations, and marketing arsenals. At In Touch Media Group, we have developed strategies to generate brand awareness, drive website traffic, and deliver highly targeted customers to our clients."

The Chicago Area Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), one of the largest national women's organizations with more than 90 chapters, recently appointed Sharan Tash, founder of the Wilmette based business, The Professional Networker (www.TheProNetworker.com) to position of Corporate Retention Chairperson.

NAWBO® Chicago Corporate partners are champions for NAWBO® Chicago's mission and vision for women owned businesses, contributing resources, tools, opportunities, experience and a source of business for its' members.

Capella University (www.capella.edu), an accredited, fully online university with more than 17,900 students, has released its latest Inside Online Education podcast. It features an interview with PhD student Judy Kenney, who is working as a human resources specialist in Iraq while simultaneously pursuing her doctorate in organization and management with a specialization in human resources.

These regular podcasts feature interviews with Capella students, faculty and staff who share the experience of online education from a first-person point of view. They are typically about 15 minutes long and are available through the Capella University Web site at http://www.capella.edu or http://www.capellacommons.com. Listeners can subscribe to the podcast RSS feed at http://www.capellacommons.com/rss/. They are also available via subscription from iTunes.

A diabetes awareness video was the result of the contributions of hundreds of members of TuDiabetes.com, an online social network for people touched by diabetes.

The video pulled from over 120 photos that were submitted between August and November, 2007 by members of TuDiabetes.com for the "Word In Your Hand" project. The original music was written by member Albert Chen and the video was edited by member Luis Garcia, who originally came up with the idea for the project.

TuDiabetes.com was launched by Manny Hernandez in March 2007. The social network has passed 1,300 members from all over the world, with the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Belgium and Singapore among the countries represented. All countries were represented in the project.

The high price of gasoline is influencing more businesses to offer their customers added incentives such as free gas cards when they purchase their products or services.

A major challenge for any business is being able to make a strong and memorable impression in the marketplace in order to attract the attention of consumers. To this end, many businesses are offering clients and customers some form of free gas incentive. Offering free gas certainly tends to grab people's attention. With daily reports of record high gas prices, the price of gas is on everyone's mind. The lure of free gas is a sure fire way to gain the attention of consumers who are looking for ways to reduce the cost of driving any way they can.

The Delaware Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision that may make it easier for dissident stockholders to solicit proxies from other stockholders to, for example, take control of the corporation-- a ruling that may affect publicly-held companies nationwide.

Delaware case law is often cited as persuasive authority in corporate disputes in other jurisdictions, so Colorado-incorporated public companies may also want to review and consider amending their bylaws as a "pre-emptive" precaution.

With mortgage loan modifications on the rise now is the time to learn how to perform loan mods for borrowers. Designed for an originator, processor, underwriter, closer or post-closer, NAMP has created a quick and cost-effective solution.

The National Association of Mortgage Processors (NAMP), in partnership with Mortgage University, has put together a 3-hour live, instructor-led interactive webinar entitled: Loan Modification 101. Held once a month, this 3-hour webinar is an open forum discussion designed to provide mortgage professionals with how to modify mortgage loans , from A to Z. This unique online format also allows the student to ask questions directly to the instructor and get immediate answers.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. has launched a redesigned and enhanced corporate Web site, utilizing the existing URL, www.landolakesinc.com. The site 00004000 features a new look and design, as well as the company's new corporate brand identity.

"We're very excited about the launch of our redesigned corporate Web site," said Land O'Lakes President and CEO Chris Policinski. "With its updated look and improved features, it will serve as an outstanding tool for supporting the company and its ongoing business strategies."

ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. announces the release of a new version of Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery, a high-end password recovery solution to recover a variety of system and document passwords. The new release reaches the recovery speed of one billion passwords per second by employing several NVIDIA video accelerators. Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery can recover a variety of system passwords such as NTLM and startup passwords, crack MD5 hashes, unlock password-protected documents created by Microsoft Office 97-2007, PDF files created by Adobe Acrobat, as well as PGP and UNIX and Oracle user passwords. With the newest GPU acceleration upgrade of Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery the passwords will be recovered up to 25 times faster than by using CPU-only mode.

Palazzo di Bocce’s men’s team is on a roll having continued their string of top finishes by taking 1st place at the North American Championships held at Campo di Bocce in Livermore, CA last week.

A biennial tournament between the United States and Canada, the North American Championship allows only four men’s teams from each country to participate and represents the best bocce players in North America.

Having taken the Gold at the U.S. Bocce Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, June 24, team Palazzo di Bocce secured their spot in the Championships. Jason Wisniewski of Waterford, MI, Jorge Moreno of Rochester Hills, MI, Dr. Angel Cordano of St. Petersburg, FL and Mike Grassar of Sylvan Lake, MI were off to a good start, winning two of four games, placing them in the semi-finals against Toronto.

Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa has been awarded the prestigious Meetings & Conventions Gold Key Award for 2006, marking the 15th year that the luxury hotel in Fort Lauderdale has been honored by the industry's most discerning meeting planners.

Determined by Meetings & Conventions' subscribers, the Annual Gold Awards were based on the overall professionalism and quality of the property. Celebrating its 29th year, the readers honored 180 domestic and 20 international hotels and resorts as Gold Key winners.

The Maui Pineapple Plantation Tour has become the only working pineapple plantation tour of its kind in the entire nation at Kapalua Resort, Maui Hawaii. Visitors to Maui can take a guided tour to the pineapple fields and learn all about pineapple planting, harvesting and tasting in addition to plantation and island history. Picked by expert guides, the Maui Gold pineapple can be sampled in the middle of the West Maui pineapple fields.

"Taking approximately 18 months to grow, pineapple is not an easy fruit to produce and many of our guests are surprised to learn that," said Carlos Sandoval, pineapple tour manager for Maui Pineapple Company (www.MauiPineapple.com). "We specialize in cultivating an extra-sweet variety, Maui Gold® pineapple, born and raised only on Maui. A highlight of the tour is when the guests learn how to hand select their own perfect pineapple to take home as a souvenir."

Several of Austin's premier custom home builders have come together under a new organization: CB-USA Austin, LLC. The Austin-based organization marks one of the newer chapters within the national Custom Builders USA network and they have just launched a new website, www.cbusa-austin.com, to promote their strategic purchasing alliance.

CB-USA Austin, LLC custom builder members include the following in alphabetical order: Bill Taute Homes, Brian A Bailey Homes, Durrett Interests, Ed Wohlrab Designer Homes, Gary Beam Builder, George Custom Homes, Heritage Custom Homes, Hillbrook Homes, Jauregui Architect/Builder, Jenkins Custom Homes, Jim Rush Green Builder, John Siemering Homes, Joseph Fowler Homes, Katz Builders, Kennen Kahanek Custom Builder, Lantana Homes, Laurel Haven Homes, Mangum Custom Homes, Matt Sitra Custom Homes, Metropolitan Custom Homes, Michael Deane Homes, Oliver Custom Homes, Powell Development, Ray Tonjes Builder, Reynolds Custom Homes, Risinger Homes, Scott Bryant Homes, and Tim Hill Builder

Who says you have to wait until February to celebrate Mardi Gras? Motives® Cosmetics, an exclusive line of customizable cosmetics, today announces its Mardi Gras Collection, the new palette for Fall and Winter 2004.

The color-harmonized palette of imperial purple, regal green and antique gold eye shadows was chosen to be elegant and full of illusion, just like Mardi Gras, the biggest masquerade party in the world. To complete the look of illusion and wonderment, Motives includes six flattering lip colors that range from peach to plum in an assortment of gloss and cream.



All nine products combine to create a bold statement that turns the fantasy of masquerade into real beauty.