Five Black Friday deals you shouldn't miss

Five Black Friday deals you shouldn't miss by Rick Broida Read full story Acer Aspire One Netbook If you're going to stand in line for something, make it the Acer Aspire One 10-inch Netbook for $149.99 at Office Max. Needless to say, that's a seriously smoking deal--though I still wouldn't get up at 5 a.m. for it. Would you? Bing Gold Rush Many people really like Microsoft's Bing cashback program, and with good reason: After buying stuff you were going to buy anyway, you get money back. Three percent here, 10 percent there--it adds up. Starting Black Friday, retailers like AT&T, eBay, Gap, Sears, and Walmart will be raising their cashback rates as high as 35 percent. Microsoft didn't give me any specific details, but if you're planning to shop online, Bing is probably a smart place to start. Fast Video Converter Pro Normally $24.95, this handy utility is available free, no strings attached, as part of a Thanksgiving promotion. FVC Pro supports just about every video format on the planet, from 3GP to Divx to WMV. It's perfect for converting videos to play on, say, your iPhone or Zune. Don't wanna wait until Turkey Day? You can actually grab this freebie right now, and up until Nov. 30. MiFi 2200 One of my favorite gadgets of 2009, the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 is literally a Wi-Fi hotspot in your pocket. It's normally $99.99 with a two-year Sprint contract, but Best Buy will be selling it free with said contract. I don't know if they'll be offering the same deal on the Verizon version, which I suspect many people would prefer. But I do think this will be an in-store-only offer, so plan on a trip to your local BB. Navigon for iPhone As part of a Thanksgiving-weekend-trip-to-grandma's promotion, Navigon's MobileNavigator app [iTunes link] is on sale for $69.99. You can also grab, in-app, the new Traffic Live feature for $14.99, a combined savings of $30. Then grab yourself a basic windshield mount like this one and you can put your old, crummy GPS up on eBay.

Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books

Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books Posted: 13 Nov 2009 10:00 AM PST Steve Cunningham is the CEO of Polar Unlimited, a digital marketing agency. To win a signed and personalized copy of each of the books mentioned here, visit Read It For Me. So you want to get up to speed fast on the latest social media thinking. Maybe give your colleague, boss or friend a dose of new social strategies. But where to start? Amazon nicely suggests 44,444 titles that they would be delighted to overnight direct to your bookshelf. Ummm, no thanks. Fortunately, you've got your own social media fairy right here. (Hi!) We've already done the hard part for you, and have narrowed down those 44,444 titles to 5 killer must-reads that can get you on the road to social media stardom. Abracadabra!

Working Your Degree with Feniosky Peña-Mora

Working Your Degree with Feniosky Peña-Mora,

Dean of Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Thursday, November 12, 2009

301 Philosophy Hall, GSAS Lounge of Columbia University

6:00 - 7:30 pm

The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race is launching a new speaker series, Working Your Degree, on the practical applications of degrees in various interdisciplinary fields of study (such as gender studies, Latino/a studies, and African American studies).  Over the course of the next academic year, this series will feature individual speakers and panels with prominent individuals from a wide range of fields such as academia, the arts, and the public sector, etc.  The speaker for the first event on November 12 is Feniosky Peña-Mora, the recently appointed Dean of SEAS.  Co-sponsored by the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and Center for Career Education.

This event is free and open to the public, however, seating is limited and on a first come first serve basis.  Talk will be followed by a brief reception.

Brick Walls & Glass Ceilings Part I: Six Career Roadblocks

Brick Walls & Glass Ceilings Part I: Six Career Roadblocks 
by Dawn Dugan,

Workplace challenges are inevitable. But most challenges we undertake go hand-in-hand with obstacles that interfere with—and sometimes even prevent—our progress.

Think of your career as a road complete with twists and turns, bumps and potholes, speed bumps and detours. You can reach your destination. The key lies in recognizing specific barriers, and using time-tested strategies to knock them down.

9 Career Stoppers for Women

9 Career Stoppers for Women

By Barbara Reinhold, Monster Contributing Writer

Few doubt that the corporate deck is stacked against women to some degree. Still, women sometimes undermine their own best efforts. Here are nine career stoppers that can prevent women from advancing in their careers. Do any of them figure into your modus operandi? Click to continue

Book Signing- Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever
Presented by Center for Jazz Studies - Columbia University
Wednesday, November 11 @ 7:30 pm

Columbia University in the City of New York
Venue: 301 Philosophy Hall, 116th Street and Amsterdam Ave Columbia University Morningside Campus
New York, NY 10027

A book reading and signing with Farah Jasmine Griffin (Columbia University) and Salim Washington (Brooklyn College). When Miles Davis invited the young John Coltrane to join his quintet in 1955, a collaboration was born that would change the landscape of jazz. In their new book, ''Clawing at the Limits of Cool," Farah Jasmine Griffin and Salim Washington focus on the profound implications of this collaboration.

Presenter: Columbia University Center for Jazz Studies

Positioning and Personality: How Nonprofits Build Strategic Brands

Columbia's Strategic Communications program invites you to an upcoming workshop, "Positioning and Personality: How Nonprofits Build Strategic Brands" on Friday, November 13. Sarah Durham, the principal and founder of Big Duck, a communications firm that works exclusively with nonprofits, will be the guest speaker. The workshop will explore how nonprofits leverage best practices from the for-profit marketing world to build relationships with key audiences.

Positioning and Personality: How Nonprofits Build Strategic Brands
Date: Friday, November 13
Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Master of Science in Strategic Communications
School of Continuing Education
Columbia University
www.ce.columbia.edu/stratcomm

BT's Ribbit releasing Google Voice competitor

by Rafe Needleman

Sure, Google Voice is cool, but it's not necessarily the best Web-meets-phone service one can imagine, is it? The field is still open, and switchboard-in-the-cloud company Ribbit (a division of BT) will stir things up when users get their hands on Ribbit Mobile, a new telephony service for consumers.

Like Google Voice as of last week, Ribbit Mobile adds services to your existing mobile phone number, using a standard telephone company service called Conditional Call Forwarding. You set up your phone service to route to the service when you don't pick up the phone, and it gives you all its features on the calls it then grabs: voicemail, forwarding, routing, and so on.

SATURDAY, NOV 7-BIGGEST NYC College Fair--$300K in scholarships

SPREAD the WORD to YOUR YOUTH!

Urban Word NYC & NY Knicks Annual College Fair and Open Poetry Audition
November 7th, 10AM-3PM
Hammerstein Ballroom (34th Street @ 8th Ave)
 

Featuring 60+ colleges and universities, 10am-2pm
All Day Entertainment (spoken word, hip-hop, dance)
Open Poetry Audition (Spit a 1-minute poem to enter the Spoken Word Competition for cash scholarships), 10am-3pm
All Day Workshops (financial aid, essay writing)
Register for full-ride scholarships to University of Wisconsin and Mercy College for Seniors in the "Why I Write" written contest

This is the college fair event of the year!

The Knicks Poetry Slam Program is broken up into two contests, Spoken Word and Written.  

1. Spoken Word Competition — A Poetry Slam competition where students progress through an Open Audition, Poetry Workshops, Preliminary Slams, Semi-final Slams, all to compete at the Knicks Poetry Slam Finals at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway.

Spoken Word Prizes

• 1st place - $10,000 laptop and printer
• 2nd place - $7,500 laptop and printer
• 3rd place - $5,000 laptop and printer
• 4th — 10th place - $1,000

To be eligible for this competition, participants must prepare a 1-minute poem audition and perform before a panel of judges at the College Fair on November 7th between 10am-3pm. Top scorers will be placed in a 5-week writing workshop series taking place at sites across the city. Open to teens ages 13-19 years old.

2. Written Competition — students must submit a portfolio of original work including: an essay "The Reason I Write", poetry samples, community service and a resume. The portfolio will be reviewed by a panel of judges to determine the winners.

Written contest Prizes

• 2 full scholarships (4 years) to the University of Wisconsin
• 1 full tuition scholarship (4 year) to Mercy College

To be eligible for this competition, participants must register here. No audition is necessary. Open to High School Seniors. 

3.The New York Knicks College Fair
(YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ENTER A COMPETITION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COLLEGE FAIR)

The New York Knicks College Fair will be held on November 7, 2009 from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M in the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan Center.

This College Fair is one of the most unique annual college fairs around the tri-state area. High school students are encouraged to come out and meet with over 60 colleges and universities from around the country. While exploring the fair, you will be able to watch master poets and dance groups perform, listen to music and live bands, and interact with over 2,000 students. In addition to all of these festivities, there are two dynamic Poetry competitions going on at the same time.

College application workshops will be conducted throughout the day and financial aid advisors will be on hand to answer any questions.

Special guests, including Knicks Alumni, will make periodic appearances throughout the day and sign autographs.

***Remember that each person attending the College Fair must register.***

Register at http://www.nba.com/knicks/community/poetryslam.html

Black Enterprise $10,000 Home Ownership Contest

Black Enterprise $10,000 Home Ownership Contest deadline extended to Nov. 18th. Apply today!

Thanks to Monique for the information. 

Solar Power: Increasingly in Reach

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Solar Power: Increasingly in Reach

The cost of generating electricity from solar panels has dropped steadily over the past three decades, from nearly $100 per watt in 1975 to less than $7 per watt today. Rising demand for materials has raised prices in recent years, but costs are expected to resume their downward trend as technology improves and production ramps up to meet demand.

Source: Evaluating the potential of solar technologies

Copyright © 2009 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission