Kramer enthused that her taking on the specialized function in the Jewish community feels “very right” as she shared her sentiments and the knowledge she has acquired about managing a non-profit association. Before founding the consultancy business focused on strategic planning and management for nonprofit organizations such as JFGO, Kramer was president and Chief Executive Officer of BETA Center, Central Florida’s renowned service network for pregnant teens and teen parents.

She directed BETA through the development phase that included a $3.5 million expansion, and managed its funds, which tripled from 1997 to 2008. Earlier, Hope Kramer worked as an executive director for the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools and as March of Dimes’ Central Florida division director. As the president of JCC, she assisted in organizing a thriving capital drive to finance the building of the new infant-toddler center. In year 2008, Jewish Family Services honored her with its George Wolly Community Leadership Award.

First-term Federation President Ian Robinson stated that this was the third time that he requested Hope Kramer for her leadership. The first time wasn’t possible due to the fact that she was still in BETA. It was only in their second invitation—when they had known of her aim to retire from BETA—that she accepted the offer and took over as the interim leader.

Although the over-all market for mobile apps is expected to tighten up in the coming year because of continuous entry into the market, narrowing down the market because of increased competition, there are still many companies that will release their own apps in belief that theirs is better than the others. Steve Demeter, manufacturer of the game Trism, was the envy of the gaming market in 2008 as his game grossed more than $2 million in sales. The key, he says, is to make an application that instantly proves its value.

As Demeter and his company still figure out the next app that will follow his widely successful Trism, companies like the Brooklyn-based Freeverse have emerged to take their share of the market. With the release of Moto Chaser and Flick Fishing, Freeverse have two out of the 10 best selling apps for Apple for 2009.

Despite all of this, Tapulous still remains as one of the top manufacturers of the year, especially with the release of another version of its widely syndicated Tap Tap Revenge brand, the Tap Tap Revenge 3. The Tap Tap Revenge series and other high-grossing applications have combined to reach more than 15,000,000 consumers. After its launching, Tap Tap Revenge 3 was number one on the apps bestseller list on the iTunes Store. It held on to the position for the next 20 days.

According to Bryan Sawler, Muteki Corp CEO, “The higher end studios are the ones getting the most publicity and making it more difficult for most people in the middle to get noticed.” The big man of The Battle of Pirate Bay app developer added that making a quality application is not enough. He also stressed out the need for and the importance of marketing.

Recently, Gibson Guitar Corporation, known for making iconic Les Pauls and SG guitars, launched an exclusive electric guitar that is sold in only 200 retail stores internationally.

Approximately 100 stores in various international markets and 100 stores in the United States were chosen to sell this limited edition guitar. There are only 1,000 of such guitars produced, with each store having five of the musical instrument. The model of the guitar is Gibson Dusk Tiger.

One of the chosen stores to sell these guitars is the Guitar Center in San Antonio. In connection to being one of the chosen Gibson sellers, the guitar distributor hosted a special demo last December 4th, which featured a rock performance from The Toadies. During the event, band members took questions from Gibson aficionados, while a guitar signed by the band was given to a fan.

According to reports by Nintendo, there were over one million Nintendo DSi and DS portable systems sold during the week. The company said that the only time they had sales this high was back in 2002’s Thanksgiving Week while selling Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo added that they sold around more than 550,000 Wii video game consoles between November 22 and 28, thus outselling Sony PlayStation 3.

However, Sony crowded about its game console sales during that week, stating that 2009’s figures indicated a year-on-year increase. They said that the demand for PS3 was “at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09.”

Though Microsoft has not released its Thanksgiving sales figures for its Xbox 360, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg posted on his Twitter: “Great Black Friday results just in, biggest sales week of the year for Xbox360, more than 2xs previous week sales.”

Called the “Statistical Analysis of Texas Hold ‘Em,” the study scrutinized 103 million hand histories of PokerStars games played throughout December 2008. Seventy-five percent of the time, every hand was determined with no player seeing beyond the community cards and the hole cards.

Half of the remaining 25% that reached showdown was won by the one who could hold the best 5-card hand. The one with a losing 5-card hand won the rest, because the player with the winning hand folded before showdown.

Sean McCulloch, the professor at Ohio Wesleyan University who co-authors the study, suspects that luck plays a small part in winning Texas Hold’em. Right decision-making then, rather than luck, had more to do with winning a game.

His findings may have important ramifications on American laws, which variably set parameters on the word “gambling.” In the US, a game is categorized under gambling if a “dominance test” considers its outcome as determined by chance. For many poker advocates, the study comes as an important triumph on the road to fully legalizing the game.

Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who chairs the Poker Players Alliance, praised the study for amply vindicating the game. “This study provides the raw data to back up the compelling arguments…that it’s skill, not pure luck, that determines the outcome of the game,” he said.

“This study uses an unprecedented amount of real data to demonstrate what players have long known,” said Paco Hope, the study’s other author.

Hope is technical manager for Cigital, reportedly America’s largest software consulting company. Based in Washington, D.C., with offices in India, Cigital was founded in 1992.

The series of upgrades to Roni Lynn Deutch’s online payment system is in an effort to improve their clients’ access to legal representation. The first of several improvements to the website was the “Client Login” feature. Originally, clients could only log in, view their bill, and pay by credit card. Now, the “Client Login” section has been improved to give clients the ability to pay their bill by check or Electronic Funds Transfer; set up recurring automatic payments; or opt in for payment reminder e-mails.

Roni Deutch, the woman society has dubbed “the Tax Lady”, reassured that the firm’s top priority is to be able to offer easy access to competent legal counsel. In the previous years, the firm had programs that helped improve staff-client interactions that also brought their customer service to a higher level. Through advanced phone systems, the firm’s website’s “Client Login” feature was added and takes the payment process into another level.

Taking advantage of the advancements in technology, the company has set out to make things even easier for clients. The Tax Lady believes that their website’s new feature will benefit a lot of clients and she is quite excited about the effects of these advancements. According to Roni Lynn Deutch, the firm has more plans for accessibility and transparency, which they intend to carry out in the latter part of 2009.

As an industry leader, Roni Deutch has saved tens of millions of dollars for her clients in a span of 18 years. Clearly, the present developments have helped Roni Lynn Deutch successfully increase communications with her clients, all because of the Internet.

Although it may be far off in achieving the end goal it has for itself, the Obama stimulus plan has created 500,000 to 750,000 jobs so far, about 200 days since it was passed in Congress. On Thursday, September 3, Vice Pres. Biden delivered a positive report card about the rescue effort but stresses that there are still millions unemployed and the effort has a long way to go.

An enumeration of tangible and obvious results is what Biden aims to present in the face of the administration’s critics. At the speech in The Brookings Institution, Biden said that the Obama stimulus package is a multifaceted plan that does not lack of design because what its critics say as being simply “a grab bag of different programs” is in fact the major design of the whole stimulus package. The stimulus package is a mixture of programs involving tax cuts, increased spending on Medicaid and huge investments in infrastructure, education, energy projects and many more.

The White House has been very positive about the way that the stimulus package is pushing through and has been advertising its many good results. But still, many economists warn that the unemployment rate would not wane at least until the next summer and this will be the obvious measure in which many American citizens will measure the Obama administration’s efforts in the future.

Though the recession is not yet totally under the rug, most economists have projected a brighter future ahead for the world’s economies. Ben Bernanke, US Fed Chairman, explained that the improvement is not because of the US government’s actions alone but also that of other governments and central banks around the world, making the rise of the world economy a matter of collective effort between countries.

Quite consistently, history has shown us leaders who chose to withdraw from their calling in public service by retiring to sedentary lifestyles. Others, however, choose to embark on new chapters, many times by crossing over to business.

One case in point is Albert Arnold Gore Jr., former Vice President of the United States turned celebrity environmentalist. From 1993 to 2000, Al Gore served as America’s 45th Vice President, presiding over the Senate and working closely with President Bill Clinton as economic secretary and National Security Council member.

When Clinton’s term ended in 2000, Al Gore raced to the presidency against his Republican counterpart George W. Bush. Although he was defeated, Al Gore reinvented himself thereafter as a highly lauded environmental advocate. He is even a Nobel Laureate recognized for spreading awareness about climate change. On top of that, he garnered an Academy Award for his 2007 global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Since 2006, he has chaired the nonprofit motive Alliance for Climate Protection, which he also founded.

Concurrent with his green activism, Al Gore has maintained several notable business interests. Shortly after leaving politics, he vice-chaired the asset management company Metropolitan West Financial from 2001 to 2003. He went on to jointly found two businesses, Generation Investment Management in 2004, and Current in 2005.

Generation Investment Management is a “sustainable” investment firm. Therefore, its portfolio shows only companies with admirable environmental records like General Electric, Staples, Johnson Controls, Autodesk, Whole Foods, Aflac, Becton Dickinson, Blackbaud, and Northern Trust Corp. Current is a teen-oriented cable and satellite television network currently with 38 million subscribers.

Apple Inc. has, since 2003, entrusted Al Gore with board duties, particularly in the compensation, nominating, and corporate governance committees. Google Inc. also made him one of their senior advisers.

In 2007, Al Gore partnered with venture capitalist firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers to invest in technologies committed to resolving the climate crisis.

One of Al Gore’s contemporaries in the White House also delved into business following a political line of work. She is Madeleine K. Albright, the first female Secretary of State in the United States, and as such, one of only three highest-ranked women in the history of American government.

America’s former top diplomat spent her term modifying NATO and tackling sensitive foreign affairs like the conflict in the Balkans and resurgent nuclear aggression in Russia. Before her cabinet post, she served as the US’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Now, Madeleine Albright serves as principal for The Albright Group LLC, a consultancy firm she founded in 2001 in Washington D.C. It has since serviced companies like Coca-Cola and Merck. Likewise, she is the chairwoman of its affiliate, Albright Capital Management LLC.

Formerly, Madeleine Albright served on the board of NYSE Euronext, Inc. She once sat on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. She also used to be the chairperson of The Aspen Institute’s board of trustees, The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project. In addition, she has served as the Truman Scholarship Foundation president.

Fortunately, individuals and companies have sought means to counter the threat of identity and information theft and the misuse of information. In today’s digital era, practical protection from identity theft has become one of the most important steps that individuals, unions and businesses can opt to do to keep families, their interests and properties from becoming the casualties of information theft.

Intelius, a company co-founded by Naveen Jain, is one of the leading companies in the information commerce industry. But while Intelius is known to give out information about people to their clients to make wise business decisions and map out corporate strategies, the company also offers identity theft protection and prevention services. The company’s main counter product for the identity theft, the IDWatch, alerts clients of suspicious activity regarding their identity in real time. IDWatch even made the news when Intelius offered the product at a lower price to 26.5 million veterans who were at risk of identity theft.

Lifelock, another identity protection-centered company, also thrives in the information protection industry. Led by Todd Davis, Lifelock’s Chief Executive Officer, the company’s main identity theft detection tool, eRecon™, scours the Internet for any instances where a client’s vital information surfaces and notifies the client way before any criminal act is done. Davis is so confident with the company’s system that he went as far as exposing his real social security number on his website. It was reported that someone did actually try to use his Social Security number to test LifeLock’s system and LifeLock was successful in that run.

TrustedID is also an information protection services company that has relative success in providing anti-ID theft services. Their product line is comprised of IDFreeze, Credit Lock and Data Breach Response. IDFreeze detects and alerts clients of any potential identity theft in action and stops the act immediately. Credit Lock ensures that clients’ credit report is not available to third parties without any permission from the client, providing maximum protection. The Data Breach Response services of TrustedID present complete solutions for corporations, organizations, and government agencies by providing extensive identity protection in the instance of any data breach. Scott Mitic, who is an identity theft expert, leads TrustedID as its CEO.

ReputationDefender, Inc. also provides quality information protection services and has a long list of products that caters to specific needs of individuals in terms of information protection. ReputationDefender, Inc. is a unique information protection provider as its products are more geared towards a client’s online information and online protection. The company’s product line includes MyChild, MyReputation, and MyPrivacy. ReputationDefender, Inc. is currently manned by CEO Michael Fertik, an experienced Internet merchant with a considerable background in the field of law.

Indeed, speakers who stand behind podiums and deliver speeches and quotes with a high degree of eloquence are earning well. What with the plethora of public speakers out there, it’s quite understandable that their purpose of speaking in public varies – others aim for sympathy, some are hired to inform people, and some are hired to speak and ignite an individual’s motivation to aspire and achieve something.

One of the leading organizations of public speakers, particularly focusing on seminars, is the American Seminar Leaders Association, also known as ASLA. Headed by senior vice president Robbie Motter, ASLA has been providing quality public speakers for conventions, seminars and corporate events since 1991. Ms. Motter is an experienced speaker/trainer with public speaking industry experience that spans more than 15 years.

ASLA’s reach has also embraced a global scale, with ASLA speakers servicing international corporations and global events.

Aside from fielding public speakers, ASLA also provides training, educational programs, and coaching services for individuals who want to tap into their potential and make a career in public speaking.

CSA Celebrity Speakers Ltd is the premier public speaking services provider in Europe. Based in the United Kingdom, CSA Celebrity Speakers has a long roster of speakers qualified to talk and discuss about a variety of subjects.

The company fields a wide array of keynote speakers, after dinner speakers, business speakers, and motivational speakers among others. Among CSA Celebrity Speaker’s clients include Armstrong World Industries, British Airways, Johnson & Johnson, and Glaxo Smith Kline.

Greater Talent Network Inc (GNT) is also one of the world’s leading agencies for public speakers. Created in 1981 by Don R. Epstein, GNT has grown to become a respectable stable of highly skilled and qualified speakers and has been rated by media institutions like New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and CNN as one of the best in the industry. GNT’s rosters of public speakers are experts in the fields of business, technology, entertainment, literature and sports. Epstein leads the company as its chief executive officer.

Speakers Platform is another one of the world’s best premier public speaking services provider that offers top-rated public speakers who can speak on a variety of subjects, including sales, leadership, motivation, communication, team building, innovation, change, and a variety of other general and specialized topics.

Speakers Platform is led by company president Michael Frick and Vice-President Wendy Krueger. Michael Frick is a Social Science major with a minor in Communications and Rhetoric. Wendy Krueger, the company’s leader in Client Relations, has over 15 years of handling mall events and large events, and working with vendors, designers and company executives. She is also known for working extensively on research and speaker pricing negotiations for clients.