From Jennifer Lawrence's navy blue Christian Dior dress to Anne Hathaway's surprisingly sheer Giambattista Valli number, the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards was full of amazing fashion.
Pics: Vote on the SAG Awards' Most Talked-About Dresses
Click the video for an up-close view of the night's most incredible dresses!
Anyone with any common sense knows you can lose your job by posting party photos of yourself on Facebook. But there are some lesser-known acts — also unrelated to job performance — that can get you canned. Read on to discover other types of seemingly innocent behavior that can morph into firing offenses.
You can be fired for publishing a group photo: The National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that employees can’t be terminated for publishing certain social media posts about their jobs, provided the posts cover working conditions. However, the ruling does not cover tweeting or Facebooking other — often innocuous — details about your company, and other civil laws can still land you in the hot seat.
For example, an employee can get in trouble if he or she is at a company picnic with co-workers, clients and customers, and whips out an iPhone to snap a group photo. The employee later posts the photo on Facebook with a nice caption about the customers.
As innocent as this seems, it could result in the would-be Annie Leibovitz getting fired, says Pedram Tabibi, an attorney at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone on Long Island, which specializes in social media and business law.
“Under New York civil rights law . . . you can’t a use person’s name, picture, portrait or voice in commercial advertising without their consent,” says Tabibi.
“Arguably those customers could have a claim — you used their image for commercial purposes without their consent,” he adds.
You can be fired for tweeting something nice about your company: Gene Morphis, once the CFO of fashion retailer Francesca Holdings Corp., was active on Twitter, often posting good news tweets such as “Board meeting. Good numbers=Happy Board.”
The company fired him in May, citing failure to comply with company policies.
Posting sensitive information — even if done in a flattering or unwitting manner — could result in termination: “You just sent out information the company wasn’t ready to release to the public,” says Tabibi.
If this happened today, would the recent NLRB ruling have protected Morphis? Not likely.
“The types of comments he made, more geared towards his own well-being, are really not ‘concerted,’ because he is not necessarily discussing conditions that affect other employees,” Tabibi says.
You can be fired for having a (side) job: Given the sluggish economy, companies everywhere are asking employees to work more while paying them less — so many workers are burning the candle at both ends, taking second jobs or freelance work which could, in turn, waltz them out of their primary position.
These workers are getting canned for two reasons, according to David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm in Norwalk, Conn.
“The first thing we’ve seen is companies who have said, ‘Your performance is lacking. You’re showing up late. You’re leaving early, and we view this other job as a conflict,” he says.
Also, many workers get second jobs in the same field as their primary jobs — which can create a conflict of interest.
Lewis recalls the firing of an NYC digital-media employee who consistently refused to work past 5 p.m. When the employer found out he had a night job — also at a Web design company — he was fired the following week.
Entrepreneurs, please don’t let the name of our contest scare you.
As we launch our 15th annual Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge today, we are putting out our annual call for entries. But we aren’t looking for long, laboriously detailed business plans. Quite the contrary.
More and more, today’s investors in very early stage companies want to see a succinct presentation of your concept and how you plan to turn it into a success. We do, too.
If you have a business idea or an operating startup that is less than two years old, you can enter the Challenge, our annual celebration of South Florida entrepreneurship. Sponsored by the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University, our contest has three tracks — a Community Track, open to all South Floridians; an FIU Track, open to students and alumni of that university; and a High School Track, co-sponsored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
Your entry may be up to three pages and you may attach one additional page for a photo, rendering, diagram or spreadsheet if you wish. Think of it as a meaty executive summary. Experts in all aspects of entrepreneurship — serial entrepreneurs, executives, investors, advisors and finance specialists (see judge bios on MiamiHerald.com/challenge) — will judge your short plan. In doing so, they will be looking at your product or service’s value to the customer, market opportunity, business model, management team and your marketing and financial strategies. See the rules on page 22, which also include tips on preparing your entry.
Your entry is due by 11:59 p.m. March 11. Entries should be sent to challenge@miamiherald.com, fiuchallenge@miamiherald.com or highschoolchallenge@miamiherald.com.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help!
“Frame your business from your customer’s perspective and not yours. Rather than diving into a detailed explanation of your product or service, a more compelling way to tell your business story is to clearly share the problem that you are solving for your customers and how your business is different, better, faster, cooler, cheaper, smarter,” says Melissa Krinzman, managing director of Venture Architects and a veteran Challenge judge.
On Feb 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Miami Dade College, we’ll host a free Business Plan Bootcamp, where you can bring your working plan with you for advice from experts, including Krinzman. Find the sign-up link on MiamiHerald.com/challenge.
And each week in Business Monday and on MiamiHerald.com/challenge, we’ll be bringing you advice and answering your questions. You can post your questions on the Q&A on MiamiHerald.com/challenge or email your questions to me at ndahlberg@miamiherald.com. Follow @ndahlberg on Twitter.
The top six finalists in the Community and FIU Tracks will present their 90-second elevator pitches for our popular video contest. Last year our People’s Pick contest drew more than 18,000 votes.
On May 6, in a special section of Business Monday, we will profile the winners — the judges’ top three selections in each track plus the People’s Pick winners. Along the way, we will unveil semifinalists and finalists to keep the suspense building.
Today, though, we are looking back on the entrepreneurial journeys of our 2012 winners. Funding was a nearly universal challenge, and many faced setbacks in developing their platforms. Throughout the entry period, we’ll also look back on other winners from the past 14 years.
Show us what you’ve got. Let’s make this the best Challenge yet.
Warm congratulations to my friend and Miami Woman’s Club sister Dolly MacIntyre, who will be honored as the club’s Historian of the Year for 2013 on Tuesday at the monthly luncheon meeting.
Dolly has been a resident of Miami for 56 years. She began her involvement with local history and historic preservation in 1966. She is a kind and unassuming woman who goes about doing good works without blowing her own horn and she is a highly acclaimed activist for historic preservation and the recipient of numerous awards for dedicated service.
In 2012, she received the Mary Call Darby Collins Award from the state of Florida for her preservation work. Early on, she became a charter member of the Villagers and founding president of the Dade Heritage Trust, and today she remains active in both organizations.
Dolly is a lonttime member and past officer of the MWC, the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove, the Dade County Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Women’s History Coalition. In addition, she is a board and committee member of many community organizations.
The luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. with networking, with lunch and the program to follow at noon in the Ballroom of the Doubletree Grand Hotel, 1717 N. Bayshore Dr.
You can still make reservations and pre-order for vegetarian option by calling Nancy Smith at 305-891-3789. The cost is $25 for members and $35 for non members.
Retired FIU professor honored for book
There’s a lot to be happy about today. Howard B. Rock, Florida International University professor of history emeritus, recently was awarded the Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year at the 2012 National Jewish Book Awards. The award was announced Jan. 15 by the Jewish Book Council and was for the three-volume series City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York of which Rock wrote the first volume, Haven of Liberty: New York Jews in the New world, 1654-1865.
Rock shared the top Jewish book award with Annie Polland and Daniel Soyer, who authored the second volume, "Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration, 1840-1920", Jeffrey S. Gurock, who wrote the third volume, "Jews in Gotham: New York Jews in a Changing City, 1920-2010", and noted Jewish historian Deborah Dash Moore, who was the general editor of the project.
Rock, a Miami resident and member of Temple Israel of Greater Miami, also co-authored a history of New York Jewry. He taught American history for 36 years at FIU. His speciality is early American history to 1815, early American social history, the history of New York City, early American labor history and early American political history. In addition, he has published an/or edited five books, including Artisans of the New Republic, The New York Artisan, Keepers of the Revolution, The American Artisans, and A History of New York Images.
Guest composer at FIU
The Florida International School of Music will present a program, “East Meets West,” with guest composer Chinary Ung and the FIU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center, 10910 SW 17th St.
Also featured on the program is the Amernet String Quartet and the NOBUS ensemble and the music of Ung, Garcia, Sudol, Jen and Colangelo.
The concert is free and open to the public.
MDC leader to speak in Homestead
You are invited to hear Jeanne Jacobs, president of the Miami Dade College Homestead campus at noon on Feb. 4, at the Homestead Community Center, 1601 N. Krome Ave. Jacobs is the Black History Month speaker at the Bea Peskoe Lunchtime Lecture series, presented free by the Homestead Center for the Arts.
In October, Google (GOOG) was granted a patent for a smartwatch with a flip-up display, however it was assumed that the concept, like most patents, would never move beyond the drawing board. A new report from Business Insider claims that the company is now “actively exploring” the idea of producing its own smartwatch and is even looking into ways it could market such a device. Information is slim and it is unclear what size the device would be or if it would even run the company’s Android operating system. Business Insider cautioned that the project is still in a “very early stage” and “it remains to be seen if Google will actually end up bringing a smart watch to market.” As the Pebble has shown, however, there is clearly a market for smartwatches.
[More from BGR: Unlocking your smartphone will be illegal starting next week]
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Where the stars will be sitting at this year’s SAGs?
You don't have to wait until Sunday to see which celebs will be seated together! ET has your first look at the 2013 SAG Awards seating chart.
Pics: The 10 Best SAG Awards Dresses of All Time
Explore our exclusive interactive GigaPan below! For the full-screen high-res panoramic photo, click here.
Related: Pick The Winners with ET's SAG Awards Ballot!
Don't miss the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, airing Sunday, January 27 at 8pm on TNT and TBS.
Alex Haller’s ideas make perfect sense (“One Sandy Hook Family’s Gun Ideas,” Ramesh Ponnuru, PostOpinion, Jan. 23).
They won’t be adopted because ghoulish progressives, like Gov. Cuomo and President Obama, love to exploit other peoples’ tragedies.
For them it is not about controlling guns, but us.
The ultimate question is a simple one: What do you call a people without access to guns?
O. Glazebrook, East Hampton
NFL wife woe
What has become of this world (“NFL Wife Hooters & Hollers,” Jan. 22)?
Anna Welker, wife of New England Patriot Wes Welker, stated her opinion and later had to apologize for it.
I don’t understand why, when all she was doing was stating verifiable facts about the Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Lewis.
For this, The Post brands her “not very lady-like in defeat.”
Michael Murphy, Mahopac
Phil’s tax facts
Phil Mickelson spoke his mind against the progressive tax agenda in California and was forced to apologize (“Had Your Phil of Taxes?” Editorial, Jan. 25).
Doesn’t the First Amendment apply to everybody?
When will conservatives stop apologizing for speaking truthfully about high taxes and the entire Obama regimen?
Lee Nieves, Charlotte, NC
Flu-shot flack
Dr. Evan Levine’s op-ed smacks of the typical complex that many doctors walk around with today (“NY Hospital Flu Horror,” PostOpinion, Jan. 18).
If an educated and licensed nurse doesn’t agree with his conclusion on the flu shot, he slams them personally and accuses them of making the wrong choice and taking a risk to themselves and the patients, instead of presenting evidence.
Many flu shots have an efficacy rate at best of about 60 percent and are filled with ingredients like aluminum, mercury, MSG and formaldehyde.
These nurses know the risks of taking chemicals and the benefits of taking the flu shot, and have made an informed choice.
Too bad Levine doesn’t respect their capabilities.
Lauren Kunis, Queens
Leo’s green idea
I can certainly understand why Leonardo DiCaprio would need to take a break, having starred in three movies in two years (“Leo Puts ‘Breaks’ on Acting,” Jan. 22).
His living “green” is admirable, but wouldn’t his plans to “fly around the world doing good for the environment” pollute the environment? Also, his electric car is plugged into a power source.
Surely, the electricity he is using is generated by fuel.
In the United States, some of that electricity is powered by coal.
Maybe DiCaprio needs to rest first before he speaks.
JoAnn Frank, Clearwater, Fla.
Listen to the Brit
Bill O’Reilly’s column concerning our president’s unapologetic sharp turn left was spot on (“Pumping Up the Liberalism,” PostOpinion, Jan. 25).
Our president’s use of the word “equality” is his term for socialism.
As the great Margaret Thatcher once said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
That’s the road we’re on.
Louie Rey, East Meadow
For decades, Vivant Skin Care has formulated creams, serums, cleansers and tonics to treat such dermatological conditions as acne, aging and hyperpigmentation.
Family owned and linked to Dr. James E. Fulton, who co-developed the anti-aging formula Retin-A, the company built its reputation with medically tested therapies aimed at improving skin.
Now, like a complexion that has undergone the metamorphosis of time, Vivant is altering its manufacturing and sales structure and adding products, emerging from the economic downturn with a new plan for the future.
“Now we’re stabilized and looking forward to growth,” said Fulton’s daughter, Chief Executive, Kelly Fulton-Kendrick.
Founded in 1990, Vivant produces a line of 30 skin care products, all formulated in-house, and priced from $15 to $100. The products target both females and males, ages 13 and up.
“Our target market is people who have serious skin care problems and need solutions,” Fulton-Kendrick said. “Vitamin A is the best for affecting change in the skin.”
The clinical skin care products, packaged simply in white bottles and amber glass containers, have remained the company’s mainstay, as the business has transformed.
In mid-2011, Vivant decided to adjust its sales structure, to sell, for the first time, to online retailers like DermStore.com, SkinCareRX.com and amazon.com, as well as to make its products available on its own website, vivantskincare.com. It was a major change in course after more than 20 years of having its products sold only at spas and doctors’ offices.
“So now, we’re a mix of wholesale to skin care professionals and Internet retailers, and we’re selling directly to consumers through our own website,” Fulton-Kendrick said.
Mike Nelson, marketing manager at SkinCareRx.com, said Vivant, which it has sold since November, has “done very well for a new brand to our site,” surpassing some brands that have been on its site for over a year. He declined to provide figures.
SkinCareRX took on only 5 percent of the brands that approached it last year, he said, and had undertaken a rigorous review of Vivant.
“They have a good loyalty base and get great reviews,” Nelson said.
Along with changes in its sales system, in January 2012, Vivant moved from Medley to Miami Lakes, doubling its space to 11,000 square feet to accommodate manufacturing, which it brought in house to reduce costs. It had outsourced manufacturing to a lab in Costa Mesa, Calif., that it had previously owned and later sold.
Inside its warehouse space in a commercial business complex, a small staff handles manufacturing, shipping and packaging. All orders are taken by customer service and fulfilled onsite. A room used as an educational center allows vendors and aestheticians to learn about the products.
Martina Echeveria, international trade specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Miami U.S. Export Assistance Center, who is helping Vivant get a distributor in the Dominican Republic, said she recently nominated the company for a South Florida Manufacturer of the Year award. The awards are given by the South Florida Manufacturers Association.
“Their products are good and 100 percent U.S. made,” she said.
At Vivant’s offices, a lab area is used by Dr. Fulton for research and development. He also maintains a practice at Flores Dermatology in South Miami.
An appeals court has struck down a police officer’s challenge to the validity of Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel — the second time the panel has withstood a legal challenge from police officers in the past five years.
Police Lt. Freddy D’Agastino and the Fraternal Order of Police filed a lawsuit arguing that the civilian panel, which reviews citizen complaints against officers and makes recommendations to the police chief, had no legal authority to investigate officers.
But in a ruling on Wednesday, the Third District Court of Appeal found that the panel neither conflicts with state or local law, nor intrudes on the police department’s power to discipline its officers. The CIP does not have the authority to discipline officers, though it does have the power to subpoena records and witnesses in its own investigations.
The appeals court also upheld the panel’s authority in 2008, when then-Police Chief John Timoney sought to prevent the panel from investigating him.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s third straight disappointing quarter signals an urgent need for the global technology leader to drum up new revenue – and China may provide the answer.
Now more than ever, analysts say, Apple needs to get it right in the world’s most populous country, where it ranks only sixth in annual smartphone sales and Samsung Electronics remains the runaway leader.
Apple’s best plan of attack remains securing a deal with the country’s top mobile carrier by far, China Mobile Ltd. It also needs to push the development of more localized apps and extend installment financing to bring its pricey smartphones within the reach of an urban populace with an average annual income of just $ 3,500.
But it should resist the temptation to just put out a cheaper iPhone, some analysts say. Introducing a long-rumored lower-cost version of the gadget could backfire by diluting Apple’s premium brand – one of its most valuable assets.
“If you think of Apple, it’s like a bright star in the galaxy, shining so brightly and everyone is looking at it. But it might have dimmed a bit as other stars such as Samsung have popped up,” said TZ Wong, an analyst at research firm IDC.
“I don’t think it’s in Apple’s interest to further dim its star power by stepping into the low-end segment.”
With Apple’s product pipeline guarded with the same zeal accorded state secrets, some analysts are focusing instead on what the world’s largest technology company needs to do to finally become a major player in the world’s No. 2 economy.
While iPhone sales leapt 60 percent last quarter, investors worry that, in the longer term, the company may be pricing itself out of a golden opportunity while Samsung and local rivals from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to ZTE blanket the market with cheaper phones that rival the iPhone in quality and usability.
A deal with China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone carrier with more than 700 million users, will prove instrumental but analysts say that may not happen until the issuance of 4G wireless licenses, which could take place later this year or even in 2014.
“The competitive landscape has definitely cranked up a few notches from a year ago. So there is more urgency for Apple to explore its ways to grow,” IDC’s Wong said.
CEO Tim Cook has made it no secret that China is an area of intense focus for the iPad and iPhone maker, especially given the still-low penetration across the country of smartphones and tablets. Apple has said it will continue to expand its retail network there, and in January, Cook flew to Beijing for at least the second time in a year, to meet with pivotal carrier China Mobile.
A STAR IS DIMMED
On Wednesday, Apple missed revenue forecasts for the third straight quarter after iPhone sales came in below expectations, fanning fears that its dominance of consumer electronics is slipping.
Apple’s revenue in China, including neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan, totaled $ 7.3 billion in the December quarter, up 60 percent from a year earlier.
But there are signs that Apple’s vaunted cachet in the world’s most populous nation is waning.
Recent product launches for the mini-iPad and the iPhone 5 have drawn a relatively subdued response from Chinese consumers, in stark contrast to the fist-fights and egg-hurling at its Beijing store a year ago when sales of the iPhone 4S were delayed.
Since the iPhone 5 went on sale in mid-December, transactions have fallen by half, according to the Taobao Index, the consumer research data website of Internet giant Alibaba Group.
The iPhone is also losing out as consumers opt for bigger screens to watch Chinese soap operas while travelling on trains, or affordable smartphones in the sub-1,000 yuan ($ 160) category made by local vendors.
“When I started using a bigger screen, there was no turning back for me. Small screens don’t work anymore,” said a business executive surnamed Wen, as he swiped the screen on his Samsung Galaxy Note during lunch in Beijing.
Around half of the more than 60 million smartphones shipped in China in the third quarter last year had screens that were bigger than 4 inches, based on IDC’s latest figures. The iPhone 5 comes with a 4-inch screen, while the Galaxy Note II’s screen is 5.5 inches.
Also, local vendors such as Coolpad smartphone maker Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co Ltd, which offers cheaper alternatives, and Meizu Technology Co Ltd, known for its minimalist designs, have seen its legion of fans grow.
Price is a key factor, especially in the Chinese market where around 80 percent of the more than one billion mobile phone users are still on 2G networks.
On the online Taobao website, Coolpads and low-end models made by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp are selling at below 1,000 yuan, a sweet spot for many consumers switching from basic phones to smartphones.
Apple has moved to address that, partnering with China Merchants Bank to offer financing and installment options so that buyers can pay with the bank’s credit card when they shop online, media reports said.
Finally, expanding the number of applications customized for China will help grow Apple’s market share but that might need tighter collaboration with Chinese companies, such as Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
“Consumers will definitely welcome closer cooperation between Apple and Chinese tech firms to customize the iPhone for the use of apps such as Tencent’s WeChat,” said Frederick Wong, executive director of Avant Capital Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, a fund that invests in Apple-related options.
(Editing by Edwin Chan and Richard Chang)
Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Copyright © Flocking News. All rights reserved.
Design 
And Business Directories
