As cars were first being introduced into California, there was no orderly way to track the vehicles or the owners until 1905.

To keep track of all vehicles, the state required cars, bicycles, carriages, carts and similar vehicles to be licensed. However, the automotive industry used a different method to track their vehicles- Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs). A VIN is a unique serial code that is assigned to every vehicle and was first used in 1954. They were typically placed on the driver-side door or at the bottom of the front windshield. Different manufacturers used different formats of VINs until 1981, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration required VINs to be 17 characters and must exclude the letters I, O and Q. By excluding these letters, any confusion with the numbers one and zero was avoided.

A VIN is not merely a random set of 17 characters. Each digit signifies information about the vehicle. A VIN is a vehicles’ DNA; it is unique and unduplicated. For example, the first character identifies the country where the vehicle was made. Each country has a letter or number associated with it- the US is either 1 or 4. The second character identifies the manufacturer such as Toyota or Volkswagen. Each digit of the VIN provides more and more information on the vehicle.

VINs are also printed on several car parts to cut down on part theft. Car parts that are labeled with VINs include transmissions, front and rear bumpers, engines, hoods, right and left doors, sliding cargo doors, right and left quarter panels and side assemblies, pickup/cargo boxes, rear doors and hatchback/deck lid/tailgates.

VINs do not just assist the automotive industry in identifying their vehicles, but can help car buyers avoid fraud. A vehicle’s history is tracked by its VIN and can provide useful information to car buyers. Anyone can view a car’s history using the VIN. Simply enter the VIN into one of the many websites that offer this service (e.g. CARFAX, instaVIN, AutoCheck). Information that a VIN can disclose include:

• Vehicle registration
• Title information, including salvaged or junked titles
• Odometer readings
• Lemon history
• Total loss accident history
• Frame/structural damage
• Collision indicators, such as airbag deployments
• Service and repair information
• Vehicle usage (taxi, rental, lease, etc.)
• Recall information

Vehicle history reports not only help car buyers, but also assist dealers in their sales.  Sellers check the history of the vehicle they are trying to sell so they are prepared to answer any questions regarding the vehicle’s background. Dealers often buy vehicle history reports to provide to their customers to ensure the potential buyer that all information about the vehicle is being disclosed. Dealers also run vehicle history reports prior to acquiring vehicles at auctions to help ensure they are obtaining the vehicle at a fair market value.

What started off as just a tracking system, the VIN has become a useful tool in buying and selling cars. The next time you plan on purchasing a vehicle, remember the VIN is a valuable asset, so use it to look up the vehicle’s history and arm yourself with the tools to make a sound purchase.

For more information on VINs, vehicle history reports and the DMV, visit www.DMV.ca.gov. Save Time. Go Online!

Popularity: 21% [?]

When a severe wind storm struck Los Angeles County from November 30 through December 4, many homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has now declared a disaster for Los Angeles County.

The declaration, issued by the SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills, helps not only business owners, but also private nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters. THise people in Los Angeles County and the neighboring counties of Kern, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura are eligible to apply for low-interest disaster loans to help cover losses they sustained in the disaster.

The request for assistance made to the SBA was based on a preliminary damage assessment on December 12 and 13. Recovery experts from Cal EMA and the SBA worked with the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management and several other affected cities.

“We recognize that disasters like the wind storm leave an indelible mark on people’s lives. We’re hopeful the low-interest disaster loans now available through the SBA will help put many homeowners, renters and business owners who suffered losses due to the wind storm on the road to a quick and full recovery.”
- Mike Dayton, CAL EMA Acting Secretary

California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) says the SBA loans can be up to $200,000, and are available to help qualified homeowners repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Personal property can also be covered, up to $40,000, for people who qualify.

Businesses and private nonprofits can apply for loans of up to $2 million to help cover the costs of repairing or replacing damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventories or other business assets. Small businesses, most private nonprofit organizations and agriculture-related businesses are also eligible to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet their needs for disaster-related working capital.

The application deadline for loans to help cover property damage is February 17, 2012; the deadline for EIDL applications is September 19, 2012.

The SBA has customer service representatives at a Disaster Loan Outreach Center at the Pasadena Fire Department’s Headquarters, 199 S. Los Robles Avenue, Suite 550. These reps can assist applicants with loan applications, and explain the SBA loan application process. They are available 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through Friday, December 23, and resume operations on Monday, January 9.

Applications can also be found on the secure SBA Web site, https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela, by phone at (800) 659-2955, email at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or the SBA Web site at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance. Assistance for people who are deaf or hard of hearing is available at (800) 877-8339.

Popularity: 11% [?]

UC Davis Alumni Initiate FOI Requests after Pepper Spray Attack

This morning, UC Davis alumni submitted a series of requests for documents to the campus administration and the UC Office of the President under the Freedom of Information Act/State Public Records Act. The requests are part of the response to the incident on November 18th in which police aggressively pepper sprayed students who were peacefully protesting on campus.

Students and alumni are seeking to discover who ordered the police raid and why it was ordered. They are also looking for the internal discussions that they feel have resulted in the administration actively disseminating misinformation about the events.

“The campus administration lied to the media,” said UC Davis student Eric Lee, who attended Friday’s protest. “They pepper sprayed a whole line of people and then tried to make us look like the bad guys. It’s absurd.” Lee referred to the administration’s assertions that protesters surrounded police officers, cutting them off from support. Students who were present deny that this occurred; images show students peacefully seated in a ring with police stepping over them.

Student, faculty, and alumni groups are calling for an outside investigation of Friday’s incident, saying that the University of California cannot be trusted to investigate its own abuses. Many fear that UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi and University of California President Mark Yudof will use the investigation to evade responsibility for the attack on students and to avoid making meaningful reform.

Members of the UC Davis community expressed fears that the individual police officers involved would be made scapegoats for what is clearly a systemic lack of respect for students’ right to protest. “This is a pattern,” said Kelsey Skaggs, a UC Davis alumna. “Since the University of California began dramatic tuition increases in 2009, its police have repeatedly used violence against non-violent protesters.”

At a peaceful protest last November, a UC Irvine police officer pointed a loaded gun at students. Police at UC Berkeley have repeatedly used batons to break up protests. Students and alumni hope that the results of the Freedom of Information Act requests will give them insight into the administration’s use of violent tactics and the internal response to last Friday’s incident.

Previously published at NewsBlaze.com

Popularity: 6% [?]

Going along with the premise that “There’s an app for that,” RE/MAX agents can now do their part for the economy and buy a new iPad.

A new app for Apple iPad shows prospective home sellers what the company can do for them. It is one of the first real estate apps for the iPad that gives listing presentations. RE/MAX says it is an innovative and intuitive application developed exclusively for their agents.

Agents really like the app because it is a very intimate and impressive way for the agents to show a home seller exactly how their home will be marketed. The company expects this will give their agents a lead over their competitors

Within the app, the RE/MAX Design Center creates a personalized “listing presentation.” It can run on iPad or iPad 2. The agent can select from professionally designed RE/MAX-branded templates and with a few clicks can automatically customize a listing presentation with the agent’s personal information, and then import the final presentation into their iPad directly from Design Center, using Wi-Fi or a 3G connection.

Popularity: 6% [?]

California, the place to be for innovation, is celebrating with SRI International, on the company’s 65 years of transformational innovation.

Stanford Research Institute was established in 1946, to conduct research and development and stimulate the economy after World War II. From then until now, with a name change to SRI (why do companies change their names to unintelligible gobbledygook?) they have been pioneering solutions that became part of our daily lives.

Looking back in time, we find their innovations include interactive computing and the computer mouse in the 1960s to current advances such as the Siri virtual personal assistant, minimally invasive telerobotic surgery, and electroactive polymer “artificial muscle. Their researchers and technogeeks continually push the envelope and move us forward, warping their amazing legacy into a future most of us haven’t even considered yet.

“In today’s innovation-based economy, the world is limited only by people with the skills that allow development of the abundant opportunities before us.”
- Curtis R. Carlson, Ph.D., SRI President and CEO

The SRI approach, known as the Five Disciplines of InnovationZ, is designed to create high-value solutions for clients and partners.

A Sampling of Recent SRI Breakthroughs that Impact Our Lives

Siri Artificial Intelligence
SRI technology is transforming communication and human-computer interaction. Decades of SRI research in artificial intelligence, including leadership of the largest known artificial intelligence project in U.S. history, led to the development of the groundbreaking virtual personal assistant technology called Siri. SRI spun off Siri, Inc. in 2007 to bring the technology to consumers. In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, and in October 2011, Siri was unveiled as an integrated feature of the Apple iPhone 4S.

Improved Android Video Chat
Earlier this year, SRI video stabilization technology was embedded into Google Talk applications on AndroidZ devices–improving the user experience for video conversations, even if someone is moving.

U.S. Education Department National Technology Plan
The 2010 National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, calls for revolutionary transformation of education so that successful programs are brought to scale and every student has the opportunity to take advantage of their success.

Co-Developed Cancer Drug
In 2009, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved pralatrexate for the treatment of relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). Research on drugs of this class began at SRI in the 1950s.

A comprehensive timeline of the first 65 years of SRI’s growth and innovations can be found online at http://www.sri.com/about/65Years.html

A Rich Legacy of Innovation

Additional SRI innovations span a wide range of technical disciplines and global markets:

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

    --  Artificial intelligence for robots (1972): SRI created Shakey, the first
        mobile robot that could reason about its actions.
    --  Advanced robotics (2000 - present): SRI has pioneered novel
        surface-climbing robots, autonomous mobile robots, mapping software, and
        medical robotics.

Computing and Internet

    --  Banking (1955): SRI revolutionized banking with automatic check
        processing and magnetic ink character reading (MICR), still a standard
        on today's checks.
    --  Personal computing (1968): Douglas C. Engelbart and his team introduced
        many of the tools--such as the computer mouse and concepts of multiple
        windows and interactive computing--that set the global computer
        revolution in motion. SRI licensed the computer mouse technology to
        Apple, Xerox, and other companies.
    --  Internet (1969): SRI received the first transmission on the ARPANET, the
        Internet's predecessor, and ran the Network Information Clearinghouse,
        which assigned domain names, for decades.
    --  Wireless communication (1977): SRI sent the first transmission across
        three disparate networks: satellite, the ARPANET, and packet radio, in
        what is known as the first internetworked connection.
    --  Speech translation (2007 - present): SRI is deploying technology on
        mobile devices to enable real-time communication in local languages. In
        1994, SRI spun off market leader Nuance Communications to bring its
        speech technology to market.

Defense

    --  Aviation (1950s): SRI developed electrostatic discharge rods to protect
        airplane wings from radio interference and static electricity. These
        devices are now standard on aircrafts, spacecraft, and tankers.
    --  Radar (1960s - present): SRI radars are used by the military for
        long-range and concealed-target detection. SRI also operates major radar
        research facilities for the National Science Foundation at locations
        around the globe, from Greenland to the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto
        Rico.

Education

    --  Longitudinal studies (1978 - present): SRI conducted the first
        Congressionally mandated longitudinal studies of youth with disabilities
        to improve the U.S. education system.

Entertainment

    --  Movies (1959): SRI won an Academy AwardZ for co-developing the
        TechnicolorZ electronic movie print timer, which allowed the film
        industry to bring accurate color movie prints to theaters faster.
    --  Broadcasting (1997): SRI Sarnoff, as part of an EmmyZ Award-winning
        consortium of electronics and telecommunications companies, developed
        the U.S. high-definition television (HDTV) standard.

Biomedical Sciences and Health

    --  Drug discovery (1970s): Halofantrine, discovered and developed at SRI,
        has saved countless lives as a treatment for drug-resistant malaria.
    --  Minimally invasive surgery (1990s): SRI developed the first robotic
        surgical system, now used by surgeons around the world. SRI spun off
        Intuitive Surgical to bring the technology to surgeons and patients.

Vision and Image Processing

    --  Real-time video processing (1984 - present): SRI Sarnoff developed the
        first computer system capable of performing sophisticated visual search
        tasks in real time. SRI's work in computer vision technology augments
        the way people sense, analyze and react to the world around them.
    --  Augmented reality (1993 - present): SRI Sarnoff delivered the first
        system to insert virtual advertising in a live video broadcast as part
        of the scene. Today, this technology enables immersive training: users
        see the real world and computer-generated avatars simultaneously.
    --  Biometric identification (1996 - present): SRI Sarnoff pioneered iris
        recognition at a distance for user identification at ATMs and other
        applications.

Popularity: 17% [?]

In this day and age there are many companies, not to mention people, having an extremely difficult time keeping their heads above water.  The financial issues we are all facing on a daily basis have become somewhat ‘suffocating.’  Every day we are attempting to figure out the next steps to solidify our industries, businesses, employment and – most importantly – how to save money for our children’s future, so that the next generation can be ‘placed’ into a world with the knowledge necessary to have a bright and financially stable life.  There are few businesses that are still offering their employees great healthcare plans, stock, 529 plans, and IRAs – and the ‘worry’ has taken over in more than one household.

However, there is one brilliant spot in the economy at this moment in time, and it is a company that has been able to put together a way for all families – no matter what their financial status – to be able to save funds for their children’s education.  529 plans are savings accounts that can be opened when your child arrives in the world.  From day one, you can begin to plan for the high prices that will be in place when your child heads off to college.

Mission Tuition is a brand new company that was formed so that all children would be given the resources to further their education by building just such an account.  All children deserve the chance to go to college, and parents and families are truly doing their best to learn and research the various ways of saving money for the next generation.  Mission Tuition was put together in order for parents, without putting a strain on their income, to save those much-needed funds far in advance, so that when college-age approaches the money will be there.

Mission Tuition is a truly amazing company that has taken 529 plans one step further, by providing a simple and FREE way for parents to begin saving. A truly easy savings plan is offered, where family members sign up with Mission Tuition who manage an “educational savings account” that is located at Wells Fargo bank, and you use the benefits of Mission Tuition to not only save money but also to help coordinate a fantastic 529 plan for your child’s future.  After becoming a part of Mission Tuition, everyday spending can and will help YOU save for college. They offer one of the largest merchant coalition in America to provide parents and families with the widest array of savings opportunities possible. Simply put, when you shop for your everyday needs, you save for your child’s education.

The Mission Tuition program is simple to use:  sign up for the program (FREE), do your shopping at the top retailers in all areas of industry – from groceries to clothing – and save.  The everyday shopping you do already with retailers across the country will finally help pay for college expenses.

From companies such as Petco to Walgreens, Nordstrom to SEARS, Old Navy to Bass Pro Shops.  From food and wine companies to groceries and toys, computers to appliances, with Mission Tuition you can save! By shopping at your favorite retailers, you can pick up brands you know and trust, while at the same time getting money back to place into an account that will be unbelievably necessary for your child’s future.

Readers, I cannot stress enough that this process is absolutely free. The reason why?  Because nothing is free anymore that is THIS beneficial to our lives. Mission Tuition offers easy enrollment.  Then, you simply shop for products you already need, and the advertised rebates that show on Mission Tuition’s website go directly into the educational savings account. You can use any of your existing debit or credit cards to make purchases, too!  And if your favorite card happens to earn miles or points, you receive them as well, in addition to Mission Tuition’s cash rebates – doubling your benefits with every purchase.  And all of this is “on top of” the in-store discounts you already receive!

Not only will the “educational savings account” reside at Wells Fargo as you research what the best avenues of education are for your child, but Mission Tuition is also there to give instruction and information about 529 tax deferred college savings accounts for your child. When you’re ready to access your savings, you simply let Mission Tuition know and they take care of the rest. You can request a check to withdraw funds, or speak to the incredibly knowledgeable staff at Mission Tuition regarding the transferring of the money.  Only YOU have access to your money for the funding of your child‘s education. If you already have an active state 529 tax deferred college savings plan in place, you simply notify Mission Tuition and they will send a check immediately for deposit into your plan.

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Once you’ve become a member, savings is easy. Mission Tuition also offers valuable coupons for in-store discounts on dining, groceries, shopping and entertainment. Simply log in, select from YOUR favorite stores and start the savings. For even greater savings, you also have the option of applying for a new “Mission Tuition MasterCard” that will earn you additional cash rewards on all your purchases.

Over the next few weeks we are going to give you an in-depth look at this truly fantastic company that’s SO needed in this recession-wary day and age.  Everything is offered at Mission Tuition, from being able to inform customers and give them the ability to set goals, as well as information on how much you need to save for your child’s education.

They offer a calculator that can help you to better understand what the actual cost of tuition will be when your child is ready for college.  They teach you about saving early and the college tuition rates that increase every year. They talk about dedicating a small amount of your monthly budget to college savings and how THEY can help to offset the rising costs. And, most of all, Mission Tuition will help YOU to better understand and open that much-needed 529 College Savings Plan.

You can use the money you save in your 529 at any college or university, anywhere in the country. The plans differ from state to state, but all are free from federal tax. You might also consider a “Prepaid College Tuition Plan” to help lock in tuition rates now and avoid rising costs. Mission Tuition offers many links to show you how to plan for college and the responsibility that each member of your family shares. In fact, by including your children in the discussion, the whole family can understand the full cost of education and the value of planning for the future. Links are even available at the Mission Tuition site that contain information about paying for college in a format meant for your children to learn and understand.

To save enough money for your child’s college education you need to make a plan and start early – Mission Tuition can help you with both. When you sign up, they give you the flexibility to open a new 529 College Savings Account, deposit funds in an existing 529 account, or simply hold your savings in your Mission Tuition/Wells Fargo account as you continue to decide.  That way you are losing no time, and getting the refunds and benefits immediately.

Over the next few weeks we will be ‘opening up’ the educational landscape, and going over the many positives regarding 529 plans.  For a brief introduction to these particular savings routes: the 529 is a tax-advantaged investment plan that’s designed to encourage saving for a designated beneficiary’s future higher education expenses. The plans are administered by state agencies and organizations.  We will go over all aspects of the 529 savings plan and you will see that they are far better than a typical savings account.  One large reason for this is the fact that when you withdraw money for qualified education expenses from a 529, it is free from federal income tax.  Even better, many states also follow this rule, so you may not have to pay any state taxes either. But remember, as you learn and discover which 529 plan you would like to invest in, you can STILL utilize the Mission Tuition account to gather your rebates – you don’t miss a single day of reaping the benefits of this incredible system.

When this writer speaks about the fact that Mission Tuition has built up a coalition of thousands of merchants nationwide, this is no understatement. When you shop with the Mission Tuition merchants you SAVE, and your cash rebates are deposited into your educational savings account – no muss, no fuss. Several of these merchants offer savings opportunities of up to 15% of your total purchase. Also, when you shop in-person, you receive their advertised discount right there on the spot. So every time you shop – whether online or in-person – you can be sure that you’re preparing for your child’s future.

This is a truly outstanding company that offers the one thing that all parents need – a way to provide for their child’s future.

Until Next Time, Everybody.

For more information, go to:

http://www.missiontuition.com

Questions regarding Mission Tuition:

General Inquiries: info@missiontuition.com
Suggestions: suggestions@missiontuition.com
Member Support: support@missiontuition.com
Partnership Inquiries: partner@missiontuition.com

Company Information:

16255 Ventura Blvd.
Suite 525
Encino, CA 91436

(818) 783-2100

Popularity: 17% [?]

CALPASC Wants Insurers and State Enforcement Agencies to Call Contractors’ Practices into Question Before a Life is Lost

– The California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors (CALPASC) sees non-compliance of California laws as an indicator of more than the obvious. In the example of Jose Luis Guerrero, owner of a tree-trimming business in Southern California, this proved to be the case. Guerrero underreported his payroll by millions of dollars to the California State Compensation Insurance Fund, scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars in lower premiums. Guerrero’s unscrupulous behavior was discovered after he filed a workers’ compensation claim for an employee’s death in a wood chipper. Guerrero grossly underpaid his workers’ compensation premiums and expected to have full benefits paid to the unfortunate employee’s beneficiaries. Guerrero was arrested for workers’ compensation premium fraud. “Contractors like Guerrero, who cheat when competing with legitimate contractors and expect them to pay inflated workers’ compensation premiums to cover the cost of all claims, can’t have it both ways,” said CALPASC Risk Management Director Bruce Wick.

Contractors who intentionally purchase workers’ compensation insurance at lower premium rates than required or avoid purchasing insurance entirely create an unfair advantage when competing with law-abiding contractors. Cost-shifting from the illegitimate to the legitimate contractors makes it hard for lawful contractors to bid competitively in the construction industry.

“If a contractor isn’t willing to compete fairly, he/she shouldn’t be allowed to continue in business,” stressed Wick. “In this case, the workers’ compensation fraud could have been detected earlier by the insurance carrier, and the contractor could have been kept from continuing operations.”

Quality construction work requires training, continual use of proper safety practices and workers’ compensation coverage. Contractors who skirt the law and thrive in the underground economy ignore these requirements, and untold accidents occur that cause employees to be injured or lose their lives. In the case of someone like Guerrero, state taxes hadn’t been paid, and payroll had been significantly underreported for four years. According to media reports, “Employees were denied the benefits of state unemployment and disability insurance.”

To assist in this effort, CALPASC established the LEVEL Program, which encourages coordination among state agencies, other associations and legitimate contractors to shine a spotlight and clamp down on cheating contractors.

“Unfortunately, the efficiency and coordination of efforts between insurers and the various state enforcement agencies have been behind the times,” said CALPASC Executive Director Brad Diede. “We are encouraged by the efforts of agency chiefs to update their organizations and procedures to expedite enforcement against bad actor employers. Legitimate construction contractors and construction employees need these changes made and implemented as soon as possible.”

Diede further stressed, “Contractors who cut corners and ignore safety and insurance requirements need to be called into question immediately. By apprehending these violators early on in ‘their game,’ legitimate contractors won’t be disadvantaged, quality won’t suffer and, most importantly, we can most assuredly prevent injuries and save lives.”

Popularity: 8% [?]

Daylight Saving Ends – CAL FIRE Reminds Californians to Change Your Clocks, Change Your Batteries

This Sunday, Californians will be rolling back their clocks as daylight saving comes to an end on November 6, 2012. CAL FIRE and fire departments across the state are reminding residents to replace the batteries in all smoke alarms as well as their carbon monoxide (CO) alarm when they change their clocks.

“We recommend changing the batteries in your smoke alarms twice a year,” said Acting State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover, CAL FIRE. “While you are spending a couple minutes to change the time on all your clocks, it’s so easy just to add an extra minute to ensure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarm all have fresh, new batteries as well.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), roughly two-thirds of home fire deaths occurred in homes without working smoke alarms. Working smoke alarms increase the change of surviving a home fire by 50 percent.

For decades, firefighters have used the time change as a reminder for residents to change their smoke alarm batteries. This year, officials are adding carbon monoxide alarms to their message following a new state law requiring all single-family homes have a carbon monoxide alarm.

CAL FIRE has the following tips on smoke alarms:

• Test smoke alarms once a month.
• Replace batteries in all smoke alarms and CO alarms twice a year.
• Don’t “borrow” or remove batteries from smoke & CO alarms even temporarily.
• Regularly vacuum or dust smoke & CO alarms to keep them working properly.
• Replace smoke alarms every 10 years.
• Don’t paint over smoke or CO alarms.
• Practice family fire drills so everyone knows what to do if the smoke alarm goes off.

Find more information visit the CAL FIRE Web site at www.fire.ca.gov.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Runner Warns ‘Beware of Misleading Business Solicitations’

George Runner, Second District Member of the State Board of  Equalization (BOE), today reminded taxpayers to be wary of misleading business solicitations from companies that mimic official correspondence from a governmental agency.

“For California business owners it’s tough enough dealing with real government agencies without having to deal with fake ones too,” said Senator Runner.  “We need to make sure California Businesses aren’t being misled.”

Recently, businesses in California have reported to the BOE that they have received notices from the “California Labor Compliance Bureau,” requesting immediate payment of a “processing fee” of $275.  The California Labor Compliance Bureau is not a government agency.  The notices use publicly available information such as BOE account numbers and industry codes to make them appear to be official correspondence.

The “processing fee” is purportedly for labor-related notices that California employers are required to post at their business premises informing employees of their legal rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The notices in question are available free of charge from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on their website here: https://www.nlrb.gov/poster.

The BOE is not affiliated in any way with the California Labor Compliance Bureau. Correspondence from the BOE will always feature the BOE’s title and/or logo and contain contact information.  If you receive a notice and question whether it is official BOE correspondence, you should contact your local BOE office (a list of contact numbers for BOE field offices can be found here:http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/phone.htm), or contact the BOE’s Information Call Center at 800-400-7115.

The NLRB can assist businesses with questions regarding required notices at 202-273-0064.

Elected in November 2010, taxpayer advocate George Runner represents the Second District of the Board of Equalization.  Runner was sworn in as Second District Board Member on January 3, 2011.  Prior to his election to the Board, Runner served twelve years in the State Legislature.  As a thoughtful conservative, his legislative priorities included improving the economy, business growth, education excellence, and public safety for all Californians.  As a member of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, Runner consistently led the fight against tax increases and supported tax relief for families and businesses.

The five-member California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a publicly elected tax board.  The BOE collects more than $50 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services.  It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes.  For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.

Popularity: 11% [?]

New Local Application Has a Successful First Weekend

iPumpkin Debuts at Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, Assists Thousands of Users

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (October 19, 2011) – This past weekend marked the launch of the iPumpkin iPhone, iPad and Android application for the 41st annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. Consumers, vendors and emergency services providers were impressed with the convenience and usability of the app. By the end of the festival,iPumpkin was used in more than 20,000 sessions and received an average rating of five stars on iTunes App Store and Android Market.

“This weekend was an incredible experience in every dimension,” said Joe Falcone, CTO, Managing Partner & Founder of Phondini Partners, the creators behind the app. “iPumpkin was a highlight of this year’s festival.”

Consumers reported that iPumpkin was extremely helpful – from making it easy to find entertainment and food to learning more about the hundreds of artists, including viewing pictures of their wares.

Vendors found the application helpful as well. Food vendors outside the central food court were easy to locate on the app’s interactive map and reported an increase in sales. Artists reported the app made it easy for customers to find them, increasing their sales as well.

iPumpkin’s easy-to-use four-layer map was not only a boon for consumers during the festival; the Sheriff’s and Fire Department also found the app convenient for their needs, including quickly locating an emergency call at one of the 400+ booths and having push messages available for emergencies like lost children.

Unlike most festival apps, local sponsors who purchased 200,000+ ad impressions and 25,000+ push messages funded iPumpkin.  The advertising was oriented around new visitors, suggesting places to go for souvenirs, pumpkins or meals during the festival.

iPumpkin is completely functional in environments with jammed cell phone networks and no Internet access, which is frequently the case in small-town events like the Pumpkin Festival. “We’re extremely pleased with the performance of the app here in Half Moon Bay and we are eager to apply our expertise to similar festivals across the country,” added Falcone.

iPumpkin was developed by Phondini Partners, a company that builds mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry platforms using local resources. For more information about Phondini Partners visit www.phondini.com.

Popularity: 4% [?]