Iron Maiden Open Up Luxury Hotel !!!

While there was a point you could expect Iron Maiden to be tearing hotels down, now they’re apparently building them. Rock’n’roll or not, the band’s management has announced its going into the hotel business and opening a luxury London hotel dedicated to musicians, or at least the well-behaved ones. Called Sanctum Soho, the 30-room boutique hotel will break from the rock’n’roll tradition of TV-throwing and room-thrashing to cater to a more refined crowd, giving guests access to a 24-hour bar, rooftop hot tub, art deco-styled interiors and mini-bars built inside amp stacks. And with the entire project costing £6.5 million ($11 million CDN), hotel protocol will demand guests are much more orderly than the hedonists rockers of yore. “It’s not a hotel for throwing televisions out of the window. It’s going to be a sexy hotel,” Ben Groom, the hotel’s publicist, told the London Sunday Times [via Spinner]. Despite this tamer, lamer attitude, Sanctum Soho will offer musicians “a fairly elite environment” when it opens in April, with “crash rooms” going for $260 a night, suites with names like Purple Haze and Naked Baroque for $450 and rooms called Naked Luxe for $870. The hotel will also feature heavy security to keep the paparazzi and fans at bay, desk clerks dressed in black, like in Elvis’s Heartbreak Hotel, and perhaps some of Iron Maiden’s platinum and gold discs in the lobby. Chris Rouse, the London hotels expert at CB Richard Ellis, the world’s largest commercial property adviser, told the Times: “What is important to success is a brand. Iron Maiden is a strong brand. Whether their room would be left in the state you would wish to find it, I can’t say.” Yeah, that’s right. He said brand not band.

Source:http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=36202

Facebook is a handy networking tool.......So Start it now.....

The founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, recently wrote about the site's popularity on his own Facebook page. "If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria," Zuckerberg noted. The site allows users to set up a profile, complete with as much personal information as desired. Then users ask others on the network to become their Facebook friends.


Kathryn Brown, a freelance writer and mother of two young daughters, vowed to steer clear of "social networking sites, fearing that it would send the wrong message to potential clients," she explained. "You never know how these pages will be interpreted.
"I signed on, with reservations, to get news about an upcoming Charleston High School class reunion. After reconnecting with so many old friends, I realized that I had allowed too many people to drift out of my life. I'm trying to make up for years of not maintaining relationships that were healthy. I simply got busy and wrapped up in mortgages, meatloaf and minivans. I disappeared after going headfirst into career and then motherhood," Brown said. "Facebook is a wonderful, virtual playground for adults who have responsibilities that prohibit them from going out and mingling with people on a regular basis. As a wife and mother who spends most of her time at home, being able to scribble on someone's wall or view their photo albums makes me feel connected to the outside world."


Meg Stallard, a self-proclaimed "social butterfly," former elementary schoolteacher and mother of two toddlers, has more than 570 friends on her Facebook page. She uses it to stay in touch with friends, as well as to line up babysitters when necessary. "I am online with many of my old 'tech-savvy' students who are now in high school. I am also friends with their parents," she said. She loves the connections made possible by the Web site.


Diana Sole, president of MotionMasters and mother of three children ages 24, 22, and 14, set up her account a couple of years ago when she was working on her MBA and all of the "traditional age" students were talking about their pages.


"My son, Chris, is 24 and doesn't use Facebook much, but his wife keeps in touch with a lot of their friends that way. I haven't mustered the courage to ask if she'd like to be friends with her mother-in-law yet. But I know she really likes keeping connected through Facebook, especially since they live in Los Angeles. I also haven't had the courage to ask my 14-year-old daughter!"


Many people get creative with their Facebook photos, changing them frequently and showcasing interesting moments in their lives. Tabit's recent photo features her on her way to the Obama inaugural, but last month's picture showed her with West Virginia University basketball coach Bob Huggins.


"Facebook is definitely a business tool, but I use LinkedIn as more of the 'professional' tool. I don't add folks to my Facebook account unless I know them more informally," James said. "I do not share things on Facebook or other tools that would embarrass me, although I'm sure there are times certain folks don't get my style of humor."


"One of the neatest Facebook adventures was reconnecting with someone I used to work with almost 20 years ago," Smallridge said. "Likewise, I found an old college friend who now lives in Greece and it's been great bridging 26 years since graduation."





Source:http://wvgazette.com/HomeandStyle/200901290832

Sony expects $3 billion loss!!!

An aerial view of Sony's Inazawa plant in Japan. Sony said Thursday that it was considering consolidating TV production in Japan into one plant. (Kyodo News, via Reuters)

Sony, the Japanese electronics company, said Thursday that it would post a record annual operating loss of nearly $3 billion because of the rapid deterioration of the global economy and it announced a major restructuring that will include layoffs and factory closings.

The company said business had been worsening across every major line, including electronics, games, movies and financial services. The global economic crisis has reduced demand for Sony's products, which range from televisions and cameras to movies and PlayStation 3 game consoles, even as the rise of the yen against other currencies reduces the value of its overseas sales when the revenue is converted into yen.

The announcement Thursday marked the second downward revision Sony has made to its current-year forecast, after a similar move in October.

Sony said its three top executives would forgo their bonuses for the current fiscal year, and that bonuses and salaries would be reduced for other senior executives and corporate managers.

Sony, long one of Japan's most visible companies, projects an operating loss of 260 billion yen, or about $2.9 billion, for the current business year, compared with a profit of 475.3 billion yen a year earlier. The new estimate represents a deterioration of 60 billion yen from the company's October forecast.

The dollar has fallen nearly 20 percent against the yen since mid-August, while the euro has lost almost 30 percent in the same period.

The company said it expected to book restructuring charges of 60 billion yen this year and 110 billion yen next year as it works to cut 250 billion yen in costs next year.

Sony will cut about 1,000 contract workers in Japan as it consolidates production at two LCD television plants into one. The company's television business has been losing money for the last four years. Sony will also implement an early retirement plan and said it was planning a "significant reduction" in marketing and other expenses. Sony's business year runs from April through March.

It said that for the current year it expected sales to fall 13 percent from last year, to 7.7 trillion yen, and that it expected a net loss of 150 billion yen — its first net loss in 14 years — compared with a profit of 369.4 billion a year earlier. The company will announce its third-quarter results next Thursday.

The company announced its new forecast after the close of trading in Tokyo but Sony shares fell 2.6 percent for the session. The stock has declined by nearly 65 percent over the last 12 months.

Source:http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/22/business/sony.1.php