By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS Researchers in Hong Kong have successfully used an iPhone camera and smartphone app to identify people with a type of irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation. Users simply align their face with a red circle on the phone screen, and the app, called Cardiio Rhythm, calculates […]
The post App can detect irregular heartbeat by looking at your face appeared first on News on Heart.org.
Jack Nicklaus (AGAIN) on Tuesday at the HSBC Golf Business Forum in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida said the reason golf courses are closing is because golf balls go too far.
Wait. What?
Here is what Nicklaus actually said, "Fact is, more golf courses have closed in the U.S. in each of the last 10 years than have opened. This is thanks in great part to changes in the golf ball and the distance it travels."
HIS SOLUTION: create golf balls designed for each and every golf course.
Jack might not be aware of this (you would think he would be though), but Jack you actually make one of the longer balls in golf. The Nicklaus Black. And not that is NOT the reaosn courses are closing.
These statements always baffle me. Don't get me wrong Jack is the greatest, but the fact our industry continues to look to these 3-5 famous "golfers" for the answer to the games problems when what they say makes almost no sense in terms of actually solving the problem, just makes well...no sense. They are not the answer to golf courses closing or the game shrinking.
Here is the funny thing about evolution: it never stops. Not even for Jack or Tiger. This game and every other game ever invented and our species will continue to evolve. If not...well, that is when it dies. Moving back to a more primitive version of ourselves or this game is what is called de-evolution and it is NOT the answer. The sooner they relaize this (they won't) the sooner our game moves in a more healthy direction.
And there is your reason for why golf is dying. It is quite simple. It has failed to evolve and if it continues it will end up extinct just like the dinosaur it is becoming.
It’s almost time for my annual I like being married watching of It’s A Wonderful Life. You know the story. Bad things happen, a guy wishes he was never born, realizes his life was wonderful, and “ding”, an angel gets his wings. Probably should have said spoiler alert before that sentence.
Anyway, today’s putter, PING’s 50th Anniversary Anser, got me thinking about what golf would be like without the contributions of Karsten Solheim. More specifically, what would the putter market be like without the PING Anser?
The Anser is the foundational putter design for the past fifty years, and it is the “most copied” equipment design perhaps in all of golf. Just imagine if it never happened.
The Anser is so ingrained in the golf psyche that I can’t even envision an Anser-free golf universe. Would Scotty Cameron still be a club maker? How many Anser-using tour pros over the years would have had the same number of wins with another putter? Perhaps another design would have taken the Anser’s spot in the pros’ bags, but that putter wouldn’t likely have lived up to the Anser’s performance pedigree.
Thankfully, we don’t need to imagine Anser-less golf. The PING Anser has dominated putting for fifty years, and this new limited edition version deftly captures both the history of the Anser and PING’s commitment to engineer better golf clubs.
Some of you already knew this story, but others are likely learning this for the first time. I know when I first started playing and writing about golf, I had no clue why Anser was lacking a “W”. So now you know the story as well. It’s not the world’s most famous typo; it was just a matter of toe bumper space.
“Most people don’t realize the amount of hand work that went into the original Anser putters 50 years ago. The radiuses on both of the hand-machined tools were finished with a file and sandpaper by Karsten. I built most of the original Ansers in the garage, starting with machining and grinding the raw castings and continuing through final assembly. My brother Allan machined the second mold, which is slightly different and often referred to as the ‘slope-side’ mold. We wanted to bring that handcrafted approach back as part of the Anser’s 50-year celebration and its remarkable contribution to golf.” - John Solheim, PING Chairman & CEO
The more I explored this putter, the more I was reminded that the Anser really does represent a piece of golf history. When you open up the included the signed certificate of authenticity, you find photos of Karsten and writings about the Anser’s history.
This putter’s construction throws back to the way things were done when the Anser first came to life. The head is cast, but then it takes a ton of hand milling and sanding to get it to its final shape. It’s not all historic, though. This Anser also contains a couple of tungsten plugs, adding a touch of PING’s modern weight engineering to the old school design.
If you are not sure about how much handwork went into this Anser, just look at the texture of the putter. Casting leaves the metal with a rough finish like this:
That means that someone’s hands likely worked every part of the head that has a smooth appearance. In this putter’s case, those hands belonged to John Solheim, the same person who did the machining on the original Anser. Sweat and craft of the original Anser artisan permeates this Anser just like it did fifty years ago.
I love that some of you are reading this and wondering how a $900 limited edition putter performed on the course. Who in their right mind rolls balls with this putter?
I totally rolled balls with this putter.
I’m not going to say that I had the stones to throw it in the bag for a round, but after using it on the practice green for a while, I’d be totally happy bagging this Anser.
I believe that PING wants this putter to be gamed. Why else would they go to the trouble of adding the tungsten plugs? The 350g head weight should allow most golfers to produce a familiar, comfortable swing with the Anser.
The sound slot and the manganese bronze combine to produce a big click at impact. That click says Scottsdale Anser to me as much as the putter’s visuals. No other putter has the same distinctive sound and feel.
From the box to the blade, PING did this offering right. There is so much WOW. The box, even when closed, sets an impressive stage for what is inside. Upon opening the box, you are greeted with not only the putter, but also the signed certificate of authenticity, and a one of a kind leather headcover. I know I already said impressive, but that is really the best word to describe the overall feeling.
If you have a putter lover on your list, this Anser is the gift for this year. Yes, it’s more expensive than a production putter, but this putter is so much more than a club you putt with. The putter lover will gush over this Anser.
The PING 50th Anniversary Anser brings the history of Karsten Solheim and his sons with it. The design set the stage for so many putters that came in the decades after its inception. It speaks to the brilliance of the initial design, and also to PING’s work to make that design better in the years that followed.
Golf is better with the Anser a part of it, and this Anser is a wonderful putter.
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Your logo is the key to your small business brand. Whether you are setting up shop or rebranding, designing your logo is just as important as getting things right on other aspects of your business.
However, that doesn’t mean you have an unlimited budget. With today’s logo design crowdsourcing services, you still have lots of options for good small business logo design.
You’ll finish this guide understanding the crowdsourcing process and will be prepared to crowdsource the right logo for your small business.
Many startups and small businesses turn to the web for crowdsourcing their logos, so let’s start with a basic understanding of what crowdsourcing is in this context:
Crowdsourcing is using the internet to obtain services by approaching an online community.
Our top four picks are large online communities of designers—the crowd. You are coming to them to provide you with a service; in this case, small business logo design—the sourcing.
You post what it is you need them to do, and they will put together logo designs based on your description of what you need for your small business logo (usually called the brief). You review the logo samples, provide feedback, and select the one that’s the right fit for you.
Sites typically have guarantees and customer satisfaction policies to minimize the financial risk on your end—for example, if you don’t find a design that you can approve, you can be refunded, or you don’t pay anything until you’ve selected a design. Once you’ve paid for your design, files and copyright are transferred to you.
It’s important to understand that crowdsourcing your logo design is not the same as working with a dedicated agency. Often crowdsourcing sites have a lower cost, which is good for your marketing budget, but the quality of designers and designs can vary. However, a good rule of thumb is this:
The designer’s work is only as good as the information and direction you give them.
Make sure you and your team are set on what you are looking for in the right logo design for your small business. Be thorough and detailed when writing up your brief (more on that below). Don’t assume that the designers know your business or your industry.
Be as certain as possible that the information in your brief is final—changing those details mid-process can result in delays, a withdrawal of designer services, and lots of frustration all around. Give as much information and detail as you can—the end result is more likely to be a strong design that you can approve and put to work for your business.
The crowdsourcing process varies depending on the provider, but your overall process will look something like this:
1. Pick the service category you need (usually logo design), and select a pricing package or budget option, along with a project timeframe (this could be a day, a week, 30 days, and so on, depending on your turnaround time or how much time you and your team need to compare and comment on designs).
2. Develop your brief based on the information the provider requests (below we’ll also cover what to keep in mind to write a rock-solid brief).
3. Post your project based on parameters you’ve specified (this part can take just a few minutes).
4. Review design samples that come in from prospective designers.
5. Select designs that fit your brief and reject designs that don’t. Provide feedback on designs if designers need to refine the sample.
6. Choose your winner. Once you pick the final design, the winning designer gets paid, you receive the files, and rights and/or copyright transfer based on the service you use.
7. Put your design to work—your business now has the logo it needs!
To save you time, we’ve looked over the many crowdsourcing logo design sites online, and have picked out our top four for you to choose from.
Each site is similar in what they do and how they do it. Packages and price points vary (plus, pricing and other details are subject to change without notice). Some sites are more wide-open on who may bid for your work, and some sites do more vetting and have more stringent requirements.
We also spoke with small business owners who have used each service to learn more about their experiences.
Compare each site to see which one is the best fit for your budget and requirements.
“Crowdsource your design and branding projects—and pay only for the design you love.”
Choose from four packages:
It’s the big dog that brings in the best of both worlds. Over a million designers work through 99designs, putting vast creative power in your reach.
Those numbers can also sound overwhelming, but the platform walks you through step-by-step so that you can get the right designs from the right people.
In addition to its primary crowdsourcing model, the “1-to-1 Projects” feature gives designers and clients a workspace to collaborate more individually—perfect for when you want to get away from the crowd and have more dedicated interactions.
Founded in 2008 by a group of designers, 99designs is among the most visible brands for crowdsourced logos, website design, graphic design, and more.
Customers around the world have launched over 500,000 design contests, and as of July 2016, 99designs has paid out over $150 million to designers via its platform. Designers and client organizations collaborate on over 10,000 design contests a month, and the platform has helped over 364,500 businesses around the world.
Bellgray is a streamlined shopping solution for serious professional women. When exploring prospective logo design providers, founder and CEO Annie Shafran looked at everything from branding agencies (“too expensive for what I needed”) to individual graphic design artists (“felt too risky—just looking at their previous work did not guarantee that they would understand my vision”).
She selected 99designs as “the perfect mix of both because it was the right price and offered me access to hundreds of designers with different ideas and interpretations of my brand.”
“I was uncertain about the whole branding process in the beginning and felt like I needed to hire an agency to nail it,” says Shafran about why she would recommend 99designs. “Your brand is so important and you want to get it right from the beginning…It was an important part of my process, giving feedback to different designers, which in turn made my brand stronger.”
“The world’s best creative team.”
Logo design from US$199
CrowdSPRING and 99designs have many things in common: a vast pool of creative talent, tens of thousands of completed projects, crowdsourcing and 1-to-1 options, and more.
But to-date, CrowdSPRING simply is on a smaller scale. That’s a positive, as the Chicago-based firm has room to grow, and they want to matchmake clients and creatives in a secure, user-friendly space.
Also founded in 2008, CrowdSPRING wants to bring high-quality creative logo, web design, branding, and naming work not just to small businesses and one-person shops, but to organizations of any size who want to work in an online collaborative environment that combines ease of use with watertight contracts, secure digital content management, and an escrow service.
Over 190,000 creative professionals have competed for over 500,000 successfully completed projects. CrowdSPRING also offers a 1-to-1 environment for customers who prefer individual interaction to managing crowd conversation.
Networlding is a marketing, ghostwriting, and publishing services firm. CEO Melissa Wilson is the author of 15 books, including five business bestsellers such as Networking is Dead: Creating Connections that Matter.
When it came time to design a cover for a new book, Wilson turned to CrowdSPRING to find the right design and branding that would appeal to the book’s target market.
“I like the people running the company. I also like the experience,” she says—even when there were problems along the way.
“I had a legal problem with one of my designers,” Wilson explains. “CrowdSPRING really helped out to resolve that situation. People don’t realize the world of design and how it can get sticky sometimes. CrowdSPRING takes away the need for you to worry about that. They offer protection as well as crowdsourcing design.”
The process also provides an opportunity to understand your brand and project better. “People owe it to themselves to go through the experience. It’s like they have to go through it to understand the benefits,” she says. “People don’t understand what they don’t know. What they don’t know is what’s possible with their logo, brand, or book cover until they see it.”
The two other firms in our top four are similar in many regards to 99designs and CrowdSPRING. Be sure to compare and contrast with our top pick and runner-up to find the right match for your small business logo design.
US$59 posting fee, plus a budget that you specify for the project.
Over 541,025 designers have completed 203,312 projects for logo design, web design, t-shirt design, flyer design, brochure design, business card design, and much, much more—42 project categories to choose from, depending on your other branding and design needs. DesignCrowd was also established in 2008.
Trail Team 10 is a 6-month professional development journey for startup CEOs to scale themselves, their teams, and their businesses. This “virtual hike” enables like-minded leaders from different cities to talk shop with peers in a safe and confidential setting.
Founder Todd Uterstaedt needed a unique logo that would effectively bring together Trail Team 10’s theme elements of outdoor hiking, startup culture, and modern-day business.
Uterstaedt had worked with a design firm previously, but he needed more design concepts to trust that he had fully explored the possibilities for his brand. “Underwhelmed” by prior experiences with other design crowdsourcing platforms, “the promise of a wide array of quality designs from designers around the world, and at an affordable price, convinced me to try DesignCrowd,” he says.
“The first thing I noticed was the commitment of the designers to accept feedback and strive for a design that just worked,” says Uterstaedt.
“Secondly, designers were not just copying or tweaking the work of others, they clearly focused on original, creative designs based on my exact specifications. Thirdly, the user interface for DesignCrowd made it super easy to review, rate, and compare designs in a fast and efficient manner.”
Choose from three packages (each with varying money-back guarantees):
Founded in 2010, Logo Arena is built around more of a contest feel, where the client can rank entries and provide feedback.
In the lead up to launching boutique indoor cycling and core fitness studio psychle studios (who as of yet don’t have a website set up), founder Donna Pellegrini Alderman needed a unique brand design in an industry full of visual cliches. “I didn’t want to rip off and do just a different variety of spoke and wheel.”
That need for logo design innovation led Alderman to Logo Arena. “It was a fun and fruitful experience from start and finish,” she says. “We spent the time initially to explain what the business was, what the vibe was that we wanted to deliver, even down to color scheme. People listened. These designers translated my words and thoughts into the design, into graphics.”
Alderman received 100 different designs from 48 designers. She would rank designs and provide feedback, and designers would continue revising or submitting designs based on their refined understanding. The designer whose logo she ultimately selected had submitted four distinct designs. At last, she had a logo that was both unique yet spoke to her industry.
“They seemed more personal and more personally involved to care, more than the bigger services,” says Alderman about why she would recommend Logo Arena. “It’s like hiring dozens of designers versus one designer. The value for the money is remarkable. They do top-quality art for national branding. This is a wonderful way that the web has really brought commercial quality, top-shelf service to the individual consumer. To a startup, this helps us grow.”
Working with a crowdsourcing logo design has many positives, but it’s not without its negatives.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Your odds of getting a successful crowdsourced logo increase with the quality and detail of the design brief you submit. Here are some things to include and keep in mind:
What do you want in your logo? This could be your business name, an acronym, tagline, colors, symbols, or other attributes that your business considers essential to its brand.
Write out details of your business: background, industry, mission statement, the size of your operation, service area, your short-term and long-term vision. Who are businesses you look to as examples? Who are your competitors?
Discuss your industry and market: provide any demographics and psychographics on the markets you serve.
What are three qualities about your business that your logo should communicate?
Is there a particular style that you’re looking for, such as image only, text only, or image plus text?
Give examples of what you love and hate: Look at other players in your industry. What do you like or dislike about their branding? Provide examples of what you like and dislike. This can help designers hit the mark with initial designs, as well as help you have differentiation from the competition, while still being in-line with your industry.
Whether launching a business or rebranding your operation, picking a logo is not a task to be taken lightly. However, today’s crowdsourcing services give you access to a global pool of talent at a reasonable cost.
You have control over the design brief, you get to pick the designers and designs you want, and you have protections to minimize your financial risk and make sure that you get the design that works for your small business. Write a detailed, thorough brief, and odds are your business will get the right design for your budget, message, and needs.
Based on their scope of service, our top pick is 99designs, and we also recommend CrowdSPRING as a strong runner-up, plus Design Crowd and Logo Arena as two other strong, viable options. Between these top four picks for crowdsourced logo design services for your small business, you are on your way to your new logo.
By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS Julie Kubala went to the hospital last year thinking her flu had progressed to pneumonia. It hadn’t. She was having a heart attack caused by a significant blockage found in her left anterior descending aorta. Kubala, 48, required a stent and months of constant attention […]
The post Making changes to prevent a second heart attack appeared first on News on Heart.org.
Every golfer has an expectation of how far the ball will roll with a given stroke; it stands to reason that if you can fit the putter to match your innate expectations, your distance control will improve and you will make more putts.
That’s the logic and goal behind Sentio - to develop a technology that gives golfers the ability to choose the feel that best fits their game.
Sentio putters feature what the company calls Floating Face Construction, a technology that completely separates the metal face and body with an insert-molded thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) – similar to the material used in PXG irons - polymer core.
Sentio’s line of blade putters, Sierra 101, comes in Soft, Medium, and Firm models, each molded with a different durometer (and color) of TPE, giving each a slightly different roll-out distance. For the first time, players can choose a putter based on feel preference and the speed of their local greens.
The TPE core does more than provide a supple feel. Variable depth channels in the back of the face slightly deaden the sweet spot for more consistency on off-center hits. Placing the polymer in the center of the putter helps improve stability by distributing mass to the perimeter.
Is Sentio’s Floating Face Construction legit, or just another gimmick?
That’s where you come in.
MyGolfSpy is looking for six avid golfers to step through Sentio’s Feel Selector, choose the putter that best your game, and then put your new putter to the test against what’s in your bag right now.
Who wants in?
We take our equipment testing very seriously here at MyGolfSpy, so please read - and follow - these instructions carefully:
First - if you haven't already, you must register for the MyGolfSpy Community Forum (click here to sign up).
Second - follow the instructions listed in the Official Sentio Putters Testers Application thread in the forum (click here to visit the thread).
That's all there is to it!
Remember, you can ONLY apply to be a tester in the Official Sentio Putters Testers Application thread in the MyGolfSpy Community Forum.
Good luck.
For more information on Floating Face Construction and the other features of the Sierra 101 lineup, visit the Sentio Golf Website.
