Since launching in August, Belly has signed up 1,400 merchants in eight markets, and is adding an average of 100 more merchants each week. Additionally, it has more than 200,000 active users, who have checked into business more than 800,000 times.

The business draws a little bit from Foursquare, because it requires users to check in to earn points; and also draws a little bit from Groupon, because of its focus on local commerce.

But Jeff Jordan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, argued that Belly is not at all like Groupon. “It’s the anti-Groupon,” he said. “Groupon is doing lead generation through discounting. … What Belly is trying to do is loyalty.”

The difference Buy windows 7 key, Jordan said, is that Belly doesn’t require merchants to offer discounts to get consumers to come back.

For example, a Chicago comic book store owner is letting shoppers punch him in the stomach; a Washington, D.C., Ben & Jerry shop is giving away a chance to eat ice cream with Jerry after 200 visits; and a barber is handing over the clippers to frequent customers, who will shave off his own beard.

Jordan, the former chairman and CEO of OpenTable and former president of PayPal, said there are four reasons why he was attracted to the start-up:

The management team: Founder and CEO Logan LaHive previously worked at Redbox, and before that, Pay By Touch, the biometrics payments company that raised $350 million in capital before failing.
Product execution: Jordan said both merchants and customers like the product. Merchants must install an iPad at the register Windows 7 serial key, where consumers can check in to earn points by scanning a bar code from their phone or a loyalty card.
DNA of the investors: Before Andreessen Horowitz got involved, LaHive incubated the company in the offices of Lightbank, the VC fund created by Groupon founders in Chicago. Jordan believes that the one who gets to market fastest will win in this market. Belly has that in its DNA.
Connected retailers: Once retailers have an iPad in every store, there will be additional opportunities for Belly to roll out other services.

LaHive said the capital will be used to fuel expansion into new markets and to develop new services. To date, the company has raised $13 million.

Belly charges merchants $50 to $100 a month for the service, which includes an iPad, a case and lock for the iPad, marketing materials, and data and analytics to manage their business better.

Belly @ Berry Austin from Bellycard.com on Vimeo.

They were all special needs students, and their parents all learned about the verbal abuse the same way – by planting audio recorders on them before sending them off to school.

In cases around the country, suspicious parents have been taking advantage of convenient, inexpensive technology to tell them what children, because of their disabilities, are not able to express on their own. It's a practice that can help expose abuses, but it comes with some dangers.

This week, a father in Cherry Hill, N.J., posted on YouTube clips of secretly recorded audio that caught one adult calling his autistic 10-year-old son "a bastard." In less than three days, video got 1.2 million views, raising the prominence of the small movement. There have been at least nine similar cases across the U.S. since 2003.

"If a parent has any reason at all to suggest a child is being abused or mistreated, I strongly recommend that they do the same thing," said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

But George Giuliani, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers and director of special education at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., says that while the documented mistreatment of children has been disturbing, secret recordings are a bad idea. They could, he said, violate the privacy rights of other children.

"We have to be careful that we're not sending our children in wired without knowing the legal issues," Giuliani said.

Stuart Chaifetz, the Cherry Hill father, said he began getting reports earlier in the school year that his 10-year-old son, Akian, was being violent.

Hitting teachers and throwing chairs were out of character for the boy replica watches, who is in a class with four other autistic children and speaks but has serious difficulty expressing himself. Chaifetz said he talked to school officials and had his son meet with a behaviorist. There was no explanation for the way Akian was acting.

"I just knew I had to find out what was happening there," he said. "My only option was to put a recorder there. I needed to hear what a normal day was like in there."

On the recording, he heard his son being insulted – and crying at one point.

He shared the audio with school district officials. The superintendent said in a statement that "the individuals who are heard on the recording raising their voices and inappropriately addressing children no longer work in the district."

Since taking the story public, Chaifetz, who has run unsuccessfully for the school board in Cherry Hill and once went on a hunger strike to protest special-education funding cuts, said he has received thousands of emails.

At least a few dozen of those he has had a chance to read have been from parents asking for advice about investigating alleged mistreatment of their children.

It's easy, he tells them.

"It was a simple $30 digital audio recorder. I just put it in the kid's pocket," he said. "Unless they're looking for it, they're not going to find it."

With more parents taking such action replica watches, he said, fewer educators may get out of line with the way they treat students who cannot speak up for themselves.

"For the tiny percentage of teachers that do it, I hope that they live in fear every day that a kid's going to walk in with a recorder replica watches," he said.

He gives just one caveat: "Make sure it's legal in your state."

Laws on audio recordings vary by state, but in most of the U.S., including New Jersey, recordings can generally be made legally if one party gives consent. Over the past decade, courts in New York and Wisconsin have ruled that recordings made secretly on school buses were legal, finding that there is a diminished expectation of privacy for drivers on the bus.

The recordings have led to firings in several states, criminal convictions of bus employees in Wisconsin and New York, and legal settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Ohio and Missouri.

Even if it is found to be legal, the recording could have a chilling effect on classrooms, says Giuliani, of the special-education teachers' group. Teachers could worry that every one of their words could be monitored. And a recording could be edited to distort the teachers' meaning.

He said that the rise of the secret recordings suggests it's time to discuss a way to make sure the most vulnerable children are not being mistreated in a more formal way.

"In classrooms where children are nonverbal, unable to communicate, defenseless," he said, "we should start to have a discussion of whether cameras in the classroom are necessary."

That's a move that the National Autism Association's Fournier also says is needed.

—

AP News Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

—

Follow Mulvihill at

A body has been found on a beach in Sydney’s south. Tattoo Grips

The male corpse was discovered at Lady Robinsons Beach Ink Tattoo, at President Avenue, near Monterey Rotary Machine Tattoo, at just before 7am (AEST) on Monday.

Police said the dead man, believed to be in his 70s, was found next to a boat wedged in the sand.

A crime scene was established but detectives say there are no suspicious circumstances.

Tasmanian Labor senator Nick Sherry is bringing forward his retirement from politics and will give a valedictory speech in parliament on Thursday.

Senator Sherry will leave the Senate on June 1 Good Tattoo Ink, he confirmed to AAP.

He did not wish to comment further until after his speech at 3.30pm on Thursday.

The veteran of nearly 22 years in parliament had previously announced he would retire at the next election.

The 56-year-old stepped down from Julia Gillard's ministry last year Tattoo Machine Supplies, saying he wanted to spend more time with his young children.

Former state government minister Lin Thorp and union boss Kevin Harkins have been mentioned as possible replacements.

Ms Thorp lost her Legislative Council seat in an election last year after she had been forced to apologise for revealing the confidential details of a rival's job interview.

“I would welcome Lyn Thorpe putting her name forward as I would welcome others in the Labor Party putting their name forward too and having a robust preselection process,” Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said on Wednesday.

Mr Harkins was kicked off Labor's Senate ticket in 2010 after then-prime minister Kevin Rudd had called him a “well-known pugilist”, but recently said he would consider running again if approached.

He said a newspaper report that Mr Rudd had confused him for another union leader had gone some way to healing the wounds inflicted by the former PM.

At the time Cheap Tattoo Machine, Mr Rudd said he stood by his comments.

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird says he hopes Shooters Party MPs angry about tough new firearms laws will assess his power sell-off on its merits. Replica Herve leger strapless

The NSW upper house on Tuesday passed laws which tighten the Firearms Act so gun owners can only buy ammunition for weapons they are licensed to own.

The legislation is designed to tackle a recent spate of gun crime in Sydney.

The Shooters and Fishers Party MPs, who hold the balance of power in the Legislative Council, say the restrictions will only make life hard for gun owners and do nothing to to stop criminals getting their hands on ammunition.

After the vote Shooters MP Robert Borsak said the passing of the bill would “make it much tougher for us to support the government on most of their bills”, including legislation to sell off the state's power generators.

Mr Baird said the difficult negotiations with crossbenchers in the upper house were “part of the robust democracy that we live in”.

“We hope that they will look at each piece of legislation on its merits,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“Certainly my argument to the crossbenchers (is that) any legislation that comes they should be thinking about the best interests of the people of NSW.

“Our hope is that's what they'd do.”

Mr O'Farrell said the Shooters Party was entitled to its views, but warned that MPs were beholden to voters.

“Look, ultimately everyone in the upper house has to answer to the electorate, the election is in three years' time and people are going to have to make those decisions then,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Mr O'Farrell said his government would always back legislation requested by NSW police to help tackle gun crime.

“What NSW police know is that if they seek additional resources DKNY Clothing sale, if they seek additional powers as they did with the ammunition bill, this government will back them,” he said.

Seriously, we’re not that interested in the 2009 Subaru Forester that we actually think half a dozen posts on the little CUV is warranted, but Subie’s so far been unable to keep a lid on its new design to such an extent that we just have to share each and every new pic that crosses our desk. These new ones appear to be the first live shots of the car, as opposed to the magazine scans and photoshopped official shots we’ve seen so far. In fact, these new images taken at what appears to be a shipping hub really bring to light how far the Forester has matured compared to the current model. While the current model always looked like nothing more than a tall station wagon with an extra smidge of ground clearance, the new Forester actually looks like a small CUV. The above shot even bears a resemblance to the Land Rover LR2 in some areas. We’re sure you can find some more derivative styling on the new Forester as well Tattoo Supplies, but all in all we think its positive progress in the right direction for Subaru.

As always Tattoo Supplies, we’ll bring you official news on the new 2009 Subaru Forester as soon as it’s released on Christmas Day, and probably some more unofficial news in the meantime.

[Source: Yahoo! blogs via Carscoop]

Related Gallery2009 Subaru Forester – unofficial images

During the fourth quarter Discount Bandage dresses, Chrysler saw a net loss of $199 million – the largest of the year. Even so Buy Chanel Dresses, Chrysler says that it expects good things from 2011. The automaker has made it clear that it plans to see significantly improved figures in coming months. With an arsenal of new and refreshed models in showrooms right now and an improved buying forecast here in the states Buy Herve Leger gown, Chrysler expects to see net profits of $200-500 million for 2011 and total revenues in the area of $55 billion.

According to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne Hale Bob Dresses sale, the automaker has been unable to post a net profit thus far due to high interest payments on federal loans. Throughout last year, the company paid a total of $1.3 billion in interest, according to Automotive News. Click past the jump for the full press release.

[Sources: Chrysler Discount White Herve leger, Automotive News – sub. req. | Image: Drew Phillips/AOL]

A former detainee has spoken exclusively to 7News Discount Hale Bob Dresses, describing how Cavan Training Centre Cheap Herve Leger gown, in Adelaide’s far-northern suburbs, is a recruiting ground for criminal gangs.

The training centre was recently in the spotlight, after a group of eight escaped the complex in February.

The detainee, who doesn’t want to be identified Buy Hale Bob Dresses, has been a convicted criminal since he was 16-years-old and was released from Cavan Training Centre two weeks ago, after he was incarcerated for assault.

He said young criminals trade tactics while inside.

“You trade stories with each other, how you got in there, how you stuffed up and pretty much your mistakes.”

“If someone does a home invasion and leaves fingerprints you learn from their mistakes.. so you don’t get busted the same way they did.”

“So you can do pretty much what we call it, the ‘perfect crime’ BCBG Dresses sale,” he said.

He says it is not uncommon for repeat offenders to develop and strengthen criminal ties with gangs.

“The ‘Gang of 49′ have friends and family in there,” he said Buy Emilio Pucci Dresses, ” They recruit them so they have more than one person to do the crime with on the outside.”

The former detainee says he has reformed and wants to change his ways, but admits he played a key role in February’s escape by helping to create a diversion.

He sad he gave the signal for the other detainees to start a play-fight, which distracted guards while the escapees fled through a hole cut through one of the surrounding fences.

“It was just too easy,” he said Cheap Herve Leger gown, ” Really it was just well organised through the boys.”

There’s a joke among snooty Boston-area high-school kids: If they don’t get good grades, they’ll end up at Cape Cod Community College, or “4 C’s by the Sea.” In suburban Washington, D.C., the punch line is Maryland’s Montgomery College, or “M.K.” for short. Kids in Houston use San Jacinto College, long known as “Harvard on the Highway.”

Community colleges don’t get a lot of respect. Except Discount DKNY Clothing, as of this week, from President Obama. In a speech Tuesday in Warren, Mich., he proposed sinking nearly $12 billion into revamping the country’s community-college system. The plan would provide $9 billion in grant money to boost academic programs and raise graduation rates, plus another $2.5 billion to upgrade school facilities. It would also fund open-source online courses so that schools don’t have to build more classrooms to admit more students.

The point isn’t to turn Harvard on the Highway into actual Harvard. Even if the government gave all $12 billion to one community college, it wouldn’t be as rich as the World’s Greatest University. Nor is the purpose merely to improve the image of community colleges. And it’s not to encourage enrollment: With the economy tanking and tuitions at four-year colleges and universities exploding Replica DKNY Clothes, community colleges are in the rare position of having to turn people away. “We’re bursting at the seams Cheap Herve Leger gown,” says Gail Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College in New York City, which saw a 25 percent increase in students over last year.

Rather, the plan is designed to correct decades of federal neglect. “Too often, community colleges are treated like an afterthought—if they’re thought of at all,” Obama said in his speech. Right now, somewhere between one-third and one-half of American undergrads are at community colleges, depending how you count. Yet community colleges receive only 20 percent of federal funding. “We’ve been so focused on the quality and reputation of our lead institutions” at the expense of community colleges, says Thomas Bailey of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University. (That’s right: Not even the community college research center is based at a community college.) “The biggest issue in higher education has been affirmative action.” Racial preference isn’t a problem when you don’t turn anyone away.

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That model is outdated, says Mellow: “We live in a knowledge economy, and we’ve set up education as if we’re an agrarian culture.” It used to be that you could educate the top 10 percent, he said, and the rest of the population would get unskilled jobs. But in a global economy Herve Leger v neck sale, where even professions like cashier or truck driver require constant upgrades in technology and information, a high-school diploma is not always enough. That said Discount Herve Leger gown, a pricey Ivy League degree may not be necessary, either. Community colleges fill that hole.

If the goal is to raise college graduation rates—Obama wants 5 million more grads by 2020—community colleges make an obvious target. They’re packed with people who want to be in college—they enrolled, after all—but often drop out. (Only 30 percent of students entering community college graduate in six years, compared with 58 percent of students at four-year schools.) Plus, they require little funding compared with other universities: Community college tuitions are typically in the $2,000-to-$5,000 range.

Another reason to spend on community colleges: They’re agile. If the university system is an ocean liner, community colleges are the speedboats of higher education. If they get more money and use it wisely, the thinking goes, they can produce results in a matter of years. After all, they’re designed to respond to the needs of the local community. For example, LaGuardia Community College recently introduced a program to train designers in New York City. When the fishing industry started struggling in Massachusetts, Cape Cod Community College turned its focus to nursing and other health-care-related jobs. When Connecticut introduced its first casino, one nearby community college started training croupiers. For an administration looking for shovel-ready projects, community colleges can provide a lot of shovels.

Will $12 billion really make a difference? “We’d hope so,” says Elizabeth Homan, a spokeswoman for Montgomery College. The school currently has $78 million in deferred maintenance and hasn’t hired any new faculty in two years. Obama’s plan might not cover the needs of all 1,100 community colleges in the country. But the national attention will probably help the schools raise more money on their own. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year announced up to $500 million in grants to community colleges.

Educators also hope Obama’s new focus will change the way people think about post-secondary education. Giant research universities increase the amount of knowledge in the world. But community colleges increase the number of people who know it. And with jobs going overseas at ever-faster rates, America needs an educated Cheap Herve leger strapless, flexible work force ready to change jobs on short notice. That work force is more likely to emerge from community colleges than from, say, the Dartmouth English department.

According to reports, the Infiniti Performance Line could grow to include everything from aero kits to full-on performance models Replica Baume & Mercier Watches, the latter built on the same assembly lines as the existing models but carrying engines sourced from the Mercedes-Benz performance division.

The reports stem from parent company Renault-Nissan’s recent deal with Mercedes-Benz to receive technology from the German automaker. Since the deal was penned Wholesale Replica Emporio Armani Watches, the rumormill has run rampant with speculation on possibilities as to how the Franco-Japanese automaker alliance might best implement Daimler’s know-how Fake Calvin Klein Watches for sale, running from platform sharing to engine swaps A Lange & Sohne Replica Watches, but this mooted IPL powertrain connection could be the most interesting yet.

Related Gallery2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe: First Drive
Photos copyright ©2010 Rex Roy / AOL

[Source: Autocar]