Connecticut Job Shops and Contract Manufacturers Join the MFG.com Manufacturing Marketplace

Connecticut manufacturers prove to be uniquely qualified for entrance into the largest global manufacturing ecosystem.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) December 18, 2012
MFG.com, the world’s largest online manufacturing marketplace for made-to-order parts, announced that prominent Connecticut-based manufacturers have joined the MFG.com marketplace.
A few of the recent additions include:

Perfection Screw & Rivet Co. is an ISO 9001:2008 certified, family-owned cold heading job shop located in Wolcott, CT. With a foundation of quality customer service, cost reduction and employee education, Perfection Screw & Rivet Co. has an impeccable record of satisfying customers. Capabilities include fasteners and hardware, machining, rapid prototyping, cold forming, cold headed parts, cold head machining, cold form parts, screws, rivets and knurling.
Windmade Products is a turn-key powder coating, sheet metal fabrication and machining service provider. As the exclusive manufacturer of Neumade Products, Windmade Products is a leading provider of high quality projection room equipment for the cinema industry. Windmade Products services a wide variety of industries and customers throughout the Northeast with a simple commitment to provide quality work, at a competitive price, delivered on time and in full. Capabilities and services include in-house powder coating, sheet metal fabrication, machining, assembly, kitting, warehousing and fulfillment.
Nerjan Development Co. is a family-owned, AS 9100, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9001:2008 certified precision CNC milling and turning electro mechanical assembly job shop located in Stamford, CT. Established in 1967, Nerjan Development Co. provides manual and CNC milling, turning, and drilling to meet customer specifications. Nerjan machines a wide variety of metals and plastics to sensitive and accurate dimensions.
Shearwater Engineering & Manufacturing LLC (S.E.A.M.) is located in Brooklyn, CT and has been providing manufacturing valves and components for 35 years. Their experience with valve assemblies for the marine and aerospace industries has been extended to power plants, paper mills, railroads, waste management plants and hydraulic manifolds for machines. S.E.A.M. specializes in the manufacturing of complex, controlled geometric parts. By utilizing state-of-the-art programming technology, they have achieved superior results in the processing and machining of strategic materials such as Monel, Inconel, and titanium, as well as the normal alloys of steel and aluminum.
“We are proud to announce the acceptance of these quality suppliers from Connecticut into the MFG.com marketplace. By introducing companies like Perfection Screw & Rivet Co., Windmade Products, Nerjan Development Co. and Shearwater Engineering & Manufacturing into our marketplace, buyers and sourcing professionals are further reassured that they can trust the suppliers in the MFG.com marketplace,” said Mitch Free, Founder and CEO of MFG.com. “MFG.com is excited to work with these suppliers from Connecticut to help them grow their businesses and develop win-win customer relationships with our buyer members.”
About MFG.com

MFG.com is the largest online marketplace for the manufacturing industry, facilitating interaction between buyers and manufacturers. MFG.com enables sourcing professionals and engineers to quickly and easily locate quality suppliers for CNC Machining, Injection Molding, Metal Stamping, Metal Fabrication and many other processes through an easy-to-use online marketplace. With more than $115 billion in RFQs passing through the marketplace, MFG.com has helped thousands of manufacturers - ranging from small machine shops to large conglomerates - increase sales and grow profits. MFG.com is a global business, with offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Mexico.

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Vint Cerf, Award-Winning Computer Scientist and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Joins TruthMarket™ Board of Advisors

Dr. Vint Cerf, one of the true “Fathers of the Internet,” an international authority on digital communications and outspoken advocate for a free and open Internet adds global perspective to TruthMarket’s Platform for Crowd-funding Public Challenges to False Political, Commercial and Science Claims.

Atherton, California (PRWEB) December 18, 2012
Today Truth Seal Corp. announced that Vinton G. Cerf, Ph.D. has joined the TruthMarket™ Board of Advisors. TruthMarket is an online Marketplace for Truth Telling™. It provides ordinary citizens with a platform to “crowd-fund” and execute grass roots campaigns that publicly expose misrepresentations and false political, commercial and science claims, while highlighting true claims and offering cash rewards to successful campaign creators, sponsors and challengers.
Widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," Dr. Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. He is known for his pioneering insights and innovative contributions to technologies that further advance the Internet and its important role is fostering open, global dialogue. Explaining his decision to join the TruthMarket Board of Advisors, Dr. Cerf notes that, “in a world of false dichotomies and factual denial, the TruthMarket concept seems set to clear away the fog of uninformed debate."
“We’re very enthusiastic about Dr. Cerf joining our Board of Advisors. He will be adding important philosophical and technological insights to a growing cadre of reputable experts committed to challenging manipulative speech, false claims and distorted facts,” said Rick Hayes-Roth, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Truth Seal. “Dr. Cerf’s contributions to the culture of modern communication and his insightful positions have attracted a strong following of like-minded people supportive of truth in public affairs. We look forward to having them participate in TruthMarket campaigns."
“Truth Seal has been actively recruiting reputable authorities like Dr. Cerf for the Board of Advisors,” stated Mark L. Feldman, Ph.D., Board Member and investor. “Advisors known for their high integrity are important to TruthMarket’s mission to increase truth and trust throughout the information space.” Feldman adds that "more announcements of public figures joining the TruthMarket Board of Advisors can be expected."
About Vinton G. Cerf, Ph.D.
Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google. Cerf has held positions at MCI, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, DARPA, Stanford University, UCLA and IBM. Vint Cerf is president of ACM and served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and was founding president of the Internet Society. Widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," he received the U.S. National Medal of Technology in 1997, the Marconi Fellowship in 1998 and the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004. In November 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in April 2008 the Japan Prize. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and AAAS, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Computer History Museum and the National Academy of Engineering. Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA and holds over 20 honorary degrees from universities around the world.
About TruthMarket
TruthMarket is a division of Truth Seal, a California Corporation. TruthMarket is designed to be popular online platform that enables everyone to campaign for truth in public dialogue. The primary objective is to increase truth and trust throughout the public information space – online and offline – by publicly exposing false claims and highlighting true claims. TruthMarket’s ultimate goal is to predispose all public dialogue toward truth telling.

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Alibaba Becomes Largest e-Commerce Company - Impact for Retail Brands

Simon Jackson, chief commercial officer at brand protection company NetNames, comments on the news that Alibaba has become the largest ecommerce company in the world.

(PRWEB UK) 18 December 2012
“The news that Chinese online marketplace Alibaba has become the largest ecommerce company in the world has important implications for brand owners in the retail and consumer goods industries. The fact that Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume of $157 billion, for just two if its sites, adds up to more than Amazon and eBay combined shows China’s exponential growth into the world’s biggest retail market and reveals just how much retail traffic is moving online.
However, these spectacular figures, bring in to focus the growing threat of counterfeit products available online. Netnames is working in partnership with Alibaba to tackle counterfeit products which, for NetNames customers, can be as high as 70% of products offered on global marketplaces. This is a serious issue for brand owners as these products divert revenue, particularly in retail and luxury goods sectors where replica goods are most common.
So what can brand owners do to protect against this threat? By actively monitoring those selling fake products online via auction sites, organisations are able to identify where the goods are being offered for sale and can work with the platform providers to have them removed from the internet. In the past 12 months, NetNames has worked together with Alibaba to remove thousands of listings of counterfeit items from their websites, equating to millions of dollars of potential revenue – proof that action can be taken to remove a significant proportion of this threat.”

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Samsung waves the white flag in European Apple patent suits

Even though Samsung (005930) won an important victory against Apple (AAPL) in the United States this week, the company has apparently decided to abandon some of its efforts on the European front. The Verge reports that Samsung “will drop its lawsuits against Apple for standards-essential patent infringement in Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and the Netherlands.” A Samsung spokesperson told The Verge that the company’s motives for dropping the suits were largely (and implausibly) altruistic and done “in the interest of protecting consumer choice” since “we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court.” In reality, The Verge notes that Samsung has been under investigation by European officials all year over allegations that it didn’t license its standard essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

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Romtec Announces New Sidewalk Restroom

Romtec Inc. is bringing its expertise in public restroom design to the urban marketplace with The Sidewalk Restroom.

Roseburg, Ore. (PRWEB) December 18, 2012
Romtec Inc. is bringing its expertise in public restroom design to the urban marketplace with The Sidewalk Restroom. Urban restrooms have been a source of difficulty for many metropolitan areas across the United States, and the Sidewalk Restroom provides a new industry solution for an old problem.
The Sidewalk Restroom is an affordable, tough steel structure that uses Romtec’s unique approach to restroom design. Romtec differentiates itself by pre-engineering and prefabricating its buildings while including a satisfactory array of design options. The Sidewalk Restroom offers a number of custom options, allowing each structure to complement its city, ward, borough, or suburb. The options range from aesthetics to hardware, utilities to materials, and design to communications.
“For 30 years, Romtec has offered customers public restroom buildings and restroom accessories at a fair price,” said Mark Sheldon, Vice President of Romtec, Inc. “The Sidewalk Restroom was created using Romtec’s experienced approach and by utilizing the industry’s best materials and design standards.”
Many cities have tried and failed to address the facility needs of their communities. These failures occur for a number of reasons, but primarily, urban restrooms have been too fancy and too sophisticated. The Sidewalk Restroom is a simple structure that uses design principles to encourage users use the facility quickly and exit.
Romtec’s Sidewalk Restroom is tough and practical. The interior offers a stainless-steel toilet, a stainless-steel toilet paper dispenser, and a hand-sanitizer dispenser. The space is ventilated by traditional top and bottom louvers, which also limit privacy to discourage unwanted activities. The facility is attractive, functional, and provides users with a safe and convenient restroom.
In its standard configuration, the Sidewalk Restroom is both the nation’s lowest cost option and the best urban restroom to own and maintain. With these features and benefits, the Sidewalk Restroom by Romtec is worth a look. Visit the website, http://www.thesidewalkrestroom.com, for more information.

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Iraq's Sunni leaders accuse PM of crackdown

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni leaders accused Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of a political crackdown after troops raided the finance minister's office and home, threatening to reignite a crisis a year after the last American troops left.
The raids and detention of the Sunni minister's staff came hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who often mediated among the fractious Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs, left for Germany after suffering a stroke that could end his moderating influence in Iraqi politics.
Politicians and authorities gave conflicting accounts of the incident, but it was reminiscent of a year ago when Iraqi authorities sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and his bodyguards, accusing them of running death squads just as U.S. troops packed up.
Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, said late on Thursday that more than 100 bodyguards and staff were snatched illegally by militias, and blamed Maliki for orchestrating the raids to target opponents.
Maliki's office said only six bodyguards were arrested under counter terrorism laws.
The Hashemi case plunged the fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims and Kurds into turmoil, with Sunni politicians boycotting parliament. Hashemi later fled to Turkey and was sentenced to death in absentia.
"This confirms there is continued systematic targeting of the Sunni symbols and leaders participating in the political process," Iraqiya leaders said in a statement.
They called on their supporters to protest peacefully after Friday prayers. Esawi said lawmakers would seek a vote of no confidence in Maliki.
A U.S. embassy spokesman said: "Any actions from any party that subverts the rule of law or provokes ethnic or sectarian tension risks undermining the significant progress Iraq has made toward peace and stability."
Ali al-Moussawi, Maliki's media advisor, said the judiciary had issued arrest warrants for six of the minister's bodyguards and accused rival politicians of trying to stir tensions by linking the case to the premier.
"The law and judiciary for them have no value, they see only political differences," Moussawi said. "They blame Maliki for everything."
STEADYING HAND GONE?
Violence in Iraq is down from the days of intercommunal slaughter that erupted soon after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
But many Sunni leaders feel they have been sidelined from power-sharing by Maliki as he consolidates his authority under a constitution that grants the premier wide powers.
Talabani, 79, a former guerrilla who was admitted to hospital on Monday, had often mediated among Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, and in the growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
His illness has fuelled concerns of a succession crisis and tension between Arabs and ethnic Kurds spilling into violence.
Maliki, an ally of Iran who spent years fighting against Saddam's rule, is struggling with Sunni, Kurdish and even Shi'ite rivals over the power-sharing agreement meant to balance posts among religious sects and ethnic Kurds.
The PM's rivals tried earlier this year to organize a vote of no confidence against him. It failed because Talabani did not back the vote and because of splits among Maliki's foes.
Before the raids, most politicians were publicly wishing Talabani a speedy recovery. But behind the scenes, some senior Sunni political leaders suggested they may present their own candidate for the presidency in a challenge to the Kurds.
Under the constitution, parliament elects a new president and a vice president takes over in the interim. The power-sharing deal calls for the presidency to go to a Kurd while two vice president posts are shared by a Sunni and a Shi'ite.
The Sunni vice president, Hashemi, is a fugitive. The other vice president is Khudair al-Khuzaie, seen by some as a hardline Shi'ite from Maliki's alliance.
Among Kurds, former Kurdistan Prime Minister Barham Salih is favoured as a leader with ties across Iraq's sectarian divide. But there could also be a struggle within Iraqi Kurdistan, where Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party shares power with the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

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World stocks fall as US budget negotiations stall

BANGKOK (AP) -- Heightened uncertainty about the outcome of budget negotiations in Washington among President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican lawmakers drove world stock markets lower Friday.
If a compromise is not in place by Jan. 1, the Bush-era tax cuts will expire and spending cuts will kick in automatically — a one-two punch to the economy that many experts fear will push the U.S. economy back into recession just as it begins to recover from the last one.
European stocks were lower in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent to 5,938.01. Germany's DAX lost 0.3 percent to 7,646.76. France's CAC-40 was 0.1 percent lower at 3,662.38.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1 to close at 9,940.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 22,506.29. South Korea's Kospi shed 1 percent at 1,980.42. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 4,623.60. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan also fell. Malaysia and the Philippines rose. Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed.
U.S. stock futures tumbled after rank-and-file Republican lawmakers failed to support an alternative tax plan by House Speaker John Boehner late Thursday in Washington. That plan would have allowed tax rates to rise on households earning $1 million and up. Obama wants the level to be $400,000.
"I think the Republicans will have to yield," said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong. "Fighting for rich men does not endear you to voters. People earning more than $1 million are considered rich, so it doesn't do the Republican Party any good to really fight for the rights of rich people."
Ironically, the two leaders had significantly narrowed their differences toward a compromise. The latest setback, with Republicans bucking their leader, left precious little time for an agreement to be reached before the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts goes into effect.
Dow Jones industrial futures dropped 1.1 percent to 13,116 and S&P 500 futures lost 1.2 percent to 1,423.90. Analysts cautioned, however, that market swings would be exaggerated because of light trading volumes that typically accompany end-of-year holidays.
"Approaching the weekend and holiday, volumes will likely remain thin, with choppy trading sessions while the 'fiscal cliff' talks will stay in the spotlight," said Kintai Cheung of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong in an email commentary.
Among individual stocks, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fell 5.8 percent, days after Japan's Transport Ministry issued a warning to the carmaker over the handling of oil leaks in mini-vehicles. Australian surf wear maker Billabong International rose 3.1 percent a day after chief financial officer Craig White left the troubled retailer.
Among mainland Chinese shares, Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth, China's top rare earth producer, lost 2.2 percent.
Benchmark crude for February delivery fell 86 cents to $89.28 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 15 cents to finish at $90.13 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3209 from $1.3241 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 84.03 yen from 84.42 yen.

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55 people drowned or missing off Somali coast

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says 55 people have drowned or are missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off the Somali coast.
UNHCR said the incident late Tuesday represented the biggest loss of life in the Gulf of Aden since February 2011, when 57 Somali refugees and migrants drowned while attempting to reach Yemen.
The U.N. says five people survived Tuesday's accident. The survivors said the boat was overcrowded and capsized 15 minutes into its journey. Twenty-three bodies were recovered; the rest are presumed to have drowned.
Bruno Geddo, the UNCHR representative for Somalia, said the deaths are a reminder of the risks Somalis take to flee their country. Geddo said the Gulf of Aden is the deadliest route for people fleeing conflict and rights abuses in the Horn of Africa.

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ECB's Weidmann sees no "big leap" toward EU fiscal union

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann expects little progress toward a European fiscal union because there is little political will to relinquish national sovereignty, he was quoted as saying in an interview.
"I do not see the big leap toward fiscal union," Weidmann said in an interview with German magazine Wirtschaftswoche published online.
Weidmann, who also heads Germany's Bundesbank, warned against pooling risks without addressing the issue of sovereignty that a fiscal union would entail.
"If responsibility and control are not aligned, it would undermine the currency union," he said.
Weidmann repeated previous objections to the ECB's bond-buying program for crisis-struck euro zone states, saying, "We have embarked on a slippery slope."
Once a country slips into crisis and requires ECB support through the program, it would be difficult for the ECB to then withdraw its support should the country depart from reforms agreed to as a condition for the support, he was quoted as saying.
"We should interpret our mandate narrowly and not even put ourselves in such a predicament in the first place," he said.

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Malala asks Pakistan not to rename college for her

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — A 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has urged Pakistan to reverse a decision to rename a college in her honor to avert militant attacks on students, an official said Friday.
Malala Yousufzai, who became a symbol of youth resistance to the Taliban, made the request after students broke into the school, tore down Malala's pictures and boycotted classes in her home town of Mingora. They said renaming the college endangered their lives.
Senior government official Kamran Rehman said Malala called him from London, where she was being treated for critical wounds from the attack on Oct. 9. The Taliban said it targeted her for promoting education for secular girls.
Malala's case won worldwide recognition for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan and Taliban have vowed to target her again.
Pakistani Taliban have a strong presence in the country's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
A bomb ripped through the office of a local militant commander Maulvi Abbas in Wana, a main town in the South Waziristan tribal region in the northwest, killing him and three of his guards, two intelligence officials said Friday.
Abbas was an associate of Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
It was unclear who had planted the bomb. The attack came weeks after a suicide bomber in the same town attacked Maulvi Nazir, a prominent militant commander who is believed to have a nonaggression pact with the army.
Nazir was wounded in the attack, and seven of his men were killed.
Since then there has been tension between followers of Nazir and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the region.

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