Byline: By danny hakim section: Section B; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 1 Length

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MARRIAGE (90%); ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES (90%); WEDDINGS & ENGAGEMENTS (90%); RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY (78%); RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION (78%); MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE (76%); TRADEMARK LAW (50%)
GEOGRAPHIC: CONNECTICUT, USA (70%) UNITED STATES (70%)
LOAD-DATE: July 17, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: HOMEMAKER: Christopher K. Travis, above, uses ''emotional architecture'' compatibility exercise for would-be home builders that is part to create a house that is ''a suite of emotional experiences,'' he said.(PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN SKLAR FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)

EMO BLUEPRINTS: The floor plans Christopher K. Travis, left, draws for his clients are annotated with phrases like ''purposeful and fit,'' ''tranquillity heaven'' and ''rejuvenation of spirit.''

HOMEWORK: Kathy and Frank Johnston's house has Arts and Crafts-style millwork and interior windows, above left. Lynn and Ralph Youngblood, above, live in a house with a wraparound porch that reminds them of places they loved as children. Frank and Jean Raymond's Tuscan-style house, left, has a tower inspired by Mr. Raymond's memories of growing up in a lighthouse.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY BENJAMIN SKLAR FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES0(pg. F9)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

575 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 17, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Minicamcorder Wrinkle Is High Definition, Showing Them All
BYLINE: By JOHN BIGGS
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 181 words
Minicamcorders are all the rage these days, but Kodak added a little something extra to help its new Zi6 stand out. This compact $180 video camera shoots in 720p high-definition format, which ensures that your shots will look good on an HDTV.

The Zi6, on sale next month, has a single switch on the top to power it up and a front joystick for zooming in and out and to start the recording. You can cycle between VGA quality -- for Web video -- and two levels of high-definition resolution. The Zi6 can also take still photos.

Kodak includes 30 megabytes of internal storage for videos, and you can insert SD memory cards if you need more. Once you're done recording you pop out the U.S.B. connector on the side of the device and connect it to a PC or Mac. The included software will automatically upload video to YouTube, or you can leave it on the computer for later perusal.

Videographers: Remember to tell your subjects that high definition really brings out the pores and crow's feet. Which opens the door for some entrepreneur to begin selling home-movie stage makeup. JOHN BIGGS

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION (77%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (70%); DATA STORAGE DEVICES (74%); INTERNET VIDEO (72%); COMPUTER SOFTWARE (70%)
COMPANY: EASTMAN KODAK CO (91%)
TICKER: EK (NYSE) (91%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS325992 PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM, PAPER, PLATE & CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING (91%)
PERSON: MICHAEL MCMAHON (55%)
LOAD-DATE: July 17, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

576 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 17, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Bartering Expands in the Internet Age
BYLINE: By JAMES FLANIGAN; This column about small-business trends in California and the West appears on the third Thursday of every month. E-mail: [e-mail].
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; ENTREPRENEURIAL EDGE; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 1063 words
Thomas Daley had been helping friends swap sports tickets for golf course green fees and concert tickets as a sideline. But on the advice of a friend, he set up an online trading site, Joe Barter L.L.C., two years ago where college students could trade textbooks, small companies could trade equipment and accountants, and plumbers, business consultants and others could advertise their services.

''I was told our site should be for the average Joe, so Joe Barter, get it?'' said Mr. Daley, 36.

The company is still struggling to make its mark, he acknowledged in an interview, though he said he hoped an upgrade for the Web site, scheduled for August, along with a stepped-up marketing effort would significantly expand the membership.

The site has 2,500 individual members, who pay nothing to join the network, and 400 business-to-business members who pay fees for consultations and referrals in connection with transactions. Last year, the company's revenue totaled about $80,000.

Whatever its prospects for success, Joe Barter is tapping into one of the largest ''little'' industries of small companies in America, the barter or trade exchange business. It is a business for ''the little guys,'' said Robert Meyer, a onetime pitcher for the New York Yankees who since 1979 has published Barter News, a magazine and online site that reports on more than 500 trade exchanges in the United States.

Mr. Meyer said about 450,000 companies do business in bartering's many networks of retailers, services and manufacturers.

The barter business has developed broadly since 1982, he said, when federal law regularized the tax reporting of barter transactions by requiring them to be denominated in dollars for the Internal Revenue Service. More recently, the Internet has spurred the growth of barter.

Still, Mr. Meyer said, ''the largest barter companies are relatively small, about $14 million each in revenue per year.'' And the commercial barter business pales beside the decade-old development of eBay. Last year, that company took in more revenue from commissions -- $7.7 billion -- than the whole barter industry handled in transactions.

And the classified ad site Craigslist reaches 450 cities in 50 countries and receives 30 million new advertisements a month.

But one of the biggest advantages of bartering, said Steven White, chief executive of the Itex Corporation of Bellevue, Wash., one of the biggest barter companies, is ''that it conserves cash for a small business and it brings in customers.''

The company, a trade exchange that has 24,000 small-business members who pay registration fees and commissions on transactions, illustrates how the business works with a hypothetical example.

A dentist provides dental work for a lawyer or accountant who also belongs to the Itex network and thus earns value, denominated in special barter dollars, in her account. She may then use those barter dollars to pay a decorator to work on her offices.

''In a small business, you have to pay cash for your mortgage and insurance and other necessities,'' Mr. White said. ''But barter helps you conserve that scarce resource.''

Now 50, Mr. White has led Itex since 2003, but he said he has been in the barter business since 1982, when he founded Cascade Trade Association, a company he eventually sold in 2000.

With Itex, he said, he is intent on expanding the trading network by working through brokers and 90 Itex franchises and by acquiring other barter companies.

In the last four years, Itex has grown by about a third to $14.1 million in fees and commissions in 2007. Its exchange processed $270 million in business transactions in 2007. ''Distribution is the key to the business, expanding the member network so we can offer more services,'' Mr. White said.

The barter business is growing, but slowly. In 2007, the total value of commercial barter transactions reached $6.5 billion, up slightly from the previous year, said Krista Vardabash, investor relations director for International Monetary Systems Ltd. of New Berlin, Wis., also one of the biggest bartering businesses.

The company has been growing much faster than that, reaching $14.2 million in revenue last year on $110 million in transactions, up from $3.9 million in revenue five years ago. Acquisitions of other trading sites have propelled some of that growth.

Donald F. Mardak, 71, founded what is now International Monetary Systems in 1985 after building a chain of piano and organ retail stores in Milwaukee and other cities. In 1989, he raised $8 million in a public stock offering, and he has driven the company's expansion by acquiring barter exchanges in 16 states. The company now has 18,000 business members.

''The idea for the barter business hit me when I traded one of my Baldwin pianos for a Mercury Cougar,'' Mr. Mardak said in an interview. ''The two were comparably priced, but I had paid wholesale for the piano and got retail value for it. So there is leverage in the barter business, and that is one of its attractions.''

Mr. Mardak said he, too, planned to continue expanding. ''Some of our employees are brokers,'' Mr. Mardak said. ''We tell them to drum up business. Trading doesn't happen unless you make it happen.''

He dismisses the idea that trading Web sites like eBay are competition for International Monetary Systems. EBay is ''more of an exchange for liquidating, not trading,'' Mr. Mardak said. As for smaller companies, like Joe Barter and other exchanges that have fewer business members, he said, ''They're only swap sites; they have no supplier network.''

Mr. Daley of Joe Barter says he thinks the spread of Internet commerce supports his business vision. He plans to avoid using special barter dollars in transactions, relying on Internet trading enhanced by new technology. ''I want to keep it simple,'' he said. His company is intended to earn its way through business referral fees and online advertising.

''The evolving technology works for us,'' Mr. Daley said. ''We can target more specific groups; I'm going to hire people to market across the country.''

The barter industry is also aware of evolution. ''The Internet is a two-edged sword,'' Ms. Vardabash of International Monetary Systems said. ''It facilitates spreading the trading community, but it also brings in competitors of every stripe.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: INTERNET & WWW (90%); ONLINE TRADING (90%); SMALL BUSINESS (89%); B2B ELECTRONIC COMMERCE (77%); TAXES & TAXATION (77%); WEB SITES (77%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (77%); DENTISTRY (76%); INTERVIEWS (75%); CONSULTING SERVICES (73%); TEXTBOOKS (72%); COMPANY REVENUES (72%); TAX AUTHORITIES (68%); TAX LAW (68%); STUDENTS & STUDENT LIFE (57%); BASEBALL (78%)
COMPANY: ITEX CORP (62%); CRAIGSLIST INC (52%)
ORGANIZATION: NEW YORK YANKEES (54%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (79%) WASHINGTON, USA (79%); NEW YORK, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (90%)
LOAD-DATE: July 17, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: The online trading site Joe Barter was founded by Thomas Daley, center. The site is part of the growing commercial bartering industry, which had $6.5 billion in transactions in 2007. (PHOTOGRAPH BY J. EMILIO FLORES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

577 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Blazing a Trail From a Reservation Into Ownership
BYLINE: By MATT HIGGINS
SECTION: Section D; Column 0; Sports Desk; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 1218 words
DATELINE: OHSWEKEN, Ontario
On a sunny afternoon two weeks ago, Curt Styres sat in the grandstand here at Ohsweken Speedway talking above the roar of a tractor grooming the dirt track. He recalled a night this May when he had been driving the tractor, as he usually does before stock car races.

And how afterward he put on a suit and boarded a flight for Chicago, where he was to be approved as the newest American Hockey League owner. At the meeting, representatives from the minor league's other 28 franchises questioned Styres, the 48-year-old prospective owner of the Rochester Americans. They wanted to know about his finances, what he did for a living and where he came from. The answers to those questions inevitably lead here to Ohsweken, a small, rural town on the 45,000-acre Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, located about an hour southwest of Toronto.

Styres, a Mohawk, has lived on the reserve his entire life. He built his businesses here. They include the raceway and a partnership in a tobacco company that employs 200 people at its plant in Ohsweken, and more at a second plant near Berlin.

In May, Styres paid $5.5 million to buy a 60 percent controlling share of the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, and an undisclosed price for the Americans. He says he thinks he is the first individual American Indian -- known in Canada as First Nations people -- to own a major professional sports franchise. The Mohegan Tribe owns the Connecticut Sun of the W.N.B.A.

''He's one of the truly successful First Nations entrepreneurs in Canada,'' said Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, an aboriginal advocacy organization representing 630 communities. ''It's made it possible for him to give back to his community in a very significant way.''

Even as his business empire expands to the United States and Europe, the reserve remains as central to his sense of self as his Mohawk heritage.

''I just look at me as a working man from the bush,'' said Styres, his gray-streaked pony tail dancing in the wind.

Growing up, he shared a 12-foot by 20-foot former Army barracks that lacked indoor plumbing with his widowed mother and four siblings. His world was not much bigger.

He ventured outside the reserve for youth hockey and lacrosse games, and to find work on nearby farms. He later traveled as an ironworker. What he saw shaped his desire to improve conditions on the reserve.

In 1991, he co-founded Grand River Enterprises, a tobacco operation. Its success led to the Dreamcatcher Fund, which helps First Nations people across Canada pay for education and athletics.

In 2002, Styres bought a stake in the Six Nations Arrows Express, a junior lacrosse team. He built the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, a 2,600-seat facility in Ohsweken, then hired trainers, nutritionists and tutors for the teenage players.

Two years later, four players from the team were enrolled in college. By 2008, 15 players were enrolled, including Sid Smith, a defenseman for N.C.A.A. champion Syracuse.

''Natives can use lacrosse as a steppingstone to better their future,'' Styres said. ''Once you get an education, you come back and show the people here you can do it.''

Styres studied manufacturing machines at Mohawk College, a trade school in nearby Hamilton. But he learned some of his most enduring lessons in the tobacco fields in southern Ontario. Each summer as a child, he planted and harvested alongside his mother.

''They saw me working hard all my life,'' Vera Styres, 73, said about her five children.

After they were grown, she earned university degrees in Native studies and social work, and became a social worker and teacher. A proud woman, she was moved to tears by memories of more difficult times.

Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized in the House of Commons for a former residential school system that forced indigenous children from their homes and placed them in institutions where many were subjected to physical and emotional abuse. Vera Styres, who as a girl was sent to the Mohawk Institute, attributed the apology to newfound economic and political clout among American Indians.

As Styres and her children have prospered, so has their reserve. The population has increased to 11,297 in 2005 from 4,907 in 1972, making it the largest First Nations community in Canada. Curt Styres lives in a colossal 21,000-square-foot stone house with a movie theater and a fitness center.

Still, basic amenities like public water and sewers are not widely available. And non-native businesses have not been attracted to the area even though the reserve is thriving.

Styres believes he is duty-bound to change these things for his people and for his nine children. ''When my grandkids grow up, they're going to say, 'Your excuse was what again?' ''

The Knighthawks are a more immediate concern. Rochester is the smallest market in the lacrosse league. Styres acknowledged that turning a profit would be a challenge. The former controlling owner, Steve Donner, encountered financial problems and fell out of favor with Rochester city officials.

Styres said he bought the Knighthawks and the Americans, the top farm team for the N.H.L.'s Florida Panthers, because of his love of sport. Photographs of him playing hockey and lacrosse on local teams hang in his office and at the arena.

Fans in Rochester feared the teams would be relocated when Styres appeared. Little was known about him or Grand River Enterprises.

''When word got out that Curt was looking into a team, there was always speculation and perception and innuendos,'' said Jim Jennings, commissioner of the National Lacrosse League. ''We looked into all those aspects and everything was unfounded.''

Styres would not discuss finances except to say Grand River Enterprises made seven billion cigarettes in 2007. Although Styres did not disclose the company's income, cartons of its cigarette brands typically sell for $12 to $17 apiece, meaning sales probably totaled hundreds of millions of dollars. Grand River filed a lawsuit against the United States in 2005, claiming the government violated the terms of Nafta in its dealings with the company, which is seeking $310 million to $646 million in damages. The matter is in arbitration.

Regarding questions about his business, Styres said: ''I don't care what anybody else thinks. I do what I think is best for our people. How can I help them?''

Styres has taken a similar hands-on approach to improving the Knighthawks. Last week he made a trade with the Edmonton Rush for Troy Bonterre, a bruising 6-foot-3, 260-pound defenseman.

He said he expected the Americans to play a hard-nosed style, too. He has talked to Jacques Martin, Florida's general manager, about adding enforcers to the roster. The approach is based on his experience in running a racetrack.

When Styres and his brother Glenn opened the speedway, they struggled to fill the stands. To lure spectators, they guaranteed at least one rollover on race nights. If there is not one, his brother, a champion driver, rolls his own car.

The recognition that there can be entertainment value in carnage will extend to the Knighthawks and the Americans. Asked what fans can expect next year, Styres said, ''Let's just say there will be a lot of rollovers.''

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: NATIVE AMERICANS (90%); SPORTS & RECREATION FACILITIES & VENUES (90%); SPORTS & RECREATION EVENTS (89%); SPORTS (89%); SPORTS TEAM OWNERSHIP (89%); SPORTS & RECREATION (89%); LACROSSE (87%); AUTO RACING (78%); INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LANDS & GOVERNMENT (73%); RURAL COMMUNITIES (73%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (72%); YOUTH SPORTS (72%); TALKS & MEETINGS (71%); ARMIES (70%); ICE HOCKEY (89%)
ORGANIZATION: AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE (57%)
GEOGRAPHIC: TORONTO, ON, CANADA (79%); BERLIN, GERMANY (75%) ONTARIO, CANADA (91%) UNITED STATES (96%); CANADA (94%); EUROPE (79%); GERMANY (75%)
LOAD-DATE: July 16, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: Styres at a home on his reservation. His current house has 21,000 square feet.

Curt Styres, at a lacrosse arena in Ontario, says he is the first American Indian to own a major professional sports franchise.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEVE PAYNE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

578 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Correction: 'Restless Pioneers, Seeding Brooklyn'
SECTION: Section F; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 87 words
An article and an accompanying list last Wednesday about Brooklyn restaurants that have involved the entrepreneurs Alan Harding and Jim Mamary misstated the name of one Mr. Harding opened in Red Hook and the year it opened, and erroneously included one item on its menu. The restaurant was The Old Pioneer, not Pioneer Bar-B-Que; it opened in 2004, not 2005, and it did not sell barbecue.

A picture caption misidentified the ownership of Pomme de Terre in Ditmas Park. Mr. Mamary is an owner; Mr. Harding is not involved.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: RESTAURANTS (90%)
COMPANY: BAR-B-QUE INDUSTRIES INC (70%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (92%) NEW YORK, USA (92%) UNITED STATES (92%)
LOAD-DATE: July 16, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Correction
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

579 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 15, 2008 Tuesday

The New York Times on the Web

Overcoming the 'Sway' in Professional Life
BYLINE: By MARCI ALBOHER
SECTION: Section ; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; SHIFTING CAREERS; Pg.
LENGTH: 1091 words
''Sway'' is a provocative new book about the psychological forces that lead us to disregard facts or logic and behave in surprisingly irrational ways.

The book was written by two Israeli-born brothers, Ori Brafman, a serial entrepreneur and organizational behavior expert, and Rom Brafman, a practicing psychologist.

''Sway'' moves along swiftly, with each nugget of a chapter illustrating an aspect of the authors' premise. They use dramatic narratives like the story of an accomplished pilot who made a seemingly irrational decision that sent 584 passengers (and him) to their deaths or the Washington subway passengers who ignored the performance of a virtuoso violinist because they perceived him as a street musician.

The Brafman brothers use the word ''sway'' as a catchall term for a collection of irrational impulses that can blindside us in our careers. I spoke to them about how these phenomena play out at work and how we can outsmart them. Below is an edited and condensed version of those conversations:

Q.You write that a common mistake in interviews is that employers often choose the ''first date'' format instead of focusing on specific past experience and job-related hypothetical scenarios. But what good are all those skills and experience if a candidate isn't someone worth having a second date with?

ORI That is a good question. When I first saw this research, I kept trying to poke holes in it. I'm a big fan of soft skills and emotional connections. But the research we wrote about was based on 20 years of analysis of almost every psychological study done on interviews. Time and again, the research shows that interviews are poor predictors of job performance because we tend to hire people we think are similar to us rather than those who are objectively going to do a good job.

ROM When psychologists started looking at hiring -- in corporations and in the military -- what they learned is that managers' assessments are about as good as pure chance. It is difficult to admit that we're not good at predicting future personality based on one encounter. That's why we don't get married after one date that goes really well.

Q.So in your eyes what makes for a good interview process?

ROM The idea is to remove from the equation anything that will sway you one way or the other. Once I talk to you and learn that you have a cat, I might get distracted by that fact and think, ''I'm a cat person, she's a cat person, we'll get along.'' But that really shouldn't be part of the interview. The experts say we don't even really need interviews because hiring decisions can purely be done based on well thought out written questions, a review of work samples and testing. Asking people about their strengths and weaknesses does not really give you the information to make a good hiring decision.

ORI We wanted to hire a guy to do our public relations and for the first time, I decided to try a really structured method for hiring someone. So I focused on results. Has he done the kind of work I wanted and did he do it well? I have made so many decisions based on whether I really hit it off with someone and in the end I know I was swayed by the first impression.

Q.So what if the publicist has great skills but you can't stand him?

ORI The evidence is that I should still hire him. Luckily, I like him. But even if I didn't, I'm now persuaded that I should go with him.

Q.You write about research that shows the importance of first impressions and how the qualities we initially attribute to someone can stick despite evidence contradicting that initial impression. How can we use that to our advantage in work situations?

ORI I have this friend who is a lawyer and in the first two to three weeks of his job, he made sure to create the impression that he was a hard worker. He was the first in and the last to leave. He would not get up from his desk and didn't take personal calls. He barely got up to use the bathroom. By the end of the first month, he started to relax, took longer lunches and what's interesting is that no one noticed. They always attributed that initial value -- hard worker -- to him. He's going on seven years and still has that reputation.

Q.So what about the other side of this? How can we be sure that we are remaining open to new facts and not mired in our initial assessment of someone?

ORI Part of it is just being aware. Let's say you are my friend's boss. You'd say to yourself, ''Does it really matter what he did the first two weeks?''

ROM What you would need to do with Ori's example is look at the data. How has he been performing over the years? What are other people -- co-workers and clients -- saying about him? And take some time to observe and think it over.

Q.So is this where the concept of the 360-degree review comes from?

ORI Yes, the idea is to make sure that we don't diagnose people by one single element. So we ask everyone to compile some objective data.

Q.What if you feel that you have been improperly pegged. Do you have any suggestions for how to rehabilitate your reputation?

ORI This happens all the time. Say you started out very junior somewhere. Even if you have risen up the ranks, you might find that the only way to break out of the mold is by starting somewhere new. Another strategy is to try to make people aware. You can say something like: I know your initial impression was this, but can we do a 360-degree review of my performance in the last year? The problem is that if someone has been labeled a poor performer, it is really hard to break out of that. People are very likely to only notice data that supports their perceptions. So leaving is sometimes the only option.

Q.You write about a survey of venture capitalists that suggests that entrepreneurs who keep their investors well-informed create strong relationships even if their financial performance is disappointing. What message should they take away -- stay in touch even when the news is bad?

ORI Absolutely. It's really counterintuitive because when things are really bad you want to hide. But how many times the entrepreneur picked up the phone made a big difference. For the venture capitalist, it gave a sense of being heard, feeling a part of the process. It's the same in other work contexts. Usually managers are afraid of giving bad news, like telling a person he isn't going to get a big raise. But if the manager makes the person part of the process by outlining his concerns, the employee becomes more accepting.