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

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

837 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
April 24, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Paid Notice: Deaths LESHOWITZ, EDWARD
SECTION: Section B; Column 0; Classified; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 269 words
LESHOWITZ--Edward, died peacefully on April 21st, 2008. He leaves behind a daughter, Susan Sandson, a niece Terry Singer, two sisters, Ethel Singer and Sylvia Leshowitz, three grandchildren and three great - grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Esther and his son Jed. He was born on April 12th, 1915 and grew up in Passaic, New Jersey. He graduated from Montclair State University, became a high school teacher and served in the army in World War II. After the War, he and his partners, John and Angelo Cali, created vocational schools for WWII veterans and then created Cali Associates, a construction business, building homes and office buildings in New Jersey and the greater New York area. It later became Cali Realty and then Mack-Cali Realty. Edward was a successful entrepreneur and a generous benefactor. He was a loving and giving father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He had a great sense of humor and strong opinions about politics. He traveled the world and loved to tell storiesabout his travels, his youth, his days in the army and in the classroom. He will be greatly missed. There will be a memorial service at Frank E. Campbell (The Funeral Chapel), Madison Ave at 81st St., on Thursday May 1st at 3pm. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Parkinson Foundation.

LESHOWITZ--Edward. Park Avenue Synagogue mourns the passing of our devoted congregant Edward Leshowitz. We extend to the entire family our heartfelt sympathy. May his memory remain for a blessing. David H. Lincoln, Senior Rabbi Amy A.B. Bressman, Chairman of the Board Menachem Z. Rosensaft, President

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: DEATHS & OBITUARIES (93%); CONSTRUCTION (90%); ARMIES (90%); CHILDREN (90%); WORLD WAR II (76%); WAR & CONFLICT (76%); REAL ESTATE (75%); OFFICE PROPERTY (74%); CLERGY & RELIGIOUS (73%); PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS (71%); VETERANS (71%)
COMPANY: MACK-CALI REALTY LP (56%); MACK-CALI REALTY CORP (56%)
TICKER: CLI (NYSE) (56%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW JERSEY, USA (94%); NEW YORK, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (94%)
LOAD-DATE: April 24, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Paid Death Notice
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Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

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The New York Times
April 24, 2008 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Working Together, Long Distance
BYLINE: By MARCI ALBOHER
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; SHIFTING CAREERS; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 1136 words
Technology makes it possible to run a business from practically anywhere on the planet. But what if your business partner lives in a different city or a different time zone? How do long-distance partners make it work?

The answer appears to be with lots of planning and smart use of technology. And even in the best long-distance arrangements, an old-fashioned in-person meeting now and then seems to reignite the spark.

Kathi Elster, an author and consultant who specializes in interpersonal relationships at work, says she has encountered many long-distance partnerships and never seen anyone break up over it.

''The frustration usually comes when there is a time difference, like if someone is in India or China, and the other has to be up in the middle of the night to communicate,'' Ms. Elster said. ''You rely on e-mail, cannot do a lot of talking and the subtleties can get lost. So you do miss things.''

Still, she says, these arrangements generally work, especially if the partners have a high level of trust in each other. ''It's not going to work if one person has to fly out to see what is going on because the other isn't pulling their own weight,'' she added.

In early 2006, Ben Finkel and Andrew McClain, friends from Brown University, started Fluther.com, an online knowledge-sharing collective, when both were living in San Francisco. But Mr. McClain had plans to move to Los Angeles to pursue a side career in acting.

The two had some concerns about whether the business would survive Mr. McClain's move and dual career. So they included language in the initial draft of their partnership agreement protecting Mr. Finkel in the event Mr. McClain could not commit the necessary time to the business.

As it turned out, they abandoned those provisions by the time they completed their agreement because they were satisfied with how things were working out.

The subject of planning comes up often in talks with long-distance partners. ''If you are a mature business person, you understand that a detailed communication structure is required for success in any partnership, whether across the hall, across the room, or across the country,'' said Richard Sloan, who runs the small- business radio show and Web site, StartupNation, with his brother, Jeff. The Sloan brothers themselves are now putting that observation to a test.

After five years of running their company together out of a 3,500-square-foot office in Birmingham, Mich., Richard has just moved to San Francisco, a market that has become increasingly important to their business. They set up a regularly scheduled weekly telephone call. ''And for a six-month period of time before my move, we ran the business this way even though we were both still in the same city,'' Mr. Sloan said.

Mr. McClain, who works out of his home in Los Angeles, and Mr. Finkel, who works in a co-working space in San Francisco, say they rely heavily on communications technology. But sometimes it can be a cause for frustration. ''The problem is when the technology does not work,'' Mr. Finkel said. ''When you really want to have a conversation, you can go from shoddy cell reception to iChat to Skype and none of them are working. At some points we would have been better with a landline from the 1950s.''

The two say they prefer to be able to see each other when they converse and to share views of what is on each other's computer screens.

''We have probably been through about 20 communication tools,'' Mr. Finkel said. ''In the old days, we used something called Bosco's Screen Share, but then Leopard, Mac's new operating system, came out with a snazzier version.''

This technology raises some privacy issues, according to Mr. McClain and Mr. Finkel. So they have learned to be careful after a few instances of leaving the camera on and walking away from the computer without logging off. ''Once, when Andrew forgot to turn off the camera and his girlfriend started typing, I could see her,'' Mr. Finkel said. ''But she didn't have the headphones on so I couldn't tell her.''

The partners say they value meeting in person. ''Every three months or so, I will either go to San Francisco or Ben comes to Los Angeles and we recharge the battery of personal connection,'' Mr. McClain said.

Some partners see geographic distance as a boon. In 2000, while living in Orlando, Fla., Melinda Tomasello and Pamela Grimes started Originality Inc., a design firm specializing in custom and corporate gifts.

When Ms. Grimes's husband was transferred to Washington about a year and a half into their business, she moved, along with him and their two children. Ms. Grimes soon started joining organizations and attending trade shows in the Washington area, which opened a new market for Originality. ''These are two big hot spots in the country, so it is great for us,'' Ms. Tomasello said.

The company has incurred modest costs, mostly in upgrading technology, to accommodate Ms. Grimes's relocation. But they say much of that might have happened had they remained in the same city since they had each always worked out of their own home offices. They say that two software tools have proved particularly helpful: Billingorchard.com to keep track of electronic billing and Quickbooks for accounts payable.

''With these programs, we can share information even though our computers are not networked,'' Ms. Grimes said. ''We are just waiting for Quickbooks to add a feature to track all of the purchase orders. Right now we track those separately.''

They have had some mishaps, mostly when items have been shipped to the wrong office. ''We are very careful now when we order things to be very clear. ''

Flying Cart, a company that provides tools for small businesses to create online stores, is run by three partners who live in different cities. The three founders all have connections to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, but only Mr. Beerman still lives in that city: Rishi Shah lives in Chicago, where he moved to pursue another job, and Margo Baxter, a triathlete lives in Austin to be near her trainer.

Mr. Shah says working remotely keeps them focused. ''For a time, Margo and I worked side by side in Madison for a month in a half. We went to a coffee shop together and worked side by side each day. At first it was amazing. We were totally focused and totally pumped. But by the third week, we kept bugging each other and our productivity level went down. I am working on sales and she is working on development and when we work apart, we just get so much more done.''

Still, there are challenges. ''When you are starting up, you can get demoralized really quickly,'' Mr. Shah said. ''When you're alone and frustrated, you don't always have an area to vent. That's why we have weekly meetings over Skype.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: ALLIANCES & PARTNERSHIPS (90%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (90%); SMALL BUSINESS (73%)
COMPANY: CNINSURE INC (70%)
ORGANIZATION: BROWN UNIVERSITY (54%)
TICKER: CISG (NASDAQ) (70%)
GEOGRAPHIC: CALIFORNIA, USA (90%); MICHIGAN, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (90%); CHINA (76%); INDIA (71%)
LOAD-DATE: April 24, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: Ben Finkel, a co-founder of Fluther.com, works out of an office in San Francisco, while his business partner works from his Los Angeles home. They communicate by computer and phone. (PHOTOGRAPH BY THOR SWIFT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)

Mr. Finkel's business partner, Andrew McClain, says they get together and ''recharge the battery of personal connection.''

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

839 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
April 23, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Making Money, the How-To Way
BYLINE: By MIGUEL HELFT
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1316 words
Learning how to turn a flashlight into a laser is not a top priority for most people. Yet Kip Kedersha's step-by-step instructional video that teaches how to do just that has been seen online by more people (1.88 million) than live in Manhattan (about 1.6 million).

Mr. Kedersha's online library of 94 videos includes tips on how to chill a Coke in two minutes, simulate a gunshot wound and start up a PC quickly.

Many of the clips have been played hundreds of thousands of times, turning Mr. Kedersha into the top earner on Metacafe, a video-sharing Web site that pays the makers of popular videos. In little more than a year, the site has written him checks totaling $102,000.

That puts Mr. Kedersha, a 50-year-old video producer from St. Petersburg, Fla., near the front of the latest online stampede: the rush to capitalize on the popularity of how-to videos on the Web.

''You never know when something like this is going to go away,'' Mr. Kedersha said. ''I better ride the wave.''

Some 25 years after ''Jane Fonda's Workout'' topped the home-video charts in the United States, Americans' fascination with instructional videos has shifted to the Internet, where a virtually unlimited amount of shelf space guarantees there is something for everyone.

Do-it-yourself tips, self-help, cooking and beauty advice, sports and musical instruction are all available in a smorgasbord that offers the serious alongside the satirical, the humorous and the esoteric. Viewers can learn how to swaddle a baby, grow plants hydroponically or teach their cat to use the toilet.

''Almost everything we sell requires education and explanation and instruction,'' said Richard Revis, the co-owner of Black Jungle Terrarium Supply in Turners Falls, Mass., who is featured in more than 30 videos on how to feed, breed and care for poison dart frogs.

Most clips tend to run a few minutes or less -- but not all. In a series of videos running a total of more than five hours, an Australian veteran of the Vietnam War demonstrates in minute detail how to build a replica of a working Sherman tank at two-fifths its original scale.

Plenty of entrepreneurs and financiers are hoping that the wave Mr. Kedersha has begun to ride is a long way from cresting. In the last two years, investors have put tens of millions of dollars into start-up companies with names like WonderHowTo.com, VideoJug, Howcast, ExpertVillage and Graspr, which are all hoping to become the YouTube of how-to video clips. Of course, a good share of these videos are on YouTube itself. And traditional media companies like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Scripps Network are putting much of their own how-to content online.

These start-ups have attracted former television executives and veterans of Internet giants like Google, Yahoo and MySpace. Most of them readily admit that, as with many Internet fads, profits remain elusive for now.

Scores of independent video producers, experts and self-styled experts are, meanwhile, vying to make a name for themselves in hopes of sharing in the expected profits. Plenty of others are making how-to clips just for fun or for a few minutes of Internet fame.

For Meghan Carter, 23, how-to videos offer the chance to turn her love of home decorating into a career. Early last year, she began driving around the country to conduct on-camera interviews with experts on subjects ranging from concrete countertops to green homes. Gradually, she grew more comfortable in front of the camera and began taking on the role of expert herself.

In April, she began posting her ''girl next door meets Martha Stewart'' videos on YouTube under the name AskTheDecorator, and the clicks started coming. Her 87 tutorials include how to make a bow (81,000 views) and how to fold towels so they look just so (43,000 views).

''That one really surprised me,'' Ms. Carter said of the towel folding video. ''We were playing with new cameras and did it for fun. Out of nowhere, it skyrocketed in popularity.''

Ms. Carter is following in the footsteps of her father, Tim Carter. Mr. Carter's Ask The Builder franchise, which is more than a decade old, includes a nationally syndicated newspaper column, TV appearances and a popular Web site. Ms. Carter has a long way to go to catch up, but she is upbeat about her prospects.

''It's not a real income kind of money,'' Ms. Carter said of the advertising revenue that YouTube shares with her. ''But I have no doubt it is going to take off at some point. We hope that in three years we will have a critical mass of videos that will help us turn a substantial profit.''

Sites like ExpertVillage and Howcast are approaching the production of how-to videos as something of a manufacturing process. Working with hundreds of independent video producers around the country, ExpertVillage has created 90,000 how-to videos and is adding about 12,000 every month. Its ''channel'' on YouTube has 73,000 videos, far more than any other.

''It's what the Internet screams for,'' said Byron Reese, founder of ExpertVillage. ''People get up in the morning and type, 'how do I treat a sprained ankle?' 'how do I get a bee sting out of a kid's arm?' ''

Last year, ExpertVillage was acquired by Demand Media, a Los Angeles-based company whose chief executive, Richard Rosenblatt, was the chairman of MySpace's parent company before it was sold to the News Corporation.

Freelance video producers, like Paul Muller of Miami, sign up for assignments on ExpertVillage's Web site. Mr. Miller's favorite topics are performing arts, martial arts and fitness. He said he often used Google to find experts on any subject. Since he earns $20 a clip, the trick to making money is figuring out how to do multiple clips quickly. ''I prepare the expert ahead of time,'' he said. ''It is crucial that they have a list of 15 to 20 short segments.''

The qualifications of the so-called experts vary widely. Michael Sanchez, a 34-year-old stand-up comedian and video producer from Chicago, found out about Howcast on Craigslist. He picked up a handful of assignments to earn ''a little extra cash here or there,'' he said.

Mr. Sanchez says he does not drink and does not cook much, but that did not stop him from creating clips on how to cure a hangover (25,000 views on YouTube and 1,000 on Howcast) and how to make brown rice (only 465 views). He also enlisted his girlfriend for a video on how to kiss with passion (227,000 views on YouTube and 4,600 on Howcast).

''I'd be curious to know why people are clicking on them,'' Mr. Sanchez said. ''I would never go to a Web site to watch how to do things. I'm more apt to read about it.''

But Stephen Chao, the chief executive of WonderHowTo, a site that aggregates instructional videos from across the Internet, says many of the clips are as much for entertainment as they are for instruction.

''To me, it is a window into something I never thought about,'' said Mr. Chao, who helped create shows like ''America's Most Wanted'' and ''Cops'' when he was a top executive at Fox. ''I find it the most thrilling combination of video that I can find.'' For Mary Leon, 35, of Salinas, Calif., ExpertVillage has become a source of both entertainment and instruction. She said she had used the site to learn new hair-cutting techniques, crocheting, how to decorate and paint her new home, how to set a table and how not to overpack for a trip to Spain.

''Oh my gosh, I've watched a lot of videos,'' Ms. Leon said. ''They are not trying to sell you anything. It's just how-to. That's what I love about it.''

It is not clear that the genre will turn into big business. But some media executives suggest that how-to videos may be just the thing in a slowing economy.

''People want to do more things for themselves,'' said Wenda Harris Millard, president for media at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. ''It is kind of timely.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: INTERNET & WWW (90%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (89%); STARTUPS (75%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (75%); VIDEO INDUSTRY (72%); VIETNAM WAR (60%); CATS (63%)
COMPANY: MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA INC (50%)
TICKER: MSO (NYSE) (50%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS512191 TELEPRODUCTION & OTHER POSTPRODUCTION SERVICES (50%); NAICS511120 PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS (50%); NAICS454113 MAIL-ORDER HOUSES (50%); NAICS423220 HOME FURNISHING MERCHANT WHOLESALERS (50%); NAICS332211 CUTLERY & FLATWARE (EXCEPT PRECIOUS) MANUFACTURING (50%); NAICS327112 VITREOUS CHINA, FINE EARTHENWARE & OTHER POTTERY PRODUCT MANUFACTURING (50%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (88%) NEW YORK, USA (88%); FLORIDA, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (90%)
LOAD-DATE: April 23, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: Kip Kedersha, top, posts step-by-step how-to clips on Metacafe, including videos on recycling soda bottles and turning a flashlight into a laser. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MELISSA LYTTLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) (pg.C1)

In one of Kip Kedersha's instructional videos, he shows how to recycle plastic soda bottles: a device to reduce water use in a toilet, left, a camera tripod and a self-watering planter. (PHOTOGRAPH BY KIP KEDERSHA) (pg.C9)

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

840 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
April 23, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

British Firm Aims to Move Media's Wheeling and Dealing Out of the Pub
BYLINE: By ERIC PFANNER
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; ADVERTISING; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 684 words
DATELINE: LONDON
FOR all the talk about the migration of marketing dollars to the Internet, one part of the advertising world remains stuck in the past: the buying and selling of space and time in traditional media like television and print.

Shunning online auctions and other digital-age tools, owners of offline media and the agencies that allocate ad budgets often turn to an older negotiating venue: the local pub. There, over a couple of beers, marketers can run through the available ad space in, say, a newspaper, and ascertain how much an advertiser is willing to pay.

They can haggle over the size of the discount from the media owner's published ad rates. And, in some cases, they can decide how much of that discount should go to the media-buying agency as part of its compensation.

Advertisers often complain about the lack of transparency in the arrangement, though media buyers say they are able to negotiate deals that are better than their clients would get on their own.

Digital evangelists say there is greater clarity online, at least when marketers use systems like Google's AdWords, which places text advertisements alongside search results and uses an online auction to allocate a keyword to the highest bidder.

Google has moved to extend its services to offline advertising in the United States, with agreements to sell newspaper, radio and some television spots.

Now a media-buying venture in London says it is trying to bring greater clarity to the ad-buying process for traditional media, at least in Britain. The firm, called MediaEquals, was set up by Martin Banbury, a marketing executive and entrepreneur, who described it as an ''online stock exchange'' for advertising.

The exchange allows media owners to list their available advertising space or time slots online. They can choose from a variety of pricing methods, including an auction system that allows agencies to bid competitively for the ad opportunities. Media buyers can go online and get a clear picture of what is available.

''When there's more transparency, people are able to spot greater value,'' Mr. Banbury said. ''That opens up markets for additional trading.''

Several media-buying agencies said they would participate in the MediaEquals pilot. These agencies are eager for alternatives to Google, because its online auction system essentially cuts them out of the deal. MediaEquals, by contrast, keeps them in the loop; its system essentially moves the existing media-buying process online.

''They aren't looking to replace the traditional buyer-seller relationship,'' said Jim Marshall, chairman of one of these agencies, the British unit of Starcom MediaVest, which is owned by the Publicis Groupe. MediaEquals plans to begin operating in a few weeks in Britain. If it succeeds, Mr. Banbury says, the goal is to expand the service to other markets, including Continental Europe and the United States.

Some media buyers are skeptical about the benefits of automating the process, noting that the planning of marketing campaigns has grown more complex, given the proliferation of digital media formats. The biggest challenge for Mr. Banbury may be to persuade media owners to make attractive ad slots available on the system.

MediaEquals is not the first online ad exchange, but previous initiatives have tended to focus on niches, like late-night space on cable television. A United States service, Bid4Spots, for example, allows radio advertisers to buy unsold radio airtime.

Mr. Banbury said several media owners, including the magazine publishing arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation and the billboard owner CBS Outdoor, along with radio stations and newspapers, had agreed to join the pilot program. Media owners will be charged a commission to sell their ads on MediaEquals.

''If I can get my inventory across more eyeballs, then I've got nothing to lose,'' the ad sales director at BBC Magazines, Matt Teeman, said. ''The challenge will be to see how it can coexist alongside personal relationship. I don't think people will stop making phone calls or seeing each other in person.''