New Jersey Woman Charged in Real Estate Ponzi

In a state often known for various types of criminal activity, charges have now been brought in another case of real estate fraud. This time a Montclair, New Jersey woman has surrendered to FBI based on a U. S. Attorney's Office complaint she was operating a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme.

According to Wikipedia, ponzi schemes are fraudulent investments that pay returns to investors either from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. Rarely are returns paid from actual profit generated. Investors are enticed by very high rates of short-term return that other investments cannot match. Continued operation of the scheme requires an ever-increasing flow of money.

Telling investors she was buying and renovating homes in New Jersey, Antoinette Hodgson allegedly took millions from investors. Her company, Trinity Realty Group NJ, raised over $45 million while only spending around $6 million on actual residential real estate.

Trinity Real Group's web site calls the company a "privately owned real estate investment company." Claiming "unparalleled expertise and an unwavering commitment to our partner investors," tax assessor's records indicate the company is owned by Antoinette Hodgson.

Between 2006 and 2009, Hodgson, who also goes by Dina, solicited investors with promises of high returns on renovated properties. At the same time, she would use new money that she raised to return early investors money, a classic ponzi scheme pattern. Over the three years, however, she gambled away thousands of dollars in Atlantic City and Las Vegas casinos.

The Federal complaint indicates she also gave away large sums to friends and relatives as well as purchasing a $700,000 Dunkin Donuts franchise in Arizona. Charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and wire fraud, Hodgson could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the conspiracy and fraud charges.

"This case is a further reminder that whether the real estate market is up or down, innocent investors can be and will be targeted by unscrupulous fraudsters," U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated.

Utah Company Establishes Award Winning Community

Over six years ago, the award winning Daybreak Community was created by, of all companies, Kennecott Copper in Utah. They imagined a sustainable development in a large-scale planned community. Most recently, the Daybreak Community was awarded the 2010 Best in American Living Platinum Award by the National Association of Home Builders.

The award was presented for Suburban Smart Growth as well as Community of the Year. The homebuilder's association presents the award to recognize builders, developers and architects that create enduring communities and help reduce environmental impact.

In Utah, the Daybreak Community in South Jordan stands out for its early twentieth century design that incorporates homes, retail space, recreation and other essentials all within a self-contained community. Daybreak designers placed schools, shops, restaurants, parks and public transit options close to homes thereby reducing the need for cars.

The homes and businesses are constructed to be energy efficient and the community itself provides ease of mobility for its residents. You are never a long car ride from the grocery, cleaners or health clinic if you are a Daybreak resident. And if you need to go into the city, the Mid-Jordan TRAX light rail line is a short walk from your front door.

In 2009, Daybreak was ranked the sixth best selling master planned community in the U.S. Currently there are over 2,500 households and around 9,000 residents living within the community. Over the past four years, Daybreak has been the number one selling new home community in Utah. One in five new homes sold in Salt Lake County are in Daybreak.

Not only are homes in Daybreak Energy Star Certified, several commercial buildings are LEED Certified green buildings. Kennecott has worked diligently with their builders to push the limits of innovation and sustainable building techniques. Homes in Daybreak are designed to reduce energy usage and water consumption.

The recent awards illustrate just how successful the Daybreak Community has been. According to Kennecott, it is rewarding to be acknowledged for delivering on such a vision.

Why You Should Probably Transfer to North Dakota

There are many things to consider when moving to a place. House prices, cost of living, entertainment options, and ethnic make-up of people in the community may just be some of your options. If you will take the entertainment (professional sports teams and tourist attractions, for example) and the weather, North Dakota will be far down in your list of US states to live in, but looking at it from an economic point of view, there's all the reason in the world to be part of the country's least populous state.

While 44 states are projected to have budget shortfalls in 2012, North Dakota has just decided to cut its taxes by some $400 million because of its huge budget surplus. Lawmakers in this state are even debating whether they should make further tax cuts.

Aside from the budget surplus, there are a few more reasons why we should transfer to North Dakota, if we will believe this article from Yahoo! Finance. Among these reasons is the fact that the state has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, with just about 3.8 percent unemployment. This has never touched the 5-percent mark since 1987. This probably has to do with the fact that the economy of North Dakota is mainly based on primary commodities such as oil and wheat.

Home prices are also something to look at. Median home prices in North Dakota stand at just around $150,000. These low home prices account for the state's standing as having the third lowest home foreclosure rate. Just like any other agriculture-based state, North Dakota also has very low crime incidents, fourth in the country and 60 percent below the national average.

Should you transfer to North Dakota because of these facts? Only you can determine that, based on your own needs, wants, and priorities. The lack of standard entertainment options and the harsh winter may deter you from coming. Still, if we are going to make economics as our sole basis, then there is no doubt that North Dakota is the place to be.

Such a Deal in California

Having lived in Southern California, I can attest to the fact that is a nearly perfect place to live. It is still home to some of the most expensive real estate in the entire country.

The unprecedented drop in prices has heralded a new era for California luxury real estate--value. A value in Southern California is relative. But a deal is still a deal.

No matter the economy, Southern California never seems to lose its magic for buyers of luxury properties. The state has something for everyone--from enclaves protecting the rich and famous to breathtaking communities lining a coastline that rivals the most beautiful in the world.

To the North and adjacent to Santa Barbara is Montecito, an ultra-exclusive town dotted with hilltop Tuscan-style estates and villas that enjoy sweeping views of the Pacific.

The local Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage reports that these challenging market conditions are providing outstanding opportunities for buyers. They say buyers now understand the new world order and have priced homes accordingly.

No California coastal community is more famous than Malibu. Home to movie stars, multi-national CEOs and professional athletes, Malibu is feeling the pinch of current economic instability.

Right now, there are 70 beachfront homes for sale ranging from $2 million up to $65 million. Real estate agents have seen a drop in prices, but the area has seen an increase in activity in the last few weeks.

Coronado Island is no more than a sliver of land in San Diego Bay, but the charming island is in great demand among affluent local professionals and vacation home buyers from Arizona, Texas and Nevada.

Homes on Coronado Island have only dropped 10 percent from the height of the housing market a few years ago. In fact, it has taken less of a hit than prestigious La Jolla, just a stone's throw up the beach.

Sales of luxury homes are far from accelerating, but inquiries are increasing. Real estate experts are excited. That, my friend, is an example of California optimism.

Motel Is Latest Stopover in Federal Forfeiture Battle

TEWKSBURY, Mass.—The $57-a-night Motel Caswell, magnet for hard-luck cases, police patrol cars and the occasional drug deal, is the unlikely prize in a high-stakes tug-of-war between conservative legal activists and the government.

The motel's owner, spurred by a recent Supreme Court decision, is trying to convince a federal court that the Constitution bars the U.S. Department of Justice from seizing his property, where guests have been found guilty of drug offenses. The owner, Russell Caswell, isn't accused of any wrongdoing. But he stands to lose his business nonetheless under a law that calls for the forfeiture of properties linked to ...

The News Article Is Breaking Up

Mobile technology is pulling apart the centuries-old format of the article. News and analysis are getting a divorce.

On smart phones, through which the vast majority of the world’s population will get their news, people love succinct and scannable information. We are gravitating to formats that do not require us to click through and consume paragraphs of prose. The update stream popularized by Facebook and Twitter — and ultimately derived from the phone-indigenous SMS — is ideal for breaking news, but it is ill-suited to deeper analysis.

Meantime, the classic article is a carefully crafted bundle of facts, photos, and quotes bolstered with historical background and analysis. But when the news is already known to the reader — thanks to the stream — these bundles can become confusingly out-of-sync even when they are just a few hours old. And more and more news content is being created on mobile phones: celebrity tweets, handheld videos, location-specific checkins. Taking the time to turn these short-form nuggets into articles adds limited value, so they are made and viewed in a mobile-friendly format, cutting the article out altogether.

These are the irreconcilable differences, and they are cause of the inevitable divorce.

Jeff Jarvis recently came to a similar view but spun a different conclusion. Noting some of the same forces at work, Jarvis carries this to the extreme and describes “the article as luxury or byproduct.” Many of his readers took this to mean that long-form journalism will become an inessential relic. But that’s wrong.

Long-form writing will survive and will do so by abandoning news nuggets. What emerges will offer a liberating business model for writers. Within the next ten years, long-form writers will accept that their readers have seen the facts of the story live as it happened, probably elsewhere. The longer content that succeeds in that environment will be pieces that provide the most value as backgrounders, news analyses, and commentary.

The good news for writers is that this dovetails with their financial and intellectual interests. Via a variety of social-mobile platforms, they will pass along facts and pictures as soon as they obtain them — or verify them, depending on the writer’s journalistic standards. Writers who are especially good at doing this real-time reporting will develop audiences who are attentive to their mobile alerts. News nuggets are highly viral, so successful reporters will very quickly be introduced to huge numbers of readers.

Through this loss-leading channel, writers will then be able to notify their readers about longer-form articles they have created. Unlike news nuggets, which cannot be protected and whose facts are instantly everywhere, personal pieces reject commoditization. Their value will hinge on the author’s subjective perspective, experience, or knowledge. They may be longer than news articles today, uniquely styled, visually interesting, or delivered via video or audio. These pieces will written to be saved to read later — for that time when the reader takes a moment to relax, learn, and enjoy resting by the side of the stream. Social and mobile platforms make payment much easier, so it will be practical to charge a small fee. Fifty cents for thoughtful analysis is inexpensive, and yet it is the cost of an entire newspaper today.

There is nothing sacred about the article for the transmission of news. It is a logical way of packaging information for a daily print run of a newspaper and a useful format around which to sell display advertising. It has survived into the Internet age for reasons of tradition and the absence of better formats. We have come to accept it as a fundamental atom of news communication, but it’s not. Given faster, easier alternatives, the article no longer makes sense to mobile users for consuming news.

News will go one way, into the stream as scannable updates, and analysis will go the other, toward a new long-form business model for writers. It may be a divorce, but I believe it will be a happy one.

The article as luxury or byproduct

A few episodes in news make me think of the article not as the goal of journalism but as a value-added luxury or as a byproduct of the process.

* See the amazing Brian Stelter covering the Joplin tornado and begging his desk at The Times to turn his tweets into a story because he had neither the connectivity nor the time to do it in the field and, besides, he was too busy doing something more precious: reporting. (It’s a great post, a look at a journalist remaking his craft. Highly recommended for journalists and journalism students particularly.) (And aren’t you proud of me for not drawing the obvious and embarrassing comparison to Times editor Bill Keller’s Luddite trolling about Twitter even as his man in Twitter, Stelter, proves what a valuable tool it is?)

* In Canada’s recent election, Postmedia (where—disclosure—I am an advisor) had its reporters on the bus do nothing but reporting, putting up posts and photos and videos and snippets as they went, keeping coverage going all day, maximizing their value in the field. Back at HQ, a “twin” would turn that into a narrative — as blog posts — when appropriate. At the end of the day, the twin would also turn out a story for print, though everything had pretty much been done earlier; this was more an editing than a writing task. I asked my Postmedia friends what had to be done to turn the posts into an article. Mostly, they said, it meant adding background paragraphs (those great space-wasters that can now be rethought of as links to regularly updated background wikis, don’t you think?).

* At South by Southwest, the Guardian’s folks talked about their steller live-blogging. Ian Katz, the deputy editor, said that live-blogging — devoting someone to a story all day — was expensive. I said that writing articles is also expensive. He agreed. There’s the choice: Some news events (should we still be calling them stories?) are better told in process. Some need summing up as articles. That is an extra service to readers. A luxury, perhaps.

* Of course, I need to point to Andy Carvin’s tweeting and retweeting of the Arab Spring. He adds tremendous journalistic value: finding the nodes and networks of reliable witnesses; questioning and vetting what they say; debunking rumors; adding perspective and context; assigning his audience tasks (translating, verifying a photos’ location); even training witnesses and audiences (telling them what it really means to confirm a fact). What he does never results in an article.

* I’ve been talking with some people about concepts for reorganizing news organizations around digital and I keep calling on John Paton’s goal to keep in the field and maximize the two things that add value — reporting and sales — and to make everything else more efficient through consolidation or outsourcing. As I was talking to someone else about this, it occurred to me that in some — not all — cases, not only editing and packaging but even writing could be done elsewhere, as Postmedia did in its election experiment. I’m not talking about complex stories from beat people who understand topics and need to write what they report from their earned understanding. I’m talking about covering an event or a meeting, for example. The coverage can come from a reporter and in some cases from witnesses’ cameras and quotes. The story can be written elsewhere by someone who can add value by compiling perspectives and facts from many witnesses and sources. It harkens back to the days of newspaper rewritemen (I was one).

Carry this to the extreme — that’s my specialty — and we see witnesses everywhere, some of them reporters, some people who happen to be at a news event before reporters arrive (and now we can reach them via Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare….), some who may be participants but are sharing photos and facts via Twitter. Already on the web, we see others — bloggers — turn these distributed snippets into narratives: posts, stories, articles.

The bigger question all this raises is when and whether we need articles. Oh, we still do. Articles can make it easy to catch up on a complex story; they make for easier reading than a string of disjointed facts; they pull together strands of a story and add perspective. Articles are wonderful. But they are no longer necessary for every event. They were a necessary form for newspapers and news shows but not the free flow, the never-starting, never-ending stream of digital. Sometimes, a quick update is sufficient; other times a collection of videos can do the trick. Other times, articles are good.

I’ve been yammering on for a few years about how news is a process more than a product. These episodes help focus what that kind of journalism will look like — and what the skills of the journalist should be.

The accepted wisdom of journalism and its schools was that storytelling was our real job, our high calling, our real art. Ain’t necessarily so. The accepted wisdom of blogging has been that now any of us can do everything: report and write, producing text and audio and video and graphics and packaging and distributing it all. But I also see specialization returning with some people reporting, others packaging. Can we agree to a new accepted wisdom: that the most precious resource in news is reporting and so maximizing the acquisition of facts and answers is what we need?

So what is an article? An article can be a byproduct of the process. When digital comes first and print last, then the article is something you need to put together to fill the paper; it’s not the goal of the entire process. The process is the goal of the process: keeping the public constantly informed.

An article can be a luxury. When a story is complex and has been growing and changing, it is a great service to tie that into a cogent and concise narrative. But is that always necessary? Is it always the best way to inform? Can we always afford the time it takes to produce articles? Is writing articles the best use of scarce reporting resources?

In a do-what-you-do-best-and-link-to-the-rest ecosystem, if someone else has written a good article (or background wiki) isn’t it often more efficient to link than to write? Isn’t it more valuable to add reporting, filling in missing facts or correcting mistakes or adding perspectives, than to rewrite what someone else has already written?

We write articles for many reasons: because the form demands it, because we want the bylines and ego gratification, because we are competitive, because we had to. Now we should write articles when necessary.

This new structure changes not only the skills but likely the character of the journalist. These days when I see young journalists talk only about their passion to write and tell stories, I worry for them that they will find fewer jobs and less of a calling. But when I hear journalists say that their passion is to report, to dig up facts, to serve and inform the community by all means possible, I feel better. When I hear a journalist talk about collaboration with that community as the highest art, then I get happy.

Let the record show that I am not declaring the article useless or dead. Just optional.

: Seconds after I posted this to Twitter, Chad Catacchio said that by the time the article is written, its’ not news, it’s history (albeit the fabled first draft).

: If you came to this post via Mathew Ingram’s response, please note that I adamantly disagree with his characterization of what I say. See my comment under Facebook comments at the end of his post.

: LATER: Jonathan Glick has a smart take on this notion, arguing that nuggets of news will be delivered as nuggets, freeing journalists to write analyses, adding their value, without the burden of conveying the latest.

There is nothing sacred about the article for the transmission of news. It is a logical way of packaging information for a daily print run of a newspaper and a useful format around which to sell display advertising. It has survived into the Internet age for reasons of tradition and the absence of better formats. We have come to accept it as a fundamental atom of news communication, but it’s not. Given faster, easier alternatives, the article no longer makes sense to mobile users for consuming news.

News will go one way, into the stream as scannable updates, and analysis will go the other, toward a new long-form business model for writers. I believe it will be a happy divorce.

I like his take except for this notion that journalism will be defined by length. I find “long-form” to be often used in a rather self-indulgent way: I want to write a lot, it says, and I want you to read it all. Now I know that’s now what Glick is saying; he’s saying that one must have a lot to say, a lot to add. But I think we need another way to describe that than by the inch, for I’m sure we’ve all known too many writers who like to write more than inform.

: Amy Gahran has a very nice piece — not just because she agrees with me — whose subhed begins:

he cutting room floor of journalism is a sad place: all those facts, interviews, asides, anecdotes, context, insights, and media gathered during reporting which, while relevant and interesting, just doesn’t fit comfortably into the narrative flow or length/time limits of the finished story.

This doesn’t merely represent wasted time and reporting effort. Many of those scraps are missed opportunities to engage readers and gain search visibility or links…

Well-said. She argues that we need to look at assembling news the way we play with Legos and we need CMSes that will do that (Storify is a start).

Carry on glamping: Europe's poshest, coolest camping experiences

Yurts, tipis, eco-pods, retro and gypsy caravans – there are now dozens of ways to enjoy the great outdoors without forgoing little luxuries like beds. Garri Rayner, editor of goglamping.net and holidaypad.net, selects some of the best

Belrepayre is a retro-style campsite situated near Mirepoix in the Pyrenees. Bring your own caravan (only vintage or Airstream models allowed) or tent. If you rock up in a vintage car (anything with 30 years on it), you'll get a 10% discount. Alternatively you can hire one of nine vintage Airstreams on site – from the Melody Maker, dedicated to 70s rock with record player, records and tapes, to the 1953 Silver Streak Clipper, decked out with 50s kitchenware and beautiful multicoloured curtains. There is a general store with fresh local produce and – apple of the owner's eye – the Apollo Lounge, an idiosyncratic Airstream diner. There are outdoor cinema sessions, yoga, table tennis and badminton facilities and retro disco nights. You can relax in the cedar

wood hot tub or the Mongolian yurt, or discover the countryside and farmers' markets. You're not given directions until you've confirmed your reservation – this ensures that the park remains a well-kept secret.
• Open May-September; pitches from €19 a night, Airstreams from €80 per night or €475 a week; +33 5 6168 1199, airstreameurope.com

Melusine Camping, Poitou-Charentes

This campsite, named after a fairy queen, has three romantic medieval-style pavilion tents with gardens in a wildflower meadow in western France. The tents are luxuriously furnished, with beds, cushions, Persian rugs, sheepskins and wooden storage chests. Outside, picnic tables, hammocks and firepits are provided, and there is a swimming pool with deckchairs and sunloungers. The closest town is Parthenay, which hosts a games festival (intownet01.cc-parthenay.fr/flip/portail) every July, where the whole town is given over to play – be it medieval, traditional or on a computer.
• Open May-September; from €250 a week for two people; +33 5 4963 3949, melusine-camping.com

Auvergne Naturelle, Haute Loire

Auvergne Naturelle provides luxury yurt-based accommodation on 20 acres of woodland and meadow within the Livradois-Forez national park. Owners Robert and Kathryn Harrison run the site in as eco-friendly a way as possible – the yurts, which sleep two adults and two children, are built from coppiced ash and equipped with low-impact lighting and composting toilets. Visitors can take courses in woodland craft, nature-spotting, bread-making and fire-making. There's a play area with rope bridges, secret dens and a fairy garden (no adults allowed).
• Open April-September; yurts from €130 a night or €700 a week; +33 4 7176 3853, yurtholidaysfrance.co.uk

Le Chato, Auvergne

Take your pick from an Indian pavilion tent, a Bedouin tent, a safari camp or a number of yurts, all within the walled grounds of a chateau. There's a strict no-cars policy on site (except Saturdays), so children can safely run riot and they'll love the go-carts and bikes, trampoline, small farm and treehouse. Each secluded encampment comes with its own terrace, so you can while away the days in peace. Le Chato is close to France's largest natural park, the Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans d'Auvergne, for hiking and cycling trips, and the nearby Gorges de L'Allier are great for bird-spotting.
• Open mid June-mid September; from €510 a week; +32 3663 0981, lechato.com

Cerza Safari Lodge, Normandy

Cerza is an exotic experience not too long a drive from Britain, where you can meet rhinos, wallabies and antelopes. There are six yurts in a Mongolian "village" but, if you need your home comforts, opt for one of the chic, open-plan, air-conditioned lodges by the lake. If something a bit different appeals, try a new "zoobservatory", where you can watch the siamang gibbons or gazelles through your window. You can also help feed the animals, and even stroke a rhino. All campers or lodge-dwellers have to buy entry passes to the safari park, but if you stay in a lodge for four days you will get two free passes. Warm fresh bread or croissants can be brought to your lodge every morning.
• Open April-September; yurts from €80 a night for two or €100 for four; +33 2 3131 8230 cerzasafarilodge.com

Les Roulottes Des Korrigans, Brittany

These luxury wooden gypsy caravans, known as roulottes, in Finistère (the far western end of Brittany) offer themed holidays based on fairytales, gold-panning, sport, wellbeing and Breton crêpe-making. On site you will find a spa and a traditional sauna, mountain-bike rental and a shop selling local organic produce. The property is close to the village of Brasparts, at the heart of the Armorique natural park.
• Open February-December; from €59 a night for two adults and two children; +33 6 8457 9624, roulottes-des-korrigans.com

Le Grand Bois, Rhône-Alpes

This 18th-century estate south of Grenoble has been transformed into a rural haven with a variety of accommodation, from rooms and apartments in the guesthouse to luxurious safari-lodge tents with real double beds, spacious tunnel tents which are more than five metres long and 25 pitches on the six-acre campsite. Facilities include a swimming pool, volleyball pitch, free Wi-Fi, barbecue and mountain bike rental. Hiking, cycling and motorcycling packages allow guests to explore the Vercors natural park.
• Open April-15 September; from €55 per room per night, €6 per pitch, €60 a night or €475 a week for a tunnel tent (sleeps four-five), and €95 or €650 a week for a safari-lodge tent (sleeping six); +33 4 7553 3372, legrandbois.nl

Simply Canvas, Aquitaine

Several gîtes and luxury safari tents are set on a five-hectare site in south-west France near Saint-Jean-de-Duras, a small village 20 minutes from Bergerac. The picturesque towns of Eymet and Ste Foy la Grande are a short drive away. Breakfast and dinner are served outside on long wooden tables or in the large stone barn, where you can also take refuge on rainy days. The six tents come with verandas, solar-powered lighting and separate bathroom. There is a swimming pool and a play area, and never more than 20 guests at a time.
• Open May-2 October; tents from €100 a day, €560 a week B&B (sleep four), dinner €15pp; gîtes from €500 a week (sleep four); simplycanvas.eu

Camping and Chalets Les Ormes, Aquitaine

Two adjacent properties in the Lot-et-Garonne department offer accommodation from luxury desert tents and revolving cabins to chalets and gypsy caravans. The five desert tents are pitched on solid wood floors and fully furnished, ranging from 25 to 50 square metres. The Tournesol is a revolving cabin for four that can be turned to face the sun at all times. There is also a 25-acre campsite with 100 pitches, tennis court and swimming pool. The 18th-century farmhouse at the heart of the property has two restaurants (one is children-only) and a shop.
• Open May-11 September; from €10 per pitch plus €8pp; desert tents/Tournesol cabin from €350 a week; chalets from €540 a week; gypsy wagons from €610 a week; +33 5 5336 6026, campinglesormes.com

Tipi Holidays in France, Limousin

These six furnished tipis set among woodland in the La Creuse region of central France make a good base for a week of outdoor activities including cycling, hiking, canoeing and fishing. The site is run on eco-friendly principles: all lighting is solar-powered and all produce is organic and locally sourced. Each tipi is set in its own secluded area of woodland, on a raised wooden platform, and sleeps four. Breakfast is provided every morning in the communal hall, and several times a week there is a table d'hôte evening meal.
• Open May-August; from €150 for three days, €300 per week per tipi (two adults and two children) including breakfast; vacanesdetipienfrance.com

Roulottes de Campagne, various locations

A selection of brand new roulottes, or gypsy wagons, for up to five people, can be rented from the same company in more than 60 stunning, mainly secluded, sites all over France. You can choose between four types of holiday (all with appropriately boho names) depending on the kind of break you're after – Natural Spirit, Village Spirit, Adventure Spirit and Hotel Spirit. If you fancy a trip away from it all, go for Natural Spirit, which tends to offer one stand-alone roulotte in the depths of the countryside, often on the banks of a lake or a river. Families may prefer the resort feel of Village Spirit, and the real glamper will love the gastronomy and service-with-a-smile of a Hotel Spirit wagon in the grounds of a hotel or B&B.

How to make a crochet apple jacket

In celebration of National Apple Day on October 21, we have a highly impractical craft project to keep your fruit warm this winter

Go on, you know you want one – they might not be practical, but they're so irresistible! This is a very simple pattern from Mollie Makes using the most basic of crochet stitches. You don't even have to know how to decrease – just miss a stitch out where the pattern says so.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Cotton DK yarn
3.5mm crochet hook
Embroidery needle
Button

ABBREVIATIONS:

ch – chain
dc – double crochet
rep – repeat
sl st – slip stitch
st – stitch

WHAT TO DO:

Start with a slip knot. Work 4 chain, join to form a loop with a slip stitch into first chain.

Round 1: ch1, 9dc into central loop, sl st into 1st chain to close up the circle.

Round 2: Working in the round, 2dc into each subsequent stitch (approximately 18 sts).
Insert a contrast colour yarn marker (3cm length of yarn positioned horizontally between the last stitch and the first one of the next round) at this point, this will allow you to see when you have completed a 'round' and stops you from worrying about counting stitches.

Round 3: 1dc into each st

Round 4: *2dc into next st, 1dc into following st*, rep from * to * until you reach yarn marker.

Round 5: rep Round 3

Round 6: rep Round 4

Rounds 7-13: rep Round 3

When you reach the end of round 13, you need to begin working backwards and forwards rather than around and around. This will create the opening at the top of the cosy.

Round 14: ch1, turn the cosy and work in the opposite direction. 1dc into each st. Stop at the last stitch before the 1st chain.

Round 15: ch1, turn *1dc in to each of the following 10 stitches, skip one stitch (i.e., miss a stitch between your previous dc and next dc)*, rep * to * until you reach the end of the row – don't worry if there aren't 10 stitches in the final group.

Round 16: ch1, turn crochet, rep round 14

Round 17: ch1, turn *1dc in to each of the following 8 stitches, skip one stitch (i.e., miss a stitch between your previous dc and next dc)*, rep * to * until you reach the end of the row. When you arrive at the end of the row, ch12 and using a sl st join the last chain back to the main body of crochet to form a loop for the button. Cut the yarn and using an embroidery needle, work it into the back of the cosy. Sew the button to the cosy opposite the loop.

About the designer

Sara Sinaguglia is a 30-something mother of two who runs a cookery school, has a Folksy shop, an Etsy shop and writes a blog. We're not sure how she has time to crochet apple cosies but we fell for them. Read her blog at: onechurchillsgreen.typepad.com

About Mollie Makes

Mollie Makes is a brand new craft magazine that focuses on contemporary fabric crafts, providing readers with inspiring projects from around the world. At Mollie Makes we enjoy making, collecting, crafting and thrifting. We love to hunt for bargains, spend way too much time on crafty blogs and are happiest meeting up with friends and working on the latest project we've got on the go. molliemakes.com

Special subscription offer for Guardian readers (offer ends 31st January 2012): Subscribe to Mollie Makes and save up 40%

Collecting china: a guide for beginners

Jane Perrone guides you through the dos and don'ts of collecting vintage china. Are you a collector, and if so, what do you collect?

I'm not sure how it started - maybe it was a chipped vase picked up at a charity shop, or just hours spent hanging around car boot sales and auction houses with my pocket money jangling around in my pocket as a kid. But my addiction to retro china goes back a long way. In the last few years, though, the era of "shabby chic" has dawned and everyone's on eBay looking for a retro bargain.

A TG Green polka dot coffee pot in 'liberty green'. Photograph: Jane Perrone

But how do you know what you're buying, what you should be paying, and what condition it's in? In this new series of blogposts I'll be guiding you through the dos and don'ts of collecting vintage china.

So where to begin? Well, the first thing to decide is what you're going to collect. There are dozens of makes of china dating to the vintage period - very roughly 1950s-1980s - and within each make, dozens more patterns and colourways. Some patterns are extremely rare and desirable, changing hands for hundreds of pounds; others come up much more frequently and sell for more modest sums of anything from a fiver and up.

Pick a decade that suits your style, then find some china to match: retroselect.com is a great place to browse. I have three strands to my collection, all from my favourite decade, the 1950s: TG Green (famous for their blue-and-white striped Cornishware), Midwinter Fashion Shape and HJ Wood's Piazza Ware.

A Homemaker plate by Ridgway. Photograph: Marc Tielemans/Alamy

Just because a pattern is common doesn't make it undesirable. Ridgway's Homemaker set was sold in Woolworths from the late 50s to the late 60s and is a piece of classic design - a printed pattern in black and white featuring everyday household items from tables to plant pots. You can still pick up pieces in charity shops and car boot sales for a few pounds, although the rarer items - usually those more liable to breakages, such as cake stands and coffee pots - can go for a lot more. Homemaker collector and blogger Gillian Carson paid £215 for her teapot and, as she points out, one of the strong points of Homemaker is its durability - although you might want to keep the teapot for best!

If the 1970s is your decade, you can't go wrong with the Stonehenge range from Midwinter.

You may think that opting to collect a more rare pattern would mean spending more money, but it's not necessarily so: items will come up less frequently, so it will take longer to build up a set, even if each plate or bowl costs you more. TG Green is a case in point - it may take no time at all to build a collection of blue Cornishware, but something more unusual such as Domino Ware, with white dots on a blue ground, is just as attractive but the hunt will take far longer.

But perhaps you're already an avid collector - if so, I'd love to hear what you collect, what your favourite pieces are and those elusive pieces you're still hunting for. In my next post, I'll be offering tips for buying retro china on eBay.

Gardens: a head for heights

They used to fill him with melancholy, but the scale and depth of colour means that Dan has come to love sunflowers

Gales swept through the valley last month. It was horrible watching it happen, a summer's growth bashed, torn at and buffeted. Miraculously things stood their ground save a couple of tripods toppled, but the sunflowers were smashed and shattered, their limbs akimbo, their faces laying in the mud like a legion of freshly felled soldiers.

We had grown 50 or so plants and six or seven varieties and at the point of the storm they were at their moment of perfection. The leading stem, already flowered and browning with seed, had given way in most of the plants to a secondary branching of limbs and you were dwarfed when you walked among them. It was the second coming of flower that bore the brunt of the storm and it took me the best part of a day to untangle the carnage. The worst of the damage was composted, but by evening I had several buckets of flowers and the opportunity to look closely at them in all their autumnal magnificence. A few were what you might expect of a sunflower – true gold with soot-black faces – but the contrast among them has been as rich and variable as an autumn sunset. There are lemons and ivory whites, ginger, cinnamon and apricot overlayed with plum and brown "rusting". The darkest are almost black against the sky, but close up reveal themselves to be the deepest of reds, with claret and chestnut undercurrents.

It's taken most of my adult life to get over a melancholy association of the sunflower with the end of the summer holidays. They were always there on the journey back to school, poking over fences and smiling, despite my downward mood. Today things are different. I look forward to the change of tempo as summer departs and the sunflowers are part of that, encapsulating all the energy of the last few months.

The plants here were started in the frame in April, two seeds to a pot, which were thinned to one once it was clear there was a take. In the red-flowered varieties I singled out the seedling with the darkest veining in the leaf in the hope that they would spawn the richest-coloured forms.

Though I could just as easily have sown the seed directly in the ground and taken my chances, the potted seedlings were planted out in the middle of May, a couple of feet apart and in a bed of their own so I could see what they were capable of. Fast-growing annuals such as these are an ideal way of testing your conditions and in no time they were letting us know they were happy. They were knee height a month later, needing a stout cane by the end of June and a month after that our views down the valley had gone. Some, it became clear very quickly, were not community players, needing all the space and the light they could get, their drama and bulk precluding them from an artful weave among the vegetables. Others were more accommodating, making a lofty complement to a kitchen garden or as a splash of colour among the perennials.

"Italian White" was the weakest of the batch and I've had trouble germinating it in the past, but the effort is worth it. The plants grow to shoulder height only, with multi-branched bushes giving way to creamy flowers no bigger than the palm of your hand. "Valentine" is a similar-sized plant with a slightly more lemon flower, but it has proven to be more reliable his year. Both are lovely among bronze fennel if you can keep the slugs off when they are young.

"Claret" seems to be the most reliable of the dark-flowered varieties, producing slightly smaller flowers than "Velvet Queen" and resisting the stray into marmalade tones. If you are happy with variation in the reds then the latter is a good selection, both varieties branching liberally and eventually reaching the best part of 9ft.

The plants are browning now and straddling the path in tatters, but I will leave their remains for the birds to pick over and enjoy watching the stems topple as winter advances.

Tip Box

Sunflowers are easily germinated from home-saved seed. Pick the heads now before the seed rots and hang upside down in a dry room until they rattle free. Save all you need for next year and hang the heads up in a cold snap for the tits

Carry on glamping as Britain embraces luxury-tent breaks

Breaks in opulent yurts and tepees are riding a wave of popularity as Britain embraces five-star camping

When a pound buys you little more than one euro, and staying at home was what you did last year, this summer's best holiday option may be to join the fastest growing trend – go glamping.

Backpack-free and not a soggy sleeping bag in sight, upmarket camping is coming of age in Britain with an explosion in the numbers of luxury venues for those who would like to enjoy the great outdoors without having to get their feet wet on a traditional campsite.

This month two specialist travel companies have opened dedicated glamping websites and Lonely Planet, the travel publisher, last month listed a glamping site as one of Britain's best short breaks.

This summer there will be more than 150 glamping sites around the country offering luxury accommodation with a outdoorsy feel. From a renovated shepherd's hut at the bottom of a field to a large bell tent in the garden of a B&B, the trend may help many in the tourist trade through what otherwise might be a tough economic season. Several upmarket hotels have joined the craze and are offering a five-star twist to the traditional holiday under canvas, with treehouses, tepees and yurts set up on their manicured lawns.

Glamping has been growing in popularity over the past two to three years, says Garri Rayner, who created goglamping.net in 2007 to cater for a niche market, but now works full time on the site. "This year the popularity of glamping is quite extraordinary," he said. "It's grown up with the popularity of festivals really, and you just need to see how many of them there are in Britain now.

"Camping doesn't appeal to most people. Sometimes you will get families really split, with one half liking it and the other not. But now, with so many options popping up all the time, and everyone even more eco-friendly, it's a great alternative.

"In terms of a family holiday for children, what's better than a secluded countryside spot with all the comforts of home?

"To date it has been seen as quite extravagant, with a lot of expensive places, but that's really changed this year. It can be low-cost, and there is something for everyone from every walk of life. But I'd say that it's the festival-goers who really have pushed the trend."

It's not hard to see how images of the muddy camping fields of Glastonbury may have put many people off a traditional tent holiday.

The festival's elite Camp Kerala – described by Vogue magazine as "unquestionably one of the most glamorous places to be in the UK" – has been growing in popularity over the past few years, albeit only among those who can afford the £8,000 price for a weekend in a shikar tent, originally designed for use by the maharajah of Jodhpur and filled with Rajasthani furnishings and duck-down duvets.

At the Latitude festival in Suffolk last weekend, organisers expanded the luxury campsite to include a number of 5m-wide bell tents, fully furnished and carpeted, complete with flowers and chocolates on the linen pillows and a lockable canvas door.

Jollydays, a luxury camping site in Yorkshire, is this year offering in-tent showers. For the camping purist it may be a cop-out, but the trend is spawning a new breed of enthusiasts, says Eliot O'Connor who runs a business with his wife from their premises in Oxford, importing traditionally-crafted yurts from Inner Mongolia.

"Its our sixth year in business and proving to be absolutely our best," he said. "We are getting all sorts of inquiries; farmers who are trying it out, putting up one in a field and seeing how it goes, then coming back for another three.

"Campsites are finding them really popular and are coming back for more. We're getting schools and even individuals who just want them in the garden for the kids, people from all walks of life. Some people are even living in them full time.

"They are very effective holiday homes. They are beautifully made, with willow frames and trellis that will last a lifetime. It's sad really that in Mongolia the use of them is fading fast, and it's only tourism that is keeping the craft going. So great news that everyone wants to stay in one here."

Should You Buy A Second Home?

Once you've already gotten over the euphoria of purchasing your first home and owned it for quite a while, making sure that payments are regularly made, it already starts to make sense for some people to start looking for a potential second home. Not only are these second homes a good investment to make, they also provide you with an avenue by which you can get extra income if you desired to.

Having second homes can be used as rental homes. In this day and age when a lot of people are losing their homes, most of them just turn to renting properties. However, if you haven't had any experience renting a property, you better make sure that you are knowledgeable about this industry. You should inform your mortgage and insurance companies that you have a rental property, aside from becoming able to provide maintenance needs that these rented properties may require.

If you have the money to invest in a second home, make sure that you have invested well in things that could lessen the need for maintenance. Better prepare your second home for the winter season by putting in good insulation, just in case you only plan to be in the second home during the warmer months.

It may not be ready today, but your investment in the property is soon to rise again many years later. Land is one of those commodities that will never drop in value to nothing, precisely because there's only limited land in the world while population is on an exponential growth. Just add in a few improvements for your own pleasure and you may see it rising in value in the foreseeable future. When the need to sell comes, you will be glad that you made the decision to purchase a second home at this time.

Tennessee Homeowners Told to Get Ready for Cold Weather

Old man winter has already paid a rather costly visit to many states in the U.S. Some of the states that have been particularly hard hit are areas that are not accustomed to the level of cold temperatures and snow like traditional cold weather areas. Tennessee has seen close to record cold and snow since the early part of December.

The Fire Marshal for Tennessee, Leslie Newman, wants Tennesseans to stay warm for the balance of the winter. She urges residents to be extremely cautious when using alternative heating sources such as fireplaces, woodstoves and space heaters. Newman warns residents about the higher number of fire injuries and deaths when non-traditional sources are used.

The Fire Marshal's office has come up with some safety tips for homeowners that use alternative heat as well as those with conventional forced air systems. First, and foremost, on the list is to make certain your smoke alarms are in working condition. For a small investment of time and money, a working smoke alarm can save lives.

If you use a space heater, make sure it is placed at least three feet away from anything combustible. This includes furniture, bedding and any type flammable chemicals or aerosol can. Space heaters should have the seal of approval of a testing lab such as Underwriters Laboratory. Also, look for models with automatic shutoff features. And never use extension cords with electric space heaters.

If you enjoy the ambience of a fireplace, or just use it for heat, make sure your chimney is professionally cleaned. Cleaning will remove combustible materials that accumulate and build up in the flue.

If you have any type of kerosene heating appliance it must be installed with proper ventilation. Never re-fill a kerosene heater in an area without proper ventilation and make certain the unit is cool to the touch. Never substitute gasoline for kerosene!

Things to Consider When Moving to the Countryside

Are you stressed with the fast-paced life in the city? Can't stand living with so many people living close to you? Burdened by the high costs of living associated with urban living? Then why don't you transfer where the grass is literally greener and transfer to the countryside?

This sounds unconventional, because it really is. Much of the migration that has taken over during the history of mankind is from the countryside towards the cities, where everything is within your reach. Reverse migration is not something unheard of, though. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that about 100,000 people transfer from the city to the countryside every year.

You can't blame these people. It is so easy to think of going away from it all and work somewhere in the countryside. If farm work is not exactly in your skills, you can still opt to work at the nearest town or the nearest city. The question now is how you can possibly manage it. The first thing you should really do is to visit the countryside and make an inspection.

You can always visit during the summer, when farmlands become really extra-attractive, but the real deal here is the winter season. Can you stand those cold dark nights around the log fire? If you can, then countryside living might be the thing for you. You should also try making a test run driving from the country to your site of employment during rush hour. Can you stand the distance and travel time?

Other things that you have to take care of are the facilities and social options. Where are the nearest schools? The nearest hospitals? How is the public transportation network? Going away from the city also means going away from the convenience of having everything just within your reach. Take this into mind, make your investigation, and judge accordingly according to your findings.

Countryside living seems like a great idea especially if you like good adventures and quiet surroundings, but you have to think very very hard about it as it is going to be a very bold decision.

Nebraska Agricultural Land Values Climb

The more difficult the economy, the more people search out safe investments. As they saying goes, buy land. It is a valuable commodity and they are not making any more of it.

Nebraska land has become one of those favored, safe investments. Recently the Nebraska Department of Revenue released its annual property valuations. Nebraska farm land has increased in value 11.9 percent in the past year.

Over the past year, valuation increases for Nebraska residential property were less than one percent and for commercial property slightly over 3.5 percent. Valuations are determined by property sales data. Specifically, valuations are set at approximately 77 percent of market value. As sales prices of land increase, the valuations also increase.

In some Nebraska counties, sales of true farm land are infrequent. For example, in Logan County when a piece of property does sell it is usually at a premium price. A great deal depends on how the land is designated.

The true value of the land depends of the type, which Natural Resource District it is in and the quality of the soil. Agricultural land can vary a from acre to acre. It could be ranch land, meadow, non-irrigated cropland or irrigated cropland. For instance, land can be in conservation area where irrigation is limited, thus limiting its use.

Over the last six years land values and sale prices in Nebraska have steadily increased. Some property that is cultivated for crops has sold in western parts of the state for as much as $4,500 per acre. Near O'Neill, grassland sold recently for $580 per acre, well above the average of $400 per acre.

A new marketing angle is accretion land (land that is often wooded and near water.) The soil tends to contain high amounts of gravel and is not suitable for farming, but can be used for hunting and recreational purposes. Fifteen years ago, this land was worth $50 per acre. Now buyers are willing to pay up to $1,500 per acre for this type of land.

2011 Hawaii Real Estate Trends

Even though the recession is far from over, Hawaii has seen a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Tourism has vastly improved, mortgage rates are near all-time lows and prices for Island real estate are relatively low. While all of this is good news, it certainly does not mean Hawaii real estate is back to normal.

In Oahu, sales of homes and condos continue to decline even in light of increased numbers of tourists. The vast majority of Hawaii's economy is tourism based but, unlike the past, tourists are not buying second homes and condos. A cornerstone of Hawaiian economy has been sales and rentals of homes and condos, but tourists seem to be opting for hotels rather than residences.

The new economy simply means that it is now less dependent on bank loans and financing options. Simply put, there is much less leverage now than a few years ago. Forecasts for Hawaiian real estate indicate prices will not see previous highs for at least ten years. And for 2011, real estate prices are forecast to drop over 9 percent this year.

On the Big Island, there was a slight bump when building permits began to increase last year. Unfortunately, the bump was over quickly when the federal home buyer credit expired. Now prices are slumping again which may eventually be good news for sales volume as prices reach more affordable levels.

Low mortgage rates and cheap foreclosed properties are now attracting buyers as lenders slash property prices to get rid of them. In Kauai, the sale of foreclosed properties accounts for almost all of the sales activity in any given month. Due to Kauai's strict building codes that were designed to limit growth, most residents are full-time rather than owners of second home.

Like other islands, Maui saw an uptick in sales volume due to the federal tax credit. Things slowed dramatically when the credit expired, however. As more foreclosures hit the market and prices continue downward, more cash buyers will jump in and sales volume will probably increase.

Luxury Apartment Market in the US

The craze of owning one luxurious apartment that contains all the ingredients for a happy life has remained one of our wishes from so long. The market of real estate is growing like a giant every day because the population of the globe is breaking new records every second.

The price of a single flat has terribly touched the point where it has become difficult for the middle class to own it. The prices in real estate not only depend upon population hike but also sudden increase in inflation rates which is again a curse of budding population. Some researchers related to population growth suggest that the day is not so far that even owning a single bed-room flat would be a head crunching job for a middle class employee.

There is huge number of luxurious apartments in USA, but it has become impossible for the ordinary person to even think about those, only the rich of richest can think to stay in such apartments. Generally the flats and apartments near the coastal areas and in the heart of the city are priced more than the one which are located at the outskirts of the city.

The ever increasing immigration from different countries into USA is another reason of this sudden hike of real estate prices. The main cities in USA have a burgeoning population of foreigners who settle here in the country after buying an apartment or a flat. A good amount of research is required before applying for loan while buying your dream home.

Real estate market is greatly inspired by factors like government taxes and current economic standpoint of the country apart from the points we already discussed. If you are thinking to buy your dream home, you should choose the right location and the correct price that can be repaid by you to the bank.

Gallery: The X Prize Oil Cleanup Challenge

Last summer, as sweet crude oil gushed unabated into the Gulf of Mexico, the overriding emotion was one of frustration. It wasn't just directed at the well owner, BP, or at rig-builders Transocean and Halliburton, or even the government and its difficult-to-understand oil flow estimates. The inability to shut off the well was one thing — but why, in an era of nanotubes and autonomous robots and invisibility cloaks, couldn't we just clean it up?

Sure, skimmer ships, containment booms and dispersants deployed immediately, aiming to capture oil gushing from the blown well beneath the destroyed Deepwater Horizon rig. But week after frustrating week, the best available technologies failed to make much of an impact. But some people saw opportunity in this disaster — a chance to prove a new idea, or maybe build upon an old concept. The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge, under the auspices of the X Prize Foundation, encouraged competitors to design new oil-removal technologies that would dramatically improve the state of the art. Today in New York, we found out just how far some friendly competition and a tidy sum can push the technological envelope.

Nearly 400 applicants were narrowed down to 10 finalist teams, who were invited to test their techniques at the nation's oil spill test bed, the Department of the Interior’s Ohmsett facility at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, N.J. The minimum criteria to be eligible for the prize: a technology capable of an average oil recover efficiency (ORE) of more than 70 percent—that is, the mixture extracted from the water had to be 70 percent oil—and an oil recover rate (ORR) of 2,500 gallons per minute. That’s roughly twice what the oil cleanup industry’s best technology can currently recover. The leading team was promised a $1 million reward, while second and third place would receive $300,000 and $100,000 respectively.

This morning in New York, just minutes before revealing the winners of the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge, Schmidt herself made what would prove to be the understatement of the event: “This is a powerful return on a relatively modest investment,” she said knowingly. A few minutes later we would find out just how right she was. Second place winner NOFI of Norway demonstrated technology that extracted 2,712 gallons per minute with an ORE of 83 percent. But audible gasps went up when the winning numbers hit the presentation screen. Team Elastec/American Marine had blown the competition out of the water, recovering 4,670 gallons per minute at efficiencies averaging 89.5 percent.

In other words, Elastec/American Marine nearly doubled the gallons-per-minute requirement for the X Prize. But perhaps a better way of looking at it is through the lens of the state-of-the-art. In just one year’s dedicated time, NOFI found a way to double the efficiency of the industry’s best available surface oil skimmers. Elastec/American Marine tripled it, doing more in a handful of months than private industry had done in the two decades since the Exxon Valdez disaster.

It wasn’t easy. Throughout August and September, the teams huddled at Ohmsett for 10 days each, removing oil with skimmers, booms, spinning axial devices and even a "shaver," testing amid calm seas and turbulent waves. Hurricane Irene briefly interrupted testing, and lent an air of harsh reality to NOFI’s efforts.

Each team completed a minimum of six tests, three in calm conditions and three with waves. Once the team was ready to go, the judges would wave a green flag to give the go-ahead, and Ohmsett staff would start the stopwatch, open the valves and let the group get to work.

Optimism Shines at Frankfurt's 2011 Motor Show

Whether one was looking for a zero-emission mobility solution or a high-performance fuel-thirsty way to spend €1.6 million, the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show had vehicles for the guilty, the greedy and the green.

Whilst many hands have forced change in the automotive industry in recent years, these new and diverse demands seemed never more realised than in a conflicting series of big name launches. High performance luxury drives were just as frequently unveiled as electrics and hybrids, while the makers of unashamedly fossil-fuelled supercars, launched forums in which to discuss the future of transport in our increasingly populated planet.

In their round up of the event, Wallpaper went so far to describe the industry showcase as a ‘surreal experience’, with the German-dominated group of luxury automakers exhibiting a hugely contrasting collection of vehicles.

“On the one hand, they gave us wonderfully innovative mobility solutions for the megacities of the future; on the other, a host of ultra high horsepower performance cars. Yes, there was plenty of clean urban mobility thinking on display, but ultimately it felt like a battle of European superpowers.”

Raising Customer Loyalty in the Midst of an Uncertain World

Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, details the redesign of the luxury business model, which he believes will result in a true customer-centric industry

The luxury industry enters the last quarter of 2011 with some degree of uncertainty as it prepares for 2012. Many senior luxury executives, coming off a year of banner sales and profits, for some even above 2007, are asking the same question: Will it last? The fundamentals for rapid growth both locally and globally, including in China, are waning a bit and brands now must find a way to gain market share.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives have begun to measurably pay off for luxury brands. Data collection efforts have improved but after-sales service and the critical relationship-building function of clienteling continue to be a major challenge. Most luxury brands lose eighty to ninety percent of customers in any given year, and are deficient in retaining even half of their top customers.

The Latest Investments: Hermès, Corum & Aman Resorts

The Latest Investments as LVMH take ownership of a key supplier to Hermès, and battles Saudi Arabian billionaire prince, Al Waleed Bin Talal, for Aman Resorts

When it came to investment news in 2011, no one name has been as significant as LVMH in the luxury world. Between LVMH Group, Groupe Arnault and freshly launched branches of L Capital, the associated French powerhouses have engaged Indian, Italian, French and Singaporean brands, with interests in fine jewellery, accessories, menswear and fashion.

There was the sudden acquisition of Bulgari, for over 4 billion euros, followed by a surprise 20% holding in Hermès. L Capital Asia valued a 20% stake in footwear brand Charles & Keith at a cool $30 million, whilst L Capital Asia was reported to be negotiating with Gitanjali Group, to the tune of over $100 million. French accessories firm TWC L’Amy sold 35% for an undisclosed amount and if recent speculation is anything to go by, Aman Resorts could be next on the list. As we wait with baited breath, to see if LVMH adds luxury hotels to its portfolio, we present a round-up of the need to know investment activity in the luxury sector.

Targeting the Truly Affluent: Jim Kerwin, The Private Journey

Jim Kerwin may believe in digital, but feels that when it comes to numbers, if they don’t have the money to spend, the traffic doesn’t make a difference

The fifth in a series of conversations with our Corporate Members, where we will explore and discuss the future of the luxury industry, we spoke with Jim Kerwin, CEO and founder of The Private Journey magazine, the only magazine currently available on-board private jets.

Talking with Jim Kerwin, it quickly becomes apparent that creating The Private Journey magazine was a natural progression. Kerwin Communications enjoys the reputation of being one of America’s most important luxury market and lifestyle advertising agencies, specialising in the marketing of watches, fine jewellery, private jets, luxury automobiles, destination/tourism and more. Affiliate business, Roaring Thunder Media, are the builders and sellers of signage and digital advertising media in over 180 private jet terminals around the world.

The State of the International Luxury Real Estate Market

Christie’s International Real Estate, share the key insights from their September 2011 State of the International Luxury Real Estate Market Report

According to Christie’s, sellers worldwide are adapting to the new reality in luxury housing and slowly accepting that their residence is not going to command the same price that it might have in 2007. This is resulted in an increase in market activity as well as optimism, though the recent volatility in global economies has tempered slightly the enthusiasm initially reported in the first half of the year.

More than 67 percent of those surveyed -129 brokerages in the Christie’s International Real Estate network – confirmed their markets were more active through the first seven months of the year, when compared to 2010, despite many acknowledging that the increases were modest. Only 12.5 percent reported less activity in a year-on-year comparison. The latter were primarily from countries with troubled economies, such as Ireland and Greece.

How Luxury Watch Brands are Innovating Digitally

Tamar Koifman of Fashion’s Collective, explores the ways haute horlogerie brands are leveraging new media to tell their stories

“Luxury watch marketing” and “digital innovation” rarely shows up in the same sentence, let alone together in an article headline, but contrary to what the industry might think, there are some haute horlogerie brands paving the way online.

As a recent transplant to Geneva, Switzerland, home of the most prestigious watch brands, I’ve had an opportunity to become intimately acquainted with the business of high-end watches, an industry that I admit I previously knew very little about. In Geneva, it’s hard not to know someone who works in the watchmaking industry, and as a strategist at Digital Luxury Group, I’ve had the chance to take that knowledge even further, working with a number of well-known watchmakers.

When the topic of luxury watch websites comes up, there is one brand that is consistently referenced as a benchmark within the industry. IWC, headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and owned by luxury conglomerate Richemont, has a stellar website. Big, beautiful images, detailed product descriptions, and captivating lifestyle content, set this site apart from the rest. It was one of the first watch brands to incorporate commenting and social media plugins, and though it’s not e-commerce enabled, IWC has set the bar high for competing brands.

Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves

Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years.

Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering — they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price.

“If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at the consulting firm Kurt Salmon, and the former chairman and chief executive of Saks.

The rich do not spend quite as they did in the free-wheeling period before the recession, but they are closer to that level.

The luxury category has posted 10 consecutive months of sales increases compared with the year earlier, even as overall consumer spending on categories like furniture and electronics has been tepid, according to the research service MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. In July, the luxury segment had an 11.6 percent increase, the biggest monthly gain in more than a year.

What changed? Mostly, the stock market, retailers and analysts said, as well as a good bit of shopping psychology. Even with the sharp drop in stocks over the last week, the Dow Jones is up about 80 percent from its low in March 2009. And with the overall economy nowhere near its recession lows, buying nice, expensive things is back in vogue for people who can afford it.

“Our business is fairly closely tied to how the market performs,” said Karen W. Katz, the president and chief executive of Neiman Marcus Group. “Though there are bumps based on different economic data, it’s generally been trending in a positive direction.”

Caroline Limpert, 31, an entrepreneur in New York, says she is happy to spend on classic pieces, like the Yves Saint Laurent tote she has in both chocolate and black, but since the recession, she avoids conspicuous items.

“Over all, you want to wear less branded items,” she said. “If you have the wherewithal to spend, you never want to be showy about it.” Still, she said, she is quick to buy at the beginning of each season. “I buy things that could sell out.”

The recent earnings reports of some luxury goods retailers and automobile companies show just how much the high-end shopper has been willing to spend again.

Tiffany’s first-quarter sales were up 20 percent to $761 million. Last week LVMH, which owns expensive brands like Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, reported sales growth in the first half of 2011 of 13 percent to 10.3 billion euros, or $14.9 billion. Also last week, PPR, home to Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands, said its luxury segment’s sales gained 23 percent in the first half. Profits are also up by double digits for many of these companies.

BMW this week said it more than doubled its quarterly profit from a year ago as sales rose 16.5 percent; Porsche said its first-half profit rose 59 percent; and Mercedes-Benz said July sales of its high-end S-Class sedans — some of which cost more than $200,000 — jumped nearly 14 percent in the United States.

The success luxury retailers are having in selling $250 Ermenegildo Zegna ties and $2,800 David Yurman pavé rings — the kind encircled with small precious stones — stands in stark contrast to the retailers who cater to more average Americans.

Apparel stores are holding near fire sales to get people to spend. Wal-Mart is selling smaller packages because some shoppers do not have enough cash on hand to afford multipacks of toilet paper. Retailers from Victoria’s Secret to the Children’s Place are nudging prices up by just pennies, worried they will lose customers if they do anything more.

While the free spending of the affluent may not be of much comfort to people who are out of jobs or out of cash, the rich may contribute disproportionately to the overall economic recovery.

“This group is key because the top 5 percent of income earners accounts for about one-third of spending, and the top 20 percent accounts for close to 60 percent of spending,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “That was key to why we suffered such a bad recession — their spending fell very sharply.”

Just a few years ago, luxury retailers were suffering. Too many items were chasing too few buyers, and high-end stores began cutting prices. As a result, consumers awaited 70 percent discounts rather than buying right away. Sales of luxury goods fell 17.9 percent in October 2008 from a year earlier, SpendingPulse said, and double-digit declines continued through May 2009.

Now, many stores are stocking up on luxury items, as shoppers flock to racks of expensive goods.

“They’re buying the special pieces, whether it’s the exotic leathers, the more fashion-forward pieces,” said Stephen I. Sadove, the chairman and chief executive of Saks Fifth Avenue. “There’s a dramatic decline in the amount of promotions in the luxury sector — we’re seeing higher levels of full-priced selling than we saw prerecession.”

In 2008, for example, the most expensive Louboutin item that Saks sold was a $1,575 pair of suede boots. Now, it is a $2,495 pair of suede boots that are thigh-high. Crème de la Mer, the facial cream, cost $1,350 for 16 ounces at Bergdorf Goodman in 2008; it now costs $1,650.

“I think that she’s willing to pay whatever price the manufacturer and the retailer deem appropriate, if she sees that there’s intrinsic value in it,” Ms. Katz said.

Part of the demand is also driven by the snob factor: at luxury stores, higher prices are often considered a mark of quality.

“You just can’t buy a pair of shoes for less than $1,000 in some of the luxury brands, and some of the price points have gone to $2,000,” said Jyothi Rao, general manager for the women’s business at Gilt Groupe, a Web site that sells designer brands at a discount. “There’s absolutely a customer for it.”

Jennifer Margolin, a personal shopper in San Francisco, said she had noticed changes in clients’ attitudes. They “pay full price if they absolutely love it,” she said. “Before it was almost completely shying away, where now it’s like, ‘O.K., I’m comfortable getting a Goyard bag,’ but they get it for the quality.”

Goyard bags, in addition to having a distinctive pattern, will usually run a few thousand dollars. And, yes, they are selling out quickly.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 5, 2011

A picture caption on Thursday with an article about a recent increase in the sale of luxury goods misidentified the brand of shoes that a shopper, Lissette Gutierrez, planned to try on at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan. The $1,495 shoes are Christian Louboutin, not Louis Vuitton. Also, because of an editing error, the article referred incorrectly at one point to the president and chief executive of Neiman Marcus Group, who commented on the trend in luxury goods. The executive, Karen W. Katz, is a woman.

Hank Williams Jr. lashes out at media in new song

The track, which borrows its title and certain themes from another song released by Williams' daughter, Holly, in 2009, was offered as a free download on his website.

Williams sparked an uproar when he appeared on the Fox News Channel show "Fox & Friends" on October 3 and said Obama's pairing with Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner in a June golf summit was "like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu."

He also referred to Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as "the enemy." That day, ESPN publicly rebuked Williams and dropped his "All My Rowdy Friends" song as the opening theme for its weekly "Monday Night Football" broadcast.

He subsequently issued a statement saying he was sorry for anyone who took offense, but the Disney-owned sports channel and Williams later said they were parting company after an association of more than 20 years. Williams had introduced "MNF" since 1991 on both ABC and ESPN.

In his new song about the controversy, Williams took aim at both ESPN and Fox News.

"So 'Fox & Friends' want to put me down/Ask for my opinion/Twist it all around/Well two can play that gotcha game," he sings on the track.

Williams, a longtime supporter of Republican causes, also sings that the United States is becoming "socialist" and takes a dig at Obama's 2008 campaign theme of "change."

"I'll keep my freedom, I'll keep my guns/Try to keep my money and my religion too ... Keep the government out of my business/ and y'all can keep the change," he sings.

The song ends with the 62-year-old Williams, nicknamed Bocephus by his country music legend father, urging fans to join him in a boycott.

"Yeah you can keep 'Fox & Friends' and ESPN out of your homes too. 'Cause Bocephus and all his rowdy friends and his song is out of there," sings Williams, who is selling "Hank Jr. for President" T-shirts on his website.

Fox News declined to comment on the song, and a representative from ESPN could not be reached for comment.

The new Williams track borrows its title from a song called "Keep the Change," which released by his daughter, Holly Williams, in 2009.

While Holly Williams did not write the song, her version gained solid radio play with lyrics that present a more subtle but still biting critique of the Obama administration.

Thoughts on 9/11: On the Importance of Intolerance

From all the way across the country, we watched the towers burn. In my case, one of my closest college friends was talking on CNN over the images that were impossible to comprehend.

She was a producer who lived in downtown Manhattan and upon hearing the first collision had run up the stairs of an apartment building across from the towers and banged on doors until someone fleeing the building let her in to watch from their windows.

When the culprits were quickly discovered – that blurry, frozen image of Mohammed Atta off that airport security camera – all I wanted to do was go back to the Middle East where I’d started my journalism career. To understand. And explain to people. But mostly to understand.

I had an inkling. I’d met fundamentalist Muslims before, in the decrepit public housing of French suburbs. Among friends in Egypt who’d turned their backs on me and taken to praying five times a day. In the modern-day Dante’s Inferno of the Gaza Strip, where there was every reason to trade reality for 70 virgins in another life.

To them, the attacks made plenty of sense. Only we Americans, like some feckless 21st century Candide, were clueless.

Fareed Zakharia showed up to explain what was going on. The Newsweek cover read: Why They Hate Us.

The easy answer was: They hate us for our freedom. But we wouldn’t be allowed such a simple salve to this wound.

As soon as I could find an editor who would allow me to go, I headed out of the country. First to Europe, where before 2001 ended I got to argue into the wee hours with Muslims in a working class town about their plans to create a khalifate in England. (I still have the collection of English-language cassettes preaching Judeo-Christian overthrow for sale in the neighborhood.)

Then on to Egypt, where not one single person I met would believe that Osama bin Laden had anything to do with 9-11. It was an obvious set-up, they said. That’s why none of the Jews went to work at the twin towers that day.

Ten years on, the scales have fallen from all of our eyes. We Americans know the world as a place of hostility, and suspect it of much. We have inflicted our own pain and suffering as a result of 9-11, primarilly not on those who were responsible for it.

The Egyptians, like the other Arabs, have finally had their blinders stripped away, and cast a critical eye inward. The world-view that created and sustained Osama bin Laden was one in which everyone else was to blame for the problems in Muslim society: America, the Jews, the Christians, Europe.

But that world-view had nothing to offer in its place. Neither dictatorship nor the khalifate was the answer, and with the Arab spring they have begun to demand more of themselves and their rulers.

We are all changed as a result of 9/11. The message that I would like to have learned is of tolerance, and intolerance.

No tolerance for the likes of Osama bin Laden nihilism. No spineless acceptance of mores that undermine our own. No multi-cultural embrace of slave-like conditions for women. No blind alliances with oppressors of their own people.

At the same time, we must breed tolerance, and by that I mean knowledge of others. Not all Muslims are fundamentalists. Only a handful are terrorists. There are reasons why some turn to terror. Our luxurious lives are connected to the real lives of others. And sometimes comes at their expense. That festers and rots.

Osama bin Laden, thankfully, is dead. An evil removed from this world.

As for the rest of us, we have all fallen into knowledge from which we’d been blissfully protected. And while we have suffered for it, we are wiser too.

I would not have chosen this path to understanding.

But at least let us not forget the lessons of 9-11, that have come at so great a price.

Fashion bloggers to spur online luxury sales

Fashion bloggers will help propel online sales of designer clothes, jewels and luxury cars to more than 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in 2015, a research report said on Thursday.

The exclusive fashion world has embraced the Internet later than other industries but is catching up quickly.

Brands such as Burberry, Tiffany and Gucci are increasing exposure to social media to connect with a new generation born when mobiles and Internet were already there.

Online sales of luxury goods still only account for 2.6 percent of a market worth 172 billion euros, but are growing at a rate of 20 percent a year, Italy luxury foundation Altagamma said in its "Digital Luxury Experience" report.

Blogs and social media are setting trends more than fashion critics, with one out of two customers turning to Facebook or Twitter for advice before buying, the study said.

"Fashion bloggers are more and more powerful, especially in emerging markets like China," Altagamma's research head Francesco Di Lauro said.

Fast-growing China is expected to overtake the United States as the world's No.1 online retail market by 2015, according to the research.

Luxury spending on the web also increases in times of austerity, as wealthy customers prefer to buy from the intimacy of their homes rather than in lavish stores.

"Luxury will become less ostentatious, with the average buyer being Chinese, digital and rich," Di Lauro said.

2011 Luxury Touring Motorcycle Shootout

His insatiable thirst for life is only surpassed by his monthly fuel bill. Whether rocketing on land, flying through the air, or jumping the seas, our Road Test Editor does it all and has the scars to prove it.

In the grand scheme of things the luxury touring motorcycle niche is a relatively new category. Sure, motorcycles like Honda’s iconic Gold Wing have been around for decades, but it wasn’t until the last few years that this segment has seen dangerous competition from other brands. Fast forward to today and we’ve got three big name players from distinctly different parts of the globe represented in Motorcycle-USA’S first annual 2011 Luxury Touring Motorcycle Shootout.

Having invented the class in the mid ‘70s, the Honda Gold Wing is the benchmark when you consider the phrase luxury and touring. Although it certainly didn’t need it, engineers gave it a mild facelift for ’12 which we covered in detail during our 2012 Honda Gold Wing First Look, 2012 Honda Gold Wing Quick Ride and 2012 Honda Gold Wing Adventure Ride articles.

Like before the new G-Wing ($27,099 as tested) continues to make use of a horizontally-opposed and liquid-cooled 1832cc six-cylinder engine that’s powerful enough to power many small cars. The engine is mated to a conventional five-speed manual gearbox that shifts power to the back tire via a shaft drive. The engine is mounted within in a twin-spar aluminum frame that utilizes technology gained from Big Red’s sportbikes including the CBR600RR and CBR1000RR (both two-time Supersport and Superbike Smackdown shootout winners, respectively). Well-calibrated front and rear suspension (with electronic pre-load adjustment) and strong, linked triple disc brakes (with optional ABS) ensure safety, comfort and, of course, performance. Sophisticated gadgetry consisting of an iPod and XM-compatible stereo (with CB and intercom functionality), optional GPS and airbag not to mention heated seats, grips and cruise control are all standard.

Two years ago, Canadian-based powersports brand, Can-Am, released its curious Spyder RT which we test drove in the 2010 Can-Am Spyder RT First Ride. Based off its three-wheel Roadster platform, the RT ($28,099 as tested) was developed for persons looking for a new touring experience beyond what the two or four wheel worlds have to offer.

Powered by a motorcycle-derived V-Twin engine that pumps out 998cc’s of liquid-cooled muscle, the RT utilizes two forward wheels with automobile-style suspension and brakes and one rear drive wheel. Either a manual five-speed transmission (with hand-operated clutch) or optional electronic sequential manual five-speed gearbox is available that puts power to the rear tire via belt final drive. The rider pilots the Spyder with a conventional handlebar. Copious storage capacity and touring-friendly amenities including heated seats/grips, cruise control and an electronically adjustable windshield are also part of the package.

Some Advantages Of Automated Packaging Machines

A company can benefit greatly from using automated packaging machines. They can allow them to save greatly on their labor costs. These machines also let them set everything up so that it basically runs by itself. Somebody does have to watch over it though because just like any machine, things can happen unexpectedly and things can break.

Every company is going to have a different kind of machine because each one has different needs and different products. There are small and large ones available. They can perform different tasks such as filling containers or making them.

Using an automated machine will create less work for the employees of the company. They need to supply the machines with the products that it needs and check the machine regularly. This can include doing hourly or half hour checks. It could be weighing or visually inspecting it.

Every kind of machine can have problems such as parts breaking or other things. This is why some products will need to be weighed every so often. It can catch problems before they get out of hand and put out too much product that is not done correctly. Some even print the code date for food on the packages.

Every company is looking to make their process the most efficient. Saving money is going to be very important but it can not jeopardize the quality. When using an automated machine, it can mean that it could eliminate employee positions throughout the company.

Eliminating employees is not always easy decisions but it may be necessary for a company to survive and be around for many years. One of these can save money for them which means a machine will do what all of the employees were doing. It may allow the employee to advance to another position within the company too.