Best financial sourse

ISTS Worldwide Inc. on Wednesday named Akash Jain its first president.

The company, which has U.S. headquarters in Fremont, focuses on retail and payments technology.

In this new role, Jain will be responsible for growing the business in rest of the world outside of North America, strategy and development of IP, heading India business and delivery operations high risk personal loans.

ISTS said Akash has more than 22 years of professional experience in the software services industry, working with companies including MasterCard and Reliance.

Click here to read the press release.

Source

The BlackBerry Torch isn’t setting the smartphone world ablaze.

Research In Motion and AT&T sold no more than 150,000 of the devices over the weekend, according to estimates by RBC Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus analysts. By comparison, Apple’s iPhone 4 sold 1.7 million units in its first weekend of sales.

The Torch, a touch-screen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard, went on sale Thursday for $199 with a new two-year contract, but Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) immediately slashed the price of the Torch in half to $100 (see correction below). That’s the same price Amazon is offering on the three-month old BlackBerry Bold 9650.

Wirefly, LetsTalk.com and other mobile phone outlets also are selling the Torch at a much steeper discount than other phones that just launched. For example, the Motorola Droid 2 (which also launched Thursday) goes for $150 on Amazon and Wirefly, while the back-ordered Droid X sells for $180 on each site. Each carries a list price of $199, just like the Torch.

RIM hailed the BlackBerry Torch as the "best BlackBerry ever" earlier this month, and it’s unquestionably the company’s most advanced smartphone. But AT&T (T, Fortune 500), the phone’s exclusive carrier, also offers Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone. At the same $199 price point and the same data charges, customers would really have to love the new BlackBerry operating system and the Torch’s pull-out keyboard to choose a Torch over an iPhone.

Some analysts weren’t surprised by Amazon’s price chop and predicted that AT&T (T, Fortune 500) would likely follow suit.

"The device will ultimately have to sell in the marketplace side-by-side with Apple’s iPhone," Sanjiv Wadhwani, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said in a research note. "To sustain U.S. sell-through momentum into the November quarter, we believe the price of $199 on contract will have to fall."

RIM declined to comment cash till payday. "The Torch is a breakthrough device and we think businesses and consumers will love it," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman at AT&T.

The first BlackBerry to run RIM’s modernized operating system, BlackBerry OS 6, the Torch offers a full Web browser, as well as other features common on most of today’s smartphones like social networking integration, universal search and multiple home screens. It includes a 5 megapixel camera, built-in GPS, and video recording at up to 640×480 resolution.

That didn’t appear to be enough to wow too many customers. Wadhwani said that Torch buyers are mostly BlackBerry loyalists, smartphone customers who use e-mail more than any other application, and physical keyboard lovers. Though RIM said it is working hard to improve its app store, its offerings are still very slim compared to the iPhone or Google’s (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android phones.

"The new device will be more competitive in retaining at-risk enterprise customers and driving incremental opportunities in the rapidly expanding consumer market," he said.

That’s not exactly the "game changer" language that RIM and AT&T spouted a few weeks ago.

BlackBerry went through a similar ordeal with Verizon Wireless’ BlackBerry Storm and subsequent Storm 2. The Storm was RIM’s first try at a touch-screen, but without a physical keyboard, it never appealed to RIM’s core customers and failed to live up to the "iPhone killer" hype.

Shares of RIM (RIMM) fell more than 1% on Tuesday.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Amazon had cut the price of the Torch. The Torch has sold at $100 on Amazon since its launch last Thursday. 

Source

Memorial Hermann has reduced its carbon footprint by trading in disposable containers for reusable sharps containers.

The 3,200 bed, 11-hospital health care system launched the Sharps Management Service using Bio Systems reusable containers by Stericycle Inc. (NASDAQ: SRCL). Each reusable container keeps an average of 600 disposable sharps containers from going to a landfill.

Marshall Heins, chief facility services officer at Memorial Hermann, said the shift means Memorial Hermann will no longer buy disposable containers.

“With more than 1.4 million patients visits a year, there are hundreds of thousands of pounds less plastic and cardboard going to landfills,” he said. “Equally important is managing the regulatory compliance and avoiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs since we implemented the program in 2006.”

Between April 2009 and March 2010, Memorial Hermann diverted 138,627 pounds of CO2 from 232,610 pounds of plastic and 19,982 pounds of cardboard. Such a carbon diversion is the equivalent to 7,138 gallons of gasoline or 2,622 propane cylinders for home barbecues.

Source

TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals completed a $32 million private stock sale Tuesday, the proceeds from which will be use to advance the clinical development of the biopharmaceutical company’s experimental cancer treamtments.

The series C venture capital financing was led by San Francisco-based Clarus Ventures, a new investor in the company.

Also participating in the financing were new investor Hatteras Venture Partners and existing investors Amgen Ventures, HealthCare Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, Novitas Capital, Philadelphia-based Quaker BioVentures and the Vertical Group.

Malvern, Pa.-based TetraLogic’s lead drug candidate for the treatment of cancer, TL32711, is designed to neutralize the activity of proteins that block tumor cell death payday loans. The compound is in early clinical testing as a potential treatment for patients with solid tumors and lymphoma.

“The support from our premier group of investors further validates our enthusiasm for the potential of TL32711 to treat cancer,” said John Gill, TetraLogic’s president and CEO.

Gill said the financing gives the company the resources to complete the ongoing phase-I study of TL32711 and complete a separate phase I-II study of the compound.

Source

ML Managers LLC has taken possession of the Hotel Monroe in downtown Phoenix and Ten Wine Lofts in Scottsdale, both busted projects that the now defunct Grace Communities had partially developed.

The announcement was made Friday by Mark Winkleman, chief operating officer of ML Managers, the firm created to administer commercial real estate loans made by Mortgages Ltd. That company was forced into Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy after its sole shareholder, Scott Coles, committed suicide in June 2008.

Mortgages Ltd. had been one of the largest lenders in the state for construction and land acquisition loans since the mid-2000s.

Winkleman said Ten Wine Lofts, a luxury condominium project near Scottsdale and Osborn roads in Old Town Scottsdale, is being aggressively marketed by Mark Forrester, a partner at Hendricks & Partners.

“It’s about 95 percent finished. Pretty darn close,” Winkleman said.

The Hotel Monroe historic redevelopment project was barely off the ground when the economy tanked in late 2008. Interiors of the property at the southeast corner of Central and Monroe avenues in downtown Phoenix had been stripped in preparation for new construction of a boutique hotel and have remained untouched but exposed to the elements for about two years. Winkleman said that property will be put on the market shortly.

Another property acquired by Grace Communities via a Mortgages Ltd. loan also has been repossessed: A 9.7 acre vacant parcel near Highland Avenue and Scottsdale Road, north of Scottsdale Fashion Square. Winkleman said that property also will go on the market soon.

In all, Grace Communities borrowed about $121 million from Mortgages Ltd. Grace Communities has not been a viable company for several months, according to information provided in May by Ryan Zeleznak, one of its principals.

In addition to acquiring the properties through foreclosure sales, Winkleman said he negotiated settlements with Zeleznak, his father Don Zeleznak and Jonathon Vento, the three partners in Grace Communities. Specifics of those settlements are confidential, Winkleman said.

ML Partners has been busy in recent weeks. The company also repossessed Los Arcos Crossing, a former Bashas’ anchored strip mall east of Scottsdale and McDowell roads. The borrower on that property was Phoenix-based PDG America, which had planned to build a mixed-use development that would complement the nearby SkySong ASU Innovation Center.

The Los Arcos project never got off the ground, but Winkleman expects strong interest in the property given that the city of Scottsdale plans more significant redevelopment in the area.

Source

3 Men Movers Inc. has created a new mobile container division called MOVITS aimed at both businesses and homeowners.

The Houston-based moving company said it will specialize in offering full-service portable storage units. The storage receptacles can either remain on a client’s property or 3 Men Movers can pick them up and relocate them.

The storage units are waterproof and have a steel frame and panels.

The move was a logical one for 3 Men Movers, according to Mitch Gonzalez, the company’s director of marketing and sales.

3 Men Movers owns and operates a self-storage facility in southwest Houston with climate controlled units, a security system and digitally-controlled access gates.

"We recognize that convenience is an extremely important factor when considering storage for a residence or business," said Gonzalez. "Many of our clients prefer the flexibility of organizing and packing their storage receptacle on their own schedule."

With this move, 3 Men Movers is competing with established companies such as PODS Enterprises Inc.

Source

An independent panel charged with studying the Columbia River Crossing has told Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire that construction should begin on the project as soon as possible.

The Independent Review Panel, assembled earlier this year after the governors raised questions over bridge design and funding, also offered recommendations that could provide a “roadmap” to help move from the bridge’s design to completion.

The recommendations include resolving several issues regarding interchanges leading to and from Hayden Island. The report also provided technical analysis of the currently proposed bridge type.

“This report delivered what we needed – a status report on this critical transportation project from an independent panel of national experts, as well as guidance on how best to advance the project in a timely, fiscally and environmentally responsible manner,” said Kulongoski in a statement.

The recommendation comes two days after the Metro regional government released a study about the impact of bridge tolls on growth in Portland and Southwest Washington. The study concluded that a $2 rush-hour toll on an expanded bridge would have negligible impact on population and employment growth in Clark County, but could boost jobs in North Portland.

The Columbia River Crossing project would expand the existing bridge to 10-to-12 lanes and include a light rail line and tolls. The bridge is expected to cost about $3.6 billion.

Source