Proprietary Cash vs. Points® Recommendation Engine Gives Travelers Power to Easily Manage 200+ Rewards Programs, Book Travel, Maximize Point Redemption, and Prevent Point Loss

SANTA MONICA, Calif., October 17, 2011 – With a girlfriend on the west coast, and enrolled in college on the east coast, Justin Byers wanted to fly west regularly, but was frustrated by the time consuming process to book flights. So he created a solution. Justin, along with three other college friends, recently launched PointHub (www.pointhub.com/), a loyalty program shopping and management destination, with its breakthrough Cash vs. Points® Recommendation Engine that recommends qualified, real-time, side-by-side comparisons between purchase price and rewards points for airlines and hotels. PointHub provides value-conscious students with an easy process to book travel in the most cost-effective way. Safe and easy-to-use, PointHub eliminates the need to visit multiple sites and remember as many passwords when booking rewards travel and empowers students to make better use of their incentive programs, reducing the $16 billion lost annually in unused frequent flyer miles and rewards points.

PointHub goes beyond answering the question, “Can I use my rewards points when making travel plans?” with its patent-pending, proprietary Cash vs. Points® Recommendation Engine. After eliminating blackout periods and cross-referencing factors such as redemption fees, point expiration risk, and travel preferences, PointHub provides side-by-side “best value” travel recommendations that can actually be booked using cash or rewards points. Registered users simply click on the desired option and they are sent directly to the travel provider where they make their reservations without having to enter their personal information again.

“We created PointHub to help people take back the power of their points,” said Justin Byers, PointHub CEO. “When I was in college, my friends and I were so frustrated trying to use our frequent flyer miles, and never fully understood if it was a better value to buy or use points. So, I knew there had to be an easier way and that’s when I came up with the idea for PointHub. Once all the elements came together, including being able to track your points online, we began developing our proprietary Recommendation Engine. Once we’re firmly established in the travel space, we’re going to roll out loyalty shopping options for retailers and credit card programs,” concluded Byers.

PointHub simplifies rewards management for consumers, who average 18 loyalty programs per household, through its PointTracker and alert tools. Eliminating the need to visit multiple sites, PointTracker monitors rewards program balances, elite levels, tier-status progress, pending itineraries, and expiration dates. PointHub warns registered users when their frequent flyer miles, rewards points, flight credits, or airline vouchers are about to expire and provides recommendations on how best to use them.

Beyond shopping and rewards management, PointHub also offers useful features such as a guide to more than 200 loyalty programs with user ratings and reviews, and tips about ways to earn and redeem air miles and rewards points. PointHub uses the same security measures, such as 128-bit encryption and physical security, as used by the largest financial institutions; its site is monitored and verified by Verisign, TRUSTe and McAfee.

About PointHub:
Santa Monica, CA-based PointHub (www.pointhub.com) is a loyalty program shopping and management destination whose patent-pending Cash vs. Points® Recommendation Engine strengthens consumer decision-making through qualified, real-time, side-by-side comparisons between purchase price and rewards points. PointHub is the single best source for powerful point-redemption recommendations, point loss prevention, and rewards program management. Visit www.pointhub.com/press for more details. Follow us on Twitter (@PointHub). Like us on Facebook (facebook.com/pointhub). Read our blog (blog.pointhub.com/).

CONTACT:
Lisa McKendall
lisa@mckendall.com
310.641.1556

OAKLAND, Calif., October 10, 2011 - Today Dictionary.com, the leading online and mobile dictionary, announced that they are looking for a few select recruits (college students) to help educate fellow students about their new e-learning product, Word Dynamo. Word Dynamo is an online and mobile learning experience that combines the engagement of gaming with proven study techniques.

Allowing students to take full control of their education with tailored study programs they can access anywhere, anytime, Word Dynamo has features such as: individualized word scores; a personalized home page that allows students to track their learning level and monitor progress; lists and genius kits where students can choose from thousands of word lists or make their own; as well as a Library of Lessons with access to more than 100,000 editorially recommended study guides created by teaching experts.

Dictionary.com is looking for enthusiastic students to help spread the word about Word Dynamo to both fellow students and teachers on campus. The brand ambassadors will support the Dictionary.com marketing and sales teams by assisting with field marketing on campus. In addition to paying each recruit $150 for their time, Dictionary.com is also giving away $7,500 in cash for the highest performing brand ambassadors. Roles and responsibilities will include:

• Develop, execute and participate in campus promotions and marquee events on a weekly basis for 6 weeks, from Oct. 17th- Dec. 2nd, 2011
• Identify key promotion locations to drive Word Dynamo awareness
• Promote to and convert students into registered users of the Word Dynamo product
• Complete a variety of tasks in several settings, including tabling and flyering at events or high traffic areas, various campus buildings, student events, or in the classroom, where allowed
• Educate fellow students and teachers about Dictionary.com products
• Introduce students to the helpful features and benefits of Word Dynamo
• Be the brand by wearing a Word Dynamo T-Shirt during promotions–constantly putting Dictionary.com’s products in the hands (and minds) of the right students and teachers
• Recap events with photos/videos and gather feedback to be communicated back to Marketing Managers

If you have strong organization skills; an outgoing and friendly personality; are responsible, dependable and reliable; have excellent communication skills; and love words or using Dictionary.com, please submit a resume and a cover letter at: hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?nl=1&k=Job&j=omwXVfwu&s=DcomOnsite&z=fIV9Vfwr

About Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com is the leading provider of online and mobile language reference products and services. Dictionary.com, LLC, is an IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) company and includes Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, WordDynamo.com and Translator, and serves an average of 50 million unique users worldwide per month (source: 2011 Quantcast data and internal mobile usage data). For more information, please visit content.dictionary.com.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., October 6, 2011 - Sodexo, the world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions, is making a play to sack concession waste at Ohio Stadium with its partner The Ohio State University. After  three games this season efforts have diverted nearly 60,000 pounds of waste – the equivalent weight of about 300 college football players – away from landfill. 

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About Sodexo

Sodexo in North America
Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On Site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, as well as Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $13 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions
Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations.  Based on this conviction, Sodexo is the strategic partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo’s 380,000 employees, in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled range of On-site Service Solutions and Motivation Solutions. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates and to the fulfillment of its employees.

Key Figures (as of August 31, 2010)

Sodexo in the World
15.3 billion euro consolidated revenue
380,000 employees
34,000 sites
50 million consumers served daily
80 countries
21st largest employer worldwide

Sodexo in North America
8.0 billion dollars revenue
120,000 employees
10 million consumers served daily
6,000 clients
700 facilities management sites

Starting today, Collaborative Statistics 2nd Edition is available for all professors to adopt, providing students with an interactive experience using videos, applets, graphics, exercises, and a variety of navigation and study features for zero cost. This version is available at kno.com through a web browser, on Windows, and on Apple Mac based systems and iPad tablet.

Collaborative Statistics, 2nd Edition, was written and updated by Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean, faculty members at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. This textbook is intended for introductory statistics courses taken by students at two- and four-year colleges.

In California community colleges alone, over 120,000 students every year take the general statistics course. With an average new book price of over $150 dollars, students pay anywhere between $10 and $18 million dollars per year for this basic statistics course. With the new enhanced digital offering, students will experience a free PDF for the course or the enhanced version under $20 dollars for the semester.

“One of the criticisms leveled at open textbooks is that the quality somehow suffers because they do not have the “imprimatur” of the commercial publishers. But after today, we will no longer view open source books the same way. Today our collaboration with Kno will showcase future open source books with Web 2.0 capabilities able to outperform commercial publications at every level,” said Florez.

Today marks the first merger between a for-profit giant, Kno, and non-profit, 20MM, to actually deliver an open source book through a vibrant leading edge commercial platform, offering faculty another quality choice. The potential to impact students now lies in the hands of willing professors and students advocating on behalf of today’s open etextbook opportunity, and the many more to follow.

“The opportunity to partner with Kno allowed us to leverage their groundbreaking education platform, application and national distribution capability to create a truly amazing etextbook based on open content,” said Dean Florez, a past Senate Majority Leader in California. He added, “Our overall target is aimed at massive faculty adoption throughout the nation by spring of 2012.”

Collaborative Statistics is also available free in pdf and Connexions versions. Students have the choice of using the enhanced digital version available at Kno.com or the pdf version available at Connexions site or the hard copy available for purchase. The hard copy will have a red cover and be available from QOOP: ISBN: 978-0-615-50867-2.

About 20 Million Minds Foundation

20MM Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to greatly reducing textbook costs. Headed by past California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, the foundation is currently leveraging leading edge technologies to create more affordable, engaging, and effective educational materials for college students throughout the nation. 20MM has currently funded, along with its working partners at both the Hewlett Foundation and Gates Foundation, a series of open source books due out by Spring of 2012 that are the next generation of open educational resources able to be remixed, reused and restructured based on an open Creative Common license model.

About KNO

Kno, Inc. is an education software company on a mission to make learning engaging, effective, and social for students. Osman Rashid, the co-founder of Chegg, and Babur Habib, a consumer electronics veteran, founded Kno, Inc. in May 2009. The company has received funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs, Advanced Publications, FLOODGATE, GSV Capital, First Round Capital, Ron Conway, Silicon Valley Bank, SV Angels and TriplePoint Capital and is based in Santa Clara, California. For more information, go to www.kno.com, or follow Kno at facebook.com/GoodtoKno.

Contact:
Rebecca Sullivan
For the Effie Awards
617-501-4010/781-326-1996
rebecca@rsullivanpr.com

Tara Carraro
Heineken USA
914-681-4153
tcarraro@heinekenusa.com

Call for Entries Issued to College Students to Create Effective Public Service  Marketing Communications Campaigns

NEW YORK, September 28, 2011 - Effie Worldwide, which recognizes, encourages and provides education on effectiveness in marketing communications, and Heineken USA today announced a call for entries for the third annual Collegiate Effie Competition.  For the 2012 competition, students ages 21 and older will be challenged to develop a public service marketing communications campaign that supports Heineken’s global sustainability program, Brewing a Better Future, while highlighting the importance of sustainable bottle and package disposal.

Entrants will be challenged to create a campaign that encourages adult consumers to recycle their beverage containers. All entries must feature at least three different digital media creative executions.  Qualifying entries will be judged by industry professionals in various disciplines, including creative, strategic planning, media strategy, branding, marketing and social media.  Finalists will have the opportunity to present their work to senior members of the Heineken USA marketing team.

“The Collegiate Effie competition offers students a unique opportunity to gain professional-level experience and receive valuable feedback from some of the industry’s most respected individuals,” said [Mary Lee Keane, President of Effie Worldwide]. “We are thankful to have a partner in Heineken USA, whose creativity and dedication to this program allows us to inspire students to create great work on important topics.”

“At Heineken USA, we are working to continually improve the environmental impact of our brands and business, but encouraging our partners and consumers to join in this effort is vital for long-term success,” said Dan Tearno, senior vice president and chief corporate relations officer, Heineken USA. “This program allows us to work with some of the brightest new minds in advertising, apply and support their classroom education, and ensure that our organization continues to effectively spread awareness around these issues.”

Entries are due no later than March 23, 2012. Judging will follow and presentations are planned to take place at the end of April.  Students must be 21 or older by January 1, 2012 and currently enrolled in a undergraduate program to be eligible to participate in the PSA Challenge.

To download the 2012 entry kits, visit www.effie.org/collegiate.

About Effie Worldwide
Effie Worldwide stands for effectiveness in marketing communications, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the ever-changing marketing industry.  The Effie network works with some of the top research and media organizations worldwide to bring its audience relevant and first-class insights into effective marketing strategy. This has taken shape in webinars, white papers, global conferences, winner showcases and The Effie Effectiveness Index™, the first global ranking of marketing communications effectiveness. The Effie Effectiveness Index identifies and ranks the marketing communications industry’s most effective agencies, advertisers, and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from Effie competitions worldwide. For more details, visit www.effieindex.com.

The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand’s success.  Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with the Global Effie, the Euro Effie, the Middle East / North Africa Effie and more than 40 national Effie programs. For more details, visit www.effie.org.  Follow @effieawards on Twitter for updates on Effie information, programs and news.

About Heineken USA
Heineken USA Inc., the nation’s premier beer importer, is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV, which is the world’s most international brewer. European brands imported into the U.S. include Heineken Lager, the world’s most international beer brand; Heineken Light; Amstel Light, a leading imported light beer brand; Newcastle Brown Ale, the leading imported ale in the United States; and Buckler non-alcoholic brew. Heineken USA is also the exclusive USA importer for the Tecate, Tecate Light, Dos Equis, Sol, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from Mexico. For a safe ride home, download the Heineken USA-sponsored Taxi Magic™ application from your smartphone at taximagic.heineken.com. Please visit www.EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com.

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Company to Focus on its Increasing Footprint and Mobile Development

CHICAGO, September 21, 2011 – GrubHub, a web and mobile service that connects diners to restaurants and simplifies online ordering for delivery and pick up, has raised $50 million in Series E funding to aggressively focus on its mobile development and acquire New York-based Dotmenu, the parent company of Campusfood and Allmenus. This Series E funding is led by Lightspeed Ventures with Mesirow Financial, Benchmark Capital, Greenspring Associates and DAG Ventures participating. Terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

“Since starting GrubHub with my partner Mike Evans in his apartment in 2004, we’ve sent over $200 million in delivery and pick up orders to independent restaurants across the country,” said Matt Maloney, GrubHub co-founder and CEO. “With our unwavering focus on providing the best service to diners and the most efficient technology to restaurant owners, we have grown to become the leader in the online ordering space. It is precisely for this reason that we are acquiring Dotmenu. Dotmenu has shown great expertise in servicing the college market, and by combining our extensive networks, we will become the foremost resource for diners and restaurants for their online ordering needs.”

The Series E and Dotmenu acquisition comes just six months after GrubHub raised $20 million in funding led by DAG Ventures. The funding rounds, coupled with the acquisition, strengthen GrubHub’s position as the category-defining leader in the industry.

Through the acquisition, GrubHub will have the largest restaurant listing in the country with 250,000 restaurant menus in over 50 major cities and countless college towns across the US. The two companies are projected to send over $225 million in combined order revenues to independent restaurants in 2011, and will continue together to achieve more aggressive growth in the years to come.

“GrubHub has a strong presence in the top US markets,” said Michael Saunders, Founder and President of Dotmenu. “This, combined with our network across more than 300 college campuses, allows us to build upon the strong relationship we have with our diners long after they graduate. The acquisition will enable us to make an immediate impact on our restaurants by sending more orders their way.”

GrubHub is free for diners who order and pay for their meals with cash, credit or PayPal™. Restaurants pay commissions for each online order they receive from GrubHub, and every order is supported by GrubHub’s 24/7 customer service. Restaurants that do not currently partner with GrubHub can still list their telephone numbers and menus for free.

Visitors to the site or mobile users enter their address to see every local restaurant that delivers to them. Diners can view menus and coupons, read reviews and order for free online, by phone or through the GrubHub iPhone and Android apps.

“By combining its ability to aggressively scale its footprint and mobile platforms with Dotmenu’s proven leadership in college markets across the country, GrubHub is the clear leader in the online ordering space,” said Bill Gurley, general partner of Benchmark Capital. “This move will make GrubHub a household name, such as Benchmark’s other on-line portfolio companies OpenTable, Yelp and Zillow.”

There are more than 300,000 delivery and takeout restaurants in the country. On average, GrubHub users order out more than 10 times a month and over 22 percent of GrubHub’s revenues come through mobile orders. Pickup and delivery are the fastest growing segments in the restaurant industry, which is one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy. With more people searching for restaurants and ordering food on-line and through smartphones, the opportunity for continued growth is substantial.

“GrubHub and Dotmenu have a shared vision to make online and mobile food ordering easier and more efficient for diners and restaurants,” said Maloney. “The acquisition is a natural fit for us and we are extremely excited to be able to share our mobile capabilities with their expansive network of diners and restaurants. This is an amazing opportunity for both companies.”

About GrubHub
GrubHub is a ventured-backed company founded in 2004 by Chicago-based software engineers Matt Maloney and Mike Evans. The website shows consumers all of the local restaurants that deliver to them and allows diners to order directly online, by phone or through the GrubHub iPhone and Android app. Both apps are free from their respective app markets, and it is also free for diners to order online at GrubHub.com.

The rapidly growing company currently services Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Diego, Orange County, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Boulder, Miami, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and Phoenix, with plans to add more cities in 2011.

About Dotmenu
For over a decade now, Dotmenu has been making it easier to stuff food into people’s faces. Thanks to the massive growth of our flagship websites Allmenus and Campusfood, Dotmenu has expanded its waistline to serve over 2 million registered users, nearly half of whom are college graduates. Having started out on just 18 campuses in 2000, Campusfood is now the number one late-night pizza and wings solution on 300 college campuses. Allmenus boasts over 250,000 menus, connecting famished Americans with their favorite restaurants in nearly every major city.

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Urecognize.com officially opens its doors today and launches the appreciation movement. The website will enable millions worldwide to recognize and appreciate friends, students, family, employees, companies, and organizations, for a job well done, a good deed, an accomplishment, among a host of other positive categories for free.

At Urecognize the philosophy is that you should appreciate people. Saying “thank you”, “job well done”, “congratulations”, or any words that convey heartfelt gratitude and appreciation should happen daily. Urecognize is a great way to appreciate people, companies, projects, and organizations and share the good news with a network of friends and associates.  If someone says thank you, everyone should know about it, not just you.

“This is a project I have wanted to create for a long time,” Maria Gomez, founder of Urecognize.com “We all have been in situations where we feel we have not been recognized or have been taken for granted after putting in hard work. The urecognize system encourages recognition and the spreading of appreciation beyond your inner circle.”

Urecognize.com tools enable members to send and receive appreciation messages.  Members can then share the messages with friends and associates, enabling the spread of good news and positive feedback.  The system is also free to use, because saying thank you should never come at a price.

Through the Urecognize system, members are able to send a Recognition Email to one or more individuals, a business or organization, that provides a positive appreciation message and contains a link to a printable online certificate of recognition.

What else can you do at Urecognize.com?

- Upload an image with your posting. If you are a business, feel free to upload your logo. You can even link your image to a website.

- After you send a Recognition, the receiver receives your message AND a FREE CERTIFICATE of RECOGNITION that they can print.

- Sender or Receiver can share it with friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other social sites.

- The Sender can also view when the Recognition was opened by the Receiver.

- With the Send to Friends Report, the Receiver can even see when their friends have read the good news that someone appreciated them.

- The receiver can send a Thank You via the system to the Recognizer, to continue the Appreciation Movement.

- With the Send to Friends Report, the Receiver can even see when their friends have read the good news that someone appreciated them.

- Want to send a recognition gift, you also do this via the Urecognize store.

- The Dashboard gives you access to all your recognitions and provides you details on your recognition account, all from one location.

- And there is more so register to see.

At uRecognize we are creating a culture in which recognition is ongoing and spreads.

We developed uRecognize because we realize appreciation is nice, but it’s infrequent and many times many good deeds are overlooked or not known by your network of friends and business associates. In the uRecognize world appreciation is not a special event — it is part of our day-to-day living.

If you want to strengthen your relationships at home, work, school, with family and friends, the key is appreciating and recognizing what those around you do for you and letting others know.

The appreciation movement has started, spread positive news.

For more information please email: press@urecognize.com.

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CONTACTS:

EMERYVILLE, Calif., September 15, 2011 – Between classes, work, study and social obligations, college students often fall into a food trap of pizza, candy bars and sugary drinks, with their only exercise coming from frantic sprints between classes. In addition to unwanted long-term health effects, this cycle can lead to serious energy shortages and brain fatigue.

CLIF® BAR, the original energy bar made with organic ingredients, is on a mission to educate college students about the benefits of outdoor activity. Beginning Sept. 15 and continuing while supplies last, CLIF BAR is rewarding college students who post their active study breaks on Twitter with a CLIF BAR Energy Pack to energize their pursuits. Collegians who follow @ClifBar on Twitter and post their active #StudyBreak will be eligible to receive an Energy Pack that includes great tasting CLIF BARs, fitness tips, water bottles and other items intended to make outdoor recreation fun.

“CLIF BAR wants college students to know that getting outdoors for an active study break isn’t just a good idea for physical health, but can help you stay mentally sharp in the classroom,” said Carly Lutz, brand director, CLIF brands. “Getting out of the dorm and going for a run or a bike ride around campus is an essential part of keeping your mind in shape, as well as your body.”

The benefits of outdoor activity are scientifically undeniable, and CLIF BAR compiled a short list of ways college students benefit from getting outside and working up a sweat:

Cardiovascular Fitness Improves Cognitive Functioning
Activities that improve cardiovascular fitness, such as cycling and running, lead to improvements in cognitive functioning in ways that benefit every college student, including memory, how fast information can be recalled and the ability to pay attention.

Exercising Outdoors Beats Hitting the Gym
Compared with exercising indoors, exercising in natural environments creates greater feelings of revitalization and increased energy, helps people relate better with others and is a serious stress-buster.

Outdoor Activity Can Stave off the Dreaded Freshman 15
Research suggests that as many as 70 percent of college students gain a significant amount of weight between the start of college and sophomore year. In addition to the brain benefits of exercise, burning just an extra 143 calories per day—about what a 150-pound person will burn in 15 minutes playing Ultimate Frisbee® or 20 minutes of roller skating —can mean 15 fewer pounds at the end of one year.

College is the Perfect Place to Develop Lifelong Healthy Habits
A student’s role as “learner” during the college years makes it an ideal time to develop new healthy habits outside the classroom, and the earlier those exercise and nutrition habits are formed, the greater the chance they will stick for life.

About Clif Bar & Company
Clif Bar & Company is a leading maker of nutritious and organic foods and drinks, including CLIF® BAR energy bar, LUNA®, The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women®; and CLIF Kid®, Nourishing Kids in Motion®. Focused on sports nutrition and healthy snacks, the employee and family-owned company is committed to sustaining its people, brands, business, community and planet. For more information on Clif Bar & Company, please visit www.clifbar.com, check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/clifbar and follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/clifbar.

Recently Clif Bar & Company was ranked the No. 1 brand in the Forbes Breakaway Brands survey, conducted by Landor Associates using Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Valuator database measuring brand momentum from 2006 to 2009. (Forbes.com)

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From the enormously popular website comes the highly anticipated compilation of the funniest texts from parents to their kids, plus tons of new material!

WHEN PARENTS TEXT

So Much Said . . . So Little Understood