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New York, NY, United States (NewsBahn) – On Nov. 29, Emperial Americas announced Tequila Distinguido will launch a marketing partnership with VH1 “Basketball Wives” cast member Ashley Walker. Tequila Distinguido has already won high marks at the San Francisco World Spirits competition among critics and the public. The tequila is positioned as “authentic and all natural.”

Walker might not be known to the public quite yet as a “Basketball” wife – she joins the show in its second season, which will premiere December 13 on VH1. She also isn’t technically a wife – while she is a mother of two, she is just the girlfriend of Houston Rockets’ point guard Rafer Alston.

However, despite her fame as a new reality personality, the tequila company chose Walker to be a brand ambassador because she is philanthropic and demonstrates responsibility in addition to her glamorous life; she has her own organization, The Mission of Love, that helps students in Kenya, and also finds time to mentor teenage girls.

“The partnership between Tequila Distinguido and Ashley Walker creates the perfect synergy to market Tequila Distinguido’s luxury product,” Alonzo Pierce, National Brand Manager for Tequila Distinguido, said in a statement.

“Ashley Walker is distinguished and epitomizes positivity, confidence, originality and exudes class, making her the ideal choice to partner with Tequila Distinguido – a brand that emulates these characteristics. Ashley is philanthropic, responsible and beautiful, a lifestyle that Tequila Distinguido represents, and is sure to resonate with our consumers.”

Walker told Vibe magazine she was nervous to join the “Basketball Wives” cast, but does not get involved in drama.

“I talk about my foundation and I try to stay out of all the drama going on. There wasn’t a point where I had to fight back at all because nothing was really said to me to my face. So I didn’t have to go there at all. I’m not confrontational but I’m not going to let anybody disrespect me either.”

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San Francisco, CA, United States (AHN) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted at a San Francisco forum that Washington is inclined to allow more oil sands from Canada. She made the statement in response to a question from the audience at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco.

The indication of the potential policy came at a time that TransCanada’s application to extend its Keystone XL pipeline project is still pending. The proposal involves 1,700 miles of pipeline to transport fuel sourced from bitumen from Alberta to Texas, doubling exports to as much as 900,000 barrels per day.

TransCanada’s proposal is under review by the State Department, which is being hounded by lobby groups to reject the project following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster this year.

Clinton said the department has not yet finished all the analysis on the TransCanada proposal, but said Washington is inclined toward the project because it’s a choice of being dependent on “dirty oil” from Canada or from the Middle East.

Clinton acknowledged tolerating “dirty oil” is a reality that the U.S. government has to face until it has sufficient clean, renewable energy available to meet the growing demand for power.

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San Francisco, CA, United States (AHN) – Gap Inc. has resumed using its iconic logo only a week after launching a new design that customers panned as an “amateur PowerPoint presentation.” The retail giant also faced backlash for seeking designs from the public, an action commercial designers have long opposed.

“We’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo,” Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, said in a statement.

The San Francisco-based company announced a new logo on Oct. 4 that used a Helvetica typeface in plain black and a small blue gradient box at the upper right corner. The redesign was made ahead of a marketing campaign to coincide with the holidays.

Many customers, however, expressed extreme disappointment over the change, and inundated the company’s online pages with comments calling the new logo “cheap” and “uninspired.”

Armin Vit, co-founder of the graphic design enterprise UnderConsideration, blogged, “[Helvetica] has the unique ability to make anything look pedestrian and, in this particular case, it makes Old Navy…. look like a luxury brand by comparison. The shaded square on the corner doesn’t help at all either — I’m not one to critique something by saying it looks as if it were done in Microsoft Word but this one is just too unsophisticated.”

Gap, which owns Banana Republic and Old Navy, had used its classic logo for more than two decades since its founding in 1969.

“We chose this design as it’s more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward,” Hansen explained in a post on Huffington Post.

The company began a crowd sourcing project in response to anger over its new logo, an action that only heightened public mockery and spawned new websites such as gapyourself.com and Twitter pages like twitter.com/gaplogo.

AIGA, the professional association for design, wrote Gap executives about its stance against crowd sourcing.

Association president Debbie Millman commented in an online discussion, “I firmly believe that crowd-sourcing and spec work is about designers giving their work away for free. But it is also about an abuse of power. The ‘client’ has it all. The designer has none. Unless, of course, we say no.”

Mule Design co-founder Mike Monteiro also said in an open letter in response to Gap’s call for suggestions, “Never in my experience has any of your employees offered me a free pair of pants because the ones I was wearing looked bad. I wouldn’t expect them to. Their job is to sell me clothes. My job is to sell design.”

Hansen conceded in her statement this week the company “did not go about this in the right way.”

“We’ve learned a lot in this process,” she added. “We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing. There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way.”

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San Francisco, CA, United States (AHN) – Research in Motion has upped the ante in its battle to gain a greater share of electronic gadget pie. On Monday, the maker of BlackBerry launched its anticipated PlayBook during RIM’s yearly developer conference in San Francisco.

RIM President and Co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis said the 9.7 millimeter (0.38 inches) gadget that has a 177.8-mm (seven-inch) screen that would be the benchmark for tablets. Aimed to rival Apple’s popular iPad, the PlayBook offers seamless integration with other RIM devices.

That would allow current BlackBerry owners to use an existing plan to shift to the PlayBook. The smaller size and built-in security – such as message encryption – of the gadget is expected to be a hit with businessmen.

Another advantage by PlayBook over iPad is its ability to handle high-definition video, which iPad lacks, because of RIM’s use of Adobe software.

However, what Lazaridis showed at the conference were just prototypes. The PlayBook will be on sale only in early 2011 in the U.S. and a few months later in other countries, including Canada. It won’t be available yet for Black Friday, which is RIM’s largest selling day for its devices.

Apple is also scheduled to launch its new model of iPads at about the same time that the PlayBook would hit the American market.

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Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is set to launch new products in a bid to reverse dipping market share.

According to reports, RIM is set to roll out next week its version of the tablet computer to rival Apple’s popular iPad. The device could be introduced at the DEVCON 2010 in San Francisco. The gadget, likely to be named BlackPad, features a seven-inch touch screen, one or two built-in cameras, Bluetooth and broadband connections.

The BlackPad could connect to wireless networks using a BlackBerry and will be run by an operating system by QNX Software Systems. RIM bought QNX this year.

Another RIM device reported to be introduced next week is the new BlackBerry Storm, which will have a 3.7-inch touchscreen, no visible keyboard and ultrathin body. It is expected to equal Apple’s iPhone.

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Buying home, condo or any other real estate in a market that is protected from a bursting bubble is every investor’s dream. Knowing where to look for these bubble-proof markets and how to identify them is crucial.

There are some important factors that investors should consider when searching for stable investments such as single-family homes, condos or any other type of real estate. Some of these factors include a fast growing population (which positively impacts the demand for housing), a solid and diverse economy (which impacts employment rates and subsequent demand for housing), rising incomes (which impacts buyers’ ability to purchase real estate), a developing infrastructure (which contributes to the appeal of a city or community), and restrictions on future real estate development (which limits future supply of real estate). Investing in real estate within communities that meet these criteria may prove to be more profitable than communities that are missing one or more of these factors.

A recent report by Business 2.0 Magazine identified U.S. cities that have consistently demonstrated price appreciation in the real estate market. The October 2006 issue of the Magazine identified the top 5 real estate markets that demonstrated an upward price trend over a long period time. The top-ranking cities were:

1. San Francisco, California
2. Los Angeles, California
3. Seattle, Washington
4. Boston, Massachusetts
5. New York City, New York

San Francisco topped the list with an average annual home price appreciation of 4.2% from 1949 to 2006. In contrast, the national average was 2.3%. Strong restrictions on real estate development and a limited geography helped push San Francisco to the top slot.

Los Angeles ranked second in the report. The average annual home price appreciation in Los Angeles was 3.7% from 1949 to 2006. Reductions in available land and increasing restrictions on further development helped pushed Los Angeles to the number 2 slot.

Home prices in Seattle, which was third on the list, demonstrated an average appreciation rate of 3.2% from 1949 to 2006. While Seattle made the top 5 list, recent easing of building restrictions may cause Seattle to fall out of the top 5 over the next few years.

Boston was fourth in the rankings. The city has seen annual home prices appreciate by 3% over the period from 1949 to 2006. A strong increase in per capita income contributed to Boston’s high ranking.

New York City follows close behind with an average annual home price appreciation of 3% from 1949 to 2006. A limited geography, large population, and finite number of properties contributed to New York’s high ranking.

While there is no guarantee that any of the real estate markets listed previously are truly “bubble proof,” the factors described above may help investors find the profitable markets and avoid “bubble” markets. Since the real estate market is constantly changing, be sure to seek out the services of a skillful real estate agent to help you navigate your next real estate purchase.

Everyone has dreamt of owning a house.  When that happens, for sure you will savor your new home just like you would a piece of cake, aesthetically appreciating everything that makes it special to you.  So when looking for a real estate to make it possible, it should be in a place that is equally enticing.

Carmel in Monterey, CA. is definitely one of the most-sought after town in the United States as of late.  One reason for its appeal is the majestic scenery of the location.  If your ideal real estate property is somewhere with a rich history regarding arts.Carmel certainly has class like no other.

Situated on the Pacific Coast, Carmel in Monterey, CA is home to notable artists such as actor and director Clint Eastwood, who was once the Mayor of the town for one term.  In fact, the dominance of arts in the area paved way for a full-length feature of Carmel’s artists, writers and poets in the San Francisco Call in 1906.

Buying a property in Carmel demands careful weighing of all the factors that would affect your decision.  Before anything else, you might want to consider the following aspects before settling to the idea that Carmel is the best place for you – the schools within the town, Carmel’s public services and available mortgages.  You can consult the Website of Monterey County, CA for this purpose.

Once you’re done checking the background of the mentioned factors, you can now proceed to having a free mortgage pre-qualification to know the range of your financial capabilities.  Also, it would help if you will research first the types of mortgages you can avail of before making any further deals.

The town of Carmel in Monterey, CA is one of those places one would want to settle down. Just like purchasing Carmel real estate in any other areas, it also demands careful planning.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-a-real-estate-in-carmel-ca-1676468.html