All About Verizon and Verizon FiOS

For any customers who wanted more information about Verizon and/or Verizon FiOS, this article is for you!

About Verizon
Verizon can be described as distinctive telecommunications organization that connects people as well as business owners with the most state-of-the-art wireless technology offered. Thanks to a number of shrewd acquisitions, Verizon is currently the largest cell phone provider in the United States.

Verizon Fios

History
Verizon Communications is an excellent demonstration of the telecom vision, that has origins going back to the earliest telephone corporation from the Eighteen hundreds.

Legislation
During the Twentieth century, telecom companies were being restricted with regards to exactly where they were able to operate as a result of laws, yet the Telecommunications Act of 1996 transformed the situation. This regulation made it possible for a free-market system.

Features
Verizon is known as a true telecommunications provider providing a variety of technology solutions to both households and companies. Verizon supplies home phone, cellular, broadband as well as Television to millions of households in the nation.

Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS packages phone, Internet access and TV services and offers the product across fiber optic telecom networks. The FiOS product was released in Keller Texas in September 22nd, 2005. FiOS presently has more than 3.2 million FiOS TV subscribers and more than 3.8 million high speed broadband customers.

Verizon provides a premium quality service at reasonable rates along with vast access. Verizon provides program tiers that include HD, Prime HD, Extreme HD, Ultimate HD, besides other package selections, so consumers have numerous choices.

FiOS Product Bundles
Offered plans and prices commonly depend upon where the consumer lives and often will vary amongst program regions. Some FiOS plans can include:

  • FiOS Triple Play – FiOS TV Prime HD + FiOS Internet 50/25 Mbps + Phone
  • FiOS Double Play – FiOS TV Select HD + FiOS Internet 15/5 Mbps

Community and Environment
Corporate social obligation is a crucial mission for Verizon. Two of the organization’s most significant projects are the Domestic Violence Program and the Device Recycling Program.

Domestic Violence Program
Verizon is utilizing repaired old cell phones in the fight against family violence. Verizon gathers aged cell phones and also essential accessories at area mobile phone drives and also via the mail, repairing them all for survivors of domestic abuse.
Device Recycling Program
Through providing painless ways to recycle almost any wifi product, Verizon helps clients decrease rubbish in trash dumps.

Verizon’s best program and regard for the local community together with environment are in the lead for additional telecommunications companies to go by.

Owners of a Frank Lloyd Wright House Look to Relocate It

There is a couple living in New Jersey that lives in one of the homes designed by whom many consider the greatest architect in the United States, Frank Lloyd Wright. There are 270 houses in the United States designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and this couple is looking to sell their house to another location. This means they want to disassemble their house and have it rebuilt somewhere else. There are several interested buyers across the globe, and one of those locations is Italy.
Owners of a Frank Lloyd Wright House Look to Relocate It
Part of the motivation to move the famous house is its location in an area that often gets flooded, and it does not take that strong of a storm to see the house get flooded. At first, the couple tried to sell it, but now they fear it could get destroyed by the adverse weather on the east coast. Thus, they are looking to protect this piece of art.

The first prospect was going to see the house moved and rebuilt in New York, but that plan did not go through. Now, there is a buyer in Italy who is interested. The attractive part of Italy is that Frank Lloyd Wright spent some time there, and the couple who owns it would like to see the house go somewhere that the architect has history with. Above all else though, the couple wants to make sure the house is rebuilt in a secure location.

America’s Best Architecture Schools

Architecture is a challenging field of study but can provide many employment opportunists. There are great schools in the United States for people looking to study this field. Virginia Tech is one of the top schools in the country for architecture studies. Students that attend this school can choose from five different specializations in architecture and urban studies. They can choose to focus in public policy, environmental affairs, public and nonprofit management, global development, or urban planning and policy. There are opportunities to study aboard in both the undergraduate and graduate programs.

America's Best Architecture Schools
Cornell University is another school with a top architecture program. In order to be admitted to this school a student must have a strong academic background and go through a series of interviews. Student will have to take courses in math, engineering, and behavioral science as part of their program requirements. The student will learn current information in architecture and the history of this field.
Harvard University is said to be the number one school for architecture studies. The students in this program will work on real designs and societies. They will take coursework in theory, technology, and visual studies. There are many electives that go along with this program and the students will have to choose a specialization. The field of architecture has many employment opportunities and with an education from one of these top schools graduate will have no problem finding employment.

Closed Caption Comes to AT&T U-verse Mobile

AT&T has become the first closed caption customer of QuickPlay Media. QuickPlay’s cloud-based OpenVideo platform enables the encoding and extraction of closed caption into a variety of video formats. AT&T is the first to integrate OpenVideo in its premium mobile services.
Closed Caption Comes to AT&T U-verse Mobile
Closed caption is now a mandatory feature of mobile content. The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 require that all mobile versions of television episodes contain close caption technology.

Content providers have struggled with implementing closed caption because of the multiscreen requirements of the mobile market. Each mobile device has its own requirements and supported features. Content providers usually follow manufacturer supported features and do not provide additional software features.

QuickPlay’s OpenVideo platform creates a standard framework for implementing close caption on devices that do not normally support such features. This allows content providers to provide features for a standard system instead of struggling to meet the requirements of iOS, Android and Windows Mobile.

OpenVideo flags content that does not contain closed caption and notifies the content provider of the need to add captioning. There is also a feature that allows customers to easily turn off closed captioning while viewing streams.

OpenVideo also supports DRM. This allows content providers to protect streaming data without the hassle of supporting encryption requirements on multiple devices. By providing a standardized framework, QuickPlay has made it possible for content providers to do what they do best: provide content.

If you are interested in closed caption and would like AT&T U-verse, you can save on your purchase by using ATT Uverse coupon codes.

Five Of The Most Influential Modern Day Architects

Not sure this post needs any introduction. I think the title speaks for itself!

1. Kenzo Tange
Japanese architect Kenzo Tange was born on September 4, 1913 in Osaka, Japan. He believed that the postwar Japanese society was looking for a way to express their freedom from the technocratic society of the past. He is world renowned for successfully fusing together the contemporary philosophy of the western world and the architectural traditions of Japan. In his work it is easy to see the influences of “Le Corbusier” style architecture and the principles of “Congres Internationax d’Architecture Moderne”. Some of his more famous works include the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Tokyo Cathedral and the University of Bahrain.

2. Robert Stern
American architect Robert A.M. Stern was born on May 23, 1939 and is an acclaimed architect, teacher, and writer. His most notable works include: the Nashville Public Library, Disney Beach Club Resort, Disney Yacht Club Resort and the Federal Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia. He is one of a few select architects whose work has become part of a permanent collection in the Deutsches Architektur Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

3. Richard Meier
Architecture Richard Meier was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1934 and graduated from Cornell University in 1957. Much of his work is reminiscent of early 20th century architectures such as Mies Van Der Rohe, Luis Barragan and especially the early works of Le Corbusier. His practice is not limited to housing and private residences; it also includes museums, commercial buildings, medical facilities city halls and courthouses. Some of his most renowned projects include the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome,the Getty Center in California, the City Tower in Prague and the White Plaza in Switzerland.

4. Peter Dominick
American architect Peter Dominick was born on June 9, 1941 in New York and at a very young age he moved to Colorado. It was here that he became inspired to design rustic buildings with motifs that were inspired by the architecture of the American West. After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from Yale University and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Colorado. Some of his most famous works include the Grand Hotel in California, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Platte River Road Monument in Nebraska.

5. Bruce Goff
Bruce Goff was born on June 8, 1904 in Kansas and is one of the few famous architects that never received any formal education. By the age of 12, he had become an apprentice in the Oklahoma firm of Rush, Endacott and Rush. Later in life, he would become a professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma. A friend of Frank Lloyd Wright’s, he also believed in the principles of Organic Architecture. Many of his private homes are located in the mid-western United States and were designed using all disposed materials such as ashtrays, cake pans and cellophane. His most famous project is the Duncan-Bruce Goff Castle Dwelling that features cave-inspired interiors and is built from a random collection of rocks.

Five Famous Architects Throughout History

Many famous architects have served humankind since antiquity, building everything from houses of worship to residences to office buildings to bridges and even follies. Here are five famous architects.

1. Rem Koolhaas
This Dutch, Pritzker Prize winning architect was born in 1944. An innovative and sometimes controversial architect, he’s designed buildings that are both unadorned and startling, like the Seattle Central Library, the Prada Stores, the Second Stage Theatre in New York City, and the singular 44 story Central China Television Headquarters Building.

2. Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) was and remains one of Britain’s greatest architects. He designed the cathedral of St. Paul and more than 50 other London buildings after the Great Fire nearly destroyed the city in 1666. Wren came to fame with his plans for the Sheldonian Theater in Oxford in 1663. This building was singled out because of its unusual wood truss. Wren worked for years on St. Paul’s Cathedral, because it was first destroyed in the Great Fire. Then, his plans for the new dome were rejected. This necessitated Wren staying with the project till 1710. Among other buildings he designed were the kings’ palaces at Greenwich and Hampton Court.

3. Frank Lloyd Wright
This Wisconsin architect (1869-1959) is considered one of the world’s greatest architects. Lloyd Wright designed over 600 buildings during his career, which spanned 66 years. He worked for Louis Sullivan from 1887 to 1893, then started his own independent career. During that time he designed many houses around the Chicago area that are still considered revolutionary in their design and appearance. In 1911 he built Taliesin, his own home in Spring Green Wisconsin and founded an architectural school, the Taliesin School. Among his most well known non-residential buildings are the Larkin Company Building in Buffalo, New York, the S.C. Johnson & Son Building in Racine, Wisconsin and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

4. Jörn Utzon
Jörn Utzon (1918-2008) was the architect of the iconic Sydney Opera house, a building whose roof resembles a series of sails. Utzon, who was born in Denmark, also designed the National Assembly Building in Kuwait, and Denmark’s Bagsvaerd Church. He won the commission to design the opera house in 1957. The construction was fraught and Utzon found himself clashing repeatedly with various Australian ministers. The opera house wasn’t opened till 1973. Others of Utzon’s designs are far more modest, including the Fredensborg Houses for pensioners and the Paustian Furniture store.

5. Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) was also a city planner and was responsible, with his partner John W. Root, for rebuilding much of Chicago after the devastating fire of 1871. Burnham was also the director of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which also took place in Chicago. He planned improvements for not only Chicago, but for Washington D.C. and Manila in the Philippines. He was also one of the first architects to design a skyscraper, a building that the technological developments of the late 19th century were beginning to make possible. He and Root designed Chicago’s Masonic Temple Building, a 21 story building that was for a time the tallest building in the world. Burnham also designed New York City’s iconic Flat Iron Building and Washington’s majestic Union Station.

Getting a Degree in Architecture

Earning a degree in architecture is a very rewarding process and opens up many possible career tracks. With dedication and hard work, a degree can be attained in either four or five years. The following paragraphs will outline more about the typical process to get a degree, as well as some of the top schools.

Four Years or Five?
All architecture schools in the United States follow one of two structures, a four-year Bachelor of Science in Architecture, or a five-year accredited professional degree, a Bachelor of Architecture. There are a few major differences between the two that may influence your decision. If you want to become a licensed architect and receive a four-year degree, you will also need to attend two years of graduate school to earn an accredited Masters of Architecture. In contrast, the five-year Bachelor of Architecture is a professional degree and does not require further education to become licensed.

Typical Degree Structure
Architecture degrees provide a challenging and well-rounded education. Based around core design studios, they also include many units of supplementary education. The design studio is where students learn through tackling design projects of different scales and duration. Through designed project prompts, students will learn about design theory, design process, site planning, design development, documentation and representation, and will get the opportunity to present and defend their projects.

Supplementary coursework includes general education credits in math, science and the humanities. Specific support courses that pertain directly to the degree may include architectural history, environmental and sustainable design, principles of construction, structural and statics courses, as well as computer-aided design courses.

Many universities offer study abroad programs during the third or fourth year of the degree, giving students the opportunity to live in a major European city and to learn from different professors with different professional and academic backgrounds. In addition, many universities host lectures to expose students to the latest pioneers in the field.

Top Architecture Programs
There are many universities that offer degrees in architecture, and it can be a difficult process to pick between them all. Each year, DesignIntelligence publishes a report called “America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools”, published after an extensive survey that polls students, deans and administrators, design professionals and includes campus visits. The top undergraduate schools in 2012 were:

1. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2. University of Texas, Austin, Texas
3. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
4. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
5. Rice University, Houston, Texas

These rounded out the top-five, but almost every major city has a school that offers a four or five-year degree. A little bit of research will give you a better idea about which schools have offerings and philosophies that match your interests and will align you to pursue your career goals.

10 Famous Buildings In the United States

Those who live in the United States know that there are several buildings that are famous and everyone should be sure to see. While these buildings may not be the biggest or the grandest, they attract tourists and locals by the thousands each year. Here are the 10 best buildings that a person must see in America.

10. Capitol Building
As the center of the American Government, this building is a must see while visiting Washington D.C. The nostalgic feeling while touring this building is of awe and inspiration, as many great presidents walked here. Build in 1973; this building has been remodeled on several occasions.

9. Chrysler Building
People flock to the Chrysler building to see the fabulous Art Deco architecture. Located in Manhattan, this building was built in 1928. It was the tallest building in the world, for a mere 11 months. It was surpassed by the grand Empire State Building.

8. Empire State Building
It was once the tallest building in the world and it draws a big crowd to the 86th and 102nd floor observation decks. When visiting NYC, it is one of the few attractions that is a must see. There are only two other skyscrapers in the country that are larger and it has amazing Art Deco style.

7. Sears Tower
This Chicago landmark is now called the Will’s Tower. It is 110 floors of business and it attracts people from all over the country. With a grand height of over 1,450 feet, this building is considered the tallest in the entire Western Hemisphere.

6. Statue of Liberty
While most think of it as just a statue, Lady Liberty is actually a large building. A gift from the French, she stands majestically in the Liberty State Park facing the Hudson River. She is only accessible by boat and is worth the trip. To the American public she is the symbol of Freedom. Tourists can climb to the top of her head and view the amazing sites from the 151 ft. structure. Construction began on this iconic symbol in 1875, but was not completed until 1885.

5. White House
Home to the president, this famous building is on most people’s bucket list. It was George Washington who was the mastermind behind this building in 1791 and he watched as the cornerstone was laid. A rich part of American History, this building is a must see while in the Washington, D.C. area.

4. Trump International Hotel and Tower
This Chicago great was built in 2009. It is currently the 2nd tallest building in the country. There are 92 stories of businesses and a fabulous hotel. It stands 1,389 feet in the air.

3. The US Capitol
This building is where the House of Representatives and members of the senate gather and make decisions concerning the country. No trip to the Washington D.C. area is complete without visiting this site. Built in 1793, this structure has gone through some major renovations to be what it is today.

2. Union Station
Built in 1907 to mimic Roman Architecture, this structure is the most visited in Washington D.C. Nearly 25 million people come to this building to catch a train or a taxi. There are many full service restaurants, places to shop and even places to get an old fashioned shoe shine.

1. The Washington National Cathedral
One of the most fascinating buildings by far is the Washington National Cathedral. With its Gothic look, this 20th century building is one of the most beautiful sites in Washington D.C. Made of Indiana limestone, this building was built in 1907.

What Is Architecture

Architecture is one of the most important aspects of human life. Architecture is the timeless art and science of constructing buildings, monuments, and other physical structures. It is created through the architect, who uses his skill to design and erect finished pieces. While architecture is often used for the simple means of housing individuals, it represents a pinnacle of human achievement and artfulness.

Architecture, in modern times, is represented through the phrase, “form follows function.” This means that a building should be designed with the foremost goal of being functional. If it is a house, then it should primarily focus on fulfilling the needs of the occupants. It should provide sufficient space for occupants to live efficiently and undisturbed. Comfort and practically is the main objective, along with airflow and ventilation. If a beautiful design should arise from this, then the architect has fulfilled both duties: function and form.

Historically, architects were driven to produce buildings with durability, utility, and beauty. Such examples can be seen in The Parthenon, in Athens, Greece. This monument is seen as the pinnacle in historical architectural achievement. It has withstood the test of time, and continues to inspire even today.

Historical architecture inspires people to travel all over the world. Visitors flock to Egypt, in order to experience the Pyramids in their full glory. The Renaissance era continues to inspire with creations from Michelangelo and Palladio. More modern architecture has given us towering feats, such as New York’s Empire State Building.

Architecture can be a way to revisit history. We can continue to explore ancient cultures through their architecture. It is a tangible piece of history that we can physically visit. The ancient colosseums and churches from all over the world can still be visited today. We can learn the true characteristics of cultures by studying their architecture. Their ideals, virtues, and achievements are all laid bare in the architecture left behind. Architecture allows you to learn from ancient cultures, and view your own as it builds itself before your eyes.