Abstract: Prospective deals for a deal vendor's deal inventory may be scored according to one or more population-specific expected-yield scores, such as expected revenue yield, expected new customers yield, and the like. A prospective deal is categorized and characterized according to a number of yield-related characteristics. Some or all of the prospective deal's characteristics are mapped to yield components derived from completed deals that have been offered to a particular population. An expected-yield score for a prospective deal with regard to that population is obtained by combining the mapped yield components.

Abstract: The invention describes a lamp (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) comprising a glass envelope (10) enclosing a light generating means (11), and an axially and/or circumferentially graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) applied to a surface of the glass envelope (10), wherein the graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) exhibits a smooth transition in a transition region (23A, 23C, 23D) from a first coated region (21 A, 21B, 21C, 21D) on the glass envelope (10) to a second coated region (22A, 22B, 22C, 22D) on the glass envelope (10). The invention further describes a lighting assembly (4) comprising a lamp according to any of claims 1 to 11 and a reflector (40) for collecting and shaping any light passing through the graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) of the lamp (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D).

Abstract: The invention describes a lamp (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) comprising a glass envelope (10) enclosing a light generating means (11), and an axially and/or circumferentially graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) applied to a surface of the glass envelope (10), wherein the graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) exhibits a smooth transition in a transition region (23A, 23C, 23D) from a first coated region (21 A, 21B, 21C, 21D) on the glass envelope (10) to a second coated region (22A, 22B, 22C, 22D) on the glass envelope (10). The invention further describes a lighting assembly (4) comprising a lamp according to any of claims 1 to 11 and a reflector (40) for collecting and shaping any light passing through the graded absorption coating (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D) of the lamp (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D).

Abstract: Prospective deals for a deal vendor's deal inventory may be scored according to one or more population-specific expected-yield scores, such as expected revenue yield, expected new customers yield, and the like. A prospective deal is categorized and characterized according to a number of yield-related characteristics. Some or all of the prospective deal's characteristics are mapped to yield components derived from completed deals that have been offered to a particular population. An expected-yield score for a prospective deal with regard to that population is obtained by combining the mapped yield components.

Abstract: Automated facilities are provided for uploading media program information through a network connection to an automated encoding system. An encoding request is received from a client which requests that the media program information be encoded in one or more encoding formats to produce publication-ready-media information. Automated facilities also provide ancillary services associated with the publication-ready-media information such as organization control, design control and publication control of the publication-ready-media information.

Abstract: A method and system for recording and publishing traditional media source programs over a network is disclosed. According to the method, a request for publication of one or more traditional media source programs in one or more encoding formats is received from a network client that is connected to the network. In response to receiving the request, the one or more traditional media source programs are captured from a traditional media source that broadcasts the one or more traditional media source programs at a particular broadcast time. The one or more traditional media source programs are encoded in one or more encoding formats to produce one or more encoded media programs and then published to the network client over the network at a time that is different from the actual broadcast time.

Abstract: A method and system for encoding digital information is disclosed. According to the method, media program information is captured and used to produce a media program file. An encoding request is received from a client which requests that the media program information be encoded in one or more encoding formats. A set of encoding engines are selected that can encode the media program information in each of the one or more encoding formats. The media program file is then sent to the selected set of encoding engines to encode the media program information in the one or more encoding formats.

Abstract: A method and system forwarding voice messages to an email account is disclosed. According to one method, a voice message that is associated with a particular user is retrieved from a voice mail system. The voice message is then encoded into a streaming media file and automatically forwarded in an email message to one or more email addresses. According to another method, a voice message is converted into a text file and automatically forwarded in an email message to one or more email addresses.