Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with two young sons and started her company in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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FBI raids West Palm Beach office of doctor tied to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez

FBI agents late Tuesday night raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.”

Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans.

The investigation is believed to be focusing on Melgen’s finances and the allegations about Menendez’s trips and contact with prostitutes. A spokesman for Menendez could not be reached for comment, nor could Melgen.

Melgen has an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million for taxes owed from 2006 to 2009, according to records filed with the Palm Beach County recorder’s office. A previous IRS lien for $6.2 million was released in 2011.

Despite those financial problems, Melgen and his family have contributed at least $357,000 to candidates and committees since 1998, according to Florida and federal campaign records. Of that, the Melgens have contributed about 9 percent to Menendez’s federal campaigns.

Melgen also owns a private CL-600 Challenger plane through one of his West Palm Beach-based companies, and frequently flies between South Florida and Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, where he is from.

Menendez has flown on the plane at least once, his office has said, when he was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2009 to 2011, when the Melgens contributed about $60,400 to the group. A spokeswoman had previously said that Menendez and Melgen are longtime friends and said the senator did nothing improper.

Melgen was first linked to Menendez just before the November elections, when the conservative Daily Caller website interviewed two alleged prostitutes who said they had relations with the New Jersey Democrat at Melgen’s Dominican Republic mansion in Casa de Campo.

After the election, the news died down.

But then, days before Menendez was about to start leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as chairman, reporters started receiving a 58-page dossier of emails between a Miami FBI agent and a tipster who claimed that some of the prostitutes had been underage.

“I’m not going to respond to the fallacious allegations of your story,” Menendez told the Daily Caller on Monday when a reporter caught up with him on a train in Washington.

At the time, Menendez had just stepped into the national spotlight along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and six other senators who are hammering out a highly watched immigration plan that is the talk of Washington.

Rubio is one of the few big-name Florida politicians who has not received campaign money from the Melgens, who have contributed to Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Garcia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, among others.

The FBI would not comment on the emails, and the agent, Regino Chavez, did not return calls or emails. But sources familiar with the investigation told The Miami Herald that the emails are real.

The emails from agent Chavez show that he tried to find out what happened. But the tipster, who went by the name “Peter Williams,” refused to talk to him by telephone or meet him face to face.

Chavez contacted the tipster Aug.1, 2012, after the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington referred the case to the FBI. The tipster would not meet or speak by phone to CREW or to an investigative reporter, either.

“As far as the information you have provided, we have been unable to confirm most of it,” Chavez wrote on Sept. 12. “We know that you are providing accurate information.”

But it is not clear what that specific information is because Chavez was unable to interview the alleged prostitutes. Over the months, Chavez tried to meet or speak with the tipster, but had no luck.

Then, on Nov. 1, the agent wrote the tipster again and drew attention to the Daily Caller interview with the alleged prostitutes.

“I think we are at the point where you and I need to communicate over the phone so that we can move faster,” he wrote.

No luck.

Amid the suspicious circumstances of the complaints, Democrats have tried to characterize the reports about Menendez and Melgen as a right-wing smear job.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid refused to comment on the possibility of an FBI investigation when he was asked Tuesday about the case.

Said Reid: “Always consider the source. All anyone here has to look at is the source where this comes from.”

Tuesday night’s raid, however, shows that there is at least an investigation tied to Menendez’s longtime friend and ally.

Miami Herald Staff Writer Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.

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New BlackBerry to Be ‘Most Comprehensive in Mobile History’

RIM is finally ready with its answer to Apple’s iPhone and the many Android smartphones. After months of delays, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, along with others from the company, will take the stage Wednesday in New York to unveil the final version of BlackBerry 10, the next version of RIM’s phone software, and the phones that will run it.

“We expect tomorrow to really be the kickoff for the introduction of Blackberry 10,” RIM’s Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben told ABC News in a phone interview. “We have been engaged for quite a period of time with the two main constituents — the carriers and the developers — and we’ve already said we are in the labs of more than 150 carriers around the world.”

Column: BlackBerry Burden: What RIM Must Do to Come Back

With more than 150 wireless carriers around the world planning to offer the latest BlackBerry, Boulben says it will be the most “comprehensive launch,” not only for the company, but in the history of the mobile industry.

“This makes it the most comprehensive launch in mobile history. There has never been a platform launching with that many carriers,” he said. When the iPhone 5 made its debut in September it actually had more — Apple said there would be 240 carriers by December. But Boulben points out that BlackBerry 10 is an entirely new operating system that doesn’t share a single line of code with previous BlackBerry software; the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, by contrast, was essentially an upgrade.

At Wednesday’s event the company will show its new handsets in detail. RIM is expected to release a touch-screen device called the Z10 and another with a physical keyboard. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have said they will carry devices that run the new software. Boulben also said RIM will highlight major differences between BlackBerry 10 and the other leading mobile phone platforms.

“We are highly differentiated in four areas,” Boulben said. The first is with communications — RIM has designed the software around a messaging hub and new multitasking features. The second: the touch keyboard, which predicts words as you are typing them. Lastly, RIM says its BlackBerry Messenger and its BlackBerry Balance feature, which separates work from personal uses on the phone, set it apart.

Boulben would not address specifically how much market share RIM is hoping to gain back in the U.S., having lost the lead it had in the last decade. According to Kantar Worldpane ComTech’s data released in November 2012, the BlackBerry brand only had 1.6 percent of the American smartphone market. The iPhone had 48.1 percent of the market and Android had 46.7.

“It’s a change in smartphone experience — the dominant paradigm, introduced six years ago, was great and revolutionary at the time. But six years is a long time for a technology cycle, with a new user experience with a clear focus we have the opportunity to take market share back,” Boulben said.

RIM CMO: BlackBerry 10 Will Make Others Look Outdated

While RIM is of course bullish about its new products, it faces one big challenge it might not be able to control: apps. While the platform might be innovative, it will trail behind the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in variety of apps. Boulben says the momentum around apps is strong and that Wednesday the BlackBerry World store will launch with 70,000 new apps.

RIM BlackBerry 10 Launch

Apps that worked on previous BlackBerry 7 devices won’t work on the BlackBerry 10 platform, since it is completely new. Analysts say that apps are bound to be the pain point for the platform, but it’s not too late to rule out RIM from taking back at least some of what it has lost.

“Given the speed that the market is moving, it’s hard to be dismissive of RIM given the strength of their brand and continued loyalty of many users,” Michael Gartenberg, Gartner Research Director, told ABC News. “It will be important for RIM to show tomorrow how they’ve evolved the BlackBerry to meet the challenges of other platforms and at the same time show positive differentiation.”

And that seems to be exactly RIM’s plan. “The time was right to switch to a new platform, one that will allow us to continue true to our DNA but also take it to the next level,” Boulben said. “It is a major undertaking for the company. It has been two years in the making, but we are ready.”

RIM’s BlackBerry 10 event begins at 10:00 a.m. ET on Jan. 30, 2013. ABC News will be reporting on the news throughout the day.

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Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Dance Off! Rocsi Challenges Ray Lewis

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is gearing up for what is believed to be his final NFL game, but ET's Rocsi Diaz gave him the challenge of a lifetime during Super Bowl Media Day on Tuesday.

Pics: Inside Beyonce's Super Bowl Rehearsals!

The hall-of-fame-bound defensive captain is known for his intense pre-game dance used to energize teammates. After a quick tutorial from Lewis' teammate Damien Berry, Rocsi was ready to take on the Super Bowl champ ... or so she thought.

Click the video to see the epic showdown. The San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens face off at Super Bowl XLVII this Sunday, February 3 on CBS.

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Ground Zero’s new face: No substitute for the twins

The Issue: The almost complete 1 World Trade Center at Ground Zero and its affect on the skyline.

***

If Steve Cuozzo thinks that freedom is singing at Ground Zero, he is seriously tone-deaf (“Freedom Sings,” PostScript, Jan. 27).

If Cuozzo were really a part of the common rabble, he would never have written a column that tried to build the Freedom Tower up by tearing the Twin Towers down.

Doesn’t he understand that when he attacks the Twin Towers, he is attacking the millions who thought they were marvelous?

Doesn’t he know that his propaganda gives aid and comfort to those who feel free to blow the public’s money?

J.C. Rice

View of 1 World Trade Center from Jersey City.

For years he has been cheerleading for a building that almost no one wanted and that is sucking commuters dry at Port Authority crossings.

It’s bad enough that the public is heavily subsidizing the rebuilding of Ground Zero, while Larry Silverstein gets a free ride.

Cuozzo’s effort to demolish the Twin Towers’ reputation was way over the top. M. L. Donovan

Manhattan

In regard to the newly built One World Trade Center, as beautiful as it looks, we need to have a second tower built.

Our hearts and the New York City skyline cry out for its twin.

James Lautier

Windsor, Conn.

Neither I nor anyone I know has anything but contempt for that travesty of a building.

It belongs in Cincinnati or Singapore, but not where the Twin Towers once stood.

Cuozzo didn’t like the Twin Towers, and he’s welcome to his opinion, but many of us did.

Furthermore, unlike 1 WTC, the Twin Towers were memorable, inspiring and the recognized signature of the Big Apple.

They were used as the establishing shot for almost every movie filmed in New York City from the time they were finished to the time they came down.

They were us. The Freedom Tower will never represent New York to the world.

It’s just another mediocre building in the skyline.

Now the Port Authority, meaning the toll-paying public, is on the hook for at least $7.5 billion for a project we don’t want and shouldn’t have had to pay for.

We’ve been played for suckers by Silverstein and his shills in the press. Only in New York.Richard Hughes

Manhattan

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In later life, many Americans turn to ‘encore careers’

Don Causey was beginning to plan his retirement, selling off his profitable sporting newsletters when his life took a horrific turn. While on a safari on a long anticipated trip to Africa, a tree tumbled onto him, breaking his back. The process of getting a medical transport to take him from a remote village back to Miami proved arduous and costly.

Today Causey’s back is healed and at 70 he finds himself in a post retirement career — consulting for a company that sells travel memberships that include medical evacuation benefits. It’s a profitable part-time gig that Causey believes is an important service to travelers. Plus, he says, “It keeps my mind alive and keeps me connected with a community I care about, just in a different way.”

Like Causey, most Americans are crafting their own version of meaningful work in their later stages of life. It’s a direction that brings balance and an ability to be impactful in a whole new way.

“More and more people — sometimes by necessity, sometimes by choice — are forgoing traditional retirement and investing a new state of life and work,” says Marci Alboher, with and author of The Encore Career Handbook.

Alboher is part of a movement that has named this later-in-life stage “encore careers,” paid or volunteer work that has a social impact. An encore career can last from a few years to 20 or more. While 9 million Baby Boomers already have entered their encore phase, another 31 million will soon make the leap in that direction, according to Encore.org, a nonprofit organization that promotes second acts for the greater good.

The concept of an encore career is being buoyed by a convergence of trends: financial realities, layoffs, long life spans and the desire for a more purposeful existence during the aging process. “It’s a way to leave a mark that makes things better for future generations,” explains Alboher. “But usually it’s not quick or easy. It’s a slow metamorphosis involving baby steps, detours, persistence, creativity and a do-it-yourself spirit.”

An encore career job might be a nurse or health aide. It could be a teacher, tutor or fundraiser, founder of a nonprofit, or even an entrepreneur that solves a social problem. For many, it has become the answer to “now what?” and “what will be my legacy?”

Knowing what’s ahead, some people plan their encore career for years, beginning as early as their 50s. They use travel time to build alliances or weekends to take a community college course.

Though he’s far from retirement age, my 50-year-old husband surely will need an encore career. Even now, he can’t sit still on days off from work, filling his days with house projects and coming up with new ones once the current list is exhausted. Yet he regularly talks about how he looks forward to retirement — a disaster-in-the-making for a man without a mission.

The reignite-rather-than-retire movement has been recent, but it may already have played a role in curbing the high rate of suicide for older males. David Cohen, author of Out of the Blue, and a professor of psychology at University of Texas had previously discovered a high rate of suicide for males in the 65-to-74 year old age group, observing that this set was susceptible because of its preoccupation with lost status and higher risk of apathy and isolation. That high rate has lowered in recent years.

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Lauderhill police investigating homicide; searching for suspect

Lauderhill police Monday night were investigating an apparent homicide.

Details were sketchy, but police said just before 9 p.m. a woman was shot and killed on the 2800 block of Northwest 55th Avenue.

The victim was dead at the scene.

K-9 units were in the area searching for a possible suspect and a public information officer is now at the scene.

This story will be updated as more details are available.

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His cat, his lunch and a high five: Harper’s day chronicled on Twitter

OTTAWA – One of the cardinal rules of social media: no one cares what you had for lunch. Unless, perhaps, you’re the prime minister.

The people behind Stephen Harper‘s Twitter account are using the first day of Parliament’s winter sitting to provide an intimate look at how the prime minister spends his day.

The posts include a video of Harper’s ride to work, photos of breakfast with his cat Stanley and a lunch that included fruit and a Diet Coke at his desk.

The behind-the-scenes look is the latest move by Harper’s team to bolster his presence on social media platforms.

Digital public affairs analyst Mark Blevis says it’s likely an effort to rebrand Harper in the lead-up to the next election, where he’ll face off against politicians far more adept online.

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The Bachelor Recap: Sean Lowe Eliminates Leslie H and Amanda

The competition for Bachelor Sean Lowe's heart is heating up! 

Thirteen girls are left to vie for Sean's affections this week, and it's no surprise announcements of the coveted one-on-ones are making everyone a bit antsy. To the dismay of the other women (especially Leslie H., who breaks out in tears from frustration), Selma is chosen for the first whirlwind date.

Despite Selma's distaste for athletics and the heat, Sean's rough-and-tumble rock climbing date in the desert turns out to be a hit. The self-proclaimed girly girl escalates the 100-ft rock with relative ease and earns a few points from Sean in the process. As a reward for being a good sport, the two cap off the night with a romantically eclectic dinner in a converted trailer park. Struck by the urge to kiss his date, Sean asks permission to make a move but is denied by Selma out of fear her strict parents will be upset by their nationally broadcast exchange of lust. Respectfully, Sean backs off, but Selma's modesty doesn't deter him from bestowing a rose to his date.

Pics: Meet Sean Lowe's Lucky Ladies!

As if the house wasn't competitive enough, Lindsay, Robyn, Jackie, Catherine, Amanda, AshLee, Sarah and Tierra are pitted against eachother for a spirited roller derby group date. While the festivities begin with fervor, it doesn't take long before Sean decides to change the rules and make the date a friendly one. Amanda, who came into the ring with confidence, suffers a violent spill which sends her to the hospital. Sarah experiences extreme difficulty maintaining her balance with one arm, and nearly leaves the rink for good out of sheer disappointment. In an attempt to assuage the girls' anxieties, Sean opts to forgo the competition and free skate instead.

Back at the house, Tierra grows frustrated as the group date leaves her with little time to spend with the bachelor. This prompts her to spontaneously announce her tearful exit from the competition in the middle of Sean's sexy date. After some reassurance from Sean, Tierra is talked off her ledge and given a rose to the horror of the remaining women.

The second one-on-one went to Leslie H. and Sean goes to extreme lengths to make the outing the most romantic date he can manage. A la Pretty Woman, Leslie was bestowed with diamond earrings before being treated to a day of shopping on Rodeo Dr. and dinner. Despite all the right circumstances, Sean is upset that he isn't feeling a "romantic connection" with Leslie, and opts to send her home.

Recap: 'Bachelor' Sean Sets World Record, Dumps a Fave

"Blindsided," Leslie takes the rejection well. Climbing into her waiting car, she warns Sean to be careful of the ladies who aren't in the competition for the right reasons.

When it came time down to the final rose ceremony, Sean gives Amanda the final boot.

"Sean has everything that I'm looking for," weeps a teary Amanda. "I feel really rejected, and it hurts."

Tune in next week for a special two-night extravaganza of Bachelor madness. Brand-new episodes will air both Monday and Tuesday night on ABC.

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Weak tax laws give NYC potheads a high

John Crudele

Take an unlit cigar, point it top down and roll it between your thumb and forefinger until tobacco starts falling out. There’s now space in the wrapper for your favorite illicit substance.

I’m not suggesting you smoke anything illegal. But you should know about one of the hottest trends in New York City — so hot that it is sparking a boom in the cheap cigar business.

Why should taxpayers care? Because the trend is also costing Albany a small fortune in lost tax revenue.

Today’s pot smokers, it seems, are too lazy to roll their own joints. And they are too smart to pay full price for their indulgence.

Convenience isn’t the only reason cigars are being used as the “delivery system” for marijuana and other drugs.

Potheads are also lighting up cigar sales because their cigar “joints” don’t give off that pungent, sickly sweet smell that makes the people around them snicker, roll their eyes and maybe call the cops.

And flavored cigar wrappers — called “blunts” — are also showing a sales spike because they make the smell of your illicit smoke even harder to detect.

Apple Brown Betty-flavored blunts work well disguising the pot smell, I’m told, as do Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cherry Vanilla wrappers.

It’s like Betty Crocker met Bob Marley.

If I were writing a “How To” piece for the magazine High Times I could stop here.

But since this is the financial section, the point of this column is this: NYC’s mainstream cigar sellers — tobacconists — and the state are being hurt by the booming sales of what one expert calls “inner-city cigars.”

Mark Goldman, who once owned cigar wholesaler House of Oxford, tells me “sales of inner-city cigars are way up.”

“The state government is getting hurt because they are not collecting the tobacco tax,” he said.

“And if they are not collecting the tobacco tax they are certainly not paying the sales tax,” he adds.

There are no statistics on statewide cigar sales.

But five sources with knowledge of the tobacco and cigar industry and another in law enforcement filled me in on what’s been going on.

New York State doesn’t require a tax stamp on cigars like it does on cigarettes, so sellers are left on their own to collect the 75 percent excise tax in addition to the regular 8.875 percent sales tax.

New York State’s stiff tax — which was raised from 46 percent to 75 percent in 2010 by then Gov. Paterson — has enticed owners of candy stores and bodegas to get their merchandise from other states, sources said.

My sources estimate that the state could be losing $1 billion a year in tax revenue.

Pennsylvania is said to be getting the bulk of the business from the New York stores because it doesn’t tax cigars. The economics of those deals are irrefutable.

Not only can these Pennsylvania-bought cigars be sold for the usual profit margin, but once the smokes are in New York the prices are jacked up to near what they would be if bought through legitimate in-state wholesalers.

Altruistic store owners, of course, could pass the entire savings on to customers but they don’t — for good reason.

If their cigars were priced too low it would be a dead giveaway that the smokes are from out of state.

So store owners simply price the out-of-state cigars at a level that would indicate that the 75 percent tax is included and they pocket the extra money rather than send it to Albany.

“Sales have plummeted in these [legitimate] stores” since the cigar tax was jacked up, says David Schwartz, a spokesman for the New York Association of Grocery Stores.

Between when the tax increase was implemented in 2010 and the beginning of 2011, sales at tobacconists have fallen by 25 percent. At the same time, the number of retailers selling high-end cigars dropped to just 40 from 48.

So even as there is a boom in cheap, pothead cigars imported illegally from other states, the fancy tobacconist shops are disappearing.

***

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee is meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday so you can expect the usual array of rumors.

Since former Treasury Secretary and former Fed Vice Chair Tim Geithner is no longer around you shouldn’t expect anyone to leak information to Wall Street friends ahead of this meeting.

People will be watching for more opposition to Chairman Ben Bernanke’s economic policies.

The Catch-22 is this: If the economy is doing as well as some experts think — and, incidentally, I don’t agree with this view — the Fed should start to tighten monetary policy soon.

In order to keep interest rates as low as they are the Fed (and everyone else) would have to admit that the economy is still weak, something that politicians won’t want to do going into talks about the federal budget and debt limits.

It’s a damn tough predicament.

john.crudele@nypost.com

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