David L. Calhoun, chairman of the management board and chief executive officer of The Nielsen Company B.V., has been elected at The Boeing Co.'s newest board member.

Calhoun, 52, will take office immediately. The company said he is expected to serve on the Boeing board's audit and finance committees.

"Dave is an exceptional executive with a deep understanding of our business and what it takes to succeed in global markets," said Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney. "I'm grateful he agreed to join our board and I look forward to his contributions to our company."

Prior to his 2006 move to Nielsen, a global information and media company, Calhoun spent more than 25 years at General Electric, where he held several senior positions including vice chairman of the company and president and CEO of the GE Infrastructure, GE Transportation, and GE Aircraft Engines businesses.

SeaTac's Horizon Air has altered its fall flight schedule to respond to customers' suggestions for better timed flights.

The new schedule takes effect Aug. 23. The schedule is available on the regional airline's Web page www.alaskaair.com.

Most of the major changes involve retiming of flights between Boise and Spokane; Boise and Idaho Falls, Idaho; Bend, Ore. and Los Angeles; Redding, Calif., and Seattle, and Flagstaff, Ariz. and Los Angeles.

"We keep in close contact with our frequent fliers, and many of the adjustments to our schedule are being made directly in response to what they shared with us," said Dan Russo, the airline's vice president of marketing and communications.

The fanfare for the transition from analog television to digital TV has been playing for months on television.

And Friday it may actually happen.

The date for the changeover was postponed from February to June earlier this year when the federal government got nervous that the public wasn't sufficiently prepared.

Now, with hundreds of public service announcements aired about the changeover, the TV stations are pulling the trigger.

Some of the lesser known stations have already switched to digital, but most of the local stations will flip the switch Frday. Here are the transition times:

KOMO-TV Channel 4 ABC 11:59 p.m. Friday
KING-TV Channel 5 NBC 11:59 p.m. Thursday
KIRO-TV Channel 7 CBS 9:00 a.m. Friday
KCTS-TV Channel 9 PBS 4:00 a.m. Friday
KSTW-TV Channel 11 UPN Noon Friday
KCPQ-TV Channel 13 Fox 9:00 a.m. Friday
KONG-TV Channel 6 Independent 9 a.m. Friday
KTBW-TV Channel 14 TBN Already switched
KMYQ-TV Channel 22 MyNetwork 9:00 a.m. Friday
KBTC-TV Channel 28 PBS 9:00 a.m. Friday
KWPX-TV Channel 15 Ion Already switched
KUNS-TV Channel 51 Univision 6:00 a.m.

People with cable television r satellite TV should make the transition seamlessly. Those using antennas will need an converter box to see the over-the-air channels. Coupons are available to help pay the cost of those boxes, usually about $50 or $60.

Full information on the transition is available at the Web site www.DTV2009.gov.

If you’re thinking about having lunch or dinner at the Tacoma Elks Club this summer, you’ll need to reconsider.

The dining room at the venerable private club will be closed in July and August. So says Club manager Dom Buffamonte.

“We are going to make a cutback in service for lunches and dinners for July and August,” he explained earlier today. “We’re still going to have our banquets, and our lounge is open.”

Buffamnte said business has slowed with the recession.
"That’s the problem, it’s everywhere," he said. “Business is down anyway during those months. We’re going to cut back a little. We are just tightening our belt for a couple of months. In September, the economy will be back up.”

Microsoft stepped back into the ring last week with a renovated version of Bing – its search engine that has undergone a series of re-branding efforts to make it more competitive with, say, Google.

And if Bing wins the clicking duel, maybe Wikipedia or Webster will coin a new verb after the famed search engine as they have for its No. 1 competitor, (though Binging or Banging things doesn’t have the same ring as Googling them).

In my non-tech-minded attempt to give the newly revamped contender a chance at my searching devotions, I have assembled a few rudimentary tests for comparison. Here are my results:

1. My first priority was Binging and Googling myself, Whitney K. Coleman, to see which engine brought up my personal Web site.

Bing brought up someone elses Facebook page, the stats of a male basketball player at Monmouth University (Go Hawks?) and, eventually, a column I had written for Examiner.com – but no Web site on the first page.

Google, however, brought up my site right out of the gate. Maybe it had been conditioned by my frequent, vain attempts at Googling myself.

Google: 1 pt.

2. Next, I tested the application I use most often – maps – to guide me through the still-foreign streets of Tacoma.

I generally have a faint idea of where I want the map to take me, such as part of a business or restaurant name. My current project is compiling maps for out-of-town guests to my wedding, so I gave Bing a swing at it.

I searched for directions from Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS to Terradyne Country Club, Andover, KS – and got the exclamation-mark-in-yellow-triangle symbol, which is never good.

Bing said that this was not an exact match and asked if I just wanted to use just Wichita, KS instead. Apparently it needs a full address.

I would have to Google the church and country club to get the full address.

Google gave me suggested addresses for each, from which I chose the correct ones. It plotted the best route on the map, and I saved the map as a pdf to be dispersed amongst the groom’s Oklahoma family members.

Google: 1 pt.

3. While reading an article at NYTimes.com, I clicked a Bing ad that offered updates on flight times. By typing “Flight“ followed by the flight number, both Bing and Google bring up relevant information, including whether or not the flight is on time, from FlightStats.com.

Bing topped Google on this one by bringing up the information on its search page in a neat, legible format; whereas, Google provided a link to FlightStats.com for the info.

Bing: 1 pt.

4. Movie Times. I’m still hoping to see the Earth movie on the big screen. Though I may have missed my chance, I searched “Earth movie times.“

Bing brought up movie times in Middleton, New York, which is an odd default location considering Microsoft is just north of here in Seattle.

I clicked the option to change my location and Bing brought up a settings page. Cool! I could filter out sexually explicit images and text or choose to have searches returned in Swedish. I digress.

I’ve never seen an options page like that in Google, which might have just memorized my location based on frequent searches (an unfair advantage since I’m new to Bing).

According to Google and Bing (with the new location saved), a dollar theatre in Renton and drive-in in Port Orchard are still showing the life-size animal picture.

Considering Google's unfair advantage, I declare this one a tie.

5. And one random search to top off the test:

I wanted to know how many calories were in the sake I had with sushi last night.

A search for “calories in sake“ on Bing brings up all the information on the search page. No more clicks are required to find out that there are 39 calories per fluid ounce in the rice wine, according to the USDA, and that I had too much of it.

The same search on Google brings up a link to caloriecount.com, which was the second link on Bing’s page. It takes another click to get to the calorie count from Google.

But if you spell sake like “saki,“ both engines bring up a link to the outdated dailyplate.com, which has to take you to livestrong.com to get the facts – which are not necessarily accurate since they are entered by the general public.

When it comes to calories, sometimes it's better not to know anyway.

Bing: 1 pt.

In the end, the score is tied 4to 4.

Since I use maps the most, I’ll probably stick with tried-and-true Google for most things. But it’s nice to know I have options – and that Microsoft is willing to spend $100 million in advertisements to entice me to use their option.

Feel free to perform and tell us about your own tests of the dueling search engines in the comment portion below.

Businesses eager to jump on the green bandwagon might be eligible for a little help from Tacoma Alliance for Clean Technology and Sustainability (ACTS).

Facilitated by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, ACTS is looking for applicants to a pilot program for “green businesses.“

ACTS will select 15 businesses to have access to existing resources for reducing their carbon footprints in “cost-effective and measurable ways,“ according to a release.

The businesses also will be included in promotional efforts by the alliance and collaborating state and local groups.

So far, Print NW and FSC Supplier are listed in ACTS’s business directory as partners in the effort.

Applications for the yearlong program are available at www.tacomaacts.org and due June 30.