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Talk of the bay: No flip-flopping over best beach: It's Fort De Soto

By Times Staff
Published February 29, 2008

Fort De Soto Park's North Beach has been named the top beach in the United States by TripAdvisor, the Web site that touts itself as the world's largest online travel community. TripAdvisor called the beach "a portrait of tranquility, with a spectacular combination of soft, white sand, calm and clear water, and a laid-back atmosphere." The survey of TripAdvisor members and staffers included three other Florida beaches in their top 10: St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City, South Beach in Miami and Pensacola Beach. Fort De Soto also was honored in 2005 as the nation's No. 1 beach by Dr. Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. Dr. Beach. Winners are retired from his competition. Dr. Beach rated Caladesi Island State Park No. 2 in the United States last year.

Sprint hops on the $99 bandwagon

Sprint is the latest one singing the unlimited tune. The wireless company Thursday announced that Sprint customers can have unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web surfing, Sprint TVSM, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, and other services for $99.99 a month. Sprint's announcement, which is effective today, comes a week after Verizon triggered the trend, offering unlimited talk time for $99.99. T-Mobile and AT&T followed with their own versions within hours of the Verizon announcement. Ironically, Sprint was the first company to experiment with the idea, rolling out unlimited test plans in certain areas including the Tampa market.

Tampa's Utek finds expansion partner

Utek Corp., a Tampa firm that helps businesses sift university labs for marketable inventions, has agreed to acquire the Chicago consulting firm Strategos Inc. in an all-stock deal. Strategos is being acquired for a maximum of 1,248,960 shares of Utek stock, with payments over two years tied to revenue milestones. The deal is expected to close in March. Strategos had a net loss of $375,000 in 2007 on sales of $10.8-million. Combined, the two companies have 85 consultants in the United States and Europe.

[Last modified February 28, 2008, 22:54:25]