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Palatine site gets sweet boost in recognition

Palatine-based ChocolateCakeClub.com, which started in 2005 to help busy moms organize their households and help their children, has soared in its national ranking, now at 17th of 200 sites.

The StartupNation.com’s Leading Moms in Business competition ranked this same site at 134th place about three years ago.

So owner and founder Sue Kirchner believes her online efforts are finally paying off.

“The site came about when we went out to dinner with some friends and always found ourselves talking about how stressed out we were with our kids,” said the mother of a young son and daughter. “That’s when I thought about using that negative energy and turning it around into something positive and reminding us of the jobs of parenthood.”

The Palatine resident and former marketing executive has been selling various products for children and offering tips for busy parents on her site, which she calls an e-boutique.

She is now developing themed birthday party entertainment kits and idea guides to sell, so parents can throw fun, memorable birthday parties in their home without losing their sanity. Some kits are already available on the site, including a pirate party and garden party.

In addition, Kirchner has been blogging on Chocolate Cake Moments and offering other moms a chance to communicate with each other.

As the economy improves, Kirchner aims to expand the site further.

“My dream is to have a lot of part-time jobs for moms who want to go back into the workforce,” she said.

Surfing: AT&T Inc., which has its Midwest headquarters in Hoffman Estates (at least for now), is offering U-verse customers the Chicago Cubs Multiview, an interactive TV app that lets them watch the Cubs by viewing up to four different camera angles at one time of home games. This was offered in 2009 with the My Multiview app, so this is the first time with a nationwide U-verse rollout. There’s no extra charge.

타 Comcast Corp., which has its Midwest headquarters in Schaumburg, is offering the free Xfinity Triple Play self-install kit, which allows customers to install and activate their TV, phone and Internet services in their homes whenever they want. The only cost would be $9.95 for basic shipping or $29.95 for premium shipping. Otherwise, it would cost about $80 to have a technician come to your home to do the installation, said Comcast spokesman Jack Segal.

타 Libertyville-based Motorola Mobility’s Xoom users with Verizon Wireless will be able to rent movies, use Bluetooth headsets during video chats and resize their widgets with a software update for the Android 3.1 Honeycomb. Xoom with Wi-Fi tablets will get the update in upcoming weeks.

타 What new innovation will be announced at The Cable Show on June 14-16 at McCormick Place in Chicago? Last year, Comcast’s iPad app was featured.

타Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter. Write to her at akukec@dailyherald.com.