Plain Words eLetter
June 2003
Lead Stories
Can't Make That Meeting? Send A Robot Instead
Extra
E-Business news
Governments Won Over By Outsourcing
E-Books Turn CEOS Into Celebrities
IT Execs Give Thumbs Up To Open Source
Technology round-up
Virtual Keyboards To Ease Sore Thumbs
Radio Tags May Be Embedded In Euro Notes
Off-beat news
Lead stories
Is Wi-Fi Ready To Fly?
What with McDonalds giving away one hour's free access with every meal and Boeing building flying cyber cafes, Wi-Fi looks set to take off. "There's no upper limit to how you can use [Wi-Fi]," says Dean Douglas, vice president for telecommunications at IBM Global Services. More...
Can't Make That Meeting? Send A Robot Instead
Hewlett-Packard has built a robot "stand in" that lets you attend business meetings virtually. You can wander from office to office and even whisper an aside to someone -- all from a thousand miles away. More...
Extra
New Service Makes Bids And Proposals Easy To Produce
Submitting bids and proposals and responding to tenders is the bread and butter of most organisations. It brings the money in. Yet it is often a time-consuming chore and drain on manpower.
Plain Words' new Bid And Proposal Consultancy Service makes it easy to produce bids, proposals, and tender responses. By analysing a company's needs and requirements, Plain Words creates a software framework that automates the entire process. Specialist editing, formatting, and writing services can be added to the equation - giving added weight and "fire power" to bids and proposals. More...
E-Business news
Governments Won Over By Outsourcing
Nearly 90 percent of government managers worldwide say they outsource services that are "important or absolutely critical" to the citizens they serve, according to a new survey conducted by consulting firm Accenture. The findings of the study came out of surveys and interviews with more than 150 executives in 23 governments in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. The services most outsourced by governments are information technology applications and infrastructure support, finance and accounting, human resources, supply chain operations, and staff training and education.
The results of the study indicated that outsourcing may not result in clear cost savings. But cost was not necessarily the reason why many of the government managers opted to outsource. They wanted to gain access to technology, or to make their operations more efficient, and thus were happy with their decision to outsource. More...
E-Books Turn CEOS Into Celebrities
Before the web and electronic books, self-publishing (AKA "vanity publishing") was seen as decidedly uncool. It wasn't "real" publishing. But now, CEOs and business executives are making it hip and are cranking out e-books as part of their self-promotional arsenal. Some are also using Print-On-Demand services. The most successful self-published titles cater to people needing "how-to" business information not easily found in high street bookstores.
People's lives are perhaps more affected by business issues nowadays than they were 20 years ago. And more and more are going into business for themselves," said Marven Krug, general manager of Amazon.com. A spokesperson from self-publishers Trafford Publishing added that roughly 10 percent of books today are self-published, and that business books are one of the most heavily represented in that category. More...
-- One successful business self-publisher is Mark Joyner, CEO of Aesop.com. You can check out his self-published 1001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics here. Joyner has now entered mainstream publishing with his latest book Mind Control Marketing (recommended by Plain Words eLetter editor).
Mobile Phones To Detect SARS
Swedish firm Med Day claims it can reduce the spread of deadly diseases like SARS with a mobile phone. Med Day's technology lets people enter their symptoms into a smart mobile phone or PDA and transmit the information to doctors, who could quickly diagnose the condition. The technology - provided through national phone operators - will enable a country's disease control organisation to monitor an entire population and be alerted when symptoms develop and patterns emerge for diseases.
The World Health Organisation and other medical authorities state that early detection of diseases like SARS can help contain the disease and increase patient survival. "If China gave [our product] out to people they would be able to control SARS," said Sophia Salenius, founder and managing director of Med Day. More...
IT Execs Give Thumbs Up To Open Source
The IT community is growing more comfortable with the open source development model, according to a new survey by CIO of 375 IT professionals. Those questioned said they expected open source to dominate their web server application platforms and server operating systems within five years.
They cited cheaper running costs, greater reliability and uptime, and flexibility as the main reasons for adopting open source software. Most said they would choose open source for an implementation over a proprietary vendor solution. They are not alone: A NASA analyst recently published a paper recommending the space agency move some of its software development to an open source model. More...
Tech Sector On The Up
Since the crash in 2000, the technology sector has made a stronger recovery than most people realise - and share prices look set to keep rising. After hitting a low point last October, the Nasdaq index of US technology stocks soared by around 40%. UK shares haven't done quite so well due to exchange rates. But over the past three months the average fund has risen by 10 percent. And over the past year technology has been one of the best performing sectors.
Hugh Grieves, joint manager of the SocGen Technology fund is convinced that prices will continue to rise. "I've recently spend a lot of time in America visiting companies and checking out what is happening in Silicon Valley. The feeling I got was that tech companies generally are much more optimistic than they were even six months ago," he said. More...
Technology round-up
Virtual Keyboards To Ease Sore Thumbs
Virtual keyboards - which project an image of a computer keyboard on any flat surface - look set to solve the problem of sore thumbs associated with typing on the tiny keyboards of PDAs and cell phones. Canesta, a California-based manufacturer of electronics, says its chipset could allow firms to incorporate virtual keyboards into PDAs and smart phones by the end of the year.
Because they demand little force, virtual keyboards would also ease wrist and finger strain in general that can result from typing. But to get users comfortable with the new technology, Canesta's chipset produces a familiar "clicking" sound. "People get used to it in about 10 minutes of use," said Jim Spare, vice president of product marketing at Canesta. More...
Radio Tags May Be Embedded In Euro Notes
Tiny radio tags could be embedded in the Euro note if a rumoured deal between the European Central Bank (ECB) and Japanese electronics maker Hitachi is signed. The ECB is concerned about the extent of counterfeiting and money laundering, and is said to be looking at radio tag technology.
"The main objective is to determine the authenticity of money and to stop counterfeits" said Prianka Chopra, an analyst with market research firm Frost and Sullivan in a report published in March. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags are also able to record information such as the transactions a paper note has been involved in - which would prevent money laundering and stop kidnappers demanding unmarked bills. Besides acting as a digital watermark, radio chips could speed up routine bank processes like counting. More...
Off-beat news
Takes The Biscuit
Be very careful next time you bite into a biscuit at a business meeting - you could be giving away your personality. Psychologist Gladeana McMahon has done a study on the behaviour of boardroom members and how their choice of biscuit reveals character traits and approaches to work.
She says a Jaffa Cake shows someone who is creative and imaginative, while a traditional custard cream indicates reliability. "The biscuits they choose, the number they eat, and whether they stick to the same biscuit all say something about the people themselves," she said. More...
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