They don't call 'em CrackBerrys for nothing.
Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone, along with a wide variety of Web-enabled mobile phones like Apple's popular iPhone, Windows Mobile and Nokia devices, can be downright addictive to some folks.
Addiction to anything, be it illicit drugs or cutting-edge gadgets, is unhealthy. In fact, Merriam-Webster defines addiction as: "Persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful." I think some BlackBerry users might argue their precious devices aren't harmful-and they're not really substances-but others more familiar with the dreaded BlackBerry Thumb and its potential health impediments would be more likely to agree that device obsession is a problem.
But another issue is coming to light as more and more businesspeople pick up BlackBerrys: What 24/7 smartphone connectivity, which is the first step on the road to BlackBerry addiction, means to the businesses and corporations that issue such devices to their employees.
A recent fracas between ABC-TV, a handful of its writers and producers and the Writer's Guild of America East (WGAE) may be a harbinger of things to come. To make a long drama short, ABC staffers requested that they be compensated by the company for time spent on their BlackBerrys outside of normal working hours, according to CBSNews.com. At first ABC denied the request, saying an "agreement" between the company and its employees had been in place for years that states no overtime pay would be doled out to writers with company BlackBerrys, Telegraph.co.uk reports. ABC then issued waivers to its BlackBerry users asking them to acknowledge that they may be required to use their smartphones during off hours without any additional pay.
That's when the WGAE stepped in and instructed the writers not to sign or agree to the terms within the document, which prompted ABC to revoke the non-compliant writers and producers' BlackBerrys, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.
Shortly thereafter, the disagreement was reportedly settled, with the return of the confiscated BlackBerrys and the agreement on the part of ABC to compensate its staffers who use their mobile devices "beyond routine." So, in effect, ABC said it will pay the BlackBerry users who employ their devices most frequently for work outside of traditional hours. And you can bet the company also created its own official corporate smartphone overtime compensation policy, to help avoid such confusion in the future.
This approach of creating an official BlackBerry overtime policy, is becoming common-though I suspect few companies are actually agreeing to pay for afterhours smartphone use. In fact, a number of attorneys suggest that organizations follow ABC's lead and draft BlackBerry-use policies before they're brought to court by disgruntled employees or workers claiming to be suffering from related health ailments like carpal tunnel syndrome.
Jeremy Roth, an attorney with San Diego-based Littler Mendelson, told The National Law Journal that he thinks it's only a matter of time before employees realize they can win legal claims for overtime payment related to BlackBerry-use while outside of work. And Roth says employers may have a tough time disputing claims because BlackBerry devices, and carrier service records, could be used as proof that the staffers were indeed using the devices during the times they claimed.
One important component of the issue is whether or not employees are contractually "exempt" or "non-exempt." Federal labor laws say that nonexempt employees are eligible for overtime compensation, while exempt staffers-typically managers, supervisors, lawyers, administrative employees and other professionals-are not entitled to overtime pay, according to The National Law Journal. So a possible route around thorny legal issues would be to deploy corporate devices only to exempt staff members. Organizations could also require staffers to get permission to use their BlackBerrys outside of the office, or like ABC, attempt to get them to sign waivers that acknowledge overtime pay is out of the question.
Personally, I use a single BlackBerry which I bought and pay for myself for work and play. And I'll admit it, I'm addicted. (The CIO.com BlackBerry Addiction Poll confirmed this fact.) But frankly, I don't expect to be paid for my use of the device beyond the nine-to-five, as I'm not required to do so. In other words, I don't ever have to respond to messages after I leave the office-though I frequently do. I realize this isn't the case for many of you, and perhaps you should be compensated, but I always have the choice of whether or not to wait until morning to respond to messages.
What's your take on the whole deal? If you're a corporate smartphone user, do you feel like you should be paid extra for the time you spend responding to messages, etc., during off hours? Or if you're a manager, smartphone admin or executive, do you think your staff should be compensated for their overtime BlackBerry use? Why or why not?
Friday, June 27, 2008
Nokia to Target India’s Rural Markets
Nokia has announced that it is taking up several initiatives as part of its strategy to address India's rural market, which is seen as the next big opportunity for mobile service providers and handset makers.
The company's strategy includes financing options to reduce up front costs for ownership of mobile phones in cost-sensitive rural markets. The company is working with a micro-finance agency to work out a financing package that will lower the entry cost for rural users, a Nokia spokeswoman said on Friday. Nokia is running pilots of this program in some rural markets, with a formal launch of the program likely soon, she added.
Nokia is also working with service and content providers to be able to deliver information such as agricultural prices and weather to people in rural areas.
The company is also expanding its sales and service channels and will rely on a mix of both vans and small shops to market its products in the areas, the spokeswoman said.
Gartner forecast last year that cellular services revenue will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18.4 percent to US$25.6 billion by 2011. Most of the growth will come from rural markets which are under-served, Gartner said. Large Indian mobile service providers are targeting the rural market with aggressive tariffs and low-cost handsets.
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The company's strategy includes financing options to reduce up front costs for ownership of mobile phones in cost-sensitive rural markets. The company is working with a micro-finance agency to work out a financing package that will lower the entry cost for rural users, a Nokia spokeswoman said on Friday. Nokia is running pilots of this program in some rural markets, with a formal launch of the program likely soon, she added.
Nokia is also working with service and content providers to be able to deliver information such as agricultural prices and weather to people in rural areas.
The company is also expanding its sales and service channels and will rely on a mix of both vans and small shops to market its products in the areas, the spokeswoman said.
Gartner forecast last year that cellular services revenue will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18.4 percent to US$25.6 billion by 2011. Most of the growth will come from rural markets which are under-served, Gartner said. Large Indian mobile service providers are targeting the rural market with aggressive tariffs and low-cost handsets.
Sponsored Resource: Learn about storing and securing your data before disaster strikes., Learn more about ultra light notebooks from Asus and the best warranty in the industry. How much processing power do you need? Intel can help you decide. ,Thinking about a new Laptop? Lenovo has models to meet everyone's needs. ,Get the truth about remanufactured ink. Learn more from HP. ,Small budget, big impact. Create Brochures that pop with HP laser jets printers.
Takara Tomy Develops World's Smallest Karaoke System
If you thought sitting next to someone blasting their iPod was bad, just wait until October when Takara Tomy launches a portable karaoke system that allows would-be crooners to belt out a tune no matter where they are.
The Hi-kara is a complete karaoke system in a 7-centimeter cube. A 2.4-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen on the front of the box displays a video and song lyrics and users can hear the music and sing through a custom headset that includes a microphone. Or, if desired, it can be hooked-up to a pair of speakers so that multiple people can hear the song.
White and pink models of the Hi-kara, which is aimed at children of around eight years old, will go on sale in Japan on Oct. 18 and will cost ¥10,500 (US$97).
Songs can be added to the system in cartridges that will cost either ¥2,100 for 10 songs or ¥3,675 for 20 songs. Takara Tomy plans to offer both preloaded cartridges and prepaid blank ones onto which users can download songs of their choice through a planned Internet site.
Four AA-batteries will provide enough power for about four and a half hours use.
Takara Tomy hopes to sell 500,000 units of the Hi-kara during its first year on sale. by Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
The Hi-kara is a complete karaoke system in a 7-centimeter cube. A 2.4-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen on the front of the box displays a video and song lyrics and users can hear the music and sing through a custom headset that includes a microphone. Or, if desired, it can be hooked-up to a pair of speakers so that multiple people can hear the song.
White and pink models of the Hi-kara, which is aimed at children of around eight years old, will go on sale in Japan on Oct. 18 and will cost ¥10,500 (US$97).
Songs can be added to the system in cartridges that will cost either ¥2,100 for 10 songs or ¥3,675 for 20 songs. Takara Tomy plans to offer both preloaded cartridges and prepaid blank ones onto which users can download songs of their choice through a planned Internet site.
Four AA-batteries will provide enough power for about four and a half hours use.
Takara Tomy hopes to sell 500,000 units of the Hi-kara during its first year on sale. by Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
How to make money on internet as a part time job
Want to enjoy working from home and at the same time fulfill all your tangible desires? Have an attraction towards the world of internet? Want to earn some handsome side income?Well, if answers for all the above or to any one of above or to other similar questions are/is YES then you are ready to dive in the world of internet to earn some hard cash.One can become a billionaire and one can even remain wherever he is, it all depends on one's ability to sense things and deliver. Well, the internet platform offers one to do whatever he wants to do.There are infinite numbers of opportunities. … so welcome to the galaxy, an encyclopedia on how to earn money on internet efficiently and effectively.
Paid Survey
A paid survey is a type of online statistical survey where the participant is rewarded through an incentive program. A paid survey is used to collect quantitative information about the participant’s personal and economic habits. Often used by marketing firms to test new advertisements, they offer the participant a cash reward or entry into a sweepstakes program.Legitimate paid surveys exist because, in order to remain competitive in their given markets, companies need a better understanding of their customers and the customers' perception of products. Surveys that are legitimate are separated by personal demographics so that the data will better apply to the target audience the marketing firm is trying to reach.Because the corporate marketing companies need to understand consumer perceptions in-depth, they will offer incentives to survey participants. A participant will never have to pay for a legitimate paid survey. Pay Per Click (PPC)PPC is an ad serving program run by Most Search Engines. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by the search engine and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. This is one of the best methodes you could use.......
Cashback WebsitesCashback websites are a type of Reward website that pays its members a percentage of money earned when they purchase goods and services via their affiliate links.The cashback website will receive a commission payment from the retailer and once the purchase is confirmed will then share this payment with the customer who made the purchase. This means that the cashback site makes a profit on the sale and the consumer gets to recoup some of the initial outlay back.
Paid Survey
A paid survey is a type of online statistical survey where the participant is rewarded through an incentive program. A paid survey is used to collect quantitative information about the participant’s personal and economic habits. Often used by marketing firms to test new advertisements, they offer the participant a cash reward or entry into a sweepstakes program.Legitimate paid surveys exist because, in order to remain competitive in their given markets, companies need a better understanding of their customers and the customers' perception of products. Surveys that are legitimate are separated by personal demographics so that the data will better apply to the target audience the marketing firm is trying to reach.Because the corporate marketing companies need to understand consumer perceptions in-depth, they will offer incentives to survey participants. A participant will never have to pay for a legitimate paid survey. Pay Per Click (PPC)PPC is an ad serving program run by Most Search Engines. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by the search engine and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. This is one of the best methodes you could use.......
Cashback WebsitesCashback websites are a type of Reward website that pays its members a percentage of money earned when they purchase goods and services via their affiliate links.The cashback website will receive a commission payment from the retailer and once the purchase is confirmed will then share this payment with the customer who made the purchase. This means that the cashback site makes a profit on the sale and the consumer gets to recoup some of the initial outlay back.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
AOL Turns the iPhone into an Expensive Radio
Here’s one way I listened to the radio in grade school: I wound a coil of wire and connected it to a small crystal, a little yellow earphone and a few other parts nailed to a board. This crystal radio was enough to receive WJR, then the CBS affiliate in Detroit, where I grew up. Batteries were not required. Here is how someone will be able to listen to the radio next month: Buy an Apple iPhone and download the new AOL Radio application. It will connect to AOL’s servers by way of the cellular network. The phone’s GPS system will monitor signals from satellites orbiting 12,000 miles in space in order to determine your location. This will automatically determine your location and tune to the digital stream from the nearest CBS station.Have we really made progress?
OK, that’s a sort of complicated question. From the 1970s to today, a cheap transistor radio has been a fine and portable way to listen to local radio. It beats the crystal set I made — and in many ways, it’s superior to the latest configuration of an iPhone.
But I actually think that the use of the iPhone for streaming audio is groundbreaking. Most of the Rube Goldberg complexity is under the surface. It expands what you can listen to on an iPod, adding news, weather, DJ blather and songs you don’t own. The AOL service lets you listen to some 200 stations, including CBS radio stations and others programmed to 25 genres.
More importantly, the same technology is available to others that offer streaming services. This can be audio and presumably video of all types, including the sort of customized radio offered by Pandora and Last.FM.
The AOL application will work over a Wi-Fi connection and the cellular data network with both the original iPhone and the faster 3G iPhone. Kevin Conroy, an executive vice president of AOL, said in an e-mail that the application offers sound quality as good as listening to a CD.
AOL Radio on the iPhone will be free to users, with audio advertising inserted in the radio streams. There may be graphic ads in the application later.
All of this begins to answer the nagging question about how much latitude Apple and AT&T will allow to applications that may challenge their own businesses. Streaming media, of course, can use a lot of bandwidth. And it can compete both with Apple’s iTunes store and whatever hopes AT&T may have for making money from over-the-air music and video.
Apple has not restricted AOL’s ability to offer over-the-air streaming supported by ads. Apple even awarded the AOL Radio application a design award in the “best iPhone entertainment app” category.
The picture is not entirely consistent. Apple still won’t enable the Adobe’s Flash video format, which has the effect of limiting the amount of streaming video on the iPhone. (Apple has enabled video streaming in other formats.) And there are reports that the terms for iPhone developers ban the creation of applications that use the Global Positioning System feature for “real-time route guidance,” perhaps to avoid competition with Apple’s own navigation services.
However, Apple does seem to understand that it will ultimately fare best if it makes the iPhone as useful as possible. And that means exploiting the device’s ability to stream music, talk and video. I’d say that’s handy even if you do have to charge the battery every day.
The Newest Twist in ConnectU v. Facebook
Earlier this year, Facebook reached a settlement in its long-simmering, often embarrassing lawsuit with ConnectU, a Harvard dating site whose founders claim that their one-time employee, then-college sophomore Mark Zuckerberg, stole their idea.
But just because there was a peace accord does not mean the parties in ConnectU v. Faceboook have stopped fighting.
A ConnectU lawyer tried to get out of the deal last week, claiming in a Massachusetts district court that incriminating instant messages found on Facebook’s hard drives yielded smoking-gun evidence of wrongdoing by Facebook‘s founder. ConnectU said they had not seen that evidence, but that a forensic expert had informed Judge Douglas P. Woodlock of its existence.
Judge Woodlock dismissed ConnectU’s argument and speculated instead that the ConnectU founders had a case of “buyer’s remorse” over the settlement.
But that might not be quite right either.
According to case documents in Massachusetts and the related countersuit in a California district court, the ConnectU founders, brothers Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, have been busy hiring some new legal muscle: the Washington law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner and the stock fraud expert Sean F. O’Shea of O’Shea Partners in New York.
What exactly does that mean?
Most documents in the case are sealed and neither of the parties are talking to the media. But the late-game lawyer swapping and addition of Mr. Shea to the ConnectU counsel table, suggests a new direction in the case. Since the Facebook-ConnectU settlement was likely part-cash, part-stock, one possibility is that the ConnectU founders feel misled by the value of the equity portion of the settlement and believe that fraudulent representations about its value were made to them.
These issues should come to a head on a settlement hearing on June 23 before Federal District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif. At the hearing, ConnectU’s lawyers will probably argue that Facebook committed fraud and misrepresented the value of stock included in the settlement.
The fact that ConnectU has added new lawyers and dropped its one-time lawyers at Quinn Emanuel also suggests the possibility that ConnectU could try to hold the law firm responsible for not doing proper due diligence on the settlement. There’s at least one sign of acrimony between ConnectU and Quinn Emanuel: the law firm recently filed a lien against ConnectU for any financial settlement or judgment received by the site.
But just because there was a peace accord does not mean the parties in ConnectU v. Faceboook have stopped fighting.
A ConnectU lawyer tried to get out of the deal last week, claiming in a Massachusetts district court that incriminating instant messages found on Facebook’s hard drives yielded smoking-gun evidence of wrongdoing by Facebook‘s founder. ConnectU said they had not seen that evidence, but that a forensic expert had informed Judge Douglas P. Woodlock of its existence.
Judge Woodlock dismissed ConnectU’s argument and speculated instead that the ConnectU founders had a case of “buyer’s remorse” over the settlement.
But that might not be quite right either.
According to case documents in Massachusetts and the related countersuit in a California district court, the ConnectU founders, brothers Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, have been busy hiring some new legal muscle: the Washington law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner and the stock fraud expert Sean F. O’Shea of O’Shea Partners in New York.
What exactly does that mean?
Most documents in the case are sealed and neither of the parties are talking to the media. But the late-game lawyer swapping and addition of Mr. Shea to the ConnectU counsel table, suggests a new direction in the case. Since the Facebook-ConnectU settlement was likely part-cash, part-stock, one possibility is that the ConnectU founders feel misled by the value of the equity portion of the settlement and believe that fraudulent representations about its value were made to them.
These issues should come to a head on a settlement hearing on June 23 before Federal District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif. At the hearing, ConnectU’s lawyers will probably argue that Facebook committed fraud and misrepresented the value of stock included in the settlement.
The fact that ConnectU has added new lawyers and dropped its one-time lawyers at Quinn Emanuel also suggests the possibility that ConnectU could try to hold the law firm responsible for not doing proper due diligence on the settlement. There’s at least one sign of acrimony between ConnectU and Quinn Emanuel: the law firm recently filed a lien against ConnectU for any financial settlement or judgment received by the site.
Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast
SAN FRANCISCO — The onslaught of cellphone calls and e-mail and instant messages is fracturing attention spans and hurting productivity. It is a common complaint. But now the very companies that helped create the flood are trying to mop it up. Some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are banding together to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers — theirs and others — cope with the digital deluge.
Their effort comes as statistical and anecdotal evidence mounts that the same technology tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused.
The big chip maker Intel found in an eight-month internal study that some employees who were encouraged to limit digital interruptions said they were more productive and creative as a result.
Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.
A Google software engineer last week introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.
Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at the research firm Basex and a member of the new group’s board, said the companies realized they faced a monster of their own creation. He pointed to a Silicon Valley maxim that companies should “eat their own dog food,” meaning they should make use of their own innovations.
“They’re realizing they’re eating too much,” Mr. Spira said.
Many people readily recognize that they face — or invite — continual interruption, but the emerging data on the scale of the problem may come as a surprise.
A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure by RescueTime, a company that analyzes computer habits. The company, which draws its data from 40,000 people who have tracking software on their computers, found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.
The fractured attention comes at a cost. In the United States, more than $650 billion a year in productivity is lost because of unnecessary interruptions, predominately mundane matters, according to Basex. The firm says that a big chunk of that cost comes from the time it takes people to recover from an interruption and get back to work.
Companies are also realizing that there is money to be made in helping people reduce their digital gluttony. Major corporations around the world are searching for ways to keep software tools from becoming distractions, said John Tang, a researcher at I.B.M., who is a member of the new group.
“There’s a competitive advantage of figuring out how to address this problem,” Mr. Tang said. He said that there was “a certain amount of irony” in the fact that the solutions are coming from the very companies that built the digital systems in the first place.
The introspection in Silicon Valley comes with defensiveness, judging from conversations with those involved. Digital communications are sacrosanct, the tools of the revolution, so the criticisms of them are merely a path to thinking about how they can be done better. And, of course, the solution to the technology problem is simply more and better technology.
Outside the working group, the participating companies, like I.B.M., are already devising ways to contain the digital flow.
The E-Mail Addict feature in Gmail is more of a blunt instrument. Clicking the “Take a break” link turns the screen gray, and a message reads: “Take a walk, get some real work done, or have a snack. We’ll be back in 15 minutes!”
Michael Davidson, the engineer who created the feature, said the idea for it came after he was talking to friends about the constant temptation to check e-mail messages. Some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are banding together to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers — theirs and others — cope with the digital deluge.
Their effort comes as statistical and anecdotal evidence mounts that the same technology tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused.
The big chip maker Intel found in an eight-month internal study that some employees who were encouraged to limit digital interruptions said they were more productive and creative as a result.
Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.
A Google software engineer last week introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.
Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at the research firm Basex and a member of the new group’s board, said the companies realized they faced a monster of their own creation. He pointed to a Silicon Valley maxim that companies should “eat their own dog food,” meaning they should make use of their own innovations.
“They’re realizing they’re eating too much,” Mr. Spira said.
Many people readily recognize that they face — or invite — continual interruption, but the emerging data on the scale of the problem may come as a surprise.
A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure by RescueTime, a company that analyzes computer habits. The company, which draws its data from 40,000 people who have tracking software on their computers, found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.
The fractured attention comes at a cost. In the United States, more than $650 billion a year in productivity is lost because of unnecessary interruptions, predominately mundane matters, according to Basex. The firm says that a big chunk of that cost comes from the time it takes people to recover from an interruption and get back to work.
Companies are also realizing that there is money to be made in helping people reduce their digital gluttony. Major corporations around the world are searching for ways to keep software tools from becoming distractions, said John Tang, a researcher at I.B.M., who is a member of the new group.
“There’s a competitive advantage of figuring out how to address this problem,” Mr. Tang said. He said that there was “a certain amount of irony” in the fact that the solutions are coming from the very companies that built the digital systems in the first place.
The introspection in Silicon Valley comes with defensiveness, judging from conversations with those involved. Digital communications are sacrosanct, the tools of the revolution, so the criticisms of them are merely a path to thinking about how they can be done better. And, of course, the solution to the technology problem is simply more and better technology.
Outside the working group, the participating companies, like I.B.M., are already devising ways to contain the digital flow.
The E-Mail Addict feature in Gmail is more of a blunt instrument. Clicking the “Take a break” link turns the screen gray, and a message reads: “Take a walk, get some real work done, or have a snack. We’ll be back in 15 minutes!”
Michael Davidson, the engineer who created the feature, said the idea for it came after he was talking to friends about the constant temptation to check e-mail messages. “I coded up this feature that lets you say, ‘I don’t have self-control, so I’d like to shut down my mail for a little while,’ ” he said. (Those who find they are truly addicted can cheat by hitting the escape key.). There is a vernacular forming around information overload. Silicon Valley denizens speak of “e-mail bankruptcy,” or getting so far behind in responding to e-mail messages that it becomes necessary to delete them all and start over. Another relatively new term is “e-mail apnea,” coined by the writer Linda Stone, which refers to the way that people, when struck by the volume of new messages in their in-boxes, unconsciously hold their breath.
But the problem, researchers say, is not just volume but also etiquette. Bad actors hit “reply all” on a message instead of responding to an individual, or forward jokes to big groups. Some say the problem has a psychological dimension in that e-mail messages provide an insidious feedback loop.
“We are hunter-gatherers at the core,” said Tony Wright, chief executive of RescueTime, who is also a member of the new nonprofit group. “We open e-mail and hit ‘send and receive’ to see if something interesting has come in.”
Members of the new organization, called the Information Overload Research Group, planned to have their first meeting in July in New York.
The group plans to seek solutions, both cultural and technological.
For its part, Intel started two experiments last September with 300 engineers and other employees at a chip design group based in Austin, Tex., and with some team members in Chandler, Ariz. In the first experiment, employees had four hours on Tuesday mornings when they were encouraged to limit both digital and in-person contact.
Laminated cards were made up announcing “quiet time” and attached to cubicles. But within a few weeks the workers found the system too restrictive, and the cards seemed like something from grade school.
The cards came down, and some employees started to use e-mail messages, though judiciously and with more awareness of their habits, while others continued the stricter regimen, said Brad Beavers, the Austin site manager.
In a survey, nearly three-quarters of participants said the quiet time routine should be extended to the rest of the company.
“It’s huge. We were expecting less,” said Nathan Zeldes, an Intel engineer who led the experiments and who for a decade has been studying the impact of technology on productivity. “When people are uninterrupted, they can sit back and design chips and really think.”
In the other experiment, called “zero e-mail Fridays,” the goal was to encourage employees to favor face-to-face communication. Mr. Beavers said employees liked the idea in theory, but they continued to send e-mail messages, finding them essential.
Just 30 percent of employees endorsed the program, but 60 percent recommended it for wider use at Intel, with modifications.
“We’re trying to address the problem that people get so addicted to e-mail that they will send an e-mail across an aisle, across a partition, and that’s not a good thing,” he said.
Their effort comes as statistical and anecdotal evidence mounts that the same technology tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused.
The big chip maker Intel found in an eight-month internal study that some employees who were encouraged to limit digital interruptions said they were more productive and creative as a result.
Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.
A Google software engineer last week introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.
Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at the research firm Basex and a member of the new group’s board, said the companies realized they faced a monster of their own creation. He pointed to a Silicon Valley maxim that companies should “eat their own dog food,” meaning they should make use of their own innovations.
“They’re realizing they’re eating too much,” Mr. Spira said.
Many people readily recognize that they face — or invite — continual interruption, but the emerging data on the scale of the problem may come as a surprise.
A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure by RescueTime, a company that analyzes computer habits. The company, which draws its data from 40,000 people who have tracking software on their computers, found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.
The fractured attention comes at a cost. In the United States, more than $650 billion a year in productivity is lost because of unnecessary interruptions, predominately mundane matters, according to Basex. The firm says that a big chunk of that cost comes from the time it takes people to recover from an interruption and get back to work.
Companies are also realizing that there is money to be made in helping people reduce their digital gluttony. Major corporations around the world are searching for ways to keep software tools from becoming distractions, said John Tang, a researcher at I.B.M., who is a member of the new group.
“There’s a competitive advantage of figuring out how to address this problem,” Mr. Tang said. He said that there was “a certain amount of irony” in the fact that the solutions are coming from the very companies that built the digital systems in the first place.
The introspection in Silicon Valley comes with defensiveness, judging from conversations with those involved. Digital communications are sacrosanct, the tools of the revolution, so the criticisms of them are merely a path to thinking about how they can be done better. And, of course, the solution to the technology problem is simply more and better technology.
Outside the working group, the participating companies, like I.B.M., are already devising ways to contain the digital flow.
The E-Mail Addict feature in Gmail is more of a blunt instrument. Clicking the “Take a break” link turns the screen gray, and a message reads: “Take a walk, get some real work done, or have a snack. We’ll be back in 15 minutes!”
Michael Davidson, the engineer who created the feature, said the idea for it came after he was talking to friends about the constant temptation to check e-mail messages. Some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are banding together to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers — theirs and others — cope with the digital deluge.
Their effort comes as statistical and anecdotal evidence mounts that the same technology tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused.
The big chip maker Intel found in an eight-month internal study that some employees who were encouraged to limit digital interruptions said they were more productive and creative as a result.
Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.
A Google software engineer last week introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.
Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at the research firm Basex and a member of the new group’s board, said the companies realized they faced a monster of their own creation. He pointed to a Silicon Valley maxim that companies should “eat their own dog food,” meaning they should make use of their own innovations.
“They’re realizing they’re eating too much,” Mr. Spira said.
Many people readily recognize that they face — or invite — continual interruption, but the emerging data on the scale of the problem may come as a surprise.
A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure by RescueTime, a company that analyzes computer habits. The company, which draws its data from 40,000 people who have tracking software on their computers, found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.
The fractured attention comes at a cost. In the United States, more than $650 billion a year in productivity is lost because of unnecessary interruptions, predominately mundane matters, according to Basex. The firm says that a big chunk of that cost comes from the time it takes people to recover from an interruption and get back to work.
Companies are also realizing that there is money to be made in helping people reduce their digital gluttony. Major corporations around the world are searching for ways to keep software tools from becoming distractions, said John Tang, a researcher at I.B.M., who is a member of the new group.
“There’s a competitive advantage of figuring out how to address this problem,” Mr. Tang said. He said that there was “a certain amount of irony” in the fact that the solutions are coming from the very companies that built the digital systems in the first place.
The introspection in Silicon Valley comes with defensiveness, judging from conversations with those involved. Digital communications are sacrosanct, the tools of the revolution, so the criticisms of them are merely a path to thinking about how they can be done better. And, of course, the solution to the technology problem is simply more and better technology.
Outside the working group, the participating companies, like I.B.M., are already devising ways to contain the digital flow.
The E-Mail Addict feature in Gmail is more of a blunt instrument. Clicking the “Take a break” link turns the screen gray, and a message reads: “Take a walk, get some real work done, or have a snack. We’ll be back in 15 minutes!”
Michael Davidson, the engineer who created the feature, said the idea for it came after he was talking to friends about the constant temptation to check e-mail messages. “I coded up this feature that lets you say, ‘I don’t have self-control, so I’d like to shut down my mail for a little while,’ ” he said. (Those who find they are truly addicted can cheat by hitting the escape key.). There is a vernacular forming around information overload. Silicon Valley denizens speak of “e-mail bankruptcy,” or getting so far behind in responding to e-mail messages that it becomes necessary to delete them all and start over. Another relatively new term is “e-mail apnea,” coined by the writer Linda Stone, which refers to the way that people, when struck by the volume of new messages in their in-boxes, unconsciously hold their breath.
But the problem, researchers say, is not just volume but also etiquette. Bad actors hit “reply all” on a message instead of responding to an individual, or forward jokes to big groups. Some say the problem has a psychological dimension in that e-mail messages provide an insidious feedback loop.
“We are hunter-gatherers at the core,” said Tony Wright, chief executive of RescueTime, who is also a member of the new nonprofit group. “We open e-mail and hit ‘send and receive’ to see if something interesting has come in.”
Members of the new organization, called the Information Overload Research Group, planned to have their first meeting in July in New York.
The group plans to seek solutions, both cultural and technological.
For its part, Intel started two experiments last September with 300 engineers and other employees at a chip design group based in Austin, Tex., and with some team members in Chandler, Ariz. In the first experiment, employees had four hours on Tuesday mornings when they were encouraged to limit both digital and in-person contact.
Laminated cards were made up announcing “quiet time” and attached to cubicles. But within a few weeks the workers found the system too restrictive, and the cards seemed like something from grade school.
The cards came down, and some employees started to use e-mail messages, though judiciously and with more awareness of their habits, while others continued the stricter regimen, said Brad Beavers, the Austin site manager.
In a survey, nearly three-quarters of participants said the quiet time routine should be extended to the rest of the company.
“It’s huge. We were expecting less,” said Nathan Zeldes, an Intel engineer who led the experiments and who for a decade has been studying the impact of technology on productivity. “When people are uninterrupted, they can sit back and design chips and really think.”
In the other experiment, called “zero e-mail Fridays,” the goal was to encourage employees to favor face-to-face communication. Mr. Beavers said employees liked the idea in theory, but they continued to send e-mail messages, finding them essential.
Just 30 percent of employees endorsed the program, but 60 percent recommended it for wider use at Intel, with modifications.
“We’re trying to address the problem that people get so addicted to e-mail that they will send an e-mail across an aisle, across a partition, and that’s not a good thing,” he said.
Some Cling to Hope for a Deal After Microsoft Discloses Details
SAN FRANCISCO — A day after Yahoo said it had ended talks with Microsoft and signed an advertising deal with Google, some of its shareholders were still holding on to hopes that some kind of marriage between Yahoo and Microsoft could be consummated. “The door is cracked open,” said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager for the Jacob Internet Fund, which holds about 100,000 shares of Yahoo. “It is not completely shut.”
As evidence that the software giant itself had not given up and might be campaigning to get the support of Yahoo shareholders, Mr. Jacob pointed to Microsoft’s decision Friday to disclose the terms of the last offer it made to Yahoo. “If they weren’t interested in doing a deal with Yahoo, why would they bother?” Mr. Jacob asked.
Microsoft said it had offered to buy Yahoo’s search business for $1 billion and to buy $8 billion in Yahoo shares at $35 each. The company also said it had offered to enter into a long-term agreement that would compensate Yahoo for revenue coming from searches on that site. Importantly, that agreement included guarantees that for three years, Microsoft would pay Yahoo more than what it currently earns for those searches.
By Microsoft’s calculations, the deal would deliver an additional $1 billion in operating income annually to Yahoo.
The details of Microsoft’s offer were made public in a letter from Kevin Johnson, the president of the company’s platform and services division that includes Microsoft’s online unit.
On Friday, Microsoft reiterated statements made Thursday that the offer for Yahoo’s search business alone was still on the table, but the offer to buy all of Yahoo, which Microsoft withdrew on May 3, was not.
Yahoo’s partnership with Google is a much more limited commercial agreement under which Google will deliver ads alongside some Yahoo searches and will allow Yahoo to retain control of its search business. It is therefore difficult to compare it directly with Microsoft’s offer. However, it is expected to bring only an additional $250 million to $450 million a year in operating cash flow to Yahoo.
A Yahoo spokesman said Friday that Microsoft’s contention that its offer would deliver $1 billion in extra operating income to Yahoo was based on “unrealistic expectations.”
The company said in a statement Thursday that a search deal with Microsoft “would not be consistent with the company’s view of the converging search and display marketplaces, would leave the company without an independent search business that it views as critical to its strategic future and would not be in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders.”
A large Yahoo shareholder who agreed to speak only on condition that he remained anonymous said the deal that Microsoft outlined Friday was far preferable to Yahoo’s deal with Google.
On Wall Street Friday, Yahoo’s decision to partner with Google and not Microsoft continued to be met with disapproval. Yahoo shares tumbled more than 5 percent before recovering late in the day to close at $23.47, down 5 cents. They had fallen 10 percent on Thursday.
The large Yahoo shareholder said that while the Yahoo-Google deal could be rescinded, he held only faint hope that Yahoo might reverse course. That might happen if Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor, succeeded in taking control of Yahoo, or if the Yahoo deal with Google was blocked by antitrust regulators.
Mr. Icahn could not be reached Friday. He has not made any public statements since Yahoo announced its partnership with Google.
Mr. Icahn’s takeover of the board could trigger a costly employee severance plan implemented by Yahoo and therefore could make shareholders reluctant to vote for Mr. Icahn’s slate, the large Yahoo investor said.
Still, others like Mr. Jacob and an investor with a fund that specializes in merger arbitrage, who asked not to be named citing his company’s policy not to discuss investments publicly, said they thought Microsoft and Yahoo might be brought back together before Yahoo’s shareholder meeting, which was scheduled for Aug. 1.
“There are some things that could happen between now and the end of July that could be a positive,” Mr. Jacob said. “I am not willing to write the postmortem.”
In a note to investors, UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter went further: “We continue to believe that, at some point, Microsoft will acquire all of Yahoo,” he wrote.
As evidence that the software giant itself had not given up and might be campaigning to get the support of Yahoo shareholders, Mr. Jacob pointed to Microsoft’s decision Friday to disclose the terms of the last offer it made to Yahoo. “If they weren’t interested in doing a deal with Yahoo, why would they bother?” Mr. Jacob asked.
Microsoft said it had offered to buy Yahoo’s search business for $1 billion and to buy $8 billion in Yahoo shares at $35 each. The company also said it had offered to enter into a long-term agreement that would compensate Yahoo for revenue coming from searches on that site. Importantly, that agreement included guarantees that for three years, Microsoft would pay Yahoo more than what it currently earns for those searches.
By Microsoft’s calculations, the deal would deliver an additional $1 billion in operating income annually to Yahoo.
The details of Microsoft’s offer were made public in a letter from Kevin Johnson, the president of the company’s platform and services division that includes Microsoft’s online unit.
On Friday, Microsoft reiterated statements made Thursday that the offer for Yahoo’s search business alone was still on the table, but the offer to buy all of Yahoo, which Microsoft withdrew on May 3, was not.
Yahoo’s partnership with Google is a much more limited commercial agreement under which Google will deliver ads alongside some Yahoo searches and will allow Yahoo to retain control of its search business. It is therefore difficult to compare it directly with Microsoft’s offer. However, it is expected to bring only an additional $250 million to $450 million a year in operating cash flow to Yahoo.
A Yahoo spokesman said Friday that Microsoft’s contention that its offer would deliver $1 billion in extra operating income to Yahoo was based on “unrealistic expectations.”
The company said in a statement Thursday that a search deal with Microsoft “would not be consistent with the company’s view of the converging search and display marketplaces, would leave the company without an independent search business that it views as critical to its strategic future and would not be in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders.”
A large Yahoo shareholder who agreed to speak only on condition that he remained anonymous said the deal that Microsoft outlined Friday was far preferable to Yahoo’s deal with Google.
On Wall Street Friday, Yahoo’s decision to partner with Google and not Microsoft continued to be met with disapproval. Yahoo shares tumbled more than 5 percent before recovering late in the day to close at $23.47, down 5 cents. They had fallen 10 percent on Thursday.
The large Yahoo shareholder said that while the Yahoo-Google deal could be rescinded, he held only faint hope that Yahoo might reverse course. That might happen if Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor, succeeded in taking control of Yahoo, or if the Yahoo deal with Google was blocked by antitrust regulators.
Mr. Icahn could not be reached Friday. He has not made any public statements since Yahoo announced its partnership with Google.
Mr. Icahn’s takeover of the board could trigger a costly employee severance plan implemented by Yahoo and therefore could make shareholders reluctant to vote for Mr. Icahn’s slate, the large Yahoo investor said.
Still, others like Mr. Jacob and an investor with a fund that specializes in merger arbitrage, who asked not to be named citing his company’s policy not to discuss investments publicly, said they thought Microsoft and Yahoo might be brought back together before Yahoo’s shareholder meeting, which was scheduled for Aug. 1.
“There are some things that could happen between now and the end of July that could be a positive,” Mr. Jacob said. “I am not willing to write the postmortem.”
In a note to investors, UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter went further: “We continue to believe that, at some point, Microsoft will acquire all of Yahoo,” he wrote.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Car, world’s smallest tablet PC, Nokia Lamborghini phone to be auctioned at WCIT 2008 gala dinner
Kuala Lumpur: A Proton Persona 1.6 Automatic and a special edition Nokia Lamborghini mobile phone will be among the highlights of a special auction at tonight’s gala dinner of the 16th World Congress on Information Technology here.
The auction will be conducted by the world’s leading auction house Christie’s, and will benefit a special pilot project to set up ICT centres to teach basic computer usage to selected communities in Malaysia.
The items up for auction have been donated by marquee, keynote and high-profile speakers of WCIT 2008.
The Proton car was donated by Proton, while the Nokia Lamborghini phone was contributed by Jari Tammisto, the CEO of Mobile Monday.
Besides the car and the mobile phone, the other items on the block are:
• authorized original artwork cells for Rugrats by Terry Thoren, CEO of Rocket Fish Studios;• ceramic pottery by Iskandar Jalil, Singapore’s master sculptor of ceramics, donated by Lee Boon Yang, Singapore’s Information, Communications and the Arts Minister;• a dinner with local celebrity and WCIT 2008 Ambassador Hannah Tan;• a Tumasek pewter piece from PIKOM;• a rose wood Spanish guitar, donated by Harres Tan, the Group CEO of HT Consulting;• a one-of-a-kind, first of its kind Tablet PC, the smallest in the world, donated by Mimos;• a Batik painting, donated by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi;• a solar lantern, from Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change; and• an original sketch by Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid, also known as Lat.
WCIT 2008, which started on Monday, May 19, and will end on Wednesday, May 21, has more than 3,000 delegates from the IT world all over the world descend on Kuala Lumpur, to exchange ideas, conclude business deals and exchange views on issues and future trends in the industry.
As a measure of the size of the congress, the organizers said a total of 19,845 bread rolls, 46,515 cups of coffee and tea will be served by more than 300 waiters during the three day event.
The auction will be conducted by the world’s leading auction house Christie’s, and will benefit a special pilot project to set up ICT centres to teach basic computer usage to selected communities in Malaysia.
The items up for auction have been donated by marquee, keynote and high-profile speakers of WCIT 2008.
The Proton car was donated by Proton, while the Nokia Lamborghini phone was contributed by Jari Tammisto, the CEO of Mobile Monday.
Besides the car and the mobile phone, the other items on the block are:
• authorized original artwork cells for Rugrats by Terry Thoren, CEO of Rocket Fish Studios;• ceramic pottery by Iskandar Jalil, Singapore’s master sculptor of ceramics, donated by Lee Boon Yang, Singapore’s Information, Communications and the Arts Minister;• a dinner with local celebrity and WCIT 2008 Ambassador Hannah Tan;• a Tumasek pewter piece from PIKOM;• a rose wood Spanish guitar, donated by Harres Tan, the Group CEO of HT Consulting;• a one-of-a-kind, first of its kind Tablet PC, the smallest in the world, donated by Mimos;• a Batik painting, donated by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi;• a solar lantern, from Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change; and• an original sketch by Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid, also known as Lat.
WCIT 2008, which started on Monday, May 19, and will end on Wednesday, May 21, has more than 3,000 delegates from the IT world all over the world descend on Kuala Lumpur, to exchange ideas, conclude business deals and exchange views on issues and future trends in the industry.
As a measure of the size of the congress, the organizers said a total of 19,845 bread rolls, 46,515 cups of coffee and tea will be served by more than 300 waiters during the three day event.
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