final stretch to Christmas

As we are all aware we are in the final stretch to Christmas now and it is tradition that we send all our friends and family Christmas cards. But I was thinking the other day about work and my hundreds of work colleges and how I could send them all cards the quick way.

Then i had an idea the link of work is IT based and so everyone is on the computer so why not send and e-card. For those who are thinking’s what is one of these let me explain An e-card is similar to a postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials.

This is great if you work in an office as you will have all your work colleges email address which you can add and send the e-card to this will save time having to write each person’s name out and put them in envelopes which could be a bit time consuming if their our hundreds of people in your department This is a great way of getting your Christmas cards done it does not have to be just for your work mates you may have family or friends abroad you could send them to also.

Microsoft Banned from Selling Word

A court in Texas has banned the sale of Microsoft’s word processing software Word due to patent infringement by the Canadian company i4i. In addition to banning sale of the product, it has also been fined £175 million.

The patent infringement corncerns the use of XML files to store documents. XML is a mark-up language like HTML but one in which users can define their own tags to stand for parts of the document suhc as price or product. XML is used in Open Source word processing software such as Open Office.

The injunction prohibits microsoft from importing and selling any Word product into the United States which can open XML files, .docx or docm.

Microsoft have 60-days to comply with the ruling but issued a statement that it will be appealling the decision.

CD Duplication

CD duplication can provide an inexpensive service for your business with a fast turn around. Typically upto 500 discs can be produced in a 24 hour turn around time and with duplication offering many benefits to the small business from creating backups of important data to producing large numbers of catalogues or product data for distribution to your potential customers.

How does it work? Much like your traditional CD burner that you have on your home computer or laptop except on a larger scale. Companies that offer this service have towers of CD burners allowing them to replicate a CD many times in a short time.

While a traditional CD burnner is great for producing a single disc, a CD replication company can offer the facility to have colored artwork printed on the top surface. Recently, developments in the MagicWrite disc allow the user to actually use the CD burner to create a printed image on the specially coated surface of the disc. However, while this is an improvement on simply writing on the top of the disc with a perminent pen, it is still not up to the impressive standard of surface printing that can be produced by commercial screen printing techniques.

Battery Suppliers

In today’s modern day technology everything runs from batteries, You rely on batteries to wake you up in the morning, you rely on them the start your car, you rely on batteries to to phone your boss to warn them you are going to be late, you might rely on a battery to operate the mouse you use at work or to make sure the keyword is still functioning, You may rely on a battery to power the laptop you are using when you go out for an important meeting. You will use your car battery to get back home. A battery chicken might provide the eggs for the omelet you are eating and when you relax in the evening it will be the power from a battery that will change the channel on the TV. If you have Children then you enter a whole different ball game. Radio control cars will eat batteries no end and only a few hours on a Nintendo Wii means a change of batteries, Maybe you have an Xbox which also drains batteries!

Were is all this going? im not really sure but it is making me wonder if opening a Battery shop is a good idea!! You can buy batteries from a lot of different places, but.. there isn’t a one stop high street shop for buying your batteries. If you look online there are some brilliant battery suppliers were you can buy wholesale batteries at good prices. You could realistically stock all sorts of batteries (apart from car batteries!!) and make money from it, The battery industry is so vast these days with mobile phones and wireless controllers for game systems the demand for a battery is higher now than it ever has been.

Vending machines give free stuff after natural disasters in Japan

Vending machines are becoming one of the biggest aids to those affected by natural disasters in Japan, such as floods and earthquakes, according to the latest news reports. The Japanese news agency, Kyodo news, stated how vending machines in troubled areas were used to distribute free goods, including drinks, to those affected by natural disasters.

All of the vending machines that offer assistance to people in natural disasters sport signs on the front explaining how people can get free drinks from them when there is an emergency. The idea is that the machines are able to provide people with vital liquids when their areas have been cut off from water, and help can’t get to them quickly.

Fuji Keizai is a marketing and consultation firm in Japan. They said that demand for vending machines increased by as much as 35% in the last 2 years, and expected to increase further over the next few years to be as high as 7 billion yen by 2013.

Each vending machine comes equipped with a battery back-up so that should there be a power cut they are still able to dispense vital liquids without needing to be plugged in. There are 35 of these vending machines in all of the subway stations in the Japanese city of Kyoto.

Apple stop giving plastic bags

Apple Inc. have announced that they will no longer be giving out plastic carrier bags to customers at their retail stores. The decision was made during the current times where environmental concerns are at their highest for a long time and more people are becoming aware of the impact plastic bags can have on the environment.

Many stores have now stopped offering plastic bags as standard now and only give out promotional bags during sales or big events for the business.

In response to Apple’s announcement, Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council (PBA) has welcomed Apple’s decision stating:

“In addition to promoting recycling, many of our efforts are focused on helping retailers to avoid the use of excess or unnecessary bags. In the case of Apple stores, where many customers purchase computers and often make other single-item purchases such as iPods, we applaud Apple for taking steps to discourage shoppers from accepting bags that may not be necessary.”

With the exception of promotional bags, no bags will now be given out without a request at most Apple stores in future.

However, the PBA stressed the need for consumer choice and iterated the fact that plastic bags are actually more energy efficient to create and recycle than paper counterparts.

Dell mulls more jobs cuts as Q4 profits slide

Dell, the computer and IT giant witnessed a major downslide in its profits during the last quarter of 2008.

The PC manufacturer said reportedly generated revenue of $13.4 billion in the fourth quarter. This was around 16 percent lower than the $15.9 billion revenue reported last year for the same quarter.

Dell’s total profit for the year was $351 million, about 18 cents to a share. This is substantially lower to the last year’s earnings of $671 million and 31 cents to a share.

The drop in profit is nearly 48 percent. Most of the analysts had estimated the earnings to be close to 26 cents per share.

Dell declared last month that it would have to take a $280 million pre-tax charge i.e. about 11 cents to a share due to restructuring and cist cutting related measures in the quarter.

Many of the customers of Dell had started delaying or deferring on spending during summer which continued even during the second quarter. Brian Gladden, the chief financial officer for Dell said during a conference that they expected the weakness to continue for the ongoing quarter.

The focus of Gladden would continue to be on cost cutting for the company including luxuries such as corporate entertainment. Dell had cut its operating expenses by around 16 percent or nearly $363 million for the fourth quarter.

Plan to float single Blu-ray licence

A simpler and less expensive licensing process is being floated for the makers of Blu-ray devices, it was announced by Philips, Sony and Panasonic in a joint statement on Wednesday.

A ‘one-stop shop’ licence would be introduced by mid-2009, that will include all necessary CD, DVD and Blu-ray patents for sale of Blu-ray players. Licensing work will be handled by a newly formed licensing company to be headed by ex-head of IBM’s intellectual property business. With head office in the US, it will have branches in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The single licensing process will eliminate existing practice of individual approach to CD, DVD and Blu-ray holders and paying royalties separately. According to Sony’s estimate, this procedure will cut down overall cost of royalty payments to the extent of 40%.

New licence fees would be $14 for Blu-ray recorder and $9.50 (£6.70) for Blu-ray player. Cost of Blu-ray disc will be 11 cents for read-only, and 12 and 15 cents each for recordable discs and rewritable discs respectively.

One-stop shop idea for Blu-ray was under consideration since meeting of 18 Blu-ray patent holder companies in 2007. Licensing fees was most lucrative for the patent holders of disc-format. Long ago, cost of licence fees for DVD player was around $15 to $20. This single licence process will eliminate hassles created by DVD licensing.

Open source gets Government support

The government is promising use of open source if difference in cost of products and services compared to proprietary alternatives was not significant. This was stated in the policy statement on open-source software, published by the government. Read more

First fall in IT services and software market in 5 years

IT services and software market in the UK experienced its first fall in 2008 in last 5 years.

The sector’s revenues fell 1% year-on-year to £39 billion and the fall is forecasted to continue until 2011 according analysts Pierre Audoin Consultants and TechMarketView. The declie is predicted to 2% in 2009 and further 1% in 2010. Read more

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