Personal Political Ads

US television viewers are currently bombarded with political advertisements and until the US presidential election in November it will only get worse. But what if an individual feels that her political candidate or ideology isn't receiving enough attention? She can turn to VoterVoter.com.

This is a non-partisan service that empowers individuals to select or create an advertising message and have that message air on TV stations around America, without having to know anything about buying media time. VoterVoter.com provides a way to directly help a candidate or cause through broadcast media. All that's needed is cash. VoterVoter.com claims that several hundred thousand dollars of TV ad insertion orders were received before the service officially launched last week.

VoterVoter.com uses a TV advertising management system to handle the entire advertising process - from content selection, to target demographics and media buying, to US Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. By purchasing TV broadcast time directly, individuals are not confined by the FEC limit of $4,600 in annual campaign contributions to a specific political candidate. People can spend as much as they want through purchased advertising to support their candidate or cause.

UK Viewers 'Two Time'

Chilling out in front of the "telly" may no longer be a lazy way to spend an evening, according to a survey from Harris Interactive done for the video search engine blinkx. Nearly 70 percent of online British adults watch television multitask while staring at the box. When online and watching TV, the British are mostly checking e-mail (83 percent), surfing the web (68 percent) or shopping (43 percent).

The blinkx survey investigated the TV viewing habits of more than 2,000 online adults in Great Britain. The survey found that watching TV has become an interactive pastime, with about one in six adults surfing the web for content related to what they're watching and one in five logging on to online forums, social networking sites and via instant messenger to have their say about what they're watching.

Even the old adage that men can't multitask has been challenged by the survey. According to the study, men are just as inclined as women to go online while watching TV - 68 percent of men and 70 percent of women. However, among those who do, men are more likely than women to surf the web for content that is related to the shows they are watching - 30 percent of men versus 18 percent of women. Interestingly, the research has also shown that, among those who go online while watching TV, men are equally as likely as women to shop while they watch. Forty-three percent of both men and women peruse shopping sites while watching TV.

Age seems to be no barrier to watching TV and using the Net. More than 20 percent of 16-24 year olds are always simultaneously online and watching TV and even the Golden Oldies of Great Britain "two time," with 50 percent of Silver Surfers aged 55 years old and up, going online while watching TV.

Philippine SMBs Spend More

A study by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. found that small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the Philippines are set to spend more than $3 billion on ICT in 2008. This is up 12 percent over 2007, due to a boom in the overall economy and a rise in the number of small businesses - those companies with up to 99 staff members.

"Spending on telecommunications will take the largest piece of the pie, while spending on IT computing - comprising PCs, servers, and printers - will contribute to more than 25 percent of the total ICT spend," said Ruth Garin, Singapore-based Research Analyst at AMI Partners. "SMBs comprise up to 99 percent of all businesses in the Philippines and are significant contributors to technology spending."

SMB spending on computing is set to cross $800 million by the end of 2008, the bulk of it on desktops. "As the first priority, SMBs' computing investment will go to desktops," explained Garin. "Small businesses will extend this investment by adding more notebooks to cater to growing mobile employees while medium businesses will spend more on servers."

Traditional telephony will continue to account for a large majority of the telecom spending and is expected to remain so in the next few years. The close association of reliability with traditional telephony is one of the key factors driving its continued growth. IP telephony, meanwhile, has also started to make inroads into the SMB market, with growth expected to be highest in the mid-market segment.

In applications, security and storage will see the fastest growth in the Philippines this year. "Both technologies are expected to register high annual double-digit growth, in excess of 20 percent," said Garin. "The growing volume of e-mail and use of digital media will be the top drivers for adopting or enhancing storage infrastructure. Security threats and the growing online population of the country will see growth in security software spending."

Though small businesses and medium businesses behave differently, both are on the same footing when it comes to competition. Both cited strong competition as the topmost challenge for this year. "SMBs recognize IT's role in maintaining a competitive edge and are prepared to build competencies around technology," added Garin. "The effective use of technology in product and services delivery is a key differentiator among a very competitive market."

MIT Global SCALE Network

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT-CTL) has launched the MIT Global SCALE Network, an international alliance of research and education centers dedicated to the development of supply chain and logistics excellence through innovation. The Global SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence) Network currently includes: the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT-CTL) in Cambridge, Mass.; the Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC) in Zaragoza, Spain; and the Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (CLI) in Bogota, Colombia. There are plans to expand into Asia and Africa.

The Network will allow faculty, researchers, students and affiliated companies from all three centers to pool their expertise and collaborate on projects that will create supply chain and logistics innovations with global applications and help companies to compete in an increasingly complex business environment.

"Today's supply chains stretch around the world and back again, requiring successful organizations to have an on-the-ground understanding of the logistics, supply chain and general business challenges and opportunities in every region. The Global SCALE Network will provide that global context through research projects that will literally be taking place around the world," said MIT-CTL Director Yossi Sheffi, a professor of engineering systems at MIT and director of the Engineering Systems Division.

The Network will also enhance supply chain & logistics education at each center. Graduate students at MIT-CTL, ZLC and CLI will not only benefit from the shared knowledge created through this collaboration, but will also participate in the Network's global research projects and take part in an educational exchange, traveling to other Network centers and learning alongside other Network students.