Content at a Glance
A new device is popping up in homes across the US. Called the Chumby (www.chumby.com), the device has an LCD touchscreen and embedded squeeze and motion sensors. The Chumby plugs in to any electrical outlet. Then it automatically finds an available Wi-Fi connection and streams personalized channels from the Chumby Network. This network continuously delivers refreshed content via widgets such as music, games, movie previews and customized alarm clocks. The Chumby enables photo sharing through top photo-sharing sites and music is piped in from over twenty thousand free radio stations. The goal of the Chumby is to give people a fun, hassle-free way to enjoy what they want most out of the Internet, always on, and simply at a glance.
Power Customers Need IT Help
Dubai’s utility customers — both business and consumer — are in for a major shock this month.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has brought into effect new tariffs aimed at encouraging energy consumers to use less or pay more. Only UAE nationals are excluded from the new tariffs for their houses and farms.
According to total facilities management company Farnek Avireal, a typical office tower on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road has an annual energy bill of around AED2.5 to AED3 million. With the new tariff structure, the DEWA bill will rise by almost AED2 million. For hotels, Farnek Avireal estimates that a typical five-star city hotel has a total energy bill of up to AED7 million a year. That would increase by an additional AED4.5 million. For a five-star beach hotel with energy costs of around AED15 million, it will cost an additional AED10 million.
Some companies will certainly pass on these costs to consumers. Others will turn to IT to help them reduce energy needs and costs. Farnek Avireal claims that its Energy Saving Module (ESM) reduces electricity consumption from air conditioning and refrigeration systems by up to 25 percent. The ESM microcomputer performs calculations, which enable a reduction in air conditioning compressor run time, which reduces electricity consumption, while maintaining the required temperature. The ESM interfaces with all types and makes of air conditioning and refrigeration controllers, from simple thermostat single condensing systems, to the most sophisticated computer-based multiple compressor parallel systems.
With inflation in Saudi Arabia at 7 percent it seems that companies in the Kingdom should consider using such smart building systems as a means of reducing costs, without raising prices. It could also help the Kingdom in reducing its carbon footprint.
Nasty Neighbor Alert
Websites offer information that could never have been effectively circulated before the Internet Age. Just take a look at a website that has been created to “dish the dirt” on obnoxious neighbors. Americans fed up with terrible neighbors have been actively contributing data, including the exact address and a description of the bad behavior, to a new real estate search tool at www.RottenNeighbor.com.
Individuals considering moving house can search RottenNeighbor by post code to research a neighborhood based on testimonials from the people who live there and find bad or good neighbors. On the map, red house icons indicate rotten neighbors — including sex offenders. Green house icons mean it’s a great place to live. Users can also upload their own good or rotten neighbors to the database, filling in the gaps and ensuring a more complete picture of their respective neighborhoods. Reading the testimonials can be eye opening and in some cases frightening. And just imagine if you discovered you’ve been identified as a rotten neighbor!
Mail or No Mail?
In February, it seemed that e-mail addressed to Yahoo! Mail accounts was never arriving. With thousands of Yahoo! Mail users in Saudi Arabia affected there were deep suspicions as to where exactly those mails were going. Ugly conversations resulted as the problem grew with Yahoo! Mail users claiming they weren’t receiving the e-mails that people claimed they were sending. It was finally revealed by Yahoo! that some e-mail messages addressed to Yahoo! e-mail accounts in February either experienced delays in delivery or might have been “silently dropped.” The problem was attributed to an unexpected increase in traffic through Yahoo! servers dedicated for POP/SMTP messages. See http://ymailupdates.com/blog/ for more information.
At least Yahoo! gave me sort of explanation for their problems. Microsoft wasn’t as forthcoming when Windows Live Hotmail went down on last Tuesday — and for some users stayed down for days. So if Microsoft and Yahoo combined equals no mail, does that make Gmail the better choice?
Internet Advertising Revenues Up
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Internet advertising revenues for 2007 are estimated to grow to $21.1 billion, a 25 percent increase over the previous revenue record of nearly $16.9 billion for full year 2006. Q4 2007 revenues totaled approximately $5.9 billion, making it the highest quarter ever reported and representing a 13 percent rise over the third quarter of 2007 and a 24 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2006. All four quarters reported in 2007 include record level revenues. Actual third and fourth-quarter results will be reported in the full 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, expected in May 2008.
However, Internet advertising revenues are not expected to grow at the same pace in 2008. The US’ economic slowdown is already affecting the advertising powerhouse Google. This is because often there is no charge to an online advertiser for simply posting an ad. A fee is only earned when a user actually clicks on the ad for more information. In tough economic times people aren’t interested in spending money — so they don’t click on ads.
Finding the ‘Right’ Employee
Human resources executives and recruiters are turning to new ways to find quality job candidates. The report, “Recruitment Advertising: Moving in New Directions,” from Classified Intelligence LLC, based on a Fall 2007 survey of 177 recruiters, found that recruiters plan to spend more on business networking sites, social networking sites and employee referral programs in 2008. Online job sites are still considered valuable tools, second only to employee referrals, the research showed. But dissatisfaction with general online recruitment sites is growing due to the waning quality of candidates, recruiters reported.
The report illustrates the increasing role blogs, social networking, online forums, video clips, billboards and other “alternative” advertising methods now play in recruitment. The report also highlights how recruiters are becoming increasingly creative in the war for talent – using new ways, even virtual worlds, to find candidates.
Don’t Cry Over This
In an industry-defining move, Sprint telecom has launched a domestic unlimited pricing plan, “Simply Everything,” that gives its US customers unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TVSM, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect for $99.99 a month. The company claims that the new pricing plan removes the barriers so Sprint customers can feel free to use all of the features of their phones.
For families, the Simply Everything plan includes an incremental $5 discount for each additional line, up to five lines on the same bill. For example, two lines would amount to $194.98 ($99.99 + $94.99); a third line would cost an additional $89.99. In other words, the Sprint plan offers significant savings the more lines a customer adds. Hello! Al-Jawwal and Mobily, are you paying attention to this?
