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What I’m reading, articles and periodicals (053107)

This should qualify as one of your questions, as I was asked on Monday “do you still post your reading lists?”


 


OK, I’ve slacked off posting my reading lists as I didn’t think it was of value, but here we go. Here the list of what I had the chance to go through this month in the ‘to read’ pile. I’ll also start posting links to the podcasts on my Zune. 


 


Immigration Fight: Tech vs. Tech (BusinessWeek)


BusinessWeek reveals the top 200 users of H-1B visas and how the likes of Microsoft and Oracle compete with outsourcers for them. With policymakers in Washington in the midst of a contentious debate over immigration reform, a rift is developing…


H-1B Visas: Immigration and the Visa Maze photo essay (BusinessWeek)


Originally meant to help U.S. companies hire skilled workers from abroad when none were available at home, H-1B visas are increasingly being used by non-U.S. companies. By Peter Elstrom and Moira Herbst


The World’s Thinnest Notebook: Intel mobile Metro notebook (BusinessWeek)


If it catches on, Intel’s sleek laptop could be a game changer for PCs – The result, code-named Intel mobile Metro notebook, is less than 0.7 inches thick—about one-quarter of an inch thicker than Motorola’s (MOT) iconic cell phone, making it the world’


Attracting the twentysomething worker (Fortune)


You raised them, now manage them. The baby-boomers’ kids are marching into the workplace, and look out: This crop of twentysomethings really is different. Fortune’s Nadira Hira presents a field guide to Generation Y. By Nadira A. Hira, Fortune writer


An End Run Around The Set-Top Box (BusinessWeek)


CableCARDs bypass a rental box, but the old providers won’t give up without a fight – Cable companies, telephone outfits, and consumer-electronics makers are back at it, fighting over your television. At issue this time is an obscure, wafer-thin device…


A Cable Company People Don’t Hate (BusinessWeek)


How Cox is keeping customers happy and stealing business from the phone giants. There’s a ton of money to be made in phone service–about $60 billion of yearly revenue just on voice plans for U.S. consumers. And don’t cable companies know it.


Japan’s Lost Generation (BusinessWeek)


By just about any measure, Japan is back. The economy is growing at 2% a year, company profits are soaring, and land prices are rising. Unemployment, meanwhile, is down to 4% as Japan Inc. has started hiring again…


NPR: Retreating Youth Become Japan’s ‘Lost Generation’ (NPR Audio)


All Things Considered, November 24, 2006 · Many young people in Japan have become hermits — retreating into worlds that consist of little more than their rooms. And that’s difficult for families. Michele Norris talks with Michael Zielenziger…


Even Yahoo! Gets The Blues (BusinessWeek)


CEO Semel’s next turnaround task: Boost morale and keep employees from leaving. May 28, 2007


Parker on Wine: A Superlative New Generation In Provence (BusinessWeek)


A Superlative New Generation In Provence – Domaine Pierre Usseglio, a 53-acre estate in Provence‘s Châteauneuf du Pape appellation, always made good wine. But when Pierre‘s sons, Thierry and Jean-Pierre, took over the winemaking at the domaine…


Cleaning Messy Message Boards (BusinessWeek)


Companies are turning to a spate of new filtering tools to keep online conversations from devolving into either hate-filled arguments or meaningless drivel. April 6, 2007, by Catherine Holahan


Web Attack


Nastiness online can erupt and go global overnight, and “no comment” doesn’t cut it anymore. Here’s how to cope April 16, 2007


The new Silicon Valley: Siberia (Fortune)


A tech boom is giving life to a former Soviet center for science. IBM, Intel – and even Oprah – are paying attention. By Brett Forrest, Fortune March 26 2007


Online Extra: Talking with Toyota’s Top Man (BusinessWeek Interview)


Katsuaki Watanabe made his name at Toyota as a cost cutter. Now he’s steering the world’s most profitable automaker to No. 1. If it’s tough at the top, Katsuaki Watanabe isn’t showing it. Since taking over from Fujio Cho as chief executive of Toyota…


Why Toyota Is Afraid Of Being Number One (BusinessWeek)


It’s overtaking Detroit—with trepidation. Now, the carmaker is relying on ever-savvier PR to avoid the U.S. backlash it dreads. Ask consumers why Toyota may soon be the largest automaker in the world, and they will point to the Camry. Or the Prius…


Play Book: At Your Service – Customer Service Best Practices (BusinessWeek)


Creating consistently good customer experiences is one of the hardest tasks in business. Here are ideas from our winners. BusinessWeek March 5, 2007


Customer Service Champs (BusinessWeek)


BW’s first-ever ranking of 25 client-pleasing brands included JetBlue, until it got stuck on the runway March 5, 2007  


Where Is Microsoft Search? (BusinessWeek)


Its stumbles on the Web could open the door for rivals to come after its core business. Time has always seemed to be Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT ) ally. In the company lore, the software giant takes three cracks at a market before establishing supremacy.


The Mind-Bending New World Of Work (BusinessWeek)


APRIL 2, 2007 – Motion-capture technology has burst out of Hollywood and into businesses from aerospace to advertising. By Aili McConnon Online Extra: James Cameron on the Cutting Edge Online Extra: Video: Screens That Track Eyeballs…Literally Online


Invention Deficit Disorder (BusinessWeek Book Review)


THE WIZARD OF MENLO PARK: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World, By Randall Stross, Crown; 376pp; $24.95 The Good A perceptive account of the inventors’ life–and surprisingly limited achievements. The Bad…


Virgin America lands approval to fly U.S. routes (MarketWatch)


Nearly five months of regulatory wrangling and steep concessions finally have paid off for Virgin America. The fledgling airline, an offshoot of billionaire Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Atlantic Airways, announced…


Free laptops open new doors for pupils in Uruguay hamlet (Seattle Times)


The machines are the first in South America from the much-publicized “One Laptop Per Child” project, which hopes to put low-cost portable PCs in the hands of children in developing countries.


Do Us A Favor, Take A Vacation (BusinessWeek)


Futurists in the 1970s predicted that by now technology would have so shrunk our workloads that we’d all be paddling about in a leisure-and-vacation playland. May 21, 2007


Can Microsoft and Cisco Still Be Pals? (BusinessWeek)


Cisco and Microsoft have a similar view of the future: They agree that networked software will help users pull down information with the device of their choosing and let them share it in ever more useful ways. 


J.D. Power: Satisfaction With the Wireless Retail Sales Experience Declines Considerably When Customers Are Not Greeted Within 30 Seconds of Entering (MSN Money)


While the average wait time before customers are greeted after they first enter a wireless retail store is approximately five minutes, overall satisfaction declines considerably if the wait time exceeds 30 seconds, according to the J.D. Power and Associates…


Sony: Remade in the USA (BusinessWeek)


Sony’s comeback may ride on its Yankee know-how. Once little more than a sales and marketing arm, the U.S. consumer electronics unit has become key to Sony’s worldwide turnaround efforts. 


Omniture: A Radar Screen For E-biz (BusinessWeek)


Little Omniture’s software is helping biggies like Toyota and Microsoft track Web performance, but rivals are hot on its heels. Its desktop readouts are like the instrument panel on a jet plane.


Teaching The Body To Fix Itself (BusinessWeek)


Cancer vaccines still in trial stages may be able to prolong life with few side effects, but the FDA has yet to be convinced. BusinessWeek, April 30 2007


Wal-Mart’s Midlife Crisis (BusinessWeek)


Declining growth, increasing competition, and not an easy fix in sight. April 30, 2007 By Anthony Bianco


Cautious Consumers (BusinessWeek)


The Chinese are on a spending spree, right? Not really. In fact, they’re so tightfisted, Beijing is worried


Jaman: At Last, An Online Art House (BusinessWeek)


Jaman has an eclectic catalog of easy-to-download movies. According to the “long tail” theory of the Web, e-merchants can make a bundle selling low-volume products to niche markets because they don’t bear the cost of maintaining retail floor space…


The 50 Most Innovative Companies (BusinessWeek)


BusinessWeek teamed with the Boston Consulting Group to find out which companies are the most innovative in the eyes of senior executives. BusinessWeek, May 7, 2007


Xerox’ New Design Team: Customers (BusinessWeek)


Its dual-engine printer was a close collaboration with users from idea to sketches to final testing. Its dual-engine printer was a close collaboration with users from idea to sketches to final testing.


Zune’s Secret Shutdown Extends Battery Life


Instead of holding the pause/play button down till the screen goes dim, try holding down the down button on the directional pad along with the Back button at the same time.


Site link: yoName, to search for people accross social network sites


From th esite description: “yoName turns your computer into a private detective. Look for anyone you want. You can even look them up by a username or an email address! If they’re on any of the big-time networks like MySpace or Facebook…


HandBrake (All platforms) – Lifehacker


HandBrake can turn DVDs into iPod-friendly MPEG-4 or H.264 video files. It includes iPod, Apple TV and even Sony PS3 presets, but you can also customize various audio and video settings to your liking.


HDTV Guide: The short and sweet version – Lifehacker


Then we realized: There are a million HDTV guides out there, but very few that make the purchasing process any easier. You probably don’t care about every last detail of HDTV technology—you just want to know what to buy. So here you go. The HDTV Primer


Livin’ la Vida Google: A Month-Long Dive Into Web-Based Apps (Wired)


Are Google Apps ready for prime time? For the last month, I’ve been working exclusively in the browser, replacing all my desktop apps with Google’s web-based alternatives — Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and so on.


Webapps not ready to replace desktop software – yet (Lifehacker)


Wired writer Michael Calore ditched desktop applications for an entire month and lived solely on webapps. Everything went swimmingly at first, when he realized the wonders of Gmail, but then things started to get difficult…


Still Can’t Beat A Post-It Note: HP TouchSmart IQ770 Review (BusinessWeek)


Review: HP’s sleek new PC makes a clunky home message center. By Stephen H. Wildstrom. “Every “home of the future” I have ever visited—and I’ve been in a lot of them—features a family messaging center designed to replace paper calendars, notes…


The 21st Century Meeting (BusinessWeek)


THE FUTURE OF TECH: Beam them up, Scotty: The latest gear may finally deliver on the promise of videoconferencing. (Online Extra: Slide Show: Business Travel Is Obsolete) FEBRUARY 26, 2007


Flat Panels, Thin Margins (BusinessWeek)


Rugged competition from smaller brands has made the TV sets cheaper than ever. FEBRUARY 26, 2007


 


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Bill and Steve (Jobs) together at D5: will we see an Apple TV Ad brought to life?

In case you missed the news, eWeek’s Joe Wilcox asked “What Would You Ask Bill and Steve?” referring to next week’s Wall Street Journal All Things Digital – D5 Conference May 29-31 in Southern California, “where Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs together will answer questions on the same stage. Will it be showdown or hoedown?”


The two founders will be together on May 30; Microsoft’s own Steve (Ballmer, that is) will present at D5 in a seperate segment. See the official press release for more.


I noted that CBS President Les Moonves and director George Lucas will speak at the D5 conference, but where’s ABC’s Robert Iger? Or Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group? As I noted previously, Ms. Sweeney and one of the forces behind ABC’s move to provide free, ad-supported ABC shows via the Internet?


For more info, visit http://d.wsj.com and http://allthingsd.com.


And Fred Gibbons writes in his post “The Mythic Wars of Competition Between Bill and Steve” about IBM’s introduction of the personal computer in 1981, comparing these two founders to “the equivalent of “Star Wars,” with Bill as Darth Vader and Steve as “the Force,” but some people thought of Steve as the quirky Yoda.”


Funny, I’ve never thought of Steve as Yoda. Han Solo, maybe… but not Yoda.

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Of interest: Congress considers new Internet taxes this year

CNET News reports today that Internet taxes could arrive by this fall in the US if the discussions in Congress are successful.



“State and local governments this week resumed a push to lobby Congress for far-reaching changes on two different fronts: gaining the ability to impose sales taxes on Net shopping, and being able to levy new monthly taxes on DSL and other connections. One senator is even predicting taxes on e-mail.


“At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they’re hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year.


“If that doesn’t happen, other taxes may zoom upward instead, warned Sen. Michael Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. “Are we implicitly blessing a situation where states are forced to raise other taxes, such as income or property taxes, to offset the growing loss of sales tax revenue?” Enzi said. “I want to avoid that.”


Really? Which taxes will go up if this is not passed? In Washington state this year, there is a significant state tax surplus projected at $2.2 billion, being used to increase “school funding, health care, environmental protection and higher education.”



It leaves $724 million unspent, part of it in a hard-to-tap “rainy day” account that lawmakers are asking voters to create this fall. The fund, essentially a forced savings account of 1 percent per year, was the only aspect of the budget that drew support from minority Republicans on Tuesday. GOP lawmakers believe Democrats overspent and set the state up for a deficit in a few years.


Since the late 90’s this has been a hot topic.



“State and local governments, which are already losing $3-4 billion in sales tax revenues a year from their inability to tax most mail-order sales, would lose billions more. Numerous studies project $300 billion-$500 billion in combined consumer and business purchases over the Internet by 2002.”


As reported in the Washington Post in mid 2005, at stake are “billions of dollars a year in revenue that currently go uncollected.” In 2004, according to the Post, “the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures estimated that state and local governments lost $15.5 billion to $16.1 billion in 2003 from untaxed Internet sales.”



“The states supporting the online sales tax effort believe a successful run of their voluntary program may encourage Congress to pass legislation to overturn a 1992 Supreme Court ruling. In that decision, the justices said mail-order merchants, and, by extension, online retailers, did not need to collect taxes for sales into states where they did not have a physical presence, such as a store or shipping center. The high court reasoned that subjecting out of state merchants to such a myriad of disparate tax laws would place an undue burden on interstate commerce.”


For one side of the argument, see this blog post from the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a public policy think tank. On the flip side, visit the site of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, established to “assist states as they administer a simpler and more uniform sales and use tax system,” and includes 21 states on its governing board (at two levels of membership).


Whether you agree or disagree with the change to net taxes, what can you do?


Write to your state and federal government officials and let them know: in the States, you can find more information on contacting your senators and representatives in DC by going to http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml. The EFF also maintains a website to help you contact US policymakers: http://www.eff.org/congress/.

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The great US digital television migration starts on February 17, 2009

Do you have a TV antenna connection that plugs directly in to your TV or Media Center PC? If so, think about how you will prepare for a transition that is finally coming in the industry: on February 17, 2009, the US will make the transition to digital television, as analog TV channels will be cut off. See the article Will Box Shortage Mar DTV Transition?



“Digital-to-analog convertors that would keep old sets going are supposed to be available by January 1, 2008. But David Rehr, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, says the supply of set-top boxes may not meet the need.”


So if you are what is framed as an “over-the-air” television viewer (aka OTA), then you should be aware of the change. But if you’re one of the majority of US households that receives television programming from cable or satellite, then your analogue TV receiver won’t be impacted. Cable and satellite provide set top box convertors. And OTA HD programming is not impacted, so if you’ve hooked up a new HD TV receiver to an antenna, you won’t be impacted.


Other interesting TV facts from Nielsen Media: 



  • There are an average of 111.4 million TV homes in the United States for the 2006-07 TV season.

  • 98% of American households own a TV, and over 76% of American households own 2 or more TV’s (82% of U.S homes have more than one television set at home)

  • The average U.S. TV home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets

  • 28% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable

  • 64% of homes have wired cable hook-ups (down from 68% in 2000) and 23% have satellite or specialized antenna systems to receive television signals

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Accenture on a (sometimes misleading) positive perception of customer service

I spoke with a customer today relatedt to a technology deployment related to infrastructure and planning. At one point I was somewhat frustrated as I saw that we had room to improve on the customer’s experience with our products, and how we have opportunities to streamline our communications.


Fast forward to this evening after putting kids to bed and receiving a link from a friend to http://www.destinationcrm.com/. This week CRM magazine has an article on their site that examines how some high tech execs “tend to have a more positive perception of the customer service experience they deliver than what their customers actually experience.”


Referencing a new report out from Accenture, “Superior Customer Service Capabilities: Key Factors in the Journey to High Performance,” Coreen Bailor writes…   



“Consumers’ rising customer service expectations, coupled with factors like product commoditization, make leveraging customer service as a competitive differentiator even more crucial for companies across all industries, including technology firms. Even so, high-tech companies and consumers are far from being on the same page when it comes to their perceptions of customer service satisfaction…”


Really? Sure, she must be joking. 😉


But seriously, I’ve been impressed by how self-critical our customer support teams are; through their connections with our product teams they help us ensure that we understand where we are successful in supporting our customers and where we have room to improve.  


Brian Sprague of Accenture (and the report’s co-author) said that a cultural shift must occur in companies with product-centric mindsets…



“It’s something you can’t just do at the VP of service level. It has to be throughout the entire company, meaning that appropriate incentives need to be put in place, [you must have the] appropriate capabilities to decide what is the customer experience that you want to create, and then work throughout the entire organization to deliver that customer experience.” [my bold]


Absolutely right. Making sure that the entire is working to imrpove upon the customer experience is key, and an area where we all have room to improve (me, too).


Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.