Tim Matheson Blog - Productive Tips and More

The FCC approved a new ruggedized Pocket PC Phone from Panasonic. The Toughbook CF-P2 has both GSM/GPRS 850/1900 as well as 802.11b Wi-Fi and Blutooth. It also features n full numeric keypad, LCD screen with light sensor for automatic backlight adjustment and SD slot. It runs Windows Mobile 2003 SE. Since it is part of Panasonic’s Toughbook line, the CF-P2 is ruggedized against a range of shock, temperature and humidity. However it is not designed for use in extreme conditions (the arctic, deserts, under water). The toughbook will most likely be available through Panasonic and their resellers, not through carriers.

I am a big fan of the Favorite Website Awards FWA website. The site contains hundreds of interesting websites with the majority of them being flash based websites. I frequently find myself browsing through the archive of websites available at FWA and find it interesting to see some of the most creative pieces I have ever seen. I enjoy this site so much it is only proper to tell others about it. So if you would like to browse the site the URL is http://www.favoritewebsiteawards.com

A Sacramento California teenager was recently arrested for hacking into his schools computer systems and changing his grades. Sacramento police searched the teen’s home and found several Pringles can cantennas and other electronic equipment they presumed to be illegal.

“While these devices are un-sophisticated there are still very powerful.” said Lt. Bob Lozito of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. These antennas are sometimes used as a device to access wireless networks from a distance. Many wireless networks are not secured using the common 128 bit WEP and WAP protection methods. Even though some may have the encryption implemented many networks have a misconception about network security. There is still a chance for anyone from a distance to access your data through a wireless network. There is a program available for Linux called Airsnort which allows a person to simply monitor a networks traffic and capture data packets. Once enough packets have been gathered the wireless encryption key can then be reconstructed. This can sometimes take six hours or more to do depending on the volume of traffic on your network. Even so if you are using a wireless network it is still very likely that your data could be at risk. Using other security features such as SSL (secure Socket Layer) 128 bit and getting PGP encryption software are still a good idea. If you still can’t sleep convert your network to a wired LAN and store all your sensitive data on a USB external hard drive. When the network is not in use you can simply power off the external hard drive preventing access to the data.

I personally have built one of these antennas to work with a PCMIA wireless notebook card to obtain a better signal. As far as I know it is not illegal to use a cantenna, yagi antenna or any other type of wireless Hi-Gain antenna. However it is against FCC regulations to amplify a wi-fi signal. There are many resources on the internet that provide instructions on how to construct one of these devices. The Pringles Can Antenna on The Cheap is a good one. I don’t believe it is illegal to possess a Pringles can nor is it illegal

Google has opened up its massive server farms to host user-submitted content that it will index and make searchable. The company opened up Google Base to users today.it allows users to contribute online and offline content to the search engine, and add attributes to the content’s description to help others find it. Depending on relevance, submitted items could appear across Google properties like Froogle or Google Local. That would seem to support the anticipated release of Google’s classifieds service, by giving users an easy way to upload and tag products or services. One item in the Base FAQ also shows that the service is ready to work with classifieds:

Comic strip artist Aaron McGruder has really gotten his political message out with his famous comic strip Boondocks. McGruder 28 is known for the cynical and sometimes offensive nature of his strips. Boondocks is a comic strip about a family of African-American kids adjusting to an integrated, predominately white suburb.

McGruder works from home producing 7 strips a week and best of all he does it completely digital. McGruder has formed his strips around some controversial topics such as Bush, Ronald Regan, Osama Bin Laden and decss a content scrambling system used on many DVD’s as a copyright protection system. McGruder occasionally has had his strips pulled from several news papers based on the topics Boondocks is based on. I personally think that Boondocks communicates a powerful message and is an overall great strip. McGruder is currently working on a book that will include all the Boondocks strips he has ever made. This book will also include some strips that never made it to the papers. There is also some talk of Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” has recently featured the cartoon version of Boondocks. When asked where the young artist sees himself heading with all this he replied he would like to tap into Hollywood and motion pictures because of the more broad audience and opportunity to get his message across. McGruder says “People don’t read anymore, well at least most of them. Unless you can beam something into there eyes your message will never get heard.” Boondocks currently runs in over 200 newspapers nationwide including the New York Times, The Boston Journal and more.

I am currently working on revising a web site I created last year for a client. The new site will include some nice features. The company Mayhew Signs, Inc. is a nationwide sign company based in Nebraska. The new site will include such features as a customizable banner software, and an interactive tour of Mayhew Signs, Inc. and a company blog where they can post news about there latest sign projects. I really think the new version of the site will be a great addition to my portfolio. The old site has grown obsolete and the information is out of date so I plan to revise the body copy and also rethink the navigation elements.

I recently moved to northern Wisconsin from Nebraska for a change of scenery. It is allot different than Nebraska I can tell you that. We just had our first snow of the year yesterday and now we are having blistering cold temperatures as low as 7 degrees. I have to say I was not prepared for this and am starting to reconsider living here with this cold weather. Days like these can make you thankful you work at home and do not have to go out in the freezing cold to work a 9 - 5 everyday. Many people here seem to be used to this kind of weather. They don’t seem to think anything of the snow and cold wind. We didn’t have weather that was quite this cold in Nebraska especially in November. To top it all of I recently spoke with an old friend back home who had informed me that it was 40 degrees there today. Maybe I am just getting homesick or maybe I am just not a cold weather person. Whatever the case, it’s going to be a long winter for me in Wisconsin.

For those of you who don’t know, I am a professional web designer and web publisher by day and amateur blogger by night. However recently I started to notice a problem. I wasn’t getting any sleep balancing life and work can sometimes be tuff. After all there are only 24 hours in each day and I seem to find something to fill almost all 24 of them. So I am starting to rethink my career as a professional web designer and focus more on blogging. You may have noticed the ads along the sides of my content. These are mainly here to help pay for my web server space and hosting fee’s. Websites aren’t free at least good ones there are several fees you have to pay in order to keep your site up and running. So my plan with this site is to write articles explaining web design and web design practices. I feel I am somewhat knowledgeable on the topic and will be able to maybe provide some insight to others who are interested in becoming a web designer.
I will try to touch on the basic variables of web design that every web designer should understand. Web design is a competitive business however when done right using a little business ethics and a proper business model one can earn a living through web design.

In September, Apple, Cingular and Motorola teamed on ROKR, the first mobile music phone to synchronize with Apple’s popular iTunes jukebox software. But the ROKR met a lukewarm reception. It can hold just 100 songs, compared with thousands on most iPods.

To transfer songs to the ROKR, you have to connect the phone via USB cable to a PC or Mac. It can’t download music “over the air,” straight to your handset. Neither could other music phones sold in the USA.

Until now.

This week, Sprint Nextel introduced the Sprint Music Store, a service that lets you browse, preview, buy and download songs on the fly. The songs can be grabbed by one of two compatible handsets: the $230 (with rebate and two-year service contract) Sanyo MM-9000 and the $250 (also after rebate) Samsung SPH-A940. Each is also a camera-phone that offers you live TV, among other multimedia tricks. But it’s over-the-air downloadable music that catches your attention.

Full-track music downloads to a cellphone, without a computer, had previously been available only overseas. The idea seems pretty irresistible. Putting music on your cellphone, after all, means one less gadget to have to carry around.

In my tests with the Sanyo and Samsung models, the Sprint download operation worked mostly without a hitch. If your cell coverage fails (as mine sometimes did), you can’t tap into the music store. But you can play back already downloaded music.

When folded, the two flip phones are shorter and thicker than the candy-bar-shaped ROKR. They come with memory cards that provide pretty limited song capacity — even less than ROKR has. But you can vastly increase those limits by buying optional cards, which I’d expect most music fans to do.

There’s something undeniably cool about having a three- to five-minute song arrive on your phone, just 30 to 45 seconds after ordering it on the handset. You can sample a 30-second preview before buying it.

Here’s what’s not cool: the price of the transaction. Sprint seems badly out of tune with the rest of the online music market. Each track you buy costs $2.50. That compares with 99 cents on iTunes and even less on some other services.

Sprint’s price excludes the $15 to $25 you’ll have to pay for a monthly data plan (which you’d do anyway to access multimedia services). If you don’t opt for a data plan, a single tune can singe you for $22.50.

Sprint’s reasoning is simple: Consumers will pay a premium for instant access and convenience. Plus, you actually get two high-quality copies of the same song. One is tethered to the phone; the other can be downloaded to your computer.

The PC version is a Windows Media file that you can burn to a CD and play on some portable devices. You have the right to copy the song onto three computers.

Sprint’s price strategy

You might think Sprint’s pricing strategy was influenced by the ring-tone market. Customers already fork over at least $2 to $3 to download a customizable musical ring tone. But ring tones, which are about personalization, may be able to command a higher price.

The songs you download through the music store can’t be used as ring tones. Licensing restrictions forbid it. And even if they didn’t, the first 15 seconds of a downloaded tune might not be the most ideal section of a song for a ring tone.

I doubt the iPod crowd will agree to spend $2.50 for music, no matter how convenient. Even those who don’t own a portable player may find it too steep.

It’s too bad, because I think over-the-air downloads are a terrific idea. And Sprint has done a good job designing the music store in this first incarnation.

When you click on the music icon in either phone’s main menu, you’re taken to the store. The first time you arrive, you must create a four-digit password. The Sprint store (powered by Groove Mobile) has about 250,000 songs, with ever-growing content from four major labels: EMI, Sony BMG, Warner and Universal.

To help you find tracks, the phone’s screen lists a few songs under a Featured Music section (i.e., selections from Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West). You can use the phone’s buttons to scout titles under such categories as Weekly New Releases and What’s Hot.

You can also browse by genre or search for an artist or song. Enter a name by single-, double- and triple-tapping on the phone’s keypad. (Neither handset has a traditional, qwerty keyboard.)

I downloaded music from Eminem, Carole King and Frank Sinatra, among others. The songs you buy are tagged to an individual account. That way, if you change phones in the future, the songs remain with you.

While previewing or playing back music, you can see a thumbnail image of the album cover. I had to squint, though, to make it out on the Samsung screen. The image was slightly more visible on the larger Sanyo display.

The PC version of the song you buy shows up in your account on the Web so you can download it. Alas, you can’t also shop for music through Sprint on the Web.

Boosting song capacity

The Sanyo and Samsung phones come with tiny, small-capacity memory cards. Sanyo’s is a 16-megabyte MiniSD card, Samsung’s a 32-MB TransFlash card. One song takes roughly 1 megabyte. So you’re looking at storage limits of about 16 and 32 songs, respectively — not much.

But you can buy optional cards to boost those limits to 1 gigabyte, or about 1,000 songs. With adequate storage, you can also move music on your computer to the phone. Depending on the phone, that involves either connecting a USB cable or inserting a memory card into a reader connected to your PC. The phone accepts files in the MP3 or AAC format; you must have the digital license to transfer a song. When a call comes in, the handset mutes the music.

Now, if only Sprint would provide more harmonious pricing, I’d be singing a happier tune.

Today at Northside Computers (U.S. Cellular Authorized Agent) we promoted cellular phones using the U.S Cellular mascot “Cellby”. He received several comment’s a wave of honks and even a hug from a passerby. There is just something about Cellby that warms people up inside. Maybe it’s the antenna. I really thought this deserved a post to my blog because I enjoyed it so why not share it with the world.

Ok maybe I am a little bit obsessed with Google these day’s. I can’t help it there is something about that Google. Anyway I have been having some fun lately and found the Google store. This is really a great idea I already seen some stuff that would make great stocking stuffers this year. I mean what say’s merry Christmas more than a Google LED umbrella come on. Anyway I though I might share this with all you Google fans. visit the Google Store

This concept here is my goal. I want to get my plates to say Google. I think a lot of people would appreciate my creativity in using Google as my personalized plate. This concept would bring a whole new meaning to the words “traffic from Google”. By the time I get around to getting new plates someone will probably have seen this and done it already. That is why I will resort to plan B and use yahoo. I don’t know I just think it would be neat to actually see this on a plate. If anyone out there has any pictures of a plate with Google on it or any cool license plate for that matter email it to me so I can post it.

I think this would make a really cool T-shirt, is anyone listening out there? We have all seen those T-shirts with statements like “Im big in Japan” and so on. Why not make one that say’s im big on Google or even Yahoo? I dont know just a thought.

NEWTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 4, 2005–Grant Marketing hosted the first in a series of free B2B marketing seminars at their Newton, MA office, 2020 Commonwealth Avenue. The seminar featured guest speaker Mr. Udi Sabach, founder of Pixelgroove Interactive, who presented, “Search Engine Optimization: Are Your Prospects Finding You on the Web?”

The seminar provided insight on search engine marketing strategies and how “Search engine optimization (SEO) can be used to increase sales leads from the internet. Search engine optimization is a strategy that positions a company’s web site in a favorable ranking on search engines, preferably in the first 30 companies listed. Business to business Web users typically will look no further than the first page of a search engine when searching for information. Mr. Sabach presented an overview of SEO and discussed how company websites should be primed for maximum search engine optimization. Topics included the “Top 10 SEO Tips”, “Top 10 Detrimental Factors for SEO”, and “Examples of Good SEO”.

The seminar was well attended. “I thought the seminar was very well presented. I was impressed that it was learning based, interesting and informative, without going for the hard sales pitch. The personalized analysis of my website was very useful,” said Gail Healy, Marketing Program Manager of Cambridge Technology.

The SEO seminar is the first of as series of seminars hosted by Grant Marketing that will inform and update B2B professionals on a variety of marketing trends. The next seminar, scheduled for mid-January will discuss: “Press Releases and How They Promote Company and Product Brand Identity.” The guest speaker will be Jennifer Saragosa from Business Wire.

Grant Marketing is a full service advertising and marketing communications company assisting companies in developing and executing comprehensive marketing strategies. Grant Marketing offers a multitude of services including market planning, web design, internet marketing, public relations, graphic design, collateral design, print advertising and trade show support.

For more information on Grant Marketing and future seminars visit: www.grantmarketing.net, call: 617-796-0186 or e-mail: info@grantmarketing.net.

From correspondents in London

MACQUARIE Bank has appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on a possible takeover approach for the London Stock Exchange, sources familiar with the situation said overnight.

Europe’s largest share exchange is still the target of possible bids from rivals Euronext and Deutsche Boerse as well as Macquarie Bank (mbl.ASX:Quote,News).

After a long inquiry, the UK Competition Commission cleared the way last week for Euronext to make a bid, subject to certain conditions. The LSE then said on Thursday it was in talks to bring the offer period to an end and return STG250 million ($601 million) to shareholders.

But British newspapers overnight speculated an approach from Macquarie could come as early as this week.

Macquarie Bank shares jumped on the news early today, up 99 cents or 1.47 per cent to $68.19 at 1024 AEDT.

THE Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says business investment is expected to continue to expand while labour conditions remain tight.

In its quarterly statement on monetary policy released today, the central bank said growth in investment had been broadly based with forward indicators of investment intentions pointing to further growth.

“One important factor contributing to this has been the high level of commodity prices, which has stimulated investment in the mining sector and in resource-related manufacturing and infrastructure projects,” the RBA said.

“This is not surprising in an environment where businesses, with the exception of trade-exposed manufacturers, are generally experiencing good trading conditions, high levels of capacity utilisation and strong profitability, a situation which has also been reflected in a strong share market.”

The bank said favourable external conditions and high commodity prices had also contributed to a narrowing of Australia’s trade and current account deficits this year as a result of higher export prices and volumes.

The farm sector had also improved with output likely to be around the average of recent years compared with below average outcomes that seemed likely earlier in the year.

“The strong upswing in business investment seen in recent years continued in the first half of 2005, with real business investment increasing by 15 per cent over the year to the June quarter, underpinned by high capacity utilisation, healthy profits and falling prices for capital goods,” the RBA said.

“Conditions remain supportive for further growth in business investment with sound prospects for the domestic and world economies and a favourable funding environment.”

The bank said the economy was still operating at a relatively high level of capacity utilisation and that labour market conditions remained tight, with many businesses continuing to report considerable difficulty in attracting suitable labour.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, unveiled Web services based on its flagship Windows and Office products as part of its strategy to deliver software over the Internet and cash in on a fast-growing market that has been staked out by smaller rivals.

At an invitation-only gathering for analysts and media held in San Francisco, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates outlined what he called “live software” that aims to make software a service, linking all digital media, applications and devices.

The new Web software will initially be supported by advertising revenue, though the company will later offer paid subscriptions. “This is a big change for everybody,” Gates told the gathering. “It is employing every part of the (software) ecosystem.”

The company will offer “Office Live” to help small and midsize businesses use and maintain the suite of software used for applications such as email, scheduling, spreadsheets and word processing.For consumers, Microsoft Corp. unwrapped its “Windows Live” service that combines things like instant-messaging from its MSN service, email and a service for creating blogs. The new service will also allow users to do such things as move information from one computer to another. “Seamlessness is key to the live strategy,” said Microsoft chief technical officer Ray Ozzie. “There’s a significant opportunity for revenue growth through advertising as it pertains to software as a service.” Upstarts such as Salesforce.com Inc. have been growing rapidly by providing business owners with Internet-based applications for tracking customer relationships and managing back-office functions.

Those applications are less expensive than competing programs from larger rivals because they are hosted on the software providers’ computer servers, rather than those of their customers. Clients also pay a monthly fee based on how much they use the service. Microsoft is at the beginning of a slight shift in strategy as it adds services to its existing software offerings, including its dominant Windows operating system, according to Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions of Microsoft, an independent research firm that tracks the company. Executives at Microsoft “realize that they have to be there” in the market for so-called on-demand software, Rosoff said. As the world’s biggest software company, Microsoft easily dominates the market for operating systems to power computers with its Windows, as well as with the Office applications. But Microsoft is facing stepped-up pressure from rivals such as Internet search giant Google Inc. Competitors have been able to capitalize on technology to quickly bring innovative and often frequently updated products to market.

As podcasting’s popularity grows, companies are seeing dollar signs

The buzz that built up around podcasting after its debut a year ago wasn’t about money. The technology, which makes it easy for people to create their own audio recordings and post them on the Web, sparked imaginations because it allowed anyone to create a radio show about pretty much anything, from German board games to vegan cooking. Podcasting was innovation for outsiders. And to the early purists, talk of profits was nothing less than heresy.

Not anymore. Today, upstarts, venture capitalists, and media giants are all hard at work trying to figure out how to make podcasting pay. They’re experimenting with advertisements, subscriptions, even with having on-air personalities talk up certain products, like in the early days of radio. The latest sign of commercialization? This month, pioneer Adam Curry is launching a podcast network, with 30 to 50 shows that will split ad revenues. The concept won Curry a $9.8 million investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital, two top venture firms in Silicon Valley. “We saw the amazing adoption across the Net, and it was obvious that there was a big opportunity,” says Mark Kvamme, a partner at Sequoia.

Mavericks such as Curry don’t have podcasting all to themselves anymore. Traditional media companies, including CBS (VIA ), Clear Channel Communications (CCU ), and Walt Disney (DIS ), are lining up their podcasts right next to those from indies. Tech giants America Online, (TWX ) Apple Computer (AAPL ), and Yahoo! (YHOO ) are rushing in with aggregation services that collect thousands of podcasts in one place, laying the foundation for selling shows and ads. iTunes offers 15,000 podcasts, and listeners have signed up for 7 million subscriptions.

Some models are emerging. Many podcasters are turning to sponsorships, which typically involve a 15- or 30-second audio ad at the beginning of the podcast. The popular podcasts usually set flat rates ranging from a few thousand dollars a month to as much as $45,000. In February, Volvo (VOLVY ) agreed to pay $60,000 for a six-month sponsorship of the monthly podcast of Weblog Inc.’s Autoblog, as well as advertising on the site itself. Over that period, the show was downloaded 150,000 times.

Because the number of listeners is changing fast, a flat-rate sponsorship can end up being a bargain or a bust. KCRW, the public radio station in Santa Monica, cut a deal with Southern California Lexus Dealers for a sponsorship this summer, when the station was getting 20,000 downloads a week. Since then the number spiked to 100,000. When the Lexus deal ends, KCRW plans to charge $25 per thousand listeners. “Once we get out of this sweetheart deal, our goal is to cast our net as wide as possible,” says Jacki K. Weber, KCRW’s development director.

The rates podcasters are getting are attracting attention. Although there aren’t reliable figures for the whole field, the $25 per thousand listeners that KCRW plans to charge seems to be about average for popular podcasts. That’s pretty lofty, considering a New York City morning radio show charges between $12 and $15.

Why the premium for some podcasts? They help advertisers reach specific groups, even as media fragments. “You have to think of this more as investing in a valuable customer,” says Mary Kang, associate media director at StarLink, a Chicago ad agency. That’s one reason Sequoia’s Kvamme thinks podcasting could siphon $1 billion to $2 billion away from the $30 billion radio advertising market in three to five years.

Podcasters are experimenting with ways of pulling in money without advertising. This Week In Tech, an indie podcast with over 200,000 listeners, asks for $2 donations per month and rakes in around $10,000 a month. Others think listeners will pay a monthly subscription fee for content or perhaps a one-time download charge.

Curry is pushing the limits for indies. His troupe of podcasters plans to offer advertisers a host of possibilities, including spots where a podcaster tries out a product and podcasts devoted entirely to a product or service. Gretchen Vogelzang and Paige Heninger, the Virginia women behind the show Mommycast in Curry’s network, will promote a new toy from Hasbro Inc. (HAS ), iDog, on each episode.

Still, for all the energy some podcasters are pouring into making money, they will be dwarfed by the thousands who aren’t pursuing riches. For them, the original allure of podcasting remains: creating their own show, even if only for a few close friends.

Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX), the world’s leading hard drive company, today announced that it will hold a Consumer Electronics (CE) Conference at Shinla Hotel in Seoul on November 4. The CE conference is designed to help local CE manufacturers have a better understanding of global CE hard disc drive market trends and Seagate products developed especially for CE applications.

Dave Yang, Seagate’s Asia-Pacific CE manager, will highlight the emerging needs for storage as entertainment and other digital content continues to proliferate. Seagate continues to expand its CE hard disc drive product offerings for applications ranging from automobile navigation and entertainment, to home theater, handheld audio, video, communications and computing. They include a breakthrough hard drive designed specifically for use in cars; the first 8GB 1-inch hard drive for handheld applications; the first 2.5-inch hard drive designed specifically for consumer electronics devices; and the industry’s highest capacity drive - a 500GB model - for DVRs (digital video recorder) and home entertainment systems.

Seagate works closely with its CE partners to enable them to be fast-to-market with innovative, best-in-class products. To that end, Seagate’s technological edge enables it to provide its partners with a comprehensive suite of industry-leading products and services. Seagate’s unique Design Service Centers (DSC) for Consumer Electronics in the US and Singapore offer a variety of services, including testing, integration and mechanical analysis, to help customers design, innovate and deliver new hard drive-capable entertainment devices. Regionally, Seagate’s System Integration Engineering (SIE) Labs also support local customers’ immediate needs. SIE Labs are located in Tokyo and Taipei.

Half of UK companies now fully integrating their business processes
James Watson, Computing 19 Oct 2005

Half of UK companies are fully integrating their business processes by linking front-end operations with inventory and supply chain systems.

This compares with just 10 per cent in 2002, according to a CBI report published this week that highlights the progress companies have made in ebusiness over the past three years.

While the main priority for businesses is still cost cutting, attention is also focused on improving customer services.

Employee relations is another area where the uptake of ebusiness is booming. Some 54 per cent of the 314 respondents in the survey use electronic processes for staff entitlements, and a further fifth (21 per cent) plan to do so.

In addition, 81 per cent said they have fully or partially implemented remote working.

‘Firms are realising that what works with your employees is a precursor to what will work with your customers,’ said Jeremy Beale, head of the CBI’s ebusiness unit.
But progress in improving customer and employee-focused systems is not being matched by improvements in corporate supply chains.

Nearly 80 per cent of firms have introduced electronic payments in their supply chain, but fewer than half use electronic invoicing or online tendering.