Before Independence Day, Before Lost in Space, Before Tom Cruise, There was Radio and Orson Wells...

"...We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own.

We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which by chance or design man has inherited out of the dark mystery of Time and Space.

Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the thirty-ninth year of the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.

It was near the end of October. Business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work.

Sales were picking up.

On this particular evening, October 30, the Crosley service estimated that thirty-two million people were listening in on radios..." - Orson Wells, 1938.

In a world without the internet, Twitter, cell phones or email a fictitious account of an invasion from Mars scared children, and angered many.

I submit to you a feast for your ears and the kaleidoscope of your mind. Travel back when this new medium, radio, ruled and was blamed for the Death of the Stage show and rotting young minds...enjoy.

Printable Electronics/NanoTech: Xerox

10/28/2009 

Printable Electronics via this new silver ink from X may allow some interesting and different applications.

The "roll-up" display screen, "digital-paper" and wearable iPods.

I know, "pie in the sky" stuff. But remember, change occurs much quicker than it did 10 years or even 2 years ago.

Keep an eye on this.



Press Release.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont., Canada, Oct. 27, 2009 --

With the development of a new silver ink, Xerox scientists have paved the way for commercialization and low-cost manufacturing of printable electronics. Printable electronics offers manufacturers a very low-cost way to add "intelligence" or computing power to a wide range of surfaces such as plastic or fabric.

This development will aid the commercialization of new applications such as "smart" pill boxes that track how much medication a patient has taken or display screens that roll up to fit into a briefcase.
"For years, there's been a global race to find a low-cost way to manufacture plastic circuits," said Paul Smith, laboratory manager, Xerox Research Centre of Canada. "We've found the silver bullet that could make things like electronic clothing and inexpensive games a reality today. This breakthrough means the industry now has the capability to print electronics on a wider range of materials and at a lower cost."

Until now, bringing low-cost electronics to the masses has been hindered by the logistics and costs associated with silicon chip manufacturing; the breakthrough low-temperature silver ink overcomes the cost hurdle, printing reliably on a wide range of surfaces such as plastic or fabric.

As part of its commercialization initiatives, Xerox plans to aggressively seek interested manufacturers and developers by providing sample materials to allow them to test and evaluate potential applications.

Integrated circuits are made up of three components - a semiconductor, a conductor and a dielectric element - and currently are manufactured in costly silicon chip fabricating factories. By creating a breakthrough silver ink to print the conductor, Xerox has developed all three of the materials necessary for printing plastic circuits.

Using Xerox's new technology, circuits can be printed just like a continuous feed document without the extensive clean room facilities required in current chip manufacturing. In addition, scientists have improved their previously developed semiconductor ink, increasing its reliability by formulating the ink so that the molecules precisely align themselves in the best configuration to conduct electricity.

The printed electronics materials, developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, enable product manufacturers to put electronic circuits on plastics, film, and textiles. Printable circuits could be used in a broad range of products, including low-cost radio frequency identification tags, light and flexible e-readers and signage, sensors, solar cells and novelty applications including wearable electronics.

"We will be able to print circuits in almost any size from smaller custom-sized circuits to larger formats such as wider rolls of plastic sheets -unheard of in today's silicon-wafer industry," said Hadi Mahabadi, vice president and center manager of Xerox Research Centre Canada. "We are taking this technology to product developers to enable them to design tomorrow's uses for printable electronics."

R&D samples of the materials including the new conductive silver ink are available by contacting Xerox.

About Xerox
Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., Xerox Corporation's 54,000 people represent the world's leading document management, technology and services enterprise, providing the industry's broadest portfolio of color and black-and-white document processing systems and relate

TSG Solutions Unveils New Business Applications for the Office Equipment Industry

Press Release:

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Windermere, FL, United States, 10/27/2009 - A subscription based cloud computing business application built on the Force.com cloud computing platform by Salesforce.com. Application is designed to assist Office Equipment Dealers and Agents manage and grow their business.

TSG Solutions, today announced the availability of AgentDealer™ on Force.com, salesforce.com’s cloud computing platform, bringing a fully customized sales and business management application to the Office Equipment Industry. AgentDealer™ is a 100% Force.com native application, benefiting from the reliability, scalability and performance of salesforce.com’s trusted global service infrastructure.

Equipment dealers can manage all their business relationships, connections, deals, agreements, sales quotas, commissions, service calls, meter reads, equipment expiration dates and more with TSG Solutions new CRM subscription service. Designed exclusively for the Office Equipment Industry, this application became available today at a price of only $49.95 per user, per month. Subscription includes ongoing remote administrative support.

“The AgentDealer application is a tool dealers and their salespeople can start using within days and at a cost they can afford,” said Edward Barfield, The Sailor Group’s CEO. “Our simple subscription model has no long term contract or additional investment requirements like configuration cost that other alternatives have.” In addition we offer Premier Remote Admin Service as part of the subscription. There is no need for the dealer to have to provide that resource.”

AgentDealer™ features a suite of business process and productivity enhancing tools designed to specifically shorten sales cycles and drive higher profitability:

• Deal Activity Monitor - alert system based on completed activities
• RightTrack™ daily activity tool for the sales reps
• TouchPoints™ contact management tags
• ProActivity™ - proactive automated multi-touch campaign generator.
• Equipment Tracker - Lease & Service agreement expiration alerts
• NextCall™ - automated next steps
• Quota & Commission Calculator
• Service Calls & Meter Reads
• Service & Lease Agreement Management
• Installation Stages and Tracking
• Deal Management
• Business and People Relationship Management.

About the Force.com Platform

Force.com is the only proven enterprise platform for building and running business applications in the cloud. The Force.com platform powers the Salesforce CRM applications, more than 800 ISV partner applications like those from CODA and Fujitsu, and more than 85,000 custom applications used by salesforce.com’s 51,800 customers such as Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE and Sprint Nextel.

Force.com is the fastest platform for building and deploying complex business applications. Unlike a stack of disparate client/server hardware and software products, Force.com unifies the development and deployment model from the database to the device, allowing developers to easily assemble applications with clicks, components and code, and then instantly deploy them on salesforce.com’s trusted global infrastructure. Customers and partners are using Force.com to build all kinds of business applications from supply chain management to compliance tracking, brand management, accounts receivable, claims processing applications and much more.

Pricing & Availability

AgentDealer™ is available now for a subscription price of $49.95 per user license per month. A Start Up Kit is required and is priced according to the number of users. To subscribe or arrange an online demo contact TSG Solutions by email or phone or visit our website dealeragentcrm.com/. AgentDealer™ requires a computer with an internet connection.

About TSG Solutions
TSG Solutions (a division of The Sailor Group Inc.) is a Salesforce.com partner offering consulting, implementation, integration and custom Salesforce.com platform application services. TSG Solutions provides managed services for custom designed market specific business applications and professional services for companies who desire to build their own custom cloud based business applications.

Press Contact:
Michelle Barfield
The Sailor Group Inc.
michelle.barfield[.]thesailorgroup.com

407.401.8821

TSG Solutions, AgentDealer, RightTrack, TouchPoints, NextCall and ProActivity are trademarks of TSG Solutions. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Toshiba Announces Entry Level DocMan

Press Release:

RVINE, Calif. - (Business Wire) Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) today announced the launch of three new software solutions – deskSystem, deskRecord and deskForm – designed to improve document management, capture, work flow, and output for multifunction printer (MFP) users.

These solutions represent tier one offerings in a new, multi-tiered Toshiba software strategy announced to dealers over the summer during Regional Summits in Las Vegas and New Jersey.

The “desk” software developed by Prism Software Corporation, targets small- to mid-sized businesses requiring affordable entry-level solutions. These solutions are also easy for dealers to install, connect, and complement the award-winning Toshiba MFP line-up. Software add-on options within tier one will range between $495 and $3,995.

“Part of the reason we designed a tiered strategy was to help our SMB customers who had a need for software add-ons, but often felt that the options available in the marketplace were too advanced and thus too costly for their particular needs. This made it difficult for them to fully maximize productivity and efficiency within their offices. By offering simplified, affordable solutions, we can meet their needs, increase their productivity and improve their bottom line,” said Joseph Contreras, director, Product and Solutions Marketing, TABS.

“At the same time, we’re providing an opportunity for Toshiba dealers to complement MFP sales and build professional services practices by offering solutions that are easy to deploy.”

deskRecord is a complete desktop document management system that:

Quickly searches and retrieves documents;
Decreases the need for physically filing paper documents;
Provides real time document tracking and auditing;
Instantly shares documents via email; and
Saves documents directly from Microsoft Office applications

deskSystem is an easy-to-use desktop application that allows users to:

Create work groups for community-based work flow and collaboration with intuitive document composition and editing;
Create personalized and automated workflows and business processes for the automatic processing of documents;
Automatically route documents in and out of software programs such as DocRecord,
deskRecord and SharePoint; and
Easily and quickly compose and edit complex documents.

deskForm is a complete personalized communication solution for cross-channel messaging for small organizations. Key features include:

Create personalized print and electronic promotional, transpromo and transactional documents;
Generate personalized Web pages and HTML emails;
Fully-integrated postal certification;
SMS text messaging to provide instant notifications to customers;
All capabilities in a single application;
Integrated Microsoft SharePoint Server Output; and
Integration with DirectSmile for the creation of unique, personalized graphics and images.


About TABS

Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. (TABS) manages product planning, marketing, sales, service support and distribution of copiers, facsimiles, multifunction printing products, network controllers, and toner products throughout the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TABS has five divisions: the Electronic Imaging Division; the Toner Products Division; the Document Solutions Engineering Division; the International Division; and TOPAC U.S.A., Inc., dba Toshiba Business Solutions (TBS), a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of TABS, that operates a network of wholly-owned office equipment dealers throughout the United States.

Named the most favored manufacturer ten times by the Business Technology Association (BTA), Toshiba's entire product line, customer support and marketing distribution policies are markers for the industry. Among the many other awards garnered in recent years, Toshiba was named the "Manufacturer of the Year" eight times by Marketing Research Consultants (MRC), and has twice been named to the CIO 100 for being among the top 100 "bold" (2008) and "agile" (2004) companies in the world.

TABS is an independent operating company of Toshiba Corporation, the seventh largest electronics/electrical equipment company and the world's 91st largest company in terms of sales. Ranked by Fortune magazine as the eighth Most Admired Electronics Company in the World, Toshiba Corporation is a world leader in high technology products with more than 300 major subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. Fiscal year revenue in 2008 was approximately $76.7 billion.

Video of The Week: She's The One, Springsteen

I first saw Bruce in 1980, in Joe Louis Arena, Detroit Michigan.

My seats?

I could lean back against the wall - I was in the very last row, on the highest level, the furthest anyone could be.

Didn't make a difference. He came on at 8:15 and the show ended at 1:07AM...incredible. The Big Man studded out in a white tux, and yes, that was Mighty Max on the drums - you know, he's on Conan now.

Mitch Ryder sang and the last 45 minutes all the house lights came on and stayed on.

Nobody was sitting - good lord, it was magic.

Enjoy, it's a 6 minute, 42 second break...start the week strong.