Search This Blog

Friday, October 30, 2009

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.


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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







Tuesday, October 27, 2009

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.




Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193