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dd:Microsoft and Yahoo Continue to Chase Google for Marketshare
Google’s Ad Sense Contributed to March’s Growth; Stock soars to over $220 per share
Aliso Viejo, CA (PRWEB) May 9, 2005 -- NetApplications, an industry leader in Web-based applications that measure, monitor and market Web sites for the Small to Medium Enterprise (SME), today announced its latest results on active search engine traffic statistics.
The battle continues as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) chase Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) for market share. Google continues to climb, in particular, Google’s Ad Sense which contributed 4.19% to its market dominance in April. Ad Sense contributed
3.55% to Google's overall market share in March.
“The search engine wars are definitely heating up as Google continues its aggressive campaign to increase market share and Yahoo and MSN launch new initiatives designed to attract new users and advertisers,” noted Dan Shapero, Chief Operating Officer of NetApplications. “Google is the only company to increase its user-base over the last 60 days, at the direct expense of its competition, and investors have taken notice. The company’s stock has risen considerably from $190 in February to $220 on May 1.”
Below is the latest aggregate information from our network on Search Engine referral visitor percentage.
Top U.S. Search Engine Traffic referrals for April are as follows:
Google
February 43.06%
March 44.51%
April 45.85
Yahoo! Websites
February - 17.02%
March - 16.98%
April - 15.35
MSN
February - 11.52%
March - 10.86%
April - 10.86
AOL
February - 3.27%
March - 3.21%
April - 3.00%
Dogpile
February - 0.85%
March - 0.83%
April - 0.77%
Ask Jeeves
February - 0.91%
March - 0.88%
April - 0.86%
Alta Vista
February - 0.47%
March - 0.46%
April - 0.41%
HitsLink™ is Net Applications’ flagship product providing advanced website statistics and analysis for webmasters and eMarketers alike. The data has been collected from over 40,000 Hitslink.com-monitored global Web sites.
Please feel free to use this data in your reports or articles, simply source it as, “Data for this article was compiled from global traffic statistics from Web sites tracked by NetApplications’ HitsLink.com.”
The HitsLink Enterprise Service starts at $14.95 per monthly subscription. A free trial is available at www.HitsLink.com/trial.
About NetApplications
Since 1999 NetApplications has been a leading source of tools and utilities for webmasters and eMarketers for small to medium enterprise (SME). The company has a complete suite of simple and affordable subscription-based applications that are designed to help users have greater success with their Web site marketing efforts. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo California, NetApplications distributes its services through over 3,000 partners and affiliates. These services may also be founded at www.netapplications.com, www.hitslink.com, www.submitter.net, www.publishplus.com, www.1stwarning.com and www.toolshack.com.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/5/emw237672.htm
dd: The Only Exciting Thing In Tech?
Lisa DiCarlo, 05.09.05, 6:00 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/2005/05/09/cx_ld_0509mobile_print.html
Digital Media
The Only Exciting Thing In Tech?
Lisa DiCarlo, 05.09.05, 6:00 AM ET
Still using your cell phone just to make phone calls? How passé.
If the seers are correct, within a year your cell phone will be capable of live television, music downloads and playback, videogames, storing movie clips and viewing everything from photo albums to digital home movies. In short, more than you may have ever thought possible.
Of course, there are high hurdles to clear before all this great stuff happens--complex rights agreements, conflicting technology standards and the sometimes fractious relationship between carriers and content providers--but everyone involved has a stake in making it work. How big a stake? It's almost too big to put a number on.
Pacific Crest Securities, which hosted a mobile entertainment conference in New York on May 6, believes the sector will be the next driver for growth in the technology industry, and the dominant investment opportunity for the next decade.
This is especially crucial for carriers like Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ), because they need compelling new applications and services for which they can charge a premium. Most carriers have spent or are committed to spending billions to upgrade their networks to handle digital media, but haven't yet gotten a return on that investment. Pacific Crest estimates that today U.S.-based carriers generate less than 5% of revenue from data services, mainly simple text messaging.
But even in limited rollout, Verizon and Sprint already have seen the benefits of mobile entertainment. Sprint's Vision data services, for example, have resulted in a sixfold increase in average revenue per data customer, to $6 per month, according to Pacific Crest. Verizon Wireless' V Cast entertainment services were rolled out to 32 markets in February and will be available to two-thirds of its customers by the end of the year.
Content providers and content aggregators will also benefit. Game publisher THQ (nasdaq: THQI - news - people ) is the largest developer of games for mobile devices, and may be the only American videogame maker to establish a division specifically for cell phone games. THQ Wireless is expected to turn in $25 million in sales this year, up from just $7 million last year. Electronic Arts (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ), the largest videogame publisher, has sat on the sidelines so far, but is expected to jump in now that there appears to be a real opportunity for profits.
Many industry watchers agree music is the killer application for mobile entertainment. Pacific Crest estimates that every wireless carrier will offer music downloads within a year. Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) and Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) are collaborating on a phone capable of downloading songs from Apple's iTunes music store, though that product hasn't yet hit the market. Still, sales of cell phones capable of downloading and playing digital music are expected to account for 20% of cell phone shipments this year.
At the Pacific Crest conference, handset makers, content providers and one music executive said they prefer a music subscription model to the à la carte model popularized by Apple, primarily because the margins are better.
That could spell trouble for Apple because it does not support the subscription model whose rights management technology, called Janus, was developed by rival Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) and is being supported by many companies looking to dethrone Apple.
Ted Cohen, senior vice president of digital music at EMI Music, says the company expects one-quarter of its sales to come from digital formats in 2008. Its digital music sales grew to $38 million in the first half of fiscal 2005, up from $9.4 million during the same period last year. In 2004 mobile sales represented 38% of EMI's digital music revenue.
"Some of our music which gets no exposure through the radio gets major play online," Cohen says, adding that only a very small handful of current artists do not make their music available for digital distribution. "Fifty percent of the value is in [digitizing] the back catalog."
There are scores of companies, including Macromedia (nasdaq: MACR - news - people ), Comverse (nasdaq: CMVT - news - people ), Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) and Jamdat Mobile (nasdaq: JMDT - news - people ), that will reap the rewards of the mobile entertainment boom. That's not to mention enterprise technology providers like VeriSign (nasdaq: VRSN - news - people ), Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ) and IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ), which will provide the behind-the-scenes secure infrastructure to make it all work.
Other, smaller companies looking to cash in on the market presented their mobile data services at the investment conference, including Orb Networks (streaming media services to access personal digital media on any device), Cielo Group (streaming media for sports), Idetic (live television for cell phones), In-Fusio (games for cell phones) and July Systems (mobile retailing).
Predictions about the speed of customer uptake, the revenue opportunity for providers and investor returns, are probably overblown. They almost always are. Still, the market is in its infancy and there's no question it will grow. Plus, it's more interesting to follow than what's going on in the banal boardrooms where corporate tech spending is the subject. As one conference attendee put it, in an overheard conversation, "It's the only exciting thing going on."
Want to track news by this author or about this industry? Forbes Attaché makes it easy. Click here.
ot: CyberDefamation: Online Attacks on Corporate Reputation
I can't find that other one, anyway, no biggie here is a good read:
http://www.fhdlaw.com/Powerpoint/CyberDefamation.ppt
ot: Have a busy week fwiw but I will try to track down that sec/fbi conviction I think of a guy on rbb a few years back from Texas I think (2001ish) who did something similiar with LU and a false site or something...inocent till proven guilty I always say but it seems so familiar to me reading that post me of that case a while back fwiw....and they nabbed him for manuipulating stock to go down, etc...anyway, just a fyi...
another ot....Have a good day and funny all the subtle bashing and innocent posting going onm, guess to be expected......so true to see that lately like woogs and others have pointed out, oh yes, I might think of selling for a penny profit and tryinmg to buy in later......NOT
HOLD 'EM LONG AND TIGHT!
sog
or: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/31545.html
but I would have to lean towards cracking dungeness crabs in port everett with Billy G....only cuz "itz all bout da software".....or "its all in the chip" "it's in there" Prego....I don't know, jmho....
ot: Here's the link to last post that works http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Ingredients_20Barcoding
ot: Ingredients bar-coding
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Ingredients_20BarcodingThis Will BE Bigger imo Than We Ever Imagined
jmho, forget price checking, imagine a chain like Safeway, Kroger, Hannaford bros, publix, albertsons, ahold or whomever i.e. target, Wal-Mart, sears) licensing paperclick for this...better yet, hain group or unfi........or whole foods...wowzie wowzie wowzie....
ps Neom, I will be willing to help out when you ramp up to work the retail side of things if you find my skill sets a good match for that..lol
have a good weekend....
SOG
Barcoding Learning Center For Newbies and Oldbies 101:
http://www.barcode.com/learning_center/mobile_computing_various_industries.shtml
ot glassy,
I must admit, I DO enjoy hearing commmentary and reading your commments and others on charts, I suppose I meant to say keep up the good work but I just don't find them a major factor in making me want to sell cuz I am not trading but accumulating....but there are those that do and by all means this is what makes the workld go round as some have said, etc....So, I apologize and admit, commmentary from you and others have helped me pick up a few on pullbacks (alhough never timed perfectly, lol) and I am sure that as we appraoch the 3-5 dolar range, I will like them to so I can try to take a few off the table to recoup my original investment...you understand...
There, sog full disclosure...
Have a great weekend and thanks again..
SOG
Noted, http://www.bobrivers.com/audiovault/downloads/bobsgarage/files/Blue%20Oyster%20Cult%20-%20Godzilla
Have a good weekend,
sog
ot dd: THE PAPERLESS CHASE
By JEFF SIEGEL
The much-vaunted paper-free office never materialized-the average U.S. cubicle dweller still prints dozens of pages every day. But look outside the office, and you'll find a world where paperless technology has caught up to its promises.
It is 10:30 on a weekday morning at The Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco’s Union Square. Mike Yien, who oversees ordering and receiving for the restaurant, sits at his computer and orders 50 boxes of portion bags and day labels from Daydots, a distributor and manufacturer of food-safety supplies.
Yien finds the items he needs, clicks his mouse and the order moves from Daydots’ Web site to its computer network in Fort Worth. The network routes it to the factory software, which schedules the labels to be printed later that day. It also sends the order to Daydots’ warehouse, where another piece of software makes sure the portion bags are in stock. It notifies an employee where to find the bags in the warehouse and when to get them. Finally, it sends the order to the accounting department, where another piece of software creates an invoice.
In all of this, not one piece of paper was created. No order forms, purchase orders, or job tickets. No one wandering around a warehouse ticking off lists on a clipboard. The factory employee will get the label request off a PC screen at his station, and will scan the bar-coded order into the computer when it’s done. The warehouse employee will assemble Yien’s order from information on another PC screen. Says Yien, “This is just so much less confusing than filling out a lot of paperwork. It’s peace of mind.”
Which is Daydots’ goal — along with cutting costs, increasing efficiency and productivity, and speeding growth. The paperless business, once the Holy Grail of consultants, analysts, and other assorted prognosticators, may not be just around the corner, and the printer may still be as much a part of the office routine as too-long meetings and coffee pots left on overnight. But real strides in becoming paperless have been made, especially in the less obvious and less glamorous parts of the business world.
Many — perhaps a majority — of warehouse, distribution, and fulfillment operations are now mostly paperless. Daydots’ process is far from the most sophisticated; Office Depot can track deliveries from manufacturer to customer, and the only paper is the cardboard carton in the back of the delivery truck. Meanwhile, a growing number of government agencies are moving toward paperless offices to cut costs and increase privacy protection.
As is usually the case, the reality of the paperless business is somewhere between the lavish expectations of the past and the sometimes bitter reactions to those failed expectations.
“It’s very obvious that it’s more efficient to handle information electronically versus on paper, but that doesn’t mean everyone can do or wants to do it,” says Adam J. Fein, PhD, president of Pembroke Consulting, and the author of Facing the Forces of Change: Future Scenarios for Wholesale Distribution. “The difference is that it’s easier to get rid of paper in simple, repeatable processes, like in a warehouse, than in an office. There, the work is usually unstructured and more creative. But where there is routine, like in finance, companies have been able to get rid of some of the paper.”
HYPE AND MORE HYPE
In the mid-1990s, shortly after the first surge of interest in the Internet and e-mail, the next logical step seemed to be what the pundits called the paperless office. No more standing over a copy machine. No more manila, interdepartmental mail envelopes. No more sorting purchase orders into color-coded piles. These advances in technology would make paper superfluous, allowing everyone in an office to communicate with one another electronically, saving time and money and making the business world infinitely more efficient.
Some of that actually happened. Companies can send invoices and pay employees and suppliers electronically. Software programs have replaced accounting ledgers and checkbook registers. And does anyone really miss trying to read carbon copies? But despite these successes, paper seemingly became even more entrenched. In their book, The Myth of the Paperless Office, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper cite a telling number: The use of e-mail causes an average 40 percent increase in paper consumption.
Earlier this year, a study by the Canadian subsidiary of the Lexmark printer company detailed the paper-hungry habits of workers in two Ontario cities. Employees at large companies printed 50 pages a day, while their counterparts at small companies printed 35 pages a day. Some 40 percent of all employees printed at least 60 percent of the information they received electronically.
“Part of the problem was that companies saw this technology as an end to itself, and not as a tool to reach a specific goal,” says consultant Arthur St. Onge, whose company has worked with Border’s, Heinz, Sears, and the United States Postal Service. “Instead of saying, let’s eliminate paper to do this or that, they just said, let’s eliminate paper. But technology is never an end to itself.”
MAKING IT WORK
But if the paperless office is a myth, the paperless business is not. In dull, boring, routine-driven worlds — such as insurance companies, government bureaucracies, and the supply chain, where the goal is to move one widget from here to there — paperless operation has made far greater strides.
In Springfield, Ohio, contractors bidding on a $166 million school construction job had to be paperless. The Social Security Administration is studying whether it’s possible to transform all its files to electronic form. Even more impressive is National Semiconductor’s 94,000-square-foot Singapore facility, built and operated by UPS Logistics Group. It uses a paperless system that features hand-held devices equipped with scanners that are so sophisticated they can guide employees through the warehouse from item to item.
Says John Kenerson of ClientLogic, which provides paperless warehouse and fulfillment services, “I don’t want to go back to the old days at all. We used to be able to pick 50 units an hour. Now, we can pick 250, and we can do it with more accuracy.”
That’s more or less the same approach that has paid off for Daydots, a $23 million company that provides food-safety products. The company has made real progress in eliminating paper not just in the warehouse, but throughout the operation. In the call center, where orders are phoned in, there are no paper catalogs to riffle through. They’re all online. The only filing cabinet in president and founder Mike Milliorn’s office holds brochures from suppliers.
“We’ve always been early adopters of technology,” says Milliorn. “It’s one of the biggest reasons for our growth. When we started the business, PCs were just becoming affordable. If we still had to write orders down on three-part carbonless forms, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are.”
STEP BY STEP
In the old days, a warehouse was a mass of paper. When a package arrived at receiving, a foreman not only signed a receipt and kept a copy, but continued the paper trail by ticking the package off against an invoice (with copies routed to the requisite departments, such as accounts payable, which would then generate their own paper). The package then moved into the warehouse, where someone noted its location on another piece of paper, with copies again routed throughout the business.
When it came time to ship an order, paper pick tickets and customer order forms instructed an employee how many of each item to collect and where those items were stored in the warehouse. Once the items were gathered, the order would be assembled — by matching the various pick tickets to the customer order form — and then sent to the loading dock, where more paper, including a receipt, would be needed to send it on its way.
“Needless to say,” says Fein, “there was a lot of room for error. But just as important, companies couldn’t analyze the information they got. How did you know which products sold most frequently? How did you know what was in stock? You had to send someone to the warehouse to go see.”
That has all changed. Eliminating paper and substituting digital technology has made it possible to track that information in real time, and the Daydots operation is typical of how many companies have made the change.
The first difference is in ordering. Orders phoned in to the Daydots call center are keyed into the company’s computer system and sent electronically to the warehouse management software system. At the same time, the order is sent to the accounting system. Those orders that come in electronically via the company Web site — currently, about 10 percent — are sent directly from there to the warehouse and accounting systems. Not only is there no paper, but the process takes just seconds.
The warehouse management software compiles what’s called a pick list for each order, which replaces separate pick tickets. A warehouse employee calls up the pick list on a PC, selects the necessary items, prints out a packing list, and then scans a bar code on the pick list when he is finished. That piece of paper — the only one in the process — is then boxed with the items as the packing slip.
As soon as the order is completed and scanned, the warehouse system notifies the accounting system, which then generates an electronic invoice. Yien’s invoice will be printed and mailed to his restaurant, but a growing number of Daydots’ customers, like McDonald’s, get an electronic invoice and then make electronic payments.
All told, the paperless system allows two employees to fill 24 orders (with a 99.9 percent accuracy rate) in the time it used to take one employee to fill one order. Later this year, after Daydots starts using hand-held scanners, even the pick list will disappear. Employees will call up orders on their hand-helds and scan the items as they’re selected. The packing list will print out as part of a label that includes the customer’s address and the necessary postage for shipping.
WHY TRASH PAPER?
By losing paper, companies gain many advantages over and above the obvious savings in paper costs. Electronic inventory and order information can be analyzed for trends: Which items are ordered most often? Which items are combined most often? The warehouse can then be configured accordingly. Instead of wandering through the warehouse picking one widget here and another several rows away, the widgets can be stored next to each other.
This not only improves accuracy (warehouse experts say 99.9 percent is the norm in a system like this), but also saves time, in turn reducing costs. According to ClientLogic’s Kenerson, three-quarters of the labor in a traditional warehouse is spent on travel time between items. Eliminate travel time and costs can decrease substantially.
National Semiconductor has increased volume significantly at its Singapore facility, yet it still cut costs by 10 percent. Office Depot all but eliminated paper delivery records, which were not only expensive to keep but cumbersome and inefficient to use in tracking deliveries.
In addition, because it’s possible to update inventory quantity right from the call center almost as soon as the order is assembled, there’s much less chance of selling something that’s out of stock. At ClientLogic, that information is updated every 15 seconds, and clients can even dial in to watch their inventory levels change.
Again, this is not exceptional or unusual technology. Companies as small as $5 million to $10 million in sales can buy software specifically designed for businesses their size. It’s also possible, as Daydots did, to purchase sophisticated software and grow into it, adding functions as needed. Another solution is outsourcing — finding a company like ClientLogic that supplies distribution and warehouse services. Kenerson says its Columbus facility focuses on mid-market companies, as well as Fortune 1000 companies with $250 million to several billion in revenues.
“I think you’re going to see what we’re doing coming to more companies as time goes on,” says Daydots’ Milliorn. “I know going paperless hasn’t been that popular on the commercial side, but it will come. It just makes sense. I pay bills online at home. So why shouldn’t I do so for my business?”
JEFF SIEGEL, a Dallas-based freelancer, writes about business for American Way, Southwest SpiritK, and Operations & Fulfillment.
ANDY BENNETT is a Dallas-based commercial photographer, whose clients include Nokia, Perot Systems, and Mercedes-Benz.
Photo by Andy Bennett
http://www.americanwaymag.com/business/feature.asp?archive_date=7/1/2003
dd: Customer: gadzooks' www.gadzooks.com
Application:
Retail Distribution Center shipper labeling area. gadzooks uses scanners and a print-and-apply system to automatically generate labels for cases shipped by FedEx to 433 stores.
gadzooks, Carrollton, TX, ships cases of teen-oriented clothing and accessories from its distribution center to the chain’s 433 stores. For years, the FedEx-approved label had been printed and hand-applied. Logistics and distribution director Paul de Freitas says that manual arrangement relied too much on workers “babysitting” boxes through the system.
The corrugated shippers no longer have to be babied—the labeling system started up in June 2002 does that automatically. The boxes arrive at the system with a preprinted label already affixed. The system scans the label, and based on that information, a FedEx shipping label is created and affixed to the case. Then the new shipping label is verified by a second scanner. Between the two scans, the box is automatically weighed and strapped.
The hardware on the new 44’-long straightline section was supplied through Texas Barcode Systems. That includes two Datalogic bar code scanners, a Weigh-Tronix in-motion scale, and a Model 5200 print-and-apply labeler from Weber Marking Systems equipped with a Zebra Technologies print engine. The system is run by a new Dell personal computer on an existing communications network.
Click to see larger system drawing
The conveyors, manufactured by Hytrol, were supplied through Cisco-Eagle, which also engineered the communications. The line was installed on a 9’-high steel platform that was part of the building structure.
Starts with a scan
Packed with clothing, handbags, belts, shoes, or other accessories, boxes arrive at the labeling system in single file with a preprinted product label affixed to their side. That label carries internal tracking information using a unique product identification number and a Code 39 bar code, which de Freitas says is a non-FedEx symbology.
That label information is read by a Datalogic Model DS4600 fixed position scanner at the entrance to the system. De Freitas calls this the induction scanner and the one at the end of the line that confirms the FedEx label the verification scanner. The scanner reads the label and sends that information to the PC, which creates data for a new label that it relays to the Weber print-and-apply unit. The scanner is mounted three-quarters of the way along a 12’-long “gapper” belt conveyor from Hytrol. This conveyor section comprises a slower conveyor followed by faster section that runs at four times the speed of the slower conveyor to properly space the boxes ahead of the scanner.
After scanning and before labeling, the box is weighed by the Weigh-Tronix Model CVC 4824 in-motion scale; the weight is sent to the PC to be included in the data transmitted to FedEx, though the weight is not required on the label.
The 6”x4” pressure-sensitive labels are manufactured by TBS as rollstock. The label is printed with all required FedEx data elements. The label is indexed to the tamp-blow mechanism that applies it to near the middle of the side of the passing box when the box trips a photoeye. The label is applied oriented horizontally 16” from the box’s leading edge and about 8” from the bottom. The typical box is 30” long, though gadzooks also periodically runs odd-sized boxes through the system.
If the scanner cannot read the bar code, it generates an error label. Those boxes is directed toward a rework conveyor loop located after the second scanner.
Next, the boxes are secured by the Japanese-made strapping machine from Samuel Strapping Systems that was installed as part of the upgrade. De Freitas says the boxes are strapped with bands of extruded polypropylene because gadzook’s average box weighs 45 lb, too heavy for tape alone. Besides, strapping is cheaper than tape, he adds. Tape secures the top flaps—along with a hand-applied cross-section of tape—for security reasons. A photoeye mounted on the strapper ensures another box isn’t conveyed for strapping until after the strapping cycle is completed.
“The strapper has been a great machine,” says de Freitas.
Cases are then conveyed past a Datalogic Model DS2100 scanner that verifies that the FedEx shipping label is present. According to de Freitas, two conditions will cause the system to automatically shut down after it scans the label: If there is no FedEx label present, or if the label’s bar code is unreadable. The scan is triggered when the box is sensed by a photoeye. Cases are directed toward one of two outbound conveyors used in the prior set up or to the reject loop that separates rejected cases for workers.
Auspicious start
Before, gadzooks’ personnel manually scanned the boxes and attached printed labels. De Freitas says that five full-time positions have since been reduced to two or three, depending on demand. “Labor savings is where we really get the bang for our buck,” he says. “This is a huge improvement—we don’t have to have people there ‘babysitting’ each box.”
Simultaneously, gadzooks’ fulfillment rate was bumped up from 4-5 boxes/min to 7-10 boxes/min.
An even more telling figure is efficiency, which gadzooks tracks by cases per man hour. Before the change, that figure was 24 to 28. The first day the new labeling line was in operation, gadzooks’ efficiency jumped nearly 50% to 46 cases per man hour. “It was a pleasant surprise how quickly the productivity changed,” de Freitas says. Since then, things have only gotten better: gadzooks now consistently operates in the 50 to 60 cases/man hour range.
De Freitas admits that the system is not perfect; he places the error rate of mislabeled boxes at less than 1/10 of 1%. For comparison, the rate in the more labor-intensive previous set up was near zero.
The bottom line for gadzooks is a highly fashionable one-year payback.
Another bright spot has been that store managers have been oblivious to the change. “It was seamless to them,” says de Freitas. While fashion trends come and go, de Freitas expects years of dependable operation with the labeling system.
For More information:
Email us, or call 888-877-3861
http://www.cisco-eagle.com/CaseStudies/gadzooks/default.htm
SOG,: Sorry, I meant to add this in the beginning of the last post...Maybe Kodak Would Like To Partner With Us)...
point being, Kodak and neom, imo perfect together (gasping fpr breath)...please forgive me but here is the link also http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59301815
ok SOG, get some sleep...
ok...
Stephen Noble, an executive with Eastman Kodak (Rochester, N.Y.) said mobile imaging represents a paradigm shift in the imaging industry. "We have witnessed tremendous growth in the placement of camera equipped mobile phones around the world, and the trend shows no signs of abating."
The appeal of phone cameras is users' desire for spontaneous photography, according to Noble. "Most people today always carry their mobile phone, but most do not carry a digital camera. The opportunity to communicate easily with pictures, and to 'capture the moment' makes phone cams very desirable."
Maybe Kodak Would Like To Partner With Us)...Image quality is also improving, said Noble.
Consumers are accustomed to carrying mobile phones, fueling the used of phone cameras. "The human desire to be able to store memories and share them means the camera phone is set to be the preferred consumer imaging solution," said Nokia's Janne Haavisto (Tampere, Finland). Haavisto said the mobile phone is the world's most successful and popular portable platform, containing a high-quality display, plenty of memory, good processing power, long-life battery and most importantly, seamless connectivity to other mobile users and to the Internet, said Haavisto. "The core technologies of pixel, lens and packaging are being developed at an extraordinary rate to match both the performance and the supply expectations of a mature digital imaging market."
ot: rotflol, thx here's back at you:http://www.globalchange.com/ppt/rfid/
yes but I still think this is a steal at these valuation levels, and although I may seem impervious to the charts, I just have no time to read and spend the time to educate myself on them...as an old mentor/mole at P&G once philosiphized with me "let them write the books on all this stuff while we finish filminmg the movie"...lol God Bless You Mike Benoit! I do however , encourage the chatreaders/tea leave readers to inform me and I inform them of my dd and let the others write the history of all this cuz all I know imho is I will be cracking Dungeness crabs in Seattle and looking to click my camera phone on the receipt to get a one way lear jet ticket from seatac aboard Joeyd's private jet and a few tickets to Joe D's sky box at Fenway Park along with Redsoxfan..lol...
dd: ADC Basics 101 For Newbies):
http://www.inventoryops.com/ADC.htm
Weekend DD: Voice Recognition in the DC Comes of Age
ARC Advisory Group/Steve Banker
In the distribution center (DC) of the future, RFID, Barcodes, and Voice Recognition (VR) systems must work seamlessly together with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). Each form of Automatic Identification has warehouse tasks for which it is best suited. Voice Recognition technology has come of age and companies should evaluate its potential role and benefits in their distribution operations.
In most WMS implementations, workers use RF-based terminals with embedded scanners to receive instructions and input data. Voice Recognition offers an alternative method for interfacing with the WMS. Workers wear a headset with a microphone that's attached to a small belt-worn computer. The computer interfaces with the WMS via an RF backbone and a Voice middleware server.
Voice Recognition is most commonly used in picking applications. If a DC is using paper pick lists, the implementation of VR can significantly improve accuracy while having minimal impact on productivity. If a DC is using scanners to verify pick location, then VR can significantly improve productivity (by eliminating the need to scan every item) and can provide modest improvements in picking accuracy.
Historical problems with Voice Recognition, such as ambient noise interference and the inability to recognize different speech patterns, have been resolved. The technology, however, does not work well in all warehouse activities. For example, the different task permutations and complexity associated with Value Added Services (VAS) can overwhelm VR systems. In general, Voice Recognition provides the greatest Return on Investment (ROI) in high-volume operations with simple and repetitive tasks (i.e., where worker choices are limited).
In the distribution center of the future, RFID, Barcodes, and Voice Recognition (VR) systems must work seamlessly together with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and material handling solutions. Hence, Siemens Dematic is developing a solution that allows Voice Recognition to be used in conjunction with RFID for shipping.
The scenario involves retailers like Germany-based Metro that require RFID tags on pallets but not on individual cases. The voice system will instruct workers which cases to place on which RFID-tagged pallets. Siemens Dematic is modifying its Warehouse Control System (middleware software that connects material handling systems to WMS) to also have Voice capabilities. When a pallet is passed through an RFID reader, the middleware will generate a manifest that associates the cases with the tagged pallet they sit on. An Advanced Ship Notice (ASN) can then be sent to the client that lists both the pallets and the cases on those pallets.
Current VR applications include entering catch weights by voice into the WMS. Now those catch weights can also be encoded on the tag associated with the product. It's also possible for workers, upon finishing their picking tasks, to tell the VR system "Print Wal-Mart compliant labels" and have the tags ready for application by the time they arrive at the RFID printing station.
Third Party Logistic (3PL) providers will need to prove to their customers that they have successfully met their RFID compliance requirements. 3PL workers could use VR to verify compliance. For example, when workers say "Print Wal-Mart compliant labels" the Voice system can also enter time stamps into the WMS to verify that this step was completed successfully.
RFID has not achieved the same degree of maturity as barcode scanning or VR. Therefore, achieving 100 percent read accuracy of RFID-tagged cases and pallets is still a challenge. If the reader only reads 18 cases on a pallet when there are supposed to be 20, a worker could say into the VR system "Pallet is shrink-wrapped" and receiving can proceed at full speed on the assumption that the pallet is complete. This type of exception can also be logged so that the audit trail remains intact.
Corporate Express is a case in point. Corporate Express is the world’s largest business-to-business (B2B) supplier of office supplies. In North America, it processes about 5 million order lines per day across a network of 26 distribution centers. About 85 percent of order picks are the less than full case load. After concluding that the technology had matured enough to meet its needs, the company decided 18 months ago to implement VR as a means to improve order-picking accuracy and productivity.
Twenty three distribution centers are using Voice Recognition technology from Vocollect (the other three DCs use Pick-to-Light systems). The company is using VR for order picking in conjunction with barcode scanning; it's using traditional RF scanning for receiving, put-away, and cycle counting. Siemens Dematic was the System Integration partner for the multi-DC rollout.
Workers in most Corporate Express warehouses are in a pick-to-cart environment. They wear a Voice terminal on a belt and a scanner on their wrist. When a worker arrives at a location, he typically confirms by voice that he is at the correct location (although he can also use the wrist scanner). Instructions on what to pick are then communicated by voice (e.g., "Pick 3 units and put in Box 1"). The worker scans the box to verify that it's the correct one and then places the required number of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) into the box.
Prior to implementing VR, Corporate Expresses was doing paper-based picking. RF-verified picking was never implemented at its distribution centers because it was never deemed practical from a productivity standpoint. Corporate Express receives most of its daily orders (about 100,000) late in the afternoon. Those orders must be shipped to customers the next morning, so scanning every item in each order line would have hindered the fulfillment process.
Following the VR implementation, order-picking accuracy across the DCs improved from 99.7 percent to about 99.9 percent. While this may not seem like a large improvement, when you multiply the cost of mistakes (estimated at $30 per error) by the company's large order volume, payback was achieved in less than 6 months. And this payback does not take into account improvements in productivity which has doubled in the certain areas.
The final advantage of VR is that it's much easier to train new workers and get them up to speed quickly. As the company expands, all new DCs will employ a pick-to-cart process in conjunction with both VR and wrist scanning. This has proven to be the best process for maximizing ROI while ensuring high customer satisfaction.
http://www.arcweb.com/
Advanced Planning and Optimization Software: Myths, Facts, and User Perceptions
From Technology Evaluation/Ashfaque Ahmed
Advanced planning optimization (APO) systems have been in news lately for wrong reasons. Many publicized failed implementations added fuel to loud cries against it. It is also true that many vendors have developed somewhat convoluted, complex, and user-unfriendly APO systems, making it appear less than desirable.
Nevertheless there are many software vendors who have come up with simple and easy to use systems. Research by analysts about APO implementation success rates also shows very encouraging results. Contrary to perception, APO systems are a success and will be more so in the future.
There appears to be a lot of interest in APO systems these days. I received a lot of queries and comments about my previous articles from users, vendors, and consultants of APO systems. In this article, I will discuss about myths and facts, user perceptions, current and future trends, uses, and scenarios as it relates to APO systems in mission critical tasks.
Many problems in adoption of APO systems come from its underlying complex algorithm and the subsequent, complex representations in the form of difficult to understand user interfaces. The other problem is that users don’t trust the output coming out of APO. They tend to keep using their manual calculations and spread sheet formulas for all kinds of planning. And in some cases when initial demand planning data is incorrect (due to lack of training on how to use the software), users lose confidence in the system altogether.
On the other hand, I have solid examples where users who were initially reluctant to use APO systems have had successful results and now praise its awesome power with numbers. APO systems are really power-packed systems with the enormous ability to deal with huge numbers. If used properly, they are a great tool to substantially cut businesses’ operating costs and thus improve their bottom lines. Not only that, APO systems also allows businesses to have clear visibility into their entire supply chain system, which is a very important factor for running today’s fast paced businesses smoothly.
Strategic use can be discussed at two levels: one when we are talking of network planning, capacity planning, location planning and related modeling at the strategic level inside a business. In this type of use, APOs are great tools and help in model the business processes. On the other hand, when we are talking of extended supply chains and ERP II, we are also talking of collaboration beyond business boundaries. Many ever expanding businesses want to cross traditional business boundaries for reasons of economies of scale, outsourcing and flexibility. In such cases, a group of business partners share their data so that all of them can benefit. Again, collaboration can be either horizontal or vertical. Collaboration will allow enhanced capacity, flexibility, and reduction in costs, etc. Taking the collaborated data as input, APO systems tell how to utilize this enhanced capacity and flexibility in the best possible way and reduce costs more and more.
There are some current problems for use of APO in strategic use though. The main problem stems from a lack of trust for each other among businesses and subsequent reluctance to share data. If the required data is not available, then naturally APO systems cannot work.
Tactical use is the holy grail of the use of APO. Many disasters have happened and likely, because of these disasters, APO was most affected.
Data used in these kinds of applications are mostly long term forecasts and trends upon which tactical planning for procurement, production, distribution, and transportation is made. This tactical planning is better known as demand planning. The forecast may or may not come from a forecasting system, but demand planning may be done by APO. Now just as any forecasting can sometimes be wrong, demand planning may also sometimes be wrong. Totally relying on a forecast, making an elaborate demand plan based on it and then executing this will be a big mistake—and that is what many users did. User intervention should always be applied before a demand planning is made out of forecast data as human beings are still better than computers in intuition and judgment in case of unpredictable events.
The most (in)famous case is that of Nike. The forecast showed one model of shoe to be in great demand for the next season and so the demand planning system generated a procurement, production and distribution plans for more shoes of this type. At the same time the forecasting showed less demand for another model of shoes and so the system generated plans to handle less quantities of it. The entire demand planning was executed blindly by the people at Nike and despite the forecasts, the opposite happened: the one shoe model that was not in actual demand was produced in greater quantities remained in inventory everywhere, and was ultimately written-off and sold at reduced prices. On the other hand, the other model which was in great demand was simply not in inventory. Nike lost an estimated $100 million (USD) in projected sales.
The reasons for these disasters are well-known, but have not been well communicated to users.
APO systems have been used in mission critical tasks for a long time, in all industries. Because they have been around for a long time, they are very mature in dealing with industry-specific and sometimes very unique requirements. Many vendors have specialized in specific needs of specific industries and have been supplying APO systems for a long time.
This area of APO systems usage is the least problematic. The reason is that the system works mostly on actual sales orders and some short term forecasts which are less error prone. After starting to use APO systems, businesses benefit a lot in specific or all areas of internal supply chain. APO systems are effective in all industries.
So far the use of APO has been restricted to improve efficiency of inside processes of any business. Some of the popular applications of APO systems in mission critical tasks include production planning, material planning, logistics and transportation planning etc. But this is going to be used by more and more business partners in collaboration areas outside business boundaries in future.
I have also found that users have been very creative and have seen instances where APO is used in many unconventional ways. In some cases, I have seen users feeding sales order data into an APO from their ERP systems, whereas the output data from the APO is, in turn, fed into the MRP system for procuring raw materials.
Apart from the complex and unfriendly user interfaces of APO systems that come from many vendors, some of the other common problems are wrong demand data, the user group’s lack of confidence in the ability of a computer program to handle complexities, and frequent problems associated with production, transportation etc. For these reasons, user training and creating user awareness are very important in APO implementation projects.
Below I debunk some of the most commonly held misconceptions of APO systems:
Myth: All APO systems are difficult to use.
Fact: APO systems are not necessarily difficult to use. They are actually part of the underlying SCM system and in many cases, if the underlying SCM systems are easy to use, then so will be the APO.
Myth: Since complex algorithms are used, the user interfaces will also be difficult to understand.
Fact: If the foundation of a system is built on complex logic, it doesn’t mean that user interfaces will be difficult to understand. For example, you drive your car but do not need to know all the complex mechanism and functions of machines which make the car run. In fact, you enjoy driving more when you have more options added to your car. Adding those options makes the technology more complex and difficult for the manufacturer to make—it ultimately depends on the vendor as to how to make the system user-friendly and hide complexities inside the hood.
Myth: APO systems generate wrong plans.
Fact: It is wrong to state that APO systems generate wrong plans. Only in case of demand planning (tactical planning) when the input is a forecast, the APO is totally dependent on this forecast data and forecasts may be sometimes incorrect and so the demand planning may be incorrect in those cases. In such cases, more caution is required on the part of the user to validate the input data. For example, sometimes the system may pick some unusually big order data and then it may show huge demand for that product, thus it may make a totally wrong demand plan for that particular product. In all other uses of APO systems, plans are always 100% correct.
Myth: APO systems are built only by tier one vendors and hence they are not available for smaller businesses.
Fact: APO systems are being made by many smaller vendors and these systems are as good as the ones coming from the big guys.
Myth: APO systems are very costly.
Fact: APO systems made by smaller vendors are lot cheaper than the ones made by the big guys. In some cases you can have a system for a few thousand dollars.
Myth: APO systems are very slow.
Fact: APO systems are as fast as any other systems which have to do the same kind of number crunching. It may vary but systems from good vendors, who have used good algorithms for number crunching, may be faster than the ones who haven’t used good algorithms. Moreover, with good processing power being made available cheaply these days, processing power required to run APO systems is not a constraint any more.
Myth: APO systems do not give better results.
Fact: APO systems run on top of other SCM systems. The algorithm used in APO systems use the constraint data from these systems. If the constraints are not defined properly then obviously the APO may not give good results. But if the constraint data is correct, APO will always give you better results as compared to any other SCM system. APO systems are capable of generating near optimal solutions which no other type of system can boast.
Wherever APO systems are being used in mission critical tasks, they are doing a great job. More and more vendors have come up with good and useful APO systems. Most importantly, most of these vendors are catering to the needs of the SME markets. Even tier one vendors are now targeting these markets as most of the big multinational businesses already have deployed such systems.
As users become more aware in future, they will be adopting more and more APO systems. At the same time as the technology itself improves, better APO systems will be coming in the market. The SME market is big and is still largely untapped for APO systems. There is big playing ground open for vendors.
http://www.technology-evaluation.com/
Demand Visibility Is Supply Chain Managers' Top Problem
From AMR Research/Kevin O’Marah, Laura Preslan
AMR Research hosted a recent forum for 40 supply chain professionals from 25 companies across industries to share lessons learned and set the direction for the future. Demand visibility emerged as a major barrier in developing Demand-Driven Supply Networks (DDSNs). The need for better definition of this amorphous term is also clear.
Demand visibility is everyone’s top concern in moving supply chains toward DDSN. Improvement means attacking the problem at three levels: replenishment-based demand, surge demand, and future demand.
The notion of DDSN makes sense to practically every supply chain professional who considers it. In pursuing this DDSN model, the first stop for most is improving demand visibility.
Participants at the supply chain forum were asked what was most relevant among a broad range of issues. Demand visibility was mentioned as extremely relevant or very relevant by 94 percent of respondents. For comparison, consider how relevant the same group considered other generally hot topics:
1. 56 percent said managing outsourced relationships is extremely or very relevant.
2. 44 percent said Lean/Six Sigma is extremely or very relevant.
3. 33 percent said the business case for RFID is extremely or very relevant.
Demand visibility is the ability to see undistorted and accurate demand within the time frame necessary to react to it. Three types of demand visibility must be conquered to achieve DDSN: replenishment-based demand, surge, and future demand.
Here are definitions and descriptions of the three types:
Replenishment-based demand—The predictable demand that forms the baseline for forecasting and planning. This may be Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) orders or some other form of pull replenishment on steady run products. Visibility can be system-to-system or supported with manual planning and replenishment processes. For fast-moving consumer goods, replenishment-level visibility is a definite technology issue that leaders are tackling with demand data hubs to consolidate and manage Point-of-Sale (POS) data.
Surge demand—Sensing and managing events that change demand. This is more a matter of sophisticated demand modeling and forecasting and requires combining POS or other actual historical demand data with intelligence about customer behavior unique to events like weather, fashion, network effects, and promotions (yours and competitors’). The role of technology is in the use of algorithm-based tools to model and prepare for such surge demand. Vendors with applications targeting this problem include specialists like Demantra, Terra Technologies, and Logility as well as larger supply chain suite vendors like i2 Technologies and Manugistics, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors like SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle.
Future demand—Strategic planning for future products and their effect on buying behavior. Planning for future demand, especially as it relates to manufacturers with long lead time components and processes, is really a matter for Product Portfolio Management (PPM). With future products, demand planning depends mostly on working with lead time realities against marketing intent and attempting to build a supply chain that is ready once orders start rolling in. PPM applications are available from specialists like IDe or Sopheon as well as within the suites of most Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and ERP vendors.
Recommendations: DDSN starts with getting a handle on demand visibility. Supply chain professionals need to clearly define what demand visibility means to their organization on at least these three levels before buying tools to help improve forecast accuracy.
http://www.amrresearch.com/
Click here to subscribe or renew your subscription to Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies magazine
well, suppose in a sense we are but a "blog" in the sky...plain and simple, and hopefully we are in front of the "Billy G's" of the world (and I think we are), but at the end of the day, neomedia is not simply keeping the "gem" in their pocket, they are putting it in front of as many potential partners as possible and for that alone, convinces me that sooner rather than later, we may be cracking Dungeness Crabs in some Seattle or somewhere in California establishment while scanning a barcode on a guest check to find the next bus that takes us to our hotel room where we will have the first annual "neom investment club meeting" after the second annual "Las Vegas" celebration party for hitting $5 dollars a share......somehting like that....we live in the most interesting times in humankind and to think average jo schmo investors like myself can get in to what I call the equivalent of an IPO at rock bottom prices compared to the $87 plus closed door ipo of google of a little over a year ago, makes me happy as a pig in mud to live in a free and open society and (gasping for breath).....if history repeats itself, the trasistor evolution will evolve and morph again into so many neet revenue generating models as a result of this new "mobile phenom"...simple like that...
...And I know, "say it aint so Joe", will have a anumber of thoughts to post sometime this weekend about this weeks activity, ts and China, and this and that, but remember, "WE KNOW WHAT WE OWN" Joeyd...and soon you'll (imo) be jetsetting around to your island in the carriwholebean thinking about how smart it was for you to make the decision like all the longs here to hold 'em tight and leave the chart reading to the tea leave readers...lol
BRING IT ON!
SOG
ot: jmho, and I DON't NEED NO STINKING CHARTS or those that suggest baby boomers are incompetent, lol, btw, I am not even sure if I am a baby boomer, baby buster or generation something or other...lol..., but when this sucker breaks out, we will be at a buck 70+ before you can say oristhe doris...jmho...
Stay Long & Strong and Hold 'em tight
ot: Stay Long & Strong & Hold 'em Tight
http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/wired/975/fdr/roosevelt.wav
ot: patience patience patience...is a virtue.....news will be here imo, when it is ready...in any event, decided to buy one last block of a whopping 1000 shares at close...lol, and thanks to all for your t/a and dd and commentary...even though all I understand from it all including trying to determine whether my "bollinger bands are pinching or not" and from the dd is that on average, incredible accumulation appeaars continue share by share,. indicating more and more are becoming aware of the company, etc, while so many positive developments have occurred for Neomedia this past year and even up to and including this past Tuesday according to the PR's, and to boot, we are seemingly at a nice seemingly healthy base...and with the occassional dips, average joe schmo traders like myself can pick up a few more while we await the "motherload" of developments to surface and be communicated to the public and shareholders via their news releases (gasping for breath)...I suppose that's why I sold my beagles doghouse today to the next door neighbor and decided to buy another block of shares...lol
Have a good weekend and GLTA!
SOG
dd: Google to offer Web Accelerator
In beta form first, of course.
posted 10:45am EST Fri May 06 2005 - submitted by Brian Osborne
NEWS
Google unveiled another tool in its growing bag of services and software for users: the Google Web Accelerator Beta. The software taps into Google's global network to help most webpages load faster.
The service works in several ways, including: caching frequently requested pages; prefetching; compressing data before HTML code is sent back to the requesting computer; handling Accelerator requests on dedicated servers; and sending incremental updates to the requested page based on previous versions of the content you'd seen.
Unfortunately, dial-up users won't see much improvement using the software since it is optimized for broadband connections. Users outside of North America and Europe are not expected to see improvement either. Another limitation of the program is that it will not speed up HTTPS pages for security reasons.
The Google Web Accelerator will run on the Windows XP or Windows 2003 SP 3+ operating systems. The program is compatible with Internet Explorer 5.5. and Firefox 1.0 or higher browsers. Windows users can use other browsers with Web Accelerator as along as they configure their proxy setting to 127.0.0.1:9100 for HTTP connections.
Read more from the Google Web Accelerator website.
BRIAN'S OPINION
I enjoy all of the free tools that Google continues to offer users. I also appreciate the fact that the utility will support Firefox natively and other Windows browsers with a simple modification to the proxy setting. Native Firefox support is a nice nod to a browser that continues to grow daily in its number of users. More companies should continue to offer support for Firefox in addition to the standard Internet Explorer support.
Considering the amount of time I spend on the Internet on a daily basis I am game for anything that will save me time when browsing websites. It seems the folks at Google want you to know exactly how much time you are saving loading webpages. They include a running timer in the program that continues to add up all of the time saved using the Accelerator.
Fortunately, it doesn't keep track of the time I waste browsing the Internet.
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Bonus dd:
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Google Web Accelerator Raises Worries
The new Google Web Accelerator released earlier this week is raising concerns about data privacy and webmaster issues.
Much Controversy Over Google's Accelerator from Nathan over at Inside Google looks at how the Something Awful forums found that the tool seems to have cached forum pages personalized for a particular user. In other words, those using the software came into the site as if they were logged in as someone else. If true, that's pretty worrisome.
Inside Google also raises the specter of how the software is helping Google keep a record of what everyone does, which it might datamine in various ways. Sure, that's a valid fear. But Google hardly needs Web Accelerator to do it. It already has millions of people using its Google Toolbar. For years, the Google Toolbar has given Google records of what people are looking at all over the web. So monitoring what people do on the web isn't anything new, for Google.
The article touches on issues of how the accelerator might injure site stats, providing some links to disabling it if you are a webmaster. Nathan also suggests that people won't do this, because Google will probably use accelerator data to help rank sites. Ban accelerator, and you'll ban what Google knows about your site -- and potentially then lose rankings.
I wouldn't worry about that at all. Sites have already banned Google from caching their pages and still done well despite this potential big red flag. Don't want accelerator caching your site? Go ahead and ban it.
Nathan's had further posts touching on other issues:
Web Accelerator Can Delete Your Account?
Web Accelerator Changes Your 404 Page
And Google Blogoscoped highlights another issue in Google Accelerator Deleting by Prefetching, while Threadwatch points to Fantomaster's How To Block Google’s Web Accelerator page.
Want to discuss? Visit our forum threads:
Big Brother (More than just web accelerator)
Google Web Accelerator Beta
Posted by Danny Sullivan on May. 6, 2005 / Permalink
See related stories in these categories! (available to SEW members)
Google: Web Accelerator
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Power Lunch Reference DD:Acronyms For Newbies 101
Acronyms & Text Shorthand
http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm
Acronym Finder:
http://www.acronymfinder.com/
acronym glossaries andacronym dictionaries.
http://www.glossarist.com/glossaries/reference/acronyms.asp?Page=15
dd:Teens With Cell Phones Dial Up More Media
by David Kaplan, Friday, May 6, 2005 8:00 AM EST
MORE THAN HALF OF TEENS between the age of 13 and 17 own a cell phone, a study by WPP Group's MindShare notes, and therefore "mobile marketing" in some form must be part of any advertising campaign aimed at that demo.
The study, conducted by MORe--MindShare Online Research--examined the mobile 400 respondents between the ages of 13 and 17, and also suggests that teens with cell phones tend to be heavier users of media than other kids their age. While virtually all teens watch television, cell-phone users are significantly more likely than non-users to use the Internet every day, read newspapers, listen to radio, and read magazines.
This seemingly counterintuitive finding should inspire marketers to not simply concentrate their advertising efforts exclusively on mobile technologies, but rather to somehow tie a full set of media platforms together in order to be effective, said Marc Goldstein, MindShare's CEO.
The study found that cell phone use by teens jumped 43 percent in 2004 compared to 2003. Broken down by gender, teen girls, at 61 percent, are more likely to carry them than teen boys--with 46 percent of young males saying they take cell phones everywhere. And daily cell phone usage has more than doubled in the past year--again, with teen girls leading the way 41 percent to 27 percent.
Older teens are also much more likely to carry cell phones than younger ones. Seven out of ten kids ages 16 or 17 own cell phones, compared to one-half of kids ages 14 or 15, and one-fourth of all 13-year-olds. Teenagers who carry cell phones tend to use them heavily; 83 percent use their phones every day, and 64 percent use them several times a day or more. Just 5 percent use their mobile phones less than once a week. Only two out of ten teenage cell-phone users pay for their own phone service; the remainder have their monthly bills paid by their parents.
Teen cell-phone users are more likely than other teenagers to have media and technology items in their rooms, including TVs, computers, and video games.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=29908
dd:Must-Click TV: Yahoo! Emerges As Player For Navigating TV
by Gavin O'Malley, Friday, May 6, 2005 8:00 AM EST
FORGET TV GUIDE, THE MAJOR online portals are emerging as a new source for navigating TV programming. Inspired by Google's entry into the video search market, Yahoo! - the most TV-centric of the majors - has stepped up its video navigation services, announcing deals on Thursday with some of the biggest TV programming outlets, including Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista unit, CBS News, CMT, Discovery Communications, MTV, Reuters, Scripps Networks, and VH1. Most importantly, Yahoo! said it is now making its new video search service widely available. Following five months of beta testing, Jeff Karnes, director of media search at Yahoo!, said the feature was ready for "prime time," citing the comprehensiveness of the content through partnerships Yahoo! has established, as well as some key technological improvements.
Among other things, Yahoo!'s Web media crawler now has the ability to extract meta data. Yahoo! will allow independent video publishers send links of their content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) for inclusion in its database.
That move follows Google's entry into the consumer-generated video search marketplace. The search engine recently confirmed plans to enable any user to upload digital video files to its servers, making them available to any Web surfer to preview, play and download. The Google Video beta, which launched in January, presently consists of closed-caption content and metadata culled from broadcast TV. To help index the expected torrent of video submissions, Google will allow content owners to include metadata, captions, and transcripts with their files.
Another emerging Web player, Blinkx.tv, has also launched a service allowing viewers to search and view content ranging from news bulletins to movie trailers and home videos.
The moves are part of a progression that are transforming the way some people navigate video programming content, and corresponds with the launch of Web channels by major TV players including MTV and Turner Broadcasting System. Others have been using portals as a means of previewing or sampling new TV shows online to generate some buzz before their television premieres.
Yahoo!'s service points visitors to third-party sites for viewing video to avoid licensing issues. On Tuesday, Google announced several new content partnerships with providers, including Discovery Channel and CNN.
Yahoo! Video Search now also provides users with integrated access to video content from the Yahoo! network by including movie trailers from Yahoo! Movies; music videos from Yahoo! Music; and exclusive video from NBC's "The Apprentice," including the full confessionals from fired contestants; and "The Contender," including the full boxing match from each episode.
Yahoo!'s TV-related moves are not surprising. The company has telegraphed its intentions by surrounding itself with some well-regarded TV programming executives. The company's Chairman-CEO Terry Semel previously was chairman/co-CEO of Warner Bros. Lloyd Braun, head of Yahoo! Media Group, was co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group before he moved to Yahoo!.
In addition to the new relationships, Yahoo! has already announced deals with a number of other video content sources. Through a deal with TVEyes, Yahoo! allows searching within Bloomberg video broadcasts, and direct links to the relevant portion of broadcasts. Other partners include Internet Broadcasting Systems, IFILM, The One Network, and Stupid Videos. Moreover, Yahoo! Video Search also obtains content from independent publishers and online video sites such as Internet Archive.
"We have a commitment to comprehensiveness, and technology and partnerships present the main roadblocks that keep us from reaching the breadth we're after," said Yahoo!'s Karnes. "It's clear where we need to focus our efforts moving forward."
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=29916&Nid=13316&p=...
ot: success622, thanks for a great job moderating, you have done a terrific job of late imo and just want to give credit where credit is due.....and to JP and personalizit, and the gazillion others (you know who you are) too, goes without mentioning...I see you responding so professionally to a "flurry" of questions the last two days and your responsiveness and accessability is so valuable (and gentle reminders on rules of the road))...it is almost like we have our very own "Investment relations department" to field querries for our I-Hub club...lol....as a matter of fact, some companies investment relations don't even respond with the sense of urgency as those here...makes me proud to be part owner along with such a fine tribe of true longs...anyway, the interest in neom imo is "ratching up" a few notches and nice to see the accumulation going on while the tree gets shook, lol.....as jp said, LET's LIGHT THIS CANDLE!
Have a pleasant and productive Friday...
SOG
ot: Congrats JP on your achievements, Sorry that I forgot to mention that so I am jumping on the bandwagon and keeping the good Karma Alive!..ps, a real side ot on dreams....I am a graduate of Rutgers In New Brunswick, NJ fwiw, I still have occasional dreams that I am back on campus taking a final and then go to a wall in one of the lecture halls to try and determine my final grade posted to see if I end up passing this last class required for me to get a diploma and I end up not able to find my grade and I cant seem to find the right classroom to speak to the professor….So I start wondering if I will be able to graduate and then I wake up...lol...it seems so real...but anyway, amazing how significant life events stay with you and I hear its a somewhat common dream, but I am glad I was able to stick it out and graduate, lol is the moral of the story, it was a real challenging period for me back then with the passing of my dad as a sophmore and makes the daily volatility here recently pale in coparison,:-0)...I plan to go back someday for more higher education and degrees but an old mentor dean at the university told me at the time when I was considering going right into mba school then, he said go out and experience life and the business world firsthand, experience he said was like blood, there is no substitute for and the only way to learn is by embracing life and all it has to offer…education he said, you can always go back later and it will that much easier to understand the “book knowledge” part by relating to actual street smart experiences….almost 20 years later, he was so rite and I have had one heck of a ride producing profitable results with companies and traveling everywhere since graduation that I count my blessings to have seen what I could achieve from that degree as far as the doors it opened for me and eventually allowed me to have the smarts to know when to prepare for opportunities (luck) like the one here by trying to understand this thing called Wall Street and that sometime taking a chance like her and owning shares in a company is better than working for some company who will “Pop And Drop” you once earnings go south, etc…..anyway, enough of my philosophical diatribe, Congrats and I would love to go to NYU for some grad courses cuz I'd be able to shoot down to MonBos and Wo-Hop on Mott Street in Chinatown anytime after or before class for some jamming food and then cross over to Little Italy for a gelato, cappuccino and few of my favorite pastries...yum yummm...ok, glta and good night...Thanks everyone for the dd, so much value added benefits to be here besides the stock and company NEomedia in that I increase my knowledge base exponentially each week that I am here trying to make this a hobby of mine like reading the paper or working out at the gym...anyway, thanks and take care...
SonOfGodzilla
ot: "I Know What I Own Here And Am Holding Them Tight..." I love that quote and at the end of the day, we are all very fortunate to have stumbled here and the more dd you do imo, the less stressful the volatility appears to be (at least to me)...and too many to thank but I can start with thanking TS pontificating via email teasers this great company to a friend who in turn pontificated a possibility that this may be the one to lead us to the promised land and then also to PP and on and on...AMEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS, lol...ok, have to get back to work, have a good weekand GOD's SPEED AHEAD!
SonOfGodzilla
ot, WOW, quick reflexes, lol, you are correct, my intent was not to "trash traders" or intend to, I recognize that trading is what fuels the market and selling "breathes life/oxygen" into the whole captialism/free market ecosystem...and it is one of the fundamental processes/mechanism imo that is necessary in maintaing a free and open market that fosters competitition and creates opportunity for growth, etc I suppose...I was simply voiceing some thoughts and God Bless America and the melting pot it is....over an out, just neet to connect dots and learn, if you want to trade, fine, I guess I am one of those "I get cuaght up about the story of a stock and am happy to have a small but good enough for me postion" rather than be more of a "trader" metality (nothing wrong with that)...and if I could strike a balance between the two, maybe I would have more shares, lol...but I know what I own and I know what my limitations are so that is why I'll be happy with my now 76,000 shares and bow down gracefully here for now and hold my sahres long and strong....
Peace persistant,
ps ot, that so called "voice of reason" who pops up btw at times of selling is a friggin great entertainer and so predictable imo fwiw...ok, have a good week folks...over and out for now...and happy and profitable investing (whether you are a trader or long like me, lol)....
SonOfGodzilla
ot; Sorry, end of previous post should have credited like this...."laid our in a post by JP who reformatted a post by Mudrez" eom
ot: Mid Morning Coffee Break Thoughts…Days like recent make me realize I can never be a trader and glad that I am not a trader cuz these so called "professionals" will get you every time if you try to play with these devils (what else is new).....jmho...anyway, this, whether we like it or not, I suppose is part of the "game" we must endure in order to get to the promised land....unreal but then again a "reality" of the OTCBB casino,...we can not change it and it is incredible the effect of what I call a “celebrity trader" like a TS (kind of like those celebrity chefs, lol)” person(s) and MM’s or any combination of these and perceived news or lack of news can have on the "psychology" of a stock…One thought that comes to mind is Jim Cramer’s (definitely a celebrity chef like aura he has) comments about companies (Mad Money/CNBC) and how they sometimes "shoot up" or "down" after one of his Mad Money Shows...in particular I recall one evening when I happen to catch his show when he touted CMGI a few weeks back, the sucker went from about 1.70ish up to 2.25 ish after his positive comments about the company one evening, you could actually see the after hours price rising as he spoke about it, lol...now a few weeks later I look at CMGI and it s right back to the range where it was prior to his comments...I don't know what my point is here other than chiming in ,purging thoughts and plain old simply venting here but this is a smart board and I have learned lots and many if not all are "on target" with their comments, analysis...jmho...and at the end of the day, whether you have one, 5, 1,000, 10,000, 50,000 or a million or two million or more shares......hold em tight cuz jmho that once the string of “greater than before” positive developments in the form of the anticipated prs/news we expect based on our DD here starts churning out when appropriate according to business progress and fundamental advancement of neomedias business plan and its objectives, goals and strategies (gasping for air)…once this starts, we’ll be on our way to where we think it is we are going…again, just connect the dots, its gonna happen imo, too much happening with this “mobile phenom” and the potential for neom and their IP/proprietary tech to carve out a small but significant slice out of the “new paradigm” pie ....Anyway, GLTA and have a good day
So on that note, I’d like to throw out my guestimate for 12/31/05 and all jmho if only half of what we expect to occur actually happens as laid out so beautifully below in this DD post by that recent NYU GRAD SCHOOL GRAD Mr JP http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6198927 ….if only a portion of this comes to fruition and the mobile phenom/paradigm shift continues gaining traction, I will go out on a limb and as I rub My “layperson average joe schmo investor who is long and strong’s” Crystal Ball and project at high end a 30 bagger from here or $17.40ish, to a low range of say a 15 bagger from here or $8.55ish…and remember, 179 million us consumers alone and counting have mobile phones currently, everyone is scrambling to get traction and stake a footprint in this emerging growth arena and while this is all going on, cell/mobile phone penetration in the us is expected to rise to 69% ish penetration in the coming years…that is significant for advertisers, and any other industry you can think of that wants to “tap into the pie” for even a small slice of the new paradigm pie…and that is literally as that analyst somewhere in one of my dd’s said, “UP FOR GRABS” much like the PC industry was 20 years ago…..something like that…ok, gotta get back to work, GLTA!
(disclaimer, I do not endorse or promote Buy/Sell/Hold recommendations of NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. or any/all of its affilliates and/or subsidiaries. I share personal views only. Please perform your own proper "Due Dilligence" and contact your Broker before making any financial decisions)
Building Knowledge Base DD: For Neom Management
http://www.rfida.com/nb/military.htm
Some great weekend book reads embedded in this hyperlink...keep up the great work...
SonOFGodzilla
ot: ROTFFLOL! eom
ot: Neet DD SonOfGodzilla, Thanks....
Here's one back at you:
Taking Military RFID Tag Strategies to a Higher Level
From: Lance (Lance on War)
Remote Name: 66.82.48.1
Date: 10 Jan 2004
Time: 14:09:07
Comments
Can you make an RFID system for ordinance on an Aircraft Carrier? We believe so. The RFID tag would be o the weapon during its manufacturing a shipping stage so you do not lose weapons. In the case of the Navy it would be accounted for in an inventory control system all the way until it is loaded on an aircraft and shot of the carrier. By doing this it woud place an instant order to the maker of the weapon to make another one. Realtime logistical controls. There is a lot to the procurement and logistical process and more can be done to do better. http://www.carwashguys.com/finite.pdf . Remember their are all kinds of other issues to deal with. The RFID tag reader would be under the aircraft while on the catapult hook up area would also signify that the ordinance has left the ship. Since they cannot land back on the ship with ordinance it would signify expended. For ordinace which is allowed to land back on the ship they would not marked sold until they left the aircraft. Likewise 20 mm shells would be sent to the aircraft inventory control system and it would be sent to reader on the plane, which would be downloaded. Every 100 shells would be marked by RFID Tag. An enemy killed by a 20 mm shell would rather die by a specially marked bullet than an ordinary one, so you are doing them a favor as you send them to their final destination to meet Allah? In other words the enemy does not care so that factor is null and void of debate. On a tank the reader could be on the end of the barrel as the ordiance leaves it is accounted for. If the tank is destoryed and crew is lost then the net centric system marks it destroyed and 3 more people are enlisted into tank school, a tank is ordered and the ordiance order for it's supply canncelled until the date of delivery for the replacement tank. You see. Sounds morbid? Not really it is reality based logistical chain. War is hell. So if you are going to have a war, get it over with as fast as possible and by all means be sure to win it. Von Clauswitz agrees and Patton said an army moves on it's stomachs, yes it does and that goes for the fuel, armament, weapons and people. RFID tags streamline systems. I am most certainly not justifying the killing of one's own species, but if this is to occur, let's get it done right with the least amount of anguish. The devil is in the details, your supply chain can kill you much faster than the other side. Just like a prize fighter who is out of shape, stayed up too late drinking the night before or a marathoner who did not load up on complex carbohydrates in the days leading up to the event, if you want to win, be prepared to go the distance. Just a thought. Have drawings and schematics and much more on this idea. Lance@CARWASHGUYS.COM --- ps. Often I am asked what on god's green Earth does this have to do with the washing business? Well lots, because wars take away our best employees for a spell. Wars remove money in flow from the economy for a bit. Wars cause uncertainty in investment. Wars have effects on the society and our customers buying behaviors. I also believe if wars continue amongst the human race then we must be victorious quickly for the contuation of our country and our business.
http://www.parthe.net/_cwg1203/0000001f.htm
dd: Barcodes Sweep the World
History of the Bar Code
By Tony Seideman
Supermarkets are a perilous business. They must stock thousands of products in scores of brands and sizes to sell at painfully small markups. Keeping close track of them all, and maintaining inventories neither too large nor too small is critical. Yet for most of this century, as stores got bigger and the profusion on the shelves multiplied, the only way to find out what was on hand was by shutting the place down and counting every can, bag, and parcel. This expensive and cumbersome job was usually done no more than once a month. Store managers had to base most of their decisions on hunches or crude estimates.
Long before bar codes and scanners were actually invented, grocers knew they desperately needed something like them. Punch cards, first developed for the 1890 U.S Census, seemed to offer some early hope. In 1932, a business student named Wallace Flint wrote a master's thesis in which he envisioned a supermarket where customers would perforate cards to mark their selections; at the checkout counter they would insert them into a reader, which would activate machinery to bring the purchases to them on conveyer belts. Store management would have a record of what was being bought.
The problem was, of course, that the card reading equipment of the day was bulky, utterly unwieldy, and hopelessly expensive. Even if the country had not been in the middle of the Great Depression, Flint's scheme would have been unrealistic for all but the most distant future. Still, it foreshadowed what was to come.
The first step toward today's bar codes came in 1948, when Bernard Silver, a graduate student, overheard a conversation in the halls of Philadelphia's Drexel Institute of Technology. The president of a food chain was pleading with one of the deans to undertake research on capturing product information automatically at checkout. The dean turned down the request, but Bob Silver mentioned the conversation to his friend Norman Joseph Woodland, a twenty-seven-year-old graduate student and teacher at Drexel. The problem fascinated Woodland.
His first idea was to use patterns of ink that would glow under ultraviolet light, and the two men built a device to test the concept. It worked, but they encountered problems ranging from ink instability to printing costs. Nonetheless, Woodland was convinced he had a workable idea. He took some stock market earnings, quit Drexel, and moved to his grandfather's Florida apartment to seek solutions. After several months of work he came up with the linear bar code, using elements from two established technologies: movie soundtracks and Morse code.
Woodland, now retired, remembers that after starting with Morse code, "I just extended the dots and dashes downwards and made narrow lines and wide line out of them." To read the data, he made use out of Lee de Forest's movie sound system from the1920's. De Forest had printed a pattern of varying degrees of transparency on the edge of the film, then shone a light through it as the picture ran. A sensitive tube on the other side translated the shifts in brightness into electric waveforms, which were in turn converted to sound by loudspeakers. Woodland planned to adapt this system by reflecting light off his wide and narrow lines and using a similar tube to interpret the results.
Woodland took his idea back to Drexel, where he began putting together a patent application. He decided to replace his wide and narrow lines with concentric circles, so that they could be scanned from any direction. This became known as the bull's-eye code. Meanwhile, Silver investigated what form the codes should ultimately take. The two filed a patent application on October 20, 1949.
In 1951 Woodland got a job at IBM, where he hoped his scheme would flourish. The following year he and Silver set out to build the first actual bar code reader-in the living room of Woodland's house in Binghamton, New York. The device was the size of a desk and had to be wrapped in black oilcloth to keep out ambient light. It relied on two key elements: a five-hundred-watt incandescent bulb as the light source and an RCA935 photo-multiplier tube, designed for movie sound systems, as the reader.
Woodland hooked the 935 tube up to an oscilloscope. Then he moved a piece of paper marked with lines across a thin beam emanating from the light source. The reflected beam was aimed at the tube. At one point the heat from the powerful bulb set the paper smoldering. Nonetheless, Woodland got what he wanted. As the paper moved, the signal on the oscilloscope jumped. He and Silver had created a device that could electronically read printed material.
It was not immediately clear how to transform this crude electronic response into a useful form. The primitive computers of the day were cumbersome to operate, could only perform simple calculations, and in any case were the size of a typical frozen-food section. The idea of installing thousands of them in supermarkets from coast to coast would have been pure fantasy. Yet without a cheap and convenient way to record data from Woodland and Silver's codes, their idea would have been no more than a curiosity.
Then there was that five-hundred-watt bulb. It created an enormous amount of light, only a tiny fraction of which was read by the 935 tube. The rest was released as expensive, uncomfortable waste heat. "That bulb was an awful thing to look at," Woodland recalls. "It could cause eye damage." The inventors needed a source that could focus a large amount of light into a small space. Today that sounds like a prescription for a laser, but in 1952 lasers did not exist. In retrospect, bar codes were clearly a technology whose time had nowhere near come.
But Woodland and Silver, sensing the potential, pressed on. In October 1952 their patent was granted. Woodland stayed with IBM and in the late 1950's persuaded the company to hire a consultant to evaluate bar codes. The consultant agreed that they had great possibilities but said they would require a technology that lay at least five years off. By now almost half the seventeen-year life of Woodland and Silver's patent had expired.
IBM offered a couple of times to buy the patent, but for much less than they thought it was worth. In 1962 Philco met their price, and they sold. (The following year Silver died at age thirty-eight.) Philco later sold the patent to RCA. In 1971 RCA would jolt several industries into action; before then, the next advances in information handling would come out of the railroad industry.
Freight cars are nomads, wandering all across the country and often being lent from one line to another. Keeping track of them is one of the most complex tasks the railroad industry faces, and in the early 1960's it attracted the attention of David J. Collins. Collins got his master's degree from MIT in 1959 and immediately went to work for the Sylvania Corporation, which was trying to find military applications for a computer it had built. During his undergraduate days Collins had worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and he knew that the railroads needed a way to identify cars automatically and then to handle the information gathered. Sylvania's computer could do the latter; all Collins needed was a means to retrieve the former. Some sort of coded label seemed to be the easiest and cheapest approach.
Strictly speaking, the labels Collins came up with were not bar codes. Instead of relying on black bars or rings, they used groups of orange and blue stripes made of a reflective material, which could be arranged to represent the digits 0 through 9. Each car was given a four-digit number to identify the railroad that owned it and a six-digit number to identify the car itself. When cars went into a yard, readers would flash a beam of colored light onto the codes and interpret the reflections. The Boston & Maine conducted the first test of the system on its gravel cars in 1961. By 1967 most of the kinks had been worked out, and a nationwide standard for a coding system was adopted. All that remained was for railroads to but and install the equipment.
Collins foresaw applications for automatic coding far beyond the railroads, and in 1967 he pitched the idea to his bosses at Sylvania. "I said what we'd like to do now is develop the little black-and-white-line equivalent for conveyer control and for everything else that moves," he remembers. In a classic case of corporate shortsightedness, the company refused to fund him. "They said, 'We don't want to invest further. We've got this big market, and let's go and make money out of it.' " Collins quit and co founded Computer Identics Corporation.
Sylvania never even saw profits from serving the railroad industry. Carriers started installing scanners in 1970, and the system worked as expected, but it was simply too expensive. Although computers had been getting a lot smaller, faster, and cheaper, they still cost too much to be economical in the quantities required. The recession in the mid-1970's killed the system as a flurry of railroad bankruptcies gutted industry budgets. Sylvania was left with a white elephant.
Meanwhile, Computer Identics prospered. Its system used lasers, which in the late 1960's were just becoming affordable. A milliwatt helium-neon laser beam could easily match the job done by Woodland's unwieldy five-hundred-watt bulb. A thin stripe moving over a bar code would be adsorbed by the black stripes and reflected by the white ones, giving scanner sensors a clear on/off signal. Lasers could read bar codes anywhere from three inches to several feet away, and they could sweep back and forth like a searchlight hundreds of times a second, giving the reader many looks at a single code from many different angles. That would prove to be a great help in deciphering scratched or torn labels.
In the spring of 1969 computer Identics quietly installed its first two systems-probably the first true bar code systems anywhere. One went into a General Motors plant in Pontiac, Michigan, where it was used to monitor the production and distribution of automobile axle units. The other went into a distribution facility run by General Trading Company in Carlsbad, New Jersey, to help direct shipments to the proper loading-bay doors. At this point the components were still being built by hand; Collins made the enclosures for the scanners by turning a wastebasket upside down and molding fiberglass around it. Both systems relied on extremely simple bar codes bearing only two digits worth of information. But that was all they needed; the Pontiac plant made only eighteen types of axle, and the General Trading facility had fewer than a hundred doors.
Computer Identic's triumph proved the potential for bar codes in industrial settings, but it was the grocery industry that would once again provide the impetus to push the technology forward. In the early 1970's, the industry set out to propel to full commercial maturity the technology that Woodland and Silver had dreamed up and Computer Identics had proved feasible.
Already RCA was moving to assist the industry. RCA executives had attended a 1966 grocery industry meeting where bar-code development had been urged, and they smelled new business. A special group went to work at an RCA laboratory in Princeton New Jersey, and the Kroger grocery chain volunteered itself as a guinea pig. Then, in mid 1970, an industry consortium established an ad hoc committee to look into bar codes. The committee set guidelines for bar-code development and created a symbol-selection subcommittee to help standardize the approach.
This would be the grocery industry's Manhattan Project, and Alan Haberman, who headed the subcommittee as president of First National Stores, recalls proudly, "We showed that it could be done on a massive scale, that cooperation without antitrust implications was possible for the common good, and that business didn't need the government to shove them in the right direction."
At the heart of the guidelines were a few basic principles. To make life easier for the cashier, not harder, bar codes would have to be readable from almost any angle and at a wide range of distances. Because they would be reproduced by the millions, the labels would have to be cheap and easy to print. And to be affordable, automated checkout systems would have to pay for themselves in two and a half years. This last goal turned out to be quite plausible; a 1970 study by McKinsey & Company predicted that the industry would save $150 million a year by adopting the systems.
"It turns out there were massive savings that we called hard savings-out-of-pocket savings in labor and other areas," Haberman says. "And there were gigantic savings available in the use of information and the ability to deal with it more easily than we had before, but we never quantified that." Hard, quantifiable savings were what would draw retailers. These included checking out items at twice the speed of cashiers using traditional equipment, which would mean shorter lines without staff increases.
Still, while early bar-code systems would automate the checkout, they would not be useful for monitoring inventory, because at first too few items would come labeled with codes. Savings from using the collected information, instead of simply from cutting labor costs, would have to wait until most items bore codes. After that happened, management at every level would have to transform the way it operated.
In the spring of 1971 RCA demonstrated a bulls-eye bar-code system at a grocery industry meeting. Visitors got a round piece of tin; if the code on top contained the right number, they won a prize. IBM executives at that meeting noticed the crowds RCA was drawing and worried that they were losing out on a huge potential market. Then Alec Jablonover, a marketing specialist at IBM, remembered that his company had the bar code's inventor on staff. Soon Woodland-whose patent had expired in 1969-was transferred to IBM's facilities in North Carolina, where he played a prominent role in developing the most popular and important version of the technology: the Universal Product Code (UPC).
RCA continued to push its bull's-eye code. In July 1972 it began an eighteen-month test in a Kroger store in Cincinnati. It turned out that the printing problems and scanning difficulties limited the bull's-eye's usefulness. Printing presses sometimes smear ink in the direction the paper is running. When this happened to bull's-eye symbols, they did not scan properly. With the UPC, on the other hand, any extra ink simply flows out the top or bottom and no information is lost.
For a time such exotica as starburst-shaped codes and computer readable characters were considered, but eventually the technically elegant IBM-born UPC won the battle to be chosen by the industry. No event in the history of modern logistics was more important. The adoption of the Universal Product Code, on April 3, 1973, transformed bar codes from a technological curiosity into a business juggernaut.
Before the UPC, various systems had begun to come into use around the world in stores, libraries, factories, and the like, each with its own proprietary code. Afterward bar code on any product could be read and understood in every suitably equipped store in the country. Standardization made it worth the expense for manufacturers to put the symbol on their packages and for printers to develop the new types of ink, plates, and other technology to reproduce the code with the exact tolerances it requires.
Budgets for the bar-code revolution were on a scale to make the Pentagon blanch. Each of the nation's tens of thousands of grocery outlets would have to spend at least $200,000 on new equipment. Chains would have to install new data processing centers and retrain their employees. Manufacturers would potentially spend $200 million a year on the labels. Yet tests showed that the system would pay for itself in a few years.
Standardization of the code meant the need for a standardized system of numbers to go on it. "Before we had bar codes, every company had its own way of designating its products," Haberman says. Some used letters, some used numbers, some used both, and a few had no codes at all. When the UPC took over, these companies had to give up their individual methods and register with a new Uniform Code Council (UCC).
The code is split into two halves of six digits each. The first one is always zero, except for products like meat and produce that have variable weight, and a few other special types of items. The next five are the manufacturer's code; the next five are the product code; and the last is a "check digit" used to verify that the preceding digits have been scanned properly. Hidden cues in the structure of the code tell the scanner which end is which, so it can be scanned in any direction. Manufacturers register with the UCC to get an identifier code for their company, then register each of their products. Thus each package that passes over a checkout stand has its own unique identification number.
Two technological developments of the 1960s finally made scanners simple and affordable enough. Cheap lasers were one. The other was integrated circuits. When Woodland and Silver first came up with their idea, they would have needed a wall full of switches and relays to handle the information a scanner picked up; now it's all done by a microchip.
On June 26, 1974, all the tests were done, all the proposals were complete, all the standards were set, and at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a single pack of chewing gum became the first retail product sold with the help of a scanner. Decades of schemes and billions of dollars in investment now became a practical reality. The use of scanners grew slowly at first. A minimum of 85 percent of all products would have to carry the codes before the system could pay off, and when suppliers reached that level, in the late 1970s, sales of the systems started to take off. In 1978 less than one percent of grocery stores nationwide had scanners. By mid-1981
The figure was 10 percent, three years later it was 33 percent, and today more than 60 percent are so equipped.
Meanwhile, the technology has been creeping into other industries and organizations. Researchers have mounted tiny bar codes on bees to track the insects' mating habits. The U.S. Army has used two-foot-long bar codes to label fifty-foot boats in storage at West Point. Hospital patients wear bar-code ID bracelets. The codes appear on truck parts, business documents, shipping cartons, marathon runners, and even logs in lumberyards. Federal Express, the package-shipping giant, is probably the world's biggest single user of the technology; its shipping labels bear a code called Codabar. Along the way refinements of the basic UPC have been developed, including the European Article Numbering System (EAN), developed by Joe Woodland, which has an extra pair of digits and is on its way to becoming the world's most widely used system. Other codes, which are given such fanciful names as Code 39, Code 16K, and Interleaved 2 of 5, can sometimes contain letters as well as numbers.
Woodland never got rich from bar codes, though he was awarded the 1992 National Medal of Technology by President Bush. But all those involved in the early days speak of the rewards of having brought a new way of doing business into the world. "This thing is a success story on the American way of doing things," Haberman says. "Our own initiative-take it on ourselves, inviting the world to join in. It has something to say about the little guys with lots of vision.
---Tony Seideman is a free lance writer who lives in New York City
http://www.barcoding.com/Information/barcode_history.shtml