среда, 29 февраля 2012 г.

NSW: Arson suspected for bushfire on the move


AAP General News (Australia)
02-07-2009
NSW: Arson suspected for bushfire on the move

SYDNEY, Feb 7 AAP - Arson is suspected as the cause of three bushfires in NSW Hunter
region that are consuming terrain at an alarming rate.

Fire investigators are on scene at Woolemi National Park in the Singleton area to determine
the cause of the fires.

More than 1,000ha of countryside have burned since Friday night as the fires joined
as one and are moving rapidly under hot and windy summer conditions.

Temperatures will climb above 40 degrees across NSW and in Sydney's west on Saturday
and Sunday until a southerly change arrives late on …

LED BY ALIPAY, THE 1ST SAFE PAYING ALLIANCE FOUNDED


AsiaInfo Services
06-21-2011
Led by Alipay, the 1st Safe Paying Alliance Founded

SHANGHAI, Jun 21, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- Together with over a hundred companies, Alipay.com Co., Ltd. founded the first domestic safe paying alliance on June 21.

The first participants of the alliance include some huge banks, such as Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 601398.SH), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC, 601288.SH), such international leading anti-virus enterprises as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC).

Supported by the People's Bank of China, Ministry of Industry and information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, Anti-Phishing Alliance of China, etc, members of the alliance will achieve some cooperation in system security, client-side controlling and protecting, users' security educating, etc.

At present, the weekly captured phishing websites are 45,262 ones, so the traditional controlling and protecting system is not available. Members of the alliance will share the technology, data and information, aiming to form a transverse safe network. Users expect to be protected in the full process of online trade.

Source: www.enet.com.cn (June 21, 2011)

KEYWORD: SHANGHAI INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Internet & Online Services & Media SUBJECT CODE: Internet & Online Services
Online/Direct Banking
SinoCast China Business Daily news
safe paying
alliance
anti-phishing
anti-virus
security
controlling and protecting system

Copyright 2011 AsiaInfo Services (via Comtex). All rights reserved

QLD:LNP civil union's position confused: Bligh


AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2011
QLD:LNP civil union's position confused: Bligh

The survival of Queensland's new same sex civil unions laws could hinge on when the
first ceremony can be performed.

Liberal National Party leader CAMPBELL NEWMAN has vowed to repeal the laws if the party
wins the election expected early next year, and no unions have been formalised by that
time.

But Mr NEWMAN's told the Brisbane Times it would be "unacceptable and intolerable"

to repeal the laws after civil unions had gone ahead.

Premier ANNA BLIGH says the timing of the state's first same sex civil unions depends
on when people can be accredited as notaries, who will perform the ceremonies.

AAP RTV gd/ar

KEYWORD: GAY QLD (BRISBANE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

--Consumer group calls for probe on high card fees


Internet Business News
03-30-2011
--Consumer group calls for probe on high card fees

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

30 March 2011 -- Consumer protection group Which* has called on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to launch an investigation into excessive fees that merchants charge their customers when paying with debit or credit cards, the Financial Times reported.
The potential OFT probe is likely to cover a number of businesses ranging from low-cost airlines to estate agents and from taxi companies to insurance groups. Shopping online has boosted debit cards payments in the UK above the volume of in-cash transactions.

Although credit card surcharges are commonly imposed by certain retailers, others, including estate agent Foxtons, Internet provider AOL (NYSE:AOL) and budget carrier Ryanair (ISE:RYA), introduced similar charges for debit card payments too.

Retailers claim they are passing the fees charged by banks onto consumers, but the bank charges appear to be considerably lower than what retailers are seeking from their customers.

Which* claims the cost of payment processing is up to GBP0.20 for a debit card and up to 2% of the transaction for credit card payment.

((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com))

(Copyright M2 Communications, 2011)

WA:Community disquiet over tasering


AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2010
WA:Community disquiet over tasering

The head of WA's Corruption and Crime Commission has told an inquiry into the repeated
tasering of an Aboriginal man at the Perth Watch House .. the inquiry will need to examine
allegations of misconduct and the conduct of internal investigations by the WA police
and the Department of Corrective Services.

Commissioner LEN ROBERTS-SMITH says no one has been charged over the repeated tasering
of KEVIN SPRATT despite a police internal inquiry finding two officers had used undue
and excessive force.

Mr ROBERTS-SMITH says there's been widespread media exposure of Mr SPRATT'S tasering
and there's considerable community disquiet which is generating a lack of confidence in
police.

He says there's a need for these matters to be seen to be dealt with objectively ..

fairly .. and in a transparent way.

AAP RTV jsj/dep/de/ar

KEYWORD: SPRATT (PERTH)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD:Main stories on Seven News


AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2010
QLD:Main stories on Seven News

BRISBANE, Aug 2 AAP - Main stories in Seven News:

- Convicted pedophiles will face mandatory jail time under new laws to be in place
by the end of the year.

- Police investigating the suspected murder of a Coomera grandmother are unsure how she died.

- A Brisbane police officer who admitted driving at 210km/h on Gympie Road has lost
his licence for eight months.

- David Jones and its former boss Mark McInnes are being sued for $37 million dollars.

- Families got a boost from Julia Gillard with Labor extending its tax benefits to
encourage teenagers to stay at school beyond 16.

- A Gympie woman has been banned from Facebook after vandalising a tribute page honouring
a Sunshine Coast murder victim.

- The EKKA begins on Thursday and officials are expecting huge crowds with no major
flu threat to scare them off this year.

- Tourists on a whale watching cruise off the Gold Coast have been treated to a close
encounter with a baby humpback.

AAP ahe/apm

KEYWORD: MONITOR 1800 SEVEN

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Opp concerned onshore processing is on the cards


AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-2009
Fed: Opp concerned onshore processing is on the cards

The federal opposition fears offshore processing rules could soon be relaxed due to
the overcrowding at the Christmas Island detention facility.

Around 15-hundred suspected asylum seekers are currently being held at the facility
.. with many being housed in tents .. and that number will rise soon as another boat load
of people caught on Friday .. makes its way to the island.

The arrival of 56 boats this year has forced the government to expand the centre's
capacity from 1400 to about 2200 beds.

Opposition immigration spokesman SCOTT MORRISON wants to know what efforts Canberra's
making to secure some other form of offshore processing .. after the government flagged
the idea of using Darwin's Northern Immigration Detention Centre for the final stages
of processing.

AAP RTV sld/wz/crh

KEYWORD: BOAT MORRISON (CANBERRA)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NT: Kingmaker takes time out


AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2009
NT: Kingmaker takes time out

One of the Northern Territory's kingmakers has gone bush .. to consider whether he'll
support a no-confidence motion in the embattled government.

GERRY WOOD has admitted he's been offered the planning portfolio in a Country Liberals
government .. but says he won't accept a ministry from either party.

The independent member for Nelson and Labor turncoat ALISON ANDERSON hold the balance
of power in the NT's Legislative Assembly .. and their votes could trigger an election.

The NT News says Opposition Leader TERRY MILLS has also offered Ms ANDERSON the indigenous
affairs ministry ... she's told the paper she hasn't made a decision.

AAP RTV tr/jmt

KEYWORD: LABOR NT (DARWIN)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Over 400mm of rain on mid-north coast, and more to come


AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2009
NSW: Over 400mm of rain on mid-north coast, and more to come

SYDNEY, April 1 AAP - More rain is on the way for flood-ravaged areas of the NSW mid-north
coast, with hundreds of evacuated residents hoping to return home but many others still
cut off from help.

The heavy rain pushed the Bellinger River to a peak of 8.6 metres on Tuesday evening,
stranding about 1,600 nearby residents.

Coffs Harbour has registered about 450mm of rain in the past 24 hours.

Bellingen recorded nearly 400mm of rain over the same period, while the Dorrigo area
recorded 266mm and there was a top of 537mm at Girralong.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan is on his way to the area to determine if
disaster relief is necessary.

"I'm travelling to Coffs Harbour this morning just to see what the damage is and see
whether or not a natural disaster declaration is needed for the area," Mr Whan told Macquarie
Radio on Wednesday.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has responded to more than 760 requests for assistance
and performed about 60 rescues of people trapped in flood waters.

The SES estimates some rural properties could remain cut off for the next four days.

"But again a lot of these areas are used to these flooding situations and are quite
well prepared," spokesman David Webber said.

Coffs Creek peaked at 5.14m at 6:15pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, which is just below the 1996
level of 5.43m, when floods resulted in the death of one person.

About 100 Coffs Harbour residential properties and businesses have been affected, with
420 people evacuated from surrounding areas, including 300 school children and aged care
residents.

The Bellinger River has begun to fall from its peak, which was equal to 1986 levels,
but 1,600 residents in Bellingen, Darkwood, Thora and Kalang will remain isolated for
up to four days.

Approximately 55 people were evacuated from Newry Island, with some taken out by flood boat.

The Nambucca River peaked at 10.25m, just 0.25m below the record level of June 1950,
at 10.30pm on Tuesday.

Nearby Bowraville and surrounding farmland remains isolated.

Police say flooded areas in Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Urunga are contracting, but
more rain is forecast for Wednesday.

The Pacific Highway through Coffs Harbour has reopened in both directions but remains
closed at Urunga to the south.

Residents have been able to leave evacuation centres established in flood-ravaged areas
but the centres will remain open.

Parents have been allowed to pick up their children from The Bishop Druitt College
and the Christian Community School at Coffs Harbour after they were cut off by the flood
waters.

The SES has approximately 400 staff and volunteers working with the Rural Fire Service,
NSW Fire Brigades and police.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has predicted more rain in areas of the mid-north coast
on Wednesday and Thursday.

AAP vpm/wjf/ldj

KEYWORD: RAIN NSW 2ND UPDATE

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NT: New progam for young Aborigines trialled in NT


AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2008
NT: New progam for young Aborigines trialled in NT

DARWIN, Aug 28 AAP - Aboriginal children will be prepared for school well before their
first day under a literacy and numeracy program to be trialled in remote Northern Territory
communities.

Announcing $2.28 million in federal funds to support the program, NT Chief Minister
Paul Henderson said the trial would focus on the formative primary years.

"This trial program is designed to involve parents and the whole community in a child's
education well before they start school," he said.

Since coming to power in November last year, the Rudd government has committed to halve
the gaps in infant mortality, literacy, numeracy and employment outcomes between indigenous
and non-indigenous people within a decade.

It will jointly fund the new trial, the first part of which will focus on giving children
a head start: preparing them for school through play and interaction with their parents
and families.

It is designed to support the NT government's Families as First Teachers program, which
aims to provide children up to the age of four with good health habits and literacy skills.

"We're committed to accelerating the learning of indigenous children," Mr Henderson said.

"As parents, school staff and the whole community become more involved in the education
of children in the early years, literacy and numeracy results will start to improve."

The pilot program will be delivered in the Warlpiri triangle communities of Lajamanu,
Yuendumu, Nyirrpi and Willowra, and Milingimbi, Ramingining, Shepherdson College at Galiwinku,
Gapuwiyak, Yirrkala and in the Miwatj region of Arnhem Land.

Mr Henderson said Menzies School of Health researchers would monitor the effectiveness
of the trial.

AAP tr/jt/bwl

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS LITERACY

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Olympic flame and 'technical assistants' arrive in Aust


AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2008
FED: Olympic flame and 'technical assistants' arrive in Aust

By Julian Drape

CANBERRA, April 23 AAP - The Olympic flame has arrived in Canberra ahead of tomorrow's
relay but it was still not clear today what role Chinese officials will play in protecting
the torch from protesters.

Neither was it known where the flame would spend today, with officials only saying
it had been put "to bed".

The red carpet was rolled out at Canberra's Fairbairn RAAF base after the Air China
plane touched down at 7.50am (AEST) following a six-hour flight from Jakarta.

There were no protesters present.

Chinese Olympic officials initially presented the Olympic flame to local Aboriginal
elder Agnes Shea, who in turn gave them a traditional message stick of peace and welcome.

But after the ceremony Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper reignited debate over what
part Beijing organising committee officials would play in the relay when he said they
would have a "technical role".

"If there's difficulty with the torch, the Beijing torch attendants are trained to
get that torch moving again," Mr Gosper told reporters.

"They've got a technical role."

During the flame's journey around the globe the tracksuited Chinese officials have
been variously described as torch attendants, paramilitary police and even thugs by a
British Olympic official.

Now it seems Australian officials have decided they are "technical assistants".

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said three Chinese "technical assistants"

would run with the torch tomorrow and three more would be in reserve.

"They have a responsibility to keep the flame alight," Mr Coates told reporters at Fairbairn.

Both Mr Coates and Mr Gosper said the technical role would not involve security, which
was the sole domain of Australian police.

Yesterday, the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Zhang Junsai, said the staff would
play a role in keeping the flame secure, before later seeking to clarify his comments.

"If the flame was attacked I believe they would use their bodies," Mr Junsai told the
Nine Network, before later saying he'd been "misrepresented" and "did not contradict the
prime minister".

Kevin Rudd has consistently said Chinese torch escorts will play no role in security.

The Olympic flame was whisked away from Fairbairn this morning, possibly to the Chinese Embassy.

Olympic relay committee chair Ted Quinlan said after being welcomed to Australia the
flame had been put "to bed", but he did not know where.

"I don't know (where), and I don't want to know," Mr Quinlan told reporters.

"Originally, it was going to a hotel but there's (now) a distinct possibility it's
going to go to the embassy."

Mr Coates said he had no idea where the flame would be kept today.

During the official welcoming ceremony, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the Olympics
and the torch relay was all about participation.

"Participation in this relay is important ... for those who care about human rights
as well as those who care about the ideals of sport," Mr Stanhope said.

But for federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis, winning was important too.

"Australia has a long tradition not just of participation in the Olympic Games but
also a great record of success," she said during the ceremony.

AAP jcd/pw/sp

KEYWORD: OLY08 FLAME AUST 2ND DAYLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Customs detects record level of tobacco smuggling in 2007


AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2007
Fed: Customs detects record level of tobacco smuggling in 2007

SYDNEY, Dec 19 AAP - Smugglers have been caught attempting to bring an unprecedented
236 tonnes of tobacco and 95 million cigarettes into the country this year, Australian
Customs says.

The flood of illegal products mainly came through Sydney's Port Botany in shipping
containers, declared as plastic kitchenware, wooden tabletops, biscuits and even pretzels.

Customs said it had foiled 40 separate attempts to smuggle cigarettes and tobacco into
Australia since January, amounting to an attempted evasion of more than $100 million in
duties.

Customs chief executive Michael Carmody said the amount of cigarettes seized was twice
that detected in 2006 and the volume of tobacco was a staggering 14-fold increase over
last year.

He said the flood reflected a worldwide rise in cases of large-scale organised cigarette
and tobacco smuggling.

"Smugglers see cigarette and tobacco smuggling as a way of making large sums of money
by avoiding paying the high level of duties levied on tobacco products," Mr Carmody said
in a statement.

He said Australian Customs was working closely with overseas agencies to smash the trade.

Thirty people had been arrested on tobacco smuggling charges this year, with 48 convictions
recorded, Mr Carmody said.

Penalties and costs totalled $3.9 million and a large quantity of tobacco products
had been destroyed.

Today, custom officials showed off some of the seized products at a container examination
facility in Port Botany.

The largest cigarette seizure in 2007 was more than nine million cigarettes into Sydney
from the United Arab Emirates.

The biggest tobacco seizure was over 22 tonnes into Melbourne from Vietnam.

AAP jcd/was/jt/de

KEYWORD: TOBACCO (PIX AVAILABLE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: More than 100 employees re-enter building after gas leak


AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2007
NSW: More than 100 employees re-enter building after gas leak

More than 100 people have returned to work in Sydney .. after a gas leak triggered
an evacuation at an inner-city suburb.

Workers in a nearby pit ruptured a gas pipe about 10 o'clock (AEST) this morning ..

forcing the evacuation of 118 people from an office building at Alexandria.

Specialist fire crews rushed to the building on Euston Road .. near the intersection
of Sydney Park Road.

The workers had closed the gas line by 11.30 am .. and no-one's been harmed during the incident.

AAP RTV vpm/hn/tm/bart

KEYWORD: GAS (SYDNEY)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Seven wins with dancing movie before the stars hit the air


AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2007
Fed: Seven wins with dancing movie before the stars hit the air

By Michael Gadd, National Entertainment Writer

SYDNEY, Feb 14 AAP - The Seven Network could waltz into an even more dominant position
on Tuesday nights with the return of Dancing With The Stars next week after a film about
dancing attracted one of the night's top audiences.

Today Tonight and Seven News were number one and two, respectively, last night, but
the surprise success was the film Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez,
which finished third with 1.2 million viewers.

Seven had delayed the start of its celebrity dancing phenomenon to avoid a possible
clash with the third final of the Tri Nations one-day cricket, which was not required
after England won the first two matches.

Last year's fifth series of Dancing With The Stars was the weakest for Seven since
the show began, with its season finale dropping below two million viewers for the first
time.

But the popularity of Nine's flashback show 20 to 1, which performed exceptionally
well last year and was a great chance for the network to snatch some viewers from Seven,
was below expectations last night with less than one million viewers.

Navy legal drama NCIS was Ten's best performer with 1.1 million viewers while the two
episodes of The Simpsons rounded out the night's top 10.

The return of All Saints on Seven was the ninth most popular show with 1.1 million viewers.

Today Tonight attracted an audience of 1.5 million with 1.19 million viewers tuning
in to Nine's A Current Affair which was the fourth most-watched program of the night.

AAP mdg/imc/cdh

KEYWORD: RATINGS

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA: Man fined more than $155,000 for illegal abalone sales


AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2006
WA: Man fined more than $155,000 for illegal abalone sales

A 36-year-old man has been fined more than 155 thousand dollars for illegally selling
greenlip abalone in Western Australia.

CRAIG GEORGE WALTER PROSSER pleaded guilty in the Busselton Magistrates Court to not
having a commercial abalone fishing license when he sold 198 kilograms of the fish in
April 2003.

He's been ordered to pay fines of 156 thousand dollars and costs.

He also has to forfeit two vehicles .. two vessels .. equipment and cash seized by
investigators three years ago.

Today's result closes Operation Tea Tree .. the state's biggest abalone poaching surveillance
operation.

Two other men have already been fined after pleading guilty.

GREG FINLAY from the Department of Fisheries says the fines show the seriousness of
the black market offences.

AAP RTV lk/es/bart

KEYWORD: ABALONE (PERTH)

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Telcos help customers avoid dialing up debt


AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2006
Fed: Telcos help customers avoid dialing up debt

Internet providers and phone companies will have to offer customers ways to help them
avoid high bills .. under a new industry code.

And companies face tough fines if they don't introduce such programs.

The move comes after Communications Minister HELEN COONAN .. told telco chiefs the
government would consider more direct action if a code wasn't put in place soon.





Under the code .. registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority ..

phone and internet companies must offer call barring .. caps on spending .. download limits
and pre-paid services to help customers manage their spending.

AAP RTV pjo/sw/cp/tm

KEYWORD: CREDIT (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

понедельник, 27 февраля 2012 г.

small claims track

small claims track The track to which a civil case is allocated when the claim is for an amount of no more than £5000 (see allocation). Before the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999, small claims were automatically referred to arbitration. However, a small claims hearing retains most of the aspects of the former procedure: the hearing is informal and in public, is based on a paper adjudication with the parties' consent, and there are generally no experts and no costs.

Despite the limit of £5000, with the approval of the court parties may consent to use the small claims track even if their claim value exceeds £5000.

Designated driver: the extensive market research that Ford used to target its Jaguar brand to gay buyers has raised the standard for companies wooing the gay dollar. (Business).

When Subaru became the first automaker to market its cars specifically to gay and lesbian consumers in the mid 1990s, it relied mostly on gut instinct and anecdotal evidence that gays would respond with their wallets. "Anecdotally, we found that there were women heads of households that purchased our cars, and in looking further into it we found that in most cases they identified as lesbian," says Tim Bennett, Subaru's director of marketing.

In fact, until recently most companies seeking to capture gay dollars with their products could not figure out how to do extensive research into what was seen as a very specialized and elusive market.

Now, thanks to increased support at higher corporate levels for such marketing and to the anonymity of the Internet, companies are beginning to back up their hunches about the gay dollar with critical research, getting clear data on just what makes gay consumers tick. Such research was at the heart of Ford Motor Co.'s recently launched campaign to market its Jaguar brand to gay drivers. While other cars have advertised in the gay media--including Ford brands Volvo and Land Rover--Jaguar is now the first since Subaru to run an ad campaign specifically designed and created to target to gay consumers.

The project began in the first quarter of 2002, when the formerly stodgy Detroit automaker-now with pro-gay policies and domestic-partner benefits firmly in place--decided to start coming out of the closet. Ford vice president of global marketing Jan Valentic hooked up with Witeck-Combs Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that helps companies develop strategies to reach gay consumers. "Together we developed probably one of, if not the most expensive corporate research project for any industry on GLBT consumers," Valentic says.

Ford officials won't quantify "expensive" and are admittedly cagey on all projects that give the company a competitive advantage, so they're staying tight-lipped about all the numbers related to this project. But Valentic says Ford learned quite a bit from the survey, conducted online by research firm Harris Interactive, which polled 1,000 gay and lesbian consumers and 1,000 nongay consumers to compare car preferences across all seven Ford brands. "In most cases they were the same," says Wesley Combs, president of Witeck-Combs, adding that gay drivers and heterosexual drivers, not surprisingly, have many of the same needs when it comes to cars. "But there are certain features that resonated differently." Like Ford execs, Combs is closemouthed about specifics and declines to elaborate on what those differences might be.

Whatever the details, when Ford shared the results with all its brands, Jaguar jumped at the chance to be first to develop a gay-specific campaign. It was a natural choice, given that Jaguar had already identified the gay market as a good match. In fact, armed with the little research they had at the time--together with the oft-quoted and widely disputed belief that gay consumers constitute $450 billion worth of buying power--Jaguar officials had started to sponsor gay events such as the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards.

But the existing data had been much too limited to help the company design ads that would appeal to this audience. One problem it had in collecting information was that some gay consumers did not want to be identified by their sexual orientation on traditional research questionnaires, says George Ayres, vice president of marketing for Jaguar North America. "So it was a gut feeling, anecdotal, talking to dealers--there seemed to be a market for us," explains Ayres, who says the brand needed the research help from its parent company to get a truly targeted campaign off the ground. "Ford and Witeck-Combs did research that we otherwise probably wouldn't have been able to afford."

Harris Interactive's Internet research--which offered gay consumers an opportunity to answer questions anonymously--not only asked about car preferences but grilled respondents about the kinds of ads they prefer, whether they want ads targeted to gay buyers, and whether those ads should include gay and lesbian people. With this new information, Jaguar, together with Witeck-Combs and the advertising and marketing firm Prime Access, then designed several ads they hoped would resonate with gay car buyers. They took four ads back to the Internet and to a subset of gay consumers interested in buying a Jaguar and asked them which was best. "I can't say what the research found, but let's just say the ad you see today was the result of the research," Ayres says.

The print ad features a winding road, a handsome, smiling man, a close-up of the grill from a Jaguar X-Type, and the text "Life is full of twists and turns. Care for a partner?" The text is meant to have a double meaning--conveying Jaguar's four-wheel drive feature as well as the notion that the road for gay people isn't all that linear. "Unlike the lives of many straight people, gay people's lives tend to take twists and turns--hence the slang word straight for straight people," notes Howard Buford, founder and CEO of New York City-based Prime Access, which created the ad for Jaguar. The latter half of the text assumes that those at the stage of their lives in which they'd be buying a Jaguar are also at that stage where finding a long-term partner is also a priority.

"It's pretty subtle, but I think it works," Ayres says, noting that the ad is running nationwide in gay publications (including The Advocate). If this campaign proves successful, he says, Jaguar will expand it from there.

Measuring success might be a challenge, given that gay people coming in for a test drive aren't likely to declare their sexual orientation. But Jaguar and Ford hope to learn more through their Demo Drive program, which allows them to track how many test drives are generated from the gay and lesbian events Ford sponsors.

If the Jaguar campaign goes well, the market is likely to see other Ford brands follow suit, developing gay-specific ads based on the some of the research that has already come out of this project. "For example," Valentic says, "lesbian couples with children have a strong view of family values that really connects with Volvo."

No doubt such changing demographics among gay people--as more gay men and lesbians start families--will keep companies in search of gay dollars on their toes. And certainly more companies are doing--and will be doing--more research like Ford has. IBM, for example, spent a hefty amount polling gay and lesbian technology buyers at both gay-owned businesses and other companies. "Everybody can look at the free research that says $450 billion buying power in the GLBT market, but we wanted to find out, what's our fair share of that?" says Sarah Siegel, program director of the GLBT sales and talent department at IBM. "Obviously we can't tell you what we found out, but we found out [gay consumers are] well worth our time."

Indeed, as competition heats up and more traditional companies, including the Big Three automakers, start getting in on the action, pioneering companies such as Subaru will have a tougher time maintaining their share of the gay market. But Subaru's Bennett says he's not too worried. "We were surprised they haven't done it sooner," he says, cautioning other companies to be real with gay and lesbian consumer market. "You can't be a poser or pretender. This is a very sophisticated, intelligent market--not all that different from other niche markets we market to--so we probably have a leg up on the competition in that regard."

Prince is executive editor of Chief Executive magazine.

Will the wrong wireless succeed?

At one time it looked like there was a roadmap, a confusing one perhaps, but a roadmap nonetheless. Wireless Internet was going to be everywhere, but you were going to use different wireless technologies depending on just where you were. This original roadmap seems to be getting overtaken by events, and a far simpler one may be emerging.

The original wireless roadmap looked something like this: Local communications, say between your cell phone and palmtop, would use Bluetooth; connections to your office LAN would use 802.11; at home you would use HomeRF; and when out wandering the world you would use 3G or maybe someday 4G. Come to think of it, I never did figure out how you or your mobile computing devices would know where you were so as to know what technology to use.

Each technology has been optimized for its particular role. Bluetooth is low power and short range (30 feet or so), and slow - less than 1M bit/sec.

Then there's 802.11, which offers a range of speeds from a few megabits per second to about 50M bit/sec at a few hundred meters. HomeRF only needs to cover a house and runs at a few megabits per second. The next-generation cell phone services, 3G and 4G, will offer a few megabits per second at distances of up to several miles.

But maybe optimization is not needed. Supporters of most of the technologies in this fuzzy picture might want to consider that "good enough" rather than "optimization" may just be taking over.

No, 802.11 is not just for office LANs anymore. It's showing up in classrooms, hotels, airports and Starbucks. You would expect this, since these environments have basically the same requirements as office LANs. It also should be obvious that for simple Internet access-type services, 802.11 would work just fine at home. But now 802.11 is starting to show up in places that it would not seem all that well suited for.

For instance, 802.11 is starting to show up as competition to cellular-based Internet connectivity such as 3G. See www.toaster.net/wireless/aplist.php for a list of San Francisco-area providers.

And with the improvements in the power efficiency of future generations of 802.11 chips, Bluetooth does not seem so important. While 802.11 is far from perfect, the current versions - 802.11b and 802.11a - have significant security and quality-of-service (QoS) issues, and having two versions could be a problem. But dual-mode chips that support both versions are now shipping and the IEEE, the developer of 802.11, is busily working on security and QoS improvements. (IEEE documents are now available for free at http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/).

Indeed, 802.11 is yet another example of generalization winding up being more important than optimization. In this case, there may be rough times ahead for providers of more ideal solutions such as Bluetooth, HomeRF and, most dramatically, 3G, where the $150 billion spent for frequency licenses may have been mostly wasted.

Disclaimer: Wasting $150 billion is beyond even Harvard's ability, and the above is my opinion.

Bradner is a consultant with Harvard University's University Information Systems. He can be reached at sob@sobco.com.

воскресенье, 26 февраля 2012 г.

Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif., Shareware Column.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 23 -- HERE'S MACNOAH TO THE RESCUE! Is your Power Mac giving you a frowning face? Is the Big Question Mark blinking on your screen at bootup? Fear not, MacNoah is coming to the rescue. This collection of utilities on CD-ROM, called MacNoah to the Rescue, will help you solve system conflicts, back up critical files, adjust your video display, tell you all you need to know about what's installed on your Mac, and more. Here's a sampling of the dozens of programs, designed mostly for Power Macs (including iMacs) running System 7 or 8:

More About This Macintosh expands the About This Computer to include information about memory, processor speeds and more. GURU advises you how to upgrade system and video memory and gives you a thorough report on what hardware is installed on your Mac.

Clockometer tells you how fast your Mac really is. MacSlack helps you regain wasted space on your hard drive and figures out how much space you can save by re-partitioning your hard drive. The demo version of MacMedic helps you back up your hard drive, repair files that have gone haywire and suggests ways to improve performance. Apple Error Codes tell you what those mysterious numbers mean when your system crashes or misbehaves.

Mac Restart re-boots your computer at a specific time, closing all running applications first. Mac OS Installer Helper will help you customize your system each time you upgrade or do a clean install. Hi's Universal Saver works in the background to back up your work at intervals you specify. Extension Overload has a database of more than 1,000 extensions and control panels that may be causing conflicts.

Drive Monitor tells you which volumes are mounted on your desktop and how much space you have on each. Apple System Profiler tells you what's running on your Mac. Multi-Resolutions demo lets you change the resolution on our video card on the fly. Mt. Everything lets you mount or unmount any SCSI device on your Mac. Version 8.2 of Disk First Aid helps repair problems caused by commercial repair programs!

Conflict Catcher (demo version) identifies which of a possible 3,600 extensions, control panels, startup programs, plug-ins and filters are causing your Mac to crash.

Increasing the cache size on your Mac will speed things up, but what if you crash before the data is saved? CacheSaver saves your cache information at intervals, or you can save your data on the fly.

Autoclock calls the Naval Observatory to get the most accurate time. AutoBoot restarts your Mac after it crashes, which is handy if you aren't around, and your Mac needs to be active.

TechTool, an essential diagnostic tool, checks the integrity of your files and helps you fix problems before they get out of hand. Desktop Resetter helps you bring order to the icons on your desktop. DragThing is another desktop maintenance tool that allows you to store related icons in folders. TattleTech gives you the lowdown on both hardware and software installed on your Mac.

Backing up is essential, and DragNBack makes it simple: Just drag files to the DragNBack icon, and you're set.

Version Tracker keeps tabs on all your applications, then seeks out updates for you on the Internet. RAMometer is a freeware utility that tell you whether your RAM is operating properly. Slot Info tells you what cards are installed on your motherboard. And Yank helps you get rid of files and programs you no longer need.

This week's column reviews shareware programs for Power Macintosh and iMac computers. The programs are available from the Internet at sites such as www.download.com and on CD-ROM from this column. Users try them, then pay a fee to register if they decide to use them regularly. For copies of the MacNoah to the Rescue CD-ROM for Power Macs and iMacs, send $20, plus tax for Californians, to Shareware, P.O. Box 17356, Long Beach, CA 90807. Credit card orders: (800) 395-7797. Fax (800) 842-7731. E-mail: share@mindspring.com.

Visit the Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif., on the World Wide Web at http://www.ptconnect.com

Tajikistan to expand Internet despite fears of negative influence.

July 15 2011 (TCA) -- The benefits of the Internet outnumber its disadvantages, and therefore the Tajik government will continue to encourage the spread of the Internet in the country, head of the Tajik President's Information and Analysis Department Saidali Siddikov has told reporters.

The number of Internet users has reached 2 million, or nearly a quarter of Tajikistan's population of 7.5 million.

"The socio-economic advantages of the Internet outweigh its disadvantages and the damage it may cause. That's why our government, like the governments of other countries, is stepping up measures to encourage the spread of the Internet," Siddikov said.

New opportunities for communications technologies are emerging for sustainable human development, and Internet access infrastructure is spreading, he said.

The majority of Tajik Internet users access the Internet via mobile phones.

"Access to the Internet is now available in nearly all corners of our country. Even at the remotest mountain village, you can access the Internet either at home or via a mobile phone," he said.

At the same time, he acknowledged that concern remained over the frivolity of some web users.

"During its 30-year history, the Internet visibly changed the world, paving the way for an unheard of level of freedom of speech. The Internet has become a symbol of freedom, but freedom and frivolity are not the same things. Freedom as the freedom of choice is restricted by law, while frivolity knows no borders and is therefore harmful," Siddikov remarked.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)

This is the modern way; JeFF BrAZIer'S FAMILY TALK.(News)

What a truly groundbreaking week it's been! I've introduced my children at the ages of six and eight to two activities that I didn't get to try as a kid or even as an adult.

No, we didn't go jet-skiing, snowboarding or anything flash like that - the three of us basically made our debut at the good old climbing wall and practised roller skating. 'Is that all?' I hear you cry.

I realised it's the instinctive desire as a parent to give my child what I didn't have which led me to this question: 'Is it easier to give my child a better upbringing than it was for my mum?' Parents in the 80s arguably spent less time entertaining their kids than we do ours because we had that 'freedom' to go out in the morning and come back when we were hungry at tea time.

We weren't force-fed the dangers that have always existed such as roads, paedophiles, bullies and drugs, so we played out on our own. Same dangers, more publicity. Were kids ever any less precious than they are now? Kids then didn't have the considerable play options that exist now either - the soft play centres, the Laser Quest, the skateboard parks and of course the 239 varieties of gaming devices that kids spend a little too much time on.

You'd think that kids were far more occupied these days, so why is it I cant help feeling that the more they get, the less content they are? How much can a child play with at once? This might explain why the kids always end up playing with cardboard boxes at Christmas!

This modern generation of parents possibly gets it wrong because although kids still love the simple things: a box to paint on, outdoor games or making a den, we choose to give our kids the most expensive toy. This is because we're out working longer to pay for these must-have items.

The internet is both the best and worst thing to happen to society. I can't wait for my children to start asking me if they can join Facebook - oops they already have!

Less money, less TV, less choice. Our parents managed to go without, comparatively speaking, and our childhoods were very simple.

But because of technology and the desire to give more than we have, modern parenthood is a hard slog, and one that we fight against ourselves.

Overwatch and Azos AI Collaborate to Develop and Market Information Assurance Products.

Relationship Focuses on CogDat (TM ), a Next Generation Cognitive Data Technology for Proactive Data Security

AUSTIN, Texas & HAYMARKET, Va. -- Overwatch, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, and Azos AI, LLC, an innovator in embedded intelligence for the information technology industry, today announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement to jointly bring to market CogDat[TM] technology and services.

This collaboration will offer a unique, proactive capability for data protection targeting critical needs in autonomous data security, privacy, cyber crime and cyber warfare. Overwatch, a market leader in multi-source and geospatial intelligence solutions, will work with Azos to develop and market CogDat[TM] based products for a wide range of organizations, especially U.S. Department of Defense and government agencies that need greater information assurance capabilities.

"Think of CogDat[TM] as a data capsule that combines autonomous intelligence with advanced security wrapped around the data. This capability is especially important for interoperability and multi-tenant environments like the cloud," said Shelia Burgess, chief executive officer of Azos AI. "Our companies have a shared vision to provide leading-edge solutions for data protection, and Overwatch brings exceptional value to this initiative with its experience in the data security market."

"With the growing convergence of globally-connected computers and cell phones with the Internet, protection of information and digital assets stored within our systems is reaching critical proportions," said Overwatch Vice President of Business Development and Strategy Jonathan Percy. "As this convergence becomes more prolific in government agencies and businesses, providing complete cyber protection through conventional means will no longer be feasible. Through this business relationship, Overwatch and Azos AI plan to bring new technologies to market to help protect and safeguard our nation's digital domains."

About Azos AI

Azos AI, LLC (Azos) is a privately-held Virginia-based company. As an innovator in developing enabling embedded intelligence for the Information Technology industry, the company leverages its extensive expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), application development, and communications. Azos continues development of its technology portfolio as the company addresses and resolves very critical challenges in today's world. More information is available at www.azosai.com.

About Overwatch

Overwatch is the leading provider of integrated intelligence software solutions and services as well as robust satellite communications systems for today's U.S. and international defense and intelligence communities. For the past 20 years, Overwatch's intelligence solutions have supported decision makers, counter-terrorism analysts, warfighters and first responders by providing proven tools that simplify the integration, analysis and exploitation of intelligence in order to present a complete operational picture and accelerate the time-to-decision. More information is available at www.overwatch.com.

About Textron Systems

Textron Systems Corporation has been providing innovative solutions to the defense, homeland security and aerospace communities for more than 50 years. Known for its unmanned aircraft systems, advanced marine craft, armored vehicles, intelligent battlefield and surveillance systems, intelligence software solutions, precision smart weapons, piston engines, test and training systems, and total life cycle sustainment services, Textron Systems includes AAI Corporation, Lycoming Engines, Overwatch, Textron Defense Systems and Textron Marine & Land Systems. Textron Systems Corporation is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc. More information is available at www.textronsystems.com.

About Textron Inc.

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com.

суббота, 25 февраля 2012 г.

Gary McCollum, SVP/GM Cox VA, Named to Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.

CHESAPEAKE, Va., April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Gary T. McCollum, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Cox Communications of Virginia, has been inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. A ceremony formally inducting McCollum occurred on Wednesday, April 27. The event was held at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/PH90101 )

McCollum oversees a telecommunications organization with nearly 2500 employees. He is a cable industry executive who figured prominently in bringing the 'information superhighway' to Virginia. "I'm so proud to have been selected. This is a great honor for me and I am humbled by this recognition," says McCollum.

Induction into the Hall of Fame is a significant honor bestowed on notable Virginians. The Virginia Communications Hall of Fame recognizes professionals with exceptional careers in journalism, public relations, advertising and other media fields. This newest class of four inductees brings the total number of inductees to 126.

Other 2011 inductees into the Hall of Fame include:

* Margaret Edds, once an editorial writer and reporter based in Richmond for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk whose books, most dealing with politics and civil rights in the South, have been nominated for several national book awards.

* John (Jack) H. Lindgren, Jr., CBA professor of marketing and director of the McIntire Business School at the University of Virginia, who has mentored and coached student teams to win national American Advertising Federation competitions even though his university does not offer a curriculum in advertising.

* Bill O'Donovan, publisher of Virginia's oldest newspaper, The Virginia Gazette, which dates to 1736, making it the oldest in the South, and a past president of the Virginia Press Association.

Former inductees include: Newspaper owner Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Jr.; Earl Hamner (creator of The Waltons); Frank Batten (Landmark Communications); Tom Wolfe (Author); Washington Post columnist James. J. Kilpatrick; Roger Mudd; Douglas Southall Freeman; Jeff MacNelly (Editorial cartoonist and creator of "Show" comic strip; and Willard Scott (NBC media personality).

"Induction into the Hall of Fame is a very appropriate way to recognize the contributions of excellence in mass communications that these four 'super-stars' have made," said Judy VanSlyke Turk, Ph.D., professor and associate director for special projects in the School of Mass Communications at VCU.

For more information contact Felicia Blow at (757) 222-8432 or felicia.blow@cox.com.

About Cox Communications:

Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 6.2 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network, as well as integrated wireless services. Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com, www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com. In Hampton Roads, Cox has more than 400,000 basic cable subscribers.

About VCU:

Virginia Commonwealth University is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, VCU enrolls more than 32,000 students in 211 certificate and degree programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Sixty-nine of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU's 13 schools and one college. MCV Hospitals and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University compose the VCU Medical Center, one of the nation's leading academic medical centers. For more, see www.vcu.edu.

SOURCE Cox Communications

PR Newswire Asia Releases First-ever Report on the Work-related Use of Social Media by Chinese Journalists.

BEIJING, Dec. 14, 2010 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --

-- Over 60% of journalists have used social media to obtain news leads or conduct an interview in order to complete a news report

-- 47.7% of journalists indicate that they "regularly use" microblogs

-- Over 60% of journalists believe that Chinese enterprises should make more use of blogs and microblogs for brand promotion

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/12/09/20101209196848.html )

The continued growth of social media has opened up an abundance of new channels through which journalists can obtain information in the course of their work. Intensely real-time and interactive by nature, social media frees journalists from their dependence on telephone, email, and other conventional methods of obtaining information, but at the same time, the fragmented sea of information made available by social media has also brought about many new challenges for journalists. Over 60% of journalists have used social media to obtain news leads or conduct an interview in order to complete a news report, and 47.7% of journalists indicate that they "regularly use" microblogs. In the age of mass media and user-generated content - the social media era - the majority of people are no longer merely passive information receptacles. At this juncture, what is influencing the way that media journalists receive and obtain information in the course of their day-to-day work?

From October 22nd to November 7th, PR Newswire Asia conducted a survey on the work-related use of social media by Chinese journalists. This report includes an analysis of 2,503 true and valid journalist questionnaires. Additionally, this analytical research report is the world's first report to examine how Chinese journalists are accustomed to using social media in the course of their work.

The report revealed that journalists and editors who conduct top-tier news coverage and editing work on a daily basis made up the greatest number of surveyed participants, as well as the highest percentage at 71.5%; traditional print and television broadcast media journalists made up over 60%, and the majority (67.48%) of surveyed journalists were between 23 and 30 years of age. Journalists born after 1980 already make up the backbone of the workforce that handles top-tier news reporting work on a daily basis. Over 80% of surveyed journalists had worked in the field for more than two years, while the proportion of those journalists with over five years of experience was over 40%.

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/12/14/20101214706329.html )

-- Internet media journalists were far more likely in the course of their work to use social media channels such as microblogs, blogs, social networking websites, chat clients, community forums, and encyclopedia websites at a rate far higher than journalists engaged in traditional print media and television broadcast media.

The report revealed that face to face / peer communications, visiting user portal websites / industry websites and using search engines to obtain story leads remain the main channels to search for news leads utilized by Chinese journalists on the job. Telephone, email, and Instant Messenger remained frequently used by journalists on the job. However, social media channels such as encyclopedia websites, internet forums, blogs, and microblogs have opened up a great number of sources from which journalists may obtain information useful for their work, and in the long term are having a greater and greater influence on the methods and habits of journalists' work.

Use of social networking sites, video websites, and RSS news feeds by Chinese journalists for work purposes was lowest. This represents a stark contrast with American journalists, a large percentage of whom use Facebook, YouTube, and RSS news feeds for work purposes. One interesting finding: the use of encyclopedia websites by journalists for work purposes came in after telephone and email, but was far above community forums, blogs, and other "traditional" Web 2.0 new media channels at #7.

"When I'm choosing something to write about, if it's a hot topic I will often look for advice from netizens, on microblogs or Tianya BBS, or use a search engine to look up some information, and sometimes I will look up technical terms or background information on encyclopedia websites." -- Niu Siyuan, Reporter for the Economics Section of the Southern Daily

The survey also showed that 32.6% of broadcast television media journalists used video websites for work, which was more than twice the rate of print media journalists (14%). This is due in large part to the unique characteristics of the two different types of media.

"For work, I usually use Google, Sina microblogs and Kaixin001.com, and I'll often use Baidu video search as well. Besides those, there's also the sources on our own CBN internal platform." -- Ning Guoqiang, CBN Television Reporter

-- Over 90% of journalists believe that news leads originating from social media have some value. Over sixty percent of journalists reported that they had used social media to obtain news leads or conduct an interview in order to complete a news report.

When asked, "If a news lead was obtained through social media, would you seek verification before choosing to report it?" Over half (51.66%) of journalists indicated that they would "always seek verification." However, the survey also revealed that journalists considered the authority and trustworthiness of the identity of the information's "producer" and "disseminator" an important factor in whether they would seek to verify the news lead.

"Social media channels have revolutionized the work of journalists. In the past, journalists were often the first to discover and publish new information, and now, social media has taken over this role from journalists, making it imperative for journalists to become more serious about organizing information well and digging deeper." -- Ji Yongqing, former chief reporter for CEO&CIO Magazine, Famous Chinese Columnist.

When asked, "What Chinese microblog platforms do you use most frequently?" 77.79% of journalists chose "Sina microblogs," which came in far above "Tencent microblogs," with 23.53%; behind these two were "Sohu microblogs," with 12.11% and "NetEase microblogs" with 10.67%.

47.7% of journalists indicated that they "frequently use" microblogs, and of them, 26.1% indicated that they "use them every day." The survey revealed that the reason media journalists utilize microblogs is most likely to search for valuable information and interactive exchange.

"What I use most frequently these days, and what seems to me to be the most game-changing and uniquely valuable of all, are microblogs. When I was doing a cover story entitled 'The Imitator' for the China Internet Weekly, I needed to interview a few experts in the field about the topic of the lack of creativity on China's internet, but I was on a tight deadline, and time was very valuable to these experts, I was often unable to get through to them by phone. After a while I thought of microblogs, and I found several extremely active experts in the field on microblogs. I was then able to get in touch with them very quickly by sending them private messages and complete interviews without a hitch. By allowing people to engage in direct dialogues with big names in the field, microblogs have become one of the best ways the media can obtain informational resources and find potential interviewees for hot topic stories." -- Liu Jia, Senior Reporter, China Internet Weekly

-- What social media channels should enterprises use to carry out brand promotion more effectively?

Some advice was offered by professional journalists: the highest number of journalists believed that enterprises should make more use of blog and microblog platforms for brand promotion; journalists indicated that they "for the most part" or "completely" recognized the merits of each, at a rate of over 60%. Almost 60% (57.7%) of journalists indicated they would "follow over the long term" enterprise or organization microblogs that were related to industry sectors they were in charge of covering. Of those journalists, 14.3% indicated they would follow microblogs over the long term and try to make contact. Only 2% of surveyed journalists indicated that they did not follow blogs or microblogs.

"Social media channels have caused the channels through which journalists obtain information to become more broad, and also more fragmented. Journalists can use social media to reach right to the heart of the issues (people, ideas), and enterprises need to transform their sales strategies from traditional hard advertising to realizing and appreciating the value of fans, from the old sales model of winning over customers one by one, to a new model that targets social communities and groups for information dissemination. Chinese companies need, now more than ever, to establish clear social media strategies and tactics, to utilize the tools of these platforms and the demands for information dissemination and realize their seamless integration." -- Tang Xingtong, Renown Chinese Social Media Sales Expert

Regarding portal websites frequently visited by journalists, the survey revealed that Sina received the highest level of support (76.75%), followed by Tencent (51.82%), with NetEase and Sohu winning similar percentages of support, 38.31% and 35.88% respectively.

In PR Newswire's 2009 survey of Chinese journalists, the favorability ratings of most-visited portal websites as determined by a poll of journalists were: Sina (36.32%), Sohu (23.50%), NetEase (19.33%), and Tencent (16.91%). A comparison of results reveals, as the sample size of the survey was greatly increased, Tencent and Sohu changed places in the journalist-determined rankings, with Tencent moving from its last-place ranking last year to second place this year, receiving a higher than 50% approval rating from journalists, while Sohu dropped from last year's second place to this year's last place. NetEase maintained a steady level of support by journalists, showing some increase, while Sina maintained its relatively large lead over the others for two consecutive years.

Finally, as revealed by the survey conducted on the influence of new media, almost half of Chinese journalists believed that, "new media will pose a fairly large threat to traditional media," while almost half also indicated, "new media has a definite influence on traditional media, and the two types of media complement each other well." Only 3.16% of journalists believed that, "new media will completely replace traditional media," while 3.84% of journalists expressed the opinion that it "had no influence."

SOURCE PR Newswire Asia

Companies Lag On Net Financial Services.

Although it seems that financial services companies--banks, securities firms and insurance companies-are up-to-the-minute in their sophistication and ability to utilize the Internet, a group of recent studies have shown that they are moving more slowly than expected and are falling short in what they need to do.

A study by Andersen Consulting and the Economist Intelligence Unit, Financial Services in the Virtual World, has found that financial services companies are moving more slowly than advisable in their search to create organizations capable of meeting customers needs "anytime, anyplace, anyhow."

Because technology is moving so fast, and customer expectations of what technology can offer are keeping pace, financial services firms are being forced to rethink what and how they offer in the way of services and information, and how their fundamental business processes function, the report said. This rethinking is going to demand not just new ways to structure organizations, both internally and for service and information delivery, but also new ways to measure results of the new processes and structures.

The report also said financial services firms are going to have to decide, and fairly soon, whether to make a major commitment of financial resources to the information technology that will enable virtualization and electronic commerce.

Thus far, studies have found that firms have not been able to manage themselves through the upgrading process with great effectiveness.

A recent report by Mainspring, an Internet advisory firm in Cambridge, Mass., on the state of Internet value in financial services, has found that although thousands of initiatives are currently under way at financial services companies, the companies are falling short on the delivery side.

There are a number of reasons for this, according to Patricia McGinnis, managing director, financial services, for Mainspring.

Not surprisingly, the major problems with the financial services companies are in cost and product leadership. Most competitors within a given market segment, according to the Mainspring report, will have similar features to any newly-introduced Web site within 12 months. In addition, project managers consistently overestimate short-term cost savings or underestimate the potential impact of initiatives by competing firms.

The report also said that the hulk of financial Internet offerings are getting to the market ahead of customer demand. Usage rates, the report said, are well below capacity for services such as online brokerages, and the number of overall Internet users is growing far more quickly than the number of customers using internet-based financial products.

Most of the value being created by financial services companies on the Internet is in intranet and extranet projects, to shift internal processes and make them more efficient, according to the report.

With technology now playing a primary role in the evolution of corporate structures, the Andersen Consulting/EIU report found that a new type of management role is emerging--that of a "process owner."

The "process owner" has full responsibility, from the start to the finish of the project, for achieving its outcome. The influence of that person cuts across the traditional divisions of power in a financial institution, which the studies concur is the only way the evolution of the corporation is going to occur smoothly.

The Mainspring study also found that 44 percent of insurance search engine links on the Internet go to so-called insurance intermediaries such as Netquote and InsWeb. Independent agents account for 37 percent of tile links, and national firms only 19 percent.

The goal for insurance companies, as well as other financial services providers, needs to be what Booz Allen & Hamilton's Paul T. Idzik, vice president of the health and insurance group, calls "distribution clarity."

According to Booz Allen's recent Internet Insurance survey, over 70 percent of life and property-casualty insurance is still sold through an agency channel. What companies are overwhelmingly seeking to provide is more agent information, but what consumers want, according to the study, is information on quotes, the ability to make changes in personal information, and the ability to make policy changes.

With changes happening so quickly, the writers of the studies agree that financial institutions must reshape themselves around processes. They must figure out which processes arc roost important, focus on redesigning those processes to support virtualization and reach customers, and consider outsourcing the processes that are less critical.

Solera Holdings, Inc. Reports Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2008 Results.

Second Quarter Revenue of $132.1 Million, up 13.6%; Second Quarter EPS of $0.17, up $0.73; Company Raising Guidance

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Solera Holdings, Inc. , the leading global provider of software and services for the automobile insurance claims processing industry, today reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2008, the three months ended December 31, 2007.

   Results for Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2008:       GAAP Results       -- Revenue for the second quarter ended December 31, 2007 was $132.1         million, a 13.6% increase over the prior year second quarter revenue         of $116.2 million;      -- GAAP net income allocable to common stockholders for the second         quarter ended December 31, 2007 was $11.0 million, a $27.3 million         improvement over the prior year second quarter net loss allocable to         common stockholders of $16.3 million;      -- GAAP diluted net income per share for the second quarter ended         December 31, 2007 was $0.17, a $0.73 per share improvement over the         prior year second quarter diluted net loss per share of $0.56.        Non-GAAP Results       -- Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter ended December 31, 2007 was         $45.1 million, a 30.9% increase over the prior year second quarter         Adjusted EBITDA of $34.4 million;      -- Adjusted Net Income for the second quarter ended December 31, 2007         was $18.7 million, a 184.1% increase over the prior year second         quarter Adjusted Net Income of $6.6 million;      -- Adjusted Net Income per diluted share (or cash earnings per diluted         share) for the second quarter ended December 31, 2007 was $0.29, a         28.4% increase over the prior year second quarter Adjusted Net         Income per diluted share of $0.23.    

"Our strong second quarter results were driven by our continued focus on delivering value to our customers," said Tony Aquila, founder, chairman and CEO of Solera Holdings, Inc. "We continued to make substantial investments in product development, customer support and sales and marketing, while also improving operating efficiencies. Additionally, we continued our expansion efforts outside the United States, with over 70% of our revenues during the second quarter coming from outside the United States."

   Business Statistics   -- EMEA revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2008 was $80.9      million, an 18.0% increase over the second quarter of fiscal year 2007      revenue of $68.5 million;   -- Americas revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2008 was $51.2      million, a 7.4% increase over the second quarter of fiscal year 2007      revenue of $47.7 million;   -- Revenue from insurance company customers for the second quarter of      fiscal year 2008 was $54.0 million, a 13.0% increase over the $47.8      million in revenue from insurance company customers in the second      quarter of fiscal year 2007;   -- Revenue from collision repair facility customers for the second quarter      of fiscal year 2008 was $49.9 million, a 17.7% increase over the $42.3      million in revenue from collision repair facility customers in the      second quarter of fiscal year 2007;   -- Revenue from independent assessor customers for the second quarter of      fiscal year 2008 was $13.9 million, a 17.0% increase over the $11.9      million in revenue from independent assessor customers in the second      quarter of fiscal year 2007;   -- Revenue from automotive recycling and other customers for the second      quarter of fiscal year 2008 was $14.3 million, a 0.9% increase over the      $14.2 million in revenue from automotive recycling and other customers      in the second quarter of fiscal year 2007.     Outlook  

Based upon the second quarter results for the period ended December 31, 2007 outlined above -- we are updating our previously released outlook for our full fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 as follows:

                          Previous FY08 Outlook     Updated FY08 Outlook   Revenues               $505 -- $510 million      $515 -- $520 million   Net Income             $10 -- $15 million        $15 -- $20 million   Adjusted Net Income    $65 -- $70 million        $68 -- $72 million   Adjusted EBITDA        $158 -- $162 million      $166 -- $170 million   

The FY08 outlook above assumes constant exchange rates from those currently prevailing and no acquisitions.

Earnings Conference Call

We will host our second quarter fiscal year 2008 earnings call today at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) -- February 6, 2008. The conference call will be webcast live on the Internet and can be accessed by visiting: http://www.solerainc.com/. A replay will be available on the Solera website until midnight on February 20, 2008. A live audio broadcast of the call will be accessible to the public by calling (888) 713-4213 or for international callers, (617) 213-4865; please enter the following access code when prompted: 23589567. Callers should dial in approximately ten minutes before the call begins.

   SOLERA HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES   CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS   FOR THE QUARTERS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007 AND 2006   AND FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007 AND 2006   (In thousands, except per share/unit amounts)   (Unaudited)                                         Quarter Ended      Six Months Ended                                         December 31,         December 31,                                        2007      2006      2007      2006    Revenues                           $132,089  $116,237  $256,271  $227,719    Cost of revenues:     Operating expenses                 32,987    34,824    65,327    67,534     Systems development and      programming costs                 16,577    15,757    32,550    31,933   Total cost of revenues (excluding    depreciation and amortization)      49,564    50,581    97,877    99,467      Selling, general and      administrative expenses           37,525    32,976    71,067    63,866     Depreciation and amortization      23,447    25,879    45,853    51,055     Restructuring charges                  43       (21)    1,666       874     Interest expense                   11,721    18,559    22,882    36,416     Other (income) expense - net       (4,610)   (2,077)   (5,765)    2,263                                        68,126    75,316   135,703   154,474   Income (loss) before provision for    income taxes and minority interests 14,399    (9,660)   22,691   (26,222)   Income tax provision                  2,065     1,875     4,942     2,118   Minority interest in net income    of consolidated subsidiaries         1,325       442     2,886     1,527   Net income (loss)                    11,009   (11,977)   14,863   (29,867)   Dividends and redeemable    preferred unit accretion                 -     4,276         -     8,467   Net income (loss) allocable to    common stockholders/unitholders    $11,009  $(16,253)  $14,863  $(38,334)   Net income (loss) allocable to    common stockholders/unitholders    per share/unit:     Basic                               $0.17    $(0.56)    $0.24    $(1.32)     Diluted                             $0.17    $(0.56)    $0.23    $(1.32)   Weighted average shares/units used    in the calculation of net income    (loss) per share/unit allocable to    common stockholders/unitholders:     Basic                              63,468    29,172    63,145    29,105     Diluted                            64,551    29,172    64,497    29,105      Non-GAAP Financial Measures  

We use a number of non-GAAP financial measures that are not intended to be used in lieu of GAAP presentations, but are provided because management believes that they provide additional information with respect to the performance of our fundamental business activities and are also frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to facilitate the evaluation of our business on a comparable basis to other companies. The three primary non-GAAP financial measures that we use are Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share are useful to investors in providing information regarding our operating results and our continuing operations. We rely on Adjusted EBITDA as a primary measure to review and assess the operating performance of our Company and our management team in connection with our executive compensation and bonus plans. Adjusted EBITDA also allows us to compare our current operating results with corresponding prior periods as well as to the operating results of other companies in our industry. We present Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share because we believe both of these measures provide useful information regarding our operating results in addition to our GAAP measures. We believe that Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share provide investors with valuable insight into our profitability exclusive of unusual adjustments, and provide further insight into the cash impact resulting from the different treatments of goodwill for financial reporting and tax purposes.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for net income, earnings per share and other consolidated income statement data prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share should not be considered as a replacement for net income. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Net Income per diluted share as supplemental information.

   -- Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents GAAP      net earnings (loss) allocable to common stockholders/unitholders,      excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based      compensation, restructuring charges, other (income) expense - net, and      acquisition-related costs.  Acquisition-related costs consist of      transaction costs, retention-related compensation costs, legal and      professional fees, severance costs and other transition costs      associated with our acquisition of the Claims Services Group from ADP      in April 2006.  A reconciliation of our Adjusted EBITDA to GAAP net      earnings (loss) allocable to common stockholders/unitholders, the most      directly comparable GAAP measure, is provided in the attached table.                                         Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended                                          December 31,         December 31,                                         2007      2006      2007      2006   Reconciliation to Adjusted  EBITDA   Net earnings (loss)                 $11,009  $(11,977)  $14,863  $(29,867)   Add: Income tax provision             2,065     1,875     4,942     2,118   Net earnings (loss) before income    tax                                 13,074   (10,102)   19,805   (27,749)   Add: Depreciation and amortization   23,447    25,879    45,853    51,055   Add: Interest expense                11,721    18,559    22,882    36,416   Add: Stock-based compensation    expense                              1,039       153     1,641       344   Add: Restructuring charges               43       (21)    1,666       874   Add: Other (income) expense - net    (4,610)   (2,077)   (5,765)    2,263   Add: Acquisition related costs          339     2,026       390     2,913   Adjusted EBITDA                     $45,053   $34,417   $86,472   $66,116      -- Adjusted Net Income is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents      GAAP net earnings (loss) allocable to common stockholders/unitholders,      plus the following items: provision for income taxes, amortization of      acquisition-related intangibles, stock-based compensation expense,      restructuring charges, other (income) expense -- net, and acquisition-      related costs.  Acquisition-related costs consist of transaction costs,      retention-related compensation costs, legal and professional fees,      severance costs and other transition costs associated with our      acquisition of the Claims Services Group from ADP in April 2006. From      this figure, we then subtract a provision for income taxes at a rate of      33% to arrive at Adjusted Net Income.  We use a tax rate of 33% in      order to approximate our long-term effective corporate tax rate, which      includes certain benefits from net operating loss carryforwards,      deductible goodwill and intangibles amortization for tax purposes.  A      reconciliation of our Adjusted Net Income to GAAP net earnings (loss)      allocable to common stockholders/unitholders, the most directly      comparable GAAP measure, is provided in the attached table.    -- Adjusted Net Income per diluted share (or cash earnings per diluted      share) is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents Adjusted Net      Income (as defined above) divided by the number of diluted shares      outstanding for the period.  A reconciliation of our Adjusted Net      Income per diluted share (or cash earnings per diluted share) to GAAP      net earnings (loss) per share, the most directly comparable GAAP      measure, is provided in the attached table.                                        Three Months Ended     Six Months Ended                                        December 31,           December 31,                                       2007      2006        2007      2006   Reconciliation to Adjusted    Net Income   Net earnings (loss)               $11,009  $(11,977)    $14,863  $(29,867)   Add: Income tax provision           2,065     1,875       4,942     2,118   Net earnings (loss) before    income tax                        13,074   (10,102)     19,805   (27,749)   Add: Amortization of acquisition    related intangibles               17,973    19,827      35,285    39,614   Add: Stock-based compensation    expense                            1,039       153       1,641       344   Add: Restructuring charges             43       (21)      1,666       874   Add: Other (income) expense - net  (4,610)   (2,077)     (5,765)    2,263   Add: Acquisition related costs        339     2,026         390     2,913   Adjusted earnings (loss) before    income tax provision              27,858     9,806      53,022    18,259   Less: Assumed provision for    income taxes at 33% rate          (9,193)   (3,236)    (17,497)   (6,025)   Adjusted net income               $18,665    $6,570     $35,525   $12,234    Adjusted net income per    share/unit     Basic                             $0.29     $0.23       $0.56     $0.42     Diluted                           $0.29     $0.23       $0.55     $0.42    Weighted average shares/units    used in the calculation of    adjusted net income per    share/unit     Basic                            63,468    29,172      63,145    29,105     Diluted                          64,551    29,172      64,497    29,105      SOLERA HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES   CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS   AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2007 AND JUNE 30, 2007   (In thousands, except share/unit amounts)   (Unaudited)                                                December 31,        June 30,                                                   2007              2007    Assets   Current Assets:   Cash and cash equivalents                     $107,800           $89,868   Accounts receivable, net                        80,872            85,543   Other receivables                               10,394             9,297   Other current assets                            13,693            16,901   Deferred income tax assets                       3,329             3,248   Total current assets                           216,088           204,857    Property and equipment, net                     51,109            51,485   Other Assets                                    15,098            11,625   Long-term deferred income tax assets            23,711            23,835   Goodwill                                       614,339           569,165   Intangible assets, net                         348,183           362,986   Total assets                                $1,268,528        $1,223,953    Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity   Current Liabilities:   Accounts payable                               $18,799           $25,571   Accrued expenses and other current    liabilities                                    81,965            89,240   Income taxes payable                             7,727            13,995   Deferred income tax liabilities                    743             1,076   Current portion of long-term debt                6,416            14,140   Total current liabilities                      115,650           144,022    Long-term debt                                 619,674           599,128   Other liabilities                               37,046            25,378   Long-term deferred income tax    liabilities                                    41,877            42,922   Total liabilities                             $814,247          $811,450    Minority interests in consolidated    subsidiaries                                   12,897            11,229    Stockholders' equity:   Common Shares, $0.01 par value,    150,000,000 units authorized;    64,732,323 and 64,813,563 issued and    outstanding,  as of September 30,    2007 and June 30, 2007, respectively          507,588           505,939   Accumulated deficit                            (95,892)         (111,687)   Accumulated other comprehensive    income                                         29,688             7,022   Total stockholders' equity                     441,384           401,274   Total liabilities and stockholders'    equity                                     $1,268,528        $1,223,953      SOLERA HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES   SELECTED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS INFORMATION   FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007 and 2006   (In thousands)   (Unaudited)                                                 Six Months Ended December 31,                                                   2007               2006   Net cash provided by operating activities     $47,945            $22,003   Net cash (used) in investing activities       (10,118)           (29,689)   Net cash (used) provided in financing    activities                                   (24,791)             4,579   Effect of exchange rate changes                 4,896              1,268   Net change in cash and cash equivalents        17,932             (1,839)   Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of    period                                        89,868             88,826    Cash and cash equivalents, end of period     $107,800            $86,987    Supplemental Cash Flow Information:   Cash paid for interest                        $21,912            $27,639   Supplemental Disclosure of Non-cash    Investing and Finance Activities:   Capital assets financed                        $2,812             $6,926      Cautions about Forward-Looking Statements  

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about business outlook for fiscal year 2008, our business strategy, and statements about historical results or performance that may suggest trends for our business. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to many risks, uncertainties and unknown future events that could cause actual results to differ materially. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: our reliance on a limited number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenues; unpredictability and volatility of our operating results, which includes the volatility associated with foreign currency exchange risks; effects of competition on our software and service pricing and our business; effects of changes in or violations by us or our customers of government regulations; time and expenses associated with customers switching from competitive software and services to our software and services; rapid technology changes in our industry; costs and possible future losses or impairments relating to our 2006 acquisition of the Claims Services Group from Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; our reliance on third-party information for our software and services; effects of system failures or security breaches on our business and reputation; country-specific risks associated with operating in multiple countries; risks associated with any future acquisitions, joint ventures or similar transactions; our ability to obtain additional financing as necessary to support our operations; use of cash to service our debt; effects on our business of restrictive covenants in our debt facility; and any material adverse impact of current or future litigation on our results or business. For a discussion of these and other factors that could impact our operations or financial results and cause our results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Year Ended June 30, 2007 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 17, 2007. Solera is under no obligation to (and specifically disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Solera

Solera is the leading global provider of software and services for the automobile insurance claims processing industry. Solera is active in 51 countries across six continents. The Solera companies include Audatex in the United States, Canada, and in more than 45 additional countries, Informex in Belgium, Sidexa in France, ABZ in the Netherlands, Hollander serving the North American recycling market, and IMS providing medical review services. For more information, please refer to the Company's website at http://www.solerainc.com/.

    Contacts:    Investor Relations    Kamal Hamid    Solera Holdings, Inc.    858-946-1676    kamal.hamid@audatex.com     Media Relations    Kendra DeWitt    Solera Holdings, Inc.    858-946-1453    kendra.dewitt@audatex.com  

CONTACT: Investor Relations: Kamal Hamid, +1-858-946-1676, kamal.hamid@audatex.com, or Media Relations: Kendra DeWitt, +1-858-946-1453, kendra.dewitt@audatex.com, both of Solera Holdings, Inc.

Web site: http://www.solerainc.com/