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• How can I connect a DVI monitor to the VGA port in my laptop?

  - by Corey

  Is there a device I can buy that will convert the analog signal to digital?

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• Little server for a little network: Asus TS Mini + Windows Home Server or other?

  - by microspino

  Hello, I'm building a little network with 4 computer a plotter, 3 printers an a HP Fax/Scan/Copy/Print machine. The network is connected to the web by a D-Link router/firewall. I would like to add little server to have file sharing (reachable via VPN from outside by a single user-road-warrior), automatic backups. I would like to avoid big electrics bills or, to say It in a green way, I would like to avoid useless power consumption made by a big server with hot-plug, Raid, double PSU because I don't need all this stuff. The server must work 24/7 and the budget is between 400€ and 1000€. I'm evaluating the Asus EEE Box (with XP), a TranquilPC (with XP), a FitPC (again with XP), and an Asus TS Mini (with Windows Home Server). I like the latter but since I'm Europe I don't know where I can buy It. Do you have any suggestion/experience to share with me about: which hardware do I have to buy ? which O.S. ?

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• Have a server, need to figure out a method of backup

  - by PolishHurricane

  My company has an older Dell 2650 server running ArchLinux x64: http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/2650_specs.pdf (2 x 2.4GHz Intel Xeon w/around 3287 RAM according to "free -m") We use it to host our internal company site and to post some information from our orders to and we'd like the ability to keep it up as much as possible. What we require: - It needs to always be functional from 8am to 4pm for our data entry person to use it and others to do other things required on it. - If it goes down, we need a quick way to get the machine running again. - If it goes down, we would like to have the data backed up. Some of the major problems include: - The servers old and it may have memory issues - We don't know when one of the hard drives could fail - Our power goes out here once in a while We have a battery backup, but that's pretty much it and it's not for long term. If the server does go down, we have another system in place to store order information that comes in while it's down and repost it when it's back, but we need it up during the day. So we're wondering, what should we get for options? These are the things we thought of, sort of: Setup RAID 1, but that would involve wiping everything right? If we do that, how would we transfer the data over without messing up the server? We could buy an extra server or 2 off eBay for $100, the same model, is that practical or should we get something else? Should we buy a PC or another better server and host off that because it is if anything easier to exchange parts? Should we keep extra parts handy incase it implodes? Should we buy/use backup software? We hear drobo's are cool, but suck. Perhaps there is a software solution to this problem that backs up to another machine or gets us up and running again quickly. Also, if we are to purchase hardware, what is decent? Does anybody know of one for ArchLinux/Linux? We both know a ton about computers but we're kind of unsure what step to take with this, especially with this type of server. Thanks

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• Is PCI Express x4 faster or slower than a standard PCI slot for graphic cards?

  - by Stephen R

  I am looking at potential motherboards for a computer I want to build and ran into this conundrum. The motherboard has two PCI Express slots that allow for 16 channel cards to fit in them. The catch is only one of them operates at 16 channels, the other operates only 4 channels. My question is, would it be faster to buy a PCI Express graphic card and install it in the 4 channel PCI Express slot? Or would it be better to buy a standard PCI graphic card and install it in one of the available PCI slots?

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• Do I need a driver to use use Samsung P2770H Monitors with OSX?

  - by anagi

  I am would like to buy this Samsung monitors to be used with my macbook pro. However, when I went to the website of the Samsung, I couldn't find any driver for osx. I also read on some forum, that apple doesn't work WELL with most 3rd party monitors, because apple is trying to get people to buy their expensive monitors. While this might be an incentive, I thought the decision to manufacture a driver was up to Samsung and not apple. But then since I don't know much about this subject, I thought of getting the online expert opinion. So to be be more precise: Does anyone if this particular monitor works with OS X?

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• virtual machines: optimal host os to run Windows XP guest os?

  - by user61132

  My department doesn't have the budget to upgrade my ailing Dell D620 laptop. However, I do have the option to buy my own personal computer, then use my company-issued ISO image to run Windows XP as my guest os using virtualbox or vmware. Therefore, last month, I bought an Acer AX3910-U3012 desktop that had Windows 7 as the host os (and 8G RAM). In short, I was disappointed with the performance while trying to run WinXP as the guest os. (It didn't perform much better than my laptop.) Just wondering what the optimal host os would be for running Windows XP as the guest os? (No, I can't use my company-issued ISO image to build the os for my personal computer.) FWIW, I'm willing to spend up to $2k if it's REALLY worth it, but would prefer to spend no more than $1k. Also, in an effort to cut costs, I'd prefer buy a desktop instead of a laptop. Thanks for any/all feedback.

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• Can the Nikon D50 be hacked to record video?

  - by andy

  I mean hacked in terms of software only, and minor hardware hacking if necessary, without of course breaking the camera. Also, if possible, video should be able to be recorded at an acceptable frame rate, around 20fps. thanks p.s. Reason for this question: Just to give some context before people tell me to buy a new camera! For still photography I now almost exclusively shoot film with a Nikon F3, and my D50 is gathering dust. I want to shoot some video of my Capoeria classes, for personal use, and thought maybe I could put my D50 to good use. Yes, I could buy a D5000 or older D90, but really I just want to shoot some video with my nice wide Nikkor lenses at no extra cost!

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• How can I see if my server uses DDRII or DDRIII RAM?

  - by Temnovit

  I have a very newbie question. My server is running out of RAM and it is time to add some. The is located far away, and I need to buy some RAM and drive to install it. How can I determine, whether I need to buy DDRII or DDRIII, having only command line access via SSH? Is there some command that will print witch kind of RAM is supported by the server or I need to go and check the server physically? UPDATE Sorry, forgot to mention: I am using Ubuntu Server 9.04

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• how to publish c# project online

  - by hero

  i have done a simple c# website that have a lot of pics (3000+). i want to publish the full website online. all i know is that i have to first buy a domain name, and then buy some space on a webhosting server. could anybody guide me? how much does a domain name usually cost? and also how should i upload the website on a hosting server? i mean should i upload the full code?

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• Using a Token-ring network card instead of a router (?)

  - by John

  I have cable, and the modem only has 1 network plug-in. They said I could buy my own router if I wanted to hook up two computers to it. I have an IBM Turbo 16/4 Token-Ring PC Card 2, which was in the laptop when I bought it, and the laptop also has the typical network plug (not a PC Card). Is there a way I could run the laptop as a server, and plug my desktop into the laptop, so they both have internet without my having to buy a router? (I realize routers are as cheap as $30.) Both computers run Windows XP Pro SP3. (I also have an 10/100 Etherjet Cardbus card (PC Card)). Thanks.

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• Ultrabooks and projectors: is there any connectivity issue due to low power on video output? [closed]

  - by sergey

  I need to buy a new laptop for my wife. She travels a lot and I was thinking about an ultrabook (1.5-2 kg). However she says that ultrabooks have problems connecting to projectors. At least some of her colleagues could not connect their ultrabooks to projectors due to “low output issues”. She is in-company consultant and trainer and for her “be able to connect to any client projector” requirement is must. Thus my doubts are: Is this problem well known? Is there any chance to assure connectivity to projector (by checking some specification before buy, etc)?

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• Remotely enter encryption key?

  - by Jason Swett

  This might be a really dumb question but here goes, anyway. I just bought a couple servers. I already installed Ubuntu with encrypted LVM on one and I'm planning on doing the same with the other. This means that every time I boot up each of these machines, I have to enter the passphrase. And I'll have to do this every morning because I'll power each machine off each night for security reasons. Here's the problem: I don't have monitors or keyboards for these servers. It seems to me I have two options: Somehow enter the passphrase remotely Buy a KVM switch I doubt #1 is an option but I want to make sure it's not before I buy a KVM. Is it possible to enter the passphrase remotely? AND is it a good idea?

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• 1 tera flop cluster?

  - by Adobe

  I want to buy a $40000 1 tera flop cluster to keep it in a room. What are the standard configurations? Cluster is supposed to do molecular dynamics simulations on biological systems. I'm proposed a 4 pc with 8 cores each by the selling company I'm deadling with. It looks like I also need infiniband. Does some one has an experience -- what phisical memory should I buy etc? I know things change very quickly... Still there might be a point or two to state. Edit: Custer is supposed to run linux, and gromacs in it.

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• Are Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) at home really a worthwhile investment for home computing? [c

  - by Jian Lin

  Possible Duplicate: Is a UPS a good investment for a home machine? I have 2 Uninterruptible power supplies at home, but they seem to expire after 5 years or so. During this 5 years, it maybe saved the computer from turning off twice. But I wonder, I often save my documents every 10 minutes. So the most I can lose is 10 minute worth of work. Not to mention that, I may not be editing anything when the power is out. Also, when the UPS expires, one of them will give out beeping sound once in a while, probably signaling the changing of the battery. So I can either buy 2 new UPS or just buy 2 power outlets instead. 2 UPS, costing $160 to $250 roughly, can it be really worth it if it can save your computer from powering off for just 2 times? What are the alternatives?

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• What monitor specifications should be taken into consideration to avoid eye problems? [closed]

  - by coding crow

  I spent time programming on my 13.3" laptop for 8 to 10 hours a day. I was planning to buy a good monitor. Now that I have developed CVS buying a monitor has became an immediate priority. I have spend some time trying to understand what I should buy and why. I could only zero down on the size (20") and LED. So, I'm looking for advice on many other factors like resolution, pixel density, panel technology and so forth. What should I look for in a computer monitor to avoid further eye problems? Why?

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• Like to Upgrade My PC (7 year old) - for animation and hardcore gaming ! - help me [closed]

  - by sri

  I like to buy a new computer for my studies and as well as gaming. My old pc has 1.5 GB RAM with 512MB Graphics card. And it is very old to run Adobe CS5 version and other high end animation software. My budget will be INR 20k-25k. I have 500GB hard disk, keyboard and mouse new. So apart from this, I like to buy : Intel or AMD is good ? My idea is : Corei5 or Corei7 = which is best and economy ? Which mother board. 4 GB RAM with upto 8 GB RAM slot for future upgrade. 1 GB or 2 GB Graphic card - which one ? If I am wrong - please suggest me

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• What factors should be taken into consideration before buying a computer Moniter (display/screen)?

  - by coding crow

  I work on computer for most of waking day and have been using a 13.3" laptop. I was planning to buy a good monitor/screen/display for sometime now but was lazy. Now I have developed Computer Vision Syndrome and buying a monitor has become immediate priority. I have spend some time on net and trying to understand what should I buy and why? I could only zero down on the size (20") and LED and looking for advice on many other factors like resolution, pixel density, panel technology and so forth. It will be great help if someone experienced can show shed some light on computer monitor best for the programmers spending 8 to 10 hours in front of the screen.

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• Geek it Up

  - by BuckWoody

  I’ve run into a couple of kinds of folks in IT. Some really like technology a lot – a whole lot –and others treat it more as a job. For those of you in the second camp, you can go back to your drab, meaningless jobs – this post is for the first group. I’m a geek. Not a little bit of a geek, a really big one. I love technology, I get excited about science and electronics in general, and I read math books when I don’t have to. Yes, I have a Star Trek item or two around the house. My daughter is fluent in both Monty Python AND Serenity. I totally admit it. So if you’re like me (OK, maybe a little less geeky than that), then go for it. Put those toys in your cubicle, wear your fan shirt, but most of all, geek up your tools. No, this isn’t an April Fool’s post – I really mean it. I’ve noticed that when I get the larger monitor, better mouse, cooler keyboard, I LIKE coming to work. It’s a way to reward yourself – I’ve even found that it makes work easier if I have the kind of things I enjoy around to work with. So buy that old “clicky” IBM keyboard, get three monitors, and buy a nice headset so that you can set all of your sounds to Monty Python WAV’s. And get to work. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Geek it Up

  - by BuckWoody

  I’ve run into a couple of kinds of folks in IT. Some really like technology a lot – a whole lot –and others treat it more as a job. For those of you in the second camp, you can go back to your drab, meaningless jobs – this post is for the first group. I’m a geek. Not a little bit of a geek, a really big one. I love technology, I get excited about science and electronics in general, and I read math books when I don’t have to. Yes, I have a Star Trek item or two around the house. My daughter is fluent in both Monty Python AND Serenity. I totally admit it. So if you’re like me (OK, maybe a little less geeky than that), then go for it. Put those toys in your cubicle, wear your fan shirt, but most of all, geek up your tools. No, this isn’t an April Fool’s post – I really mean it. I’ve noticed that when I get the larger monitor, better mouse, cooler keyboard, I LIKE coming to work. It’s a way to reward yourself – I’ve even found that it makes work easier if I have the kind of things I enjoy around to work with. So buy that old “clicky” IBM keyboard, get three monitors, and buy a nice headset so that you can set all of your sounds to Monty Python WAV’s. And get to work. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Wheaties Fuel = Wheaties FAIL

  - by Steve Bargelt

  Are you kidding me? What a load of nutritional CRAP. Don’t buy this product. Just don’t do it. They are just like Wheaties with more sugar and fat. Awesome just what we need more sugar!! Okay now I’m not against carbs… I’m really not. Being a cyclist I realize the importance of carbohydrates in the diet… but let’s be realistic here. Even though the commercials for Wheaties Fuel say they are for athletes you know that what General Mills is really hoping for is that kids will see Payton Manning, Albert Pujols and KG and buy this cereal and eat a ton of it for breakfast. Sad, really. I’ve watched all the videos and read all the propaganda on the Wheaties Fuel web site and no where do they talk about why they added sugar and fat the original Wheaties. There is a lot of double-speak by Dr. Ivy about “understanding the needs of athletes.” I had to laugh – in one of the videos Dr. Ivy even says that he thinks the "new Wheaties will have even more fiber! Wrong! My bad... there is 5g of fiber not 3g per serving. Just  Way more sugar. A serving of FROSTED FLAKES has less sugar per serving!!!   Wheaties Fuel Wheaties Frosted Flakes Honey Nut Cheerios Quaker Oatmeal Serving Size 3/4 cup 3/4 cup 3/4 cup 3/4 cup 3/4 cup Calories 210 100 110 110 225 Fat 3g .5g 0g 1.5g 4.5g Protein 3g 3g 1g 2g 7.5g Carbohydrates 46g 22g 27g 22g 40.5g Sugars 14g 4g 11g 9g 1.5g Fiber 5g 3g 1g 2g 6g   In reality it might not be a bad pre-workout meal but for a normal day-in-day-out breakfast is just seems to have too much sugar - especially when you bump the serving size up to 1 to 1.5 cups and add milk! I’ll stick with Oatmeal, thank you very much.

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• Data Quality Through Data Governance

  Data Quality Governance Data quality is very important to every organization, bad data cost an organization time, money, and resources that could be prevented if the proper governance was put in to place.  Data Governance Program Criteria: Support from Executive Management and all Business Units Data Stewardship Program  Cross Functional Team of Data Stewards Data Governance Committee Quality Structured Data It should go without saying but any successful project in today’s business world must get buy in from executive management and all stakeholders involved with the project. If management does not fully support a project because they see it is in there and the company’s best interest then they will remove/eliminate funding, resources and allocated time to work on the project. In essence they can render a project dead until it is official killed by the business. In addition, buy in from stake holders is also very important because they can cause delays increased spending in time, money and resources because they do not support a project. Data Stewardship programs are administered by a data steward manager who primary focus is to support, train and manage a cross functional data stewards team. A cross functional team of data stewards are pulled from various departments act to ensure that all systems work to ensure that an organization’s goals are achieved. Typically, data stewards are subject matter experts that act as mediators between their respective departments and IT. Data Quality Procedures Data Governance Committees are composed of data stewards, Upper management, IT Leadership and various subject matter experts depending on a company. The primary goal of this committee is to define strategic goals, coordinate activities, set data standards and offer data guidelines for the business. Data Quality Policies In 1997, Claudia Imhoff defined a Data Stewardship’s responsibility as to approve business naming standards, develop consistent data definitions, determine data aliases, develop standard calculations and derivations, document the business rules of the corporation, monitor the quality of the data in the data warehouse, define security requirements, and so forth. She further explains data stewards responsible for creating and enforcing polices on the following but not limited to issues. Resolving Data Integration Issues Determining Data Security Documenting Data Definitions, Calculations, Summarizations, etc. Maintaining/Updating Business Rules Analyzing and Improving Data Quality

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• Right-Time Retail Part 3

  - by David Dorf

  This is part three of the three-part series.  Read Part 1 and Part 2 first. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Right-Time Marketing Real-time isn’t just about executing faster; it extends to interactions with customers as well. As an industry, we’ve spent many years analyzing all the data that’s been collected. Yes, that data has been invaluable in helping us make better decisions like where to open new stores, how to assort those stores, and how to price our products. But the recent advances in technology are now making it possible to analyze and deliver that data very quickly… fast enough to impact a potential sale in near real-time. Let me give you two examples. Salesmen in car dealerships get pretty good at sizing people up. When a potential customer walks in the door, it doesn’t take long for the salesman to figure out the revenue at stake. Is this person a real buyer, or just looking for a fun test drive? Will this person buy today or three months from now? Will this person opt for the expensive packages, or go bare bones? While the salesman certainly asks some leading questions, much of information is discerned through body language. But body language doesn’t translate very well over the web. Eloqua, which was acquired by Oracle earlier this year, reads internet body language. By tracking the behavior of the people visiting your web site, Eloqua categorizes visitors based on their propensity to buy. While Eloqua’s roots have been in B2B, we’ve been looking at leveraging the technology with ATG to target B2C. Knowing what sites were previously visited, how often the customer has been to your site recently, and how long they’ve spent searching can help understand where the customer is in their purchase journey. And knowing that bit of information may be enough to help close the deal with a real-time offer, follow-up email, or online customer service pop-up. This isn’t so different from the days gone by when the clerk behind the counter of the corner store noticed you were lingering in a particular aisle, so he walked over to help you compare two products and close the sale. You appreciated the personalized service, and he knew the value of the long-term relationship. Move that same concept into the digital world and you have Oracle’s CX Suite, a cloud-based offering of end-to-end customer experience tools, assembled primarily from acquisitions. Those tools are Oracle Marketing (Eloqua), Oracle Commerce (ATG, Endeca), Oracle Sales (Oracle CRM On Demand), Oracle Service (RightNow), Oracle Social (Collective Intellect, Vitrue, Involver), and Oracle Content (Fatwire). We are providing the glue that binds the CIO and CMO together to unleash synergies that drive the top-line higher, and by virtue of the cloud-approach, keep costs at bay. My second example of real-time marketing takes place in the store but leverages the concepts of Web marketing. In 1962 the decline of personalized service in retail began. Anyone know the significance of that year? That’s when Target, K-Mart, and Walmart each opened their first stores, and over the succeeding years the industry chose scale over personal service. No longer were you known as “Jane with the snotty kid so make sure we check her out fast,” but you suddenly became “time-starved female age 20-30 with kids.” I’m not saying that was a bad thing – it was the right thing for our industry at the time, and it enabled a huge amount of growth, cheaper prices, and more variety of products. But scale alone is no longer good enough. Today’s sophisticated consumer demands scale, experience, and personal attention. To some extent we’ve delivered that on websites via the magic of cookies, your willingness to log in, and sophisticated data analytics. What store manager wouldn’t love a report detailing all the visitors to his store, where they came from, and which products that examined? People trackers are getting more sophisticated, incorporating infrared, video analytics, and even face recognition. (Next time you walk in front on a mannequin, don’t be surprised if it’s looking back.) But the ultimate marketing conduit is the mobile phone. Since each mobile phone emits a unique number on WiFi networks, it becomes the cookie of the physical world. Assuming congress keeps privacy safeguards reasonable, we’ll have a win-win situation for both retailers and consumers. Retailers get to know more about the consumer’s purchase journey, and consumers get higher levels of service with the retailer. When I call my bank, a couple things happen before the call is connected. A reverse look-up on my phone number identifies me so my accounts can be retrieved from Siebel CRM. Then the system anticipates why I’m calling based on recent transactions. In this example, it sees that I was just charged a foreign currency fee, so it assumes that’s the reason I’m calling. It puts all the relevant information on the customer service rep’s screen as it connects the call. When I complain about the fee, the rep immediately sees I’m a great customer and I travel lots, so she suggests switching me to their traveler’s card that doesn’t have foreign transaction fees. That technology is powered by a product called Oracle Real-Time Decisions, a rules engine built to execute very quickly, basically in the time it takes the phone to ring once. So let’s combine the power of that product with our new-found mobile cookie and provide contextual customer interactions in real-time. Our first opportunity comes when a customer crosses a pre-defined geo-fence, typically a boundary around the store. Context is the key to our interaction: that’s the customer (known or anonymous), the time of day and day of week, and location. Thomas near the downtown store on a Wednesday at noon means he’s heading to lunch. If he were near the mall location on a Saturday morning, that’s a completely different context. But on his way to lunch, we’ll let Thomas know that we’ve got a new shipment of ASICS running shoes on display with a simple text message. We used the context to look-up Thomas’ past purchases and understood he was an avid runner. We used the fact that this was lunchtime to select the type of message, in this case an informational message instead of an offer. Thomas enters the store, phone in hand, and walks to the shoe department. He scans one of the new ASICS shoes using the convenient QR Codes we provided on the shelf-tags, but then he starts scanning low-end Nikes. Each scan is another opportunity to both learn from Thomas and potentially interact via another message. Since he historically buys low-end Nikes and keeps scanning them, he’s likely falling back into his old ways. Our marketing rules are currently set to move loyal customer to higher margin products. We could have set the dials to increase visit frequency, move overstocked items, increase basket size, or many other settings, but today we are trying to move Thomas to higher-margin products. We send Thomas another text message, this time it’s a personalized offer for 10% off ASICS good for 24 hours. Offering him a discount on Nikes would be throwing margin away since he buys those anyway. We are using our marketing dollars to change behavior that increases the long-term value of Thomas. He decides to buy the ASICS and scans the discount code on his phone at checkout. Checkout is yet another opportunity to interact with Thomas, so the transaction is sent back to Oracle RTD for evaluation. Since Thomas didn’t buy anything with the shoes, we’ll print a bounce-back coupon on the receipt offering 30% off ASICS socks if he returns within seven days. We have successfully started moving Thomas from low-margin to high-margin products. In both of these marketing scenarios, we are able to leverage data in near real-time to decide how best to interact with the customer and lead to an increase in the lifetime value of the customer. The key here is acting at the moment the customer shows interest using the context of the situation. We aren’t pushing random products at haphazard times. We are tailoring the marketing to be very specific to this customer, and it’s the technology that allows this to happen in near real-time. Conclusion As we enable more right-time integrations and interactions, retailers will begin to offer increased service to their customers. Localized and personalized service at scale will drive loyalty and lead to meaningful revenue growth for the retailers that execute well. Our industry needs to support Commerce Anywhere…and commerce anytime as well.

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• Is Joel Test really a good gauging tool?

  - by henry

  I just learned about Joel Test. I have been computer programmer for 22 years, but somehow never heard about it before. I consider my best job so far to be this small investment managing company with 30 employees and only 3 people in IT department. I am no longer with them but I had being working there for 5 years – my longest streak with any given company. To my surprise they scored extremely poor on Joel Test. The only two questions I would answer “yes” are #4: Do you have a bug database? And #9: Do you use the best tools money can buy? Everything else is either “sometimes” or straight “no”. Here is what I liked about the company however: a) Good pay, they bragged about it to my face and I bragged about it to their face, so it was almost like a family environment. b) I always knew big picture. When writing a code to solve particular problem there were no ambiguity about the business nature of that problem. Even though we did not always had written specs we could ask business users a question anytime, often yelling it across the floor. I could even talk to executives any time I felt like doing it: no appointment necessary. c) Immediate feedback. Once we implement a solution and make business users happy they immediately let us know that, we (programmers) become heroes of the moment. d) No red tape. I could always buy any tools I deem necessary, and design solutions the way my professional judgment dictates. e) Flexibility. If I had mid-day dental appointment that is near my house rather than near the office, I would send email to the company: "FYI: I work from home today". As long as one of 3 IT guys was on the floor (to help traders in case their monitors go dark) they did not care where 2 others are. So the question thus becomes how valuable Joel Test is? Why bother with it?

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• Looking for a comfortable Laptop Cooling Pad? Repurpose a pillow as a Laptop Cooling Pad

  - by Gopinath

  Update: This idea sucks as using a pillow blocks laptop cooling fans and air flow, which in turn would damage the laptop. Thanks Vijay I’ve a HP Pavilion laptop which turns hot quickly and most of the time I would not be able to keep it on my lap after 30 minutes of usage. It’s the same case with my DELL laptop and not to blame any specific brand or model. Most of the budget laptops generate lot of heat and tough to keep them on laps for a long time. They burn skin and the irritation sense leaves me with no option other than throwing them away. While searching for options to beat the heat I found Laptop Cooling Pads on Amazon.They attach to the base of laptops and act like a heat shield/sink to protect thighs from the heat generated by laptops. They are available from around $7 and goes up to $100 depending on the features they offer. After reading reviews I selected a trendy looking and comfortable laptop cooling pad and it was around $25 before shipping and taxes. I’m going to buy one of the cooling pads from Amazon. On a second thought I started searching for options to repurpose any of the house hold items as a laptop cooling pad and save money. The option suggested by wife is to repurpose an old pillow as a laptop cooling pad.  Here is my laptop cooling pad Wow! That is a nice suggestion which saved my thighs from laptop heat as well my wallet from spending $25. Even if I’ve to buy a new pillow I would be able to pickup cheap one from Wal-Mart store for as low as $2.  Also I find it is very comfortable to use a pillow as a Laptop Cooling Pad as they are flexible and automatically adjust to the shape of my body.

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• Good Scoop: The PeopleSoft/IBM Backstory

  - by [email protected]

  By Brian Dayton on April 12, 2010 11:15 AM Sometimes you're searching for something online and you find an unrelated, bonus nugget. Last week I stumbled across an interesting blog post from Chris Heller of a PeopleSoft consulting shop in San Ramon, CA called Grey Sparling. I don't know these guys. But Chris, who apparently used to work on the PeopleTools team, wrote a great article on a pre-acquisition, would-be deal between IBM and PeopleSoft that would have standardized PeopleSoft on IBM technology. The behind-the-scenes perspective is interesting. His commentary on the challenges that the company and PeopleSoft customers would have encountered if the deal had gone through was also interesting: · "No common ownership. It's hard enough to get large groups of people to work together when they work for the same company, but with two separate companies it is much, much harder. Even within Oracle, progress on Fusion applications was slow until Thomas Kurian took over Fusion applications in addition to Fusion middleware." · "No customer buy-in. PeopleSoft customers weren't asking for a conversion to WebSphere, so the fact that doing that could have helped PeopleSoft stay independent wouldn't have meant much to them, especially since the cost of moving to whatever a "PeopleSoft built on WebSphere" would have been significant." · "No executive buy-in. This is related to the previous point, but it's worth calling out separately. If Oracle had walked away and the deal with IBM had gone through, and PeopleSoft customers got put through the wringer as part of WebSphere move, all of the PeopleSoft project teams would be put in the awkward position of explaining to their management why these additional costs and headaches were happening. Essentially they would need to "sell" the partnership internally to their own management team. That's not a fun conversation to have." I'm not surprised that something like this was in the works. But I did find the inside scoop and Heller's perspective on the challenges particularly interesting. Especially the advantages of aligning development of applications and infrastructure development under one roof. Here's a link to the whole blog entry.

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