Friday, November 25, 2005

Google Click-to-Call

1. What's the phone icon on Google search results? How does it work?
We're testing a new product that gives you a free and fast way to speak directly to the advertiser you found on a Google search results page – over the phone.
Here's how it works: When you click the phone icon, you can enter your phone number. Once you click 'Connect For Free,' Google calls the number you provided. When you pick up, you hear ringing on the other end as Google connects you to the other party.
We won't share your telephone number with anyone, including the advertiser. When you're connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked so the advertiser can't see it. In addition, we'll delete the number from our servers after a short period of time.

2. Am I charged to connect to an advertiser?
No. Google foots the bill for all calls - local and long-distance. However, if we call a mobile phone number, you may incur airtime fees depending on the mobile phone plan. Check your mobile phone provider for details.

3. Is this just a way for Google to track me?
No. We take your privacy very seriously. Google does not share your telephone number with anyone (without your consent), including the advertiser. When you're connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked. The advertiser can't see your phone number.

In addition, we retain your information (including your phone number, date, time, and call length) only temporarily. It will be deleted from our servers after a period reasonably necessary to operate, audit, and evaluate the service.

4. Whose caller ID do I see when connected?
The advertiser's number appears on your caller ID when Google connects you. This way, you can save the merchant's number for future call-backs.

The idea of open source ... & India

Open source software has two properties :
(a) the ``source code'' (the programs themselves) is freely distributed, and
(b) it is generally illegal to convert this into a proprietary version. While the rules of the game require that the program itself should be distributed at zero cost, traditional commercial contracts govern consulting, customisation and support.

Open source and economic growth in India.
From an economist's perspective, what can we say about the impact upon India's economy of open source software? Hardware and software are capital goods. When the price of software drops to zero, it means that information technology is available at a lower cost. This improves the speed at which India's economy can grow.

If IT implementations (today) in India primarily rely on stolen software, then the appeal of free software as a device for cost--reduction is limited. However, most larger companies are increasingly unwilling to take the risk of using pirated software

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Ready - Set - 4.0!



Sugar Suite 4.0 marks the seventh major release by SugarCRM. Sugar Suite's fast innovation development rate is driven by the SugarCRM community of 3,000 developers and 10,000 members, which provides product direction, testing, translations, and modules to Sugar Suite 4.0.

Sugar Suite 4.0 enhances and extends functionality across sales, marketing, service, collaboration, reporting and administration. See what SugarCRM's community and customers deem valuable for today's business tools.

We invite you to experience and test the new functionality to see how it will positively affect your business. As a SugarCRM community member, we look to you for insights about the functionality and the direction that Sugar Suite should follow to improve your business needs. This is the earliest we've made a new release available for public review prior to General Availability.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Yahoo Think Tank explores the limits of online creativity

Yahoo Australia is sponsoring a two-week experiment in online creativity called the Yahoo! Think Tank. Rotating teams of creative people from ad agencies in Australia and New Zealand are living and working in a "transparent," fully-functioning creative studio, complete with a desk, PC and whiteboards. Six webcams enable people from around the world to watch these creatives at work, 24/7. It's quite interactive: You can submit creative briefs (concepts you'd like them to brainstorm on) via an online form and submit messages to be displayed on a plasma screen in their "think tank." You can also view a gallery of previously submitted briefs and the ideas the teams came up with. The Yahoo! Think Tank will be operational through November 17th.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Yahoo, Google to launch new wireless services

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) are set to roll out new wireless services, taking advantage of advanced networks and cellphones to provide features similar to those available on computers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Yahoo soon will introduce a cellphone it will sell through a partnership with SBC Communications (SBC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , according to SBC executives. The phone will take Yahoo a step closer to linking music, photos and email with consumers' existing online accounts, address books and preferences, the paper said.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

IT links CRM, analytical tools to keep customers

Companies are increasingly looking to tie traditional CRM systems to analytical tools to retain and boost the value of customers, according to users at SAS Institute Inc.'s BetterManagement Live Worldwide Business Conference 2005 here this week.

Aegon Direct Marketing Services Inc., the Baltimore-based direct marketing arm of Aegon USA Inc., this week began a year-long rollout of SAS CRM and analytical tools that will replace four legacy CRM systems that run marketing campaigns at four locations.

Can Open Source Outdo the IPod?

Consumer electronics manufacturer Neuros Audio is tapping the open-source community to convert its upcoming portable media player from iPod road kill into a contender.

This could be a stroke of genius. Open-source Linux has taken on Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system, and Mozilla has challenged the ubiquitous Internet Explorer web browser. In the same way, open source would seem suited to breaking Apple Computer's digital music stranglehold. Open-source geeks might not represent the typical consumer, demographics-wise. But hackers don't like to waste time with a clumsy user interface.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Blogging claims another victim...

Blogging claims another victim, and bloggers here call for self-restraint

Indra Nooyi, Neil French, the 'Dog-shit-girl' from Korea. If there's one thing they have in common, it'd be their dislike for irresponsible blogging. Advertising legend Neil French, the latest to have fallen victim to a bloggers' witch hunt, calls it 'death by blog'. Controversies over blogging are not new closer home too.

In two recent cases, bloggers here burnt their fingers — one, in which the case that they were espousing turned out to be fake, and the second one in which bloggers have been slapped with legal notices for having 'tarnished the reputation' of an institute.

In the second case, the blogger who started it ended up quitting his job because he felt the company had come under pressure.
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More Here