text:
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Will Aspie: "Is It Me?" (A trip to the recording studio)
Unfortunately, all I had access to at that time was my own abilities as a writer, my voice, and a cheap synthesiser which I could barely play. Between 1992 and 1996 I wrote about twenty songs. My method of recording was to learn the chord patterns on the keyboard and play them with a selected sound (say piano or synth-strings) onto a cassette, play the cassette through a karaoke machine, and sing the vocal over it into a tape recorder placed by the loud speaker. The result was a very rough recording of the bare bones of a song.
While most said my lyrics were rather obvious and juvenile (and I concede that some were), there were people who actually appreciated what I was doing. The latter were usually musicians themselves.
For example, I attended a radio course, and the tutors, who loved mucking about with sound and played in a band, were very enthused by my attempts.
A few musical types on my wife's side of the family were also motivated by them. A nephew asked if he could make the songs available to friends who would respect what I was trying to do, while another told me, "You can't read or write music, you can't play a keyboard properly, and you have no gear to do a decent recording. But you did it anyway. And that's what we love about it."
Personally, though, I was disillusioned. It aggravated me that I couldn't even achieve what I knew were only the basic ingredients, namely keyboards, a bit of guitar, drums, a backing vocal, and a decent mix. And so, when, in October 1997, I wrote Is It Me?, I decided I wouldn't record it until I had the means to do a good job.
Ten years elapsed before I saw a flyer on the notice board in the office where I work advertising the Quax Studios in Huddersfield, north of England. Consisting of Stuart Comins on guitars, Gary Collins on keyboards and associated electronic tricks, and Phil Brown on drums, Quax toured the local pubs playing a live set, and offered their talents for a fee in the recording studio. Bands were invited to go along and record their demo, folk singers could make a CD to distribute at their gigs, and singer-songwriters could go in with little more than a lyric and a melody, and the band would create it from scratch, layer by layer.
I sent Stuart a very rough copy of Is It Me? to give him some idea of what I wanted to do, and told him I imagined synthesisers, an acoustic guitar, live drums and a girl backing vocal. He said it could be done for £120.00 (a day's session with musicians supplied – a day with your own band being mixed by Stuart is £80.00), but I would have to provide the girl backing vocalist. And I knew immediately who it should be.
Kelly Fry worked for a few months on my team in the office, and I discovered that she used to be the lead singer in a local band. Then one day I heard her singing to herself as she passed me on her way to the photocopier – and I knew instinctively that she would be the person I would approach, should I ever be able to record my songs properly.
She jumped at the chance, she having missed singing generally, and being more than a little curious about the recording process. I gave her the very rough demo on CD and indicated which bits needed the backing. We actually worked out the details over the phone.
Saturday the 24th of March 2007 was the big day. I arrived at the studio in Huddersfield at 9 am to find Phil Brown setting up his drum kit. He had been listening to Gary Numan's 1980 Top Ten hit We Are Glass to get an idea of what I might want. Stuart Comins arrived at 9.30, followed by Gary Collins, his keyboards and box of tricks, at 10. Again, Gary Numan was the template for the style, but after a little experimentation it became clear that what suited the song was more New Order than Gary Numan.
I stuck to my remit of electronics and acoustic sounds blended together. Sadly we didn't have time to put on some acoustic guitar. However, the rest of the piece was in place by midday. Phil had created a very catchy beat on the drums, and Gary had found the chords of the song, supplied a funky synth-strings sound (a combination of sounds he had programmed the night before) and even created an extra little melody to make the melody a bit more varied.
Then Kelly Fry arrived. The afternoon was spent going over and over the vocals until we got them as good as possible. Stuart was concerned that I was concentrating too much on the words and not enough on the tune. Phil agreed, observing that I was virtually talking the vocal. Favourable comparisons were made with Leonard Cohen.
As recording was finalised, Gary said it didn't sound like anything else around. It was a bizarre mishmash of electronic music, folk lyrics, and Leonard Cohen vocals. He also felt it was unusual to have a pop/rock song in the key of C. For better or worse, I was pleased that the band thought it odd, because that meant it was uniquely mine.
When I got home I suffered a bit of self-confidence failure, believing that my contribution as singer ruined the excellent job everyone else had done. The following morning, though (after a good night's sleep, the session was great fun but very hard work), I decided it wasn't half bad, and by the third day I was prone to playing the record nice and loud whenever I was left alone.
A friend of mine emailed to say he had played his copy several times over, and my step-daughter liked it straight off.
For anyone interested in music and song writing, and who lives within reasonable distance of Huddersfield (and especially if you're in a band – it will be significantly cheaper if you share the fee among yourselves), I would recommend that you spend a day with Quax.
I went in at 9 am with little more than a melody and some lyrics, and came out at 6 pm with a record. I consider it £120.00 well spent. I've just got to find a way of doing the rest of the album now!
Is It Me?
Written and sung by Will Aspie
Keyboards by Gary Collins
Drums by Phil Brown
Backing Vocals by Kelly Fry
Hand claps by Will Aspie, Phil Brown and Shirley Ridings
Produced by Stuart Comins
Recorded at Quax Studios, Huddersfield. 24 March 2007.
You can download the track from the Quax web site here: http://www.qwax.co.uk/electronic.html
10 comments:
- James said...
I like it. Sounds like it came right out of the 80s--the kind of music from my childhood. It reminded me slightly of the Talking Heads. I think my favorite parts are of Kelly Fry; she has a very pretty voice. Is Will Aspie you? Isn't your last name Hadcroft? I got a bit confused with that. Anyway, good job!
- 9 April 2007 at 15:05
- Will Hadcroft said...
Thanks James. I wholeheartedly agree about Kelly Fry. I knew she could sing (which is why I asked her to participate, obviously), but I had no idea just how good she would be. Her voice blew me away on the day.
When I got a bit worried about my tuneless vocals not matching what she was doing, my producer Stuart Comins said, "It's not supposed to. Kelly's vocals are intended to complement yours. That's the whole point." I felt much better about it after that.
Yes, Will Aspie is me. You will probably know that the surname Aspey is real, but I have chosen the spelling "Aspie" because it's an affectionate term for people with Asperger syndrome. I also thought that while Hadcroft was fine for authoring books, it wasn't so great a name for a singer/songwriter!
Pretentious, I know, but that's the reason.
Glad you like it anyway.
- 9 April 2007 at 22:48
- James said...
You did a lot better on the vocals than I would. I've created some electronic music myself, but never had the gumption to sing. I commend you for taking the plunge.
I see, Aspey for Asperger. Makes perfect sense now :-)
- 10 April 2007 at 16:34
- Patrick Ian Banks said...
You know what Will? What you just did is pretty impressive. That song sounds like it came straight out of the 1980's, and I mean that in a good way. It's interesting to see how many talented people there are out there doing DIY stuff like this. I don't think such a thing would have been possible even 10 years ago. Now it seems that the traditional distribution channels not just for music but for publishing as well are under siege. Now people can work around them - your effort to publish the sequel to Anne Droyd being a case in point. By the way, I finally got around to posting a review of The Feeling's Unmutual on Amazon. Sorry it took so long.
- 11 April 2007 at 16:13
- G L Wilson said...
Sounds exciting, Will. I'll download it for a listen as soon as my computer has done its Friday night AntiVirus Scan!
- 13 April 2007 at 20:45
- G L Wilson said...
Hi Will. Yes, a very good effort. I liked it. I see what was meant with the Leonard Cohen comparisons - your voice doesn't actually sound like Mr Cohen's, but it is the same style of talk/singing. The late Ian Dury was another exponent of this style.
You mentioned that unfortunately there wasn't time to lay the acoustic guitar part down. I can't imagine quite how this would have worked. To my ears, if there is anything missing it is a bass guitar (or even bass synth) part.
Oh, and I agree that Kelly Fry is a fantastic vocalist, BTW.
- 14 April 2007 at 15:07
- Will Hadcroft said...
Thanks Patrick, for reviewing The Feeling's Unmutual. And I'm glad the song is a hit with you!
I'm not sure Publish On Demand will ever seriously rival mainstream publishers (in print or in music) because the big boys have all the marketing tricks and contacts. What POD does offer, though, is an avenue for artists with a small but loyal following. They can also be a valuable stepping stone to breaking onto the mainstream scene.
- 18 April 2007 at 21:25
- Will Hadcroft said...
The main difference between me and Leonard Cohen is that Mr Cohen is so coooool. Hey, but Ian Dury might be closer to what I actually sound like (with a Northern accent, of course!).
I imagined bass, electric guitar and a strumming acoustic guitar on the song - a real fusion of electronic and acoustic sounds. None of them showed up in the end because of time and money constraints.
Darryl Sloan has offered to remix the song and add extra elements, as well as put my voice through a vocoder to enhance it. Additionally, my friend CP Leigh has written a guitar part for it already.
I'm honoured that the song has provoked so much interest!
- 18 April 2007 at 21:31
What's up
It is my first time here. I just wanted to say hi!
- 23 May 2010 at 10:46
- Will Hadcroft said...
Is that Paul Goodman? Glad to have you on board if it is. Next time you post, give your name, Paul! Hope you are well.
- 23 May 2010 at 11:04


text:
Men's pants with maxi pockets
Scuderia Ferrari Store Exclusive
Combining timeless casual style with fine tailoring, these men's pants in cotton gabardine feature large appliqué pockets.
These versatile pants in cotton gabardine stand out for their large patch pockets applied to the front of the leg and boast a regular fit and medium waist. All the details are carefully tailored: welt pockets on the back, diagonal pockets and a front pocket. Ideally paired with other garments in the collection for an elegant but casual look, these cotton pants are customized with the Scuderia Ferrari button and an interesting red belt loop, which discretely draws the eye to a passion for the Maranello cars and race team.
- Pockets applied to the front
- Regular fit
- Medium waist
- Composition: 100% Cotton
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dave Goulden necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 128 diseños de 49 diseñadores freelance.
Need a logo for an innovative start-up that takes massive datasets (we're talking billions of records and terabytes of data) like the human genome, or logs of all the ads served on myspace in a month and crunches them down so that interesting analytics can be performed in lightening speed.
BigEye Analytics
This is the corporate logo to be used on the website, business cards, and all marketing collateral. Our product is almost ready to go and we are about to launch our start-up to the world.
Our company philosophy is about turning raw data into useful information so that researchers can make breakthroughs and businesses can make solid decisions. The name BigEye comes from the fact that our technology improves speed and performance on the largest datasets around (Big Data) and from our founder's passion for deep sea tuna fishing (Big Eye Tuna).
Even though we are a start-up, our team has worked together at other companies for many years and we are like a big dysFUNctional family.
We would like the logo to incorporate this fun, light hearted attitude. But at the same time represent a new cutting edge technology.
- Icon that plays off the fish theme- BigEye is one word, with B and E capitalized- Fresh, clean color scheme- Treatments with and without "Analytics" in the name
- corporate
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
Explore what is changing the lives of tens of thousands of people in more than 170 countries around the world.
Meet the creators of Access Consciousness & read about how it became a worldwide movement.
Explore what the 3 key tools of Access are and how you can use them to start creating the change you desire.
Receive tips of what you can choose to get started. You know what will work for you!
There are many videos about Access Consciousness that you can explore! Watch a few that we recommend starting with, in no particular order.
Hear from people all over the world about how they are different after Access Consciousness.
Read news articles, watch videos, listen to radioshows – you can find Access in many media channels!
Explore some of the most frequently asked questions about Access.
There are thousands of Access Consciousness events and classes offered weekly around the world. You can search for a class by topic, facilitator, language or location in our class calendar.
Gary Douglas travels extensively facilitating advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from Choice and Possibilities, to Money, Benevolent Capitalism, Relationships and more.
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is best known for his transformation process The Energetic Synthesis of Being as well as the Being You, Changing the World events.
Simone Milasas travels extensively facilitating advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from Choice and Possibilities, Relationship Done Different, Business Done Different, Getting Out of Debt Joyfully and more.
Brendon Watt travels extensively facilitating beginning advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from The Foundation, Choice and Possibilities, Relationship Done Different, and more.
The Access Bars are the very core and foundation of Access Consciousness. It can be the starting point of a great adventure and it can be something you add to your life that will assist you in creating a greater ease with everything.
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is best known for his transformation process The Energetic Synthesis of Being (ESB).
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is well known for his Being You, Changing the World events, based on his bestselling Being You, Changing the World book.
The Speciality Programs are branches of Access Consciousness where you can dive deeper into particular topics with specialized facilitators. Each program offer introductory classes, advanced classes and certification facilitator training.
Access Consciousness offers classes on an infinite array of topics. There are many types of variety classes available.
Access Consciousness have many ways of engaging with the tools worldwide via expos, meet ups, radio shows, tele summits, google hangouts and more.
Each Access Facilitator is facilitated by the creators of Access Consciousness, Gary Douglas and Dr. Dain Heer. There are several license types for Access Consciousness Core Classes as well as Specialty Programs and Special Topic Classes.
Are you looking for more change? Use our search function to find a facilitator near you.
Access Consciousness has over 8,000 facilitators and practitioners in more than 170 countries. Find all their specific certifications and licenses here.
Welcome to Access TV – a library and a live event venue with classes, events and tasters from Access Consciousness facilitators all in one place.
Find an article on almost any topic you could think of! Where would you like your adventure to begin?
Explore the leadership and capitalism that is about building longer-term and sustainable businesses, that have a positive impact on society and the planet.
A curation of content from all over the world with input from Dr. Dain Heer. To empower, inspire, invite and awaken you!
We created a special log in help page to assist you!
To facilitate means 'render easy' – to restore or bring back ... with ease.
A facilitator knows that you have all the answers to you and your life, though you may not have access to them. The answers you have locked away are what keep you from being aware of any other possibilities or creating something different. Access Consciousness restores you to the awareness of greater possibilities and more choice, for you and the creation of your life.
What is an Access Consciousness Facilitator?
Each Access Facilitator is, themselves, facilitated by the creators of Access Consciousness, Gary Douglas and Dr. Dain Heer. The Facilitators Certification Class is intense as each person is encouraged to see that creating great change in the world requires them to step up to a level of potency and being that most people are unaware is even possible.
Access facilitators are some of the bravest people in the world, for their willingness to destroy and uncreate their past and begin to have, 'what else is possible?' as their future.
What could you facilitate, for you and the world, by being more of you than you've ever imagined possible?
There are several license types for Access Consciousness Core Classes as well as Specialty Classes. Here you can see the core licenses. For specialty licenses you can learn more at Becoming a Specialty Facilitator
Access Bars Facilitators are certified to teach the Access Bars® class, provide private Bars sessions and host Bars Gifting and Receiving events.
Being an Access Bars Facilitator is one of the most valuable aspects of Access and one of the most life changing processes Access has to offer. This is the foundation of all of Access, and the foundation of becoming more conscious in every aspect of life with ease and little effort. If you can lay on a massage table and receive, you can change your life, it's that simple. Even if a person only gets their Bars run one time, eventually they will become totally conscious. Consciousness includes everything without judgment.
Can you imagine a world where no one judges themselves or others as right or wrong, good or bad, but rather has total allowance for themselves and everyone and everything? How different would this world be if there was no value in judgment but rather the value was in people being present, being themselves, knowing what is true for them and having a life of ease, joy and glory. This is just some of what you can get when you have your Bars run or run someone else's Bars.
Certified Access Facilitators are certified for one year to teach classes on Access The Bars, and Foundation, as well as 1-3 hour classes on any subject they choose, including introductions to Access, Access taster nights, Bars trade nights, Clarity nights and the hands on Body Processes.
A Certified Facilitator also qualify to become certified in Right Recovery For You, Right Relationship For You, Right Body For You, Right Riches For You and Right Voice For You. All of which are also renewed on a yearly basis.
Because Access is constantly evolving as new insights are gained, clearings deepen and more becomes possible from everyone's participation around the world, it is vital that the facilitators renew their license each year and keep totally up to date.
A Certified Access Facilitator is in the unique position to offer a totally different perspective and possibility in life. Access is different, this requires you to be willing to be as different as you truly are, without having a point of view about it.
There are two types of Access Body Facilitators – the Access Body Process Facilitator and the 3-Day Access Body Class Facilitator.
Access Body Process Facilitators can facilitate a one body process or two body process class. For example - a Body Process Facilitator could facilitate a 4-hour evening class for the hands-on body process 'Correcting Vision' in which the participants would both give and receive the process.
Access 3 Day Body Class Facilitators facilitate the full Access Body Class in which the Access Body Manual with all 50+ Body Processes is handed out and participants spend 3 days gifting and receiving whichever body processes their bodies are requesting. The 3 Day Body Class Facilitator has an intimate knowledge off ALL the Access Consciousness Body Processes and will assist participants with running the processes, answer questions and do verbal processing on whatever comes up in class.
Listen to the co-creators of Access, Gary Douglas and Dr. Dain Heer, talk about a facilitator, who empowered Julie Smith in choosing more for her life than to exist behind the gas-mask that she always wore. Tears, humor and joy accompany this amazing story of change and transformation. Note: The audio has been enhanced to amplify some softer voices and the sound quality improves.


text:
Jack is "Just Another Contract Killer." He works for the villain Mitrij Volkov of HARM in the prequel to the No One Lives Forever series. Jack is your typical hired gun in Contract J.A.C.K., so the game dispenses of the humor from NOLF and instead focuses on gameplay, guns, and shootouts. While receiving discouraging ratings from reviewers, Contract J.A.C.K. is modable, allowing changes to models, gameplay, and maps.
Funny, action packed and tons of fun!
But those looking for any stealth action may be put off by this entry in the NOLF series.


text:
Friday, January 30, 2004
Oracle unveils new electronic signature functionality for FDA regulated manufacturers
At Oracle AppsWorld yesterday, I sat in on a presentation on Oracle's new solution for electronic records and electronic signatures (ERES), a requirement for companies regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under 21 CFR Part 11. I was quite impressed with Oracle's approach to satisfying these requirements.
Oracle has taken a clever approach to defining what is an "electronic record" for purposes of signing. One of the challenges of implementing electronic signatures in complex applications such as Oracle is that what the user thinks of as a "record" (e.g. a master batch record) may be logically stored in multiple tables in the relational database. So, when user signs an electronic record, what is he signing? And what does the signature apply to? Oracle solves this problem by presenting electronic records to the user in an electronic "paper format" that brings together all the information that forms the "record." When the user signs this "record," Oracle stores it with its signature information, in an "evidence store." The evidence store is maintained in XML format, separately from live files. Records in the evidence store represent what users have signed, and they can be printed or exported in PDF format, satisfying the electronic copies requirement of Part 11. Oracle's approach, to me, is attractive in that it makes electronic records and electronic signatures clearly equivalent to paper records and handwritten signatures, the key objective of Part 11.
Oracle's electronic signature capability was developed using its workflow engine, allowing all the functionality of Oracle's workflow to be applied, such as multiple approvers, designee assignment, and approval routings. Record update does not take place until all required signatures are executed.
Oracle has implemented its electronic signature framework in a modular fashion, allowing Oracle (or the client) to selectively enable signatures as desired throughout the system. So far, Oracle has enabled electronic signatures for 30 events that are important for compliance with good manufacturing practices. The focus in the current version (11i9) is primarily process manufacturing (i.e. pharma clients). Additional events for discrete manufacturing (i.e. medical device clients) will be available in the middle of this year (11i10).
Although Oracle's ERES solution has been in general release for about a year, in the presentation, Oracle indicated that its first installation is just going live this week. Oracle has put a lot of good thought into this functionality. This, along with its broad offerings for life science companies, such as its Clincial Suite (see my post earlier this week), indicate that Oracle is going to be a serious contender in this industry.by Frank Scavo, 1/30/2004 05:10:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Vendor application integration tools are no silver bullet
Reader Les Phillips wrote me right after I posted my note yesterday on Oracle's new interest in providing an application integration capability for its applications suite. Les works for a large well-known company that shall remain unnamed, which also happens to be an Oracle client. Les finds the current selection of application integration tools something of a mixed bag.Frank, I have been reading your Spectator for some time now and find it very informative .... I found your most recent entry about Oracle and integration interesting. Like many Oracle customers we have been asking for more integration interfaces into Oracle Applications for years. Moreover, acquisitions continue to dot our enterprise landscape making integration challenging.I agree with Les that there is no silver bullet for application integration. Some problems are best addressed by an integration framework or "hub" as Oracle calls it. Other needs are best addressed simply by a custom "point-to-point" integration. In fact, in a post in August, 2002, I suggested some criteria for deciding which approach to take. Les agrees, when he also writes,
Currently we are reviewing technology to help with our system integration projects. The majority of these tools portray themselves as Business Process Management (BPM) applications. They all have wiz-bang GUIs that build business processes by dragging and dropping process nodes. Of course, they gloss over business process complexity and integration complexity by providing the most basic examples (seller/buyer, ATM)
They all come with the common theme "so easy to use even a Business Analyst could use them!" This seems reminiscent of the past when CASE [Computer Aided Software Engineering] tools meant the end of coding. Most of these BPM tools are much too functional to clearly distinguish the functional process from the business process. The business process representation would be cluttered with transformations, data lookups, subsystem calls, and other things a business analyst would not care to see. This would not make life easier for business analysts.
OK, they [i.e. application integration tools] might not be BPM tools but maybe they provide ease of integration? One concern here is the long-term effects of using an integration framework. The up time may be quicker by allowing the developer to rapidly deploy an integrated piece of the process but at what cost? There has to be a gotcha in there somewhere.I like the vendor offerings [for application integration] but also the freedom of a home-grown approach. Somewhere between these paradigms must be just right. We currently have a system developed on one these enterprise application integration (EAI) products that is near impossible to upgrade without a total rewrite due to vendor changes in the framework architecture. Therefore, the longevity of these solutions could be as short as a point-to-point solution, though cost much more. I imagine it will be that way for many years as the standards for business process modeling get hashed out and the system providers offer better integration options...Back on the subject of Oracle's Customer Data Hub--it's no doubt a good move on the part of Oracle, and it will be welcomed by many customers. Just don't expect it to solve all your integration problems.by Frank Scavo, 1/29/2004 07:03:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Oracle decides that integration is a good thing, after all
I'm spending some time at the Oracle AppsWorld conference in San Diego this week. One interesting development is Oracle's willingness to open up its application suite to integrate with other disparate systems. CEO Larry Ellison spent a lot of time on this subject in his keynote speech today. While other vendors, such as SAP and Siebel, have built integration technology into their offerings, responding to customer demands for such capabilities, Oracle has been somewhat of a hold out, choosing to emphasize the benefits of standardizing the entire business on a single enterprise suite, namely Oracle's.
Apparently Oracle has realized that few companies these days are prepared to undergo massive conversions to a single enterprise application suite. Even if a large company adopts such a strategy, it could be many years, perhaps more than a decade, before it is realized. Companies doing acquisitions every few years might never reach the goal. Therefore, as long as multiple systems are a reality, integration is a necessity. If Oracle does not provide integration tools, other vendors will.
In recognition of this market reality, Oracle is releasing something called the Customer Data Hub, to help companies pull information from multiple systems into one centralized place. Ellison likens the data hub to the large consumer credit databases that allow thousands of financial institutions to integrate their consumer credit data, even though they are on disparate systems. (Personally, having worked for one of the major credit data providers years ago, I think the analogy is weak. Consumer credit databases are more like gargantuan data warehouses, more like business intelligence applications, rather than data hubs allowing participant systems to interface with each other.)
Nevertheless, Oracle deserves credit for its new found interest in integration. But it has a lot of catching up to do. SAP has its Netweaver technology; Siebel has its Universal Application Network; IBM last year purchased Crossworlds, an early application integration vendor; and Microsoft has its Biztalk server, a lower end offering that addresses the same need.
CNET has a summary of Oracle's Customer Data Hub. A report on Ellison's keynote is here.by Frank Scavo, 1/28/2004 06:46:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Oracle beefs up its Clinical suite with acquisition of SiteWorks
Oracle has acquired SiteWorks Solutions, a vendor of clinical trial management software. SiteWorks products include SiteMinder, which is used by hospitals and research institutions to manage their participation in clinical trials, and TrialMinder, which provides the same functionality for sponsoring pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CRO).
This acquisition makes a lot of sense for several reasons. First, Oracle is one of the few major enterprise applications vendor that even attempts to address the clinical study requirements of life science companies (SAP and Siebel are two others). Second, Siteworks fills a gap in Oracle Clinical. To this point, Oracle's clinical suite has been more of a data management platform than a complete application. Adding Siteworks rounds out Oracle Clinical into a complete application. Finally, there should not be much of an integration challenge for Oracle: Siteworks technology is already Web-based and built on Oracle's 9i database, providing some interesting automation opportunities for users. For example, when a clinician or researcher at an investigative site enters data using Oracle Clinical's existing remote data capture capability, the data is not only available immediately to all authorized personnel, but can also trigger an automatic payment request to the trial sponsor.
Keith Howells, VP of Oracle's Pharmaceutical Applications group, sums it up, "We studied this market area long and hard, and we decided that what our customers needed told us to get a solution quickly rather than however long it would take to get a solution ourselves. We found SiteWorks was far and away the best company."
More details are in Oracle's press release.by Frank Scavo, 1/24/2004 11:11:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Friday, January 23, 2004
The brain drain
Bob Cringley, with his usual insight, explains why he thinks offshore outsourcing is, in the grand scheme, not in U.S. national interests, and ultimately not even in the long term interest of the U.S. companies doing the outsourcing.... while America remains a country of great technical capability, that capability is being compromised by a new kind of brain drain as we simply allow our local industries to fall apart. Send enough technical work to India or China, and what once was the engineering department ends up working down at Home Depot. The industries that are being particularly affected are information technology, telecommunications, and aerospace. These are also the only U.S. industries that in the 1990s produced substantial trade surpluses. We are shipping overseas the only manufacturing work that still makes money for America.Cringley thinks the issue is big enough to become an issue in the next presidential election.
There are those who argue that the numbers involved are too small to worry about. What do a few thousand engineering jobs matter? These people simply don't know how thin the engineering talent is in many companies. Take 100 programmers out of any software company short of Microsoft or IBM ,and you've crippled some program and maybe the whole company. And the same is true for most of these other critical industries where big work is typically done by small teams.
Read Cringley's whole column.by Frank Scavo, 1/23/2004 07:36:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Thursday, January 22, 2004
An intriguing analysis of SAP's partnership with Sybase
Last November, I wrote a short article on SAP's partnership with Sybase to bundle its database with SAP's Business One offering to small businesses. Now Josh Greenbaum, writing for Datamation, provides a more in-depth analysis on what the SAP/Sybase combination means in terms of competition with Microsoft for small business market share.
Greenbaum recounts the history of Sybase's missteps in the database market, first in the 1980s by licensing a desktop version of its SQL Server database to Microsoft and later in the 1990s by rebuffing the overtures of SAP, which was looking for an alternative to Oracle's database, since Oracle was starting to compete with SAP for application software. Against this backdrop, Greenbaum goes on to analyze Sybase's current opportunity with SAP:It may be a classic case of too-little, too-late. But I think it may give Sybase a much-needed chance for revenge and redemption.That last point is particularly intriguing: a small business enterprise system with no Microsoft application software, no Microsoft database, and no Microsoft server operating system.
One reason this may work is that SQL Server isn't always the database of choice for Microsoft's flagship Axapta enterprise software. Developers worldwide know that big Axapta projects can tax SQL Server's scalability limits -- forcing these partners and their customers into the relatively expensive hands of Oracle. A lower-cost Sybase alternative tied to SAP's software and reputation could make Business One a viable competitor to Axapta and the rest of the Microsoft Business Solutions product line.
Another reason is that SAP is actively courting Microsoft partners, many of which are feeling pressured to support Microsoft's attempts to use pricing as a way to compete with SAP. This policy has resulted in lower revenues for a Microsoft partner network made up of relatively small companies that have been punished by the recent recession and lack the financial resources to absorb a large number of low-ball deals. These partners may be heartened by the prospect of being able to compete on price with Microsoft without killing their profit margins.
The final reason that this might work is that SAP will now be in the position to offer Business One on Linux, something that was impossible when SQL Server was the only database Business One supported. This may be the big redemption play for Sybase: aiding and abetting the Linux market, particularly as a replacement technology for SQL Server, could mean sweet revenge for Sybase's past errors.
Read Greenbaum's whole article.by Frank Scavo, 1/22/2004 07:56:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Executives hesitate to recommend their ERP vendors
Yankee Group, in collaboration with Monitor Group, has published a very interesting study regarding customer willingness to recommend their ERP systems, and the news isn't good for any of the major ERP vendors. The study says,"No single ERP company stood out as a brand of choice. The share of respondents inclined to recommend a particular supplier was starkly lower than scores for similarly complex business products. It's typical in a healthy business category to see about 50 percent of decision-makers recommending a market-leading brand. The highest recommended rating in the ERP category was 32 percent."Across the board, the results are stunningly dismal. According to a TechWeb summary of the study, the highest position went to Oracle (32%), followed by PeopleSoft (29%), and SAP (26%). Microsoft, which just entered the ERP marketplace in the last two years with its acquisition of Great Plains and Navision, comes in at only 14%. Scraping the bottom is SSA Global, which only had 1% of its customers recommending it.
The study should be a wake-up call for ERP vendors:ERP vendors thrive on maintenance revenue and installed-base sales. As the market consolidates and competing products mature, repeat-customer revenue becomes even more important. Yet ERP brand loyalty and distinctive corporate characteristics, qualities that mature industries use to lock in customers, are weak.Clearly, there is an untapped market opportunity for ERP vendors that want to seriously focus on the things that, according to the study, really matter to customers: high integrity, fast return on investment, inexpensive operation, easy implementation and excellent service. In the TechWeb summary, Yankee analyst Jon Derome says, "You have this disjoint where vendors are marketing speeds and feeds, pushing technology innovation in the marketplace; and buyers aren't interested in those attributes. They're interested in practicalities, such as understanding my business and delivering what you promised."
The Yankee Group report can be found on Yankee's web site.by Frank Scavo, 1/20/2004 07:43:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Monday, January 19, 2004
Internal IBM memos reveal plans to move thousands of jobs offshore
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today on internal IBM documents that reveal IBM's apparent plans to move thousands of jobs offshore. IBM's analysis of its hourly rates in the US vs. offshore is striking.A chart of internal billing rates developed by IBM's Chinese group in Shanghai shows how dramatic the labor savings can be. The chart doesn't show actual wages, but instead reflects IBM's internal system by which one unit bills another for the work it does.But, for political reasons, IBM doesn't really want to call attention to its offshoring intentions:
Besides the low-level programmers billing at $12.50 an hour, the chart shows that a Chinese senior analyst or application-development manager with more than five years experience would be billed at $18 an hour. The person familiar with IBM's operations said that person would be equivalent to a U.S. "Band 7" employee billed at about $66 an hour. And a Chinese project manager with seven years experience would be billed at $24 an hour, equivalent to a U.S. "Band 8" billed at about $81 hourly.The IBM documents show that the company is acutely aware of the sensitivities involved. One memo, which advises managers how to communicate the news to affected employees, says among other things: "Do not be transparent regarding the purpose/intent" and cautions that the "Terms 'On-shore' and 'Off-shore' should never be used." The memo also suggests that anything written to employees should first be "sanitized" by human-resources and communications staffers.However, the article points out that, because of the overhead involved in moving jobs offshore, the total savings from offshoring are much less than the simple comparison of hourly rates would suggest.Dean Davidson, an analyst who follows outsourcing for Meta Group, in Stamford, Conn., says that companies usually find their actual cost savings from moving offshore are less than they would expect based on straight wage comparisons. "The reality is a general savings of 15%-20% during the first year," Mr. Davidson says. That's far less than the 50% to 80% savings based on hourly labor rates, he says.I wrote previously on the fact that companies moving jobs offshore are not particularly eager to trumpet the cost savings. IBM's internal documents are further evidence of that.
The full WSJ article is on the WSJ website (subscription required). A brief summary is available here.by Frank Scavo, 1/19/2004 07:58:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Escaping the ROI Trap, Part 2
My post on "Escaping the ROI Trap" has gotten a lot of feedback, especially after it was included in last week's Carnival of the Capitalists. Overall, the feedback was positive. But a few writers provided additional perspective.
For example, Enrico Camerinelli of Meta Group provided a description of Meta Group's model and where he sees the ROI trap fitting into it:At META Group we use an IT investment portfolio model, where we segment IT investments along 3 layers:Dr. Joseph Smolira at Belmont University points to options analysis as a way to overcome the ROI trap. Smolira writes on his weblog,
Run the Business (RTB) investments. IT investments that cover core enterprise day-by-day operations (e.g., electricity, heating/air conditioning, payroll, data center operations for specific services).
Grow the Business (GTB) investments. IT investments covering business processes that allow the enterprise to expand its reach. Such processes are not too distant from the traditional way the enterprise manages its ordinary business (e.g., a bank wanting to implement a user self-service application for online account status checking).
Transform the Business (TTB) investments. IT investments covering brand new processes adopted by the enterprise. New business models and new disciplines are introduced to manage new business streams (continuing with the bank example, Unicredito, one of Italy's largest banks, is offering supplier sourcing and procurement services to its clients).
For RTB investments, the evaluation system is mostly related to cost elements. Surveyed organizations declare they reference the total cost of ownership (TCO) model as the most used evaluation methodology to drive investment choices.
In the context of GTB, the level of discretionary spending and the "knowledge" of the supported business processes require widely available technology and know-how. The software solution is thus viewed as a "features & functions black box" that supports the company strategy, and the organization perceives value in the full exploitation of the resources invested in the software. Interviewed participants confirm they find in "return on investment" models the appropriate cost/benefit estimation support. Such models "check-list" the features and functions against the business processes and operations the software is expected to support.
For TTB spending, the lack of historical memory and experience in controlling such projects demands a "risk of investment" approach. Interviewed enterprises envision the software solution as an aggregation of components that build the appropriate IT portfolio/ ecosystem. While the organization well knows and is able to anticipate business objectives and adoption risks, the same cannot hold true for what functionalities of packaged software solution must be adopted to cover those processes. The value is thus in minimizing the risk of the software investment through evaluation models that "configure" the building blocks of the enterprise software solution around focused processes and a calculated (and accepted) level of risk....
In my opinion, the "ROI trap" occurs at the TTB investment level. Therefore, I see a perfect integration between my Risk of Investment model and your four actionable items in "How to escape the ROI trap."I was particularly interested in Frank Scavo's post on capital budgeting, although I am not sure I completely agree with him. He makes an behavioral argument why capital budgeting projects are not undertaken. Astute financial managers (at least those who have taken my class) know that the application of NPV techniques, or in the situations given in Scavo's post, real options analysis, would solve the problem.Framing of Risky Decisions
My main point regarding the ROI trap was not to spell out how investment decisions SHOULD be made. It was to describe how such decisions, frequently, ARE made. The problem is that decision makers often refuse to approve an investment made on the basis of ROI, no matter how sound the financial analysis. That's why I call it the ROI trap. The trap, to the presenter, is in thinking that a dispassionate ROI analysis will lead the decision maker to the "right" decision. Sometimes it does. But too often it does not. As Max Bazerman points out in his book, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, people are "naturally risk-averse concerning gains and positively-framed questions" and "risk-seeking concerning losses and negatively framed questions." In other words, the way many investment decisions are presented--guaranteed costs and uncertain benefits--is precisely the opposite of the natural bias of the decision maker. Read my original post on the ROI trap for a full explanation.
I have come to the conclusion that management bias against uncertainty is at the root of many failed attempts to sell new information systems. In a section entitled "The Framing of Risky Decisions," Bazerman writes, "People value the creation of certainty over an equally valued shift in the level of uncertainty." Merely reducing the level of uncertainty does not carry as much weight to a decision maker as elimination of uncertainty altogether. Therefore, according to Bazerman, risky decisions should be framed in such a way that certainty is created, especially in respect to benefits.
If elimination of uncertainty is the key to escaping the ROI trap, then the business case for new systems ought to be structured less like a bet on future benefits and more like an insurance policy against bad things happening.
For example, suppose you are proposing a new ERP system to replace a legacy system. Following the conventional wisdom, you would first estimate the future benefits, both tangible and intangible. For example, the new system might help reduce inventory, improve administrative productivity, or speed up collections. You would then estimate the costs of the new system, such as the cost of the software, hardware, and implementation. You would then calculate the return on investment. If you keep it simple, you calculate a payback period (e.g. 24 months). If you are more sophisticated, you calculate a net present value for the discounted cash flow, which takes into account the cost of money. If you are really sophisticated, you include options analysis, as Dr. Smolira suggests, to take into consideration the risks that future benefits might not be realized.
But whether simple or sophisticated, the ROI approach does not address the fact that decision makers hate uncertainty when it applies to benefits. Many times I have heard executives say, in effect, "Yes, but can you guarantee that inventory will be reduced, productivity will be increased, or collections will improve?" This, after presenting the ROI using the very assumptions on benefits that the decision maker himself provided!
Often you can sense the ROI trap before it is sprung. If so, perhaps a different approach in presenting the business case will have better success. Instead of starting with the benefits, start with the costs. Risk-averse decision makers won't hear anything about benefits anyway until they find out what are the costs, so get that out of the way early. But present the costs as an insurance premium. Insurance against what? Against bad things happening. For example, the legacy system might be unsupported by the vendor, or poorly understood by existing IT staff, or unreliable. Therefore, business continuity might be threatened. The costs of continuing to support the legacy system might become exorbitant. The company may be at risk for regulatory non-compliance, such as insufficient internal controls under Sarbanes-Oxley, or 21 CFR Part 11 compliance under FDA regulations. The legacy system may not be able to keep up with increased customer demand, or it may not accommodate new products or international expansion. If you look at risk broadly, nearly everything that you consider as a benefit of the new system can be translated into a risk of a bad thing happening if the legacy system is retained.
Escaping the ROI trap means clearly presenting the case that staying with the current situation is not an option. As long as the decision maker believes that nothing bad will happen if the legacy system is retained, the new system will never be approved. The promise of uncertain future benefits is not enough to overcome the guaranteed cost of the new system.
Does this mean that an ROI calculation should not be presented? Of course not. In many companies, an ROI calculation must be submitted as part of any capital expenditure request. But the ROI calculation is usually only the formal justification for what the executive wants to do. The key is to understand the executive's natural bias against uncertainty and to frame the investment decision so that it offers some form of certainty instead of merely accounting for uncertainty. Only then can you escape the ROI trap.by Frank Scavo, 1/17/2004 03:16:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Friday, January 16, 2004
SSA Global lays out its future in warehouse management systems
ARC Advisory has a good summary of SSA's direction for warehouse management systems (WMS) in general and EXE in particular. Through acquisitions, SSA now has a number of WMS offerings: individual WMS modules that are part of SSA's various ERP packages; the Warehouse BOSS system that it picked up from Computer Associates; and EXE, a Tier I WMS provider that SSA acquired last year. ARC explains the individual EXE solutions:EXE 2000 is aimed at high volume warehouse, e.g., retail, or automotive spare parts, and include task management and labor standards, but its 200 customers mainly reside in English speaking countries. EXE 3000 is the old mainframe Dallas product, and EXE 4000 is an n-tier, highly international WMS aimed at Third Party Logistics (3PL) and CPG with approximately 500 customers.ARC goes on to explain how SSA's various WMS offerings will fit with its ERP offerings:In the short term, most likely the iSeries Warehouse BOSS will fit best with the predominantly iSeries based BPCS & PRMS ERP solution, and Unix/NT based EXE 4000 will sell into the Baan base. There were hints that EXE 4000 and Baan ERP could create a useful automotive solution, particularly for Tier 1 and 2 automotive suppliers required to support sequence-in-line supply into the OEM. 3PL could be another target market, especially if the solution integrated CAPS Logistics, a strong TMS offering and Baan ERP.The full summary is on the ARC Advisory web site.
For more on the the untapped potential of warehouse management and transportation management systems, see my post back on Jan. 21, 2003.by Frank Scavo, 1/16/2004 08:31:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Offshore outsourcing driving down US IT salaries
A new study by Foote Partners LLC, a salary research group, confirms what has been obvious: IT salaries are dropping. The study indicates that although the general economic downturn is partly to blame, offshore outsourcing is another contributing factor.In a year long study of 400 Fortune 1000 companies, researchers found that by 2006, the organizations expected from 35 percent to 45 percent of their current full-time IT jobs to go to workers overseas, David Foote, president and chief research officer for Foote Partners, said.Foote points specifically to declining US IT salaries in application development and maintenance, tech support call centers, and some database work. But there are some areas where salaries are holding up better:
"What we found is a lot of correlation between a decline in pay for skills and certification in areas that are actually moving offshore," Foote said. "There's no need anymore for premium pay for those skills ... and also, a lot of bonuses have quite frankly been redirected to a very small number of people."There are areas in IT where jobs are expected to remain onshore--at least for a while, Foote said. Those jobs tend to require a deep understanding of a company's business processes. Those jobs involve system architecture and prototyping, data and process modeling, and other pre-implementation work. Work related to security and network administration and management also appears safe.Excepts above are from this TechWeb article on Yahoo.
Update, Jan. 15: Datamation has another article on the Foote survey plus a similar one from Janco Associates. This article is more positive on salary increases for those jobs that remain onshore, including CIO salaries.
Update, Jan 16: Meanwhile, business is good for Infosys, one of the leading offshore service providers in India. Most recent quarterly revenues are up 38%, with margins holding up nicely. Infosys added 3,666 new employees during the quarter, bringing total headcount to 23,209. Top Consultant has the story.by Frank Scavo, 1/15/2004 07:44:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
The Technology Cynic
My friend Dave Harding has launched a new weblog, The Technology Cynic. One thing is for sure, Dave is not afraid to take a definite position on issues. Check it out at www.techcynic.com.by Frank Scavo, 1/13/2004 07:54:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Monday, January 12, 2004
Carnival of the Capitalists
This week's Carnival of the Capitalists, a summary of business-related posts that rotates from site to site, is up at Jeremy Wright's Ensight.org. Jeremy comments on my post The ROI Trap, which is driving a lot of traffic to the Spectator this morning.by Frank Scavo, 1/12/2004 08:12:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Good news and bad news for PeopleSoft in survey of JDE customers
CNET reports on IDC's recent survey of J.D. Edwards customers. The good news: JDE customers are happy with the PeopleSoft acquisition. The bad news: they aren't buying much new software from PeopleSoft.A survey IDC released Monday showed that more than 80 percent of J.D. Edwards software users retain a positive view of PeopleSoft and the manner in which the company handled the merger. Only 9 percent of respondents to the survey said they harbor a less favorable view of the combined vendor. However, the report said 69 percent of former J.D. Edwards customers have no immediate plans to buy new software from PeopleSoft.Here's the article.by Frank Scavo, 1/10/2004 07:49:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Friday, January 09, 2004
Offshore labor drove firm to brink
Matt Marshall in the San Jose Mercury News reports "the over-the-cliff tale of Ishoni Networks," which last month filed for bankruptcy, a victim of moving to India too quickly. Matt writes,Backed with more than $68 million from venture capitalists from the United States and elsewhere, Ishoni once was branded a rising star. It was developing a cutting-edge chip to allow voice and data services over a single Internet connection -- and was valued as high as $200 million and employed 170 people.Read the whole story.
Seeking to cut expenses, Ishoni created a subsidiary in Bangalore, India, and hired software engineers there on the cheap.
Weirdly, though, the subsidiary stopped returning phone calls from Ishoni's Santa Clara-based chief operating officer, Amin Varis, early last year.
Varis made a surprise visit to India in May and learned a big lesson about how much damage 12,000 miles of distance -- even when connected by Internet and phone lines -- can do.
Indian executives, he found, had forced their engineers to join a rival firm, Ample Wave Communications, apparently in a scam to scoop up Ishoni's intellectual assets and then bankrupt it.
Update, Jan 24.: More details on the Ishoni Networks debacle, along with a balanced view of doing business in India, can be found in this article from Venture Capital Journal.by Frank Scavo, 1/09/2004 09:26:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Day three at MD&M West
Traffic is definitely lighter on the expo floor today. But one advantage, at least for me, is that vendors are willing to take the time to explain product details more thoroughly. So I took advantage of the occasion to take a closer look at one smaller CRM player, ADAPT Software.
ADAPT is one of those companies that I give credit to for clearly defining their market segment. They focus solely on providing CRM applications to mid-market manufacturing and distribution companies (under $500M). The company has been around since 1996, with operations just down the street in Irvine, CA. Functionality includes sales (contact and opportunity management, sales planning), marketing (campaign and event management), customer service and defect tracking, technical support knowledge base, and a Web portal for customer self-service. The product is written in Magic and runs over Microsoft platforms with a small client, client/server architecture.
ADAPT's marketing strategy is also clearly defined. They do no direct sales, but only sell through a reseller channel (40 resellers today). They also sell through other software companies (e.g. Syspro) that private label ADAPT's CRM solution with their own offerings. The strategy seems to be working: Adapt currently has 300 active customers.
ADAPT sells a minimum five user license for about $6,000, making it an affordable CRM solution for small companies. More information can be found on ADAPT's web site.by Frank Scavo, 1/08/2004 12:50:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Day two at MD&M West
Yesterday, I attended an all day presentation by Ed Kimmelman and John Gagliardi on the relationship between the US Quality System Regulation (21 CFR Part 820) for medical devices and ISO 13485, the international standard being adopted by most of the rest of the world. Because many US medical device manufacturers also export to international markets, it is important to comply with the international standard as well. Fortunately, as Ed and John point out, there is a very large degree of consistency between the US regulation and the international standard. Yet John and Ed pointed out where there are important differences, where the ISO standard goes beyond the US regulation, and vice versa.
Why is this relevant to enterprise systems? Because when conducting software validation it will be increasingly important to include the ISO standards as well as the US regulations as a source of regulatory requirements. That's my interest in this subject.
Today, I attended a workshop by Andrew Snow, from HEI, Inc., on risk management. Although Andrew's emphasis was primarily on analyzing and managing risks in medical device design and development, many of the same concepts are applicable when implementing and validating enterprise systems for intended use in medical device manufacturing. Too often, companies treat all features and functions of enterprise systems as equally important, when from a risk profile, there are enormous differences that should be reflected in the validation plan for each part of the system. For more critical areas, risk analysis tools such as fault tree analysis and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) can be useful in analyzing and managing such risks.
Down on the exposition floor, visitor traffic seemed to be picking up today, according to several exhibitors I spoke to.by Frank Scavo, 1/07/2004 07:21:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Enterprise software vendors catching on to medical device marketplace
I'm attending the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West show in Anaheim, CA this week, representing Computer Economics, and will try to blog some of my observations from the show.
After attending this show last year, I wondered why more application software vendors didn't participate as exhibitors. MD&M West is billed as the largest medical OEM tradeshow in the world, and this is an industry that has many growing companies that should be looking for software. Nevertheless, last year there were only a handful of software vendors on the floor, mostly quality management and manufacturing execution system (MES) vendors. This year there are a few more. Here's a partial list.ERP solutions: Exact Software, IFS, IQMS, Syspro, and Columbus IT Partner (a reseller of Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta product). But still no sign of the big three -- SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft.Show floor traffic seems a little light this year. Several of the vendors think it has to do with the fact that the show is scheduled for the first week back from December holiday period.
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Factory Automation: Datasweep, Camstar, GE Fanuc Automation
Quality Management: AssurX, Netregulus, Pilgrim Software, Tip Technologies, EtQ, Inc., Minitab
Product Lifecycle Management: Dassault Systems
Customer Relationship Management: ADAPT Software
Document Management: Hyland Software
The exposition runs today through Thursday (Jan. 6-8). Admission to the show floor is free. More details are on the MD&M West web site.by Frank Scavo, 1/06/2004 08:51:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (1)
Monday, January 05, 2004
Has Siebel turned the corner?
Siebel pre-announced Q4 results today that are above its previous estimates. The company is estimating revenue at $365 million, including $150 million from new license sales. Previously, the company is now projecting revenue to come in at $335-355M and new license sales at $120-140M.
Although some of the lift is no doubt due to a seasonal bounce (i.e. traditional end of the year deal making), the fact that Siebel exceeded its own estimates is encouraging, especially on that new license sales number. This is another indication that companies may be finally starting reinvest in new applications.
Reuters has a short summary of the conference call.by Frank Scavo, 1/05/2004 08:54:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
Read/post comments! (0)


text:
Well Consider this story from Pakistan
Five female health workers involved in administering the polio vaccine were murdered in Pakistan this week.
CS Monitor reported:
Five female health workers involved in Pakistan's polio eradication efforts were gunned down Tuesday in two of the country's main cities amid militant resistance to immunization campaigns.
Unidentified gunmen killed four of the women in Karachi and a fifth in Peshawar. Two male volunteers were also injured in Tuesday's attacks, according to Sindh's health department. As a result, an ongoing polio vaccination campaign has been suspended throughout Sindh Province, according to the department.
Tuesday's violence highlights a new trend of deadly attacks targeting women, who had previously been avoided unless they were members of religious minorities, says Jameel Yusuf, the former head of Karachi's Citizens-Police Liaison Committee.
Earlier this year the Taliban shot a UN Polio doctor and his driver in Karachi.
Backasswards. Shooting people trying to prevent the spread of preventable diseases? Shooting school girls for getting educations? Yet, some still play the moral relativism game with Sharia Law and radical Islam? Shameful!


text:
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.
The Civil War was the first American conflict where most of the participants were literate, and many wrote about their experiences. W. Scott Keith (b. 1844), a native of Greenfield, Massachusetts, served as Sergeant in the Mass. 52nd Regiment. During the Port Hudson campaign in the spring of 1863, Scott became ill with dysentery and was twice hospitalized. While recovering at a Union convalescent camp in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, he and other soldiers considered unfit for duty repulsed a Confederate raid on June 28, 1863.
top of page
Send an e-Postcard of this object
See Also...
Memorial - 52nd Massachusetts Volunteers
Greenfield, Mass. Soldiers Monument and Second Congregational Church
Excerpt from James Childs Hitchcock's Civil War Military Journal
Home | Online Collection | Things
To Do | Turns
Exhibit | Classroom | Chronologies | My
About This Site | Site Index | Site Search | Feedback


text:
3:00 am
Teaching Channel Watch as a teacher takes on the challenge of making big changes in his classroom in four weeks. Poetry and technology converge as students create podcasts about their favorite poets. Students learn about teamwork and design when they build a Rube Goldberg contraption. D
4:00 am
Mechanical Universe And Beyond, The "Navigating In Space" Voyages to other planets use the same laws that guide planets around the solar system. D
4:30 am
Democracy In America "Courts: Our Rule of Law" This program examines the role of courts as institutions dedicated to conflict resolution, with the power both to apply and to interpret the meaning of law in trial and appeal courts. It shows the increased power of the Supreme Court through its use of judicial review and the difficulty of creating a judiciary that is independent of politics. D
5:00 am
BBC World News NULL
5:30 am
Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish "Asf Fue: I" This episode begins a four-part review of the entire series and begins with the first segment.G
6:00 am
6:30 am
Clifford The Big Red Dog "Clifford's Hiccups/It's My Party" Clifford gets a bad case of the hiccups and that's a real problem with a dog the size of Clifford! His dog friends work together to come up with various remedies for Clifford. They are not successful and the hiccups eventually go away on their own. But Clifford expresses to his friends how good it feels to know they care so much about him. D
7:00 am
Arthur "Background Blues/and Now Let's Talk to Some Kids" Wouldn't it be way cool to find out that your ancestors were famous frontier explorers? Or royalty? But what if, as Francine and Muffy are about to find out, they were just . plain folks? In the second story, The Magic Toolbox show is coming to Ratburn's class to put the kids on TV! The kids prepare for stardom, but a behind-the-scenes star saves the show. D
7:30 am
Martha Speaks "Dogs In Space/Dogs from Space" Dogs in Space - Mrs. Clusky asks the class to present projects on the solar system, but TD finds himself distracted by comic books. Can he save the Planet of the Dogs from evil space cats and still get his homework in on time? Vocabulary: (E) planet, star, solar system, constellation, orbit (I) sun, moon, earth, space, spaceship. Dogs from Space - Inspired by TD's comic about the Planet of the Dogs, Martha has a dream about what life would be like as an alien space dog. D
8:00 am
Curious George "Zoo Night/Charkie Escapes" He gets locked inside the zoo & gets surrounded by animals. Can he keep Charkie from running away?G
8:30 am
Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! "A Long Winter's Nap/The Tree Doctor" A Long Winter's Nap - Sally and Nick are so excited to go ice skating tomorrow, that they can't fall asleep! Cat's friend Boris the bear can help! Off they go to the Gleep-sneep Woods to learn how Boris gets ready to take his long winter's nap. Back at home, Nick and Sally follow Boris' advice, and follow their own bedtime routine to get ready for bed. With the help of a bedtime story from Cat, they quickly fall asleep. D
9:00 am
Super Why! "The Stars in the Sky" Princess Pea wants to play in a rainbow, but her mother says it simply can't be done! So the Super Readers soar into the story The Stars in the Sky and accompany a little girl named Ella with a big dream of her own! As the Super Readers climb higher and higher they begin to wonder - will they play with the stars, or merely wish on them? Educational Objectives: To learn about the fun of fantasy, follow the alphabet, practice spelling skills and use the power to read to change the story and save the day!. D
9:30 am
Dinosaur Train "Buck-Tooth Bucky/Tiny's Tiny Friend" Buck-Tooth Bucky - When Don finds a mystery tooth in Dad's old tooth collection, Dad decides to take the kids on an investigation. They discover that the tooth belongs to a dinosaur called Masiakasaurus, a creature with a mouthful of protruding buck teeth! Tiny's Tiny Friend - Tiny gets upset when she finds a miniature mammal named Cindy Cimolestes has moved into her "Tiny Place," a hole in a tree near the family nest. Buddy ends up using his sharp eyes to help Cindy find a new home that more perfectly fits her small size. D
10:00 am
Sesame Street "Furry Potter" It seems that everyone on Sesame Street is excitedly reading the new Furry Potter book. Telly has it too, and can't wait to find Gordon so he can read it to him. He finds Gordon grading papers outside Hooper's Store and anxiously asks him to read the book. D
11:00 am
Sid The Science Kid "Save The Stump!" Sid is super excited because his Dad is clearing out space in the yard for a basketball court! While Sid and Dad are surveying the land, Sid notices a big stump teeming with little creatures! During a special field trip to The Science Center, Sid and his friends discover that there are animal habitats all around us, even in old stumps, and if one habitat is destroyed, all of the other habitats and animals are affected. (Educational objective - Habitats). D
11:30 am
WordWorld "The Lost Letter L/Catch That C!" The Lost Letter L - When Duck accidentally breaks the L off Frog's lamp, he decides not to tell Frog. Instead, he'll just fix it himself. Although Bug and Dog try to help, things spiral out of control, and soon Duck has broken a lamp, a lever and even Frog's log! Duck learns that everyone makes mistakes and admitting them sooner rather than later can make a big difference. D
12:00 pm
Caillou "Animals and Me!" Grandma takes Caillou on a special visit to a sheep farm. There, Mary, a 10-year-old girl, takes Caillou on a tour, teaching him about sheep, sheering, and the spinning of wool. When Mom, Rosie and Caillou go to the zoo, Caillou can't wait to see the elephants. D
12:30 pm
Barney & Friends "Lights, Camera, Action, A Movie Adventure" Grace's food drive isn't going too well. Melanie decides to help her friend out by putting on a movie premier for a canned food admission price. When Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff try to help Melanie, they come up with different ideas that lead up to a cacophony of topsy-turvy events. D
1:00 pm
Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! "A Long Winter's Nap/The Tree Doctor" A Long Winter's Nap - Sally and Nick are so excited to go ice skating tomorrow, that they can't fall asleep! Cat's friend Boris the bear can help! Off they go to the Gleep-sneep Woods to learn how Boris gets ready to take his long winter's nap. Back at home, Nick and Sally follow Boris' advice, and follow their own bedtime routine to get ready for bed. With the help of a bedtime story from Cat, they quickly fall asleep. D
1:30 pm
Zoboomafoo "Family Game" When a baby African pygmy hedgehog comes to Animal Junction, Zoboo, tries to find the right family for her to live with. The Kratt Brothers explain that there are all different kinds of creature families, and they finally find the perfect family for the baby hedgehog.G
2:00 pm
Curious George "Zoo Night/Charkie Escapes" He gets locked inside the zoo & gets surrounded by animals. Can he keep Charkie from running away?G
2:30 pm
Martha Speaks "Dogs In Space/Dogs from Space" Dogs in Space - Mrs. Clusky asks the class to present projects on the solar system, but TD finds himself distracted by comic books. Can he save the Planet of the Dogs from evil space cats and still get his homework in on time? Vocabulary: (E) planet, star, solar system, constellation, orbit (I) sun, moon, earth, space, spaceship. Dogs from Space - Inspired by TD's comic about the Planet of the Dogs, Martha has a dream about what life would be like as an alien space dog. D
3:00 pm
The Electric Company "Spooky Summer Soiree" For the yearly Spooky Summer Soiree costume party, The Electric Company decides to dress up as animals dressed as monsters. Jessica and Marcus don't have their costumes yet, and Annie Scrambler, with the help of Gilda, has bought all of the costumes at the discount costume store. Marcus and Jessica hit the neighborhood sidewalk sales to find what they need while staying within their budget. D
3:30 pm
WordGirl "Slumber Party Pooper /Line Lessons with Lady Redundant Woman" Slumber Party Pooper - Becky finally convinces her parents to let her have her first slumber party. But who invited Eileen, A.k.a. D
4:00 pm
Wild Kratts "Raptor Roundup" Martin and Chris challenge themselves to ID as many hawks, eagles, owls, falcons and vultures as they can. But the evil endangered species chef, Gaston Gourmand has his own plan for the raptors and has been capturing them all in his quest to find the tastiest bird wing. Will the Wild Kratts team succeed in rescuing the raptors before they become Gourmand's next gourmet delicacy? They'll have to use everything they know about classification and birds of prey - to round up the raptors and return them to where they belong - living free and in the wild!. D
4:30 pm
Cyberchase "The Bluebird of Zappiness" Hacker teams with the CyberSquad to stop his nemesis Ledge from finding the cure to Motherboard's virus.G
5:00 pm
Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman "Ruff Pigs Out and Has A Whale of a Time" Ruff's cameradog, Tank, is not the most reliable employee in the world, and Ruff is looking for his replacement. Meanwhile, Blossom informs him that pigs are actually smarter than dogs. Ruff sends Bethany and Brian out to prove Blossom wrong; and Sterling and Liza go to SeaWorld to see if Shamu could make a good replacement for Tank. D
5:30 pm
Nightly Business Report he Federal Reserve is warning Congress, but given solid gains in this year's stock market, investors are hoping the so-called January barometer will mean an "up" 2012. Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly talks to NBR Co-Anchor Susie Gharib. Facebook's IPO is the crown jewel for investment bankers. D
5:56 pm
NewsHour Promo NULL
6:00 pm
PBS NewsHour NULL
6:57 pm
Business News Brief NULL
7:00 pm
Doc Martin "The Departed" On a train trip Martin is annoyed to be seated next to one of his patients, a sheep farmer named Jim Selkirk. Jim falls asleep, slumps onto Martin's shoulder and dies from heart failure. Mrs. Selkirk visits Martin and tells him she is now seeing visions of her dead husband. When she is found collapsed in her sheep pen, Martin is able to uncover the medical reason behind her hallucinations.G
8:00 pm
Outdoor Idaho "The People's Land" OUTDOOR IDAHO takes the pulse of the People's Land, the 64 percent of Idaho that is managed by the federal government. People speak out about today's management of public lands. They ride, hike, boat, camp, hunt and fish on public acreage, or they seek to harvest resources from the lands - and they are finding ways to work together for the sake of the land.G
8:30 pm
Dialogue "Good Winter Reading 2012" Host Marcia Franklin and three guest authors discuss their works and give their recommendations for cold-weather reading. Guests and their recent works include Tim Woodward, Destination Idaho; Kelly Jones, The Woman Who Heard Color; and Daniel Orozco, Orientation.G
9:00 pm
MI-5 CIA agents are dying and no one knows why. Ros is contacted by her old mentor, a former MI6 golden boy, who quit the service. He asks her to read his memoirs but something does not ring true. Two more Intelligence officers turn up dead and it becomes apparent that the murderer has access to sensitive information.G
10:00 pm
Independent Lens "Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock" Raised as an orphan and with an eighth-grade education, Daisy Bates forges a place for herself in Arkansas during the 1940s and '50s as a newspaperwoman fighting for black civil rights and as president of the state NAACP. She publicly supports and becomes guide and mentor for the nine black students who register to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, which culminates in a constitutional crisis - pitting a president against a governor.G
11:00 pm
Charlie Rose NULL


text:
"The option to call a general election before the resumption of parliamentary is on the table. Everything will depend on the results of meetings with the heads of the other parties"
When I first heard of the meeting, at Harper's request, it seemed unusual, given his style. I actually take the above quote as entirely true, because it fits nicely with the emerging Harper election rationalization. We already know how Duceppe and Layton will react, leaving the discussion between Dion and Harper as key. In a sense, I see this meeting as a trap, Harper can use this dialogue to justify the "dysfunctional" argument. Pretty easy to picture the following- Harper emerges from his meeting with Dion and tells Canadians he sees no common purpose, it is clear from Dion's stance that Parliament can't work. In this way, Harper takes the onus off himself, attempting to show he extended an olive branch only to be rebuffed by the other parties. Harper throws up his hands and calls an election.
There was a curious development last week, Harper's calling of another byelection, to take place after Parliament reconvenes. This call wasn't necessary, but its timing is quite revealing in my estimation. What better way to send mixed messages to the opposition, than to float the idea of a quick election call, then throw in a by-election to make it appear that Parliament would reconvene? It's the kind of gamesmanship Harper loves, this belief in keeping others off balance. This latest by-election call isn't what it appears, and I see it as a way to get the dogs off the scent.
La Presse speculates that the election would take place on October 20th or 27th, just prior to the American contest. In many ways, I can understand Harper's hurry, I honestly think the decision has already been made. Whether he can or not, is another matter, but easy to see why calling an election before Parliament reconvenes is advantageous. If you sense the opposition wants an election, why give them a high profile forum to make their case, why allow them to batter the government, soften them up prior to a vote? Moving prior, allows Harper to go on his own terms, without the limelight of pesky accountability, the spectre of scandal. If we see a real ramp up in Conservative ads in the next couple of weeks, it will provide another clue.
I think the economy is tanking, beyond what Flaherty projected. I also think the next financial release could well show a further deficit, something which isn't easily fluffed off like the previous update. How can the government make their case, if we have another indicator of fiscal mismanagement? A slumping economy, a government who will be on defensive if they pass out typical election goodies, not a optimal situation for Harper. Better to go sooner, before the chickens come home to roost.
Harper has revealed himself, if we read between the lines. This allows the Liberals to react with that knowledge, and Dion could well short circuit this ultimatum style meeting with his own preamble. I think Harper has already decided, what could he possibly think could come of these face to face meetings? It's a joke really, there is nothing constructive about it. The smart play is to assume, and react in a magnanimous way, don't give Harper the cover he desperately needs to rationalize. We want to see what the government proposes when Parliament returns, and we will react depending on their proposals. Any thoughts of an election call prior to the return, shows Harper is desperate to avoid scrutiny, he is worried about scandal, he is manufacturing a crisis that doesn't exist. The Harper argument is really a nonsensical one, the only way it works is if we fall for his trap by appearing combative.


text:
hi everyone , we are back after a bit of a hiatus , my brother had a kidney transplant back in march and despite a few set backs and rejections he seems to be doing well , we have decided to take on a project for the winter to keep the boredom at bay .
its a Massey Ferguson 135 which started life as an industrial MF 20 industrial , it was " converted " back to 135 guise at some stage and the current owner had always planned to restore it to its former glory so we got the job !!
the plan is to fit an original duncan cab back on the tractor , it currently has a longford cab fitted , the owner has painstakingly sourced some very scarce and hard to get parts from Ireland and the uk to aid in the resto including a rare sprung MF seat ( pics to follow ) .
anyway first job as always was to get her home and start stripping her down ready for a good cleaning .


text:
Here you can find interesting news and a lot of things worth knowing about hiring and letting of living space and especially "temporary accommodation".
A new year – a new design!
Relaunch of HomeCompany Web 6.0
The influence of application design on smartphones has spread out to well-established websites during the last few years. Skeuomorphism is dead – modern design is 'flat'. Following this trend HomeCompany just finalised one year of hard work on web 6.0 the brandnew online appearance.
It's not only the visual appearance. New and optimised features ease your accommodation search. The depictive representation of accommodation offers is raised to a higher level of quality. Improved clarity lets you find the topic you are interested in much easier and faster. We shortened the way to your new apartment.
HomeCompany enables a cross-device depiction. From now on it makes no difference if you use a desktop or a small device. Just look around and try the new features!
By the way see what else you can find! Lots of useful information and ideas in the context of accommodation and relocation are waiting for you.


text:
- I have no inner monologue
- I have no problem humiliating myself in public
- I will sing on command at any time
- I am super drunk in these videos
Yes, that is a wireless mic I'm wearing. My brother-in-law, Mailman Mike, gave it to me for Christmas, proving yet again how much Captain Carl's family gets me.
This next one is long, but also pure genius on account of my amazing Bee Gees impression.
We are having another karaoke party tonight. Watch out, living room. It's about to get all kinds of stupid up in here.


text:
Arsenal end trophy drought with FA Cup win
Arsenal ended its nine-year trophy drought on Saturday, coming from two goals...
Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – The Cleveland Cavaliers have suspended
center Andrew Bynum indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team.
Bynum did not travel with the Cavaliers to Boston for Saturday's game against
the Celtics and has been excused from all team activities indefinitely.
The 26-year-old Bynum has averaged 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in
24 games this season, his first with the Cavaliers.
Bynum missed the entire 2012-13 season due to balky knees. The Philadelphia
76ers acquired him from the Los Angeles Lakers last August.
He had arthroscopic surgery on both knees in March and signed a two-year deal
worth close to $25 million with Cleveland in July. Only $6 million of that is
guaranteed though, as the Cavaliers can waive Bynum before Jan. 7 and relieve
themselves of the remainder.


text:
Days after the Falcons lost director of player personnel David Caldwell to the Jaguars, they've promoted from within to replace him.
The Falcons announced that Lionel Vital, formerly the associate director of player personnel, has been moved up a notch on the corporate ladder to take the place of Caldwell, who is now the general manager in Jacksonville.
"We are pleased to announce that we have promoted Lionel Vital to our director of player personnel," Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff said in a statement. "Lionel has assisted in constructing our roster over the last five seasons and has been instrumental in our draft process and free agent acquisitions. He has over 20 years of scouting experience and has had the opportunity to work under team builders like Ozzie Newsome and Bill Belichick during his career. Lionel is a vital member of our scouting team and we are happy that he will continue to be a member of our organization."
Before working in the Falcons' front office, Vital was a scout for the Browns, Ravens, Jets and Patriots. Vital was also a running back who briefly played for the Redskins.


text:
Private-sector employment increased by 93,000 from October to November on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. The estimated change of employment from September to October was revised up from the previously reported increase of 43,000 to an increase of 82,000.
This month's ADP National Employment Report shows an acceleration of employment and suggests the nation's employment situation is brightening somewhat. November's gain in private-sector employment is the largest in three years. This is the tenth consecutive month of gains, which have averaged 47,000 during that period. Nevertheless, employment gains of this magnitude are not sufficient to lower the unemployment rate, which likely will remain above 9% for all of 2011. Furthermore, given modest GDP growth in the second and third quarters, and the usual lag of employment behind GDP, it would not be surprising to see several more months of only moderate gains in employment even as the economic recovery gathers momentum.
According to the ADP report, employment in the service-providing sector rose by 79,000 in November, the tenth consecutive monthly gain. Employment in the goods-producing sector rose by 14,000, the first monthly increase since March 2007. Construction employment dropped by 3,000 during November, the smallest decline since June 2007, and manufacturing employment increased by 16,000.
Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, increased by 2,000 while employment among medium-size businesses, defined as those with between 50 and 499 workers, increased by 37,000. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, increased by 54,000.
In November, construction employment dropped 3,000. Construction employment has declined for over three years and the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in January 2007 is 2,304,000. Employment in the financial services sector was flat.


text:
What is the difference between the C-770 Ultra Zoom and the C-765 Ultra Zoom?
Where is the Reference Manual for the C-765\C-770 Ultra Zoom?
The CD-ROM provides a full Reference Manual in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat that is provided on the CD-ROM is necessary to view the PDF manual. The printed manual that is included with the camera is a "Basic Manual."
How do I set the date and time on this camera?
When I zoom in on my pictures, they continually come out blurry. Is the camera not functioning properly or am I doing something wrong?
What you are experiencing is a phenomenon called camera shake. Camera shake is caused when there isn't enough light for the camera to set a fast shutter speed. The camera's shutter opens and has to stay open for up to several seconds for enough light to hit the CCD to capture the image. Most people cannot hold a camera perfectly still for more then 1/60th of a second.
In addition, when the telephoto feature is used on an Ultra Zoom camera, the field of view becomes smaller. Since a lens with a large focal length provides a small picture area, even slight imperceptible camera movement will cause a blurred picture.
To reduce camera shake, try one or more of the following when applicable:
What is super Zoom?
In addition to the optical zoom, this camera is equipped with a super zoom and digital zoom for taking telephoto and wide-angle shots. The super zoom and digital zoom cannot be used at the same time. Super zoom is used to extend the optical zoom up to 14× magnification. However, the resolution is automatically fixed at 1600 ×1200.
Digital Zoom is used to extend the maximum optical zoom to approximately 40x. However, pictures taken with the digital zoom may appear grainy.
Camera shake is likely to occur at these higher magnifications, please see "camera shake" question for further details on this.
What is MPEG4?
MPEG-4 is a graphics and video compression algorithm standard that is based on MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and Apple QuickTime technology. Wavelet-based MPEG-4 files are smaller than JPEG or QuickTime files, so they are designed to transmit video and images over a narrower bandwidth and can mix video with text, graphics and 2-D and 3-D animation layers.
How do I download from the camera to my computer?
Instructions for downloading images from the C-765/C-770 Ultra Zoom are located on the CD-ROM under the "Reference" under "Connecting the Camera to a PC," or at our web site (http://www.olympusamerica.com/download).
Do I need a special USB connection cord to connect to connect my camera to my computer?
Yes, the CB-USB4 cable that comes packaged with the camera, is required for downloading images using the camera. The stock number for a replacement cable is (200776). It can be purchased through the Olympus Emporium at https://emporium.olympusamerica.com/ or 1- 800 201-7766.
Which conversion lenses can you use with the C-765/C-770 Ultra Zoom camera?
What do I need to attach a conversion lens or filter to the camera?
You will need the CLA-4 Lens Adapter. It provides a 55mm mounting thread for a 55mm filter or conversion lens.
Can a remote control be used with the C-765/C-770 Ultra Zoom?
A remote control (the RM-2) comes shipped with the C-770 Ultra Zoom Camera.A remote control cannot be used with the C-765 Ultra Zoom Camera.
Can I use non-Olympus brand xD-Picture Card media with the C-765/C-770 Ultra Zoom camera?
Yes, but only Olympus brand xD-Picture Card media support the cameras' Panorama function.
Does Olympus offer a dedicated external flash for the C-765/C-770 Ultra Zoom camera?
Only for the C-770 Ultra Zoom. The FL-20 Flash (stock #200858) and the FL-36 Flash (stock #260113) are both available accessory flashes that cover a wide variety of lighting needs. The FL-50 (stock #260101) is designed for advanced to professional photograhphers who need the greatest light output.
How do I connect these external flashes to my C-770 Ultra Zoom camera?
The FL-20, FL-36, FL-40 or FL-50 dedicated external flash can be attached directly to the hot shoe on the camera. To use the FL-20, FL-36, FL-40 or FL-50 flash off-camera, you will need a bracket and appropriate flash cable. Please use the following information as a reference:
FL-BK01 Flash Bracket (item #200666) - used to mount an external flash to the C-770 Zoom.
FL-CB02 Hot Shoe to TTL Cable (item #200663)- this cable is required for the dedicated FL-20, FL-36, FL-40, or FL-50 flash.
How do I connect an external flash and aftermarket bracket to my C-770 Ultra Zoom?
For off camera flash with the C-770 Ultra Zoom, you will need the appropriate flash cable with your flash and aftermarket bracket. Please use the following information as a reference:
FL-CB05 Shoe Mount TTL Flash Cable (item #200707) - this cable mounts to the Hot Shoe on the C-770 Ultra Zoom; and the opposite end attaches to the aftermarket flash bracket's flash shoe or to a standard tripod attachment thread (1/4x20).
Are there any settings on the camera that must be set before you can use the external flash feature?
Yes, set the camera mode dial to P, A/S/M or any shooting mode except the movie mode. Turn on the extension flash unit's power then select the camera's flash mode. The flash mode button on the camera controls the built-in flash as well as the extension flash. Only the built-in flash and the Olympus FL-20/FL-40/FL-50 extension flash can use the red-eye reduction flash mode. All flash units can use the fill flash, flash off, and slow-sync flash modes.
Which type of battery is most recommended?
The C-770 Ultra Zoom and the C-765 Ultra Zoom accept only one LI-10B or one LI-12B lithium-ion battery. The batteries may be purchased at a dealer or directly from The Olympus Store.
How many pictures can be taken with 16MB/512MB xD-Picture Card?
What is the purpose of the Histogram feature?
When taking a picture, the camera analyzes the brightness and contrast of your subject and displays it on the LCD monitor so that you can evaluate and adjust the exposure properly.
What is Exif 2.2?
Exif 2.2 is an image format created by JEIDA (Japan Electronic Industry Development Association) for storing information with image data such as shutter speed, aperture, flash, date, etc. Some printers have the capability to automatically adjust the print quality using this information.
What is "My Mode"?
My mode allows you to save customized camera settings. My Mode allows you to save different setting configurations. To use the "My Mode" settings, turn the mode dial to the icon shown. The My Mode configuration is selected by the menu selection Mode Menu > Camera > My Mode.
How can I use White Balance when taking picture?
Color reproduction differs depending on the lighting conditions. For instance, when daylight, the setting sun or indoor lighting is reflected on white paper, the shade of white produced will be slightly different for each. By setting the WB (White Balance), you can achieve more natural-looking color. You can also preview different color tones by trying the different settings under the actual light source, and checking the result on the viewfinder/monitor. You can choose mode from Auto, Preset and One-touch.
What is Noise Reduction and how does it apply?
This function reduces the noise that generated during long exposures. When shooting night scenes, shutter speeds become slower and noise tends to appear on images. When Noise Reduction is set to ON, the camera automatically reduces noise to produce clearer images. However, shooting time is approximately twice as long as usual.
Does the Olympus C-765/C-770 Zoom camera support Print Image Matching (PIM)?
Yes, the C-765/C-770 Zoom supports this easy to use high quality printing feature. It allows the user to set parameters for printing, such as gamma level, color space, contrast, sharpness, brightness, saturation, shadow, highlight, and color balance, to ensure optimum print quality. To learn more about Print Image Matching (PIM), please check the following web site addresses:
How do you use Exif Print or PIM Print feature to achieve better print quality?
The printing information that is included as part of the Exif 2.2 header in the JPEG file, is read and used by a Print Image Matching enabled printer. If you have a compatible printer that has a built in media slot, you can insert the digital camera's memory card into a card reader and then into a printer's media slot. If you do not have a printer that accepts a card directly, you can use a plug-in for a graphics program such as Adobe PhotoShop 7.0, to utilize this information. CAMEDIA Master 4.03 and above supports Exif Print and PIM.
My indoor images taken with flash are blurry. What would cause this to happen?
It is possible you have the Flash Mode set to one of the Slow Sync modes (lighting bolt with the word Slow). Slow synchronization flash sets a slow shutter speed for the background exposure and fires the flash for the subject exposure. Since the shutter speed is slow, your subject should be still and the camera should be on a tripod otherwise blur can result. Since this mode should only be used when the above conditions can be met, you should use the FILL-IN FLASH (single lighting bolt symbol) mode for most situations that require a flash for correct exposure. Repeatedly pressing the FLASH MODE button will cycle through the various flash mode settings.
A small bright dot always appears in the same area of all my images. What can I do?
Pixel Mapping is a feature of the camera to check and adjust the CCD and image processing functions. Locate Pixel Mapping in the camera's Mode Menu and select OK to activate it. Once Pixel Mapping is completed the Mode Menu displays. The bright dot should no longer appear in your downloaded images.
To learn more about Pixel Mapping, click here.