Shoppers Check Out of Stores Via Cell Phone

Credit-card issuers are testing "contactless commerce" that lets consumers pay for purchases with a chip affixed to their cell phones

By Olga Kharif

At the Rochester, Ind., Dairy Queen, more than 350 customers can wave special stickers fixed to the backs of their cell phones at a scanner in the store, thereby banking loyalty points and qualifying for free cones and Blizzard sundaes. Customers have come back to the store more frequently as a result, helping sale rise more than 3 percent in the past year, says co-owner Dave Reasner. "It's something that's working," he says.

The radio frequency identification technology behind DQ's loyalty cards, similar to warehouse inventory tracking systems, is starting to work on behalf of consumers at the cash register. Discover Financial Services (DFS), Citigroup (C), and Visa (V) are introducing "contactless payment" technology that lets consumers pay for purchases by waving chips attached to their cell phones. Instead of swiping a credit or debit card, consumers can wave or tap phones—items that are nearly always handy—equipped with specially encoded stickers, or holsters, on receivers at the checkout counter.

Card issuers also hope that handset makers will embed the RFID chips into phones, then create smartphone applications to help shoppers manage payments. "Everything you store in a leather wallet will migrate to a mobile handset," says Barry McCarthy, a general manager at First Data, which processes transactions for 2,000 card issuers worldwide

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2010/tc20100516_101609.htm?link_position=link1

Secret

2010 Undergraduate Specialty Rankings MARKETING MANAGEMENT (Businessweek)

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/specialty_rankings_2010/marketing_management.asp

The future that has already happened

Megatrends in Global Health Care

by Karen Dillon and Steve Prokesch

http://hbr.org/web/extras/insight-center/health-care/globaltrends/1-slide

Teens and Mobile Phones

by Amanda Lenhart, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell, Kristen Purcell

Apr 20, 2010

OVERVIEW

Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008, to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And its not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day. 

Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reach parents for most teens.

ABOUT THE SURVEY

This study is based on the 2009 Parent-Teen Cell Phone Survey which obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 800 teens age 12-to-17 years-old and their parents living in the continental United States and on 9 focus groups conducted in 4 U.S. cities in June and October 2009 with teens between the ages of 12 and 18. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The interviews were done in English by Princeton Data Source, LLC from June 26 to September 24, 2009. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx

Volcano illustrates world's interconnectedness

Apr 16, 6:31 PM (ET)

By MICHAEL TARM

CHICAGO (AP) - A volcano erupts in Iceland, and the effects ripple around the globe: A mom in Romania frets about making her son's wedding in Texas. A florist in New York worries shipments won't arrive. Patients awaiting treatment in Nigeria have to wait another week for the doctors.

The fallout from the ash cloud looming over Europe illustrates just how interconnected our world has become.

Thousands of planes fly millions of passengers and tons of cargo each day, providing the economic lifeblood of nations and businesses. The flights deliver products for sale or items as small as a specialized tool that lets a factory keep operating.

The planes also bring medicines to hospitals and food aid to earthquake or hurricane victims. And they bring war and peace. Soldiers are often transported to and from hot spots by air.

Tales of woe and inconvenience span every social level, from the Norweigian prime minister who got stuck in New York and had to govern using his iPad, to ordinary people who saved money for trips of a lifetime, then had to abandon those plans.

The eruption was a single act of nature, but it stopped the world in countless ways.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100416/D9F4EAE80.html

Techart or Technology and Art

To think...

Motorola Droid Detects Bra Size. Want one?

Marcas brancas pesam 25 por cento no sector do retalho

Ana Rute Silva, Jornal Publico, 25.11.2009

É uma tendência que veio para ficar. As marcas brancas já valem entre 20 a 25 por cento das vendas totais no sector do retalho em Portugal, revela a consultora A.T. Kearney. Segundo o Global Retail Development Index, que avalia a actividade retalhista em 30 países, o mercado português vai sofrer “cada vez maior pressão das cadeias de discount e hard discount” – como o Lidl ou o Minipreço – e assistir ao crescimento das marcas brancas, tanto nos retalhistas de desconto como nas grandes cadeias de distribuição.

Jose Ignacio Nieto, director para o sector na A.T. Kearney em Espanha e Portugal, garante que a rentabilidade das empresas vai cair em 2009, ajudada não só pelo peso crescente dos produtos sem marca mas também pelas opções dos consumidores.

“Quando compramos produtos da marca do distribuidor, optamos pelos mais básicos. Por exemplo, em vez de comprarmos a massa enriquecida com vitaminas, levamos a massa mais básica. São produtos de menosvalor acrescentado e isso afecta as margens”, disse ao PÚBLICO.

A juntar a estes factores, está a elevada percentagem de clientes que opta por adquirir bens em promoção. Contas feitas, cadeias de discount e hard discount “estão a ganhar quota à custa dos retalhistas”. “Em Espanha, o Dia e o Lidl ganharam este ano três pontos de quota, o que é imenso”, ilustra Jose Ignacio Nieto, sem apontar dados de Portugal .

O estudo da A.T. Kearney identifica “oportunidades de expansão internacional” de alguns conceitos desenvolvidos pelos maiores operadores de distribuição, como os formatos Worten, SportZone ou Zippy (da Sonae Distribuição). Com um mercado “pequeno e consolidado”, gigantes como a Jerónimo Martins (dona do Pingo Doce e Feira Nova) “precisam de procurar novos mercados ou diversificar formatos”, sobretudo no não alimentar.

No retrato internacional, a Índia mantém-se como o país mais atraente para a expansão das grandes cadeias internacionais. É o segundo maior do mundo, com mil milhões de habitantes, e atrai o investimento retalhista com uma baixa infl ação e reduções nas rendas dos espaços comerciais na ordem dos 40 por cento.

Depois da Índia, a Rússia, a China, os Emirados Árabes Unidos ou Arábia Saudita, o Vietname, o Chile ou o Brasil constam na lista dos países mais atractivos para este sector.

Google Earth helps discover rare hominid ancestor in South Africa

New & Clean sources of Energy

60 percent of the world has mobile phones

Image by Jeff Kubina via Flickr

According to a new United Nations (UN) report, about 60 percent of the world's citizens now own a mobile phone The report states the large jump up is attributable to the strong growth in poor, developing countries, most notably China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

In 2002, only 14 percent of the world's population had any type of mobile phone.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the UN, there were 4.1 billion cell phone subscriptions as of the end of 2008, compared with just over 1 billion in 2002.

The report also added figures for Internet usage, noting that about 23 percent of the global population uses the Internet, up from over 12 percent from 2002.

Finally, the report ranked the world's nations on how "advanced their use of information and communications technology (ICT) is" and found Sweden to be the best. Sweden even had more cellular accounts than it had population in 2007. The United States fell to 17th.

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/17151.cfm

Europe's engine

Nice picture from The Economist

Big Changes in Tweens and Teens' Attitudes and Values over Two Decades

Image via Wikipedia

The new survey for Girl Scouts of the USA was based on a nationwide sample of 3,263 students in grades 3 through 12 of whom 1,833 are in grades 7 through 12, who were surveyed using online and school-based interviews between October 2, 2008 and January 23, 2009 by Harris Interactive. Some of the findings include:

Smoking

Youth who feel that smoking "is OK" if the smoker "finds it enjoyable" has fallen from 27% to 18% since 1989.

Sex before marriage

Fewer tweens and teens now (44%) than in 1989 (53%) think that sex before marriage is "OK if a couple loves each other."

Suicide

Ten percent of youth think that "suicide is all right, because a person has a right to do whatever he wants to do with himself," virtually unchanged since the 1989 when 8% gave this response. While 10% is a small percentage, it represents millions of tweens and teens who could be at risk because they believe suicide is morally acceptable.

Gay and lesbian relations

Most tweens and teens (59%) now feel that "gay or lesbian relations are OK, if that is the person's choice." This is a huge increase since 1989, when only 31% believed that "homosexual relations are OK if that is the person's choice" (a slightly different question). Conversely only 30% of 7th -12th graders now believe that gay and lesbian relationships are never acceptable because it is unnatural compared to 56% who felt this way about homosexual relations twenty years ago. A similarly massive change was found in response to another question about how a friendship would be affected "if you discover . . . that a good friend ... of your own sex is involved in a gay or lesbian relationship." Twenty years ago, 40% said that the friendship would probably end; now only 14% say this. In 1989, only 12% felt that the "friendship would continue and not change at all." Now fully 48% feel this would happen.

Abortion

There has been a modest drop in the minority of tweens and teens (25%) who believe that "abortion is all right, if having the baby will change your life plans in a way that you will find hard to live." In 1989, 33% felt this way.

Environment

In a question not asked in 1989, most youth (78%) now believe that "everyone has to take care of the environment by doing things like recycling and using less electricity."

Diversity

Most 7th – 12th graders (59%) believe that "being around people from different racial or ethnic background is important to me." This question was not asked in 1989.

Drugs

Three-quarters (77%) of tweens and teens believe that "selling drugs is foolish because you might get caught," almost the same as the 80% who felt this way in 1989.

Differences between that attitudes of boys and girls.

On some of these questions – smoking, sex before marriage, suicide, selling drugs and taking care of the environment – there is virtually no difference between attitudes to teenage boys and girls. There are, however, some differences on other issues.

Gay and lesbian relations

Girls (59%) are much more likely than boys (38%) to believe that their friendship would not change if they discovered that "a good friend of yours of the same sex is involved in a gay or lesbian relationship." Similarly girls (65%) are more likely than boys (54%) to believe that "gay or lesbian relations are OK if that is the person's choice."

Sex before marriage

Girls (41%) are somewhat more likely than boys (33%) to believe that "sex before marriage is never right because it is a sin."

Diversity

Girls (63%) are somewhat more likely than boys (55%) to believe that "being around people from different racial or ethnic background is important to me."

Differences by age

On some of these issues there are big differences between younger and older youth:

Smoking

Those who believe "it is OK" to smoke "if a person finds it enjoyable" increases from only 11% of those aged 11-12 to 26% of those aged 16-17.

Sex before marriage

Only a quarter (25%) of those aged 11-12 but a 58% majority of those aged 16-17 believe "sex before marriage is OK if a couple loves each other."

Abortion

Those who believe that "abortion is all right, if having a baby will change your life plans" increases from only 18% of those aged 11-12 to 31% of those aged 16-17.

Gay and lesbian relations

Those who believe that a friendship would not change if they discovered that a friend was gay or lesbian increases from 33% of those aged 11-12 to a 55% majority of those aged 16-17.

Source: http://news.harrisinteractive.com/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?ResLibraryID=36214&GoTopage=1&Category=1777&BzID=1963&t=30

See the difference? What does really matter?

Read previous post first.

Portucel lança edição de papel limitada na Europa

Image by scarygami via Flickr

Entre as novidades que a Portucel vai apresentar na feira, destacam-se o lançamento de um novo tipo de papel - o Navigator Limited Edition - e a entrada em funcionamento da nova fábrica de papel do grupo no complexo industrial de Setúbal.

A nova gama de papel é uma edição limitada, recentemente lançada na Europa, que visa "estabelecer uma relação privilegiada com uma nova geração de consumidores, altamente sofisticados e que partilham o gosto por produtos especiais e com distinção, embora acessível para o utilizador-final".

A Portucel explica que para esta edição foi "concebido um grafismo sofisticado e um 'packaging' especial de abertura fácil e mais resistente, com possibilidades de reutilização".

Além do papel Navigator, marca 'premium' de papel de escritório mais vendida no mundo, o grupo levará à Paperworld diversas marcas de papéis 'Office' como Pioneer, Discovery, Inacopia, Explorer, Target e Multioffice.

http://economia.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1420466

A Vision of Students Today

Textbook Publishers Embrace iPad Apps for Education

Image via Wikipedia

Textbook publishers have already enlisted the third-party services of developers to build adaptations of textbooks for the iPad, the Wall Street Journal reports.

McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Pearson and Kaplan have struck deals with iPhone and iPod touch developers ScrollMotion Inc. to build applications for the iPad that bring test preparation, study guides and new types of instructional materials to the classroom.

Among the many industries potentially revolutionized by the Apple iPad, the publishing industry has been one of the early front-runners. We’re already seeing that start to play out in the e-books market with the Amazon and Macmillan dispute.

But galvanizing publishers to re-envision textbooks for new interactive devices could have a huge impact not only on Apple’s bottom line, but on education as a whole. “People have been talking about the impact of technology on education for 25 years. It feels like it is really going to happen in 2010,” said executive Rik Kranenburg of McGraw-Hill’s higher education unit.

Despite Apple’s relative lack of commentary on the iPad’s potential for the educational sector during its iPad announcement last week, it appears that textbook publishers aren’t waiting to be invited. Still, it’s yet unclear how or even if the iPad or other upcoming tablet devices will achieve wide adoption in the clhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/IPhonehomescreen.PNG/75px-IPhonehomescreen.PNGassroom, considering the cost of employing new technologies and the competition with other portable computing tools, particularly netbooks. But no matter what device ecosystem ends up holding sway, it’s potentially great news to students who stand to benefit from an emerging renaissance in digital learning materials.