It’s unlucky that the acronym for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has such an unfortunate rhyme! Even more unlucky for WAP, it burst onto the mobile communication scene with lavish promises from the Mobile Operators (you know who you are) of ‘The Internet on your Mobile’ and ‘Take the Internet with you’.

That really was a load of WAP.

So, a few years on we can ask, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ‘WAP, what is it good for’?

More than you might think, given the current deafening silence from those same Mobile Operators.

The rise (and rise) of SMS is instructive. This has gone from nowhere to everywhere with practically no promotion from the networks. Type SMS into Google and you get 52 million hits! In China in 2003, 220 Billion SMS messages were sent. During 2003 in the UK alone, 30 Billion were sent, which equates to 500 for every man, woman and child in the entire country! What is going on here?

Well SMS is cheap, not cheap enough perhaps but, up until a couple of years ago, much cheaper than calling. So it was a viable alternative to making a mobile phone call, everyone could send and receive them, and it didn’t matter what handset you used or what network you were on (or even which country you were in).

Much the same is true of WAP. Most handsets sold this century in GSM markets are compatible. Costs, especially using GPRS, are very low, as long as the information is optimised for the handset. Actually, it costs less to read your email with GPRS than to send an SMS. How times change!

And people are using it, too. In the UK in December 2003, the number of WAP pages viewed was over 1 billion for the first time. The Mobile Data Association (MDA) forecasts 13 billion for 2004 as a whole, up from 9.2 billion in 2003 (against an original MDA forecast for 2003 of 8 billion).

All this is in the face of complete indifference, if not outright hostility, from the networks. The problem for them is that, as mentioned, WAP is cheap. You can get all the mobile email you need via WAP to your handset for around one tenth of the cost of a RIM Blackberry data subscription. And please don’t ask how much the running costs are of a laptop mobile data card! A while ago, one of my colleagues used more data in a month than the cost of the mobile data card itself. Since then the networks have introduced more reasonable price bands, but he now gets all the email he needs on his cellular phone via WAP for one hundredth the amount spent during those expensive 30 days. And he doesn’t need to carry a laptop around with him, wait for it boot, wait again for it to download the mail, and balance it on one hand whilst holding his coffee with the other and his mobile phone in a third!

One of our customers for our mobile email software reads his mail whilst shaving in the morning. He can find out what has been happening overnight without having to get his computer out, dial in and log on. Another browses whilst tending to his cows, miles from mains electricity. Yet another admits he reads his mail in board meetings. So far luckily no-one has noticed his mobile sitting on the desk in front of him.

And there is for WAP, most likely, no new device to buy, either. Nothing additional to weigh down your pockets or to find room for in your briefcase. And it isn’t just good for email. You can also look up train timetables, get news & sports results, find medical information, find a restaurant and see what’s on the TV tonight.

And you can do all this, with the one electronic device that most people have with them all of the time - their mobile phone.

So - no new expensive devices are required, no high monthly charges are incurred and there is no waiting. No wonder the Mobile Operators aren’t impressed!

Public liability cover is essential because all businesses are at danger to some scale. Even though nothing terrible has yet occurred to your companies office block that’s no guarantee that it will not sooner or later. If an individual is hurt, or their worldly goods stolen, it’s your contractual duty to properly refund them. The expense can easily be horrifically expensive, depending on each individual case. Looking for a Public Liability quote? Contact Insured Risks today.

Fortunately, you do have numerous chances to shield yourself against this probability. Going for public liability cover permits you to breathe a tad easier. If a customer claim is very costly, the insurance corporation will be at hand to present you with a protection net. It is their contractual requirement to guarantee that you are shielded from any claims and legal charges. This leaves you available to concentrate on actually doing business, rather than worrying about what might happen. Following are numerous illustrations of times when public liability cover have come in useful.

Owners of plumbing companies usually get the job finished fast and easy. Though, now and then something might go terribly wrong. For example, should you break a customer’s gas pipes while on the job, affecting property such as laptops & carpeting, public liability indemnity will be there to pick up the tab.

Another case study is that of a marketing company. If a customer were to break an ankle in your company even if it is not your fault, you would be held legally responsible. Still, with public liability indemnity you would not have to pay the claim yourself.

In a comparable circumstance, physical injury caused to a spectator by a worker on a building site is the duty of the corporation’s manager. This sort of claim can easily get very costly in fact, unless you have the appropriate cover.

The need to monitor and document temperature or has never been greater in the history of mankind. Over 70% of all measurements of process variables are of temperature. Many if not most products and manufacturing processes are temperature sensitive, or temperature critical.

Because the quality and safety of so many products is dependent on temperature it has been become, not only crucial, but even mandatory that temperature be monitored during the manufacturing, storage and transportation phases of many products life cycles. Private certifying agencies and government regulations are requiring an increasing number of products to be temperature monitored and documented.

There are basically three ways to monitor temperature; manually, mechanically or electronically.

Monitor temperature: The manual method

The manual way is the least accurate and would appear to be the least expensive. It is actually the most expensive but the costs are hidden so that they aren’t noticed as much. An employee assigned to periodically check and record the temperature may only need five or ten minutes a day to record the temperature but that can add up to over 50 hours a year if he is only recording the temperature once a day. Even if the employee is paid minimum wages this can amount to over $ 500/year once you add in employee perks and wasted time to get a pencil, change and file the temperature record, etc…

Monitor temperature: The mechanical method

Recording time mechanically requires a chart recorder. This device is more accurate than the manual method. It draws a line on a paper chart to show a temperature history over a day, week, or month, at which time the chart must be replaced with a new one and the old one filed away. The chart recorder is even more expensive than the manual method, since it requires employee labor to change the chart and pen periodically and you have to buy the charts and pens. The chart recorder itself can cost between $ 300 and $ 1200, while the charts and pens can add an additional $ 50/year. On top of all this you still have several hundred dollars of employee time.

Monitor temperature: The electronic method

The most accurate and least expensive way to document temperature is with a data logger. Data loggers come with or without an LCD display. The display is useful if you need to monitor the temperature and not just document it. Data loggers without a display must be programmed by wiring them up to a computer.

Data loggers are programmed to sample and store temperature electronically, after which they can be downloaded to a computer to generate a printed record to be reviewed or filed away. The initial cost is less than the chart recorder and the collected data must be downloaded only once every few months so there is really no ongoing maintenance or consumables to purchase.

The chart below compares some of the features of the three methods of monitoring and/or documenting temperature.

To become a certified MCSE - Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, you must complete several levels of training for several exams. One of the methods of training that many students find valuable to attend are the various MCSE boot camps, as they are called.

These boot camps are set up by approved computer certification training companies. They companies are approved by Microsoft to train for the various certifications, including MCSE.

Since the MCSE certification is an infrastructure type designation, there are several exams and areas of training that you will learn through these boot camps. Most of these training camps were created by companies that felt having large, extended training sessions for groups could be valuable. They are good for the certification company, because if the number of students looking to get MCSE certified is large enough, the cost is more than covered by the tuition. The students get a strong benefit of several days, a week or longer of quality training. The training would include lab work and extended seminars.

Since these Boot Camps can only be held in “so many places”, so there is travel involved for most. The tuition for a typical MCSE boot camp could be $7,000 more or less for a week or longer. Most MCSE certification companies will provide or include some or all of the following:

Air fare

Hotel accommodations

All course books and other training materials

MCSE Labs

Computer access

Meals

Certification

Students usually can obtain multiple certifications at these camps such as:

MCSE - Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. The MCSE is for implementing (including building) an infrastructure for business projects. These are done through the Windows platform 2000 and Microsoft Servers System 2003.

MCSA - Microsoft Certified Systems Admintrator.

MCDBA - Microsoft Certified Database Administrator.

You need to focus yourself before attending one of these boot camps. The MCSE certification is a wonderful achievement, and can lead the way for you to earn the money you deserve in the IT field. You must examine each company carefully when choosing which school to go to. The tuition cost, the length of the camp, number of hours and certifications earned vary with each company.

Try to look for MCSE training companies that offer several of these camps throughout the year and have multiple locations. This not only helps in seeing what are the convenient times and dates for you, but it also shows how successful the company may be as well. A company that runs several boot camps must have enough qualified people to run them. Always ask for references and testimonials and check out some message boards as well.

These boot camps aren’t like the army. Yes, they can be tough, but they are meant to give you an opportunity to build a terrific IT career VS crawling in the mud.

>From Global Career Schools

When a Digital Disaster Strikes, Who are you going to call? ECO Data Recovery has been recovering mission critical data for over 20years. Once upon a time, if your hard drive failed you had it repaired. This was a much more cost effective solution rather than buying a new “Whopping” 5Mb (Yes that is Correct 5 Megabyte, not Gigabyte!) MFM Interface drives for nearly $1,000.00! Wow! How times have changed. All hard drives fail. Plain and Simple. Javier Trilla, Recovery Engineer at ECO Data Recovery says “Every hard drive will fail.” “It’s not a matter of If, but a matter of when.” A vast majority of the newer, larger capacity hard drives are manufactured overseas, using cheaper labor, cheap parts and not much consideration to a long life span. Of course the drastic reduction in the cost of a new hard drive has dropped by leaps and bounds as well. A perfect analogy of data loss would be: “You don’t know what you have, until it’s gone!” Once you can no longer access your information, you begin to realize the full value of it. Routinely opening everyday working files, programs, and other contents that are relied upon daily, are no longer available to the user. This can bring any business “to its knees”, and fast. These days, when disaster strikes, you have alternatives. In our nearly “paperless” society, the data that is stored on hard disk drives, and other forms of storage media, can be truly priceless. The data stored on a drive, may be Payroll, Employee Information, Inventory or any number of items that when without, business continuity becomes nonexistent. (In other words, you are basically “Out of Business”) This however is simply not an option for most companies, regardless of size. Enter “Data Recovery”. The term means just that. The recovery/retrieval of mission critical information. There are numerous listings for data recovery services on any search engine. This simply underscores the importance of such service. There must be a million listings for websites that offer data recovery services. The fact of the matter however, is that there are maybe 15-20 quality, qualified data recovery labs, that specialize in hardware failure. Any physical issues MUST be overcome, prior to moving onto a “Logical Level” recovery. The hard drive in every computer will eventually fail. Will you be prepared? Will you have a strategic back up plan in place? Most businesses, whether small, medium or large will have a comprehensive plan to get back up and running. Of course there are just as many who will not. This is where the need for data recovery arises. It can be an Invaluable service, that can also “make or break” a small company. When a Digital Disaster Strikes, Who are you going to call? Let ECO Data Recovery Pick up the Digital Pieces of your Life.

Brian Cain ECO Data Recovery 4115 Burns Rd. Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 1-800-339-3412 561-691-0019 www.ecodatarecovery.com brian@ecodatarecovery.com

The NSTP ( Non - Spatial Thinking Process ) theory is the most advanced, theoretically accurate, unificatory theory that is deeply related to the idea of the whole world to be a matrix. Through the NSTP theoretical perspective space (as a room or void out there) is a projection of non - spatial mind, which is the reality. Space is a mere form of illusion, a virtual reality. Thus the theory speaks of two worlds : 1. Spatial (the pseudo one) and 2. Non - spatial (the real one). The whole reality is thus a universal non - spatial program whose real elements (hardware) are non - spatial feelings while space is a kind of software that is projected or morphed onto the non - spatial hardware. And the best practical way, it seems, is to modulate the non - spatial program (say, through meditation) to change the spatial illusion (or even terminate it) in order to gain maximum pleasure.

Kedar Joshi BSc MA MRI Cambridge, UK.

More and more future fighting vehicles introduced at the Military Trade Shows in Pakistan, China, Israel seem to contain composite material as integral components to save weight. This composite material is lightweight and has many advantages to the high cost of exotic alloy. Composite is also free from the corrosive properties of aluminum and rusting properties of iron. It is for this reason we will world fighting vehicles switch to composite components whenever heavy armor is not needed. We will also see a trend towards ceramic-composite combinations in substitute for steel armor. Lighter war vehicles, harder to see on radar, lighter and faster, greater range and longer lasting to deal with seasonal changes on the surface of the planet causing rust and corrosion.

These vehicles having these advantages also have a disadvantage of scalar or laser attack. If our weaponry can cause the material to over heat the composite will give off toxic fumes, which will kill the occupants or cause them to flee the vehicle. Thus for every vehicles which is abandoned our forces achieve one more fighting vehicle. Anyone who has ever played “Risk” will realize that it takes a lot less time to manufacture a new modern war-fighting vehicle than to capture one free of charge. We are currently building Future Fighting Vehicles, which contain composite components for the same reason that other arms traders and manufacturers are around he world. Since we all countries capable of fighting a modern war will have these composite made vehicles, it makes sense that any future adversary will make, buy, sell or use such weapons against us. If a partially composite constructed fighting vehicle is to be manned then sending in a laser or scalar wave to super heat the vehicle is a relevant tactic. Overwhelming the human occupants to get them to abandon the vehicles or to help them pre-maturely expire will add one more vehicle to our side and help quickly reduce the threat, thus win the battle.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

INSPIRATIONAL COMMENTS:

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation. - Herbert Spencer”

Albert Einstein - “We are seeking for the simplest possible scheme of thought that will bind together the observed facts.”

“If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.” - Heraclitus

“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” - William James

“I feel that if we could be serious for an hour and really fathom, delve into ourselves as much as we can, we should be able to release, not through any action of will, a certain sense of energy that is awake all the time, which is beyond thought.” - Jiddhu Krishnamurti, Madras, 1961

Heraclitus: “… conceded the existence of an over-riding, all-encompassing unity, in which the apparently contradictory opposites are all linked to one another, in a single, regular, cohesive system of balanced, harmonious measure and just order.”

“Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown. There is only one thing, and that which seems to be a plurality is merely a series of different aspects of this one thing, produced by a deception, the Indian maya, as in a gallery of mirrors.” - Erwin Schrdinger

I think this means that all the talk about anomalous or truthful science is a bunch of you know what from the ego of man. We are ‘connected’ and our real self is not our ego. I am also of the opinion that he sees something I think is the nature of reality about the personality that some insist continues in such things as past-life regressions. Yes, perhaps through limbo and obsessions some things stay in this materially focused frame of reference (I have performed exorcisms) but when we are reborn all those memories of other lives are memories of a collective oversoul not anything like an individual soul. Maya and samsara or the ‘busy-mind’ do indeed deceive as he says - and though a few will gain great insight into the plural they will still be far from totally informed. Thus we must be open to all possibilities.

“Inherent to wave mechanics are the mechanisms of wave superposition and parallel and non-linear information processing. And these mechanisms, which are also affected and regulated by the laws of thermodynamics, are responsible for information growth and the evolution of biological matter. Information begets information.” - Laurent from Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About the Author

My work can be found at World-Mysteries.com and my book Diverse Druids is showing up in fine stores like Omega in Toronto.

Coaching is a type of therapy that has become increasingly familiar over the last 6 years. The term life coaching first became likeable in the USA where, together with NLP aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, it became part of a revived spectacular wave of extraordinarily proactive therapy modalities.

In many ways both Life Coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming are a reaction against certain aspects of the Humanistic therapy movement, in particular Person-Centred Counselling. A criticism of the humanistic therapy approach is that it is remarkably reactive and not particularly proactive. Although this works marvellous with some customers, with other customers long periods of impasse or low return for time and effort occur. Coaching and NLP are both human-centred therapy in stance, focusing on improving a customers well-being rather than delving into the minefields of childhood, as in traditional psychology. Their emphasis is, however, deliberately proactive and resolve issues. Stop smoking easily with a lifestyle coach.

Coaching is not about telling the coaching customer what to do. This is a common misconception. Some coaches are pretty successful in their business careers and then make the change to lifestyle coaching, assuming that they will at most be required to divulge their pearls of tremendous business wisdom with the client. This is more like mentoring an apprentice in a specific environment. Personal coaching is instead about life as a whole.

The Manufacturer (www.themanufacturer.com) is an essential tool for US manufacturing executives, covering all aspects of managing a successful production operation. The Manufacturer is a magazine for manufacturers about manufacturers, aiming to both stimulate and inform. In today’s tough competitive environment, few executives have time for in-depth reading, but The Manufacturer gathers together the latest views and opinions on issues and manufacturing practices, providing our readers with the knowledge to encourage success. In the current issue Thomas Verzi, Director of Sales and Marketing, was interviewed about the ways in which non-integrated ERP systems are costing small manufacturers huge headaches when attempting to upgrade.

Pronto North America, Inc. is widely recognized as the authority in technologically driven business solutions and process management. Utilizing innovative implementation techniques and tools, Pronto North America generates increased performance, service, efficiency, and accountability.

Pronto North America is the North American Master Distributor of PRONTO-Xi, a comprehensive software system allowing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to effectively manage all phases of their business. Far beyond just another Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, PRONTO-Xi’s financial and distribution applications are unique and have provided maximum return on investment for a wide variety of organizations since 1976. From PRONTO Production to PRONTO Advanced Warehousing; from PRONTO Planning to PRONTO Quality Management System (QMS); from PRONTO Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) to PRONTO Forecasting Management, the cross-section and breadth of integrated elements addressed by PRONTO-Xi is unmatched in the marketplace and justifies its natural leadership role as the best fully integrated business software solution.

Pronto North America
www.prontoerp.com
Tom Verzi
952-942-5858

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