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Russ Savage: Digital Business Technology
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Hints (news) on how technological change changes business process.

• surplus
  
  From Business Week, July 31,2006
  
  Iran's annual oil and gas revenues:     $60.000billion
  annual aid contribution to Hezbollah: $   .180 billion
  annual aid contribution to Hamas:      $  .040 billion
  
  and from Business Week, July 31,2006
  Russia's government owned Gazprom gas company:
  
  annual revenue: $60.000 billion
  
  Some customers and their reliance on Gazprom:
  
  Finland:           100%
  Latvia:             100%
  Lithuania:         100%
  Slovkia:            100%
  Greece:               87%
  Czech Republic:    81%
  Austria:              73%
  Turkey:              66%
  
  
  
  
  A Revolution in Wealth, by theTofflers
  What most business, political and civil leaders have not yet clearlyunderstood
  is a simple fact: An advanced economy needs an advanced society.
  For every economy is a product of the society in which it is embedded
  and is dependent on its key institutions.
  
  (chapter 5)
  
  in another place in the book, they mention the concept of: surpluscomplexity.
  more on that later.
  
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  Universities: A marriage of convenience. Technology alliances are proliferating in higher education, where companies sponsor research that advances their agendas, and concerns over conflicts of interest give way to pragmatism. [CNET News.com - Front Door]
  
  Corporate classrooms. Is tech industry a savior or danger to education? [CNET News.com - Front Door]
• The consumer defines value, producers provide choice. II
  SJ Mercury: Adding style to substance. It used to be that only high-end companies such as Apple Computer or Sony cared about industrial design -- the distinctive look and feel of their products. But in an age when hardware has become a commodity, many more tech companies are coming to realize that aesthetics matter. [Tomalak's Realm]
• 
  on the difference between marks and locks. JD Lasica has a nice pointer to a story about progress in the digital watermarking debate. She wonders about this progress because of work (in part by Ed Felten) suggesting “that all such encryption systems can be defeated.” But there is an important distinction that this debate needs. I’m a strong supporter of flawed (in the sense of defeatable) watermarking. Here’s why: [Lessig Blog]
• 
  Oh, Nooo! What If GPS Fails?. John Petersen, the director of the Arlington Institute, helps the government think about the unthinkable. His latest inquiry: What if the U.S. Global Positioning System stopped working? By Andrew Zolli from Wired magazine. [Wired News]
• 
  Unwired: Internet not a necessity. Those who don't use the Net aren't necessarily offline because they can't afford it, according to a new study that casts some doubt on traditional theories about the digital divide. [CNET News.com]
  
  Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop Offline. Not everyone who is offline is too poor to get connected to the Internet. A growing number of so-called Internet dropouts are staying away because of frustration over technical problems, according a recent study on the digital divide. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]
• 
  Filling in security GAAPs. A bid to promote good practices in security could finally make IT security as popular--or at least as standardized--as financial reporting. [CNET News.com]
• 
  Lawyers see security suit-riddled future. Speaking at the RSA data security conference, lawyers warn of Harry the Hacker and say security law could be the next big area of cyber law. [CNET News.com]
• 
  EE Times: Cryptographers sound warnings on Microsoft security plan. Whitfield Diffie, a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, said an integrated security scheme for computers is inevitable, but the Microsoft approach is flawed because it fails to give users control over their security keys. [Tomalak's Realm]
• 
  Palm Pulls the Plugs at Work. Free at last: A case study in learning to love the unchained corporation of tomorrow. A look at Palm's bid to turn itself into a wireless workforce. By Brad Stone from Wired magazine. [Wired News]
• 
  Mother of invention. How the Mosaic browser triggered a digital revolution. [CNET News.com]
• 
  Nokia software to tackle corporate apps access [IDG InfoWorld]
  
  "Mobile users will be able to access corporate e-mail, calendars, phone directories and other applications from mobile phones and other devices using software introduced Tuesday by Nokia. at the CTIA Wireless trade show here....
  
  "Nokia One is designed to let carriers provide at lower cost the kinds of services that have been provided using server-based systems set up with large enterprises. With it, corporate applications can be accessed via voice, SMS (Short Message Service), WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and the Web on a variety of devices, including mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), PCs and fixed-line phones."
• Not new, just better understood
  Don Park: Signing with voice. Don Park is exploring digital signatures based upon your voice. I've always been intrigued with voice as a biometric because of the ability to simply use existing "reader" infrastructure, i.e., phones. [Scott Loftesness]Most of us have had that phone conversation where we're told it may be recorded. We're then asked to identify ourselves and as the conversat