This is so true especially when there is a "ping pong" email match going on or when some are trying to debate via emails!! No wonder we spend so much time on the emails.

Until the next time, cheers.

Workers spend 61 per cent of their day lost in email and information

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 30, 2012

Lia Timson

IT Pro Editor

We spent 61 per cent of our office time deadling with emails, retrieving information and collaborating; and only 39 per cent actually performing tasks. 

The average office worker spends 28 hours a week – or nearly 1500 hours a year - writing emails, searching for information and attempting to "collaborate" internally, according to a new report.

No wonder, they feel their working hours slipping by as the time left to do "real work" stretches beyond the traditional 9 to 5.

A new global report by McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of management consultancy McKinsey & Company, argues wide adoption of social media technologies by businesses could cut down some of the time-wasting involved in emailing and improve worker productivity by 20 to 25 per cent.

According to  "The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technology" report, which uses IDC data, workers spend 28 per cent of their time, reading, writing or responding to email, and another 19 per cent tracking down information to complete their tasks. Communicating and collaborating internally accounts for another 14 per cent of the average working week, with only 39 per cent of the time remaining to accomplish role-specific tasks.

It also says social enterprises could reduce communication costs, improve worker access to knowledge and to internal experts, lower travel costs, increase employee satisfaction, reduce operational costs and, even increase revenue by 10 per cent on average.

Social media technologies include software products and services that allow people to connect more efficiently than via email. This includes internal tweets – also known as microblogging -, blogs, posting information and documents to a feed, "liking" and "sharing" other people's posts, video and audio files. It is much like Facebook and already-existing social tools for enterprises such as Chatter, by Salesforce.com, and Yammer, now owned by Microsoft.

Other social and Web2.0 tools such as wikis and shared online work spaces were also included as potential productivity improvers, although some of these have now been abandoned in preference for newer Twitter-like tools.

The report, however, suggests increased productivity can not be achieved "simply by installing social software". The tools need to be accompanied by management change and commitment.

Dr Gavin Schwarz, Associate Professor at the Australian School of Business, School of Management, UNSW agrees.

"Just because it's a more contemporary form of communication it doesn't change that people still need to be ready and have the right mindset for it," Dr Schwarz says.

"There's an assumption that because people are tweeting socially, [the habit] will automatically transfer to work. Not necessarily. It comes down to this idea that people have to be made more ready for change, regardless of what it is."

He says businesses have also to pay attention to possible generational differences when attempting to integrate social tools at work.

Companies that adopted social media tools early agree, with some previously telling IT Pro new processes needed to be "championed" by chosen users internally before they could gain traction.

Dr Asif Qumer Gill, research fellow in business information systems at the University of Sydney, has just released a paper evaluating the use of social tools in business, including Chatter.

He estimates people spend between 40 and 50 per cent of their working day communicating via email, face-to-face and in meetings, but this is not integrated with the actual work they are doing.

"Email is a very passive way to communicate," Dr Gill says.

Email and meeting times could be reduced if people were allowed to have quick discussions and exchanges from within the software program they are using – say updating a group while commenting on a written report, or obtaining in-line stage approvals for a writing or coding project. The current practice is to leave the work aside, fire off an email program, try to keep track of email communication and later search for approvals and conversations to justify decisions.

"So not only communication can improve [with social media tools] but the quality of work can improve," Dr Gill says.

The report authors estimate between $US900 billion and $1.3 billion ($859 billion to $1.24 billion) of global economic surplus could be "unlocked" through the use of social technologies in private and public sectors.

Two-thirds of that value would come from improved communications and collaboration, however, companies would need to be networked not only technologically, but also behaviourally.

The social utopia is not without risks, however. The report listed identity theft, loss of intellectual property, privacy violations, abuse and damage to reputation as risks derived from the use of social technologies as a business tool, but warned companies that fail to understand their benefits would be at greater risk of having their business model disrupted by the very trend they resist.

The report said companies that stand to gain the most from the social enterprise are those in the technology, professional services, education, media and entertainment, banking, telecommunications and insurance.

Those with lower value potential are in the energy, national governments, pharmaceutical and food and beverage fields.

Email is not likely to disappear altogether, though, says Dr Gill.

"It is not going to be thrown away. But it will be easier to use. Email should be able to be used from [inside] other platforms."

Firstly, at least both sides of the political divide agree on something at last. Second, the survey must be mad to say that Singapore food is better than Penang food? I have not heard of Asians going to Singapore because of the "great hawker food" but then again, can we trust some Mat Salleh's taste buds? Also, I know of many Singaporeans who go to Penang just for the food and swear by it that it is the best.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, Tuesday July 24, 2012

Guan Eng and Teng stand united in defence of Penang hawker food

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Barisan Nasional chairman Teng Chang Yeow often find themselves on opposite sides of the fence on almost every issue.

However, the two are standing united in defence of the position of Penang hawker food, saying that they are more superior than that of Singapore.

Both questioned the reliability of the food surveys that listed Penang hawker fare as third best in the world, behind Bangkok and Singapore.

Local delights: These photos show two of Penang’s famous dishes – assam laksa and char koay teow (right).

 

“It is common knowledge that Singaporeans have been flocking to our shores for food,” said Teng, who was former state Tourism Committee chairman.

“They come here for our food and not the way around. We seldom hear of Penangites going to Singapore to try out their food,” he said, adding that Singaporeans accounted for the highest number of foreign tourists coming to Penang.

In a posting dated July 21 on VirtualTourist.com, a write-up with a Los Angeles deadline titled “Travel Picks: Top 10 cities for street food”, Penang emerged third.

Asked how Penang could have fallen behind Singapore, Teng said it was his opinion that it was due to promotional activities.

He cited an example where a local Chinese daily reported that Penang Global Tourism had drawn flak for its George Town Festival 2012 promotional activities in Singapore on a social networking site.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has called on those who think that Singapore food is more superior to come to Penang.

Stressing that there was “no contest” when compared to Penang food, Lim said that those who preferred the food from the country's southern neighbour had probably never tasted anything better.

“There are more tourists who travel to Bangkok and Singapore than to Penang.

“So naturally, they would feel that food in those places is good.

“Comparing Penang food to that of Singapore is like comparing Mount Everest to a hill,” Lim said.

“Tasting is believing.

“Penang food is regionally famous and one of the main attractions,” he said.

Saying that he himself had gained inches around the waist since moving to Penang, Lim claimed that even Singaporeans would not agree that their food was better.

“People from Singapore come to Penang to eat, not the other way around.

It is no wonder the bridge is widening ever so much. Spare a thought (and some spare change) for the poor.

Until the next time, cheers.

World's super rich said to be hiding $20 trillion in offshore tax havens

The Guardian, July 23, 2012

Heather Stewart

Oil-rich states with an internationally mobile elite have been especially prone to watching their wealth disappear into offshore bank accounts. 

A GLOBAL super-rich elite has exploited gaps in cross-border tax rules to hide an extraordinary £13 trillion ($20 trillion) of wealth offshore - as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together - according to research commissioned by the Tax Justice Network.

James Henry, former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has compiled the most detailed estimates yet of the size of the offshore economy in a new report, The Price of Offshore Revisited.

He shows that at least £13 trillion - perhaps up to £20 trillion - has leaked out of scores of countries into secretive jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands with the help of private banks, which vie to attract the assets of so-called high-net-worth individuals. Their wealth is, as Mr Henry puts it, ''protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy''. According to Mr Henry's research, the top 10 private banks, which include UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, as well as the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, managed more than £4 trillion in 2010, a sharp rise from £1.5 trillion five years earlier.

The detailed analysis in the report, compiled using data from a range of sources, including the Bank for International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund, suggests that for many developing countries the cumulative value of the capital that has flowed out of their economies since the 1970s would be more than enough to pay off their debts to the rest of the world.

Oil-rich states with an internationally mobile elite have been especially prone to watching their wealth disappear into offshore bank accounts instead of being invested at home, the research suggests. Once the returns on investing the hidden assets is included, almost £500 billion has left Russia since the early 1990s when its economy was opened up. Saudi Arabia has seen £197 billion flood out since the mid-1970s, and Nigeria £196 billion.

''The problem here is that the assets of these countries are held by a small number of wealthy individuals while the debts are shouldered by the ordinary people of these countries through their governments,'' the report says.

The sheer size of the cash pile sitting out of reach of tax authorities is so great that it suggests standard measures of inequality radically underestimate the true gap between rich and poor. According to Mr Henry's calculations, £6.3 trillion of assets is owned by only 92,000 people, or 0.001 per cent of the world's population - a tiny class of the mega-rich who have more in common with each other than those at the bottom of the income scale in their own societies.

Leaders of G20 countries have repeatedly pledged to close down tax havens since the financial crisis of 2008.

GUARDIAN

This is really a cool way to put technology to good use. It will promote the proper stimulus to make learning more real and enjoyable and in the same time foster better understanding of another culture.This should be introduced in Malaysia (or any country for that matter) soonest possible.

Until the next time, cheers.

Pupils find new way with words

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 23, 2012

James Robertson

Schools are using video conferencing to enhance learners' ability to use foreign languages.

Crossing borders ... students from Pymble Ladies College use video conferencing to communicate with students in Korea. Photo: Simon Alekna

The perennial challenges of language teachers - to unlock strange words on a page from textbooks and overcome the barriers of distance - are shrinking as the world speeds up.

Now, instead of relying on books and tapes, many students beginning the journey into another language are able to speak face-to-face with children their own age in another country, thanks to high-speed internet connections and video-conferencing facilities.

They're having a lot of their stereotypes challenged and perspectives broadened. 
Melissa Gould-Drakeley

Such opportunities, once the preserve of only the most privileged or dedicated students, are spreading through the school system and finally offering a realistic way to bring the world into the classroom.

Successive federal governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying and failing to encourage students to tackle Asian languages during the past 20 years. Perhaps technology could be the impetus to reverse the decade-long decline in Asian-language learning.

At Macarthur Anglican School, in Cobbitty, south-west of Sydney, the year 9 Indonesian class started twice-weekly Skype sessions with a madrasah in South Jakarta last year.

Students originally spoke to each other over laptops in groups of three but now converse one-on-one in front of the entire class.

The conversations are lively affairs, interrupted by applause and driven by the students' curiosity about each other's daily life, culture and views on such things as One Direction.

''As soon as you have real people involved, it brings a soul to the curriculum,'' says an Indonesian language teacher at the school, Melissa Gould-Drakeley. ''That has been the biggest change: the change of motivation from students wanting to get [the language] right.''

''Role plays are notorious because they have no social consequences,'' says a professor of Indonesian at the Australian National University, Dr Timothy Hassall, who is also an expert on second-language learning.

Typically, conversations in early and intermediate language classes are predictable. Students prepare set speeches or act out role plays with few variables. ''Hey, Pak, is this hotel clean and cheap? No, Ibu, that hotel is expensive and dirty.''

''Here, they're actually trying to initiate and maintain a relationship,'' Hassall says. ''It's stressful and a lot more of a thrill.''

Gould-Drakeley says the vision her students gain of Indonesian culture is more complex and up-to-date than that presented in textbooks.

''There's a stereotype that Indonesia is very conservative; they're surprised that anything's modern: 'You do go to the movies', 'You do have an iPhone','' she says. ''They're having a lot of their stereotypes challenged and perspectives broadened.''

Since they started using Skype as a class, several of the students have formed their own online relationships, improving their vocabulary and application.

''The visual element of Skype is important, too,'' Hassall says. ''It has huge advantages over a phone connection in a second language, which has a lot of difficulty unless you're fluent.''

Hassall says the exposure to idiom will broaden students' vocabularies. Using their vocabularies for genuine communication and to learn more about foreign cultures is also likely to cement their interest.

Keeping students interested will be key if the government is to meet its goal of doubling the rate at which languages are studied.

Asian languages in Australian schools reached a peak in 2000, thanks to the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools Strategy.

The $100 million-a-year program (in today's money) took the number of students studying Indonesian, Korean, Chinese and Japanese to more than 750,000. Since that scheme was scrapped in 2002, the latest figures show that number has dropped by more than 100,000. Even this decline is masked by a rise in the number of students learning Chinese - an increase due largely to rising numbers of native or heritage student speakers.

The decline is explained by several factors, including the supply of teachers and the way languages are assessed in the HSC. But keeping students interested is fundamental.

Indonesian, the third most popular language in Australian schools, is a case in point. Since 2005, 10,000 fewer school students study Indonesian each year. Of the 120,000 primary school students who start learning Indonesian, only about 1 per cent continue through to their final year.

The figures for other languages are similar if native speakers are excluded. ''One thing we have long known about learning a foreign language is that personal experience and personal relationships with native speakers are incredibly important motivators,'' says a director at the Asia Education Foundation (AEF), Kurt Mullane.

The AEF is promoting the use of video conferencing in schools through its BRIDGE (Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement) program. So far it has linked more than 120 schools with counterparts in Indonesia, Korea, Japan and China.

The federal government last month gave the AEF $1 million to further train teachers in using the technology.

''It has huge potential,'' Mullane says, noting that his organisation hopes to give a wide pool of students a connection to foreign culture, something previously provided only to those who can afford to go on exchanges.

Video conferencing is being used outside language classes, too.

At Pymble Ladies College, the video-conferencing centre resembles the United Nations General Assembly. Students sit in groups of three around circular tables and in front of individual microphones and laptops.

The geography class links up with a sister school in Korea, and the students compare each other's economies.

In English, they analyse Cinderella and its Korean equivalent, and compare notes on the changing status of women.

The school's language classes also make the most of the video-conferencing centre. Students of French and German get to know their host families before they go on exchange, while the Latin class performs in a global recitation competition, linked up with students from 18 countries, to be judged by teachers in Europe and North Africa.

A professor of linguistics at the University of South Australia, Angela Scarino, says that while video conferencing enlivens language classes, the texture it adds to students' perspectives of foreign cultures could be the secret to boosting their enrolment in language subjects.

''There's a real live experiential dimension, it's up to date, it's actual, it's not a picture of these cultures of thousands of years ago,'' Scarino says. ''But it won't be the technology by itself.

''The technology needs to become a bridge. And the teachers need to facilitate that bridging.''

Teachers have to help their students mediate cultures, she says, in an experience that raises the same provocative questions as living in a foreign culture.

''Teachers should get students to recognise that there are other ways of seeing the world and being in the world, places where if you use your own ways you might cause offence.''

Get students interested in deeper questions about how their culture differs and intersects with others, and enthusiasm for language will flow naturally.

''That's an enormously important piece of learning now that there's so much movement in the world,'' Scarino says. But, as Gould-Drakeley says, many of her students are surprised by how much of their conversations don't need translation.

''One of my girls said she was going to go to a Justin Bieber concert and the girls over there screamed with delight.''

A real tragedy. Imagine the risk some are willing to take for a better life. We must be thankful for what we have. 

Until the next time, cheers.

Tamils: why we get on the boats

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 21, 2012

Ben Doherty

'Five hundred people have left from this village, from this area, all for Australia' ... Kajan, above in his village, says there is no work and people are desperate. 

ON A remote stretch of Sri Lanka's west coast lies the village that wants to come to Australia.

The homes here are built alike, low and squat, their thatched roofs tightly tied down against the monsoon's rains and wind. And from almost every one, someone has left for Australia.

Some reach Christmas Island, phoning home to say they're safe. Others are caught before they can board a boat, or have their vessel stopped and turned around by Sri Lankan navy ships. Still others leave and are never heard from again.

Sangita and her sister Aahna cry for asylum seekers who have left her village. Her brother was jailed after he tried to leave. Photo: Abeetha Sandish Pathirana

''Five hundred people have left from this village, from this area, all for Australia,'' says Kajan*, waving his arm along the beachfront, a few hundred metres down from a military watchpost over the sea. ''Everybody is going because they see other people reach there and they want that life too.''

His son-in-law and a friend, both fishermen, left a little over a month ago. They reached Christmas Island after three weeks at sea. ''They went for money reasons,'' he says, through an interpreter. ''We cannot make a living here. They went so they could support our family.''

Kajan insists that, three years on from the end of Sri Lanka's brutal separatist civil war, the country still offers Tamils no chance ''to make a good life''. ''No job, no education, we have trouble from the police and army. We are desperate people,'' he says.

This year has seen a massive jump in the number of asylum seekers, overwhelmingly Tamil, fleeing Sri Lanka for Australia. So far, 1541 Sri Lankan asylum seekers have reached Australian territory, more than a 700 per cent increase on the figure for all of last year (211). As well, more than 700 people have been arrested and jailed for trying to leave Sri Lanka, ''irregularly'' seeking passage to Australia. In the past fortnight alone, 334 people have been arrested trying to flee, Navy Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya says.

The navy, police, army and air force are all deployed patrolling Sri Lanka's coasts and, almost every day, another boatload is intercepted and turned around. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says the massive jump in numbers was because of a delayed, and weak, monsoon, which had given boats a chance to get across the Indian Ocean. He says Australia was the easiest and the cheapest place for asylum seekers to flee to.

''Ninety-nine per cent of these people are Tamils, almost all of them have some relations in Australia and their relatives tell them to come,'' he tells the Herald.

But Mr Rohana rejects allegations that Tamils still face persecution in Sri Lanka.

''These people are told to give a bad image of Sri Lanka, by the people smugglers who make money taking people across the ocean. They are told to pretend they are being ill-treated and discriminated against. It is not true.''

The Herald has chosen not to name this isolated Tamil-dominated fishing village, its location or the names of those spoken to. The people speak only on condition of anonymity. They fear government reprisals, against them or against their family members.

Every house has an Australian story. Dharuna's 27-year-old son left for Australia 18 days ago. He caught a bus in the middle of the night, then rang to say he'd boarded a boat and was leaving the country. She's not heard from him since.

''Everybody else who left [from here] has reached [Australia and] has called, but he has not called. Every day I am waiting.''

She says her son was following others who'd successfully crossed before him. Still, she resisted letting him go.

''It was difficult, I didn't want [him to go], but I had no choice. I have four children, we need him to support us.''

Across the unsealed street, Gadin appears thin, tired and drawn. He is two days out of jail. He was caught on board a boat bound for Australia two months ago, which was stopped by a navy ship. He was interrogated for two days by the Sri Lankan police and then jailed for more than a month, he said.

''It was very hard, we slept chest to back, all packed in like sardines. I could not sleep and there was hardly any food,'' he says.

His sisters got him out. His freedom cost tens of thousands of rupees, they tearfully explain, but decline to go into detail of whom they paid and for what. If he flees again, his family will suffer.

Economic opportunity, real or perceived, is the major driver that puts people from this village onto leaky boats bound for the other side of the ocean. But some leave here because they face serious, systematic and sometimes terrifying persecution.

The ''white van'' abductions - where people are grabbed from the street by plain-clothed men driving unmarked vehicles, to disappear for days, weeks or sometimes forever - are less common this far from the big cities. But people are regularly hauled in by police and face prolonged, sometimes violent, interrogation.

The latest United Nations report on Sri Lanka says it is ''seriously concerned about the continued and consistent allegations of the widespread use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of suspects''.

People say this village never supported the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, better known as the Tamil Tigers. They claim they are targeted simply because they are Tamil.

''It doesn't matter if you did nothing, if you don't know anything, you are under suspicion always,'' Gadin says.

The men here are fishermen, regularly plying their trade in the north and east of the country. During the war, that brought them into contact with the rebel Tigers, often unwillingly.

In the uneasy peace that exists now in postwar Sri Lanka, a line can be drawn to almost every Tamil.

''Anyone can be accused,'' Gadin says, ''we are all guilty to them.'' But leaving often makes the situation worse for those left behind. Police arrive unannounced at people's homes, demanding to know why they left and who took them.

People in this village have been interrogated for days, threatened and beaten. Ajith Rohana says allegations of torture or maltreatment at the hands of police are untrue.

''Generally, as a practice, torture never takes place in Lankan police stations.''

Despite the current exodus of asylum claimants, in this coastal village, understanding of Australia's process for assessing asylum seekers is poor. Many are told, and believe, asylum seekers will be granted citizenship on arrival, or that their claims are guaranteed to be accepted if they reach Christmas Island. Others say it is a matter of weeks before their relatives will be working, earning Australian dollars and sending them home.

For all the risk, the threat of jail and the uncertainty of the other side, there is no shortage of young men here willing to chance the perilous crossing. But Gadin, having tried and failed once to go to Australia, won't try again.

''I had my one chance to go, I have lost that,'' he says. ''But others will try in my place.''

* Names have been changed.

Follow Ben Doherty on Twitter @SouthAsiaCorro

I hope Apple will not be stupid enough to start changing things....

Until the next time, cheers.

Will a new iPhone connector burn the Apple faithful?  

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 21, 2012

Adam Turner

Hanging up on Apple ... switching the connector on the iPhone 5 would significantly fragment Apple's ecosystem. Photo: Adam Turner.

Are you ready to throw away your accessories and start again?

Apple rumours are a dime a dozen, but talk of a new connector on the iPhone 5 is getting louder. The current 30-pin connector has remained consistent with every iteration of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This consistency has certainly worked to Apple's advantage when it came to building a thriving ecosystem of speaker docks, sound system connectors, car mounts, chargers and other iGadget accessories. I'd say this ecosystem has long been part of the iPhone's attraction and one of its key strengths over the ever-improving Android.

The consistency of the iGadget connector has also meant that hand-me-down iPhones could remain useful. My old iPhone 3G is now in the hands of my young son (although it's been locked down to become little more than an iPod). While this might deprive Apple of a sale in the short-term, in the long-term it brings another iGadget user into the fold who will certainly favour Apple when the time comes for him to buy his own gadgets.

Meanwhile my original iPhone 2G, shipped over from the US, lives on an iPod dock in the bathroom. The ability for my family to mix and match our iGadgets between chargers and sound docks is one of the key benefits which has seen me resist the lure of Android and stick with the iPhone. My colleague Charles Wright recently jumped ship to the Samsung Galaxy S III and I agree with much of his reasoning. I've also become "disillusioned with Apple", as Charles puts it. To be honest my home has become a little too iCentric to easily make the shift. But all this could change with the iPhone 5. Households which face the hassle of owning iGadgets on either side of the connector divide will be forced to question whether they want to throw away everything and start again. If they're also disillusioned with Apple, it could present the perfect opportunity to make a clean break.

Switching the connector on the iPhone 5 would significantly fragment Apple's ecosystem, a fragmentation which Cupertino has fought hard to avoid. It will be interesting to see what Apple adds to the iPhone 5 to sweeten the deal. Near Field Communications is an obvious candidate, but Apple might also take the opportunity to overhaul the iPhone form factor and change the screen size. Better to do it now than to wait for another year and make a second change which renders yet another generation of iPhone accessories obsolete.

Significant changes to the iPhone present a risk to Apple, especially now that Android is putting forward such worthy competitors. The extra screen real estate of the Galaxy S III and HTC One X is certainly putting the pressure on Apple to upsize the iPhone. If the new iPhone won't fit old iPhone accessories then a connector change probably won't matter all that much. But a connector change without a bigger screen is going to be a hard pill for some iPhone owners to swallow. Apple will resort to all its usual tactics to encourage people to upgrade, but there will be plenty of iPhone 4 owners wondering whether it might be easier to just upgrade to an iPhone 4S on the cheap to postpone the pain.

Very good and practical advise in our connected world.

Until the next time, cheers.

Message alert: avoid email's seven deadly sins

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 19, 2012

Andrew May

Research has found that 70 per cent of emails are responded to within six seconds of arriving and 85 per cent within three minutes. 

REMEMBER the good old days when we actually spoke to the people we work with and posted letters using ''snail mail''?

These days, speed and simplicity are the new kings of communication, and acting as court jester is email. Email has revolutionised communication, making it simpler and faster for businesses.

But it's not all good news. Most workers have come to rely way too much on email. Some are email addicts. To help you break the habit, here are some helpful hints.

■ Pop-up alert: Save time (and your mind) by switching off your email alert. This will help you to focus on one task at a time, especially when it requires thought and innovation. Check your emails at specific times: at the start of the day, just before lunch and at the end of the day.

■ Email tennis: Ever had one of those email conversations that goes on like a Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal final set tiebreaker? Get out of the habit of playing long games of email tennis. If you're still not sure what to do after two emails, revert to a really old-fashioned way of communicating and pick up the phone. Better still, if they work in the cubicle next to you, get off your backside and go and see them.

■ The email ostrich: This involves sticking your head in the sand and using email (or any form of electronic communication) to avoid face-to-face confrontation. Email is best suited to simple communications such as scheduling meetings and circulating minutes or updates. It isn't a substitute for personal contact.

■ Writing a thesis: We've all had to endure colleagues or clients who waffle on in emails. Simple solution? Get to the point and keep it brief. Email tends to be more like conversational speech and falls into a category between a short note and a memo, so it is unnecessary to spend hours composing a message with the formality and rigidity of a PhD thesis.

■ Unprofessional email etiquette: When you send your URGENT emails that need responses ASAP, is it really crucial that you get a response immediately? Being on the receiving end of these emails isn't fun, so LOSE THE CAPITAL LETTERS, urgent missives, bold headings and 32 point text - it only makes you look rude and impatient.

■ Quick Draw McGraw: 70 per cent of emails are responded to within six seconds of arriving and 85 per cent within three minutes? Stop the insanity and break the habit of reaching for the keyboard and firing away an automated response. Because email is quick and viewed as a less formal medium than letters or memos, people can be careless in their eagerness to reply. We've all seen this deadly sin in action and it can have devastating consequences. Like when a friend or colleague writes something about someone or something and accidentally copies in the entire distribution list. At the least, this will provide embarrassment; and at the worst jeopardise your career. If you are going to send an emotional or angry email, write it, store it in your draft folder, read it again later, and then re-evaluate how you feel.

■ Lack of email guidelines: I'm constantly amazed that many large companies (even in the ASX top 50) have little or no formal email policies. It seems most organisations just ''do'' email. Email can be a blight on and an added source of workplace stress that nobody needs. Break the seven deadly sins with increased self-awareness and apply some discipline and email can live up to its promise of being a fast and efficient communications tool.

Andrew May is chief executive of The Performance Clinic.

This is both really funny and tragic. Tragic because of the hardship due to the US led boycott and funny because of the solution suggested by their politician. I suppose we have also a few politicans who can vie for the same status.

Until the next time, cheers.

No harm, no fowl: police chief wants chickens plucked from Iranian TV screens

Telegraph, London, July 17, 2012

Robert Tait

TEHRAN: The rising cost of raw chicken in Iran has prompted the police chief to urge broadcasters to censor it from television screens in the interests of social harmony.

Against a backdrop of lengthening food queues, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, the head of Iran's law enforcement forces, has warned that films showing scenes of people eating chicken could provoke attacks on the country's more well-off citizens.

''They show chicken being eaten in movies while somebody might not be able to buy it,'' Mr Ahmadi-Moghaddam, the brother-in-law of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told a law enforcement conference in Tehran.

''Films are now the windows of society and some people observing this class gap might say that we will take knives and take our rights from the rich. IRIB [Iran's state broadcaster] should not be the shop window for showing all which is not accessible.''

The warning is the latest sign of official alarm over the strains being caused by rampant inflation and international sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program.

The country's already creaking economy suffered a further blow this month when a European Union boycott of oil sales took effect at the same time as a US embargo penalising countries that continued to buy Iran's crude oil. Oil revenues, on which the economy heavily depends, have been badly hit as a result.

Rising chicken prices have come to symbolise the privations being endured by Iran's citizens. In recent weeks, shoppers have had to spend 70,000 rials ($5.50) for a kilogram of chicken - around three times last year's price.

Farmers and retailers have blamed a shortfall of imported livestock feed, partly caused by sanctions, leading in turn to a drastic rise in the price of domestically produced feed.

Increases have been seen in the costs of red meat, fruit and vegetables.

With chicken forming a core part of the meat-rich national diet, long queues have been reported at state food distribution centres, where it has been sold in rationed quantities at lower, government-fixed prices.

Perhaps with a view to stemming negative reporting, the Caspian Sea province of Gilan even took the novel step of offering discounted chicken to accredited journalists.

Last week, the Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister, Mohammad Hosseini, warned the media against reporting the economic impact of sanctions.

Telegraph, London

This is so true. I am also a sucker in this sense.

Until the next time, cheers.

Storage suckers  

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2012

Farhad Manjoo

Why do tech companies charge so much for just a few dollars of extra memory?

Steve Jobs launches the original iPad in 2010. Photo: Getty Images

When Google unveiled its new tablet computer earlier this month, the company disclosed that it wouldn't be making much of a profit on the device. That's partly true. This week iSuppli, a research firm that specializes in breaking down devices to determine the cost of their constituent parts, reported that Google and its hardware partner Asus spend about $US159 to make the entry-level Nexus 7. That model holds 8GB of data and sells for $US199 in the States. When you consider all the additional costs of selling the gadget - software, marketing, licensing, packaging, and the $US25 of Google Play credits that come with the tablet - it's quite likely that Google is making very little on every 8GB Nexus 7 it sells. It might even be losing money.

But that's only half of the story. Google also offers a higher-end model of the Nexus 7, this one with 16GB of storage that goes for US$249. According to iSuppli, doubling the storage capacity of the tablet costs Google and Asus just $US7.50. By charging you a premium price for a low-cost upgrade, Google turns its cheap tablet into a nice moneymaker. If you fall for the 16GB model, you're Google's sucker.

It's not just Google. Charging a lot of money for extra storage on phones and tablets has become a significant source of the tech industry's profits. There's only one company to blame (or credit) for this trend: Apple, of course.

Ever since the days of the iPod, Apple has boosted its bottom line through upgrades. The company offers the entry-level versions of its devices at a price that seems reasonable to many people. This entry-level price functions as a marketing come-on - a way to get you in the store. Once you're there, your eye wanders to the next level. Is 16GB really enough space on my beautiful new iPad - won't I feel cramped on a year or two? Shouldn't I spring for more? It's only $US100...

That's exactly what Apple wants you think. Once you decide to move beyond the entry-level iPad, the company's profits soar. According to iSuppli, it costs Apple about $US316 to make the low-end 16GB iPad, which the company sells for $US499 - a margin of about 37 per cent, not including non-manufacturing costs. Doubling the storage space to 32GB costs Apple $US17 more, but it charges you $US599 for that model, boosting its margin to 45 per cent. On the high-end Wi-Fi model, which offers you 64GB of space for $US699, Apple's non-manufacturing profit margin shoots up to 48 per cent. But that's not all! If you get an iPad with 4G cellular connectivity, you're really in for it. The very top-end iPad, a 64GB model with 4G, will set you back $US829 for a device that costs Apple $US408 to make - a margin of 51 per cent, or twice what Apple makes on the cheapest iPad. There may be other popular products that carry such a breathtaking markup, but I bet most of them are monitored by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

These enormous profit margins prompt two questions. First, why do tech companies charge so much for just a few dollars of extra stuff? Second, are they ripping you off? The answers are pretty simple: They gouge you because they can. And of course you're getting ripped off! Try to remember this when you find yourself giving in to upgrade temptation. These days, for most people, upgrading to get extra space is usually overkill.

It's easy to understand why storage upgrades are so tempting. Unlike PCs, phones and tablets are self-contained, locked-up devices. They carry the threat of obsolescence. If you run out of space on your desktop, you can always get an external hard drive. You can't do that on your phone: Once you find yourself with too many photos, apps, videos, and songs, you might have to start deleting stuff, and nobody wants to do that. "I think that they want you to realise that since they're giving you enough horsepower and resolution and features, you'll find that 8GB probably isn't going to cut it, and you'll make the impulse upgrade," says Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst at iSuppli. "I don't want to call [the entry-level model] a false offering, but they expect a lot of people to upgrade out of necessity so that it improves their margins."

The 8GB of storage that come with the Nexus 7's entry-level tablet doesn't sound like a lot, but I suspect it's enough for most people. The 16GB of storage available on the cheapest iPad, meanwhile, should be more than plenty. You'll almost always use these devices when they're connected to a broadband line - when you're at home, work, or a coffee shop - or when you're in between those locations. This means you'll always be pretty close to virtually unlimited online storage - the splendours of Dropbox Spotify, iCloud, Flickr, Facebook, et al - so you won't need to keep all of your media on your tablet. On your cheap 16GB iPad, you'll be able to keep the most important stuff with you all the time. For everything else, look to the cloud.

Now, I bet that more than a few readers will chime in to testify about their unquenchable appetite for more gigs. Perhaps your music collection is overwhelming. Perhaps you can never stand to be without tens of thousands of photos of your kid. Perhaps you're in the movie business and you need lots and lots of room for various cuts of your next blockbuster. I'll concede that the cloud just isn't good enough yet - networks aren't fast or reliable enough-to satisfy some power users, and for those people, paying $US100 or $US200 for extra space, even at a high markup, might be well worth it.

But I'm imploring you to take a minute to examine your needs. Don't upgrade on impulse. Chances are you're not a power user, especially if your tablet is meant to be a secondary device. If you're mostly using it around the house to browse the web, even the Nexus 7's paltry-sounding 8GB should suit you.

Apple and other device makers probably recognise this as well. They're making a lot of money from jacking up the price of storage now, but that party can't last forever. For one thing, as Rassweiler points out, the cost of Flash memory is sliding. Earlier this year, Apple acquired Anobit, a startup that will likely reduce storage prices even further. (One theory is that Anobit's technology will allow Apple to cram more data on each Flash chip, letting it make a 24GB iPad with a 16GB chip.) Today, Flash memory chips cost about $US1 per gigabyte, but as tech improvements slash these prices, Apple and its rivals will feel pressure to bump up the base level of storage. Once that happens-if Apple's entry-level iPad offers 24GB or 32GB - upgrading will become even less attractive, especially if broadband networks and cloud-enabled apps keep improving.

You should keep this future in mind when you're at the Apple Store. How long are you going to keep your new iPad, anyway? Better phones and tablets come out every year. The one you're buying now isn't going to be with you forever. At best, you'll get three years out of it before it becomes obsolete. Modern gadgets are meant to be disposable machines, not eternal repositories of all your stuff. So buy just as much as you need - and if you find yourself running out of room someday, well, Apple will be happy to take your money for whatever it's peddling then.

Slate

Time for a change? Can we after so used to the current one?

Until the next time, cheers.

New keyboard layout easy as ABC

The Sydney Morning Herald, July 11, 2012

Bridie Jabour

brisbanetimes.com.au reporter

John Lambie's alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. Photo: Supplied

We have been using it since 1878, firstly on the humble typewriter and now most of us carry one around with us every day in the form of a smartphone.

But is it time to end our love affair with the QWERTY keyboard?

Brisbane-based entrepreneur John Lambie first started working on an alternative to what he calls the "dysfunctional" QWERTY keyboard more than 25 years ago, but has seen a real opportunity for people to break their QWERTY as they abandon keyboards for smartphones.

John Lambie's keyboard in use on a tablet. Photo: Supplied

Mr Lambie is in the United States shopping around his keyboard, which has been designed for optimum use with just one finger or to split itself in two to make typing easier with two thumbs.

The keyboard is in alphabetical order with the letters split over five rows instead of three and it is able to be flipped for easier use by left handed people.

"I've been playing with ideas, doodling things in the margin as it were for over 25 years," Mr Lambie said.

"I was inspired by a lecturer at university who had severe cerebral palsy and therefore very limited use of his hands and fingers and he would always, in every single lecture, find some way to say some derogatory remark about QWERTY.

"He said it really is the worst piece of usability design ever.

"It's become so entrenched unfortunately that the human race is almost stuck with it."

Mr Lambie pointed out the QWERTY keyboard was originally designed to slow people down and space the most used letters far apart so typewriter arms would not stick together.

He is developing a keyboard for Android phones (Apple and Microsoft will not let developers change the keyboard of their smartphones), which should be ready for download as an app between August and September.

Mr Lambie is targeting developing countries, such as India and the Philippines, where people have not grown up with QWERTY keyboards in their homes, but are buying up smartphones that have been made in countries such as China on the cheap.

Mr Lambie said what people in developed countries had was the change in keyboard had already been heralded and proven easy to learn.

"I think the change now has been heralded by the advent of, perhaps the most popular keyboard that has ever been used, and has already paved the way for a new keyboard," he said.

"What people don't realise is there is already a second keyboard out there that is already way more popular than QWERTY that requires no lessons, that people pick up straight away, and it's the same keyboard that kick started the mobile revolution.

"Do you know what keyboard I am talking about? The one you have on your phone, the number pad."

Mr Lambie said while from an efficiency perspective the number pad was a "nightmare" – citing the need to press a button four times just for the letter S – the beauty of it was it was alphabetic.

"This is the missing link, this is the one when you talk to people you say 'oh but there is another keyboard, the one that kick started the mobile revolution' and they look at you funny," he said.

"...because we adopted it so naturally, it was easy to use, but it didn't require lessons to start it, it was essentially a two to three day learning curve.

"It was clunky to start with but essentially it was easy to use because of the alphabetic type writer."

Queensland University of Technology health faculty senior lecturer Charles Worringham, who specialised in human motor control, said it was possible for people to master another keyboard after learning QWERTY, but the challenge is motivating them do it.

"There are some layouts which are better than QWERTY, no question about that, but the problem is the trade-off, well, several trade-offs," Dr Worringham said.

"One is the rate of learning a new configuration compared to the benefits so the benefits have got to be really big to make it worth learning a new layout.

"...most folks get frustrated before they get to the point (of learning a new layout) if they persisted they might have an advantage, a text entry speed advantage, but they're not usually huge advantages and most people just don't have the motivation to stick with learning a new layout."

China, Vatican clash over bishops

The New York Times, July 12, 2012

Ian Johnson

BEIJING: In a sign of rising tensions between the Vatican and China, authorities have ordained one Catholic bishop without Rome's consent and detained another after he made a dramatic break with the country's Communist-run religious hierarchy.

On Friday, government officials organised the consecration of the Reverend Yue Fusheng as bishop in the northern city of Harbin. Mr Yue's nomination had not been approved by the Vatican, and reports said bishops loyal to Rome were forced to participate - a common practice meant to give Beijing-appointed bishops legitimacy in the eyes of local believers. The Vatican immediately excommunicated him.

Then, on Saturday in Shanghai, the most important city for China's Catholics, the Reverend Ma Daqin, a man widely seen as acceptable to both Beijing and Rome, was consecrated as auxiliary bishop. The move put him in line to succeed Bishop Jin Luxian, 95, who had also been approved by both Beijing and Rome.

But Mr Ma stunned hundreds of worshippers in the city's Cathedral of St Ignatius by announcing he would no longer work for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, the government-run body that oversees Catholics in China.

''In the light of the teaching of our mother church, as I now serve as a bishop, I should focus on pastoral work and evangelisation,'' Mr Ma told the church. ''Therefore, from this day of consecration, it will no longer be convenient for me to be a member of the patriotic association.''

The announcement, captured on video and posted on foreign and Chinese websites, was met with sustained applause from the congregation.

Mr Ma's fate is unclear. Catholic Church members in Shanghai said he did not lead Mass on Sunday as scheduled. They say he was taken away after the service and is being held at the Sheshan Catholic seminary, on the outskirts of Shanghai.

Several other sources, including the Union of Catholic Asian News, a Catholic news service, confirmed Mr Ma's disappearance, although some said he was just ''resting''.

In Beijing, both the patriotic association and the Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Tuesday, saying they were unaware of the developments. The Vatican also declined to comment.

Anthony Lam, a researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Centre, a Hong Kong-based research organisation affiliated with the church, said: ''This could be just the work of local officials. We can see this by the government's reaction.'' 

The New York Times

I think a number of us who are getting on in age and weight will be able to identify with this issue.

Until the next time, cheers.

A weight off your mind - and your knees

The New York Times, July 12, 2012

Jane Brody

Brace yourself … arthritic knee pain can be debilitating. 

Once you hit your 50s or 60s chances are one or more of your joints, probably your knees or hips, will start to niggle or become arthritic. And if pain or stiffness begin to limit your ability to enjoy life and perform routine tasks, chances are you will consider replacing the troublesome joint.

Rates of knee replacement surgery in the West are skyrocketing as populations get older and fatter, but there are ways to help prevent and ease knee pain and damage.

Osteoarthritis results from wear and tear on the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is an autoimmune disorder.While most people think of osteoarthritis as a breakdown of the cartilage that keeps bones from rubbing together, recent studies have shown it is a far more complicated disease that also involves tissues in and around joints, including bone and marrow. Inflammation can be a contributing factor and genetics play a role. Three genes have been identified so far that accelerate the development of arthritis.

Any kind of joint injury or surgery raises the risk that a joint will become arthritic. That is why so many professional and recreational athletes develop arthritis at younger ages.

Still, there are many potential remedies short of surgery to relieve arthritic pain and to preserve, and perhaps restore, normal joint function. Even if surgery is needed, it can be postponed for many years with treatments proven to help in well-designed clinical trials.

Artificial joints usually last 10 to 15 years. But both devices and surgical techniques are constantly being improved; by delaying a joint replacement, you may end up with a simpler operation or more durable device.

WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T

If you weigh more than you should, do your best to shed those extra kilograms as losing body weight can make a big difference.

Stephen Messier, a professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University, has shown in a trial of 450 men and women with osteoarthritis, a weight-loss diet combined with a well-designed exercise program could significantly reduce knee pain.

The most helpful exercises are those that strengthen the quadriceps, like leg presses, mini-squats and wall squats, and flexion and extension exercises that restore and preserve range of motion, said Dr Glen Johnson, who reported on arthritis prevention and treatment at the annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers' Association last month. Several visits to a physiotherapist can help.

''The severity of pain is directly correlated with the degree of muscle weakness,'' Dr David Felson, a rheumatologist and epidemiologist at Boston University School of Medicine, wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Although most experts endorse walking for exercise, Johnson instead recommends non-impact activities such as stationary or outdoor cycling, swimming, or working out on an elliptical or rowing machine. Those who choose to walk, he says, may benefit from runners' shoes.

Bracing an arthritic knee can help, too, especially with an unloader brace that shifts the stress away from the damaged part of the joint. Knee braces can help arthritis sufferers continue to participate in physical activities and postpone the need for surgery.

Pain relievers usually bring only temporary relief, if any. Daily dosing with paracetamol should be tried first, experts say, because it is significantly safer than ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Clinical studies have shown no significant relief of arthritic knee pain from supplements of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, though Felson said that if people feel better taking them, he does not discourage the practice.

Nor is there good evidence of benefit from methylsulfonylmethane, SAM-e or acupuncture. Some evidence suggests osteoporosis drugs may be helpful, although they have not yet been tested for arthritis relief in a randomised clinical trial, Felson said.

There are also hints of benefit from vitamin K, an essential nutrient found in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, cabbage and the like), which are good for health in general (unless you take blood thinners).

Doctor-administered treatments include steroid injections every three or four months to control pain and buy time, and injections of a synovial fluid replacement twice a year. In general, though, these are not very effective when arthritis has reached the bone-on-bone stage, Johnson said.

The New York Times

This is really interesting. We need to urgently address how we consume fossil fuel. If this can work, imagine the amount of jet fuel saved.

Until the next time, cheers.

Solar dream takes flight

AFP, July 8, 2012

Touchdown ... experimental sun powered, Solar Impulse. Photo: Reuters

A solar-powered plane has landed in Spain on its way home from breaking a record with the first intercontinental flight by an aircraft run on the sun's energy.

Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard piloted the experimental Solar Impulse on the 17-hour flight from Rabat in Morocco.

The 54-year-old landed at Madrid's main airport early on Saturday, his team said in a statement.

The plane, which is made of carbon fibre and flies without fuel, is on its way back to Switzerland after last month flying from Spain to Morocco, the first time a solar-powered aircraft has crossed continents.

The flights are a rehearsal for an attempted round-the-world trip in 2014 by an updated version of the plane.

The 900-kilometre Morocco to Spain leg was "a particularly tactically challenging flight" at an average of 60km/h with the plane hitting strong crosswinds, the team said.

AFP

Interesting issue. Well, if it is wrong for you, I suppose you have to control the urges and abstain. I really wonder if there is a "cure" for this.

Until the next time, cheers.

Movement splits after leader recants belief in gay & cure

The New York Times, July 8, 2012

"I believe that any sexual expression outside of heterosexual, monogamous marrige is sinful according to the bible." ... Alan Chambers, Exodus president. Photo: Reuters

FOR more than three decades, Exodus International has been the leading force in the so-called ex-gay movement, which holds that homosexuals can be "cured" through Christian prayer and psychotherapy.

Exodus leaders claimed its network of ministries had helped tens of thousands rid themselves of unwanted homosexual urges.

The notion that homosexuality is not inborn but a choice was seized on by conservative Christian groups who oppose legal protections for gays and same-sex marriage.

But Exodus has been convulsed as its president, in a series of public statements and a speech to the group's recent annual meeting, renounced some the movement's core beliefs.

Alan Chambers declared that there was no cure for homosexuality and that "reparative therapy" offered false hopes to gays and could even be harmful. His statements have led to a growing schism.

"For the last 37 years, Exodus has been a bright light, arguably the brightest one, for those with same-sex attraction seeking an authentically Christian hope," said Andrew Comiskey, founder and director of Desert Stream Ministries, based in Kansas City, one of 11 ministries that have defected.

His group left Exodus in May, Mr Comiskey said, "due to leader Alan Chambers's appeasement of practising homosexuals who claim to be Christian" as well as his questioning of the reality of "sexual orientation change".

Mr Chambers said virtually every "ex-gay" he had ever met still harboured homosexual cravings, himself included.

Mr Chambers, who left the gay life to marry and have two children, said gay Christians like himself faced a life-long spiritual struggle to avoid sin and should not be afraid to admit it.

He said Exodus could no longer condone reparative therapy, which blames homosexuality on emotional scars in childhood and claims to reshape the psyche. And in a theological departure that has caused the sharpest reaction from conservative pastors, Mr Chambers said he believed that those who persisted in homosexual behaviour could still be saved by Christ and go to heaven.

Only a few years ago, he appeared in advertisements with his wife, Leslie, saying, "Change is possible".

But now, he said, "Exodus needs to move beyond that slogan. I believe that any sexual expression outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage is sinful according to the Bible. But we've been asking people with same-sex attractions to overcome something in a way that we don't ask of anyone else."

Mr Chambers's comments come at a time of widening acceptance of homosexuality and denunciation of reparative therapy by professional societies that say it is based on faulty science and is potentially harmful.

A bill to ban "conversion therapy" is before the California state assembly. David Pickup, a California therapist, said restricting it would harm people who are unhappy with their homosexuality by "making them feel that no change is possible at all".

Mr Pickup, an officer of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, composed of like-minded therapists, said reparative therapy had achieved profound changes for thousands of people, including himself.

The therapy, he said, had helped him confront emotional wounds and "my homosexual feelings began to dissipate and attractions for women grew".

The New York Times