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Case Study: General Electric and Real TimeBy Dave Lindorff
Case Study: General Electric and Real Time
Gary Reiner, CIO of General Electric Co., leads a visitor over to the far side of his spacious office at GE's Fairfield, Conn., headquarters and takes a seat at a large table, on which the only objects are an unusually large keyboard and what looks like a PlayStation game controller. Before him, a huge, elongated flat-screen display panel is mounted on the wall. Like a kid at a game console, Reiner, in shirt-sleeves and open collar, punches a few keys. Suddenly at his fingertips and on display on the screen is an array of green, yellow and red which, on closer inspection, resolves itself into diagrams that signal the status of software applications critical to GE's day-to-day operations.
Reiner calls up the main screen for GE's plastics operation, which flashes a series of green lines (green is good) and a few yellow lines (which mean a certain operation is not running as efficiently as it could). At the moment, there are no red bars on the screen. Otherwise, Reiner says, he'd be pounding away at his own keyboard, sending an e-mail to the appropriate division manager asking for an immediate explanation.
Reiner's goal: to monitor, once every 15 minutes, GE's mission-critical operationswhich, on his priority list, are sales, daily order rates, inventory levels and even savings from automation across the company's 13 different businesses around the globe. These "digital cockpits," graphical depictions of up-to-the-minute business performance across GE's landscape, are checked regularly by electronic robots that send test transactions through the systemtests that should take four seconds to complete, and which likewise trigger an automatic e-mail warning, or inquiry, when yellow or red becomes the color of the moment. "The idea is to respond faster to change, reduce cycle times and improve risk management," Reiner says. "We are not waiting for end-of-the-month or end-of-the-quarter or even end-of-the-week results anymore before we act. We now respond continuously."
Welcome to the frontlines of the real-time revolution, where response time means money. Since the dawn of machine automation, managers have sought to build processes that speed their ability to respond to change, but the real-time revolution promises to transform companies into complex sensing organizations that use everything from radio frequency sensors to global positioning satellites and worker-monitoring software to run everything from their in-house payroll departments to remote factories across the globeand at speeds and split-second reaction times that, in some operations, will far exceed humans' ability to gather, process, analyze and respond on their own.
Driven by increasing pressure to cut costs and become faster and more responsive to increasing volatility in the marketplace, GE is one of a handful of giant corporations, from computer chipmaker Intel Corp. to Iberian fashion dynamo Inditex Group, that is fast becoming a digitized enterprise where every process, down to the activities of every production worker and the details of each minute financial transaction, is at least theoretically accessible to successive layers of plant managers and ultimately to top corporate managers.
It's a brave new world, and cockpits are just part of the equation: When GE started to digitize its business two years ago, it also began to buy and sell online and, more important, started creating a digital nervous system that connects anything and everything involved in the company's businessIT systems, factories and employees as well as suppliers, customers and products. GE's aim, says Reiner, "is to monitor everything in real time," whether by using sensors to gauge performance of jet engine machinery operated by GE's customers or tracking which customers paid on time and what it would take to get them to make their payments faster.
Reiner, who is leading GE's digitization drive and was the first GE executive to use the cockpit, calls GE's digitization strategy "e-buy, e-make and e-sell." E-make, using digital cockpits, is all about GE's effort to interact faster within its own operations. E-sell, on the other hand, aims to hasten interaction with customers: GE's Polymerland Web site, which helps customers research GE's resin products and prices, has been cutting phone calls to service reps by up to 300,000 calls per year, boosting the speed at which GE responds to customers while at the same time shrinking the unit's costs by 35 percent over five years, with more savings under way. By digitizing sales, says analyst Nick Heymann, who tracks GE for Prudential Financial, GE has also speeded up serviceand has cut 60 percent from the costs out of selling GE's vast array of products, from dishwashers to polymers.
E-buy is also about interacting better and fasterbut with suppliers. In 2001, says Reiner, GE saved more than $680 million through Web-based auctions. And there were time savings as well: "Before," says Reiner, "sometimes a buyer didn't quite know what was expected of him or her in terms of what they should buy for a particular commodity, and they'd go out and cut their own deal." Now, he says, such deals are no longer acceptable. The result? "The new system forces people to buy off prenegotiated contracts," Reiner says. "This saves time, saves money and keeps us from wasting effort on transactions that will ultimately have no value."
Speed gains also show up in billing. Steven DeLarge, manager for global financial planning at GE Power Systems, says that simply by collecting more data on customers who were late in paying their bills, GE was able to be more effective in getting them to pay on time, for a savings of $6 million in interest. "With this system, you can get the payment information to the front end faster, and then have the salesperson do the collection call instead of having to use a collector," DeLarge says.
But GE isn't the only company keen on getting faster. In years to come, many experts say, many more companies will use information technology to become a "real-time enterprise"a company that can react within seconds to changes in its business. And as more and more firms wire themselves up and connect to their business partners, they make the entire economy faster. "What businesses like GE are creating is an explosive cocktail of time-based change that will rip out inefficiencies in our organizations based on our ability to gather, use and disseminate information," says Gartner research vice president Andy Kyte. "Wasting time will seem as stupid as wasting money itself."
To be sure, in the current lackluster economic climate, it's little wonder that vendor hype has sprung up around the concept of the real-time enterprise: Gartner's annual schmooze-fest in Orlando in early October was all about real time, as are nearly a dozen conferences in the coming year, from Chicago to Berlin. But while experts acknowledge that getting to real time will require, in many cases, significant new levels of technology investments, the push for real time isn't all hype, either. Indeed, in a cost-cutting climate, real time can mean real savings. For its part, GE estimates that its digitization efforts saved the company $1.6 billion last year. "We said we'd cut $10 billion in costs in five years, and we're already a third of the way there," Reiner says.
According to Gartner vice president and research fellow Roy Schulte, the elapsed time of individual processes at e-businesses around the globe is already beginning to accelerate. Responses to call-center inquiries, for example, have gone from eight hours as of a few years ago down to 10 seconds today; refreshing a data warehouse has accelerated from one month to one hour; and the time it takes to build a custom-made PC has gone from six weeks to 24 hours, to name a few examples. Schulte predicts this acceleration has just begun and that process times will speed up even more, triggering a huge impact on the inner workings of companies large and small. For the strategic CIO, he says, the movement to real time will mean "increasing the velocity of business processes, and to get this kind of speed the CIO is going to have to rethink how he or she designs computer systems."
Shots in the Dark
Shots in the Dark
Yet as GE's cockpit shows, the real-time movement is also about strategic advantage: being able to monitor business continuously and react when conditions change. "Today, businesses mostly shoot in the dark," says Michael Maoz, a research director at Gartner and one of the pioneers of this concept.
In addition, real time means the ability to use newly available information to offer new products and servicesor, simply, to have a window into operations that wasn't available previously. In 2000, GE's consumer appliance business installed online kiosks in selected branches of The Home Depot. Today, customers can order an appliance, select a delivery date and time, and be told instantly whether their request can be met.
Internally, says GE Power Systems' DeLarge, the use of cockpits has eliminated the need for weekly operations reports. "In the past, some operating numbers weren't available until the Saturday of each week," he says. Now, information is loaded continuously into GE's cockpits and, he says, "in the case of past-due invoices, for example, salespeople know how much leverage they have over price in the field and can act on operations figures right away."
To be sure, it takes money to make or save money: Gearing up to real time will require companies to make massive new investments in software, sensors and other technologies. According to Reiner, GE so far has spent about $1.5 billion in employee time, hardware and software and other expenses, which works out to a roughly 33 percent return on investment per year over the five years of the project.
Advocates and experts on the subject of real-time operations say a 50 percent to 100 percent return on revenues should be possible. "Basically, every 1 percent of revenue you spend on real time should give you a 1.5 percent to 2 percent revenue increase as payback," says Vinod Khosla, a partner at the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and one of several experts widely credited with coining the term "real time." Says Khosla, "If you're not getting that kind of return, either you've already spent so much on IT that you have wrung out a lot of costs already, or you have a poor IT strategy."
But while this new digitization process carries much promise, it also poses some significant management and operational challengesat GE and elsewhere. In the view of Eric Clemons, professor of information management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, what businesses need to do is follow the model of the U.S. Marines. "Current Marine war-fighting doctrine says you cannot have micromanagement. You have to permit local decision-making with distributed responsibilities and trust without monitoring"precisely, he says, the opposite of the command-and-control digitized model being developed at GE.
And real time will cause labor dislocations, experts caution. Real-time initiatives, as they spread through the economy, could lead to an increase in unemployment of 2 percent to 2.5 percent because of labor-saving improvements in technology, says John Parkinson, chief technologist at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Adds Ann Bartel, a professor of human resource management at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business: "Just the shift toward a more monitored workplace will affect the quality of workers' lives and change the way workers are used to working, creating significant management challenges."
Indeed, taking a glimpse at GE's experiences so far on the road to real time, such predictions don't sound entirely hollow. John Seral, vice president and CIO of GE's IT and e-business, says that as GE's plastics division moved from a traditional business model to real time, with digital cockpits in managers' offices, "the company was able to eliminate all the people who were producing data and spreadsheets on a regular basis"for a savings of $3 million in payroll costs last year alone. During Gartner's conference on the real-time enterprise, research vice president Carl Claunch told assembled executives that "in businesses being transformed by e-business and real-time strategies, there will be 10 percent fewer workers on the payrolls by 2005."
Larrie McNary, president of International Union of Electrical Workers Local 701 at GE's aircraft engine plant in Madisonville, Ky., says workers there have mixed feelings about the company's real-time initiative. "It's a way for the corporation to analyze whether or not a plant is getting the most work effort and productivity, and I've seen how the whole environmental, health and safety information is now on the digital system," McNary says. "Of course, GE has always tried to see which of its operations is going to be profitable, and this is now a means by which GE can continuously keep track of each division via real time. From a business point of view, it's good. But for us, it's quite the opposite. It gives management a minute-by-minute comparison of the cost factors for each of its sites and each part being produced."
McNary says digital cockpits let GE "slop back and forth as to whether Madisonville should be making 70 percent of a part or whether the Evendale, Ohio, or Lynn, Mass., plants should be making it instead." In this way, McNary says, GE managers can play one plant against the other. "It's really a work speedup, a way to get people to run more parts in less timeand at no extra pay. Those who can do it the fastest get to keep their jobs." McNary says workers and managers at the plant have already "had some skirmishes about it. All the monitoring has been quite an issue at our site, and it's going to be a growing problem in labor-management relations. It's something we'll be addressing at our next contract negotiations."
And there's another potential speed-bump on the road to real time: While geared to make firms better and faster at responding to change, real time also threatens to make firms far more vulnerable to changeand far more difficult to control and manage well.
The financial markets have already shown that putting even parts of the economy on autopilot can lead to accidents. A stock market crash in 1987 was caused in large part by automated program trading. Further, even the best technology can offer no protection against bad management decisions: Cisco Systems Inc., for its part, got hit a year ago by a classic "bullwhip effect" and had to write off $2.5 billion in inventories because its order books failed to reflect real demand. Cisco managers refused to believe the dramatic changes in the numbers that their automated systems were showing them, and got stuck with components already ordered from suppliers. "The idea of corporate cockpits at GE is good, but the key is how good is the information in that cockpitand how ready are we to believe the machines we set up to monitor this stuff?" says Fred Meyer, chief strategy officer with Tibco Software Inc., a business integration company that has constructed digital trading floors for Wall Street investment banks. "This is a great place for the concept of garbage in, garbage out," he says. "It's a great place for a powerful person to make decisions based on yesterday's news."
Management Challenge
Management Challenge
Reiner acknowledges the need to manage things differently under real time, saying the company's management structure and approach have changed enormously over the past four years to accommodate some of the new challenges being brought on by the real-time movement. Yet he says that "real time" is also a bit of a misnomer. "Right time" might be a better way of looking at it, he says: Few operations at GE outside of finance need to be monitored on a minute-by-minute, much less a real-time, second-by-second basis. "Most of our monitoring is daily or weekly," he says, "or at eight-hour intervals." While it might be technically possible to monitor much more rapidly, there is little or no advantage to be gained from such an increase in data, experts agree.
Still, according to Lynn Boyd, manager of information development at GE, there are cultural speed bumps that must be negotiated. Even within IT at GE, she says, the digitization drive has led to a "significant restructuring" of the company's information management training program, "especially the two-year, entry-level program for IT people." Specifically, it has become much faster paced, and a lot less site specific. "The business problems they're dealing with now, which used to involve business planning, now increasingly revolve around digitization," explains Boyd. "You could find yourself working on a project with maybe two people here in our Fairfield office, and another 30 working on coding in Bangalore, India." Clearly, holding a meeting under such circumstances will continue to involve, among many things, whole new levels of uncertainty and collaboration.
Analysts credit GE with having the management discipline built into the culture so that the movement toward more automation might be easier than at other companies. For his part, Reiner says he sees the real-time movement as an extension of GE's already relentless Six Sigma quality drive, which he helped spread through the company when he was promoted to CIO in 1996. Like vigilant quality controllers, he says, GE will continuously monitor time savings as passionately as it does quality improvements. "The technology is going to keep getting better and will keep wringing out costs," he asserts. So when will GE be fully operating on real time? "It's going to take forever," he says. "Like quality, it's something you are always looking to push further."
But can GE and other organizations change fast enough without risking greater, hidden costs down the road? The experiment so far at GE is unquestionably benefiting the company's push to cut costs, even as the initiative is still being put in place. But it's also flashing some early red and yellow warning lines of its own about the risks of moving toward real-time enterprises. Says CGE&Y's John Parkinson: "Technically what they've done is very impressive, but it may well be a house of cards." Adds Gus Stuart, a professor of game theory and business strategy at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business: "GE and other companies should be very excited about the potential of real time, but there will need to be a whole new cultural adjustment to make it happen. My guess is that there will be a huge growth in the IT consulting business, because some managers are going to botch this, big time."
Dave Lindorff has written for such publications as The Atlantic Monthly and BusinessWeek.
What Is a Real
-Time Company?">
What Is a Real-Time Company?
A company that competes by using up-to-date information to progressively remove delays to the management and execution of its critical business processes.
The business goal: To save time and money by responding faster to events and by reacting more flexibly to rapid shifts in the marketplace.
The technology risk: Business activity monitoring can reap more information than managers know how to manage or harness into meaningful responses.
The management risk: A tendency to micromanage at the expense of stifling innovation and creativityand a danger of focusing less on longer-term strategic goals.
Results so far at GE: Some cost cutting achieved; no influence yet on revenues but some change in purchasing and sales strategies.
The Real-Time Enterprise: Powering Profits with Process Automation , By Joe Bellini and Peter Fingar, Meghan-Kiffer Press, January 2003
The Power of Now: How Winning Companies Sense and Respond to Change Using Real-Time Technology , By Vivek Ranadive, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999
Sense and Respond: Capturing Value in the Network Era , Edited by Stephen P. Bradley and Richard L. Nolan, Harvard Business School Press, 1998
The Power of Now
at GE">
The Power of Now at GE
$1.6 billion saved last year from digitization, roughly 16% of the $10 billion GE expects to save annually by 2006
$3 million saved by GE's plastics division on payroll costs so far from switching to digital cockpits
$100 million freed up by digitizing inventory, accounts payable and receivables
$6 million saved in interest payments last year by knowing which customers paid bills late
5% improvement in GE Power Systems' inventory turns, and 10% hike in receivables turnover
$680 million cut from total purchasing costs last year by using online auctions
2 Times as many customers per salesperson can be handled, thanks to cockpits that guide price and sales


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So, It's Your First Time?
This month's Mixology Monday explores how to properly welcome someone to the world of cocktails.
Every month a group of adventurous spirits gathers for an event called Mixology Monday where each participant offers up a blog post featuring a cocktail recipe that fits within the monthly theme. This month's theme is First Time and it is hosted by Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails – Boston. Their basic guidelines were as follows:
What drink do you suggest for the delicate palate of the cocktail neophyte? Something boozy and balanced, sure – but one wrong suggestion could relegate the newbie to a beer-drinker's life. To which go-to cocktails do you turn to when faced with the challenge?
It could be argued that choosing the Margarita as someone's introduction to cocktails is dangerous as it doesn't really push people out of their comfort zone; the Margarita just doesn't seem that sophisticated to most people. However, if done with the right ingredients and presentation it can transcend people's perception, satisfying even the most jaded Coors drinker.
The great thing about this drink is how simple and disarming it is to most people. There are no real acquired-taste ingredients like Campari, Fernet or Absinthe, and it's simplicity means it is something most anyone can create at home, making it a great gateway to an exciting future in mixology!
Like all classic drinks, the Margarita has a shady history. As David Wondrich has written, "History, written in a bar, is never straight-forward". There are almost as many origin stories as there are versions of the drink, though interestingly many of them involve lovelorn Mexican bartenders naming the drink after a beautiful showgirl… including Rita Hayworth who was formerly known as Margarita Cansino. Another common story is that the Margarita is really just a Daisy; a class of mixed drink that is basically a sour with a little bit of soda in it, and of course margarita is a Spanish word for daisy. Whatever the story, the one thing that is for sure about the Margarita is that nothing about the Margarita is for sure.
As a type of drink, The Margarita is second only to The Martini in terms of how often it is bastardized. Nearly every bar has a version that could be said to be dramatically different from one another. Frozen or rocks, salt or no salt, Cointreau or triple sec, mango, strawberry – the list goes on. For us however, there is only one Margarita recipe; 100% agave tequila, lime juice and agave nectar.
- 2 oz 100% Agave Reposado Tequila
- 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- .75 oz Agave Nectar
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice filled old fashioned glass.
As you probably notice, our Margarita is missing two of its most common ingredients; Orange liqueur and Salt. For our money the agave nectar better highlights the spirits natural base than Cointreau, and the salt seems to us just a vestigial throwback to a need to cover up bad tequila. In fact in this San Francisco Chronicle article Tres Agave's Eric Rubin speculates that the salt was introduced due to the Spanish influenza epidemic in the early 1900s and that Mexican doctors had the citizenry inoculate themselves with lime and salt.
So the next time you have a cocktail n00b at your bar, take it easy on them and show them that cocktails don't have to be frou-frou or toxic. The only real danger is that they may never enjoy the bad Margaritas at Chevy's or Bennigan's again.


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The US Air Force has spent over $60 billion on the F-22, a fighter that doesn't really work and sometimes chokes people. How much is it spending on Twitter? Judging by the output, negative $50,000.
It's hard to figure out exactly what the taxpayer-funded @usairforce is there for. It's a mix of historical blips, links to soccer matches, factoids, strange motivational shouts, and lots of exclamation points. It's the drunk Thanksgiving uncle of Twitter, telling you to take off that shirt and play some god damn touch football or you're going to get bodyslammed. It's Chuck Grassley with a silver tongue and a nuclear arsenal.
Yes, the Air Force has the (unintentionally) weirdest Twitter account of them all. And here are some of its greatest hits:
HtmlObjects.load( {"src":"http:\/\/storify.com\/samfbiddle\/usaf.js?header=false&border=false","type":"storify","container_id":"htmlobject_923415"} );
And then there is, of course, this, probably the account's best tweet of all time:
Unbridled joy. Only topped by the sheer lunatic tank-balls of the Army on Twitter. Sorry, USAF.
Can't argue with that.


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Another benefit we are proud to offer our South Woodford, E18 area customers is our 24 hour customer support centre. We've Gas Safe authorized experts manning our telephone lines and prepared to answer any questions you might have about your brand-new boiler set up or alternative. At Expert Plumbers, we wish you to feel completely comfortable and assured about your brand-new boiler!
If you're considering a fresh boiler installation or boiler alternative to your South Woodford, E18 area home or business, call Expert Plumbers today!


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- Affordable Care Act in depth special feature
- Department of Justice Health Care Legal Defense
- Healthcarelawsuits.org
- ACA Litigation Blog
- Lyle Denniston's Media Guide
- Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act symposium page
Court documents in granted cases
- Dept. of Health and Human Services v Fla. (Minimum coverage and Anti-Injunction Act)
- Fla. v. Dept. of Health and Human Services (Severability and Medicaid)
- National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius (Severability)
- The Court's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act page


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Appearing on The Marriage Ref seemed like good, clean, incredibly hokey fun when Howie Kohlenberg agreed to appear on the premiere episode with his wife Christine. Now a year later, he says she's walked out on their 14-year marriage and 4-year-old son, and "Jerry, Mr. Billionaire, I blame. And his show." Kohlenberg tells the N.Y. Post that they auditioned for the show in the hopes of promoting their spa business and becoming billionaires themselves, but once Christine experienced the glamour of being a reality show contestant, it changed everything:
"The people on the show were pumping us up, saying, 'You're going to wake up and be stars. You're going to be famous and make money.' The producer kept saying her lips looked great, and all of a sudden she was getting a lot of Botox," he recalled.
"Now she's getting this huge head. She wants to do Playboy. We almost got kicked off the show because she was putting racy photos on Facebook.
"I'm not saying our marriage was perfect, but it put it in a whole new direction. It was the nail in the coffin.
"She had all these ideas that 'I have to live my life and be an actress.'"
Well, clearly Jerry Seinfeld is to blame. Won't anyone stop his nefarious plot to lure wives into a glitzy world of excessive Botox and failed Playboy auditions? [Via Videogum]


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Winner's Circle
This story appears in the April 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
The reality of inventing is that often, your idea requires a large amount of capital to succeed. After you've exhausted your resources--pestered friends and family, approached every bank, maxed out your credit cards and held numerous garage sales--you may want to look into the possibility of finding capital through a venture capitalist.
A venture capitalist is a company or partnership that has a large fund available to invest in products or ventures. Unlike banks, venture capitalists are willing to get involved in projects where there is a significant risk; however, they demand a greater return, may require control over many aspects of the enterprise and many times dictate who will be hired.
Some say working with a venture capitalist is like selling your soul to the devil. If you've exhausted all avenues of financing, however, and thoroughly understand the agreement you make with a venture capitalist, the rewards can be great. Remember, a venture capitalist also wants to make money with your idea, so he or she wants you to succeed. And being in the business of building businesses, he or she has the advantage of seeing how many businesses work and can act as a consultant to help you succeed.
Tomima Edmark, the woman famous for her Topsy Tail invention has now turned her creative talents to the competitive retail arena of intimate apparel, HerRoomand HisRoom.
Starting Your Search
How do you find a venture capitalist? A good place to start is with Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources (Venture Economics). It is updated once a year, and most libraries have it in their reference section. This guide lists venture capital firms by state and includes a list of foreign venture capital firms.
Almost all the information you need to make an informed decision is included in each write-up. For example, Pratt's tells you what type of financing the venture capital firm prefers (seed capital or leveraged buyouts, for example). This is important because as an inventor, you are no doubt looking for investors who have a bias toward early-stage financing (more about this later). Pratt's also spells out what each company's minimum and preferred level of investment is and their geographic preferences. Most venture capitalists want easy access to their investments; this is important to know when compiling a list of prospective firms.
Another valuable piece of information provided by Pratt's is a percentage breakdown of each venture capitalist's current portfolio; for example, it may break down as 35 percent communications, 38 percent technology, 14 percent medical and 13 percent telecommunications. Obviously, in this example, it wouldn't be a good idea to send this venture capitalist a business plan discussing a retail venture. Send your business plan to investors who specialize in your industry.
Types Of Financing
Venture capitalists typically offer one of three types of early-stage financing: seed financing, research and development financing, or start-up financing.
Seed financing is generally given to entrepreneurs to help them prove that their invention or concept works. It's usually a small amount of money that pays for product development and market research. If the idea works, the venture capitalist will then consider providing start-up capital to further develop the project.
Research and development financing can be beneficial to both the inventor and the venture capitalist. This kind of financing has tax advantages if it's set up as product development financing. Venture capitalists can receive tax write-offs for their investments or a share of the future profits if the product is successful.
If you are far enough along that you have developed your idea and done some initial marketing, you should look for start-up financing. This type of financing is usually for a larger amount than the previous two types because the early stages have proved successful, and the venture capitalist feels his risk has been reduced.
Making A Plan
Without exception, you must have a business plan if you want to do business with a venture capitalist.
There are some strict do's and don'ts you should heed when writing a business plan. Do give a clear and simple explanation of your idea. Do have a well-thought-out sales and distribution plan. Do show that you are knowledgeable about your market. Do explain who your competitors are and how you will compete against them. Do include full resumes of your key managers. And do, if possible, write your own business plan. Pat Hamner, vice president of Capital Southwest Corp. in Dallas, says he wants to read business plans that "make sense and exude credibility. I like to see if all the sections of the business plan hang together, having been supported through well-documented statements and data," he says.
Venture capitalists notice certain red flags when reviewing a business plan. For example, don't make statements such as "there is no competition," "this is a paradigm shift for the industry," or "my idea represents a multibillion-dollar market." Al Fleener of Seed Company Partners LP in Dallas feels that the more grandiose the business plan, the harder it will be to sell. "Demonstrating that you have analyzed the market and will initially go after a segment of it is far more attractive to a venture capitalist than going after the entire market all at once," he says.
An employee list that only includes family members is another red flag. It's one thing to have friends on the list; it's hard to believe, however, that one family has all the skills necessary to make a venture successful.
Your business plan is the most important tool for communicating your idea to venture capitalists. Not only does it sell your idea, but it also demonstrates your ability to plan for, organize and manage a successful business venture.
Your intellectual property rights must be clearly represented to a potential investor. All rights should be specific, protected and properly assigned to the company being formed. Any arrangement in which you or other related parties retain the rights as individuals to the basic patents or other intellectual property under a license and royalty arrangement will not be looked at favorably. The venture capitalist does not want any other agreements in place that deplete the value of the company it is helping to fund. If you have not yet received patent protection on your idea, having searches conducted and opinions rendered by a patent attorney can be very useful to a venture capitalist during his evaluation.
Most venture capitalists will sign nondisclosure agreements. However, virtually no venture capitalist will sign a covenant not to compete. At this point, therefore, you should have already filed for a patent.
A Foot In The Door
Though you can blindly submit your business plan, the best way to approach venture capitalists is through a third party. Venture capitalists tend to look more closely at business plans that have been introduced by someone in their "inner circle."
So how do you get your name into the inner circle? Networking. If you're friendly with a successful entrepreneur who has received financing from a venture capitalist, his or her introduction of your business plan could be the foot in the door you need. Lawyers, bankers, accountants and marketing firms can also make introductions for you. Most venture capitalists have strong alliances with these professional communities. Find out with whom these professionals do business, make an appointment to see them, and sell them on your idea. If they agree that your idea is fabulous, they may provide a great introduction for you.
As a final comment, let me share with you a statistic from one of the venture capitalists I interviewed. Richard Tadler of TA Associates in Boston says he reviews an average of three business plans a day and spends anywhere from five to 15 minutes looking at each business plan before making a decision about whether to invest. That's almost a thousand business plans a year. Of the business plans he looked at in 1997, he only arranged to meet with 95 entrepreneurs. And his statistics are not unique. One venture capitalist I spoke to claimed to look at 5,000 plans a year and only picked one out of every 475 to interview. As you can see, the odds are not in your favor. Therefore, having a strong business plan and getting a third-party introduction are the most valuable things you can do to be considered for venture capital.
Fast Track
By G. David Doran
Names and ages: Lance Rake, 45; Deborah Rake, 40; Kermit Krantz, 40
Company name and description: The New Deal Playing Card Company manufactures and markets the Ergo Card, poker-sized playing cards ergonomically designed with a rounded, wavelike shape that fits the curve of the hand. The company also produces Kid Kards, which are Ergo Cards with colorful backs drawn by art students at the Lawrence, Kansas, Arts Center. A portion of Kid Kard's sales goes toward a scholarship fund for these students.
Based: Leawood, Kansas
Founded: 1996
Start-up costs: $100,000. "Thirty thousand dollars of that went to obtain a patent on the idea, and the rest was for manufacturing, inventory and advertising," says Ergo Card inventor and University of Kansas industrial design professor Lance Rake.
1997 sales: $125,000
1998 projections: $1 million
Hands-on training: "I experimented with a number of different curves, thinking the market for this product would be senior citizens with arthritis," says Rake. "But what I found is that my kids would pick them up and shuffle them, and they liked the way Ergo Cards felt. It's difficult for kids to learn how to shuffle--it's kind of a tricky, fine-motor coordination activity, and the shape of these cards naturally guides their hands to where they need to be so it's a lot easier to learn."
In the cards: New Deal is now marketing custom-made Ergo Cards with promotional backs featuring corporate logos and advertising slogans.
Contact Source
The New Deal Playing Card Company, 2620 Cranley St., Lawrence, KS 66046, (888) 268-3325.


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In one of the more unusual articles I've read on how to screen for various diseases, a group of British researchers recently published a study stating that men who have relatively long index fingers have a decreased risk of developing prostate cancer.
I have to confess that all kinds of jokes immediately began running through my head upon reading this finding, but the researchers are totally serious. Their work demonstrated that men whose index fingers are longer than their ring fingers had a 33 percent lower risk of prostate cancer compared with those who had shorter ring fingers than index fingers.
While the link between finger length and prostate cancer later in life seems a bit random at first blush, in fact, there is sound science behind the correlation. In the uterus, the amount of testosterone to which the developing fetus is exposed is connected with the activity of genes called HOXA and HOXD, which are involved in both finger length and in the development of the male sex organs. Lower levels of testosterone during gestation are somewhat protective against prostate cancer, while also resulting in the longer index finger-shorter ring finger ratio observed in the study.
The ability to easily screen for prostate cancer potential by relative finger length might be useful, since prostate cancer is second in incidence only to lung cancer in men. However, prostate cancer screening is also a bit tricky — prostate cancer has a wide variety of expressions, and screening doesn't necessarily identify which men will develop the type of aggressive prostate cancer that warrants treatment, and which men will never demonstrate symptoms of the disease nor require any therapy for it.
For more on prostate cancer screening, see the article "Prostate Cancer and Screening Tests" in the Everyday Health Prostate Cancer Center.
Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.


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Promote your beer to thirsty patrons looking for it.Learn More
Heads up! Urban Chestnut Honey Weiss may not be available near you. Follow this beer to get notified when it's available nearby, try searching in a different area, or discover some similar beer.
Specialty Fruit Beer9.0% ABV
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Difference between revisions of "Hugin Parameters for Control Point Detectors dialog"
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m (moved Parameters Control Points Detectors to Parameters for Control Point Detectors: Better understandable article title and also fixed a little typo in the pane title (Point instead of Points) to meet the actual usage in the Preferences windo)
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Revision as of 12:32, 5 April 2010
In this dialog you can change the parameters of the control point detectors.
You should give your parameter set a meaningful name, because this name is shown in the GUI on the Hugin Images tab.
All images at once
With this setting all images are transferred at once to the control point detector. This was the default setting of Hugin versions before 2010.2.
Autopano (by A. Jenny)
This is the same procedure like All images at once with some modifications for using autopano by Alexandre Jenny (only Windows and Linux, there is no MacOS version).
Panorama with stacks
This setting is indented for panoramas with stacks. In a first step it selects the image with the median exposure of every stack. Then it tries to match these median exposured images. After this step all image stacks should be connected.
Then it tries to connect the images of every stack by using the program given under Detector for stacks.
When your panorama does not contains stacks, it's does the same as All images at once.
Multi-row panorama
As the name implies this setting is for multi-row panoramas. But it works also for single row panoramas. It uses a heuristic approach to speed up and optimize the detector step.
The following steps are executed:
1.) Try to connect all consecutive images. The result will be a project with one or more groups of connected images. With luck each of these groups will correspond with a row of the panorama.
2.) Then take the first and last images from each group and match them all together in one go. With luck there will be a single group of connected images in the project.
If you selected Try to connect all overlapping images on the Advanced tab, it tries to connect all overlapping images. This happens only, if the steps above were sucessful. Then following step are executed:
3.) Optimize panorama (it optimizes only yaw and pitch) to get a rough position of all images.
4.) Now try to link all overlapping images which are not yet connected.
Multi-row panorama with stacks
This setting combines Panorama with stacks and Multi-row panorama. It works like Panorama with stacks, but for connecting the median exposured images it uses the algorithm descriped under Multi-row panorama.
Prealigned panorama
This setting works only if the rough positions of the images are defined in the project. It tries to link all overlapping images.
If the advanced option Work only on image pairs without control points is selected (default), it skips all image pairs which are already connected by control points. Otherwise it creates also control points for already connected images.
On the notebook you can give the paths and parameters for the individual programs.
Here you can give the program name (inclusive path) and the parameters for the control point detector. You can use a one step setup. In this you invoke the control point detector with a list of image files and it returns a project file with the founded control points. A further speed up of the detection phase (especially for the multi-row panorama settings) can be achieved by using the two-step detectors approach. Currently only autopano-sift-C and panomaticlib support this approach. In this case you have two separate program: a feature descriptor and a feature matcher. The feature descriptor extract the features from the images and stores a keyfile in the temp directory. Then the feature matcher reads these keyfiles and try to match overlapping images. At the end of the detection phase the temporary keyfiles are deleted. You have to give the program name and arguments for both programs. A big speed up can be achieved for the multi-row and prealigned settings.
Detector for stacks
Here you can define the control points detector which works on stacks (in setting Panorama with stacks and Multi-row panorama with stacks only). You can use e. g. Align image stack for aligning the stack. If you used a tripod, you can leave this field empty. Then the detector does not run on the stacks. In this case you can use linking of the image positions on the Hugin Images tab.
Typical tweaks might be to:
- Set --noransac for autopano-sift when using non-rectilinear Projection input images.
- Set --size for autopano-sift which by default downsizes images to 700 pixels before matching.
- Some operating systems have problems supplying more than 120 or so photos at one time to these external tools, with autopano-sift-C 2.5.1 or later you can use these alternative arguments to specify input via a project file: --maxmatches %p %o %s
- MacOS only: If you are using control point detector which are contained in the bundle, give only the program name (without path). Hugin tries to find the program then inside the bundle.


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Message Board
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Talk about the novels, new and used books that Stedman has written!
Author Stedman's Book Reviews
W.S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and His Theatre
W.S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and his Theatre Jane W. Stedman Oxford University Press, 1996 ISBN: 0198161743 Though Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) is best remembered as the writer of the libretti of the �Savoy Operas' with Sir Arthur Sullivan, he also enjoyed a very long and successful career in the Victorian theatre first as a writer of pantomimes, then a large number of plays, both comedies and serious drama, and pantomimes. He was...


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If you ask any red-blooded American boy what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll most likely tell you one of two things: a professional football player or a financial advisor. Even a little kid knows these are the two best ways for a guy to make a lot of money and get chicks.
In addition to obscene wealth and sex appeal, these two careers also share at least one other commonality. It's the dark side of the financial advisor business that no one wants to talk about. It's the unthinkable. I'm talking about bounties.
As the New Orleans Saints proved, one way to the top is to take out the competition. Take them out. Hurt them before they can hurt you. It's simple. The field goal kicker can't beat you, if his leg is broken. The QB can't beat you, if he can't remember his name. And, the coach can't beat you … if his car blew up on the way to the game. Am I right?
Would it surprise you to learn that similar despicable tactics have been used in the financial arena as well? Of course it wouldn't. As history has proven, whenever great wealth, fame and sex appeal is at stake, there are some who will go to extraordinary lengths to have it all.
As an investigative journalist, I was faced with two choices in writing this article. The first choice involved countless hours of interviewing thousands of financial advisors and their staffs. The second choice involved a beer and a shot (for creative purposes only).
After deciding on the second choice, I sat back and thought to myself, "Hmm, if I were an advisor … how could I use bounties to advance my personal wealth and myself?"
Please keep in mind that I don't condone or recommend these activities. I only thought them up.
Bounties for Beginners
The obvious goal of your bounty program should be for you to make more money and not get caught. It's that simple. Offer your staff the opportunity to earn some extra cash or some extra days off. Make them do the dirty work, like you usually do.
Don't forget, your financial advisor bounty program should be primarily about motivating your employees (and others) to tarnish your most dangerous competitors. I understand that everyone's tolerance for this kind of work varies, so I've come up with a few possible bounties that range in practicality and iniquity. Feel free to pick the method(s) best suiting your soul.
Some bounties you might consider:
$1 — For every piece of a competitor's marketing materials plucked from your prospect's mailbox. They can't buy it if they don't know about it.
$5 — For every competitor's client statement you can get from your prospect's mailbox. This will allow you to go to your prospect and tell them how great your company is for emailing customer statements and not mailing them.
$10 — For every confused senior citizen from a competitor's investment seminar. Let the promise of a better buffet do all the work.
$100 — For starting alcohol/drug abuse rumors about your competitor and his/her spouse. Cheers!
$1,000 — General character assassination of key competitors involving sexual or racial discrimination.
$5,000 — For a successfully planted flash-drive (containing inappropriate images) and a phone call to the authorities.
$10,000 — For the successful placement of competitor on TV show To Catch a Predator (Internet and chat room knowledge a plus).
As you can see, a good bounty program doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg … or it could. It's up to you. How bad do you want it?


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Public and political pressure on budget allocations, coupled with the genuine need to make aid more effective to tackle the global poverty crisis, have resulted in a renewed focus on results. Several donors are promoting the use of aid to reward the achievement of predetermined performance targets. Though this is a recent trend, in 2010, total disbursements for results-based approaches broke the $5 billion barrier.
Results-based approaches make part or all funding conditional upon verification of progress. Donors like this because it allows them to point to tangible outcomes of aid expenditure, and, proponents argue, this will lead to more effective aid. But is this the case?
In this report we assess the potential of results-based approaches to deliver long-term and sustainable results by measuring the performance of different initiatives against widely agreed aid effectiveness principles. These principles - developed and agreed by all donors in four high level summits -were a response to the failure of project-based approaches that increased transaction costs, failed to have sustainable impact on recipient countries' systems and often collapsed once funders moved on. They were an important attempt to move away from donor-driven aid that tended to promote the foreign policies of donors rather than focusing on poverty reduction.
Eurodad examined the following six major results-based initiatives and assessed their performance against four key internationally agreed aid effectiveness principles: ownership; accountability and mutual accountability; harmonisation; and alignment and use of country systems. We also examined whether they had a 'broad' scope or a 'narrow' one, in terms of: how specific the objectives are; the level of funding (from national to local); and the flexibility with which the recipient can use the money.
We then assigned each a traffic light score against each key principle. Green means that there is a good level of alignment with the principle, orange means average and red low.
The main findings of this research are:
In addition to these concerns, one of the most important findings is that there is little evidence or evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses and impacts of different results-based approaches. Therefore, it seems reasonable to use results-based approaches with a degree of caution.
Read the full report: Hitting the Target? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Results-based Approaches to Aid


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After several years of international negotiations, the final operational design of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was agreed upon during the Second Plenary Session to build IPBES held in Panama City, Panama, from 16-21 April 2012.
"Biodiversity won!" says Professor Sir Robert Watson, Chair of the meeting, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). "Over 90 governments successfully established the science-policy interface for all countries. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are essential for human wellbeing. This platform will generate the knowledge and build the capacity to protect them for this and future generations."
IPBES aims to tackle the accelerating worldwide loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services by bridging the gap between science and policy-makers.
IUCN, due to its extensive experience with science, knowledge and policy tools on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and its nature as a multi-stakeholder union bringing together over 1,200 government and non-government member organizations and engaging 12,000 scientists in a unique knowledge network of 6 Commissions, has a lot to offer to IPBES. Having contributed to the negotiation process for the establishment of IPBES since 2008, IUCN is ready, willing, and able to support the work of IPBES.
"We are delighted that IPBES is now officially established after some difficult negotiations," says Dr Cyriaque Sendashonga, Head of the IUCN Delegation in Panama, IUCN Global Director of Programme and Policy Group. "IUCN also welcomes the establishment of the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel as one of the subsidiary bodies of IPBES, and we look forward to further engaging in the ongoing development of the IPBES programme of work."
Dr Jane Smart, Member of the IUCN Delegation in Panama, IUCN Global Director of Biodiversity Conservation Group underlines that "it is really important to build on existing knowledge. Many of the stakeholders, including IUCN, have built up a wealth of data over several decades which we would be very pleased to make available to this new science-policy platform. Such information comes from a diverse range of social and biophysical scientific communities."
Dr Sendashonga adds: "During the discussions last week, it became apparent that there is a real need to increase understanding of how the wealth of existing data sets, knowledge products and information can be interpreted and used, especially to support the development of appropriate policy responses. IUCN therefore takes this opportunity to further commit to exploring improved forms of communication, outreach and capacity support that will enable IPBES and its member governments to make the best use of the knowledge products that we provide."
For more information on the establishment of IPBES, please visit the official IPBES website.
For more information on IUCN's vision and contribution to IPBES, please visit the IPBES section on the IUCN website or write to ipbes[at]iucn.org.


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I had a really ruff night with my back and so I slept in the morning. In fact it was almost 10 am before i got out of bed. It's still raining and looks to be a dreary day. The temps are in the 60's. My back is still hurting.
I didn't make it over to break at 10 am but i did get over there eventually. Lonna had made a cake from her friendship bread and it was so good. Since it's raining outside no work could be done on the church. So the guys and gals spent the morning just having coffee and cake.
The afternoon was spent inside just relaxing and taking it easy and updating my blog from the weekend.
Tonight several of the men from the church brought T-bone steaks and cooked them on the grill for us. We had salad, baked potatoes and corn on the cob and it was so good. We also had cake for desert which was good as well.
We are being feed so good here, i don't see me losing any weight as i had hoped, but i am trying to limit my portions.
After we ate we sat and visited and it's always nice to visit with new friends. Then it was back home and to bed for me. The rain seems to have stopped for now. It's foggy but the temps are not bad. I'm heading to the shower and then to bed to watch Christmas shows on hallmark.


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(feat. Jon Nicholson)
[Jon Nicholson]
Whoop! Whoop whoop!
There's just something 'bout your
[Chorus - Jon Nicholson]
Whoop whoop!
It makes me wanna whoop whoop!
I just can't help but whoop whoop!
There's just something 'bout your Whoop whoop!
Whoop whoop!
[Verse 1 - Cowboy Troy]
Whoop whoop got me jumpin' through hoops
'Cause a day without your love girl, I can't recoup
Send chills down my spine every time we touch
You say come here I get in gear, like poppin' the clutch
That rush like you're rollin' down a hill
You said, "Be still, I got a chill!"
I said, "Okay girl, I will!"
With the sweat accumulating in a pool in your navel
I'm rockin' your body 'cause I'm willin' and able
Truth not fable, I make the bed sing like the movies on cable
Holdin' on tight sittin' tall in the saddle
Your heels inside just like spurrin' cattle
Hearts in rhythm, nibble on my ear please be my friend
Your hair is gettin' tangled 'cause I make your body tingle
By the hair of my chinny-chin chin, gotta get your
[Repeat Chorus]
[Verse 2 - Cowboy Troy]
In the morning when I'm yawnin' I wake up
The sunrise in your eyes helps to heat me up
A kiss and a hug and and an "I love you"
A kiss back and a wink and "I love you too"
Two hearts, one soul walkin' on air
Livin' on love, livin' on a prayer
Lips so sweet like chocolate
I get a rush so strong I can't forget
Love is the breeze that fills my sails
I crave to breathe what you exhale
I'll cross the desert with life at it's worst
All I need is your touch to quench my thirst
Think the same without saying a word
Your voice is the sweetest thing I've heard
Go on punkin' put this song on loop
I gotta tell you again baby, I gotta get your...
[Repeat Chorus]
[Repeat Chorus x 2]


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The second anniversary of Japan's monstrous earthquake has me thinking about Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross.
The five stages of grief outlined in her 1969 book, "On Death and Dying," aptly capture where the collective Japanese psyche has journeyed, and where it hasn't, in the 24 months since a 9-magnitude quake and giant tsunami forever changed the relationship between nature and the nuclear reactors in the nation's midst.
I first learned about Kuebler-Ross from my mother, a bereavement counselor and Catholic chaplain in New York. She met with Kuebler-Ross occasionally to compare notes in the 1990s, and says the psychiatrist "brought death out of the closet" to vastly improve the lot of dying patients.
It has occurred to me over the past two years that just as the terminally ill experience five stages of grief, so, too, has Japan gone through denial, anger, bargaining, despair and ultimate acceptance of the ways their tragedy played out.
Denial arrived in the days immediately after March 11, 2011, when waves as high as 41 meters erased entire towns and overwhelmed a nuclear facility 217 km from Tokyo. As radiation leaked at the Fukushima power plants, authorities assured the nation's 126 million people that all was well. Tokyo Electric Power Co., whose negligence led to the worst nuclear mess since Chernobyl, hid the severity of the crisis.
Next came anger amid press reports about just how close Japan came to losing Tokyo. We learned more about how then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan stormed into Tepco headquarters, demanded that its staff gain control over the meltdown and literally saved the city from extinction. The plight of hundreds of thousands in the northeast's Tohoku region enraged the nation as reconstruction unfolded at a glacial pace.
Japanese wanted change. They wanted leaders to be more transparent and to disengage the autopilot that had been guiding the country for 20 years. They wanted someone at Tepco to go to jail and bureaucrats to be fired. Their fury led to the biggest street protests since the 1960s.
Then Japanese realized epochal change was more than they had bargained for. The specter of finding alternatives to nuclear power and rebuilding the northeast had politicians betting they would wake up and find it was all a bad dream.
News reports of shantytowns, radioactive schools and squandered rebuilding funds became less frequent. Stories about the resilience of the Japanese people eclipsed curiosity about the role that ingrained conventions of culture and reflexive obedience played in the crisis.
Despair arrived by the first anniversary of the quake, when it became clear that little would change. Far from altering Japan's trajectory, March 11 demonstrated the depth of the nation's political and social inertia. It also was a reminder that many of the biggest risks Japanese face — earthquakes, Chinese pollution, North Korea's threats — are beyond their control. Voters were so disillusioned that they even re-elected the Liberal Democratic Party, which they tossed out in disgust in 2009.
Acceptance is now the norm with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe back at the helm after a dismal 2006-2007 stint in the job. Voters seem resigned to let Abe reopen more than 50 nuclear reactors knocked offline two years ago. Call it the period of "shoganai," or accepting one's fate and enduring it.
For now, hopes for Japan's rebirth are sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average soaring and putting the economy back into the global spotlight. Yet optimism about "Abenomics" is mostly an overseas phenomenon. Even though they elected his party, few Japanese seem to view him as the savior they have been waiting decades for.
That's why the acquiescence stage now at hand is so worrisome. The only way to beat deflation is to convince investors, companies and consumers that prices will be markedly higher five years from now. It's great that Abe is boosting fiscal stimulus and that the Bank of Japan will soon be under new leadership. But it's a confidence game. Winning it requires more than pumping money into a comatose economy.
Abenomics may look like it's a new set of economic policies, but it's really a marketing strategy. Its early effectiveness is evidenced by the yen's plunge and how it's cheering exporters. But Abe, too, is falling prey to his own acceptance process: sticking to the same old debt-fueled growth strategies while promising new and improved results.
Unless Abe deregulates the economy, improves a corporate-governance system that produced the fraud at Olympus Corp., severs the incestuous ties between government and business that enabled Tepco's incompetence, and finds safer energy sources before the next giant quake, he will just produce Japan's next asset bubble.
The risk is that the Japanese are giving Abe a blank check to heal their traumatized nation. Without a bigger and better-targeted plan, it may all end in a new cycle of grief.
William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo. The opinions expressed are his own.


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What is Real-Time Text (RTT)?
Real-Time Text
Before we discuss 'Real-time Text', let us consider what is 'Real-time'.
Real-time means that something occurs within a fraction of a second. For example, a voice conversation between two or more people happens in real-time. The audio is sent and received immediately by the people. Another example of real-time is a computer game, where the actions of the player are immediately shown on the computer screen.
Real-Time Text is text transmitted while it is being typed or created, with the characters being sent immediately (within a fraction of a second) once typed, and also displayed immediately to the receiving person(s). This means that the receiving person(s) can read the newly created text while the sender is still typing it. In this way Real-Time Text has the same conversational directness and interactivity as voice.
The International Telecom Union (ITU) has defined 'real-time' in ITU-T F.700 Section 188.8.131.52 and 'Real-Time Text' in ITU-T F.700 Annex A.3 and ITU-T F.703 Section 18.104.22.168.
Real-Time Text is of particular importance for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing as a replacement for voice telephony (not a complementary technology). However, it is expected that Real-Time Text will be adopted by mainstream users as well. In particular, it is a natural extension for other real-time, conversational services such as voice telephony, e.g., for use in noisy environments, when you want to communicate during a meeting when voice is not appropriate. It is also very useful for conveying information where exact spelling is important during a voice call, e.g. booking numbers, street addresses, words that are hard to perceive because of different dialects etc.
Consistency with other real-time multimedia
Real-Time Text can be used as a stand-alone feature or it can be used in conjunction with other real-time features such as voice telephony and video conferencing. Real-Time Text can be used to enhance the effectiveness of these other features.
In order to achieve this, any implementation of Real-Time Text should be consistent with the implementation of these other features. For instance, the means of control and the method of transport of Real-Time Text should be as similar as possible to those used for voice and video.
The presentation of Real-Time Text simultaneously with Voice and Video is called Total Conversation. The ITU-T has defined Total Conversation (F.703 Section 7.2). 3GPP has defined a set of protocols to implement Total Conversation in an IP environment. 3GPP TS 26.114 "Multimedia Telephony, media handling and interaction" describes how to implement real-time voice, video and text services.
Use of Real-Time Text
Real-Time Text provides a quite different user experience from Instant Messaging (IM). Real-Time Text and IM (and email) are complementary text services with different capabilities. Real-Time Text allows new services to be created or improve existing services. Real-time Text can be used:
- in conjunction with voice and/or video in a multimedia communication or on its own, on fixed or mobile accesses,
- by people who want a fast and really interactive means of conversing,
- in noisy environments where it may be hard to hear,
- in environments where other people are nearby but where communications privacy is required,
- to transfer information e.g. numbers, addresses etc, where exactness is necessary,
- by people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing or with a speech impairment to communicate with other people , including people who can hear and speak.
- for relay services to offer real-time conversion between different modes of communication as a service to people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing or with a speech impairment. E.g. to provide real-time captioning of a voice conversation for people who are Hard-of-Hearing.
- to provide all voice callers with a convenient means to accurately pass numbers, addresses and other detailed information in text.
- to allow people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing or have a speech impairment to use the emergency services without limitations.
- to offer remote interpreter and transcribing (note taking) services for every user who needs it.
ToIP (RFC 4103) as the primary Real-Time Text standard for IP networks
The IETF has defined a Framework for Real-Time Text in RFC5194. At the core of this framework are SIP control and Real-Time Text transport using RTP as described in RFC4103. This technology is broadly supported for VoIP and other multimedia applications in an IP environment, and is also consistent with the Total Conversation concept. Real-Time Text that operates over IP and is based on RFC4103 is often referred to as Text-over-IP or ToIP.
Features of Text over IP (ToIP)
ToIP is designed around the ITU-T T.140 Real-Time Text presentation layer protocol. T.140 allows real-time editing of text e.g. by using 'backspace' and retyping. T.140 is based on the ISO 10646-1 character set that is used by most IP text specifications and uses the UTF-8 format. Transport of ToIP uses the same Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) as VoIP and Video-over-IP. The text is encoded according to IETF RFC 4103 titled "RTP Payload for Text Conversation". RFC 4103 supports an optional error correction scheme based on redundant transmission (using RFC 2198). This results in a very low end-to-end character loss across IP transmission links that have moderately high packet loss. To improve efficiency, text is buffered for 300 - 500 milliseconds before it is sent whilst still meeting the delay requirements.
RTP is usually transported over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). However, because 2.5G mobile/cellular phones supported the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) but did not consistently support API's for UDP, some implementations of ToIP over mobile/cellular networks use TCP internally optimized for such networks. 3G mobile/cellular networks can support UDP, which means that such networks can use ToIP natively.
The protocol stack for ToIP is:
Despite that ToIP is character by character streaming text; the used bandwidth of ToIP is very low compared to VoIP.
Typing 30 characters per second results in a traffic load between 2 and 3 Kbit/s depending on the language used (including overheads for RFC4103 with the maximum level of redundancy, RTP, UDP and IP).
Control of ToIP sessions has been defined using the standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) (RFC 3261) and the Session Description Protocol (SDP) (RFC 4566) protocols.
- SIP is used without any alteration.
- Real-Time Text encoding is identified by using the SDP media definition 'm=text'.
- The details of SDP for ToIP are described in RFC 4103 and its errata.
Text over IP developments
Next Generation Networking (NGNs) is a concept developed by telecommunication service providers and their suppliers. It aims to create a true multi-service network based in IP technology.
ToIP has been specified for inclusion in the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) (in 3GPP TS 26.114 "IMS, Multimedia Telephony, Media handling and interaction"). IMS is being used to implement NGNs in many fixed and mobile networks.
Support of ToIP is seriously being considered in multimedia Emergency Public-safety answering point (PSAPs) in Europe (112) and USA and Canada (911).
The ECRIT IETF working group defines ToIP as one medium in the access to Emergency Services.
ToIP can provide a 'low impact' solution to meeting national regulatory requirements to provide 'equivalent service' to the telephone service for people who have hearing or speech impairments.


text: Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums :: View topic - Please write me ! :) Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Please write me ! :) Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Making Friends View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message YamkidJoined: 11 Jul 2003Posts: 1Location: TAIWAN Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:20 am Post subject: Please write me ! :) Hello!!! My name is Yu-Cheng Lin. Now I'm a junior in National Changhua University of Education(NCUE)in Taiwan. I major in special education and Chinese literature. I like to read novels, listen to music,and watch movies in free time. I hope I can make many friends here by e-mail. If you write me, we will become good friends!.......^^ p.s. My e-mail address is [email protected] Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Making Friends All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Student Forums----------------ComputersCurrent NewsCultureEnglish SchoolsFamilyFilm and CinemaFoodHealth and FitnessHelp CenterHobbiesHolidaysLearning EnglishLiteratureMaking FriendsMusicOpinionsPetsScienceSportsThe Strange and MysteriousTOEFL and Other English ExamsTravel You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Dave's ESL Cafe is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Banner Advertising | Bookstore / Alta Books | FAQs | Articles | Interview with Dave Copyright © 2018 Dave's ESL Cafe | All Rights Reserved | Contact Dave's ESL Cafe | Site Map Teachers College, Columbia University: Train to Teach English Here or Abroad Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group


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Australia's carbon tax and global temperatures
Australia now has a carbon tax , and there is now much chatter about how this will impact on the economy. There has been less discussion about the potential impact on the environment.
Andrew Bolt has continued to ask all comers about how the Australian carbon tax will impact on global temperatures, and most people have refused to answer. So he decided to work out his own estimate. Using the calculations of Damon Matthews, who suggests that a tonne of co2-e will change temperatures by 0.0000000000015 degrees, and given that the government plans to reduce our emissions by 160 million tonnes, then Bolt estimates that our carbon tax will change the global temperature by about 0.00024 degrees. Fair enough.
From the other side of the fence, the only person I have seen willing to put their name to an estimate is John Quiggin, who thinks the carbon tax will be 100 times more effective and reduce temperatures (compared to "business-as-usual") by 0.02 degrees. Quiggin should be congratulated for putting his name to an estimate, and it's appropriate to note his caveat "as should be pretty obvious, it's not meant to be precise, and claiming precision would be silly in any case". Fair enough.


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CES 2013, that giant, tangled web of a consumer electronics show, is in the rearview mirror, and the Ars Technica crew was there to cover it. In its aftermath, we took some time to think about what makes this giant trade show useful, and we talked about the ways in which it has changed in recent years.
On this episode of the Ars Technicast, Reviews Editor Florence Ion and Associate Writer Andrew Cunningham share their CES stories with Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng and Social Editor Cesar Torres. With the absence of Microsoft from the event, the show brought increased focus on the latest gadgets and electronics makers.
We also talk about what happens when journalists get to play a little bit on the Vegas strip. And inevitably, we discuss the weirdness of the Qualcomm keynote as well as the notorious Internet fridge.
- Direct Download URL: Ars Technicast, Episode 18: Tales from the trenches at CES
- Subscribe via the iTunes store
- Subscribe via RSS
- Listen on SoundCloud


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Nipsey Hussle Biography 'The Marathon Don't Stop' On The Way
By Peyton Blakemore
October 8, 2019
An in-depth biography about Nipsey Hussle's life and legacy is in the works.
Music journalist Rob Kenner is currently writing The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle, a book that will feature "on-the-ground reporting and interviews" with the late rapper and activist's friends and family, Complex reports.
"The last time I spoke with Nipsey Hussle, he told me, 'I ain't outside giving out jewelry or dropping off bags of money on people, but I'm giving out game,'" Rob told Complex. "This book is my attempt to help fulfill that intention. The Marathon Don't Stop will also place his accomplishments in proper historical context, giving Nipsey Hussle his rightful place in the history of hip-hop, Los Angeles, and America. It will include interviews with people who haven't spoken before, as well as insights into the forces that shaped Hussle into the man he became."
He added, "Ultimately, though, this is a book about his life. My purpose is to lift up the best parts of Nipsey Hussle's legacy so that they will live on and inspire others."
The esteemed hip-hop journalist, who's a founding editor of VIBE and whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Complex, Billboard, and more also discussed what drove him to write a book dedicated to the late, great artist, whose tragic passing shocked the world. "I knew I wanted to write a book about Nipsey Hussle long before his tragic death," Rob shared. "The events of March 31 left me stunned just like the rest of those who cared about him. Since that time, there has been a tremendous outpouring of love for him around the world, but also a fair amount of misinformation and media spin from forces that underestimated him or saw him as a threat."
"I wanted to do my part to help set the record straight," he continued. "While this is not an authorized biography, I've decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the book to Nipsey's estate out of respect."
The biography is set to arrive on March 24, 2020, just one week shy of the one year anniversary of Nipsey's death.
Photo: Getty Images


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I often extol the virtues of English food in an attempt to counteract the bad reputation that it has earned over time. Oh sure, just like any country's cuisine, some of England's unsavory food reputation has been well deserved, but let us not forget that we have Slim Jims and Spam ourselves.
As you can tell from reading my blog I am a real lover of unassuming, plain old simple cooking. In England this spans the gamut from toad in the hole to bread and butter pudding. Somewhere in between are some of my favorites, steak and ale pie, sticky toffee pudding and fish and chips.
Most every little village in the UK has their own jewel in the crown, the local fish and chip shop. In addition to great fried fish, there are usually a few sides available here as well, most notably big chunky chips, and very often mushy peas and baked beans. While baked beans are a big favorite a lot of times, it's the mushy peas I really love with my fish and chips.
In the UK mushy peas are most often prepared with marrowfat peas. Marrowfat peas are peas that are allowed to mature and dry in the field instead of being harvested in their youth like garden peas. You may recognize them as the peas used to make wasabi peas. I found these giant super plump peas (sans wasabi coating) impossible to find here in the Denver area, so I set about replicating them with what I could find.
I started out my hunt for the perfect American mushy pea recipe with frozen peas. I cooked them per the package instructions, leaving a bit of the cooking liquid in the pan to add some additional moisture to my recipe. I mashed them and whipped them around a bit and what I landed up with was pretty good, but it missed the mark.
Next I tried soaking and cooking dried peas. I must admit from the start here that I found my plain old dried peas (not split peas which taste ok, but get too mushy) at my favorite rainy day hang out, my local Asian market. You might have to do a little hunting to seek even these out, but it is worth the trouble if you are looking for great stateside mushy peas.
Dried Whole Green Peas
I soaked my peas overnight (or at least 8 hours) and then cooked them for close to 3 hours to get the right tenderness. I removed the transparent skins that cooked to the top and then mashed them just a tad as they were already starting to breakdown. I was so proud of myself for not spooning in a bunch of seasonings as I did have some fresh bacon drippings sitting right next to the pot. I had to remind myself that it was simplicity I was after here not a spice rack full of ingredients.
The end result was the closest thing to English chip shop mushy peas on this side of the Atlantic. Although time consuming, this was really a simple recipe. So if you love mushy peas as much as I do, or if you'd like to try something new, give this super simple recipe a try.
Mushy Peas
1 cup dried whole green peas
6 – 7 cups water, divided
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
Fresh lemon juice (optional)
Sort through the peas, place in a large sauce pan and cover with 3 cups of water. Soak peas in water overnight or at least 8 hours.
Drain peas and cover with enough of the remaining water to cover by an inch or so. Add salt to the peas and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow boil, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook until peas are soft, approximately 2 – 3 hours.
Remove the cover and stir well. Mash the peas until about 50% of them are mashed. Continue cooking to reduce the amount of liquid until the peas have the consistency of loose refried beans. Add pepper and just a squeeze of lemon juice if desired to brighten the flavor. Serve immediately.
Serves 4, or in our case 2
*Some recipes call for baking soda to be added to the cooking water to help speed up the breakdown of the peas. I've also read that some think it cuts down on the gassiness of the peas. I can't verify either of these theories as once I read it breaks down the beneficial thiamine (Vitamin B1) in the peas I just left it out. I'll leave this experiment up to you.


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I was fascinated to learn about St. George's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox site that was first built in the 5th century CE. It's obviously neither Jewish nor Islamic, and is located in a disputed territory 12.5 miles from Jerusalem.
What has been its fate as part of the larger history of and more recent political developments in the West Bank? For instance, did it receive equal protection from both Israel and the Palestinians?


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