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In my schooldays last century, English language lessons scored serious marks for dullness. It seemed so pointless to learn that you should use an apostrophe with nouns that are followed by a gerund...or something. Does anybody out there know what I mean? My mother continually told me off for sloppy speech and for saying "yeah", but I still managed to communicate.
But have things changed that much? Surely parents all over the UK still cringe at their kid's, sorry children's speech. So what is all this nonsense about e-mail and text messaging ruining the fabric of society? It's got so bad even my neighbour, who happens to be a Canadian, thinks things are bad. Now that is worrying.
If I wrote: 'HI RUF2T OR TXT' suggested by one leading Sunday newspaper, as something I might want to say, would you know that I mean: 'Hello, are you free to talk or text?' No, and who cares? It's teen chat, nonsense, 'be part of my club' stuff. But if I use: 'MEET U @ 4 2 DAY' you could work it out. Short cuts like this have a logic and save time, certainly for texting.
We are told by linguistic experts that in e-mails we have all become used to spelling mistakes and lower case, but that assumes all correspondence before was perfect. The mistakes found in typed letters in those days when poorly paid typists just bashed out the words were as bad as any seen in email now.
Our language today is not at all like that of our grandparents. Are we worse off? Do we fail to make sense of one another? Of course not. We are people of our time, with a language of our time. In 200 years from now we shall still make some sense of the language, but in 400 years we'll have difficulty. Is that terrible? I wonder, if William Shakespeare were writing now, would it be: '2B OR NOT2B'?
Annie Millar.
Managing director, XXIST.com
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| ONLINE INLFATION STARTS TO CREEP IN |
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At last, the silver lining to the dotcom shake-out. The latest e-tail price index shows online prices in the UK rising 3.2 per cent since November last year, compared with a 2.4 per cent fall between July and September 2000. Reduced competition looks like giving those left in the market a chance to turn a profit.
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| UK E-PROCUREMENT SLOW TO CATCH ON |
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Only nine per cent of UK companies have begun to purchase online, compared to around one third of German companies. It is estimated that online purchasing can cut buying costs by up to 20 per cent. Research done by American Express surveyed 200 finance directors of British firms and found that they had few doubts about the benefits of e-procurement. But barriers include fear of technical problems and concerns about doing business with faceless companies known only through the Internet. The report also found a lack of senior level commitment.
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| WARNING THAT HACKERS NOW GREATER THREAT THAN TERRORISTS |
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Britain could be crippled more rapidly by computer hackers than by either terrorists or a military strike, according to the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. He spoke during a Commons debate on the work of the intelligence and security services telling MPs that computers now manage most of the country's critical infrastructure. He said that the electronic technology controlling essential services such as transport, power and water had become a leading target for terrorists and other groups and warned that if they managed to gain access to the computer systems of key public services, they could cause havoc.
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| SITES IGNORING NEW AD STANDARDS |
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Very few web sites running banner ads are complying with the new standards set last month by the Internet Advertising Bureau, according to research from Jupiter Media Matrix. The study found that while 25 per cent of ad-supported web sites host large online banner ads, less than five per cent run formats which meet the IAB's standards. Nine per cent of sites experimented with a new banner size before the official launch of the specifications, but less than 40 per cent of those sites used the exact IAB ad format.
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| EUROPE CLASHES WITH AMERICA OVER PRIVACY |
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The development of e-commerce, trade relations and global data flow are all threatened in the growing row over consumer data privacy. An EU directive establishes privacy as a fundamental human right, requiring individual consent for the gathering and dissemination of personal data obtained, processed or transferred from or through the EU. It requires elimination of data no longer needed for the original purpose it was given and prohibits unauthorised transfers of such data to third parties.
One key figure in US technology policy said the directive might lead to the "imposition of one of the largest free trade barriers ever seen" on e-commerce and undermine US sovereignty. He described it as the effective imposition of a "de facto privacy standard on the world." The US has so far opted for privacy-enhanced innovations and self-regulation and targeted legal protections for sensitive areas involving children, medical records and banking data. But American lawmakers face growing pressure from all sides of the issue and there is, as yet, no consensus emerging. The Bush administration has, though, requested postponement of the privacy directive's enforcement on financial institutions.
Critics in the US from all sides of the political divide say the directive could disrupt the data flow between the EU and the US and could also compromise the ability of US companies to target, customise and sell goods and services to EU residents. It could also open them up to new liabilities. The Clinton administration last year negotiated voluntary "safe harbour" agreements but very few US companies have signed up. Under this deal, the US Federal Trade Commission monitors compliance and enforces the principles of the EU directive, but the FTC's legal authority to do this is dubious. And in any case, banking and telecommunications are excluded from their jurisdiction.
EU officials in Brussels and Washington have dismissed the criticism as directed more at a growing domestic debate within the US about data privacy, than at any dispute with the EU.
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| E-BUSINESS IS HERE TO STAY - IT'S OFFICIAL |
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The new e-commerce companies spawned by the Internet boom brought a new spirit to an old-fashioned business world and have caused a major shake-up in the way business is done. This view comes from none other than Digby Jones, director general of the CBI responding to a UK e-business survey "The Quiet revolution" produced with KPMG Consulting.
"E-business is no longer seen in terms of dotcoms prevailing over 'old' traditional businesses, but in terms of a transformation of business models throughout the supply chain in every business sector," he says.
The survey showed that 21 per cent of UK businesses could be called e-pioneers, with 43 per cent e-followers and 36 per cent e-laggards. The sectors feeling the greatest impact of e-business are currently telecoms/utilities and financial services, with retailing, professional/consulting and travel not far behind.
The report predicted that all businesses are likely to be transformed in the next two or three years.
Pamela Taylor, the CBI's e-business policy adviser, said that improved customer service must be to the fore in any company's e-business strategy. This does not mean having a smart website. Companies must develop customer relationship management (CRM) policies and overcome many people's suspicions of the Internet.
For companies which grasp the e-business challenge wholeheartedly, the rewards - not just in cost savings, but also in added revenues and market penetration - are likely to be considerable.
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| PREDICTIONS REVISED FOR B2B SALES |
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Gartner research predicts that despite the current economic downturn, worldwide B2B e-commerce sales will hit $8.53 trillion in four years' time. E-marketplaces might not have had a serious impact on B2B in 2000, but this will have changed by 2003, says Gartner. Other forecasters have predicted a reduction in worldwide sales by 2005, Gartner is convinced that technologies such as e-procurement will enable businesses to cut costs.
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| BT FAILING TO MEET HIGH-SPEED TARGETS |
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BT is failing to hit its own targets for high-speed Internet services, making just 50,000 connections, instead of the 80,000 promised by the end of March. BT defended this failure by pointing out that they were ahead of benchmark performances in other countries. Waiting times for connection have come down to an average of 17 working days between placing an order and getting online.
With BT's local loop unbundling faltering as potential investors continue to drop out, it looks more likely that consumers will be left with limited or no alternative to BT's Internet service. So few companies are still interested in breaking into BT's local network that it has raised the price considerably, therefore making it more difficult for those that remain. Oftel has said that BT is working on ways of making it more cost effective for companies to join the process.
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| TOKEN WEB PRESENCE A MISTAKE |
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Nine out of 10 web sites are "too poor to continue operating", according to a new survey and putting up a token web site can do irreparable damage to a company's brand. These are the conclusions of a survey by Atmyside.com, a customer interaction management company. Checks on 1,000 web sites found the majority failed on key issues such as ease of use, design and customer service. The company recommends that it would be safer to pull a poor site down and start again - "and fast, before web-savvy customers start looking elsewhere."
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.... An Internet computer game just launched in America boasts that it cannot be turned off and even invades players' everyday lives. 'Majestic' puts people in the middle of a suspense thriller. "Once you are in it you are bombarded with phone calls to your home, faxes and e-mail messages to your office and text messages to your mobile phone. It's up to you to make sense of it," says the game's producer. In one scenario, the player's phone rings while they are watching TV at home and a hysterical woman screams that someone is trying to break down her door. This is quickly followed by a mobile text message warning: "Back off - if you know what's good for you." Distributors are looking at ways of introducing it in Britain.
.... Struggling to find a present for the couple who have everything? The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has just the thing. Through their web site they are searching for people to adopt mummified pets. Those who adopt cats, snakes, crocodiles or even the extinct sacred ibis, get an information pack on their adopted animal. And it's a snip! For just £35 you can co-parent a mummified snake, or if you have a spare £560, you can be the sole adopter of a crocodile. Money raised will help to pay for a climate controlled room, special conservation cases for the mummies and fund research.
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