By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music
is Alabama’s “Song Of the South:”
Wait, first we have to take our doctor-recommended dose of
cancer-preventing antioxidants here, hang on a sec… okay, there we go. Gotta do
what’s healthy, y’know.
First CoffeeSM doesn’t much like the dog days of August, when news is
scarce on the ground, too much like working for a living. Hey, readers in N’Awlins,
isn’t it about time y’all went to stay with your in-laws in Shreveport for a
while?
New Zealand is making the most audacious change in the
100-year history of its national telephone network, ripping out its public switched telephone network and hiring Alcatel to
replace it with an internet protocol network, at a cost of about $200
million New Zealand dollars, about $139 million in American dollars, The Dominion Post
is reporting, citing sources in the national capital of Wellington. Go Kiwis.
“It has already spent about $130 million upgrading its six
core telecommunications switches and revamping its billing systems, partly in
preparation for the move to IP,” according to the news report.
New Zealand Telecom says the project is part of a $1 billion
investment in a next-generation telephony network plan, architected last year “following
a recommendation by the Commerce Commission, accepted by the Cabinet, that it
would not have to give competitors access to the new infrastructure,” the Post says:
The plan calls for Telecom to get rid of about 600 of its
700 telephone exchanges, replacing the other 100 with fiber optic cable running
to roadside cabinets, “the first point of aggregation for home phone lines,
typically supporting a few hundred households.” The work is expected to stretch
out over several years.
It’s possible that the roadside cabinets will be equipped
with remote concentrators allowing Telecom to deliver triple play services of
on-demand video, broadband internet and IP-based voice services.
Telecom says it will support traditional switched circuit
phone calls until at least 2012, but hasn’t made any promises beyond that.
Whew. Time for more antioxidants, can’t be too careful,
cancer running in the family and all that. Yes it’s a hassle, but grandchildren
on the knee, clinking champagne glasses on Golden Anniversary, et cetera. Go
ahead, twist First CoffeeSM’s arm.
...
In related antipodean news, the Sydney
Morning Herald is reporting that “West Australian ISP iiNet
has launched a nationwide voice over
internet protocol service named iiNetphone, the company’s managing director
Michael Malone said today.”
The product is only available to those who have a fixed-line
service which is bundled with iiNet’s broadband internet plans, the company’s
chief technical officer Greg Bader told the Morning
Herald.
Subscribers who have a DSL connection with iiNet would first
have to take a fixed-line service from the provider in order to get the VoIP
service.
IiNetphone is charging no monthly rental fees and has low
call rates, with “10 cents being charged for both local untimed calls and calls
to capital cities countrywide… national calls outside capital cities would cost
five cents per minute over fixed lines.”
…
First CoffeeSM was reminded by the current issue
of The Economist why South Africa,
despite its obvious advantages – educated, native English-speaking population,
same time zone as Britain, the legacy of a sophisticated business climate – won’t be benefiting nearly as much as it
could from the coming explosion in offshoring until it wakes up and smells
the antioxidants:
Most importantly, telecoms
are stupidly expensive. South African firms pay nine times more than
Singaporean ones for broadband, twice what Malaysian ones do for domestic
leased lines and, explaining why India’s not sweating South Africa’s challenge
to their lucrative offshoring business, local
calls in South Africa cost an unbelievable eleven times what they do in India,
international calls are 70 percent more expensive and leasing international lines to America is ten times the price of India.
South Africa was bequeathed an efficient telecommunications
infrastructure, it’s not like they have to lay cable or try to use 1950s-style
equipment, it’s just sheer profiteering by one sector which is damaging the
entire country’s international competitiveness.
More antioxidants already, specifically polyphenols? They
help ward off cancer, cut the risk of developing diabetes, lower the risk of
heart disease? If you say so, here goes.
…
Be your own blogger!
That’s right, schlep around the house in your pajamas, slurping down healthy
antioxidants all day while you decide who’s the next prominent liberal
journalist to take down.
Scott Delea of Web marketing firm DigitalGrit will be leading a session titled “Advanced Tactics
in Search Engine Optimization: Leveraging Your Business Blog for Better Lead
Generation” at this year’s DMA B-to-B Marketing Conference in Tucson,
Arizona. The conference, organized by The Direct Marketing Association, is
scheduled for September 13-15, 2005 at the Westin La Paloma Resort.
Delea will be joined by Scott K. Wilder, Group Manager, QuickBooks Division,
Intuit, author of “The Official QuickBooks Blog” and manager of QuickBooks
Online Community and Collaboration efforts.
The presentation will be held on Wednesday, September 14th at 1:30 PM. The
session will focus on business blogs (short for web logs).
“There’s a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of
business blogs for marketing,” Delea says. “I think that many marketers aren’t
aware of how positively blogs can benefit their search efforts. In addition to
the CRM and PR benefits of business blogs, the powerful combination of RSS and
well-written, optimized copy can offer a tremendous leg-up in search engine
marketing. Blogs are more than just a tech trend – they’re a must-have for all
businesses with an online presence.”
They’re also a great way to meet girls, boost your income
and learn to drive the big rigs.
For more information on the DMA’s B-to-B Marketing Conference hit the
conference site at http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/dmab2b/index.shtml.
…
“Honey, any more antioxidants in the pot?” The
Associated Press is reporting on a study by St. Joe Vinson of the
University of Scranton, which finds that “coffee provides more healthful antioxidants
than any other food or beverage in the American diet.”
“The point is, people are getting the most antioxidants from
beverages, as opposed to what you might think,” Vinson told the AP. “We think
that antioxidants can be good for you in a number of ways,” including affecting
enzymes and genes, though more research is needed, Vinson said.
Antioxidants, which are thought to help battle cancer and
provide other health benefits, are abundant in grains, tomatoes and many other
fruits and vegetables. After analyzing “the antioxidant content of more than
100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and
common beverages,” Vinson’s team calculated how much antioxidant each food
contributes to a person’s diet.
The result? “The average adult consumes 1,299 milligrams of
antioxidants daily from coffee. The closest competitor was tea at 294
milligrams. Rounding out the top five sources were bananas, 76 milligrams; dry
beans, 72 milligrams; and corn, 48 milligrams.”
Studies in the past have found that coffee
helps cut the risk of liver cancer, diabetes and falling asleep during Ken
Burns documentaries.
Next up: A study finding Irish whiskey is one of
the greatest cancer-preventive substances available today.
If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/
for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.