By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this Halloween morning, and the music is not “The Monster Mash,” but the scariest song First CoffeeSM has on any CD: Barbra Streisand lumbering her way through “People (Who Need $22,000 A Year To Keep Their Lawns Green While Lecturing Other People On The Need To Cut Back On Waste):”

Nokia is announcing what they’re calling “the world’s first commercial service management solution for DVB-H services, the Nokia Mobile Broadcast Solution 3.0.”

The Nokia MBS 3.0 supports the broadcasting of different types of digital content such as live TV, radio and video clips over DVB-H networks to mobile devices. The key features of the MBS 3.0 include the Electronic Service Guide, a consumer interface in the mobile device for searching available services, setting alerts for upcoming programs and for the viewing selection.

The MBS 3.0 is based on open standards such as DVB-H. It fully implements the Open Air Interface 1.0 implementation guidelines, which Nokia published in August 2005. The Open Air Interface specifies how mobile TV devices connect with the DVB-H network and the servers of the overall mobile TV service infrastructure.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Tom Waits’s career pivot point, Swordfishtrombones:

Alpha Retail Technology, a vendor of POS, enterprise, and merchandise management products, is introducing a new system for the tracking and management of Imaging Services. This system automates key imaging services processes including estimate generation, order conversion, order processing, and payments.

“Imaging services” means the scanning, copying, file conversion, archival, and licensing of documents. ART is calling the Alpha Retail Imaging Services Management System “the first software package available that manages all Imaging Services licensing, resources, and activities.”

ISMS uses cost tables to provide estimates and quotes for necessary work. Services are scheduled and work orders are tracked throughout the process.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Frank Sinatra’s A Swingin’ Affair! album. As one reviewer said, records don’t get much better than this:

China Netcom Group Corporation Limited (Hong Kong) a telecommunications company in China and the Asia-Pacific region, has announced that its shareholders have passed the resolutions to a conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire telecommunication businesses in northern China.

Under the agreement, the company will acquire from China Netcom Group Corporation (BVI) Limited its telecommunication businesses in Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, Neimenggu Autonomous Region and Shanxi Province at a purchase price of RMB12.8 billion ($1.5 billion). The amount will comprise an initial consideration of RMB3 billion ($370 million) payable in cash to CNC BVI and a deferred consideration of RMB9.8 billion ($1.2 billion) payable within five years after completion of the acquisition.

Commenting on the benefits of the acquisition, Chairman of China Netcom, Mr. Zhang Chunjiang, said, “The acquisition is a major step towards our business integration.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Tom Waits’s raggedly majestic Mule Variations:

In this week’s Terrible Horrible Awful Weather Disaster Which Is Going To Cause A Lot of Damage And Trouble As Terrible Horrible Awful Weather Disasters Have Done Since God Created Water But Which The MSM And Other Assorted Moonbats Are Going To Blame On President Bush (Instead Of Completely Incompetent Blithering-Blathering Idiots Like Ray Nagin), Hurricane Wilma is going to see what damage it can do to southwest Florida.

If there’s anywhere in America which should know what to do when a hurricane hits it’s Florida, just as if there was one unorganized, incapable, corrupt, fat, lazy indolent city incapable of taking responsibility for its own safety in the face of a disaster it was New Orleans; as First CoffeeSM explained to friends here on the Mediterranean coast there was no worse, more incompetently administered city in the United States for a hurricane to hit than New Orleans.

Florida, however, by now should be as adept at handling hurricanes as Disney World is of handling kids who throw up corn dogs on the rides. Wireless providers have learned a thing or two from Hurricane Charley, as well as Katrina and Rita. Verizon Wireless is already “mobilizing efforts throughout the entire southern peninsula to ensure reliable wireless phone coverage to residents and emergency agencies across the state before, during and after the storm.”

One thing they’re doing is arranging fuel delivery to the company’s network switching facilities in Southwest Florida and other key areas, and to generators at permanent cell sites to keep the network operating at full strength even if power is lost for an extended period of time.

Nearly 80 percent of the individual transmission sites operated by Verizon Wireless have their own on-site generators. This capability is critical when power goes out and if roads are impassable.

They’re also positioning mobile generators, with ready access to roof-top cell sites along the state’s Southwestern and Eastern coasts.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Ol’ Blue Eyes’s 1960 album Nice ‘n’ Easy, towards the end of his Golden Era:

Why can’t all press releases be this much fun?

First CoffeeSM’s as much a fan of good advertising writing as anyone else – whoever wrote those Volkswagen magazine ads back in the ‘60s deserved the Pulitzer Prize more than 75% of the now-forgottens who won it – and a fan of Nokia as well, love their phones, which is why the latest news from Espoo, Finland rates first mention.

Witness their new product line, the “L’Amour Collection.” Instead of frustrated music critics writing business technology articles, as is the case with First CoffeeSM, we have frustrated fashion correspondents writing telecommunications press releases:

“Continuing to push the boundaries of mobile phone design, Nokia has introduced a collection of three trend-inspired mobile phones, the Nokia 7360, Nokia 7370 and Nokia 7380. Each model in the L’Amour Collection offers a beautiful mix of contrasts – infusing cultural and ethnic influences with luxurious touches of the unexpected. Hints of vintage and craftsmanship [sic], are fused with natural materials, colors and patterns, all carefully crafted and layered with a passion for detail.”

With a strapless white tulle bodice and lovely flowing skirt. Press releases like this are so more enjoyable than the vast swamp of sludge we slog through to Bring The News To You!TM, keep ‘em coming, just remember we’re talking about pretty good cell phones here, guys, and not Versace handbags.

“For many consumers, the mobile phone has truly become an extension of their personal style – it is a fashion statement as well as an advanced communications device,” maintains Alastair Curtis, Vice President of Design at Nokia’s Mobile Phones division.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is still that Traffic live CD, Welcome To The Canteen. First CoffeeSM had forgotten what a good work CD it is:

Got another comment on Caiman.com’s terrible customer service, this one from “Anthony:”

I think they have their people put false positive feedback on amazon.com. I have been cheated by them I wish I had tried harder to find a local copy of Xenogears.

First CoffeeSM’s heard from a lot of people who’ve been let down by Caiman.com – either not getting what they ordered, having it arrive grossly late or not at all, and being sent rude e-mails by a company completely uninterested in providing good customer service.

Someday soon, we hope, Amazon.com is going to do the right thing by their customers in the choice of vendors they allow to sell items on their site.
…

A tip of the coffee pot to Akshay Sharma, formerly Siemens’ Chief Architect Mobile Enterprise Solutions Calypso Wireless, Inc., who’s been appointed Calypso’s Chief Technology Officer. Company officials say Sharma will be tasked with spearheading implementation of Calypso’s technology on the C1250i WiFi-GSM-GPRS VoIP smart cellular phone.

“One of Mr.

So Orhan Pamuk didn’t win the irrelevant Nobel Prize for Literature, according to “observers of the Nobel process” cited in The Guardian who say that, “given that the European Union has decided to engage talks on Turkey’s entry without condemning the Pamuk trial, some members of the Swedish Academy, which chooses the literature laureate, feel politically exposed.”

“‘If the Pamuk row is real, the academy’s reluctance is not based on a fear of being political, or controversial,’ said Svante Weyler of Nordstedts publishers, ‘but on concern that literature must not be overshadowed by politics.’”

Literature must not be overshadowed by politics in Nobel considerations. Leaving aside the completely political nature of that consideration in the first place, that’s like saying looks must not overshadow personality in Miss America. The Nobel Prize is so hopelessly wedded to trendy international academic left-wing politics as to be a fairly accurate barometer of that year’s political fads.

Consider this year’s winner, yet somebody else the intelligent reading man in the street’s never heard of, British playwright Harold Pinter. Pinter’s written exactly two plays which First CoffeeSM, who was a literature major who took courses in Modern Drama, has heard of, “The Caretaker” and “The Birthday Party” – and who still has no idea what the hell they mean.

Why Pinter, why now? Pinter because he writes obscure works about meaninglessness, which are two of the qualities seemingly required by the Nobel committee, and now because he’s a fiercely outspoken critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and “vehemently opposed Britain’s involvement in the war,” according to The Guardian.

In 2003, Pinter published a brainless volume of anti-war poetry about the Iraq conflict which nobody read, and in 2004 he joined a group of “celebrity” campaigners idiotically calling for Blair to be impeached.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is solid ol’ classic rock, Stephen Stills’ 1972 Manassas, released in the last year of the Great Era for rock’n’roll, and which can stand in the same company as the year’s other redwoods, such as Exile On Main Street, St. Dominic’s Preview, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Eat A Peach:

Salesboom.com, the provider of on demand customer relationship management software who aspires to play in the salesforce.com, NetSuite and RightNow league for SMB hosted CRM, has announced an enhanced administrative upgrade feature for Salesboom users.

Dubbed the Salesboom “SmartUpgrade,” the new feature will allow Salesboom administrators to select which updates they wish to use and when to introduce them to their users.

Salesboom has been releasing new updates to their hosted CRM, with an update at least every 4 weeks. The new “SmartUpgrade” feature will allow system administrators more control and flexibility over which updates they would like to see launched. The new “SmartUpgrade” system will be available to all Salesboom users with the upcoming release of Salesboom v7.0.

The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Salesboom.com touts their frequent updates as their competitive advantage of the trio of established players in the space: “Yet even with the versatility of the Software-as-a-Service model, the biggest online CRM providers [see above] continue to hold that functionality over their customers’ heads,” company officials say, adding, with the not-completely-accurate insinuation that others don’t release patches and feature updates ahead of scheduled version updates, that “with Salesboom’s SaaS model, customers don’t have to worry about waiting months for promised features and patches, as they are released in a system of scheduled and transparent updates, occurring at least every 4 weeks.”
…

Fargo, North Dakota-based Vtrenz, Inc. has announced product enhancements for its marketing automation platform. Vtrenz iMarketing Automation is engineered to give marketers tools to plan, build, manage, execute and measure both online and offline marketing activities, designed to help companies “generate, qualify and nurture leads as well as retain and win-back customers,” according to company officials.

Adding behavior-based segmentation capabilities, a new integrated campaign management tool, and multi-track rules-based campaign automation, iMarketing Automation has improved its offerings for running automate marketing campaigns triggered at the time most appropriate for the contact instead of the time most convenient for the sender.

It’s billed as “built for non-IT users; marketers, sales representatives, or other business professionals.”
…

When SAP’s VP of CRM application solution management, Siegfried Leiner, said in an interview last week with ComputerWire that hosted CRM is “commodity CRM,” dissing it in favor of componentized, platform-based CRM where CRM functionality is integral to the application infrastructure, it was up to someone from the hosted community to swing back.

Kudos to founder and CEO of hosted CRM supplier RightNow Technologies Inc, Greg Gianforte, for picking up the gauntlet, pointing out that SAPs approach is just an attempt to save an outmoded way of operating, according to ComputerWire.

“Chopping its application up into bite-sized pieces is not going to save SAPs bacon because they still insist that all elements have to be used with its costly and impractical NetWeaver platform, negating the flexibility of choosing which applications to run,” he said.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of mid-morning here on Columbus Day, and here’s hoping you’re having a relaxing day off. Hey, we never rest here at First CoffeeSM. The music is a nice five-CD sampler of Miles Davis, with Birth of The Cool and Kind Of Blue, among others:

There’s not a whole lot of happenin’ news, but here’s what’s going on:

There goes the Washington Redskins’ undefeated season.
...

LightPointe, a designer and manufacturer of high-speed outdoor wireless products, is announcing that Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the famed hospital and cancer institute, has deployed the company’s Gigabit Ethernet FlightStrata optical wireless product to extend high-speed network connectivity to a new office while providing access to bandwidth-intensive digital imaging, research data and a wireless IP telephony system.

Much of the technology used in Sloan-Kettering, The largest private cancer institution in the world, is state-of-the-art, of course. “Wireless technologies are a critical component of our New York City facilities,” says Patricia C.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the album Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today by Slobberbone, a band First CoffeeSM heard about by reading Stephen King’s playlist on iTunes. Favorite song so far: “Lazy Guy.”

More customer feedback on Caiman.com. Ever since First CoffeeSM posted about what terrible customer service Caiman.com provides there’s been a stream of commiserating posts from people who never received orders or received wrong orders, and how Caiman.com made it perfectly plain they couldn’t care less. Here’s the latest:

“First Coffee, I will add my words to this issue.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

More news as of the second or third or, heck, fifth cup of coffee. As it's early afternoon here on the Mediterranean coast, we're well into the java and the music's the bit more up-tempo 1993 Cracker debut album.

So, rounding up bits of import off the news wires…

SMS.CO.UK, an Internet domain name synonymous with the telecoms and messaging industries, looks likely to set "a record for the price of any UK based domain name to date," according to Hollywood Internet, Ltd, the Birmingham-based company behind the sale, along with GVA Grimley.

The sale will take place in November 2005 by Private Tender and at the sms.co.uk web site. Be warned that there is a reserve, or minimum bid, placed on the name.

David Carter, director of Hollywood Internet Ltd., says "sms.co.uk is the biggest name ever to hit the UK resale market." He expects that "all of the major telecoms and new media companies will be interested."

The Tenders Sale will take place on a sealed bid basis, with a closing date expected to be 4 November 2005 when all bids will be opened and the name will be sold to the highest bidder, assuming that the reserve price has been met.

First CoffeeSM wonders how much www.sex.com would go for.
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The Associated Press's Michael Liedtke is reporting from San Francisco that Yahoo Inc. has acquired Upcoming.org, "an online event planning site that's expected to infuse the Internet powerhouse with more content about local communities."

Yahoo confirmed the deal late Tuesday without disclosing financial terms of the acquisition, Liedtke said, adding that "Los Angeles-based Upcoming acts as a social calendar that depends on its users to post free listings about a wide range of upcoming events, from local rock concerts to picnics in the park."

Andy Baio's site lets users "share observations about the events and identify common areas of interests." Yahoo! plans to keep Upcoming's current Web site separate from www.yahoo.com, at least initially, but Liedtke says they'll "eventually incorporate much of the content into its own site to bolster its local search capabilities," citing Paul Levine, Yahoo's general manager of local search.
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Nokia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Brazilian telecommunications giant Telemar Oi to begin trials of Nokia's Fixed Mobile Convergence products.

The Nokia Fixed Mobile Convergence products can use Telemar's current fixed network to create what Nokia officials describe as "a converged packet-based domain for fixed and mobile services."

Telemar operates the largest fixed network in South America, with around 15 million subscribers, as well as the Oi branded mobile network, which currently caters to around 8 million subscribers.

The trial will use a Nokia end-to-end product for unified core and converged access networks, as well as Nokia terminals providing multimedia and VoIP services for both mobile and fixed customers. The Nokia unified core includes the Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem, for voice calls and multimedia services, the Nokia VoIP Server, and the Nokia MSC Server System.

The agreement also includes testing of the Nokia Unlicensed Mobile Access for extending the potential of fixed broadband networks.

Alberto Blanco, marketing director of Telemar Group notes that Telemar Oi, has already launched integrated service packages for fixed and mobile residential customers.
…

AMD, which develops what it considers to be power-efficient, environmentally-conscious products such as the Cool'n'Quiet technology, has announced that it will sponsor The University of Texas at Austin's Solar Decathlon Team.

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Frank Sinatra’s breezy 1957 Come Fly With Me album. His best work is uniformly his 1953 – 1961 recordings for Capitol Records. Oh he did good work elsewhere, sure – “My Way” came later, as it only could have – but he was never this consistently good or hit such high peaks before or after.

This morning we have some pearls of wisdom cast by well-known CRM consultant Bob Thompson, the guiding light of CRMGuru.com, which is one of the most popular and really- useful- to- real- people- really- doing- real- CRM- work enterprises on the CRM landscape.

If anybody’s to blame for First CoffeeSM having any sort of profile in the CRM world, it’s probably Bob, who put up, literally and figuratively, with articles so far over the edge they surfaced somewhere near Iceland, using Victoria’s Secret, local coffee shops and proctologists as business-case examples:

Bob, ever since you and I worked together in the late ‘50s, CRM’s gone through a few changes. What are the most important developments of the past few years?

The biggest is that most business executives are no longer tech-obsessed about CRM.