The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a Verve reissue of the 1947 Charlie Parker album, cleverly titled Charlie Parker, jammed with the usual outtakes and false starts, which is the lot in life of reissues seeking to justify the $11.99 iTunes price.
By the way, if your grandmother has a copy of this vinyl in her attic, ask her if you can "borrow" it, then take it to a jazz records dealer, it's worth a few hundred bucks. Buy her something nice with the money and you may not even have to think up a lame lie about how you "lost" it:
CA has announced the immediate availability of its CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009.
Company officials say the suite has a personal firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-phishing software. The single console lets users monitor the security status of all of the licensed PCs on their home networks, and has parental controls that help protect children from inappropriate Web content and lets parents to monitor (each other's) Internet activity.
The product can also be used to back up and restore data and PC settings or transfer them to a new PC.
In addition to the enhanced security features, company official say they've tried to make the suite more user-friendly through the inclusion of an Intuitive Help Desk for customer support, as well as an interface that lets users set preferences or check program status, and a gaming/movie mode "to reduce interruptions."
With security options for wireless connectivity, the suite uses WiFi HotSpot detection technology to alert users when they enter a new network outside of the established home network.
According to the 2008 CA Internet Threat Outlook Report, online attacks will be dominated by smarter malware and bots targeting Web users ranging from gamers and social network users to the elderly and unsuspecting parents.
Brian Grayek, vice president of product management for CA, said the parental controls are designed to be "child-proof" and prevent "even computer-savvy children from uninstalling or disabling the products."
The product also supports the Domain Key Internet Mail and Sender Policy Framework industry-standard e-mail security protocols by scanning e-mail and detecting phishing attempts via E-mail Inspector.
Customers receive daily protection updates, upgrades to the latest product features and 24 X 7 online technical support at no additional charge with their subscription. The suite also includes at no additional charge an Internet protection plan with coverage up to $10,000 in identity theft coverage and coverage against damage to the customer's PCs caused by a computer virus. Fine print aboundeth, check for further details.
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Market2Lead, a vendor of on-demand B2B automated marketing products, has announced its product, a demand generation systems , has been reviewed in what company officials describe as an independent study of the market.
The just-released "Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems" reveals that Market2Lead supports more of the evaluated attributes than other vendors in the study.
Raab Associates, vendors of marketing technology evaluation reports and studies such as the above, conducted the study and published the 125-page guide. It provides a comparison matrix that evaluates Market2Lead and four other vendors on more than 150 specific attributes.
Market2Lead provides support for 137 of the listed attributes, "more than any of the other vendors," Market2Lead officials say, adding that the matrix "shows that Market2Lead provides support for up to one third more attributes than other evaluated vendors."
Author David M. Raab said when marketers shop for demand-generation or marketing automation software, "it's not easy for them to determine the real differences between the various products. The comparison matrix in our guide makes it easy to see which capabilities are unsupported, partially supported or fully supported by each product."
Market2Lead officials contend that because of its relatively low cost and high efficiency, "online demand generation has become even more valuable now, in a difficult economy."
"The Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems" reviews products from Market2Lead, Eloqua Corporation, Manticore Technology, Marketo and Vtrenz. The guide is available online at www.raabguide.com. A $100 discount is available through December 31, 2008 to purchasers who enter the discount code M2L1108.
Market2Lead is a privately held company headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
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Bluewolf has announced that Hasler has deployed two custom applications built on the Force.com platform.
Hasler provides mailing and shipping systems to its network of 150 independent dealers who sell Hasler's postage and handling products to customers nationwide.
Hasler asked Software as a Service consulting firm and Salesforce.com consulting partner Bluewolf to provide a product that would replace the software tools that each dealer was using to track and manage its databases. Using Hasler's current Salesforce CRM application, Bluewolf used the Force.com platform to design two applications for Hasler's dealers.
Hasler and Bluewolf designed consistent sales templates so partner could track postage meter lease information with a Salesforce CRM product. In addition, workflow triggers were built into Salesforce for partners and dealers to automate the process of filling out order paperwork and alerting the sales team when customer leases were coming up for renewal.
Hasler forecasts that more than 50 percent of its dealer sales force will go live with the product within the first year.
"We knew that if we could make our dealer partners more effective and productive, we could affect our national sell-through and market penetration rates," says Bob Ruby, Senior Director of Sales Strategy for Hasler. "The new custom built product on Force.com helps our dealers get a better handle on their pipeline, and it's helping us build the database of competitive users that we will be able to target in the future."
One of the first dealers to sign up was Hasler partner, Addtronics, a retailer selling postage and shipping products, supplies, and services throughout Oklahoma, Missouri, Southeastern Kansas, and Northern Arkansas.
"The majority of my time used to be spent tracking down and recording sales activity and forecasts for my team," said Darrell Gibson, Director of Sales for Addtronics. "Now my time is freed up to help my team directly in the field, managing customers and calling on accounts."
In addition to the productivity enhancements for Addtronics, Hasler provides monthly and quarterly reports on postage usage and meter data for Addtronics customers. This type of reporting and 360 degree view of a customer was not available to Addtronics before using Salesforce CRM, Hasler officials say.
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Charlotte-based e-autobusiness, a vendor of software and services to automotive retailers, has announced that its Aeros Software Suite has been recertified for GM Lead Management, under the new GM "OneSource" lead distribution program.
There's optimism for you - signing a long-term deal with GM.
The certification allows Aeros to electronically receive, process, and optimally manage General Motors leads for e-autobusiness clients, as well as report back to GM their lead status and disposition in real-time.
GM's electronic lead delivery and consolidation pipeline system transmits leads to dealers, collects any inbound Internet leads and provides other options to "enrich customer and lead information before delivering the lead to the dealer's Aeros lead management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system," e-autobusiness officials say.
The Certified Lead Management & Integration Partner program was recently revised, requiring testing and adherence to the Automotive Industry Action Group's Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail program.
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