The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is U2's Achtung Baby, in honor of the fact that First Coffee is evidently the only person on all of Facebook who doesn't get to see U2 on their current tour... okay, you can block Farmville and Mafia Wars and Easter Eggs and all the other annoying Facebook app notifications from your wall, can you block Insufferably Happy People Going To See U2 When You're Not notifications as well?

 

Anyway, catching up on some news you may have missed recently:

Here's what we in the business call a "catchy" lede -- that's how we in the biz misspell "lead," too -- in a press release from HulloMail:

 

"The story of billionaire Warren Buffet's failure to receive a timely voice mail message from Barclays Capital chairman Bob Diamond pleading for help with the Lehman Brothers bailout has been fodder for the international news and blogger community this past week."

 

Guess First Coffee's gone off his fodder, didn't hear much about that. "If only the Oracle of Omaha had received the message from Diamond back in Fall 2008 instead of nearly ten months later ... would the course of international financial history have been changed?" company officials ask.

 

Who knows, but are you saying Warren Buffet doesn't check his voice mails for ten months? Wow.

 

HulloMail has evidently developed a voice e-mail technology converting standard voice mails into digital MP3 files (a.k.a. voice-emails) to be "permanently saved, e-mailed, and shared."

 

It works with a user's existing phone number and entails "no switching fees or messy contractual paperwork," company officials say. In the U.K., anyway, you can get HulloMail service for any phone. In the U.S. it's available on the Android platform for mobile users with T-Mobile handsets.

 

The service is free, company officials say, and is intended to "essentially replace traditional archaic voicemail."

"If Mr. Buffet would have been using HulloMail, he would have been able to easily pick up that critical voice message through his standard email account, and he wouldn't have had to rely on his daughter then or at any time to help him access his voice mail," said Andy Munarriz, the founder and CEO of HulloMail.

 

In addition to offering simplified message pick-up, HulloMail officials say, voice-email "can literally be saved forever." If that's your idea of a good thing.

...

TravelTrac is announcing the first in its line of Multimedia Travel Sharing Apps designed for the iPhone. As company officials say, "Drop off the grid, but stay on the map."

 

TravelTrac provides a "touch simple" process for creating and sharing your trips and travel adventures as dynamic multimedia Web presentations. Yep, and your parents thought slide shows of their neighbors' trip to the Grand Canyon made for soporific entertainment: "Here we are driving through Kansas..."

 

Described by company officials as "more robust than any travel blog," TravelTrac Apps let users "share and pinpoint your locations, travel journals, photos, and videos integrating custom Google maps and geotagging technologies as interactive travelogues even from remote global locations."

 

TravelTrac will begin supporting Google Android and Blackberry OS devices shortly.

You can post and share your adventures using TravelTrac's multimedia travel sharing domains based on what sort of adventures you have to share -- there's MotoTrac for vehicular car, truck, motorcycle, RV and off-road trips, TrekTrac for land based exploration, tours, trips, and travel sharing and SailTrac for on the water sailing, boating, racing voyages and on-board adventures.

 

What, no SpaceTrac? Or the one First Coffee could have used -- HitchhikeTrac.

Playing up its ability to integrate offline mode technologies, company officials say TravelTrac gives the traveler "the ability to stay connected even when phone or wireless services are unavailable."

 

Once a user re-establishes a connection, "they simply re-launch the app and all content automatically updates and formats their expedition style travelogues with chronological accuracy. 

But, honestly, friends, lay off the driving though Kansas pictures. We've all seen wheat.
...

First Coffee is aware that some distributors using a customer relationship management product in unison with an ERP system maintain two databases and do a lot of toggling back and forth between programs.

 

For you, then, there is help: Prophet 21, part of the Activant Distribution Suite, which includes a CRM tool.

The product is designed to let users coordinate sales and marketing efforts

Activant "takes a three-prong approach to CRM," company officials say, to wit: The first is sales force automation giving a distributor's sales reps lead generation tools, the second is contact management which "goes beyond maintaining customer addresses and phone numbers to tracking customers' buying habits," and thirdly is marketing capabilities -- "tools that allow users to fax and e-mail from the product, generate lead generation call lists and manage call center activity."

Kevin Roach, executive vice president and general manager of Activant, said in the dark ages of the past, "many distributors relied on the knowledge their sales force had of the customers and prospects they served," but "visibility into this and other efforts were not there for the executive team of a company."

...

Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow was named a Leader by Gartner in the "Magic Quadrant for E-Service Suites" report, authored by Johan Jacobs and Michael Maoz.

 

Evaluation criteria included "customer experience, product, overall viability, and innovation," according to Gartner officials.

Gartner defines Magic Quadrant leaders as companies that "demonstrate market-defining vision and the ability to execute against that vision through products, services, demonstrable sales figures and solid new references for multiple geographies and vertical industries."

 

Typically "leaders" have at least five of the six e-service components supported by OEMs, and are "suitable for all sizes and complexities of enterprise, and have broad industry coverage."

 

Hit RightNow's site for a complimentary copy of "Gartner's 2009 Magic Quadrant for E-Service Suites."

In related news, RightNow officials say five of its customers -- Motorola, Black & Decker, iRobot, Minnesota Online and eHarmony -- won Gartner & 1to1 Customer Awards.

 

These awards, given by Gartner and 1to1 Media, a division of Peppers & Rogers Group, recognize companies "making a big impact through their customer relationship strategy" and achieving "excellence in delivering the customer experience."

...

Denton, Texas-based eInstruction, a vendor of learning technology, has announced details of its third annual Classroom Makeover Video Contest.

 

The competition, open to primary and secondary students and teachers in the United States and Canada, invites entrants to submit "short, creative music videos demonstrating how they would use advanced technology to enhance their learning experience in the classroom."

 

The 2008 video contest drew nearly 300 entries from around the world and more than one million people logged on to review submissions and vote for their favorite videos, company officials say.

Entries may be submitted via the official contest site until noon Eastern time, November 10. Videos will be judged based on "effective use of technology, portrayal of teachers and students working together and overall creativity and spirit," company officials say.

 

On November 17, five finalists in each grade category -- kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth grade through eighth grade, and ninth grade through 12th grade -- will be selected and users will be welcomed to vote for the best submissions through noon Eastern time on December 4. One grand prize winner will be announced for each grade category on or around December 18.

Each winner will receive a "complete interactive classroom makeover with advanced interactive technology," including InterwriteMobi, described by company officials as a mobile version of an interactive whiteboard allowing two people or teams to work at the board simultaneously using two interactive pens.

The complete eInstruction Classroom Makeover is valued at approximately $30,000. In addition to the classroom technology, winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a celebratory party for the entire school.

EInstruction has a rather odd assortment of offices -- in addition to Denton there's Columbia, Maryland, Scottsdale, Arizona, Cincinnati and Paris.

...

Kalido, a vendor of information management software for enterprise data governance, has announced the completion of its annual Kalido Connect conference.

 

The vendor unveiled a product it called its "vision of shared responsibility for information management," the latest version of the Kalido Information Engine, described as a platform to "engage business users in data governance" by providing access to and input in master data.

 

It's being billed as a way to "decentralize" data governance, and "change from conventional IT-centric thinking about data stewardship." The tool is delivered in a virtual format. 

If you want to test it out Kalido Connect sessions are available on-demand for 90 days. 

Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido, said today, "it's fair to say that enterprise data governance will quickly eclipse the importance of ERP systems... the ERP players continue to attempt to convince customers that a bottom-up, tools-driven approach will deliver long-term customer value."