(PRWeb UK) July 15, 2010

For the average UK consumer, the Internet outweighs all other channels in terms of influencing purchasing decisions. However, how and where brands engage makes all the difference. Buying and selling goods online are examplesof preferred voluntary interactions between consumers and brands and are often trusted. Involuntary interactions are also trusted - such as companies who use Twitter to monitor and respond to consumer issues. For brands looking to engage online, it’s vital they understand how and what may register as positive and trustworthy among their consumers - but also realize how this may vary from one country to another. This is one of many key findings revealed in the Digital Influence Index event, presented by Fleishman-Hillard International in partnership with Harris Interactive.

The Digital Influence Index was the subject of a presentation and panel discussion last week about social media and its impact on a variety of industries. The panel explored how social media has changed the landscape for how consumers interact with brands and organizations and explored everything from the revitalization of the National Health Scheme and mum blogger product endorsements to voter activation during the recent UK election and managing an online crisis via social media.

The Key UK Consumer Findings of the Digital Influence Index Include:

• In the U.K., 36 percent of online consumers do not read magazines

and 33 percent do not read a printed newspaper.

• The internet is absolutely or very important when making decisions to almost 30% of online consumers, more than twice as much as TV (13%).
• 53% of internet users in the U.K. think that others share too much personal information.
• Only 9% of Internet users in the U.K. are concerned about the impact their social media activities could have on their career, compared to over half in China.
• Only about half of Internet users in the U.K are comfortable that a company would monitor a person’s Twitter account and respond to issues expressed by customers. This is the lowest level of comfort of all studied countries.

The study also measures several key aspects of consumers’ use of the Internet, from media consumption patterns, to the degree of adoption of various digital behaviours, to involvement with online social networking. Now in its second year, the Index has expanded to include 48 percent of the global online population, spanning France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Japan and the United States.

“Our survey provides overwhelming evidence that the Internet is at the center of the decision-making process of consumers,” said Dave Senay, Fleishman-Hillard president and chief executive officer. “It suggests, definitively, that marketers who do not have end-to-end strategies which put digital influence at the center of their marketing plans are doing so at their own peril. Marketers who ‘get it’ will be able to leapfrog their competitors who don’t.”
The Digital Influence Indexreveals the following nine key insights into the Internet’s global influence on consumers’ lives:

1. Funding Gap: Globally, digital dominates in influence but not marketing dollars spent. The Internet is by far the most important medium in the lives of consumers, but companies continue to underinvest in their online marketing efforts.

2. On the Edge: Chinese Internet users are more advanced, but are early adopters, with room to grow. Although the Internet is the most important medium in all countries, it plays an even more critical role in China, home to the world’s largest and fastest-growing population of online consumers.

3. Beyond Mainstream: Digital is core to decisions — for research, purchases and peer influence. The Internet plays an integral role in the decision-making process.

4. Too Much Information (TMI): Online oversharing of personal information isn’t just a bore, but a rising threat, as well. As more users embrace social media and generate content, a consensus is emerging — people share too much personal information, and too little of it is particularly interesting.

5. Cautiously Trusting: People trust the Internet most when they have multiple sources — and a friend is one of them.

6. Pay to Play Doesn’t Play: Trust in bloggers for hire remains weak. Across all countries studied, Internet users report a lack of trust in content produced by sponsored or paid bloggers.

7. Real-Time Trust: Microbloggers trust companies that listen and respond in real time. Users who have adopted microblogging tend to trust companies that monitor their online activity. They seem to view this online listening as a sign that organizations care about their needs and want their feedback.

8. Mobility Gap: As apps multiply and speeds increase, mobile users snap up smartphones — but realize only a fraction of their potential. Although mobile Internet use is growing, a significant gap exists between the capabilities available to mobile phone users and the number of individuals who actually take advantage of them.

9. Where to From Here?: As Internet use continues to grow, will its influence grow, too? Depends who you ask. As important as the Internet is now, will its consumer influence continue to grow in the future? The answer varies from country to country … but in China it is a resounding “yes!”

To download a complimentary copy of the Digital Influence Index study, and read in-depth analysis on all nine insights, please visit http://digitalinfluence.fleishmanhillard.com/.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebDigitalInfluenceIndex/FleishmanHillard/prweb4255594.htm

(PRWEB) July 7, 2010 — Senior anti-virus technologist and cyber-security expert Alex Shipp has been appointed as the Vice President of Advanced Threat Research at TrustDefender to lead Research and Development operations in Europe. Managing from the head office in London, Alex brings a wealth of technical skills and hands-on approach to developing TrustDefender’s technology team. He is charged with the growth of the TrustDefender lab teams and will work to increase capabilities while improving the process of reverse engineering and dissecting malware.

With over ten years experience at MessageLabs (recently acquired by Symantec) Alex is a pioneer in the cyber security technology industry. He is best known for using massive computing power to detect malware and currently holds several patents in the area. He has developed a variety of products with some of the highest track records in the world and led the creation of in-the-cloud detection systems to protect customer’s infrastructure from malware infection via email and web traffic.

CEO and founder of TrustDefender, Ted Egan commented, “Alex Shipp is one of the most highly regarded and reputable senior cyber-security technologists with a vast degree of knowledge and experience of the industry. We are pleased he will be coming onboard to lead our threat research in this region and he will be a powerful asset as we expand our operations across Europe.”

Immediately, in his new role at TrustDefender, Alex Shipp has been invited by the 2010 Workshop on Cyber Security and Global affairs, taking place on 7th-9th July in Zurich, Switzerland, to provide a practical overview on how the cyber criminals adopt and circumvent security initiatives and what can be done from a security prevention perspective. Alex has over 15 years of public speaking experience, having previously presented on viruses, heuristic detection and Internet level scanning at an international level most recently at RSA 2010. He is regularly called upon to comment in the media.

“It is a privilege to join TrustDefender to lead the European threat research and development operations. TrustDefender is revolutionary in this industry and has developed the world’s first real-time customer endpoint risk assessment and protection for online transactions. The 2010 Workshop on Cyber Security and Global affairs in Zurich is a great international platform to educate people of the threats and risks of transactional security and how TrustDefender can assist in the enterprise and end-user protection of such risks,” commented, Alex Shipp, VP Advanced Threat Research, TrustDefender.

A mix of technology, strategy, and law enforcement participants will be attending the conference from 7th-9th July in Zurich, Switzerland. The conference will be run in cooperation with the International Cyber Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA and Center for Security Studies, and CSS ETH, Zurich. This program will take an interdisciplinary view of cyber security and related global issues.

For more information on the 2010 Workshop on Cyber Security and Global affairs please visit http://www.internationalcybercenter.org/workshops/cs-ga-2010

For more information on TrustDefender visit:
www.trustdefender.com and www.trustdefender.com/blog

For any further media information or an interview contact:
Sharon Ghatora, Taurus Marketing
Phone: +61 2 9415 4528 or +61 416 890 648
Email: sharon.ghatora@taurusmarketing.com.au

About TrustDefender
TrustDefender is the worldwide leading provider of ‘real-time risk based online transaction security solutions’ to safeguard consumer and financial institutions during online transactions. TrustDefender’s revolutionary technologies enable users to verify their security health state, perform a memory forensics analysis and secure their mobile computing device in real-time - before and during any Internet transactions.

At the same time, TrustDefender provides real time feedback on the security health of their computer. Best yet, the user does not need to be a security expert to use this technology. For the first time, the financial institution has real-time information that they can use to better protect transactions from compromise and also allows the enterprise risk managers to finally get a real time risk profile of their customer base.

The Enterprise Server incorporates a real-time risk-scoring engine that together with the rules and policy engine is always in control and can give the financial institution a server-side tool to mitigate the risk on both ends and includes an extensive Auditing and Reporting module. TrustDefender is the world’s first security solution which enables online businesses to integrate the home user or end user’s PC into one overall security chain.

TrustDefender was founded in December 2005 after the founders discovered the traditional security model was broken – and decided to fix it.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4225734.htm

(PRWeb UK) July 1, 2010 — Finantix is launching applications for financial advisors and individual investors that will natively run on Android smartphones. The functionality provided includes client position, portfolio analytics, risk and compliance alerts, and rich client communication.

Easy to use, the Android applications feature extremely strong security with 24/7 continuous operation. They are designed for easy integration on top of existing wealth management solutions.

Alessandro Tonchia, founder and director of Finantix, comments on the launch. “We are impressed with the openness and power of the Android platform: These characteristics explain the astonishing adoption rate Android is enjoying. The new apps confirm our commitment to a multi-device wealth management architecture. We want to give our clients maximum flexibility: After iPhone, iPad and now Android, we will soon add Blackberry support.”

The Android apps complement the Finantix wealth management suite, which is recognised by analysts as one of the leading solutions in both the mass affluent and high net worth segments.

Finantix software is explicitly architected for multi-channel and multi-device delivery. It is used by advisors, private bankers, clients, branch employees and call centre agents. In addition to Android, the solution also supports Web, Flash, iPhone and iPad within a single implementation.

About Finantix

Finantix is an established provider of advice, sales and service solutions for banks, insurers and wealth managers.
The solutions help attract new customers and maximise the potential of existing ones.They cover the areas of investments, insurance, lending and banking services and support business processes in the retail, mass affluent and high net worth segments.
The Finantix software is component-based and designed for multi-channel delivery. Its existing implementations scale to very large numbers of users and fit smoothly in different IT landscapes.
Finantix has offices across America, Asia and Europe, counting more than 50 clients in about 20 countries. The company is recognised by reputable market analysts and blue chip clients for both business and technical innovation in the industry.

For more information, contact:
Alessandro Tonchia
email: alessandro.tonchia@finantix.com
Tel: 00393356032306

Keywords: Android, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, multi-device, multi-channel , apps, wealth management, financial advice, financial planning, user experience, mass affluent, high net worth

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/Finantix/Android_apps/prweb4213114.htm

(PRWebUK) June 24, 2010 — We are pleased to announce that the annual publication Asia Research News 2010 is now available online at Asia Research News

The magazine features interesting on-going research from selected Asian universities in the fields of:

Agriculture
Aquaculture
Biotechnology
Culture
Environment
Food
Health and medicine
Health technology
International relations
Language
Literature
Technology

A small number of printed copies are available for journalists, universities and research institutions. If you would like a printed copy of the magazine please get in touch with us by email to Magdeline Pokar m.pokar(at)researchsea(dot)com, telephone +44 (0)1954 261958 or fax +44 (0)8706220887.

We hope you will enjoy reading the magazine and welcome your feedback.

About ResearchSEA - ResearchSEA connects journalists and members of the public to news and experts from the research world in Asia. Registration is free. Journalists have additional access to embargoed press releases and contact details of experts. For more information about ResearchSEA, please go to our website ResearchSEA

The articles in Asia Research News 2010 are:

AGRICULTURE
A cherry tree for all seasons
Buffalo vaccine
Torch ginger
Improving oil-palm kernel
Controlling ammonia in poultry farms
Pea aphid and soybean genome sequenced
The proteins that help plants keep time
Organic fungicide from agriculture waste
Healthy food
Precision farming
Wood machining doctor
Determining orchid colours

AQUACULTURE
Supporting fishing communities
Sustaining seafood
Culturing horseshoe crabs

TECHNOLOGY
Nano-aquarium opens up a new realm of research
Faster, more accurate drawing
Using physics to help queues
Unlocking the power of wood
Blast from the past
Children and computers
All sky x-ray image data online
Mobile phones creating choices for farmers
A new antenna
New base for Telecentre in the Philippines
Sensitive hybrid
Clean energy
Mobile video on demand
Reducing interference in RFID readers
Counting down to the brightest light…
Music-friendly information retrieval
Enhancing underwater video
Monitoring landslide and flood risk
Minimising knowledge loss
High-performance varistor
Next-Generation Supercomputer
Cross platform enterprise security

LANGUAGE
The origin of language
Iban alphabet now in computer fonts
Anthology of Southeast Asian Literature in English
Impact of new technology on language
Creating a universal playground
Focusing on Filipino language

ENVIRONMENT
Orchid diversity
Terrestrial carbon sequestration
Degradable polymer
Wooden alternatives
Transforming carbon dioxide into methanol
Indigenous fibre for car bumpers
Environmental CoaTIN technology
Detecting and cleaning oil spills
Reducing pollution in Jakarta slums
Monitoring and cleaning contaminants

SOCIETY
Lifestyle China
Promoting an active life
Spiritual intelligence
A satisfied society
Ethnographic profiling in metro Manila
Influences on cultural identity
Oldest civilisation in Southeast Asia
Researching poverty in China
The Deep South
Promoting community governance
Career profiling
Research consortium for theatre and film arts
Predicting tourists’ future behaviour
The Philippine music hybridity project
18th and 19th century Philippines

HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Understanding and treating cancer
Diabetes
Improving the health of astronauts
Brain change
Diagnosing amebiasis
Identifying gelatine in pharmaceuticals
Controlled drug delivery
New vaccine for childhood illness
Sights set on immunisation target
Nanotechnology combats fatal brain infections
Novel nanobiocomposites
Elucidating Alzheimer’s genes
Tackling the onset of Down syndrome
Toothbrush from a twig
Milking the Milkfish
Carpal tunnel treatment
Japanese genomes and ulcerative colitis
Asian research into emerging infectious diseases

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY
A new era of pressure management in medicine
Thai-English Braille computer notebook
Reducing the cost of DNA diagnostics
Measuring skull and face
Care bear robot
Wheelchair technology
Lightweight gamma camera
Medical imaging also helps electronics industry
The knee motion assistive system
Ultrasound diagnosis for breast cancer
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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2010/Asia-Research-News/prweb4188234.htm

(PRWeb UK) June 25, 2010 — Sounds so good it ought not to be true, really, doesn’t it. Unfortunately for everybody else in the http://www.cheap-business-phone-calls.co.uk/[cheaper business calls market, Keypoint are out for blood – and they've got it, with the kind of price tariff and extras list that must have been the worst nightmare of every fat cat executive in the communications world for years. The model is simple. Let's be honest, said Keypoint – and they were. The result is a cheaper business calls tariff that looks, at first, like a con – until one inspects it closer and realises that there is actually no hidden cost, no catch, no nothing except what one first read.

Let’s take a look. Keypoint’s key points, as it were, are these: actually cheaper business calls. Made possible by completely removing line rental and “equipment hire” (a euphemism used for years by everyone else in the industry as an excuse to collect a few extra quid every month on the corporate phone bill). A http://www.keypointcommunications.co.uk/[business communications call rate based on a flat per-second charge – rather than BT, and other competitor's, habit of charging for a minimum of three minutes. Doesn't sound like much until one realises that every 10 second call charged for three minutes over one year represents daylight robbery on a truly magnificent scale. The same goes for Keypoint's mobile business rates, which can be added as "bolt on" to the initial package – cheaper across the board, sometimes by the ludicrous level of 100%.

What Keypoint has done is to fragment every single aspect of business telephony, and then offer customers the opportunity to buy only those bits that they actually need. As such, a Keypoint run http://www.keypointcommunications.co.uk/virtual-pbx.html[vPBX (that's Virtual Private Branch eXchange, or an in-house phone exchange, for the simple minded) is not foisted on companies that don't need it: and those that do only pay for as much of it as they want.

Running a Keypoint vPBX is as simple as using every other part of their cheaper business calls service – a company simply chooses the parts of the http://www.keypointcommunications.co.uk/virtual-pbx.html[Virtual PBX they will realistically use, and pays for them. No hard contracts and no useless kit. Which means: if all a company needs is call forwarding and caller ID, that's all it has to pay for. And that's why Keypoint's cheaper business calls tariff is making everyone else's vPBX packages look virtually criminal.

Keypoint Communications and their sister company Cheap Business Calls have developed a new, honest model for business call packages and telephone systems.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/voip-pbx-caller-id/keypoint-communications/prweb4181034.htm

(PRWeb UK) June 8, 2010 — The world’s most powerful beam of heavy ions has enabled Japanese scientists and their international collaborators to uncover 45 new neutron-rich radioisotopes in a region of the nuclear chart never before explored. In only four days, a team of researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator Based Science (RNC) have identified more new radioisotopes than the world’s scientists discover in an average year.

Radioactive isotopes (RI) or radioisotopes, unstable chemical elements with either more or fewer neutrons than their stable counterparts, open a door onto a world of nuclear physics where standard laws break down and novel phenomena emerge.

The RNC’s Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF) was created to explore this world, boasting an RI beam intensity found nowhere else in the world. Accelerated to 70% the speed of light using RIBF’s Superconducting Ring Cyclotron, uranium-238 nuclei are smashed into beryllium and lead targets to produce an array of exotic radioisotopes believed to play a central role in the origins of elements in our universe.

To collect, separate and identify these isotopes, the researchers made use of BigRIPS, an RI beam separator whose powerful superconducting magnets have been carefully tuned to detect even the rarest phenomena under low-background conditions. Radioisotopes discovered using BigRIPS span the spectrum from manganese (Z = 25) to barium (Z = 56) and include highly sought-after nuclei such as palladium-128, whose “magic number” of neutrons grants it surprisingly high stability.

While greatly expanding our knowledge of nuclear physics, the newly-discovered radioisotopes provide essential clues about the origins of atoms in our universe. Further improvements at RIBF promise to dramatically boost heavy-ion beams to more than 1000 times their current intensities, unleashing thousands of new radioisotopes and heralding a new era in high-energy nuclear physics.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Toshiyuki Kubo
Dr. Naohito Inabe
Dr. Tetsuya Ohnishi
Research Instruments Group
RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator Based Science
Tel: +81-(0)48-467-9696 / Fax: +81-(0)48-461-5301

Ms. Tomoko Ikawa (PI officer)
Global Relations Office
RIKEN
Tel: +81-(0)48-462-1225 / Fax: +81-(0)48-462-4715
Email: koho(at)riken(dot)jp

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About RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator Based Science

Named after the father of modern physics in Japan, Yoshio Nishina, the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator Based Science (RNC) carries on a long tradition of pioneering accelerator science, boasting the world’s most powerful facilities for heavy ion physics. Since its inauguration in 2006, these facilities have drawn the attention of nuclear physicists around the globe with their promise to reveal a world of physics that exists only in the hottest stars, and in earliest stages of our universe.

Using its world class facilities, the RNC has set out to tackle two main goals: firstly, to greatly expand our knowledge of the nuclear world into regions of the nuclear chart presently beyond our grasp, and secondly, to apply this knowledge to other fields such as nuclear chemistry, bio and medical science, and materials science. Through international collaborations with researchers around the world, the center is uniquely positioned to succeed in achieving these goals in the years to come.

About The Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory

Central to achieving the RNC’s core missions is the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF), a next-generation heavy-ion accelerator facility located at the Wako campus of RIKEN, Japan’s flagship research organization. Construction on the facility, which began in 1997, added to an existing world-class heavy-ion accelerator complex two more ring cyclotrons and the world’s first superconducting ring cyclotron, as well as a powerful superconducting fragment separator known as BigRIPS. With the new systems in place, the facility is able to accelerate beams of any element up to uranium to 70% the speed of light. By smashing these nuclei into beryllium and lead targets to knock out neutrons and protons, researchers are able to produce radioisotopes never before seen or studied.

Since 2007, when RIBF researchers made their first discovery of the new radioisotopes palladium-125 and palladium-126 using a U-238 beam, the beam intensity has been increased by a factor of more than 50 thanks to the fine tuning of the cyclotrons, setting a new world standard for heavy ion beams. When fully complete, the RIBF will boast intensities more than 1000 times their current levels, providing a unique opportunity to artificially produce and experimentally study almost all nuclides that have ever existed in the universe.
Quote from Dr. Toshiyuki Kubo, head of the Research Instruments Group:

“The group of researchers at the center of these latest radioisotope discoveries has been working on the design and construction of the BigRIPS facility for more than ten years. As someone directly involved in this research, I have to say that I am yet again amazed at the capabilities of our team members and at the RI beam production and detection capabilities of BigRIPS.

The former director of the Nishina Center used to often say that in the RIBF, he aimed to create “the world’s foremost RI beam facility”, and I think we all had great confidence that this would happen. I look forward to further discoveries of radioisotopes in unexplored regions of the nuclear chart, and to more applications of RI research in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.”

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/riken/ribf/prweb4107024.htm

(PRWEB) May 30, 2010 — Plans were announced today to begin concept development of the first social network to offer item rewards and cash rewards for member participation. The announcement comes from Mohammed Walji of the start-up Network Buddies, which has entered the business idea in this year’s Take One Small Step business development competition hosted by Barclays. The business idea centers on a reward system that offers prizes and cash to Web users for doing what they love and what they spend hours per day doing already.

The Network Buddies concept first came about while researching the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Statistics from a Nielsen media research study earlier this year suggest that the average user spends roughly 7 hours per month on Facebook alone, with some users spending as much as 55 minutes per day. Users also spend 2 to 3 hours on additional social networking sites such as Twitter and YouTube. Network Buddies concept founder Mohammed Walji says this is a perfect opportunity for users to get something back from the major social networks that they help to make popular. “Many social networks make billions of dollars per year on advertising and services driven by members, but few do anything to share that revenue with members. Unfortunately, members are hardly ever rewarded for helping to make social networks as popular as they are,” says Walji. “Why should social networking users not be compensated or rewarded for their continued support? The Network Buddies idea seeks to close this gap by creating an International space where members can get rewards, including cash rewards, simply for logging in and participating. If they’re going to do it on a daily basis anyway, they might as well have the opportunity to get a little more for their time and support.”

The Network Buddies concept will be based on a point reward system. Users will have the ability to earn points for every action they take on the social network, from signing up and logging in to more common actions like commenting on a photo. The point reward system may also allow users to earn points by referring friends or viewing sponsor ads. Users will then be able to convert their points to get rewards (brand name merchandise, electronics and some consumer services may be among prizes offered) or convert their points into cash rewards. Such a reward system can be beneficial for recreational users who are interested in connecting with friends and family online and are looking to own the latest gadgets, electronics and home items. Hobby income earners, regular affiliates and even students can gain side income through the reward system for their referrals. The Network Buddies reward system can also benefit business owners who use social networks to promote their businesses on a daily and weekly basis through cash rewards, items or services that can be used in their offices and premium advertising space. With the number of hours that recreational users and business owners alike already spend on social networks, there is a significant opportunity to get rewards, money and exposure for their time

Network Buddies is currently looking for Web users who enjoy social networking to support the idea. The more the idea is backed during this preliminary phase of the Barclays Take One Small Step business development competition, the better its chances of becoming a finalist. The winning idea will be awarded 10,000 Euros in development funding, as well as professional business development services from Barclays. Network Buddies is seeking 4,000+ votes to help make its concept of the first social network to offer rewards a reality for Web users across the world, and has already gained the support of 550 voters. Says Walji of the social networking rewards idea, “If you enjoy playing around on sites like Facebook in your spare time, then you should be rewarded for the constant support you’re giving to that site. Network Buddies will offer this opportunity. The more time you spend on the site, the more points you’ll earn. The more points, the bigger and better the rewards will be. If you’re going to spend hours per day or per month using social networks, they might as well be doubly productive hours.” Social networking fans can show support for this business idea in the 2010 Barclays competition by backing the idea on the competition entry page and sharing with friends via their favorite social networks and social bookmarking sites, or by scrolling right in the website below and submitting the quick form. Voters can also leave comments with suggestions for features that can be added once the social network begins development. For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/rewards-for-social-networking

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/social-networking/rewards/prweb4070314.htm

(PRWEB) June 1, 2010 — The creator of the UNLODER™ that lets consumers sell ebooks and other media online, get store credit, and refresh a stale media library at a fraction of the price, is promoting its digital media resale tool as a means to winning a battle within the “war” surrounding the issue of illegal downloading. Lexink® announces its digital media resale solution as the ebooks market sits on the brink of an upcoming expected surge, catalyzed by the release of the iPad and iBooks.

Lexink® owner Alexandre Despallieres asserts that “illegal downloading will continue, but creative solutions like the UNLODER™ can help stem the tide of loss to media producers while providing savings to buyers who want to buy and sell ebooks.”

Heather Reisman, chief executive officer of Indigo Books and Music Inc., a company that is charging headlong into the blossoming world of electronic books, was quoted in the Toronto Star recently, saying books will be around for a very long time. Experts report that the ebook market is reaching critical mass and is about to experience the same surge as music did.

“The advent of the Kindle, iPad and other ebook readers is expected to consolidate this trend, in spite of certain Wi-Fi connection issues. When Apple corrects the issue, there is no doubt that the iPad will become omnipresent on college campuses and elsewhere, contributing to the explosion of the ebook market,” says Mr. Muller, VP for technology development at Lexink®. “People want and will have access to the classics on-the-go, best-selling fiction and non-fiction or even their favorite self-help or diet book such as ‘The Four French Secrets’ by Dr Jacques Friedman.”

While previously one had to purchase an ebook reader such as Amazon’s Kindle, iPad, with its integrated iBooks, definitively changes the face of the digital books markets, pushing up the number of readers who will now take advantage of ebooks, both legally and illegally.

“Of course, people choose illegal downloading not simply because of cost,” Despallieres explains. “It is also convenience. In many cases it is faster to stream from video sites than to download from iTunes. Illegal downloading will always exist. It will be impossible to eradicate, but we can cut out some of the causal factors such as cost.”

UNLODER™ provides a place for buying and selling ebooks online in addition to providing a resale solution for every type of digital media. Music, television shows, movies and ebooks can be sold and purchased for less. UNLODER™ thus helps to stem the epidemic of digital piracy by making legal file resale a viable alternative to illegal file sharing.

“Since unloaded titles are resold for about a third of the original cost, UNLODER™ makes digital products affordable for people who want to buy licensed media but who are very price sensitive. In addition, digital rights are respected so publishers and creators get their dues with UNLODER™,” says Despallieres.

UNLODER™ provides two revenue streams:

• The Works - UNLODER™ lets the consumer trade in unwanted multimedia titles and is integrated into the Media Player digital download store. Once a title is unloaded and someone purchases it, the media vanishes from the seller’s library and can no longer be played. The seller gets store credit redeemable for other unloaded content or brand new titles.

• The Perks – UNLODER™ creates a new revenue stream for the download store; record companies, studios and artists; publishing houses, bookstores and authors. Currently, the profit line ends once a customer purchases and downloads a product. The UNLODER™ adds a profit opportunity via resale. The more media traded, the more money made. After the initial full price sale of a new title, that same title can generate income over and over as it is unloaded.

More information is available at the Lexink.com website.

About Lexink®:

An integrated network of consultants in both multimedia and entertainment industries offers custom solutions through Lexink®, a company that provides innovation and expertise in information technology, advertising, and film production. Applications like the UNLODER™ are designed to foster growth in these industries. Lexink® is a provider of grassroots brand integration that articulates company vision within budget for long-term marketing success. Content for syndicated television programming from a diverse television and film catalogue is also available through Lexink®.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/06/prweb4066214.htm

(PRWEB) May 1, 2010 — Smartlogic have announced the release of Semaphore 3.1, the latest release of the semantic platform. The new version with its revolutionary information classification capabilities increases the ability of diverse audiences to quickly find information, promoting “self service” and cutting costs.

Smartlogic’s CEO, Jeremy Bentley, explains the concept of “self service” as provided by semantic search:

“Self service involves the 3 A’s – audience, author, and algorithm. Say the author is a world-class vet, working for the Department of Agriculture, who has written a research paper on BSE. She writes the document in ‘vet speak’ and uses the terminology she’s used to. The audience in this case is a farmer, who’s worried about mad cow disease. But when he types “mad cow” into the Department of Agriculture’s website, the research paper doesn’t show up. That’s because the website’s search algorithm is too simple and has no understanding of meaning, and looks only for the words “mad” and “cow” in the documents on its system.

We could take this a step further, by assuming the farmer then phones up the Department to ask for advice about mad cow disease. The telephone operator has a third vocabulary, and she might search for ‘MCD’ on the Department’s intranet, again, turning up nothing about ‘mad cow disease’ or ‘BSE’. She’s trained to try to help the farmer answer his query, so she puts him through to the – very expensive – vet.

All this has cost the Department time, money, and credibility. With a semantic search platform on the intranet and the website, diverse vocabulary is no longer an issue and the farmer could have ‘self serviced’ his query.”

Semaphore is integrated with MS Sharepoint, internal CMSs, the Google Search Appliance and other search platforms to enhance these systems with automatic classification and to ensure these platforms can deliver semantic search capabilities to deliver fast, accurate results.

About Smartlogic

Smartlogic (www.smartlogic.com) are the UK-based creators of Semaphore, a semantic platform that adds advanced semantic search capabilities to information management systems.

Adopting a semantic approach to information management delivers findability, improves the accuracy and efficacy of applying metadata and enables content integration across disparate sources.

• Media companies use Semaphore to improve the quality of their information feeds
• Government authorities use Semaphore to tag information according to their standards
• Investment banks use Semaphore to consolidate their information costs
• Online directories use Semaphore to increase their advertising revenues
• Intranets and websites use Semaphore to boost their use
• Knowledge managers use Semaphore to manage their taxonomies and ontologies

Clients include NASA, The National Health Service, ABN Amro, Bank of America and The Office of Public Sector Information.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb3942024.htm

(PRWEB) March 12, 2010 — To welcome in the Spring Webtogs introduces a collection of footwear from Merrell Shoes, renowned worldwide for their innovative and stylish approach. Instantly recognisable with their revolutionary design and distinctive logo, Merrell shoes have built an enviable reputation for comfort and performance.

The Merrell Jungle Moc is an innovative men’s slip-on shoe that combines classic brushed pigskin leather with a unique Jungle Runner sole pattern and sticky rubber. Using Air Cushion technology and an anatomical footbed this stylish and supremely comfortable shoe has the feel of a glove for feet whilst giving day long support.

The Merrell Apollo shoe combines outdoor technology with city centre style, marrying a Vibram Adventure sole with a waterproof pigskin upper. The carefully matched colours blend upper and sole almost seamlessly giving a smooth and stylish look whilst below the surface an injection moulded arch shank, air cushioning and 4.5mm footbed take care of comfort all day long.

Equally at home on the high street or the hillside the Merrell Intercept is a classic shoe with a distinctive Merrell touch. From its stylish leather upper to an AEGIS Antimicrobial lining the Intercept is a shoe designed to perform day in day out in comfort . An Ortholite anatomical footbed adapts to caress the feet for day long pleasure, with a Nylon 6.6 injection moulded arch shank and air cushion midsole to provide support and flexibility whatever the terrain. A classic Vibram sole with 4.5mm lug depth and sticky rubber give the Intercept the grip to complement its stylish looks and comfort.

Designed specifically for women, the Merrell Siren Sync uses a triple density compression moulded EVA footframe and an air cushion midsole to make a shoe with comfort as a priority. A Nubuck and mesh upper, treated with an antimicrobial coating, gives impressive breathability whilst a Vibram TC Rubber sole gives grip to make the Siren Sync as functional as it is comfortable.

The Chameleon Wrap GTX XCR takes lightweight, waterproof walking shoes to a new level, following a tradition of the legendary Merrell Chameleon family. Using a Gore-Tex XCR membrane in fine pigskin leather this shoe is built to perform whatever the weather, and designed to last with protective rubber rands above high durability synthetic moulding. Comfort isn’t sacrificed for the performance levels, with Defense mesh panels helping maintain a comfortable temperature whilst the foot sits on a contour hugging bed. Ideal for multi-activities or long distance trails the Chameleon Wrap GTX XCR is destined to be a top seller.

The Waterpro Ottawa is a typical Merrell shoe designed to push the limits, whatever the situation, day after day. A Nubuck and mesh upper maintains breathability with a special antimicrobial lining covering upper, footbed and heel lining to minimise the impact of moisture and keep feet comfortable all day long. The Waterpro Ottawa wraps the foot whilst supporting it then surrounds it with a protective rubber rand for durability and sits it on a classic Vibram Chameleon Arc Sole of TC5+ Rubber to create a shoe for the real outdoor enthusiast.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/merrell/shoes/prweb3715724.htm