Offshoring
The New York Times, 8/18/04: Financial Firms Hasten Their Move to Outsourcing
BANGALORE, India, Aug. 16 - Last February, when the online lending company E-Loan wanted to provide its customers faster and more affordable loans, it began a program in India. Since then, 87 percent of E-Loan's customers have chosen to have their loans financed two days faster by having their applications processed in India.
"Offshoring is not just a fad, but the reality of doing business today," said Chris Larsen, chairman and chief executive of E-Loan, "and this is really just the beginning."
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Fortune, 8/23/04: Diana Farrell: Speaking Out on Outsourcing
Lou Dobbs was not very nice to Diana Farrell when she appeared on his CNN show last year. Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, a nonprofit think tank attached to the consulting firm, had published a study on the economic impact of outsourcing U.S. service jobs to other countries. She began by describing the institute's basic finding: "The integration of the developed and developing worlds into a richer global economy represents a win-win situation for both sides." But she didn't get much further. Dobbs, a vociferous opponent of what's come to be called offshoring, repeatedly interrupted her, rolled his eyes, and suggested she was a paid lackey for greedy companies seeking to enrich themselves at America's expense.
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Customer Satisfaction
The Wall Street Journal, 8/17/04: Amazon Gets Top Marks For Customer Satisfaction
By DESIREE J. HANFORD
CHICAGO -- Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc. and eBay Inc. got the top marks in overall customer satisfaction in a study that tracked online retail experiences.
The study was conducted July 2 through July 7 by Vividence Corp., a market-research firm in San Mateo, Calif. The survey tracked customers' use of 20 e-commerce sites, including those of Amazon, Google Inc.'s Froogle, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Shopping.
Vividence ranked the retailers across several areas, including visual appeal, purchase process, search satisfaction, product research, organization and navigation and customer support.
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Security
C|net, 8/17/04: Study: Unpatched PCs compromised in 20 minutes
By Matt Loney and Robert Lemos
Don't connect that new PC to the Internet before taking security precautions, researchers at the Internet Storm Center warned Tuesday.
According to the researchers, an unpatched Windows PC connected to the Internet will last for only about 20 minutes before it's compromised by malware, on average. That figure is down from around 40 minutes, the group's estimate in 2003.
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Microsoft
eWeek, 8/17/04: First XP Pre-SP3 Hotfix?
Microsoft has issued a hotfix for Windows XP SP2 to solve a problem about which many users have complained: programs that attempt to connect to loopback addresses other than 127.0.0.1 get error messages. A lot of VPN users have run into this problem, which I've read was introduced last-minute, post-RC2. Of course, it's a hotfix so it's only sort-of supported. They're going to have to come up with a more formal solution.
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Otherwise
Saint John Telegraph Journal, 8/18/04: Beer Basics: Brewmaster gives tips on how to make the most of your beverage
BY MARY MOSZYNSKI
Cheers. Sláinte. Salud. Whether in Canada, Ireland or Mexico, people gather in pubs with their friends, raise a glass of their favourite brew and toast to their health and happiness.
Then chances are it happens again and again until the dawn (and work day) draws near.
And while drinkers are usually have a favourite beer, more Canadians, and New Brunswickers, are venturing out and gulping back different brands.
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8:48:06 AM 
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