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Tech trends, products and developments
Crystal clear data
Business Objects’ new Crystal Xcelsius™ Viewer is designed to help customers visualize their business data, turning static information into dynamic charts, graphs and interactive “what-if” scenarios, while maintaining live connectivity to the information. The product integrates Crystal Xcelsius, the award-winning data visualization solution acquired from Infommersion, with BusinessObjects™ XI Release 2, an advanced BI platform. Now, customers using BusinessObjects XI Release 2 can interact with visual models that clearly present complex business data. The new solution features a simple-to-use interface, which allows customers to easily work with data and test out future scenarios. Crystal Xcelsius Viewer takes advantage of various features in the BusinessObjects XI Release 2 platform, including industry leading security and Web services. Security capabilities ensure that only pre-determined users can build or access consoles; Web services help to maintain live data connectivity between visual models and any corporate data source.
For further information, visit www.businessobjects.com.
Tips for network security
While safety is hard to guarantee, these tips will help to secure your network without breaking the bank.
- Use Virtual Private Networks to “hide your communication within the office network.”
- Limit your network to secure connections.
- “Disconnect your computer from the network when you’re done.”
- “Check online tutorials to set up security on your home router.”
- Select a password that isn’t easily guessed at, and change it regularly.
- Enable the Web-mail security available to you.
(Source: Business Week, www.businessweek.com.)
Are you an Internet addict?
Active participation and social interacting sites (Flickr, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and MySpace, included), are rapidly becoming viable resources for businesses far and wide. They allow companies to not only communicate directly with customers, but also for customers to share their opinions in an open forum. These Web 2.0 sites are flexible enough to allow almost anyone to use them from any location. In addition, Web 2.0s are being used by companies to create meeting agendas, input information for new hires, and even generate sales leads or leads on prospective new employees. Furthermore, the sites are being used to create company blogs, in lieu of millions of dollars being spent on public relations.
For further information on this Web 2.0 business trend, visit BusinessWeek at www.businessweek.com (reference: “Web 2.0 has corporate America spinning”).
Business intelligence transformed
Before you scoff at the mere idea of it, take a gander at Diane Wieland’s “Computer Addiction: Implications for Nursing Psychotherapy Practice” article and 20-question Internet addiction test. As a psychiatric nurse and professor of nursing at LaSalle University, Wieland has coined the term “Internet Addiction Disorder” to describe individuals who are unable to control their online surfing behaviors, instead becoming lost in the reverie of cyberspace for hour upon hour. Among the test questions asked are, “How often do you stay online longer than you intended?” and “How often does your job performance or productivity suffer because of the Internet?” As the article contends, “Given the increased use of computers in today’s society, there is the potential for overuse of technology and neglect of others and self as a result of computer addiction.”
Visit www.blackwell-synergy.com and access “Computer Addiction: Implications for Nursing Psychotherapy Practice” for more.