Tablet Device's

So we’ve all heard of the Apple iPad...  a tablet computer that can run applications downloaded from the Apple iStore, it allows the user to play games, listen to music, read books, watch movies/video clips, browse the internet... and much much more... these are only a few of its basic functions. All in all a pretty cool device and one that can be quite useful whether you are a business user or a recreational user.

However successful the iPad is, there are other tablets out there that do similar jobs to what the iPad does -:

Samsung Galaxy Tab – The latest release to try and take Apples share of the market. 7” screen with Android 2.2 Operating System. Lightweight with a fantastic display and with the main benefit being that it supports flash.

For more details click the link - http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/

CNET UK commented that “The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a great device that packs neat hardware and well-integrated software into an appealing little bundle.”

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/ipad-and-tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-review-50000601/#ixzz160ZEtK00

Joojoo -12.1” with Linux OS. Quick startup but no ability to download or install apps. Main use is for internet browsing.

For more details click link www.thejoojoo.com

Archos Internet Tablet 5 – 4.1” Screen using the Android Operating system. By using Bluetooth to access your mobile phone, the device can piggy back your phone use it to browse the net.

For more details click link http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5/index.html?country=us&lang=en

Dell Streak – 5” using the Google Android operating system. Bringing together smartphone, PC, digital Camera and SatNav technology.

For further details click link http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/05/25/dell-streak-the-versatile-5-inch-android-tablet.aspx

CNET UK commented that the device was “The Dell Streak is the best Android tablet yet, but there's still room for improvement”

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/dell-streak-review-49305844/

All in all there are many different tablets available on the market. Each one having different functions and being able to complete different tasks. If you are to buy any device then before you purchase we would suggest deciding on what you will use it for, as you may not need to buy the highest spec model as another device may just fit your requirements.

For more information please look into at following pages -:

http://www.t3.com/feature/best-tablet-pcs-5-top-ipad-alternatives

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/ipad-and-tablets/

Touchscreen Technology

Touchscreen technology is becoming more and more prominent, whether it be a monitor, tablet PC or Microsoft’s recent ‘Surface’. By using touchscreen technology you allow users to interact more with the product giving them the ability to view what they want or move things around at the touch of a ‘screen’.

NMBS have been testing a touchscreen monitor over the past few months. Below are a few ideas of how touchscreen technology could be used -:
 

• In Store Product search – allow customers to quickly search for and locate a product.
• In Store Product Demos – allow customers and staff to view products demo videos and view specification sheets. The customer would be able to pick which product to view.
• Reception welcome screen – display company videos, news feeds and allow users to choose what they view whilst in company reception.
• Product Demos whilst out on sales visits. Use portable tablet PCs to play product videos and display presentations in a professional way.

Obviously there are many more ways in which they can be used and of course each use would suit businesses individually. Please see links below to a range of different touch screen devices -:

Apple iPad - http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad?afid=p219|GOUK&cid=OAS-UK-KWG-UK_iPad-UK

Acer T230H - http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/review/2010/03/22/Acer-T230H---23in-Multi-Touch-Monitor/p1

Microsoft Surface - http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

Top 10 Gadgets for Christmas!!

Top 10 Gadgets for Christmas – as reviewed by www.gadgetheaven.co.uk
 

1)      iPad – The Apple iPad is number 1. With Apple selling 3 Million in the first 80 days. Different prices depending on functionality such as wireless or wireless & 3G. With access to thousands of apps this is a sure winner for Christmas

2)      Amazon Kindle – Extremely affordable e-reader priced at a mere £109. Can store up to 3500 books – imagine having to carry that many!!

3)      PS3 Move – Sonys wireless/motion sensor for the PS3.

4)      Xbox 360 Kinect – Kinect allows you to play games without touching a controller. You are the controller – interact with the screen using you body to control the game!!

5)      iPod Touch – Apples digital media player. Watch movies, download apps, surf the web... and of course listen to music!!

6)      Ferrari F1 Electric Ride on – Let your child be able to say their first car was a Ferrari!! Made by Ferrari, alloys wheels, genuine badges and 0-5mph in seconds!!!

7)      Samsung Galaxy S – Samsungs new phone using Google Android operating system.  Android is a popular OS for phones and with a growing range of Apps available and the functionality on the phone to boot this could rival the iphone.

8)      Call of Duty Black Ops – Follow up to Call of Duty Modern warfare which sold 4.7million copies on the day of release!! A must for all hardened gamers

9)      Stinky the garbage truck – Interactive toy truck which dances sings and asks questions! Great for kids who are going mad for it, good alternative to computer games or DVDs.

10)   Sony Vaio – Laptop with built in blue ray player, 14” screen and Core i3 processor. Boasts a powerful 4Gb ram and 500Gb hard drive, hard to ignore if you are looking for a new laptop this Christmas.

For a full run down of the above gadgets and more, visit http://www.gadgetheaven.co.uk/top-10-gadgets-for-christmas-2010/

Proximity Marketing with Bluetooth

Bluetooth Technology has been around for many years, having initially been developed in 1994 it use has grown and is now one of the main methods for transferring data over short distances between mobile devices and also fixed devices. 

There are many business uses of Bluetooth, the main one being proximity marketing. Proximity marketing is the distribution of advertising content/material, news articles, information and advice within a contained location. This information can be received and viewed by the recipients providing they have the required technology and accept the communication. 

For example you could be at an exhibition and want to let people withing your area know where you are and what you are offering, by sending out a Bluetooth blast you can provide everyone with a Bluetooth enabled phone who is in your close proximity with this information. You could use it to notify customers in your store/building of offers you have, or evening people walking by your building. A class 1 Bluetooth device has a maximum range of 100m (this can be reduced by interference and obstacles).

We have produced a small guide on how to send a Bluetooth message to a mobile device from a PC using software and transmitter which you can purchase at a very small cost. Please click on the link below to view the guide

Bluetooth Guide

Please post comments and let us know how you have used Bluetooth technology and what benefit it has bought to your company.

Digital Tachograph Software

When the recession hit, it hit the building industry hard and PVC Building Supplies Ltd were no exception, fortunately the dedicated team of staff, loyal customers and the flexible entrepreneurial leadership from PVC Building Supplies Managing Director Spencer Wright saw the business making the right moves at the right times.

While it was a tough ride we were able to make various changes to our operations in order to carry the business forward. One of the side effects however was for some projects to go on hold - one of these projects was the procurement of two new vehicles for our fleet.

Recent success has put us in a position to purchase the new vehicles and with it came a number of IT based queries. The first to come my way as IT Manager was researching new software to work with the new digital tachographs to be installed in the vehicles.

Data stored on the digital tachograph is downloaded via a smart card and then uploaded via a USB card reader. Browsing for software options online yielded a plethora of choices with the vast majority being web based applications where data is aggregated and stored in the cloud. All vendors made very similar offers with a selection of standard reports usually with the option to build bespoke reports.

During my search the one thing I failed to tap into was a set of standards for tachograph software. After bouncing around VOSA’s phone system I made contact with one of the tachograph specialists for my area who confirmed there was no industry standard for the software. The only requirement enforced to ourselves is to keep either a 12 or 18 months history of data on record.

While VOSA could make no direct recommendation it became clear during the conversation that there were two market leaders for tachograph software: the RHA (Road Haulage Association) and the FTA (Freight Transport Association). The advice was to take a look at these systems and compare both costs and functionality with other vendors in the market.

At this stage we are still not clear as to our full requirements from the digital tachograph software. The obvious gain we can see for the business is the speed at which information can be uploaded and converted into meaningful reports. This will no doubt improve our monitoring process and reduce the need for manual storage of tachograph charts.

Richard Uphill

IT & Projects Manager

PVC Building Supplies Ltd

www.pvcbuildingsupplies.com

NMBS's Success in Electronic trade with Merchants and Suppliers

NMBS have been encouraging their suppliers to send electronic invoices/credits in standard tradacoms or Basda XML format or by inputting their invoices/credits on an online Web Form.

NMBS hit an all time high in August 2010, by receiving 90%+ in volume of electronic invoices/credits, which relates to 97% value of turnover.  NMBS have set new targets and are looking to reach a volume of 92% in the next few months.

Electronic trading increases the overall efficiency of your business.  The true benefits of electronic trading reveal themselves through increased productivity, reduced errors caused by the re-keying of information, and considerable cost savings.

With NMBS receiving 90% of their invoices/credits electronically, we developed a Document Retrieval Service for our members.  This has been really successful with over 400 members downloading their invoices/credits.

NMBS feel that the Document Retrieval Service is a more secure way of getting invoices/credits to their members. The member would receive a daily email with a link to their retrieval screen, click a button and download/print their invoices/credits.

If you would like to know more about sending your invoices/credits to NMBS electronically, or receiving your invoices/credits by downloading them from the Retrieval Service, please contact Sue Oliff on 0116 2614907 or email sue.oliff@nmbs.co.uk

Want to know your Tweets from your fans then read on...

Have you heard of Tweets and Fans but not got a clue what they mean? If so NMBS can help.

Social Media is becoming an increasingly important part of everyday life, and affects how a business needs to think. You may have heard the names Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube but not know what they can do. All of these can help you run your business in separate ways and this post will help you get the most out of them. 

Facebook gives you the ability to set up a group and get Fans to follow your posts – you can post status updates, photos and general information on here to keep everyone informed. Twitter offers 140 character updates or ‘Tweets’ this should be snippets of information that ideally lead the follower to an external site with more information, or it could be used to raise awareness to offers etc. LinkedIn is a business orientated social networking site, used for professional networking. YouTube differs from other forms of social media in that it is used predominantly for uploading and sharing videos. 

The main benefits of Social Media are:

• You can raise awareness for your business

• Improve traffic to your website

• Hit a wide audience – there are approximately 500m active users on Facebook, and over 50% of these login on a daily basis.

So how can you benefit from this? Firstly you need to get set up on the Social Media platforms that you feel you can utilise to the best of your advantage. NMBS use all 4 main Social Media outlets, Facebook is a great way to distribute photos to Fans, Twitter is better for links to current news or event sign up pages, LinkedIn is a way to connect with other professionals and YouTube enables us to have our own TV channel and upload and share our corporate and event videos. 

As a Builders Merchant or Supplier you may ask how Social Media can help you and how you can get started in this often confusing online world. So we have compiled some useful links below to articles that will assist you with this:

Facebook Groups:

http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=904

http://www.squidoo.com/createfacebookgroup

Twitter Pages:

http://www.twitip.com/how-to-set-up-a-twitter-account/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/4698589/Twitter-how-to-set-up-your-account.html

LinkedIn Profile:

http://learn.linkedin.com/company-pages/

YouTube Account:

http://www.youtube.com/create_account

Mobile Technology and Applications

Whether you are an iphone, blackberry, or Android smartphone user the current offering of over 175,000 applications for a multitude of purposes are not to be overlooked by the business user (techrepubic.com, 09/03/2010). 

Titles include, Evernote (used for general purpose note taking) and Documents to go (an all in one application that supports Microsoft office documents, PDF, & Apple iWork) Let’s not forget the newly released Microsoft Windows Phone 7. The phone uses an operating system that is very different from the current trend toward app- focused phones. Instead it provides active and configurable interface elements called tiles that update on the fly with real information, allowing users to place the tiles that interest them most where they want them on their start screen (microsoft.com, 11/10/2010).  

During the last 12 months NMBS has also been developing mobile applications for both java compatible mobile phones and the Apple iphone / ipad. The NMBS software development strategy considers the mobile market as a significant client that requires servicing. NMBS believes that the business user of tomorrow will require ‘real time’ desktop information on a pocket sized hand held mobile platform. NMBS aim to provide this service.