Spotlight Features

We all negotiate one thing or another almost on a daily basis. When you negotiate, you are trying to achieve a goal through discussion and compromise. Typically, both elements have to be present in order to arrive at a successful outcome. Therefore, you must be able to communicate and be willing to...

Now that IBM and Intel have both created chips using 45nm process technology, it's clear chip technology will continue at least a little longer on the path predicted by Moore's Law, with ever-tinier creations coming out every two years or so. High-k metals, in particular, appear to help solve one o...

For more than a year, the issue of network neutrality has taken up a tremendous amount of time and attention in both Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley. In fact, it may be the single most engrossing subject currently tying together policy interests in these two distinct parts of the country. Unfor...

Colorblind people represent a significant but often neglected talent pool and consumer segment. Identifying opportunities to make products usable by as many people as possible, without degrading overall quality or performance, is a quality assurance function that is not always well understood or pra...

The movement to Internet protocol-based phone systems and contact centers is in full swing. This is great news for smaller businesses, since standards-based IP networks offer far more flexibility and capabilities for much lower costs than their TDM predecessors. As a bonus, the protocol that runs th...

The Association for Retail Technology Standards got busy early this year. The technology standards division of the National Retail Federation, ARTS began in 2007 with the introduction of several e-commerce data and content management standards. Among those standards, ARTS -- in partnership with the...

If one were to conduct a survey of technology publications over the past decade or so, it's a good bet there would be at least one instance in each of those years in which someone declared that "this is the year of biometrics." Full of promise but long constrained by a diverse set of obstacles, biom...

Last week's first annual Tech Policy Summit in San Jose, Calif., turned out smaller than expected, but did feature some big names and key insights into tech issues. The biggest surprise was Google's apparent flip-flop on the issue of net neutrality. "None of us want any kind of heavy-handed regulat...

There's no other series of business processes that are going through more of a transformation today and impacting customer relationships more than order management. These series of processes have gone through multiple owners, first starting with IT who adopted them as a quick way to achieve ERP syst...

No call should strike more fear into the heart of an online business than a call from a customer saying, "Your site won't let me do what I want to do." Chilling words, because only a tiny percentage of online consumers will actually pick up the phone to alert businesses to a problem. By the time tha...