SA is reeling after a series of shocks: the Marikana tragedy, Moody’s
downgrading , a spike in the current account deficit, and now a sharp
drop in the rand.
Since August, the mining strikes have spread
like wildfire, igniting a run on the rand last week that has taken it
back to its worst level since the global financial crisis.
What
started out as a localised platinum strike has spread to gold, chrome,
iron ore and parts of motor manufacturing, while the three-week-long
transport strike has now broadened to include the country's ports. Acts
of violence appear to be intensifying and reports of petrol shortages
are increasing.
Investor concern over labour unrest, which
culminated in AngloPlat's decision to fire 12000 workers last Friday,
pushed the rand to R8,85/US$ that evening - its weakest level since
April 2009.
Unless there is a breakthrough in the labour arena soon,We recently added Stained glass mosaic
Tile to our inventory. the rand could easily weaken to the key
psychological level of R9/$. At the same time, SA's consensus of growth
of 2,5% forecast for the year is beginning to unravel.
Capital
Economics' Africa economist Shilan Shah estimates that SA's total mining
output will contract by around 20% in the third quarter, and that
labour unrest could knock at least 1,5 percentage points off GDP overall
in the second half of 2012.
Nomura emerging markets economist
Peter Montalto expects a similar effect, adding that the current account
deficit could remain in excess of 6% of GDP because of a likely drop in
exports from both the mining and freight strikes.
But it is not
time to panic. Though foreigners sold R1,1bn worth of JSE shares on
Friday, bonds are holding up fairly well, suggesting that the rand is
not about to collapse.
The country is not falling apart, says
Montalto. Rather, what SA is more likely to experience is a grinding
continuation of the status quo in which the economy delivers growth far
below its potential.
"The problem we have with the current
situation is that we cannot see how it ends easily without employers
deciding themselves to grant large wage increases," says Montalto.
"Government is doing nothing."
This is the picture that informed the Moody's downgrade on September 27.
Moody's
has traditionally been more bullish on SA than the other two main
rating agencies, Fitch and Standard and Poor's (S&P). Since 1996,
Moody's has always given SA's economic policy makers the benefit of the
doubt and for a long time it was vindicated.
But in February this year that confidence began to slip,The oreck XL professional air purifier,
when Moody's reduced its outlook on SA's government debt ratings from
stable to negative. The agency warned that political risk was rising at a
time when SA's public finances were becoming constrained while the pace
of growth was too slow to prevent unemployment and social tensions from
escalating.
The events at Marikana proved the point,
precipitating a full one notch cut in SA's rating last month. The move
was equivalent to a vote of no confidence in the SA government,
reflecting Moody's view of the SA authorities' "reduced capacity to
handle the current political and economic situation and to implement
effective strategies that could place the economy on a path to faster
and more inclusive growth".
Moody's has kept SA's rating outlook
on a negative watch given its fear that increasingly interventionist
strategies are "highly likely" to flow from the ANC's December elective
conference in Mangaung. "To the extent that such strategies would deter
private investment and incoming capital into SA, they could further
diminish its growth potential," Moody's warns.
Montalto agrees.
"The local politico-economic debate is much like a fraught ideological
battle one would have been more accustomed to in 1960s Britain," he
says. "Unfortunately, we doubt SA will wake up to the consequences of
its chosen policy direction until there is a meaningful market funding
or domestic shock. It seems [the events at] Marikana [were] not enough
of a shock."
But Montalto doesn't believe SA is headed for a
cataclysmic blow-up. It is more likely that the country will move
further down the road of state intervention and of tight labour laws
that erode competitiveness.
Rand Merchant Bank chief economist
Ettienne le Roux fears he is right. He notes that SA's export growth has
greatly lagged both emerging market and developed market exports since
early 2009,Selecting the best rtls
solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS.
despite the strong global recovery.Interlocking security cable tie
with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals.
This suggests that there are SA-specific factors that are preventing the
country from competing.
"One of those is that SA is becoming an expensive manufacturing country.We have a wide selection of dry cabinet
to choose from for your storage needs. The two main causes are high
administered price inflation and strong unit labour cost growth," says
Le Roux. "In other emerging markets, labour and business are able to
work together to understand the situation and make sacrifices [for]
longer-term gains. Clearly, that doesn't happen here."
Reserve
Bank governor Gill Marcus has reportedly urged government to address the
"real issues" raised by Moody's to ensure there are no further
downgrades.
2012年10月15日 星期一
2012年10月11日 星期四
Getting worse, or just easier to notice?
Well, okay, first a bit about Nashville. ABC obviously has a lot of
hopes for it – the network deliberately ran back-to-back new episodes of
Modern Family last night so the new show could have the best possible
lead-in.Selecting the best rtls
solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS.
The pilot, while filled with exposition and other forms of pilot
shorthand (always necessary to set up every relationship and conflict in
a few seconds) was quite juicy,The stone mosaic
comes in shiny polished and matte. sort of a combination of the ABC
soap form with the epic, politics-infused style of The Good Wife. Like
Smash last season, it’s an attempt to build a large-scale cable-style
series but with at least some characters who are basically good, and
therefore more accessible to a large audience than the average cable
character.
Whether it takes off like The Good Wife or goes downhill like Smash will depend a lot on future episodes, and particularly whether it can do a good job balancing the political aspects of the story – which look to be more heavily emphasized in the next two episodes – with the show business backstage stuff. But it does start with one advantage over Smash: while that show made virtually everyone a good person at heart (except one minor character that nobody liked), Nashville is founded on a more solid, classic All About Eve foundation with one “good” character and one “bad” character at the centre of the action. The Hayden Panettiere character is not all bad, and her backstory with her mother is going to be expanded on in the weeks to come. But by opposing the basically good Connie Britton with the basically mean Hayden Panettiere, the show does establish a basic rooting interest that a lot of shows simply don’t have.
Anyway, back to the trivial detail. In the pilot of Nashville there’s this scene where Connie Britton is driving her daughters in a car, and finds to her horror that they are fans of Hayden Panettiere’s music. (These kids today, following these manufactured pop idols.) This is a pilot, remember, where the budget is higher, there’s more money and time for location shooting, and everything looks slicker than in the series that follows. But the scene in the car looks like a classic rear-projection automobile scene that could have been done in the ’50s, with the blurry backgrounds and the angles that make the car look very much like a couple of chairs propped up on a soundstage. (I suppose there’s always the chance that it could turn out to be a real car, but it sure didn’t look real.)
Was this a problem? No.Selecting the best rtls solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS. Blurry rear-projection is just one of those things you accept; if you’re worried about that, then the show already has bigger problems. So this isn’t about Nashville specifically. But like the infamous boat scene in the pilot of Ringer last year, it left me scratching my head about why green-screen scenes look like this. TV has come so far technologically in so many ways, and that includes the use of CGI – you may remember the video from a few years back that showed how seamlessly TV shows use digital backgrounds to make locations look different or bigger. But when it comes to driving scenes, there are more of these ’50s-style shot now than there have been at any time since the days when The Dukes of Hazzard would cut in to the Duke Boys in front of rear-projection plates. So why would the technical standard of TV improve in so many areas, but decline in the one specific area of green screen projection?
The best answer I can give to my own question is that maybe the increased availability of green screen has made shows more willing to use it when they don’t necessarily need to. In Old Hollywood movies, a lot of scenes would be shot in front of plates either because it was easier,Find detailed product information for howo tractor 6x4 and other products. or could keep everyone in the studio where the producer could keep an eye on them, or just because they were shooting a lot of retakes after everyone came back from the location. The production style of modern TV sometimes seems similar. In an era of rising costs and tightening budgets, shows may be more inclined to keep shooting indoors where it’s possible, or where using a real car might complicate the schedule (for example, in a scene involving children, whose scenes are always hard to schedule).
The other possibility is that there’s just something about HD video shooting that makes moving backgrounds stick out more than they did a decade or so ago, when most shows used film.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. (I don’t know if shows today use real video for these backgrounds or if they create them digitally; if they’re digital, that might explain why they don’t look quite right.) Whatever the reason, it’s kind of a relief to realize that TV still hasn’t advanced to the point that every single bit of technological trickery can fool us. After all, if they ever reach that point, they’ll be able to progress to the next stage: digitally replacing the actors in front of the green screen.
Whether it takes off like The Good Wife or goes downhill like Smash will depend a lot on future episodes, and particularly whether it can do a good job balancing the political aspects of the story – which look to be more heavily emphasized in the next two episodes – with the show business backstage stuff. But it does start with one advantage over Smash: while that show made virtually everyone a good person at heart (except one minor character that nobody liked), Nashville is founded on a more solid, classic All About Eve foundation with one “good” character and one “bad” character at the centre of the action. The Hayden Panettiere character is not all bad, and her backstory with her mother is going to be expanded on in the weeks to come. But by opposing the basically good Connie Britton with the basically mean Hayden Panettiere, the show does establish a basic rooting interest that a lot of shows simply don’t have.
Anyway, back to the trivial detail. In the pilot of Nashville there’s this scene where Connie Britton is driving her daughters in a car, and finds to her horror that they are fans of Hayden Panettiere’s music. (These kids today, following these manufactured pop idols.) This is a pilot, remember, where the budget is higher, there’s more money and time for location shooting, and everything looks slicker than in the series that follows. But the scene in the car looks like a classic rear-projection automobile scene that could have been done in the ’50s, with the blurry backgrounds and the angles that make the car look very much like a couple of chairs propped up on a soundstage. (I suppose there’s always the chance that it could turn out to be a real car, but it sure didn’t look real.)
Was this a problem? No.Selecting the best rtls solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS. Blurry rear-projection is just one of those things you accept; if you’re worried about that, then the show already has bigger problems. So this isn’t about Nashville specifically. But like the infamous boat scene in the pilot of Ringer last year, it left me scratching my head about why green-screen scenes look like this. TV has come so far technologically in so many ways, and that includes the use of CGI – you may remember the video from a few years back that showed how seamlessly TV shows use digital backgrounds to make locations look different or bigger. But when it comes to driving scenes, there are more of these ’50s-style shot now than there have been at any time since the days when The Dukes of Hazzard would cut in to the Duke Boys in front of rear-projection plates. So why would the technical standard of TV improve in so many areas, but decline in the one specific area of green screen projection?
The best answer I can give to my own question is that maybe the increased availability of green screen has made shows more willing to use it when they don’t necessarily need to. In Old Hollywood movies, a lot of scenes would be shot in front of plates either because it was easier,Find detailed product information for howo tractor 6x4 and other products. or could keep everyone in the studio where the producer could keep an eye on them, or just because they were shooting a lot of retakes after everyone came back from the location. The production style of modern TV sometimes seems similar. In an era of rising costs and tightening budgets, shows may be more inclined to keep shooting indoors where it’s possible, or where using a real car might complicate the schedule (for example, in a scene involving children, whose scenes are always hard to schedule).
The other possibility is that there’s just something about HD video shooting that makes moving backgrounds stick out more than they did a decade or so ago, when most shows used film.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. (I don’t know if shows today use real video for these backgrounds or if they create them digitally; if they’re digital, that might explain why they don’t look quite right.) Whatever the reason, it’s kind of a relief to realize that TV still hasn’t advanced to the point that every single bit of technological trickery can fool us. After all, if they ever reach that point, they’ll be able to progress to the next stage: digitally replacing the actors in front of the green screen.
Time takes on a different dimension in Africa
The Rolling Stone's song "Time Is on My Side" could be a continuous
theme for many first time visitors now living in Malawi. Getting here
with the Peace Corps was such a long ordeal and there is no reasonable
way to prepare for the journey.
The obvious challenges of distance, a different culture, climate and language are usually identified at the top of the list. Perhaps it's all those items in the fine print or less visible that are so easy to miss. Even living in the village setting during training phase failed to hammer home the adjustment that would be required in two areas.
The overlooked items are transportation and time. Malawi transportation is a worst case nightmare. Every person in this country can add a travel woe to any story. Even bring up the subject can cause a seismic response.
Time is the other issue sure to elicit a reaction of some sort from most.The stone mosaic comes in shiny polished and matte. Wasn't it Albert Einstein who suggested that time is relative to how fast we are traveling? My question is simply "relative to what"? In Malawi using the word clock and time together constitutes an oxymoron.
Perhaps there is nowhere else in the world where time takes on the meaning it has here. A better way to state the obvious is simply that time does not exist here in the way that is familiar to many of us.
There is an expression that I've heard called "Malawi time". It is simply code to add anything from 10 minutes to five hours for a designated time. When someone says "I will meet you at 3 o'clock" it can really mean 3:10 or 8:00. And the more requests for accuracy seem to generate more creative responses.Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals.
My classic story is the after dark mini-bus flat tire on the M1 mountain road between two cities. When looking for a time when the repair would take place the answer was given "when someone comes to fix it". And that would happen when the mechanic arrives. That could be ten minutes, two hours or maybe a day.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents.
Perhaps this week seemed to test the limits of knowledge about time here. Understanding time in Malawi is learned skill that opens a host of experiences. With the right attitude everything gets put into perspective.
It becomes a balance of when something actually happens and living in the moment. So many of us we are living in the next moment or moments because we are too busy getting to or going somewhere. Tomorrow becomes more important than today's moments.
This week's project required more travel and in Malawi when you arrive can be a challenge. An hour's ride is never a sure thing. My journey was to begin with a Monday morning meeting (Columbus Day here is not on the Malawi holiday calendar). One of the two participants didn't show for the early meeting and it had to be rescheduled for two o'clock the same day a total of 5 hours later.
It made no sense to travel an hour and half back to my home location. I walked over to the local prison to greet the superintendent who is a friend. There is much to be said for visiting anyone especially when there isn't a reason. Should I ever be involved with any prison projects in my own area the superintendent's advice will be greatly appreciated. There was no place else I needed to be and the rescheduled meeting was set for 2 o'clock.
A quick text to two fellow Peace Corps workers resulted in an unscheduled plan for an early lunch at a local restaurant. The restaurant sits at the foot of the nearby mountain range in a garden like atmosphere where time seems to stand still. Being so early meant we were the only customers.
A first order of coffee was followed by some quick menu selections. We jokingly remarked that the atmosphere is in stark contrast to other Malawi locations. After an hour of waiting it became apparent that the kitchen was in no rush to serve us. Maybe in another location or another setting we would have marched into the kitchen demanding speedier service. We were content to just and review reasons why each of us had traveled with the Peace Corps to Malawi.
Discussed were our candid observations about life in Malawi. The conversation drifted into what we liked about Malawi and the most challenges. We even speculated about our lives after the Peace Corps. Surprisingly not one of us made a move to the kitchen with a demand of faster service.
When the food finally came more than two hours later we quickly ate and were on our way. Somehow we had slipped into the moment and simply enjoyed the rare opportunity to listen to each other and find our differences and our common connections. There were still no other customers. There was no other place we had to be at the moment.Gecko could kickstart an indoor tracking mobile app explosion.
As it worked out the 2:00 meeting did not happen because the missing member never showed and the meeting got rescheduled for the next morning.
On Wednesday my plan was to accompany my board chairperson to his two day teaching assignment at a college an hour and a half north of the capital. It meant leaving Ntcheu at 6:00 to be in Dedza by 8:00 for the start of our ride north.
I got a ride north from a Zomba Pakistan butcher who has lived in Malawi for the past seventeen years. Time stood still as we talked about our experiences and differences and our favorable views of Malawi. We were in no rush to have the ride over and we enjoyed the moment. I had arrived ahead of schedule for our trip north with my board person.
The 8:00 AM start off time became 9:00 but only to begin a limited search for scarce diesel fuel. We headed south to meet up with his colleague in a neighboring market place. The suggested 10 minute stop over became an hour of sitting and waiting while he conversed in his colleague's car. And simply where did I need to be or need to go? Nowhere. My rush to head north was mine alone.
The ride was further delayed by a stopover with some local villagers who needed some advice on securing funds to put a roof on a church. For these villagers this was a critical issue and there was no other place I needed to be but there just listening to their immediate requests.
Maybe this was my once in a life time to see these villagers and never again. We eventually arrived at our destination perhaps later than expected but time was not the critical factor since living in the moment was more important.
Maybe there was some unknown futuristic vision taking place when in the late 1960's I stopped wearing a watch. All those years were preparing me for now when the only important time is the moment at hand.
For most of us the business of the next event drives us forward and keeps us so distracted that slowing down and living in the present is really difficult.Selecting the best rtls solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS. What do I need to be doing right now?
The obvious challenges of distance, a different culture, climate and language are usually identified at the top of the list. Perhaps it's all those items in the fine print or less visible that are so easy to miss. Even living in the village setting during training phase failed to hammer home the adjustment that would be required in two areas.
The overlooked items are transportation and time. Malawi transportation is a worst case nightmare. Every person in this country can add a travel woe to any story. Even bring up the subject can cause a seismic response.
Time is the other issue sure to elicit a reaction of some sort from most.The stone mosaic comes in shiny polished and matte. Wasn't it Albert Einstein who suggested that time is relative to how fast we are traveling? My question is simply "relative to what"? In Malawi using the word clock and time together constitutes an oxymoron.
Perhaps there is nowhere else in the world where time takes on the meaning it has here. A better way to state the obvious is simply that time does not exist here in the way that is familiar to many of us.
There is an expression that I've heard called "Malawi time". It is simply code to add anything from 10 minutes to five hours for a designated time. When someone says "I will meet you at 3 o'clock" it can really mean 3:10 or 8:00. And the more requests for accuracy seem to generate more creative responses.Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals.
My classic story is the after dark mini-bus flat tire on the M1 mountain road between two cities. When looking for a time when the repair would take place the answer was given "when someone comes to fix it". And that would happen when the mechanic arrives. That could be ten minutes, two hours or maybe a day.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents.
Perhaps this week seemed to test the limits of knowledge about time here. Understanding time in Malawi is learned skill that opens a host of experiences. With the right attitude everything gets put into perspective.
It becomes a balance of when something actually happens and living in the moment. So many of us we are living in the next moment or moments because we are too busy getting to or going somewhere. Tomorrow becomes more important than today's moments.
This week's project required more travel and in Malawi when you arrive can be a challenge. An hour's ride is never a sure thing. My journey was to begin with a Monday morning meeting (Columbus Day here is not on the Malawi holiday calendar). One of the two participants didn't show for the early meeting and it had to be rescheduled for two o'clock the same day a total of 5 hours later.
It made no sense to travel an hour and half back to my home location. I walked over to the local prison to greet the superintendent who is a friend. There is much to be said for visiting anyone especially when there isn't a reason. Should I ever be involved with any prison projects in my own area the superintendent's advice will be greatly appreciated. There was no place else I needed to be and the rescheduled meeting was set for 2 o'clock.
A quick text to two fellow Peace Corps workers resulted in an unscheduled plan for an early lunch at a local restaurant. The restaurant sits at the foot of the nearby mountain range in a garden like atmosphere where time seems to stand still. Being so early meant we were the only customers.
A first order of coffee was followed by some quick menu selections. We jokingly remarked that the atmosphere is in stark contrast to other Malawi locations. After an hour of waiting it became apparent that the kitchen was in no rush to serve us. Maybe in another location or another setting we would have marched into the kitchen demanding speedier service. We were content to just and review reasons why each of us had traveled with the Peace Corps to Malawi.
Discussed were our candid observations about life in Malawi. The conversation drifted into what we liked about Malawi and the most challenges. We even speculated about our lives after the Peace Corps. Surprisingly not one of us made a move to the kitchen with a demand of faster service.
When the food finally came more than two hours later we quickly ate and were on our way. Somehow we had slipped into the moment and simply enjoyed the rare opportunity to listen to each other and find our differences and our common connections. There were still no other customers. There was no other place we had to be at the moment.Gecko could kickstart an indoor tracking mobile app explosion.
As it worked out the 2:00 meeting did not happen because the missing member never showed and the meeting got rescheduled for the next morning.
On Wednesday my plan was to accompany my board chairperson to his two day teaching assignment at a college an hour and a half north of the capital. It meant leaving Ntcheu at 6:00 to be in Dedza by 8:00 for the start of our ride north.
I got a ride north from a Zomba Pakistan butcher who has lived in Malawi for the past seventeen years. Time stood still as we talked about our experiences and differences and our favorable views of Malawi. We were in no rush to have the ride over and we enjoyed the moment. I had arrived ahead of schedule for our trip north with my board person.
The 8:00 AM start off time became 9:00 but only to begin a limited search for scarce diesel fuel. We headed south to meet up with his colleague in a neighboring market place. The suggested 10 minute stop over became an hour of sitting and waiting while he conversed in his colleague's car. And simply where did I need to be or need to go? Nowhere. My rush to head north was mine alone.
The ride was further delayed by a stopover with some local villagers who needed some advice on securing funds to put a roof on a church. For these villagers this was a critical issue and there was no other place I needed to be but there just listening to their immediate requests.
Maybe this was my once in a life time to see these villagers and never again. We eventually arrived at our destination perhaps later than expected but time was not the critical factor since living in the moment was more important.
Maybe there was some unknown futuristic vision taking place when in the late 1960's I stopped wearing a watch. All those years were preparing me for now when the only important time is the moment at hand.
For most of us the business of the next event drives us forward and keeps us so distracted that slowing down and living in the present is really difficult.Selecting the best rtls solution is a challenging task as there is no global solution like GPS. What do I need to be doing right now?
Why Partisan Voting Makes Accountability Impossible
As the 2012 election nears,Allows
you to securely organize any group of cable ties or wires. we are
frequently reminded of the role partisanship plays in elections. As in other
recent presidential elections,High quality mold making Videos teaches
anyone how to make molds. most states are proving to be consistently either
"red" or "blue," with only a few being "swing states." The New York Times
reported in August that "the actual share of voters nationally who are up for
grabs is probably between just 3 percent and 5 percent in this election.The Beads factory was founded
by Viki & Mark Lareau in 1992 ." And just as in other recent congressional
elections, most House and Senate seats are likely to continue to be either
Republican or Democrat, with very few seats switching parties. The same can be
said for most other political offices around the country as well. Clearly, most
Americans are partisans and vote the party line most of the time.
Do partisan voters really find that one party always serves their interests, while the other does not? Does a candidate's membership in a voter's preferred party automatically mean that a candidate will work in the voter's best interests, while a candidate from the opposing party will not? Is a partisan label more important than a candidate's qualifications, integrity, and grasp of issues? It seems odd that, despite so many government problems and with people (candidates) and government being so complex, Americans would so consistently use something as simple as party ID to choose who will run our government. What's going on here?
The theoretical justification for political parties is that they allow for collective accountability. Since decisions made in our democratic government require the agreement of numerous people and sometimes multiple branches of government, political parties, so the theory goes, are a way to hold a group of people collectively accountable. The assumption is that voters will maintain a running tally of each party's competence and appeal -- much like consumers do in the marketplace -- then adjust their partisanship based on this and vote accordingly.
But studies by political scientists have consistently found that only rarely do voters change their preferred party over time. People come to identify with a political party at a young age and, despite wars, recessions, and scandals, tend to maintain allegiance to and vote for candidates of that party throughout their life. This is a very important finding that has profound implications for democracy in America.
Political Scientists Donald Green, Bradley Palmquist, and Eric Schickler researched this situation and presented their findings in the book Partisan Hearts and Minds. What they found is that partisanship, rather than being based on objective evaluations of policies and party performance, can best be described as a social group, with the closest analogy being religious groups.
People who belong to a religion or religious denomination tend to adopt that religion early in life based on their family life and early adult socialization. Their choice tends to be made based on circumstance rather than a rigorous evaluation of various alternatives. Then, as members of that religion, they become indoctrinated into that religion's precepts, adhere to its distinctive underlying doctrines, and maintain (to varying degrees) an adversarial relationship toward other religions. Their religious affiliation becomes part of their social identity and self-conception, and tends to remain intact over time.
Party affiliation is similarly adopted early in life based on family life and early adult socialization, although politics may be less central to a person's thinking than religion is. Since political parties are somewhat associated with groups such as racial groups, religious groups, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, being part of particular groups tends to have a strong bearing on partisan identity. Once party identification is established it tends to crystallize, becoming part of a person's self-conception and social identity, and remains intact over time. As partisans, people become indoctrinated with their chosen party's issue positions and ideology.
Political scientist Matthew Levendusky has studied the process of political indoctrination, which he calls sorting, and wrote The Partisan Sort to describe it. According to Levendusky, "Most voters simply do not think about politics and political issues enough to possess the well-developed abstract belief systems characteristic of [political] elites (politicians and members of the news media)... Ordinary voters cannot form coherent views on a long list of issues, but they can look to elites for guidance on what positions they should take." In trying to make sense of political issues of the day, people "look to elites for guidance on what positions they should take, and adopt those positions." In a sense, they ask themselves "what do people like me (members of my party) think about this issue?" This causes people's attitudes on issues to move into alignment with their partisan affiliation. Republicans become anti-tax, pro-gun rights, and for a strong national defense,Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, while Democrats become sympathetic to the plight of immigrants,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, pro-gay rights, and pro-life.
Identification with a political party also causes people to raise a perceptual screen that colors their perception of politicians and public affairs. People's evaluations of political figures become biased as politicians of their own party tend to be judged favorably, while politicians of the opposing party are judged unfavorably. Party supporters tend to accept information that is agreeable with their partisan beliefs and resist information that challenges their beliefs. This effect is compounded when they gravitate to news sources that support their partisan point of view, which they tend to do.
Do partisan voters really find that one party always serves their interests, while the other does not? Does a candidate's membership in a voter's preferred party automatically mean that a candidate will work in the voter's best interests, while a candidate from the opposing party will not? Is a partisan label more important than a candidate's qualifications, integrity, and grasp of issues? It seems odd that, despite so many government problems and with people (candidates) and government being so complex, Americans would so consistently use something as simple as party ID to choose who will run our government. What's going on here?
The theoretical justification for political parties is that they allow for collective accountability. Since decisions made in our democratic government require the agreement of numerous people and sometimes multiple branches of government, political parties, so the theory goes, are a way to hold a group of people collectively accountable. The assumption is that voters will maintain a running tally of each party's competence and appeal -- much like consumers do in the marketplace -- then adjust their partisanship based on this and vote accordingly.
But studies by political scientists have consistently found that only rarely do voters change their preferred party over time. People come to identify with a political party at a young age and, despite wars, recessions, and scandals, tend to maintain allegiance to and vote for candidates of that party throughout their life. This is a very important finding that has profound implications for democracy in America.
Political Scientists Donald Green, Bradley Palmquist, and Eric Schickler researched this situation and presented their findings in the book Partisan Hearts and Minds. What they found is that partisanship, rather than being based on objective evaluations of policies and party performance, can best be described as a social group, with the closest analogy being religious groups.
People who belong to a religion or religious denomination tend to adopt that religion early in life based on their family life and early adult socialization. Their choice tends to be made based on circumstance rather than a rigorous evaluation of various alternatives. Then, as members of that religion, they become indoctrinated into that religion's precepts, adhere to its distinctive underlying doctrines, and maintain (to varying degrees) an adversarial relationship toward other religions. Their religious affiliation becomes part of their social identity and self-conception, and tends to remain intact over time.
Party affiliation is similarly adopted early in life based on family life and early adult socialization, although politics may be less central to a person's thinking than religion is. Since political parties are somewhat associated with groups such as racial groups, religious groups, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, being part of particular groups tends to have a strong bearing on partisan identity. Once party identification is established it tends to crystallize, becoming part of a person's self-conception and social identity, and remains intact over time. As partisans, people become indoctrinated with their chosen party's issue positions and ideology.
Political scientist Matthew Levendusky has studied the process of political indoctrination, which he calls sorting, and wrote The Partisan Sort to describe it. According to Levendusky, "Most voters simply do not think about politics and political issues enough to possess the well-developed abstract belief systems characteristic of [political] elites (politicians and members of the news media)... Ordinary voters cannot form coherent views on a long list of issues, but they can look to elites for guidance on what positions they should take." In trying to make sense of political issues of the day, people "look to elites for guidance on what positions they should take, and adopt those positions." In a sense, they ask themselves "what do people like me (members of my party) think about this issue?" This causes people's attitudes on issues to move into alignment with their partisan affiliation. Republicans become anti-tax, pro-gun rights, and for a strong national defense,Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, while Democrats become sympathetic to the plight of immigrants,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, pro-gay rights, and pro-life.
Identification with a political party also causes people to raise a perceptual screen that colors their perception of politicians and public affairs. People's evaluations of political figures become biased as politicians of their own party tend to be judged favorably, while politicians of the opposing party are judged unfavorably. Party supporters tend to accept information that is agreeable with their partisan beliefs and resist information that challenges their beliefs. This effect is compounded when they gravitate to news sources that support their partisan point of view, which they tend to do.
2012年10月9日 星期二
Shooting for Answers
When I first heard about Warface, I was surprised. Crytek , the
developer behind such legendary shooters as Crysis and Far Cry, was entering the
free-to-play arena. To my uneducated eyes the process was simple: produce some
incredible games, sell a staggering number of copies, rinse and repeat. But as
producer Peter Holzapfel described at the recent Eurogamer Expo, the gaming
landscape is changing.
On the surface, Warface is a superbly executed first-person shooter, as you’d expect from a developer with a pedigree like Crytek’s. For the 100-strong team at the developer’s Kiev studio, the game represents something more; an opportunity to find out how free-to-play actually works in the myriad of markets throughout the globe. In creating a lightweight, accessible, team based shooter, the team has built a laboratory of carnage with which to experiment.
It’s an experiment that already seems to be paying off, with Warface launched in some territories. When I asked Holzapfel about how it had performed in Russia, he grinned at me before replying. “What would be the correct adjective… mind-blowingly successful so far?” By partnering with Trion in Western markets, Crytek hopes to repeat that success when beta starts later this year.Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles,
The idea for building Warface as a free-to-play game came from Asian markets, as Holzapfel explained. “Seeing what happened there, as in the number of players that are actually loving this kind of model, was just impressive.” He added that the growing number of high-quality free-to-play games was also encouraging.
This is about more than the changing face of online gaming, with Warface representing a shift in approach for the German developer. "We truly believe that the free to play model is something that’s, pretty much from our perspective,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. the fairest model for developers and gamers at the same time, if you get it right.” Holzapfel is also confident that gamers will stick around if he treats them seriously. “If you do a good game, players will stay with you, and they will get more and more into you, because you’re handing them a great product for free.”
Set in a near future where global governments have collapsed, Warface hires you as an elite freedom-fighter against a megalomaniacal organization known as Blackwood. This mercenaries-versus-megacorporation conflict provides the backdrop for a variety of locations, from gritty urban jungle to isolated mountain village, all beautifully rendered using CryEngine 3. But, while these regions play host to some classic team-based PVP, there’s also a refreshingly different co-op mode to haul your friends into.
War has many faces, with Warface offering four of them at present. The Rifleman and Sniper classes are focused purely on firepower, while the Medic and Engineer provide crucial squad support. Whichever pair of boots you decide to wear, there’s also a range of weapons and gear available to unlock. Once an item is unlocked it becomes available for all classes, encouraging experimentation.parkingsystem “We don’t want players to get attached to a single class, going through the whole progression thing and then not wanting to start a different class, but actually encourage jumping between the different classes and finding out all the different play styles for them.”
Alongside the progression system will be a marketplace, although the details are still being fleshed out by the localization team. Their goal is to have every piece of equipment available to purchase with either in-game currency or real money, together with a range of convenience items such as experience boosters and bundles. Frugal gamers can completely avoid spending hard cash, either by patiently saving for a particular item, or by playing well and earning masses of experience.
Despite having tutorial missions and single-player campaigns, team-based PVP shooters have struggled with training newcomers. Having both the time and the resilience to push through that initial learning phase is becoming tougher.Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. “When I was 18, just starting university, I had a lot of time where I could play games for hours and hours. Now I don’t have that time anymore, and it can be quite frustrating. Arriving late to a game, everybody knows the maps inside out, you get shot in the face every five minutes, and you start again, this sort of thing.”
It’s one of the reasons why Crytek decided to add a PvE mode to Warface, where teams of five players can battle it out against AI opponents in a mission that changes daily. “We really wanted to create this access point with co-op, where people get to know the game, know how to handle the weapons, know how to do all the special moves, really work together as a team. And then, if they want to and feel comfortable, move over to PvP.”
For Holzapfel, it’s all about breaking down those barriers to getting in the game.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. “We really wanted to keep the product as accessible as possible, and that’s one of our major claims for the game. In each and every area, when it comes to hardware requirement, distribution model, business model, and when it comes to design choices like co-op.” In territories where Warface has already launched, players tend to dive into the daily mission, try out the double-XP hard mode version, then play PvP for the rest of the evening.
On the surface, Warface is a superbly executed first-person shooter, as you’d expect from a developer with a pedigree like Crytek’s. For the 100-strong team at the developer’s Kiev studio, the game represents something more; an opportunity to find out how free-to-play actually works in the myriad of markets throughout the globe. In creating a lightweight, accessible, team based shooter, the team has built a laboratory of carnage with which to experiment.
It’s an experiment that already seems to be paying off, with Warface launched in some territories. When I asked Holzapfel about how it had performed in Russia, he grinned at me before replying. “What would be the correct adjective… mind-blowingly successful so far?” By partnering with Trion in Western markets, Crytek hopes to repeat that success when beta starts later this year.Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles,
The idea for building Warface as a free-to-play game came from Asian markets, as Holzapfel explained. “Seeing what happened there, as in the number of players that are actually loving this kind of model, was just impressive.” He added that the growing number of high-quality free-to-play games was also encouraging.
This is about more than the changing face of online gaming, with Warface representing a shift in approach for the German developer. "We truly believe that the free to play model is something that’s, pretty much from our perspective,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. the fairest model for developers and gamers at the same time, if you get it right.” Holzapfel is also confident that gamers will stick around if he treats them seriously. “If you do a good game, players will stay with you, and they will get more and more into you, because you’re handing them a great product for free.”
Set in a near future where global governments have collapsed, Warface hires you as an elite freedom-fighter against a megalomaniacal organization known as Blackwood. This mercenaries-versus-megacorporation conflict provides the backdrop for a variety of locations, from gritty urban jungle to isolated mountain village, all beautifully rendered using CryEngine 3. But, while these regions play host to some classic team-based PVP, there’s also a refreshingly different co-op mode to haul your friends into.
War has many faces, with Warface offering four of them at present. The Rifleman and Sniper classes are focused purely on firepower, while the Medic and Engineer provide crucial squad support. Whichever pair of boots you decide to wear, there’s also a range of weapons and gear available to unlock. Once an item is unlocked it becomes available for all classes, encouraging experimentation.parkingsystem “We don’t want players to get attached to a single class, going through the whole progression thing and then not wanting to start a different class, but actually encourage jumping between the different classes and finding out all the different play styles for them.”
Alongside the progression system will be a marketplace, although the details are still being fleshed out by the localization team. Their goal is to have every piece of equipment available to purchase with either in-game currency or real money, together with a range of convenience items such as experience boosters and bundles. Frugal gamers can completely avoid spending hard cash, either by patiently saving for a particular item, or by playing well and earning masses of experience.
Despite having tutorial missions and single-player campaigns, team-based PVP shooters have struggled with training newcomers. Having both the time and the resilience to push through that initial learning phase is becoming tougher.Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. “When I was 18, just starting university, I had a lot of time where I could play games for hours and hours. Now I don’t have that time anymore, and it can be quite frustrating. Arriving late to a game, everybody knows the maps inside out, you get shot in the face every five minutes, and you start again, this sort of thing.”
It’s one of the reasons why Crytek decided to add a PvE mode to Warface, where teams of five players can battle it out against AI opponents in a mission that changes daily. “We really wanted to create this access point with co-op, where people get to know the game, know how to handle the weapons, know how to do all the special moves, really work together as a team. And then, if they want to and feel comfortable, move over to PvP.”
For Holzapfel, it’s all about breaking down those barriers to getting in the game.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. “We really wanted to keep the product as accessible as possible, and that’s one of our major claims for the game. In each and every area, when it comes to hardware requirement, distribution model, business model, and when it comes to design choices like co-op.” In territories where Warface has already launched, players tend to dive into the daily mission, try out the double-XP hard mode version, then play PvP for the rest of the evening.
Shooting for Answers
When I first heard about Warface,Where can i get a reasonable
price dry cabinet? I was surprised.
Crytek , the developer behind such legendary shooters as Crysis and Far Cry, was
entering the free-to-play arena. To my uneducated eyes the process was simple:
produce some incredible games, sell a staggering number of copies, rinse and
repeat. But as producer Peter Holzapfel described at the recent Eurogamer Expo,
the gaming landscape is changing.
On the surface, Warface is a superbly executed first-person shooter, as you’d expect from a developer with a pedigree like Crytek’s. For the 100-strong team at the developer’s Kiev studio, the game represents something more; an opportunity to find out how free-to-play actually works in the myriad of markets throughout the globe. In creating a lightweight, accessible, team based shooter, the team has built a laboratory of carnage with which to experiment.
It’s an experiment that already seems to be paying off, with Warface launched in some territories. When I asked Holzapfel about how it had performed in Russia,It is intended for use by ventilation system designers, he grinned at me before replying.The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. “What would be the correct adjective… mind-blowingly successful so far?” By partnering with Trion in Western markets, Crytek hopes to repeat that success when beta starts later this year.
The idea for building Warface as a free-to-play game came from Asian markets, as Holzapfel explained. “Seeing what happened there, as in the number of players that are actually loving this kind of model, was just impressive.” He added that the growing number of high-quality free-to-play games was also encouraging.
This is about more than the changing face of online gaming, with Warface representing a shift in approach for the German developer. "We truly believe that the free to play model is something that’s, pretty much from our perspective, the fairest model for developers and gamers at the same time, if you get it right.” Holzapfel is also confident that gamers will stick around if he treats them seriously. “If you do a good game, players will stay with you, and they will get more and more into you, because you’re handing them a great product for free.”
Set in a near future where global governments have collapsed, Warface hires you as an elite freedom-fighter against a megalomaniacal organization known as Blackwood. This mercenaries-versus-megacorporation conflict provides the backdrop for a variety of locations, from gritty urban jungle to isolated mountain village, all beautifully rendered using CryEngine 3. But, while these regions play host to some classic team-based PVP, there’s also a refreshingly different co-op mode to haul your friends into.
War has many faces, with Warface offering four of them at present. The Rifleman and Sniper classes are focused purely on firepower, while the Medic and Engineer provide crucial squad support. Whichever pair of boots you decide to wear, there’s also a range of weapons and gear available to unlock.Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles, Once an item is unlocked it becomes available for all classes, encouraging experimentation. “We don’t want players to get attached to a single class, going through the whole progression thing and then not wanting to start a different class, but actually encourage jumping between the different classes and finding out all the different play styles for them.”
Alongside the progression system will be a marketplace, although the details are still being fleshed out by the localization team. Their goal is to have every piece of equipment available to purchase with either in-game currency or real money, together with a range of convenience items such as experience boosters and bundles. Frugal gamers can completely avoid spending hard cash, either by patiently saving for a particular item, or by playing well and earning masses of experience.
Despite having tutorial missions and single-player campaigns, team-based PVP shooters have struggled with training newcomers. Having both the time and the resilience to push through that initial learning phase is becoming tougher. “When I was 18, just starting university, I had a lot of time where I could play games for hours and hours. Now I don’t have that time anymore, and it can be quite frustrating. Arriving late to a game, everybody knows the maps inside out, you get shot in the face every five minutes, and you start again, this sort of thing.”
It’s one of the reasons why Crytek decided to add a PvE mode to Warface, where teams of five players can battle it out against AI opponents in a mission that changes daily. “We really wanted to create this access point with co-op, where people get to know the game, know how to handle the weapons, know how to do all the special moves, really work together as a team. And then, if they want to and feel comfortable, move over to PvP.”
For Holzapfel, it’s all about breaking down those barriers to getting in the game. “We really wanted to keep the product as accessible as possible, and that’s one of our major claims for the game. In each and every area, when it comes to hardware requirement, distribution model, business model, and when it comes to design choices like co-op.” In territories where Warface has already launched, players tend to dive into the daily mission,HOWO trucks are widely used and howo spareparts for sale, try out the double-XP hard mode version, then play PvP for the rest of the evening.
On the surface, Warface is a superbly executed first-person shooter, as you’d expect from a developer with a pedigree like Crytek’s. For the 100-strong team at the developer’s Kiev studio, the game represents something more; an opportunity to find out how free-to-play actually works in the myriad of markets throughout the globe. In creating a lightweight, accessible, team based shooter, the team has built a laboratory of carnage with which to experiment.
It’s an experiment that already seems to be paying off, with Warface launched in some territories. When I asked Holzapfel about how it had performed in Russia,It is intended for use by ventilation system designers, he grinned at me before replying.The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. “What would be the correct adjective… mind-blowingly successful so far?” By partnering with Trion in Western markets, Crytek hopes to repeat that success when beta starts later this year.
The idea for building Warface as a free-to-play game came from Asian markets, as Holzapfel explained. “Seeing what happened there, as in the number of players that are actually loving this kind of model, was just impressive.” He added that the growing number of high-quality free-to-play games was also encouraging.
This is about more than the changing face of online gaming, with Warface representing a shift in approach for the German developer. "We truly believe that the free to play model is something that’s, pretty much from our perspective, the fairest model for developers and gamers at the same time, if you get it right.” Holzapfel is also confident that gamers will stick around if he treats them seriously. “If you do a good game, players will stay with you, and they will get more and more into you, because you’re handing them a great product for free.”
Set in a near future where global governments have collapsed, Warface hires you as an elite freedom-fighter against a megalomaniacal organization known as Blackwood. This mercenaries-versus-megacorporation conflict provides the backdrop for a variety of locations, from gritty urban jungle to isolated mountain village, all beautifully rendered using CryEngine 3. But, while these regions play host to some classic team-based PVP, there’s also a refreshingly different co-op mode to haul your friends into.
War has many faces, with Warface offering four of them at present. The Rifleman and Sniper classes are focused purely on firepower, while the Medic and Engineer provide crucial squad support. Whichever pair of boots you decide to wear, there’s also a range of weapons and gear available to unlock.Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles, Once an item is unlocked it becomes available for all classes, encouraging experimentation. “We don’t want players to get attached to a single class, going through the whole progression thing and then not wanting to start a different class, but actually encourage jumping between the different classes and finding out all the different play styles for them.”
Alongside the progression system will be a marketplace, although the details are still being fleshed out by the localization team. Their goal is to have every piece of equipment available to purchase with either in-game currency or real money, together with a range of convenience items such as experience boosters and bundles. Frugal gamers can completely avoid spending hard cash, either by patiently saving for a particular item, or by playing well and earning masses of experience.
Despite having tutorial missions and single-player campaigns, team-based PVP shooters have struggled with training newcomers. Having both the time and the resilience to push through that initial learning phase is becoming tougher. “When I was 18, just starting university, I had a lot of time where I could play games for hours and hours. Now I don’t have that time anymore, and it can be quite frustrating. Arriving late to a game, everybody knows the maps inside out, you get shot in the face every five minutes, and you start again, this sort of thing.”
It’s one of the reasons why Crytek decided to add a PvE mode to Warface, where teams of five players can battle it out against AI opponents in a mission that changes daily. “We really wanted to create this access point with co-op, where people get to know the game, know how to handle the weapons, know how to do all the special moves, really work together as a team. And then, if they want to and feel comfortable, move over to PvP.”
For Holzapfel, it’s all about breaking down those barriers to getting in the game. “We really wanted to keep the product as accessible as possible, and that’s one of our major claims for the game. In each and every area, when it comes to hardware requirement, distribution model, business model, and when it comes to design choices like co-op.” In territories where Warface has already launched, players tend to dive into the daily mission,HOWO trucks are widely used and howo spareparts for sale, try out the double-XP hard mode version, then play PvP for the rest of the evening.
New Health Care Two-way Applications
I was planning to write this article a while
ago, but kept putting it off. Now that I have seen the subject highlighted in an
article “Calling Dr.The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly
built for any parking facility. Smartphone” in the Los Angeles Times, I think it
is time to discuss the impact that mobile health care apps will have on two-way
consumer interactions with their health care providers, and ultimately with
other business services as well.
What I was originally going to write about is the fact that when it comes to certain types of consumer services, the providers of such services may proactively require customers, who have personal smartphones and tablets, to use specific types of “mobile apps.” While health care and financial services may initially dominate such activity, government, education, applications etc., will also jump on the mobile consumer bandwagon to facilitate their service responsibilities.
I know I keep harping on this point, because, for too long, mobile communications meant primarily real-time voice (telephony) connections. Today, with smartphones and tablets, not only are the connections multi-modal and multi-media, but also require user interface flexibility for both initiating and responding to contacts between people and/or with online automated applications.
UC is not just for contacting and socializing with people, although one can obviously do that too, using IM chat and SMS messaging.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. Because people are now more accessible, and can communicate more flexibly with mobile devices, there has been a tremendous increase in person-to-person messaging rather than phone call attempts. However, what we are really talking about is for people to interact with ANY kind of important operational process that they are involved with, without necessarily going through other people to do so. It’s really about where mobility is taking consumers in the new world of “cloud-based,” self-service applications.
When we talk about “self-service” applications, we mean an informational function that an end user can do directly by himself or herself by accessing online portals.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. Whether it is inputting transactional data with voice or text or retrieving information from a database, the automated application will be cost-efficient and easy-to-use and can satisfy the user's need for on-demand access from anywhere, any time.
Mobile self-service apps for consumers will increasingly replace or supplement tasks that only customer-facing staff could perform in the past because there was little or no direct access to such functions without authorized and knowledgeable use of desktop or laptop computers. Now that smartphones and tablets make access to such applications more flexible, simpler, and location independent, there should be no question in anyone’s mind that UC enablement can help maximize effective usage of inbound and outbound mobile self-service applications, along with the options for “contextual” live assistance in various forms.
With traditional person-to-person communications, there was always a need to first accommodate the contact initiator’s circumstances or preferences in communicating with another person.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. UC flexibility, however, allows recipients to selectively receive and respond to contacts independently of the contact initiator’s choice. A good example is voice message-to-text services that allow a caller to conveniently leave a voice message that the recipient can efficiently retrieve in text form. The reverse is also true, where text messages can be listened to eyes and hands-free when driving a car.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. That flexibility makes for fewer failed contact attempts and more efficient and timely person-to-person communications, recognized as increased end-user “productivity” and “responsiveness.”
I originally was going to write an article that suggested that doctors might start prescribing the use of smartphones to their patients, along with appropriate “mobile apps” that either would efficiently report a patient’s medical status such as blood pressure, heart rate, glucose tests, etc. or proactively notify a patient of a critical health situation or about an upcoming appointment. With these new smartphone attachments described in the L.A. Timesarticle, the stakes have gotten greater. The benefits to both doctors and their patients, in terms of improving responsiveness to critical health situations, collaborating between different care providers on a patient’s latest health status, as well as minimizing costs for unnecessary doctor visits, will be huge.
I know about such issues from personal experience, since I now take my own INR blood tests every couple of weeks and report it through an IVR application, rather than go to my doctor’s office each time.
All consumers will benefit from health care mobile apps, which means more fuel on the fire for a variety of UC-enabled mobile business service apps as well. So, while there is a lot of talk about the benefits of UC for internal business “collaboration,” the real action may start with mobile self-service apps, like health care and financial services that all consumers will want, for both inbound and outbound contacts.
What I was originally going to write about is the fact that when it comes to certain types of consumer services, the providers of such services may proactively require customers, who have personal smartphones and tablets, to use specific types of “mobile apps.” While health care and financial services may initially dominate such activity, government, education, applications etc., will also jump on the mobile consumer bandwagon to facilitate their service responsibilities.
I know I keep harping on this point, because, for too long, mobile communications meant primarily real-time voice (telephony) connections. Today, with smartphones and tablets, not only are the connections multi-modal and multi-media, but also require user interface flexibility for both initiating and responding to contacts between people and/or with online automated applications.
UC is not just for contacting and socializing with people, although one can obviously do that too, using IM chat and SMS messaging.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. Because people are now more accessible, and can communicate more flexibly with mobile devices, there has been a tremendous increase in person-to-person messaging rather than phone call attempts. However, what we are really talking about is for people to interact with ANY kind of important operational process that they are involved with, without necessarily going through other people to do so. It’s really about where mobility is taking consumers in the new world of “cloud-based,” self-service applications.
When we talk about “self-service” applications, we mean an informational function that an end user can do directly by himself or herself by accessing online portals.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. Whether it is inputting transactional data with voice or text or retrieving information from a database, the automated application will be cost-efficient and easy-to-use and can satisfy the user's need for on-demand access from anywhere, any time.
Mobile self-service apps for consumers will increasingly replace or supplement tasks that only customer-facing staff could perform in the past because there was little or no direct access to such functions without authorized and knowledgeable use of desktop or laptop computers. Now that smartphones and tablets make access to such applications more flexible, simpler, and location independent, there should be no question in anyone’s mind that UC enablement can help maximize effective usage of inbound and outbound mobile self-service applications, along with the options for “contextual” live assistance in various forms.
With traditional person-to-person communications, there was always a need to first accommodate the contact initiator’s circumstances or preferences in communicating with another person.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. UC flexibility, however, allows recipients to selectively receive and respond to contacts independently of the contact initiator’s choice. A good example is voice message-to-text services that allow a caller to conveniently leave a voice message that the recipient can efficiently retrieve in text form. The reverse is also true, where text messages can be listened to eyes and hands-free when driving a car.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. That flexibility makes for fewer failed contact attempts and more efficient and timely person-to-person communications, recognized as increased end-user “productivity” and “responsiveness.”
I originally was going to write an article that suggested that doctors might start prescribing the use of smartphones to their patients, along with appropriate “mobile apps” that either would efficiently report a patient’s medical status such as blood pressure, heart rate, glucose tests, etc. or proactively notify a patient of a critical health situation or about an upcoming appointment. With these new smartphone attachments described in the L.A. Timesarticle, the stakes have gotten greater. The benefits to both doctors and their patients, in terms of improving responsiveness to critical health situations, collaborating between different care providers on a patient’s latest health status, as well as minimizing costs for unnecessary doctor visits, will be huge.
I know about such issues from personal experience, since I now take my own INR blood tests every couple of weeks and report it through an IVR application, rather than go to my doctor’s office each time.
All consumers will benefit from health care mobile apps, which means more fuel on the fire for a variety of UC-enabled mobile business service apps as well. So, while there is a lot of talk about the benefits of UC for internal business “collaboration,” the real action may start with mobile self-service apps, like health care and financial services that all consumers will want, for both inbound and outbound contacts.
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