10/16/2008
Reactions to story from cool gadgets, games, gizmos and weird science [technabob]
Ever need just a little more real estate on your computer screen? I certainly could. I spend an inordinant amount of time using programs like Photoshop and Flash, and could always use an extra place to put all those little palettes and menus. These new MIMO displays from Korea’s Nanovision let you add a tiny 7″ LCD to your PC as a secondary monitor. Each mini-widescreen monitor features a sharp 800×480 display resolution, and can be rotated into landscape or portrait modes. Just connect the MIMO display to your computer’s USB 2.0 port, install the included software, and you’ll be up and running.
A matriarchal leadership
Carmen Riu was on a flight back to her base in Majorca recently when she spied two fellow chief executives also from the Spanish island: the heads of Air Europa and Sampol. Nothing noteworthy in that – except that all three are women and the heads of family-owned companies in the otherwise male-dominated industries of tourism, air travel and construction. Mrs Riu, co-head and joint owner of Riu Hotels & Resorts for 10 years, says both María José Hidalgo at Air Europa and María del Carmen Sampol at Sampol had been chosen in spite of being the only daughters in families full of men: “The father at Sampol said to me once: ‘Hombre, it is good to see your example because I know now my daughter can do it too’.”
Female executives are rare among listed companies in Europe, a situation that will surely come up at the Women’s Forum in Deauville, France, which starts today. Peter Löscher, the CEO of Siemens who this year criticised the German conglomerate for being “too male”, says it is “a disgrace” that out of more than 190 management board members in the Dax-30 grouping of top German companies, only one is a woman – Bettina von Oesterreich, chief risk officer of Hypo Real Estate.
Even in Norway, where 40 per cent of board directors are female, there is a far lower percentage of women in the ranks of top management, according to IE Business School in Madrid. But Celia de Anca, director of IE’s centre for diversity, says the situation is different at family companies like Mrs Riu’s. “Whenever a company is family-owned there are a lot of women involved. This has tended to be the case in continental Europe, with many examples from Santander [in Spain] to France and Germany.” They range from Ana Patricia Botín, head of Banesto, a bank owned by Santander, to Liz Mohn and Johanna Quandt, members of families that control Europe’s largest media group (Bertelsmann) and the world’s largest luxury carmaker (BMW), respectively.
That bodes well for family companies in the current economic crisis as their focus on the long term pays off. Mrs Riu says: “Being a CEO owner has an advantage over non-CEO owners: it [concerns] the vision of the long term. When you are the owner and want to pass it on to your children, focusing on the long term is better than if you are concentrating only on short-term profits.”
Caroline Marston, managing director of Marston Properties in the UK, agrees: “Having a long-term focus is definitely an advantage...But most important is the understanding.” The 46-year-old mother of two adds: “When you have young children you need support and understanding. I don’t think I would have got this far if I wasn’t in a family company.”
Mrs Riu, talking in her office just off the Playa del Palma in Majorca, says there are three broad reasons why life as a female executive is easier in a family company. One is the immersion family members have had in the company from an early age: “Many companies are like ours – we talk about the company from childhood. We talked about it at lunch and dinner. It was good because my brother [co-CEO and owner] and I learnt a lot while eating.”
The second reason relates to her mother’s own example: “You see as a daughter how your mother works and looks after the family, her system of organisation.”
Last, there is increasingly a need to involve the women of a family, both as families get smaller and women in some countries such as Spain become generally more educated than men.
Berthold Leibinger, former CEO of Trumpf, Europe’s biggest machine tool maker, said continuity was important in choosing his daughter Nicola Leibinger-Kamüller, when she was appointed to succeed him three years ago: “Keeping it in the family is important because I have known my successor for 45 years. I know how she thinks and she knows how I think.”
Both Ms Marston and Mrs Riu say family companies offer a more flexible workplace for women. Ms Marston says: “If one of my children is sick I am going to drop everything and rearrange things.” Mrs Riu, with three grown-up children, adds: “It doesn’t mean I work fewer hours but, for example, when my youngest was very ill when she was young I had time for her.”
Another advantage in family companies that both Mrs Riu and Ms Marston identify is a lack of the cliques that characterise many listed companies and make it hard for women to progress. Ms Marston says: “I haven’t had any of the politics that you have in a listed company.” Mrs Riu says the selcetion of executives in family companies is fairer: “It is more objective.” But she also points out other hurdles, such as cultural problems that can hinder the progress of women in a family company just as much as elsewhere. Most of Riu’s hotel managers are women but sending them abroad is tricky, she says, either because local employees won’t accept them or because they find it hard to uproot their families.
Nevertheless, even if male-dominated networks are absent, there are always family dynamics. After she was made chief executive, Ms Leibinger-Kamüller told the Financial Times: “We’re a team. I hope I won’t have to boss them around, though my brother would always say I’m the older sister and my husband would complain I’m the one in charge.” Ms Marston was unsure what to call her older relatives in board meetings. She has made the company structure more formal, with a constitution for family members.
Most of all, what characterises these female CEO-owners is their commitment. Mrs Riu says she has trained her children to be good owners – “I don’t want them in Maseratis, with spectacular rubies” – and she highlights the closeness of her family with the business. She lives next door to her brother and his family and recalls that after the birth of her first son: “I lived very close to the offices so I could go into the office and then return home to nurse him.”
Ms Marston, too, is keen that her children experience life outside the company: “I’d rather they did something else first. Once you are in it, you are in it.”
Female executives are rare among listed companies in Europe, a situation that will surely come up at the Women’s Forum in Deauville, France, which starts today. Peter Löscher, the CEO of Siemens who this year criticised the German conglomerate for being “too male”, says it is “a disgrace” that out of more than 190 management board members in the Dax-30 grouping of top German companies, only one is a woman – Bettina von Oesterreich, chief risk officer of Hypo Real Estate.
Even in Norway, where 40 per cent of board directors are female, there is a far lower percentage of women in the ranks of top management, according to IE Business School in Madrid. But Celia de Anca, director of IE’s centre for diversity, says the situation is different at family companies like Mrs Riu’s. “Whenever a company is family-owned there are a lot of women involved. This has tended to be the case in continental Europe, with many examples from Santander [in Spain] to France and Germany.” They range from Ana Patricia Botín, head of Banesto, a bank owned by Santander, to Liz Mohn and Johanna Quandt, members of families that control Europe’s largest media group (Bertelsmann) and the world’s largest luxury carmaker (BMW), respectively.
That bodes well for family companies in the current economic crisis as their focus on the long term pays off. Mrs Riu says: “Being a CEO owner has an advantage over non-CEO owners: it [concerns] the vision of the long term. When you are the owner and want to pass it on to your children, focusing on the long term is better than if you are concentrating only on short-term profits.”
Caroline Marston, managing director of Marston Properties in the UK, agrees: “Having a long-term focus is definitely an advantage...But most important is the understanding.” The 46-year-old mother of two adds: “When you have young children you need support and understanding. I don’t think I would have got this far if I wasn’t in a family company.”
Mrs Riu, talking in her office just off the Playa del Palma in Majorca, says there are three broad reasons why life as a female executive is easier in a family company. One is the immersion family members have had in the company from an early age: “Many companies are like ours – we talk about the company from childhood. We talked about it at lunch and dinner. It was good because my brother [co-CEO and owner] and I learnt a lot while eating.”
The second reason relates to her mother’s own example: “You see as a daughter how your mother works and looks after the family, her system of organisation.”
Last, there is increasingly a need to involve the women of a family, both as families get smaller and women in some countries such as Spain become generally more educated than men.
Berthold Leibinger, former CEO of Trumpf, Europe’s biggest machine tool maker, said continuity was important in choosing his daughter Nicola Leibinger-Kamüller, when she was appointed to succeed him three years ago: “Keeping it in the family is important because I have known my successor for 45 years. I know how she thinks and she knows how I think.”
Both Ms Marston and Mrs Riu say family companies offer a more flexible workplace for women. Ms Marston says: “If one of my children is sick I am going to drop everything and rearrange things.” Mrs Riu, with three grown-up children, adds: “It doesn’t mean I work fewer hours but, for example, when my youngest was very ill when she was young I had time for her.”
Another advantage in family companies that both Mrs Riu and Ms Marston identify is a lack of the cliques that characterise many listed companies and make it hard for women to progress. Ms Marston says: “I haven’t had any of the politics that you have in a listed company.” Mrs Riu says the selcetion of executives in family companies is fairer: “It is more objective.” But she also points out other hurdles, such as cultural problems that can hinder the progress of women in a family company just as much as elsewhere. Most of Riu’s hotel managers are women but sending them abroad is tricky, she says, either because local employees won’t accept them or because they find it hard to uproot their families.
Nevertheless, even if male-dominated networks are absent, there are always family dynamics. After she was made chief executive, Ms Leibinger-Kamüller told the Financial Times: “We’re a team. I hope I won’t have to boss them around, though my brother would always say I’m the older sister and my husband would complain I’m the one in charge.” Ms Marston was unsure what to call her older relatives in board meetings. She has made the company structure more formal, with a constitution for family members.
Most of all, what characterises these female CEO-owners is their commitment. Mrs Riu says she has trained her children to be good owners – “I don’t want them in Maseratis, with spectacular rubies” – and she highlights the closeness of her family with the business. She lives next door to her brother and his family and recalls that after the birth of her first son: “I lived very close to the offices so I could go into the office and then return home to nurse him.”
Ms Marston, too, is keen that her children experience life outside the company: “I’d rather they did something else first. Once you are in it, you are in it.”
10/15/2008
Out of the Ordinary Insurance
When people think of insurance, they most likely conjure up images of cars, houses, travel and pets but there are some not-so-standard insurance policies that you may never have thought about!
Believe it or not there is actually a company in Florida which offers insurance against Alien Abduction! You can insure yourself against being kidnapped by extra-terrestrials, and if you are snatched by a bright light from the sky, then you need to hope you are dropped back on Earth so you can fill in the paperwork and make a claim. So if you're worried about seeing UFO's near your home or have been watching too many X-Files episodes then this type of insurance could be just the ticket.
Many celebrities over the years have insured parts of their bodies that were vital to their success. Michael Flatley insured his legs for millions, Bruce Springsteen covered his voice and Egon Ronay took out a policy on his taste buds. It's unlikely that most of the general public would consider such extreme measures but when there's big money and livelihood at stake, it can often make sense.
The term 'moral turpitude' is not one you hear every day but it refers to a type of insurance policy that covers celebrity endorsements when they go wrong. If, for example, a company paid a celebrity millions of pounds to endorse a product and then during that time the celebrity was convicted of wrongdoing then the policy would protect the company's investment.
Sporting events also come into play within the insurance market and not just in the way you might think with regards to sponsorships. Big sporting events like the Olympics and the Superbowl are often heavily insured against things going wrong and the event not being able to take place. One policy even covered Scottish football fans for trauma should Scotland ever go on to win the World Cup. Another possibility could be to insure against being hit by a stray ball at a golf event or cricket match, because you just never know.
In recent years insuring your pets has gone from being considered rather quirky and unnecessary to being a must have item for animal owners, so who knows what areas of insurance may grow in popularity in the future? All it needs is one or two confirmed Alien abductions and a whole new market could open up!
For most people however, such insurance is nothing short of fantastical and the likelihood of finding insurers to cover such bizarre potential occurrences is likely to be slim at best. There is of course a more down-to-earth side to insurance however than all of these extreme policies and remembering to get a home insurance quote for example before you move house will prove much more useful in your day-to-day life than wondering if E.T. is going to pay you a visit.
Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
Believe it or not there is actually a company in Florida which offers insurance against Alien Abduction! You can insure yourself against being kidnapped by extra-terrestrials, and if you are snatched by a bright light from the sky, then you need to hope you are dropped back on Earth so you can fill in the paperwork and make a claim. So if you're worried about seeing UFO's near your home or have been watching too many X-Files episodes then this type of insurance could be just the ticket.
Many celebrities over the years have insured parts of their bodies that were vital to their success. Michael Flatley insured his legs for millions, Bruce Springsteen covered his voice and Egon Ronay took out a policy on his taste buds. It's unlikely that most of the general public would consider such extreme measures but when there's big money and livelihood at stake, it can often make sense.
The term 'moral turpitude' is not one you hear every day but it refers to a type of insurance policy that covers celebrity endorsements when they go wrong. If, for example, a company paid a celebrity millions of pounds to endorse a product and then during that time the celebrity was convicted of wrongdoing then the policy would protect the company's investment.
Sporting events also come into play within the insurance market and not just in the way you might think with regards to sponsorships. Big sporting events like the Olympics and the Superbowl are often heavily insured against things going wrong and the event not being able to take place. One policy even covered Scottish football fans for trauma should Scotland ever go on to win the World Cup. Another possibility could be to insure against being hit by a stray ball at a golf event or cricket match, because you just never know.
In recent years insuring your pets has gone from being considered rather quirky and unnecessary to being a must have item for animal owners, so who knows what areas of insurance may grow in popularity in the future? All it needs is one or two confirmed Alien abductions and a whole new market could open up!
For most people however, such insurance is nothing short of fantastical and the likelihood of finding insurers to cover such bizarre potential occurrences is likely to be slim at best. There is of course a more down-to-earth side to insurance however than all of these extreme policies and remembering to get a home insurance quote for example before you move house will prove much more useful in your day-to-day life than wondering if E.T. is going to pay you a visit.
Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
10/14/2008
'StarCraft 2' is now 3
Wassup StarCraft fans?!! That was my Brian Tong impression. Spot on, no? Anyway, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that StarCraft II is shaping up to be a much more ambitious product than Blizzard Entertainment had originally conceived, and the company is going to be forced to delay parts of the game.
The good news is that instead of waiting until everything in the game is complete, Blizzard is splitting the game into a trilogy--each focusing on a different StarCraft race.
The first game in the series--Wings of Liberty--will focus on the Terrans. The second game, Heart of the Swarm, will focus on the Zerg, while the final game, Legacy of the Void, will be devoted to the Protoss.
According to Blizzard, each release will be a fully fledged campaign, featuring 26 to 30 missions apiece with a branching storyline that will change depending on players' choices. Each release in the trilogy will also feature the multiplayer portion, with all three races playable and balanced, according to Blizzard.
Although Activision claims the game will be released in 2009, like all Blizzard Entertainment games expect it "when it's done." Which conceivably could be 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)