India Looking to Make Computing More Widespread

India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development is currently developing a touch screen tablet computer which would cost $35. The tablet is supposed to offer users web browsing, word processing and video conferencing capabilities. While the initial cost to consumers is to be $35, it is projected that eventually the cost will gradually fall to $20 then to $10.
The tablet will run on a Linux operating system, and the target market is college students as well as students in middle and high school.

This could be a step towards helping India to become one of the “haves” as far as technological capabilities. If they are able to add even more functionality to these tablets then there may come a time when these tablet manufacturers may be able to compete with the large competitors in the global computer market.

These tablets can be a step towards enabling the people of India to leverage their abilities for the benefit of themselves. The growth of technological resources and can lead to improved IT infrastructure for the country. The improved infrastructure will enable better flow of information, and this could allow the people of India to enact better business practices, which will improve the country as a whole.

iPhone News and a Few Other Things

I wonder if the recent problems with the new iPhone will hurt Apple's sales and stock price. For some reason the phone seems to have a design flaw in that the position of its atenna causes many calls to be dropped if you hold the phone a certain way. To solve this problem Apple has decided to give all iPhone 4 users a free carrying case which is supposed to remedy the problem.

Maybe this was the plan all along in order to entice buyers to go and pay $30 for the "bumpers". If this is the case then their plan has failed miserably. Maybe they didn't expect there to be such an uproar about the phone's glitch.

One day maybe we will realize that companies put out products with half of their true capabilities in order to save some of the functionalty for the "next generation" of their products. Why can't we just have it all right now instead of waiting for six different versions of the same product to come out with only slight differences?

New Rules for EMR Incentives

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued new rules regarding incentive payments for doctors and hospitals that choose to implement electronic medical records. The new rules are intended to broaden the scope of acceptable uses of EMR which would qualify doctors and hospitals to receive incentive payments.

I think that broadening the scope of acceptable uses for EMR will create a situation in which more hospitals will seek to implement this technology in order to receive the financial benefits of its use. The problems may arise when the number of acceptable uses for EMR becomes too broad and people start to take advantage of the system.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, of the 800,000 physicians practicing in the country only 6.3% had fully operational EMR systems. Increased utilization of EMR means that providers of these systems should see a great increase in profits if they can provide the proper solutions for their customers.

Companies switching to EMR must also be mindful to have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place in the event that the systems break down at some point. Information security will also be a pivotal point of focus because the EMR systems put in place must ensure that the hospitals do not violate The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

State Taxes Possible for Online Purchases

Representative Bill Delahunt introduced a bill today that could possibly change how many people choose to shop. The bill calls for state taxes to be paid on mail order and online purchases. This bill could affect shoppers as well as large internet based companies such as Amazon, and smaller internet based companies.

A 1992 case, Quill v. North Dakota set the precedent that gave Congress the power to decide if and to what extent the states could impose taxes on interstate mail order purchases. Supporters of the bill believe that the increased tax revenue will help states to pay for things such as roads, schools and police protection. They feel as though internet businesses should collect the same taxes as brick and mortar retailers.

Those in opposition of the bill feel that with the current state of the economy imposing yet another tax would be an undue burden on consumers and retailers.

The name of the bill is the "Main Street Fairness Act."

Sony Recalls Laptops

Today Sony announced that they would be recalling more than half a million Vaio laptops due to an overheating problem. The problem is that the shape of the computer can become distorted due to overheating caused by a flaw in the temperature control system. There have also been some reports of skin burns attributed to the heat buildup of the computers.

The recall includes 259,000 units in the U.S., 103,000 in Europe, 120,000 in Asia and 52,ooo in Japan. Also included in this recall are the F and C series Vaios that were introduced in January of this year. Sony recalled 400,000 Vaio's in 2008 due to overheating problems. Owners of the computers can either have Sony pick them up for repair or download a software update which should fix the problem.

Twitter Pressured By The FTC

The Federal Trade Commission has required Twitter to to create a security program which will be monitiored by the government for ten years. This was the first time that the FTC has used its enforcement powers against a social network. Twitter agreed to the terms in order to avoid a civil lawsuit from the FTC.

The safety of Twitter users private information was the chief concern of the FTC. David Vladek, head of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection said, "When a company promises consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that promise."

Two security breaches of Twitter include the hacking of Barack Obama's account, which included fake offers for $500 worth of free gasoline, and Twitter employees personal e-mails were compromised at one point in time. The action taken by the FTC may lead to increased scrutiny of social networking site's ablility to protect user private information.

Russia Playing Catch Up

Russia is looking to copy the United States, specifically Silicon Valley in that they are currently working on creating a technology centered region within their country. The goal of Russia's international center for technology is to enable the country to be a stronger competitor in the technology industry by enticing engineers, programmers and venture capital investors to invest their time and effort into the country.

I think that if Russia is successful in implementing their plans and reaching their goals, the growth of transnational corporations will increase even faster because companies will be able to take advantage of lower parts and labor costs in Russia. The lower costs incurred in doing business in Russia may put pressure on Silicon Valley and other technology focused regions around the world to find ways to either lower their production costs and/or improve compensation and incentives for employees and businesses that could possibly choose to move part or all of their operations to Russia.