ETD: 868 VoIP Experience; Crack in Computer Security Code
Raises Red Flag; Eight Things Every Marketer Needs to Know About the
Luxury Market
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Mar 15 12:40:02 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0868 March 15, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] VoIP Experience
[3] Crack in Computer Security Code Raises Red Flag
[4] Eight Things Every Marketer Needs to Know About the Luxury Market
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Two of our list members share their experience with VoIP, with one on them
including legal issues and confiscation of equipment. Very interesting
reading material. Yes, you can save, if you are willing to sacrifice.
Just when we thought electronic signatures were safe, comes a report that
the security is not safe, and can be broken. As an old partner from
Australia once said, they only safe computer is one where it is unplugged
and buried somewhere.
Pam Danziger was a keynote speaker yesterday and has a report available on
the luxury market. It is one of the hottest retail markets (the other
being dollar stores), so it behooves you to take a look.
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. This is a courtesy to our members who
contribute to our forum, and not merely a way to advertise for
free. Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer,
consulting, etc. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And
we have a form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first
proposed this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we
often don't know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and
what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] VoIP Experience
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Our company has been using Vonage for all outbound calls and some of our
inbound 800 numbers for the last six months. We've been able to cut our
monthly phone expenses in half, but the trade off has been lower
reliability. There are times, like this week, where at least half of our
outbound calls don't go through on the first try. Calls are either dropped
while being placed or we get a "fast busy" signal. Also, even though we pay
more than a residential customer, Vonage doesn't offer support options
specifically for businesses. We realize that VoIP as offered by Vonage and
its competitors is far from mature and there will be growing pains.
Ideally, we would like to be offered a real business plan, with better
reliability and support.
Our long distance was running $1600 to $1800 a month and it is now down to
around $900. We have unlimited outbound calls for a flat fee per line and
our inbound 800 calls are now around 4 cents a minute, with the first 100
minutes included in our plan. There was little investment on our part. We
are currently using seven lines and there is a $30 activation fee per line
and Vonage supplies the VoIP adaptor, which is connected to our phone
system as any other phone line. We already had the Internet bandwidth
available, so there is no additional charge there. The occasional problems
with Vonage do get cleared up and my boss is willing to put up with them
because of how much we save on our phone bill.
Best Regards,
--Dean Martin
Pointofsale.com
---------------------------
888-430-1685
509-375-0598
Fax: 509-375-0629
http://www.pointofsale.com
+++ [Next] +++
I have been investigating the VoIP market for the last year or so,
principally with an eye to the Bermuda market. We have the problem here
that every phone call for a distance greater than 21 miles is an
international call. The best rate available with POTS (plain old telephone
service) is 16c a minute for evening and weekends to the US, UK or Canada.
To talk to somebody during business hours is 29c to the same countries.
With VoIP I can now do it for under 4c a minute or free if using Skype (or
similar).
I have been using DialPad and found it to be very satisfactory and I use
Skype for calling friends or relations who have the same software on their
PC. I do not find the quality for SkypeOut (the method of calling to POTS)
to have such clear voice quality.
I have also imported handsets direct from China which make the conversation
much more natural. Using your computer's mike and speakers tends to give
echo on the conversation and wearing a headset makes you look like a call
centre employee.
So there you are, a great telephone alternative for the people of Bermuda
which could save them a lot of money every month.
However, in the eyes of the Bermuda Government I am operating a Public
Telecommunication Service without a license and on Christmas Eve at 4.30,
my office was raided by representatives of Government. They had a warrant
to take away my PC and any other items deemed appropriate to pursue their
case against me in the courts. They also put a seal on my web site making
it impossible for people to purchase from me. I am still waiting to hear
any more from them about further progress.
In summary, I have found VoIP to be a very efficient and economic method
for international calling. Quality of calls is on a par with the average
mobile conversation. I would recommend every SME to give it a try. In these
days of ever increasing costs, any savings can make a contribution to the
bottom line. If in doubt, use VoIP to talk to your vendors/suppliers and
use POTS to talk to your customers!
You can see the handsets that I am offering at www.Bermuda-VoIP.com
Shipment of these handsets is expensive to anywhere outside Bermuda, but if
any reader of E-Railer's Digest would like one they can drop me an email
via the web site and we can come to an arrangement! You will also find a
lot of other information on the site which might answer some questions
about VoIP.
Best regards
Richard Woolnough
Bespoke Solutions Ltd
www.BespokeSolutionsLtd.com
+1(441)295 0951
We can tailor your business
PS A sign of the times - Bermuda's best known department store,
Triminghams, announced on Tuesday that it is closing its doors at the end
of July after 163 years in business. My interest? I used to work for them
for 19 years before parting company four years ago.
http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050309/NEWS/103090045
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Thanks for sharing Richard. It is scary to think that the government can
seize equipment like they did. What we take for granted in countries like
the U.S., isn't so in other countries. The telcos have a monopoly,
especially in the Caribbean (I know, Bermuda is not in the
Caribbean). Justifying their position, they spent lots of money building
an infrastructure and were guaranteed no competition for a period of time
(usually 10 years).
Keep us posted.
George
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[3] Crack in Computer Security Code Raises Red Flag
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With worries about online security already at a high pitch, the discovery
of a crack in a widely used Internet encryption technique has raised
another red flag among government agencies and computer-code experts.
The technique, called a "hash function," has been used for years by
Web-site operators to scramble online transmissions containing credit-card
information, Social Security numbers and other sensitive data. Hash
functions are at work, for instance, for most of the millions of
transactions that take place on the Internet every day. The system,
involving an algorithm, or mathematical formula, was thought to be
impenetrable.
But last month, a team of researchers from Shandong University in eastern
China began circulating a draft of a paper showing that a key hash function
used in state-of-the-art encryption could be less resistant to an attack by
hackers than had been thought.
Hash functions generate digital fingerprints, or "hashes," of documents or
data. As with fingerprints, the uniqueness of the hash is what makes hash
functions a great tool for verifying the authenticity of information.
But the Chinese team found different pieces of data that yielded the same
hash when team members used a hash algorithm called SHA-1 -- and their
method generated the identical hash far more efficiently than experts
thought possible. SHA-1 is a federal standard promulgated by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology and used by the government and
private sector for handling sensitive information. It is thought to be the
most widely used hash function, and it is regarded as the state of the art.
Cryptographers say exploiting the flaw for malevolent purposes doesn't seem
practical, even using a lot of computer power. Hash functions are also
often used in conjunction with other cryptographic techniques, which
haven't shown any flaws. But if someone were to exploit the newfound flaw,
the most immediate threat would be to applications involving
"authentication." A hacker theoretically could set up a dummy Web site that
appears to have the security credentials of a trusted, secure site -- and
then steal data that is shipped to this site by unsuspecting users.
Despite what are believed to be remote chances of abuse, the discovery has
set off alarms in the computer-security industry because it overturns a
bedrock belief about a popular encryption system. "Our heads have been spun
around," says Jon Callas, chief technology officer at encryption supplier
PGP Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif. "Everything is now topsy-turvy." PGP has
begun to replace SHA-1 in its programs.
Details at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111084838291579428,00.html
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[4] Eight Things Every Marketer Needs to Know About the Luxury Market
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A white paper that contains the text of "The Eight Things Every Marketer
Needs to Know About the Luxury Market," presented by Pam Danziger in a
keynote Address on luxury at GlobalShop 2005 in Las Vegas is available at
http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/downloadPDF.php
"In the past few years, the luxury market has been 'traded up' and
'marketed down.' It's been 'masstiged,' 'democratized,' and 'reinvented.'
And worst of all for marketers today, it's been 'obfuscated,'" says Pam
Danziger, president of Unity Marketing.
Drawing upon a three-year longitudinal study of luxury consumers,
Danziger's speech will set the record straight on the new luxury market and
how marketers and retailers can tap its potential. Danziger explains how
the only way marketers can win with consumers today is to enhance and build
more luxury into their brands at every price point. The challenge is that
the concept of luxury has changed as the tradition-bending baby-boom
generation has evolved into the new luxury market.
Contact: Pam Danziger, 717-336-1600
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