Apple improves its new mobile phone with greater functionality at a lower price but in doing so relinquishes some of its initial originality.

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Title: Observador Cetelem 2008, Hábitos y tendencias del e-consumidor
Source: Cetelem, BNP Paribas Group
Date: May 26, 2008
Abstract: According to this study on the state of e-commerce in Europe, 16% of Spaniards will shop online this year, spending an average of 663 euros and a combined total of 4.3 billion euros. With the European average for e-commerce users being 28%, the authors consider that in this respect Spain is a country in transition, whereas Germany and Great Britain are considered to have mature markets. Nevertheless, Spain’s progress is evident: in 2007, Spaniards spent an average of 616 euros through this channel.
The study by Cetelem, based on 10,000 surveys carried out in 13 European countries, reveals among other data that in Spain, 48% of the people are Internet users. Of that total, 97% use email, 95% perform searches and 68% use online banking services.

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Title: Outbound Email and Data Loss Prevention in Today's Enterprise, 2008
Date: 2008
Source: Proofpoint and Forrester Research
Abstract: More and more large companies are controlling the content of their employees' email. According to a study published by email security specialist Proofpoint and Forrester Research, 41% of companies with over 20,000 employees say they employ professionals assigned to this task. A total of 44% of the companies participating in the study admit to having spied on their employees’ email messages in 2007, while 26% of them said they have fired staff members for having violated the company’s email usage policy. According to the study, this trend is sure to grow, given that an additional 15% of companies of this size have plans to do so.

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Tech Firms Top the Most Valuable Brands List Out of the top 100 strongest brands listed by Ranking BrandZ, 28 are technology companies, with Google leading the way. Following behind are: General Electric, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, China Mobile, IBM, Apple, McDonald’s, Nokia and Marlboro. Notable numbers from the 2008 edition include the record 123% growth of Apple and, on the negative side, the -30% tallied by Motorola.
Banco de Santander is the leading Spanish brand, checking in at number 48, followed by BBVA (77th), and Zara (84th). Spain’s top-ranked technology brand is Movistar, which sits 88th overall. The article published by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia regarding this study by Millward Brown Optimor makes note of how the value of the major brands has been bolstered during this current period of economic instability, having seen their value increased considerably and in some cases even doubled. The study shows how this hegemony of tech brands has been influenced by the technology boom and subsequent increased presence of such companies in countries like Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Articles in La Vanguardia and Millward Borwn

The demand for bandwidth among Internet users continues to surpass the industry’s capacity to fulfill their wishes. Earlier this month, Telefónica launched its fourth campaign to double the speed of Web access, which will result in its 3.7 ADSL subscribers, currently connecting at 3 Mbps or less, jumping up to 6 Mbps, at no additional cost. The new rate is far from the 25 Mbps required by high-definition television, but will resolve a good many of the issues experienced by users on networks of 3 Mbps and lower when using applications and services with sophisticated multimedia content.
Meanwhile, operators are preparing even more ambitious offers. Technology portal ADSL Zone lets visitors check on the availability at local Telefónica hubs that will be offering them via FTTH/VDSL2, which improves ADSL technology. On a similar note, Spanish newspaper El País has made mention of the race among operators toward ultra-fast Internet, citing the offers of 10 Mbps by Telefónica; 20 Mbps by Jazztel, Ya.com, Orange and Tele2; and that of 25 Mbps by Ono. Also making the news has been the pilot testing done by Telefónica at 30 Mbps and Ono at 100 Mbps, as well as that of Adamo, offering 100 Mbps connections in Asturias for 29 euros a month. Though in experimental mode, and with local range only, these advances are nudging the Spanish market toward the ultra-fast networks (100 Mbps) of Japan, Singapore, Korea, France, Sweden and other countries.

Articles in COITT/AEITT, ADSLZone.net and El País

The growing, more accelerated changes in the tech world are leading to cases of the already familiar concept of burnout. This phenomenon affects more and more of the professionals working in information technologies, causing headaches, irritability, sleeping problems, stress, heart attacks, firings due to discouragement and even premature death. Nevertheless, we still know very little about this problem.

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