Workplace

We're not sure whether to admire this as an innovative idea or get depressed over the commentary it makes on society.

For those who want to appear in high social demand, The Popularity Dialer will call your number and initiate a recording designed to elicit a phony dialogue. "Thus, you will be prompted to have a fake conversation and will easily fool those around you," according to the service's site.

We do concede that there are perhaps other, more justifiable uses for The Popularity Dialer--such as getting out of a boring meeting.

Everyone loves top-10 lists, of course, but we also need a little variety now and then. So today we offer a shorter compilation, the "Top 5 business maxims that need to go"--which includes such heretical entries as "failure is not an option" and "the customer is always right." We'll take quality over quantity anytime.

It all began a little over a month ago when The Inquirer published an article with some startling photos purportedly showing a Dell notebook exploding at a conference in Japan. Then last week, Reg Hardware reported that another Dell laptop went up in flames, causing an office evacuation.

But the latest report comes from Australia, where the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article yesterday titled "Dell laptop became a flamethrower" that chronicled an inflammatory incident in Singapore last November. If this keeps up, the people assigned to Dell's image campaign may be working overtime for awhile.

If you find yourself drifting off during staff meetings or school lectures, you're in good company: Loss of concentration, at one time or another, is a simple fact of life. So much so, in fact, that researchers at the University of Kent have posted a primer on concentration--and the lack thereof--along with some mental and physical tips for staying focused.

Wikis may face an uncertain future where profits are concerned, but by no means does that cast doubt on their usefulness. Case in point: Jeff Sandquist's AirPower Wiki.

Until battery issues are resolved--and until airline schedules become more reliable, if that's possible--practically everyone will likely find a need for such a wiki at some point to plug in the laptops and various devices that run our lives. So it may behoove all of us to contribute to the collaborative resource, which has just gotten off the ground. (Apologies for the pun.)

The AirPower Wiki is also a … Read more

As much as we love the concept behind wikis, we've often wondered how they will fare when they grow from adolescence to adulthood. (Translation: Can they make money?)

It's not that that we're obsessed with greenbacks, but we've been down this road before and tend to be a tad skeptical when people say "trust me." And other than advertising, we've yet to see an obvious business strategy for the wiki world.

JotSpot CEO Joe Kraus is hoping to change all that with the second version his 2-year-old company's hosted software. Kraus too … Read more

By design or by accident, the idea of asking consumers to create ads and design products has already become an accepted practice. The phenomon's immediate adoption is even more remarkable considering that it has taken place in an ossified industry.

Just yesterday, for example, Yahoo launched a campaign urging the public to submit ads featuring its redesigned home page. Other companies have asked customers to design their own products, some of which are even being tracked on blogs dedicated specifically to the trend.

These initiatives typically tout the importance of companies creating new interactive relationships with their consumers in … Read more

We at Blogma have an enduring appreciation for geeks and, like just about everyone else in the blogosphere, we love lists. So whenever possible, we try to combine our affections in some productive way: Hence, today's post entitled, "Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks."

Voluntarily laid-off employees of National Semiconductor have been asked to return company iPods given to them in June.

On June 12, National Semiconductor publicly announced that it had "equipped every one of its 8,500 employees with a 30-gigabyte video iPod." The company announced the program internally on June 9, according to Jeff Weir, a National Semiconductor spokesman.

"While designed for personal entertainment, the popular Apple MP3 player will be used as a new training and communications tool at National, providing a convenient real-time method for employees to download National podcasts and other employee communications," National … Read more