Return on Technology

ALTOM: Don't sweat the cancer risk of cell phonesRestricted Content

June 18, 2011
Tim Altom
The evidence strongly shows that, for the business user, cell phones are the least of our worries, unless we’re in the habit of answering them in dense traffic.
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ALTOM: Will WiFI remote revolution help business?Restricted Content

June 4, 2011
Tim Altom
Google is already staking out its territory by writing Google @Home, an ambitious attempt to make Android into a one-place home remote-control station.
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ALTOM: Time digging into Excel 'goodies' will pay off

May 21, 2011
Tim Altom
To me, when it comes to business power, it’s hard to find more of it in one relatively cheap package than Excel.
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ALTOM: Is unwanted software loading on your machine?

May 7, 2011
Tim Altom
One of the biggest drawbacks to the march of technology is how often it lets others dictate how you use your own devices.
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ALTOM: The New York Times reinvents the 'paywall'

April 23, 2011
Tim Altom
The New York Times has decided to once again huddle behind a “paywall,” a decision that’s galvanized the Web world. But this paywall is different from ones the paper has tried in the past.
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ALTOM: Maybe laptops should come with safety warnings

April 9, 2011
Tim Altom
My laptop has been my willing companion when putting numbers through the centrifuge or springboarding me out into cyberspace.
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ALTOM: Business analysts pack more punch than they used to

March 26, 2011
Tim Altom
The numbers are astounding, even after all these years. A full quarter of all IT projects are canceled before they’re done.
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ALTOM: Supermarkets simplify life for grocers, not customers

March 12, 2011
Tim Altom
I have a fetish for efficiency. It pains me to watch people doing things two, three or more times when they should be doing it only once.
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ALTOM: Are iPods in the workplace music to an employer's ears?

February 26, 2011
Tim Altom
It’s rare to visit a workplace nowadays without seeing at least a few employees with tiny little earbuds trailing thread-sized wires down to a music player the size of an infant’s thumb.
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ALTOM: High-tech crime sometimes does pay

February 12, 2011
Tim Altom
Credit cards and ATMs are rapidly becoming lucrative targets of hackers.
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ALTOM: Why Microsoft Word has so many questionable features

January 29, 2011
Tim Altom
The out-of-the-box, standard interface wasn’t primarily for boosting productivity, but for giving demonstrations. It was marketing, and not usability, that was driving interface design.
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ALTOM: How to measure seemingly 'incalculable' risks

January 15, 2011
Tim Altom
My goal in life isn’t pushing technology, but applying appropriate technology to workplaces. Every decision about replacing or updating equipment or software has both a cost and risk component.
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ALTOM: Does Bing have a chance of catching Google?

January 1, 2011
Tim Altom
I can’t help it; every time I see the Microsoft search engine “Bing,” I hear Bing Crosby’s voice crooning in my head.
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ALTOM: 2010 meltdowns, missteps and breaches ... oh my

December 18, 2010
Welcome to the annual Christmas snafu edition of this column. This year’s crop of meltdowns, missteps and breaches reminds us once again that technology is a fickle friend and unreliable ally.
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ALTOM: Just because it's on the Web doesn't mean it's free

December 4, 2010
Tim Altom
Surfing the Web is like being the parent of multiple kids. You hear the rowdiness in a far-off room all day long and learn to take it for granted, but once in a while there’s a great crash and a howl that sounds like a civil defense siren.
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ALTOM: Why the maddening duplication of doctor forms?

November 20, 2010
Tim Altom
In every successive medical office—every single one—we have to fill out the very same data, over and over and over again. Name. Occupation. Medical history. Insurance. They always tell us on a first visit to arrive at least 15 minutes early so we can fill out all this stuff. It’s infuriating to me.
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ALTOM: When is it OK to connect with someone on LinkedIn?

November 6, 2010
Tim Altom
I never thought of online business networking site LinkedIn as having an ethical dilemma attached to it, until one day when I received an invitation from a client to connect to him.
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ALTOM: Can new technology make a toilet cleaner?

October 23, 2010
Tim Altom
In a previous issue of IBJ, another columnist wrote that technology can raise the productivity of toilet cleaners. It wasn’t a central part of his argument, but as you might imagine, it caught my eye. I couldn’t resist looking into bathroom technology.
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ALTOM: Office defibrillators are worth the expense

October 9, 2010
Tim Altom
Few pieces of business technology can lay claim to saving lives. One gadget can, but odds are you don’t have one. It’s called an “automated external defibrillator,” or AED.
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ALTOM: Think before selling your old software

September 25, 2010
Tim Altom
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has made it official: You don’t own your software if the software maker says you don’t own it.
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ALTOM: Praise the unsung device ... the ubiquitous paper clip

September 11, 2010
Tim Altom
To me, the most versatile piece of equipment in an office isn’t the computer. It’s the paper clip.
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ALTOM: Do I need a cell phone that's hardy or handy?

August 28, 2010
Tim Altom
It’s time to change my cell phone, and that’s causing me a big problem. I have conflicting needs, and like everybody else in the business world, I can’t seem to reconcile them.
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ALTOM: What can business learn from techies?

August 14, 2010
Tim Altom
There have been some technical materials that have taught me a great deal about how business should be conducted. I’d like to share a few with you.
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ALTOM: Bar-coding could help your business for as little as $200

July 31, 2010
Tim Altom
Years ago, when technology was just starting to classify and count all of us, we worried we’d become merely numbers. Now we may not even be readable numbers, but just ink on a bar code. And that’s a good thing, as it turns out.
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ALTOM: How long will our 'Net neutrality last?

July 17, 2010
Tim Altom
Cable giant Comcast has fanned a typical smoldering Internet grumble-fest into a major screaming match, complete with a lawsuit and cries for federal intervention. The outcome may affect how much it costs you and me to do business across the ’Net.
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