Not Necessarily News November 2001

Posted: 11/2001

Opinion

Not Necessarily News

Overheard

… during a panel discussion covering “Partner Collaboration and Programs” at the Channels Partners Show in Washington
D.C….

“… by next year, 100 percent of our new business will be through partners … We know you guys are the eyes in front of the customers.”

–Bob Loftus, vice president partner programs,

Cable & Wireless (www.cw.com)

A Bag for All Reasons

It took Personal Electronics Concealment
LLC. (PEC, www.eholster.com) exactly one week from the Sept. 11, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to introduce its e-Vigilance bag.

The single shoulder-strap carry-all is designed to hold an individual’s personal electronics devices including cellular phones, PDAs, handheld PCs, digital cameras, MP3 recorders and anything else that one might use to report, and possibly thwart, a future terrorist attack.

Atlanta-based PEC originally created the e-Holster, a shoulder holster for personal electronics. The company’s CEO Thomas N. Traeger says the bag is his way of helping U.S. citizens “arm” themselves with “antiterrorism communications weapons”.

He says the communications “weapons” don’t kill or maim but they do give individuals a way to “monitor, accurately report and quite possibly thwart possible future terrorist activities.”

The bag is designed to allow owners to add to it, as their personal electronic needs evolve. The e-Vigilance Bag will come in four models with suggested retail price starting at $39.90.

Tour Guides, Beware

The cell phone may be putting tour guides’ jobs

in jeopardy.

The Washington Times reports there is a new service that gives visitors to the nation’s capital a chance to hear about the sites and the city’s history through BeyondGuide Inc. An audio tour guide describes more than 150 sites and attractions in Washington. BeyondGuide Inc. (www.beyondguide.com), a Rockville, Md. company, says its service enables users to get tour information on their cell phones. The company also plans to introduce audio tour guides for Berlin, Boston, London, New York, Paris, Rome and San Francisco.

Users access the personal tour guide by dialing the toll-free number +1 866 33GUIDE. Then for $10 charged to their credit cards, they can listen to as much information as they during a 24-hour period. (Of course the actual cost will depend on how many free minutes the tourist has.)

The user can interrupt the narrator to bypass certain stories or have stories repeated. And, they can hang up and call back when they reach a specific site.

On Tap for December