Thanks to Google, No More "Drunk Email"

You gotta love this...

I guess this is a new issue, people sending out emails while drunk and regretting it in the morning.

Didn't Jerry McGuire do the same thing...sorta?

Much like the breathalyzer attached to the dashboard of your '69 Mustang, Mail Goggles is designed to stop you from ending up in the "Chappaquiddick" of Cyber-dom by forcing you to complete a few math questions.

Once the numerical hurdles are overcome, your email is sent to your "ex" or your idiot boss and into the ether. Oh and saved forever on one of the off-shore, water cooled, Google Data centers.

Funny stuff.

HP Placed in "Leaders" Quadrant for Managed Print Services in Magic Quadrant Report

The "Magic Quadrant..."

Last update: 3:00 p.m. EDT Oct. 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Oct 08, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (HPQ:

Hewlett-Packard Co.today announced industry analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has placed it in the Leaders Quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant positions vendors according to their "ability to execute" and their "completeness of vision" in managed print services (MPS).

According to Gartner, the completeness of vision axis "reflects each MPS provider's prospects for success by analyzing its view of the market, its service operating model, and its strategic plans for growth and service improvements."

Gartner evaluated vendors on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable their performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to have a positive impact on revenue, retention and reputation. According to the firm, vendors are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision.

"We believe being placed in the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for 'completeness of vision'and 'ability to execute' is a testament to HP's unique insight into the Managed Print Services industry," said Bruce Dahlgren, senior vice president, Worldwide Solutions and Services, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "HP delivers a complete set of services to reduce total business costs, improve paper-based workflows and maximize productivity for customers worldwide."

According to the report, Gartner classifies leaders as providing MPS to a wide range of customers, including the largest and most geographically dispersed, so they must demonstrate a truly global reach. They must demonstrate not only the skills to deliver today's MPS, but also the understanding, initiative and resources to prepare for tomorrow's. Leaders characteristically augment the full scope of MPS with a wide range of added-value services.

Economic Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Credit Crunch putting deals on hold.

Solution Providers Say Credit Crunch Putting Business On Hold

By Craig Zarley, ChannelWeb
11:00 AM EDT Wed. Oct. 08, 2008

Solution providers report that the credit crunch is starting to impact their business as customers either cancel or delay projects because of the inability to secure financing.

Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve to cut its key federal funds lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent and its discount rate by the same amount to 1.75 percent is expected to have little immediate impact on the situation. Solution providers say it's not the cost to borrow, but the availability of credit that is impacting the market.

"This week alone I've had two deals that the customers would have financed themselves through a bank but they were turned down," said Manuel Villa, president of VIA Technology, a San Antonio-based solution provider. "They then had to look for leasing options, but the leasing companies told them they couldn't do the project. Even leasing companies are getting tight with their approval process. That tells me that credit is tight all over."

Villa said the deals were relatively small, about $20,000 each, but the customers were well-established professional firms that have been in business for more than 10 years.

"If I've got two deals that are put on hold because of lack of capital, there are certainly some other folks that are seeing the same thing right now," he said. "This is a real problem now, but I hope that it is temporary."

Mark Singh, president of Abacus Computers, a Midland, Texas, solution provider, said he, too, has seen several projects that he expected to go through put on hold in the past few weeks. "Nobody has told us [that they can't get financing], but I suspect that some deals are being slowed down right now," he said. "Some projects that we expected to go through just aren't going. I think the credit crunch is slowing down some business."

Most well-established solution providers say they have yet to seen any restraints put on their lines of credit either from distributors of finance companies such as GE Capital. But they agree that anyone that is new to the business or lacks a sound business model is vulnerable in this economic climate.

Villa, for example, says a diversified business model will help him mitigate the impact of the credit crunch, noting that his public-sector business is still strong. "The public sector works with budget cycles a year in advance," he said. "Once the funds have been allocated for a project, they go forward with it."