Clancy . . . overflow . . .the best bits . . . funnies
The stamps have been replaced by an online system called Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT), which over the past few years has been adopted, by most US states to cut down on mistakes and fraud. They report an improvement of 25 percent on erroneous payments. Recipients need access to the internet. The new system will no longer be called ‘food stamps’ to improve the image of the welfare programme.
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That wondrous snapshot of who we are, the Canon Consumer Digital Lifestyle Index, reckons Australians spent almost $429 million on consumer digital lifestyle products in the first quarter of 2004. Most of it went on digital cameras and inkjet printers, digital CTV, consoles, DVD players and VCRs. A total of 2,147,007 inkjet printers have been sold over the counter in Australia in the past four and a quarter years. This works out at one printer for every seven people in Australia aged 15 and over.
Has this had any impact on commercial printing, do you think?
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Shane Earls, executive officer of the National Printing Industry Training Council is particularly pleased to advise the National Training Package Review is now complete. Full details can be downloaded from www.npitc.org.au
“There are some minor edits and proof reading work to be done over the next few weeks and once that function is complete it will be submitted for formal endorsement,” he writes. If you happen to come across a minor error etc, it would be appreciated if you could send the details by return email to info@npitc.org.au .
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Another trade show bites the dust, this time one of the biggest. Comdex, the computer geek fest held every year in Las Vegas has been cancelled. COMDEX 2003 attracted more than 40,000 technology buyers, 550 exhibiting companies and over 900 journalists, but this year the organisers reckon the US$915 billion information technology industry needed to draw breath. According to Robert W. Priest-Heck, president and chief executive officer of MediaLive, the new owners of Comdex, "While we could still run a profitable COMDEX this year, it does not benefit the industry to do so without broader support of the leading technology companies.”
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And talking of trade shows, Ipex 2006 organizers say they are happy with 135 companies committing to take 33,000m2 of space – or 46 per cent of the total target area of Birmingham’s National Convention Centre. They reckon it is more than at the same point during the previous sales campaign.
Certainly the organizers of PacPrint in Melbourne next year have no cause to worry with over 85 per cent of the space already taken, according to board member Gary Seidel of Screen. He also hails Alf Carrigan’s decision to hold the National Print Awards during the show as “a very good move.”
Melbourne looks set to be a party.
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Mind you, no trade show people have trouble like the MacWorld people have. This year they shifted the seminal touchy feely bash, where all the nice new digital stuff comes out, back to Boston from New York. It gave everyone a nice warm glow to be home again, except Apple, which is boycotting the show.
You can show people the fruit, but you can’t make them byte.
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And finally . . . this from the tempting Astrid S, who knows more than this about these things.
1. He who laughs last thinks slowest.2. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.3. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.4. On the other hand, you have different fingers.5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.6. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.7. It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.8. Those that live by the sword, get shot by those who don't.9. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.10. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be misquoted and used against you.
