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Tales from the Terminal RoomDecember 2002, Issue No. 38 |
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Please Note: This is an archive copy of the newsletter. The information and links that it contains are not updated.
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Tales from the Terminal Room ISSN 1467-338X December 2002, Issue No. 38 Editor: Karen Blakeman Published by: RBA Information Services Tales from the Terminal Room (TFTTR) is a monthly newsletter, with the exception of July and August, which are published as a single issue. TFTTR includes reviews and comparisons of information sources and search tools; updates to the RBA Web site Business Sources and other useful resources; dealing with technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications. In this issue:
Online Information 2002 - Best Stand AwardsEvery year at the Online Exhibition in London, UKOLUG (the UK Online User Group) judges the Best Stand Award. "Best" does not necessarily mean biggest or most lavish. In fact, in previous years, some of the smaller exhibits have been winners. As well as appearance, other factors that are taken into consideration are whether or not there is clear information on what the company does, how inviting the stand is to visitors, and the attitude and knowledge of the staff. Do they know what they are talking about? Do they understand the enquirers' needs? Do they answer the questions that they are asked rather than ones of their own choosing? How polite and friendly are they? This year Learned Information, who organize the event, decided that there should be two awards: one for the best shell stand, using the basic "shell" supplied by the organisers, and one for best free standing exhibit. The winner of the best shell stand was Sue Hill Recruitment. The stand was simply, but stylishly decked out in black and red with a few tasteful seasonal decorations. As befits a recruitment agency the emphasis was on people and staff calmly dealt with the most idiotic questions that the UKOLUG Mystery Shoppers could think of! The winner of the best free-standing exhibit was Bureau van Dijk. With a splendid design in their corporate colours, products were easily identifiable and, despite its large size, the stand had an open and inviting feel. Above all, though, the Mystery Shoppers were very impressed by the friendliness and knowledge of the staff, and the lengths to which they happily went to answer difficult questions. Sue Hill Recruitment can be found at http://www.suehill.com/ Information about Bureau van Dijk and their products can be found at http://www.bvdep.com/ and http://www.bvdsuite.com/. Online Information 2003 takes place from 2-4 December 2003 in the Grand Hall and Conference Centre Olympia. For further information, contact Learned Information on +44 (0)1865 388000, or visit the Online Information Web site at http://www.online-information.co.uk/ New HotBot launchedHotBot.com has been revamped with a more streamlined, faster, ad-free home page and options for searching four search engine databases: Google, FAST, Teoma and Inktomi. You select the database - you can only search one database at a time - by clicking on the appropriate radio button above the search form. When your results are displayed you can view the results from the other databases by clicking their respective radio buttons. I must admit that when I read the press release I did not see the point of this: why not go direct to the search engines themselves? Having tried it, though, I have found it to be an excellent method of searching quickly and effectively using the four search tools and an easy way to compare results. If you are an Advanced Search fan, the options automatically change depending on the database you select. Another new feature is the ability to "skin" HotBot to change the look and feel. The changes to HotBot are specific to the main HotBot.com site. The European country versions have not changed. The problem for many of us based outside of the US, though, is that typing in www.hotbot.com results in redirection to a country version. The URL to use to take you to the four-search HotBot is http://www.hotbot.lycos.com/. Yahoo! to charge for Associated Press ArchiveYahoo has announced that it is to provide a paid database of Associated Press archived news articles. The search engine on the Yahoo! News site will search the AP Archives going back to 1 January, 1998. Articles will cost $1.50 (94 pence) each to access and nearly one million AP stories will be available in the Yahoo database. AP stories, photos and audio clips will remain free for 15 days after publication before converting to the paid archive.
Information ResourcesCompany Financials and Annual Reports http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/finars.htm Yahoo! UK provides free UK Company Annual Reports Yahoo! UK (http://www.yahoo.co.uk/) in conjunction with WILink Ltd now offers a free UK company Annual Report service. The most recent annual report of most UK listed companies can be downloaded as PDF files or delivered to you by snail-mail. From the Yahoo! UK home page, click on the Finance Link and look for the Annual Reports link on the left hand side of the screen. You can browse alphabetically by company name or by sector. Then check the boxes next to the company or companies for PDF or mail and submit. You then have to supply contact details before the "order" is completed. The service does not have downloadable PDFs for all of the companies in its list and you are only offered the most recent report. If you want previous years or interims, you will have to try other sources such as the company's own Web page. My main gripe, though, is that even if you opt for downloading a PDF and not for snail-mail delivery, you must enter your name, full postal address and email address. Market Research http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/mr.htm Price Sampler http://www.pricesampler.com/ The data costs 500 Euros per country. Company Directories http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/directs.htm United Export Solutions http://www.unitedexport.freeuk.com Their directories include:
The International Directory of Importers lists major importers and distributors in 160 countries and contains over 150,000 entries for importing firms in Europe, Asia/Pacific, North America, South/Central America, Middle East and Africa. Detailed company information includes telephone and fax numbers, e- mail and web address, contact person, year established and number of employees. The Importers Directory is in nine volumes and each of the six geographical areas can be purchased separately. The International Directory of Agents, Distributors & Wholesalers is organized by country, company and product. The information includes company name and address; telephone/fax numbers; email address; contact person; company type; number of employees; year the business was established; bank reference; list of products handled. The Current Directory of International Chambers of Commerce provides information on over 4,000 international chambers of commerce and industry selected from major cities in 165 countries and territories. Typical entries include name of organization, mailing address, phone number, fax number, Web site, e-mail address and name of chief executive officer. Details of prices and discounts can be found on the United Export Solutions Web site. Country Information http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/country.htm FDIXchange http://www.fdixchange.com/ The Investment Promotion Network http://www.ipanet.net/ 2002 Top 10 SitesAs 2002 comes to a close, we thought it would be interesting to pull together a 2002 Top 10 Business Information Sites. The delegates who attend the RBA Business Resources workshops, both open access and in- house, are always asked to come up with a list of the 10 most useful sites. We have gone through the lists of this year and awarded one point for each mention in a Top 10. Before, you all dash off and look through the archives to verify the placings, I should point out that we do not always publish every Top 10 in Tales from the Terminal Room. If we did, there would have been some months when there were four or five top 10s in the newsletter and little room for anything else! My own listing at http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/ came in at number 6 but I am disallowing this site as I have a vested interest! So, the Top 10 Business Information Sites for 2002 are as follows: Joint first place: 1. Bureau van Dijk Bvd Suite http://www.bvdsuite.com/ - free information from Amadeus on the top 20 European companies and a free directory of companies (free display of information is limited). Also Web access to BvD's priced company information products. Products that were specifically mentioned by course delegates included Fame, Amadeus, Bankscope and Zephyr. [BvD also won Best Free Standing Exhibit at the Online Exhibition 2002 in London - see the first item in this Newsletter] 1. Corporate Information http://www.corporateinformation.com/ - good starting point for locating business information of all types for countries world-wide. In joint third place: 3. Companies House http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ - essential starting point for information on UK registered companies. In particular, the option for searching "previous names" can prove invaluable when trying to track down a company that has changed its name several times. 3. Google http://www.google.com/ - excellent search tool for Web pages, images, Usenet and current News. Also indexes PDF, Word documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations etc. 3. Yahoo UK & Ireland http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ - access to current news, current and historical share price information, and annual reports. 6. BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ - access to news on events world-wide plus links to background information and relevant sites. 7. Hemmington Scott http://www.hemscott.net/ - good selection of free information on UK listed companies plus priced services for more detailed information. 8. Hoovers http://www.hoovers.com/ -information on larger companies world-wide. 9. Official Statistics on the Web http://www.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/stats/offstats/OFFSTATSmain.htm - one of the best starting point for statistical sources by country, topic or subject. 10. Telephone Directories on the Web http://www.teldir.com/ - links to telephone directories across the world organised by country. Computer Contradictionary: what the jargon really means!Whilst browsing through the dictionaries, thesauri and glossaries on my bookshelves I rediscovered a gem that I bought way back in the 1980s. Stan Kelly-Bootle's The Devil's DP Dictionary (1) tells it like it is with "real-life" definitions of computing terms. Although written in 1981, much of it still rings true today - which goes to show that there is nothing new under the sun. A fully revised and updated version was published in 1995 under the title The Computer Contradictionary (2). To give you a flavour of this essential handbook, here are few examples from the 1981 edition. They are ideal for inserting into Christmas crackers instead of those dreadful jokes and mottoes.
And finally..
Have a good Christmas and a great New Year! 1. The Devil's DP Dictionary. Stan Kelly-Bootle. McGraw Hill, ISBN 0 07 034022 6 2. The Computer Contradictionary, Stan Kelly- Bootle, MIT Press, ISBN 0262611120 Meetings & Workshops Workshop: Key Business Resources on the Net Workshop: Market Research on the Web Workshop: Advanced Internet Search Strategies TFTTR Contact InformationKaren Blakeman, RBA Information Services ArchivesTFTTR archives: http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/archives/index.shtml Subscribe and UnsubscribeTo subscribe to the newsletter fill in the online registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml To unsubscribe, use the registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml and check the unsubscribe radio button. Privacy StatementSubscribers' details are used only to enable distribution of the newsletter Tales from the Terminal Room. The subscriber list is not used for any other purpose, nor will it be disclosed by RBA or made available in any form to any other individual, organisation or company.
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| This page was last updated on 20th December 2002 | 2002 |
