| Sam Young Newsletter |
Issue 90, January 2005
Hi guys,
Just how many kids are getting cellphones? You might be surprised in Gimme A Call below.
Do you have a Slow PC? Could be 'Indexing Service'. Learn how to disable it below.
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.
| Gimme A Call... |
Want to hear some amazing stats? The number of cellphone users, worldwide, in 2004 is estimated at 1.6 billion, up 23% on base from 1.3 billion in 2003. 320 million of those users - 20% - live in China.
Ovum, in July 2004, predicted that the global number of cellphone owners will rise to 2.1 billion by 2009; but at this current rate of growth, this figure now seems a little cautious.
Here's a new word for you: "tweens" (this is the school age group who haven't reached their legal majority for anything, between 6 and 15 years). While we might expect that close to 100% of all Japanese 14 year olds own a cell phone, you may be surprised to learn that 50% of all tweens living in European nations own a cell phone, with Germany and Sweden at 65% and The Netherlands leading the Euro-race with nearly 100% saturation.
While tweens with cells are only running at 30% in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan (aside from the 14-year old bracket) and Singapore, these countries are expected to be mega-growth markets in the next few years.
The Independent, in the UK, reported recently that a group of teenagers who agreed to go without their phones for two weeks as an experiment (Manning Gottlieb OMD), told researchers that their social lives had fallen apart.
So what sells the cellphone to tweens? Freedom (aka mobility). Our short people are well marketed to and buy into the belief that the cell phone delivers it.
And who wouldn't believe it, when Japanese shoppers can now compare prices on their mobile, 24/7: Amazon.com Japan's new 'Scan Search' enables customers to point their cell phones at barcodes in a bricks-and-mortar shop, then be directed to Amazon.com.jp on their phone screen where they can view that item (at a lower price too, no doubt) and have it sent to them straight away? This is likely to be the tip of the iceberg, with Google getting in on the act as well.
| Slow PC? Could be 'Indexing Service' |
In Windows XP there is an Indexing Service function that is a huge RAM hog. If your PC is as speedy as a bus being pushed with flat tyres across a ploughed paddock in winter, then this facility may be turned on.
To check if your PC has this facility 'on' or 'off';
- Go to the desktop
- Click F1 (to bring up help)
- Key "Indexing Service" into the Search For field
- Click on "Indexing Service" in the results list
- Click on "Open Indexing Service" in the detail section
- On the Action Menu, choose All Tasks | Tune Performance
- Ensure "Never Used" is ticked
Good luck!
| Font Substitution in Word |
When you open a document formatted in a font that's not available on your machine, Word automatically substitutes an equivalent from the installed fonts. Even though the font may look different, Word still displays the name of the missing font in the Font drop-down box in the Formatting toolbar.
To find out which font Word substituted for a missing font, follow these steps:
- Go to Tools | Options
- On the Compatibility tab, click the Font Substitution button
- If there are no substitutions, Word displays a message telling you that no substitutions are necessary
- If there are substitutions, Word displays the Font Substitution dialog box, listing each missing font and the font substitution
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While Word tries to come as close as possible to the original fonts, in many cases, it may just choose the default font. But you don't need to accept all of Word's substitutions.
To override a font substitution, follow these steps:
- In the Font Substitution dialog box, click the row containing the missing font you want to change
- Select the font you want to use from the Substituted Font drop-down list
- To change the name in the Font drop-down list from the original font to the substituted font, click the Convert Permanently button, and click OK.
| TLAs for SMEs |
Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you;
- BRB, Be right back. Chatroom short-talk
- BTA, But then again...
- BTDT, Been there, done that
Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.
| Short+Hot Keys... and now tips |
Over the next few newsletters, we are going to look at all you can do in Outlook. This time we focus on what you can do with the Page up or down keys, Alt, Shift & Ctrl;
- Outlook "Go to the last day of the month when using general keys for moving around in day/week/month view" Alt & Page Down
- Outlook "Go to the first day of the month when using general keys to move around in day/week/month view" Alt & Page Up
- Outlook "Switch to the next tab in an item or dialog box or move to the first card on the next page" Ctrl & Page Down Outlook "Switch to the previous tab in an item or go to the first card on the previous page" Ctrl & Page Up
- Outlook "Go to the item at the bottom of the screen, and then display another page of items when working in a Table or in a Timeline, display the items one screen below the items on the current screen or move to the end of a multi-line field or select the block of time at the bottom of the screen when working in day/week/month view or select the first card on the next page or in day/week/month view, go to the same day of the week in the next week (or 5 weeks ahead if viewing by month) or scroll through pages when working in Print Preview or move from item to item when working in day/week/month view" Page Down
- Outlook "In a Table, go to the item at the top of the screen, or in a Timeline, display the items one screen above the items on current screen or in day/week/month view, select the block of time at the top of the screen or move to the beginning of a multi-line field or select the first card on the current page or in day/week/month view, go to the same day of the week in the previous week (or 5 weeks previous if viewing by month) or scroll through pages when working in Print Preview or move from item to item when working in day/week/month view" Page Up
- Outlook "Extend the selection to the last card on the last page" Shift & Page Down
- Outlook "Extend the selection to the first card on the previous page" Shift & Page Up
| Hot Linx |
Weird headlines of 2004 can be viewed at http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050101/80/f9hlr.html. Let's hope 2005 is somewhat less peculiar!
If you have not heard the term "Biting the hand that feeds IT" before, then you have not been here. Find a great InfoTech site in the Register at http://www.theregister.co.uk/
If you ever find yourself without the internet, you will have needed to have checked out Yahoo's "Survival Guide" first at http://promotions.yahoo.com/disconnected/static/survival.html
Terry Pratchett fans out there should check out the review of his September US SFRevu speech at http://www.sfrevu.com/ISSUES/2004/0409/Article.php?asin=0409TPI
Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here
