Business and Emploment itgs

1. 1 Employee monitoring software 2 Telephone tapping 3 Video surveillance 4 Location monitoring

Anmerkungen:

• There is no fixed definition of teleworking, but the essential feature is the use of information technology to enable people to work away from the office. This could apply to people working full time or part-time at home, those dividing their time between home and the office, and mainly mobile workers who use their home as an administrative base. It is estimated that the average person spends around 4 hours travelling to work each week. That is a lot of time sitting in a car or train! So why isn't teleworking more popular?

1. Employee Advantages:Flexible working hours Work around family obligations (young children, elderly parents) Can take a break during the day (walk the dog or catch the news) Save lots of time on traveling to and from work Save lots of fuel and parking costs Saves on global warming to some extent Collaboration is easy with internet connection
2. Disadvantages:Always on call Harder to separate work from home life Work even longer hours Can be harder to be motivated No work colleagues to have a laugh with Career prospects may be affected

1. Australian grocery chain Coles is working with IBM to install radio tags on grocery items that could be read as you leave the shop, with the bill paid via smartphone from your credit card. Now that would really cut down on checkout time!

1. Toshiba has created a new scanner that recognizes any item in the store, meaning barcodes are not necessary. The object recognition system uses pattern and color recognition to identity the product, including fruits and vegetables, and variations of fruit like red delicious apples.

1. Many supermarkets across the country now reward shoppers with discounts on gas based on how much they spend at the grocery store. For example, Stop & Shop rewards $0.10 per gallon savings at Shell for every $100 spent. Some chains have introduced specials to lower gas prices even further. In April, for example, Spartan Stores ran a two-day deal offering .50 cents off a gallon, up to 20 gallons, for every $100 spent in its stores. Usually a shopper would have to spend $500 to earn these savings.

Anmerkungen:

• Many chains have introduced their own mobile apps with several useful shopping features. TheWegmans mobile app, for example, lets you scan a barcode on a product and automatically add it to your shopping list. It also features recipes and the ability to add the ingredients directly to your list. Weis Markets mobile app lets you view the weekly circular, and create and email a list to someone else. The Android version lets shoppers use their voice to add items to the list. With the new Harris Teeter mobile app, an enhanced store locator adds GPS technology and driving directions. Shoppers can also view their shopping lists offline and integrate them with their desktop shopping list. The application even provides text message notification and the ability to pre-order subs and sliced meats and cheeses in select stores.

Anmerkungen:

• Aisle411 empowers anyone with a mobile phone to find products within retail stores. Easily find the in-store aisle location of a single item or route your entire shopping list on a mobile map of your store. Aisle 411 works in hundreds of stores around the country. The best part: No more aimless searching.