News.com reports spending on information technology projects farmed out to low-cost places like India should grow by 1 percent this year, according to a report Thursday from investment firm Merrill Lynch.

“The report, based on a December survey of 50 United States-based chief information officers, also found that spending on offshore IT services represents a small but growing chunk of budgets allocated to IT services. In 2004, offshore IT services accounted for 1 percent of the budgets, but CIOs indicated that that figure will increase to 1.4 percent in coming years.”

“We expect U.S. companies to increase jobs sent offshore in the next two to three years as they try to drive costs down and improve operating margins,” the report said.

“Merrill’s survey is the latest data point in an as-yet-incomplete picture about the scope and effect of so-called offshore outsourcing. Comprehensive data about the controversial trend has been lacking, but a $2 million government study is in the works.”
After the first round of discussions, the judges will select a smaller number of contestants to continue the discussion in a more focused manner, and then in early July the judges will pick up to 15 contestants to write a paper about the discussion and their notions of how to create a trusted online community. From the submitted papers, the judges will pick one as the grand prize winner, and that person will become the recorder for the December meeting of the International Online Dispute Resolution Group Forum in Hong Kong. All expenses to the conference will be paid for the grand prize winner.

For more information on the contest and to register, visit InternetBarContest.org. Registration for the discussion closes on May 15, 2007. And please help Jeff by passing this along!

posted by Diane Levin @ 12:02 PM 0 comments
Thursday, May 10, 2007Yes, folks - the hateful-right-wing-Republican-moron Rush “Pill Popping” Limbaugh. Not only is the idea of giving Mr. Limbaugh a platform to spew his garbage on a nationally respected TV news show ridiculous, his appearance on a segment, out of all things named “Free Speech,” is borderline farcical. The commentary segment was handled by Mr. Schieffer in the past, and he performed the job commendably. We know what Limbaugh is going to say. Something to the effect of: Liberals and Democrats are responsible for all the problems in this country. We have heard his hypocritical viewpoints millions of times on his talk radio show, and now he gets to bring it to national TV thanks to Katie Couric and CBS Evening News. I know the reason why they are putting him on.

In recent years, especially after the launch of FOX News, TV news has turned into a mouthpiece for propagandist ideologues, where hard-news and straight reporting has transformed into sensationalist commentaries. In short, what was once a source of information about the world we live in is now a grab-it-all race towards higher ratings. CBS is aiming for the same thing by bringing in the so-called “controversial” viewpoints. It’s simply a method to grab attention, because that’s what brings in the ratings and in turn the money. At this point, we can safely say that the concept of TV news is dead. The departure of Bob Schieffer and the arrival of the Katie Couric and Rush Limbaugh is just a stark reminder of that.
In This Case: blog allows people to tell their personal stories about the law

In This CaseThe courthouse casts a large shadow–so large sometimes it dwarfs those who pass through its doors. So mighty is the institution we call the law, so lofty its traditions, that we can lose our sense of scale: in the grandeur of the marble columns, the weight of precedent, it is easy to forget that the halls of justice were created to serve human beings.
# posted by OffshoreXperts.com : 4:44 PM 0 comments
Sunday, January 02, 2005
India BPO is Ready for 2005
HindustanTimes.com/UK reports India outsourcing companies and BPO companies are poised for a good year as outsourcing fears subside in the US.

NASSCOM estimated that the industry, including domestic, will see revenues cross $20 billion in 2004-05 with services and software exports growing at 30-32 per cent to record revenues of over $16.3 billion.

The first two quarters of 2004-05 have been extremely good for