Some tips to help with Employee Retention

Employee Retention Slide Show

Help Desk Performance Statistics

Most important evaluators:

• Job Completed Adequately
• Customer Satisfaction
• Time Between Calls

I do feel that it doesn't matter how many calls you are taking so long as you are completing what the customer needs. If you aren't doing the job you are supposed to then you will lose customers and not be in business. Time between calls is important because it can be an indication of wasting company time, though not always the case.

Least important evaluators:

• Number of calls taken
• Time on call
• Number of emails answered.

If you are only evaluating the least important criteria I mentioned then your employees will crank out calls and emails just for numbers sake. They will lose sight of the goal of customer satisfaction and the company will suffer as a result.

Could the Xoom dethrone the iPad ?

Motorola revealed its new Android-based Xoom(pronounced 'zoom') tablet they hope will be able to compete with the iPad at the 2011 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) back in January. The Xoom is better than the current iPad in that it comes standard with front and rear facing cameras. One of them can even record in HD. it also has a larger screen with higher resolution and even supports Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash support is something that even avid lovers of Apple are often frustrated with. The release of the Xoom should happen first quarter of this year, says Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha. 3G will be the standard with an option of upgrading to 4G later this year. It is unsure how much the Xoom will cost as that has yet to be announced.
The specs of the Xoom are:

• Dual-core processor @1GHz 
• 1280x800 resolution (iPad is 1024x768)
• 10.1" display (iPad is 9.7")
• Front and rear camera (rear able to record 720p)

 I guess we will have to wait in anticipation yet again for another device that is not available to consumers. Oh well, when it does come out it will be interesting to see if it can compete with the Apps and iTunes available on the iPad. So far when it comes to Apple competitors, few can stand against the reputation that Apple has worked so hard to build up.

Need Help with Your PS3

With the yellow light of doom the Playstation 3 is needing more help support then ever. I have a couple of links that will be able to help you if you have any problems with your PS3

us.playstation.com/support/

The first site is the official support site of the Playstation 3. It has a lot of the general topics of problems that come up.

community.us.playstation.com

This is the community forums site. Here you can get a more specific answer or ask a more obscure answer.

www.us.playstation.com/

When you get your PS3 back up and running you can go here and are able to search and buy anything on the Playstation Netrwork. Then next time you start your machine up it will start to download the items you purchased.

iPad Software and Apps

   If you are fortunate enough to own an iPad chances are you have upgraded to the latest software iOS 4.2. But in case you have not or are still wondering what the iPad is capable of here is a little insight to the latest release of software.
   The previous versions did not allow for folders on the home screen. This made it a pain to search for the app you wanted to use especially if you have 7 or 8 pages of apps installed. With the Folders addition to the software you can simplify how your apps are stored and declutter those many pages. This allows you to keep your apps organized for faster access to your favorites. Folders are below on right in picture.

   Multitasking is also a new addition to the iOS 4.2. As shown in the picture above on the left-hand side. You can now access email, music, etc. while reading the latest news on a website. This allows for smooth and efficient operation without slowing down the performance or excessively draining the battery.
   AirPlay allows you to stream digital media wirelessly from your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch to the new Apple TV or AirPlay speakers. You can travel between rooms in your house without leaving your digital media behind. It also allows you to play your music and movies in your sound system and HDTV for great performance.
   There are other improvements as well that can be seen by clicking on this link: Software for iPad

   For information on the various apps that can be downloaded and installed click on this link: Apps for iPad

Common Hardware Problems and Solutions Power Point

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B35qEZSAJAcsNTJhMmMyN2EtMTM1YS00N2VlLWFkNTYtY2U3NzU1NGQ3MzUz&hl=en

My Time with Xbox Kinect

This past Super Bowl weekend I got to spend quite a bit of time with the Xbox Kinect. My girlfriend's brother got it for Christmas. When I first heard about the Kinect I was very negative about it. Seeing how the Wii became a shovel ware system I didn't have high hopes for this.

When we started to play Motionsports, which is one the launch games, we had to stand in a square to get recognized. That worked most of the time. Sometimes it would error out and you had to step off of their square and then step back in. As far as the actual motion capture it works pretty good. On the skiing mini game if you put your arms in the air your guy would stick his poles in the air.

There are some drawbacks to the Kinect. The first one is you need a lot of open space to play multiplayer. When we would do 2 player skiing we only had about 5 feet to use between the two of us. I would say you need about double that. Another problem I noticed was it had a set area to play in. If you stepped out of that area it would stop the game and make you step back into that magic square and rescan you in. Overall it is a pretty decent piece of hardware. It has some problems space wise, but it does a good job of capturing your motion. Ry-Guy gives the Kinect a 8 out of 10

iPAD2 ?

What is next for Apple? After much success with the iPad I suspect there will be a second generation coming out soon. Pictured above is a mock iPad2 from this years Consumer Electronics Show. As you can see from the dot on top of the picture it looks to have a camera on the back of the device. Similar to the iPod newest generation I believe it will have a front camera as well.
The iPad had had some criticism  because it is not "laptop capable". I say it doesn't have to be able to compete with a laptop. If people wanted a laptop they would buy a laptop. This is meant to be a portable device for reading books, checking email and playing games. Of course that is just the beginning of what it can do.
Until Apple gives an official release we will just have to wait in anticipation!