Africa: A New Outsourcing Frontier

KenCall, Kenya's first international call center, is luring telemarketing business from Western companies that want cheap labor.

Also known as : "All Your Jobs Are Belong To Them", 3rd Edition (with China and India being the pioneering 1st and 2nd). But this is not entirely unexpected. In the search for the cheapest countries in which to implement "globalization", "cost cutting", and in the effort to outdo each other in the ongoing race to the bottom, the corporations have identified Africa as the next outsourcing destination.

Good article on AA batteries

Just stumbled across a very good article that advocates the use of AA NiMH rechargeable batteries for digital camera use.

I agree with all the points there. AA batteries are standardized, and you can buy them anywhere. On extended photo-taking trips, I carry up to 12 AA batteries in a Tupperware box. That's 3 sets for my Canon camera which takes 4 batteries at a time. With 4 sets of batteries (counting the set already in the camera), that's 500 x 4 = 2000 shot capacity. Heck, my memory card will fill up long before all these batteries run out! I will need 4 GB worth of memory cards in order to use up these 16 AA batteries.

Try getting spare sets of proprietary model-specific Lithium-Ion batteries? That's going to be really expensive. Also, try getting a model-specific Li-Ion battery in some remote mountain resort. Chances are, the touristy shops will overcharge you for their AA batteries but the point is they will *most likely* have AA batteries, with the Li-Ion ones available, say, a couple of hundred miles away in the capital city.

For some reason though, I haven't been able to find non-proprietary, rechargeable Li-Ion AA batteries and chargers - that would really be something. Some sites talk about voltage and safety issues, they actually couldn't get them down to 1.5V or something like that.

Was thinking about looking into these new-fangled oxy-nickel aka oxyride aka oxy-nickel hydroxide batteries that Panasonic and Sony have been selling lately. Looks to me that they're just slightly souped up alkalines. And they leak too, just like ordinary alkaline batteries. Yuck. What a mess. I've just cleaned out the house and thrown away all the leaking alkalines and changing to lower-power but non-leak dry cells.

So here's the score :

Rechargeable NiMH AA for high-power applications : digital camera, "children's toys which move" (remote control car, Rocky the talking-walking Robot, etc.).
Disposable Lithium AA for high-power, low-use application : lower-resolution backup digital camera
Disposable dry cells for low-power applications : remote controls, clocks, "non-moving toys" (mostly those just making some flashing lights and sounds), digital desktop thermometer/hygrometer, portable radios (backup)

No proprietary Li-Ion for me, unless I go and get a digital videocam or something, and actually have no choice.

(2005-02-07 15:52:02 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

New energy website : 321energy.com

Robert Moriarty of 321gold.com fame has launched a new website : 321energy.com.

From a first glance on the main page, it is a few things at once. There is a "news blog"-type archive listing divided into a few categories : oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, gasoline, and solar & wind. There's a bunch of editorial articles written (mostly) by leading contrarian financial commentators and writers. On the right pane there are market quotes on various oil and gas prices, and they have of course reserved some space here and there for ads from sponsoring companies.

All in all, not a bad start. Based on Bob's track record, I would expect some good commentary in the editorials section about the energy industry and markets from a (contrarian) financial point of view. As for the folks who have been discussing "how to make money from peak oil" (you know who you are), well we shall see about that one, won't we? :)

(2005-02-07 14:36:24 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [1]

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