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Hot video game gear at E3

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Plenty of gadgets shown at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) had absolutely nothing to do with the...

The handheld wars of late have focused on Sony's sleek PlayStation Portable and the interactive Nintendo DS. The Gizmondo from Tiger Telematics, Inc., however, intends to be a serious third contender if its able to deliver on its innovative promise.
The Gizmondo looks to be the Swiss-Army knife of handhelds with its unique blend of technology that includes GPS satellite tracking, a digital camera and a gyroscope.

Oh, and it plays digital music, movies and video games on a 2.8-inch color screen, too. It's already available in Europe and should appear stateside in August. Prices will start at $230.

QMotions-Baseball

Clicking your computer mouse is hardly the most authentic way to play a few innings of a baseball video game. Why not swing a real bat? For $80, the QMotions-Baseball system replaces the game pad, letting you use a bat of your choosing.

The setup includes a special bat collar that wirelessly sends swing movement to a home plate receiver you plug into an Xbox or PC. The device, available this month, works with big league baseball games including "EA Sports MVP Baseball" and "ESPN Baseball."

Theater Experience PSP

Anyone who's drained their Sony PSP battery after watching a few movies will appreciate the Theater Experience PSP from Nyko Technologies. The extra five-hour battery life provided by this device is certainly welcome, but it also boosts the PSP's rather tinny audio with a more robust set of stereo speakers, all wrapped in a flip-open aluminum carrying case.

One of the most welcome inclusions is the least techie: an adjustable stand. No more straining your wrists trying to hold the PSP at just the right viewing angle for hours on end. Look for it in June, for about $70.

PowerPlay 5.1 Media Chair

The Empower Technologies PowerPlay 5.1 Media Chair, as the name suggests, is the center of a surround sound stereo system that'll make those explosions in "Halo 2" rumble through your entire body. The setup, which costs $999, remains a prototype and it certainly could use some aesthetic help: as it stands -- it's doubtful you'd see this black and tubular metal piece of furniture anywhere but the most macho of bachelor's pads.

Logitech Cordless Precision/Attack Controller

We've heard a lot lately about how the upcoming consoles will feature wireless controllers. Big deal. They've been available for the existing consoles for quite a while now. Two new offerings from Logitech bring the affordable freedom of tetherless gaming to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The semi-translucent blue $30 Precision is compatible for the PS2, while the see-through green $40 Attack works with the Xbox. So what's new this time around? Logitech says the Precision and Attack will last 300 hours on just two AA batteries. And no tripping over cords anymore.

Saitek Pro Gamer Command Pad

Coming in September, this $40 keyboard ad-on should appeal to fans of first-person shooters, or any computer game were you'll need a nimble keyboard to get around. This accessory looks like a separate numeric keypad with a special thumb rest. The keys are laser-etched and glow blue.

Google Users Can Now Personalize Home Page

Google users can choose from 12 "modules" to add to the home page, including one that displays the first few messages from a user's Gmail e-mail account.

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) made the boldest change yet to its famously austere home page Thursday, allowing users to turn it into a customized palette of news, weatherconditions, movie show times, e-mail messages and more.
The new personalized home page is part of larger strategy dubbed "fusion" that aims to fuse together Google's services with content on the Web, said Marissa Mayer, director of consumer Web products for Google.

"Our goal here was to give users tools to customize and organize their own information," Mayer said.

The changes to the home page are strictly optional; users need to log in with a Google account and visit the Google Labs Web page to activate the feature. They can switch back to the standard home page at any time by clicking on a "Classic Home" link.

New Look and Feel

Nonetheless, many observers viewed the offering as a milestone moment for Google, which has steadfastly protected the crisp, clean look of its home page. The move is also sure to ignite debate over whether Google is gravitating toward becoming a Yahoo-like Web portal, with all of its services tightly integrated and visually grouped together.

Mayer said the service is "not about bringing all of Google's products and functionalities together."

But some search experts saw it differently.

"I don't see how you can avoid the label," said Andy Beal, a vice president for WebSourced, a search-engine marketing firm. "When you touch the lives of people and everything that they do online, and then you put it all in one place, you're essentially a portal."

For now, the personalization options for the home page are limited, largely because the company rushed to get the service out the door six weeks ahead of schedule for an unprecedented, daylong briefing for journalists on Google's business practices and technology. Users can choose from among 12 "modules" to add to the page, including one that displays the first few messages from a user's Gmail e-mail account.

Mayer said Google would expand the service in the next month or so to allow users to add nearly any content of their choosing to their home page. She said Google may even let users add modules that pull in e-mail messages from other providers, such as Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) .

RSS Technology

The technology behind the personalized home page is known as RSS, which provides a way for Internet users to subscribe to a wide array of content, including news headlines.

Netscape Communications helped develop the technology in the late 1990s, and offered its users a customized home page strikingly similar to what Google is now offering. Yahoo has allowed its users to create personalized news pages for nine years through a service called My Yahoo. Last year, Yahoo adopted RSS technology so users can subscribe to the far wider universe of content.

The similarities to My Yahoo were not lost on the hundred or so journalists and handful of analysts who had showed up.

Mayer distinguished the new Google service from other, comparable products by stressing its ease of use and the page's "clean and crisp and Googly" look and feel.

Yahoo was not impressed by the new Google feature. The Sunnyvale company released a statement touting its "long and successful history in personalization."

Response From Yahoo

"We launched My Yahoo! nine years ago and last year redefined personalization again by providing access to millions of content sources from across the Web," the company said. "My Yahoo! is the No. 1 personalized Web page in the world and the world's largest RSS reader."

It may have taken Google awhile to follow Yahoo's lead but the move was inevitable, according to Beal.

"Regardless of the criticism that they are years late, they had to have this," he said.

Google also gave a sneak peek of Google Earth, the 3-D satellite imagery software it has been developing since the acquisition of a local company called Keyhole last year. Google says its now has 3-D imagery of the whole Earth and has merged the technology with its search engine and mapping service.

The software will be available in the next two weeks as an upgrade for Keyhole subscribers. Google would not discuss plans to make the technology more widely available.

Rules For Successful Self-Promotion

To be truly effective at delegating, you must have the right attributes and attitudes about delegation. These positive attributes, outlined below, include personal security, risk taking, a trusting nature, task-orientation, and a good degree of patience.

Personal Security

Managers who are good at delegating feel confident in their abilities and position in the company and have a positive attitude about delegating. They consider delegating a means to prepare team members to be future managers. They view delegation as a means of achieving their own, and the company's, performance goals.

Risk Taking

Good delegators are willing to take risks to get tasks done, stretching resources and making mistakes. They are willing to accept and learn from failure. They must allow both less experienced and more knowledgeable employees to make decisions.

Trusting Nature

Good delegators are willing to trust another to perform a tasks for which they alone will be held responsible. They grant such trust with full knowledge of any limitations the team members may have, such as lack of experience. They allow the team member to supply, without interference, his own ideas as to how an assignment should be completed. They don't revoke their trust after an assignment is completed. Team members need to be supported even if the actions they take are criticized by others. For example, if a person is given authority to conduct an audit, that person should be supported regardless of the audit's finding.
The following general guidelines help increase team members trust.

* Backstop team members' decisions. Even though you don't agree with team members' decisions, back them up when they need support, especially in front of others.

* Don't harp on team members' mistakes. Team members usually realize when they make a mistake. Don't dwell on mistakes. Give employees the opportunity to correct them.

* Don't spy on team members. Set clear guidelines for monitoring progress that are known to each team member. Stick to the agreed-upon guidelines, and don't spy on team members to determine their progress.

* Don't withhold information as a test. Withholding useful information leads employees to mistrust you and your motives.

* Be open. Don't try to hide your own mistakes from team members. Freely share information necessary for a team member to perform her job.

* Clarify expectations. Share your expectations with team members--in advance. * Show respect. Treat team members with respect and courtesy.

* Don't manipulate. Be straightforward in the delegation of tasks. Don't manipulate employees with guilt or implied rewards.

* Examine assumptions. Make sure you are making valid assumptions. For example, if a team member resists performing a task, don't immediately assume the employee is looking for the easiest way out.

Task Orientation
Effective delegation establishes and employs a means of control including channels (progress reports, review sessions, etc.) for reporting progress and problems as well as a schedule for when reporting should take place (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). If you aren't comfortable with the amount of feedback and the level of control, establish means for additional monitoring. If you are especially concerned about a particular assignment, tell the team member that you are going to follow up frequently on the project's progress. Such warning helps to buffer any feelings of meddling.

When necessary, be willing to intervene and hold team members accountable for their action or lack of action. You can redirect team members' efforts, give them additional authority to complete the assignment, or take back the assignment if the satisfactory completion is doubtful. Accountability must extend to the completed assignment. If the assignment is done poorly, reprimand the responsible team member. Adjust future assignments so the team member gets smaller, less significant tasks until he or she once again demonstrates willingness and competence to assume greater responsibility.

Ample Patience
A manager who is a good delegator realizes that results take time. She can see what needs to be done but doesn't order it done a specific way. She is willing to allow team members the chance to develop judgment by letting them try their own methods. If a project falls behind schedule, the manager makes certain the team member has a plan for meeting the deadline; the manager must allow time for delegation. She must allow time for assignment of specific tasks as well as for inexperienced employees to be trained.

In summary, as Thomas R. Horton, former CEO of the American Management Association, says: "The process of delegation must begin by a spark of faith. Kindled by accomplishment, it is ultimately sustained by trust. Effective delegators are the managers who believe in their people as much as in themselves and who know that from that belief comes not just accomplishment, but growth."

Five Assumptions Of Creative Managers

The anomalies of the world fascinate me and raise fundamental questions that I ponder far into the night.

We know that groups of individuals can - and do - learn. In fact, there is convincing evidence that the competitive advantage almost inevitably will go to those groups who learn to make their collective "whole" greater than the sum of their individual parts.

We see it in sports, in the performing arts, in science, and occasionally even in the workplace. In Asia and Continental Europe, for example, we find a deep-seated belief that real learning takes place in groups. "Break-It!" thinking understands that knowledge accumulates within organizations and between individuals who understand how to share information, pool resources, and creatively collaborate.

Here are the basic premises of my new paradigm - my "high five," which I offer to those among you who are committed to continuous innovation and rethinking - for "Break-It!" Thinkers.
1. Today, the rate of change is exponential, not incremental. This is a crucial starting point. The world changes so fast that it is difficult to use conventional modes of thought, measurement, or planning.

2. Things will never get "back to normal." This is normal! The so-called glory days of the bygone past have gone.

3. Plan as we may, the future has plans of its own. Because exponential change is here to stay, we have to look down the road with 20/20 vision, focusing on the next 20 minutes and the next 20 years, simultaneously. The bad news is that the number of senior executives and key managers who possess 20/20 vision is small. The good news is that this is a learnable, cognitive skill that a few training programs, including my own, can teach you.

4. Organizations that "learn how to learn," that ask the right questions, and "find out how to find the answers," will thrive in a global economy. Astute organization theorists, such as MIT's Peter Senge, are absolutely correct in proposing that a continuously learning organization is healthy and highly productive. In my new paradigm, the organization's "verbs" will supplant its "nouns." That is, diverse methods and responsive processes will be more powerful than "tried and true facts" and "off the shelf systems." And asking the right questions at the right time will determine the most sustainable and viable answers.

5. Productive organizations that will excel in the '90s will be those that value flexibility, diversity, integrity, cooperation, and innovation. It is no longer sufficient to "add value" to products. We have to add values into the process and the product. Customers, creditors, consumers and our conscience now require it.

In my work with top management, I find my "high five" premises extremely useful. They stimulate dialogue, raise provocative questions, and, at the very least, increase the collective IQ over the century mark!

Where do you agree and disagree on these premises? What would you add if you were to make your own list?

Recognizing Customers

Marketing has been well-defined as anything you do to get or keep a customer.

I break marketing into seven specific components for further analysis. These are:

* advertising
* sales
* publicity
* customer service
* planning
* research
* merchandising

I take it for granted that marketing involves building relationships with people, whether prospects or customers. The most profitable marketing involves selling to someone who already knows you well and trusts you, i.e., has a positive relationship with you.
Recognition vs.
Service This month I want to cover the distinction between customer service and customer recognition. Restaurants make an excellent example of this point.

A friend of mine, Jack Sweeney, a sales expert, was just mentioning how nice it is to take a customer into a restaurant where they know you and treat you like you own the place. Not only do customers like being wined and dined, but they like the feeling of being specially taken care of.

That same day I was reading a survey by the National Restaurant Association which showed people's ranking of important elements in the dining experience. First was recognition, service, and last was food. Since restaurant people had been focusing on food and service, they weren't too pleased with these results. But the important point is that we have all tended to overlook the importance of recognition.

Recognition is Tops
By recognition, we mean that when you go to the restaurant, you are literally recognized. People greet you by name. They clearly know who you are and they treat you like somebody important. This is the benefit of being a regular customer in some restaurants. (The same thing should apply to anybody you do business with.)
It's not enough to provide good service. People are really looking for a personal touch, an acknowledgment of them as someone who is special. If you only get a good meal, you're not getting enough.

Legendary Service
If you can give people acknowledgement and personal recognition, they will feel good, even if your product is only average. Too many customer service programs focus on doing well that which is expected. Some talk about giving more than what is expected. But I don't know of any that talk about acknowledging and recognizing the customer. To create the legendary service that people tell stories about for years, like Nordstrom's department store, you need to focus on learning who your customers are and making them feel appreciated.

If you serve other people within your company, think about the relationships you are building with them. No matter how good a job you do, if they don't come away positive about the experience, then you're not doing your true job in "customer service." When people are paying you money directly across the counter, it should be much more obvious that you want them to come away from the experience enthusiastic, not just having had "good service."